Hannah Takes Over the Blog

 Hello all. I have no idea how long it has been since Mom last posted, but I saw a post labeled big girl bed, so it has been a while. New Year's was yesterday, and we have started the year strong. Our family just went on a huge limo-bus, to see lights, and it was AMAZING!!!!👍 

This photo was from around 5 years ago, (Mom has, like, no photos on her computer.)

Since then, Rory has gotten stiches above his eye from a stray hockey stick in our basement, and I have gotten glasses. Earlier this year, we had severe flooding in the now kid's bathroom, (previously the guest bathroom.) So, we fixed and repainted that. My old room is now the boys' room, and I have moved into my dad's old office, which got a makeover also. Mom and Dad will be celebrating 40 years of age, 16 years of marriage, and 12 years of being parents. Hannah will turn 12, Rory will be turning 10!!!!, and Jacob will be turning 9. 

11 Months

Oops, we haven't posted in a month.  We have been busy with learning to walk, eating "all by myself", swimming lessons, buying a new house and playing with toys.

9 Months

 We've just returned from a trip to Nevada.  We stayed with some terrific friends, Kristin and Andy, who opened their house and casita to us.  They went so far as to borrow baby items for Hannah which she thoroughly enjoyed.  She also discovered cats - Keno and Sammy were very entertaining, although I'm not sure that they felt the same about Hannah.

We took a day trip to California and went to Death Valley National Park.  Hannah got her first stamp in her National Parks Passport.  Leave it to us to get to the hottest, driest, lowest place in the US only to find it 50 degrees and raining! We need to visit it in the summer to get the full effect as it was kind of lost on us.

 At Red Rocks outside of Las Vegas. 

 Hiking at Death Valley.

 Badwater Basin - lowest point in the US.

9 Months

Weight: 16.06 Pounds (25%)

Length: 27 inches (25%)

Head: 44 cm (50%)

Words: Screeching like a hawk, giggling, occasional "ma" and "ba" sounds

Activities: She loves jumping in her jumper (looks like an Irish Dancer), no crawling yet but she still enjoys being in the tub.  Notices Mom and Dad more often and is quite upset when they leave the room.  

Foods: BABY CHEETOS - aka "Puffs" - she will eat them by the fistful!  She hasn't found food that she won't eat yet but she does love fruits.

7 Months

 This little girl is definitely her daddy's buddy.  She likes him too - when he walks in she just lights up and usually gives a giggle or two.  She smiles ear to ear when he pays attention to her.  She is starting to show her daddy's traits as well - she's got dark brown hair, brown eyes - so far no dimples though.  

At 7 months Hannah weighed in at 15 pounds.

Still wearing 3-6 month clothes.

Starting to roll front to back - sometimes she surprises herself and rolls back to front.

She is sitting up by herself with no problem.

Loves to turn pages, eat paper, read books.  She loves singing along with music at church too. 

6 Months

 Hannah at 6 months:

Weight: 13 lbs 9 oz

Length 24 inches

Likes to make lots of grunting noises.  Starting to be more and more smiley.  She cries now when we take away her toys - which Bry likes to test out.

Occasionally she is very quiet and will occupy herself for hours on end.  The rest of the time.... this is one noisy little girl.

She loves playing with her toes and socks - best toys ever!

5 Months

This is the quintessential "You lookin' at me?!!" photo.

Halloween Costume 2012 - Elephant

3 Months

Hannah turned 3 months old - holy cow!

We have been enjoying her smiles lately - although we have to work for them quite a bit!  She is definitely becoming more social now.  She still loves being held and cuddling - perfect for most people who meet her.  In addition she is quite active now and loves to kick, play with toys and try to stand.  Her head swivels around at every sight and sound and she really tries to be involved with conversations.

She remains quite laid back and easy-going.  Except when she's really hungry and then we all hear about it.  Strange how weird it is to hear her cry when she barely cried for the first 8 weeks of her life!  She is enjoying going to daycare and I'm told she does pretty well when she's away from home.

 With Auntie Beth

Cousins! At Liza's 2nd Birthday party

2 Months

With all the grunting coming from the nursery, this post may be a bit short.  She's a lot more vocal now that she's 2 months old.  It's so cliche, but so true - where did the time go??!!

We are so enjoying our Little Bear.  She is much more alert now, wide awake for a few hours at a time.  We have also (fingers crossed!) established a bedtime which has worked beautifully for the past 3 nights in a row - allowing us a wonderful stretch of 5 hours of sleep!

She had her 2 month appointment last week.  Her current "stats" are:
Wt: 8 lbs 11 oz
Ht: 20.5 inches
Head: 35 cm

She got her shots and did pretty well with them.  She got her first dose of Tylenol in case of discomfort but we didn't notice anything else.

To recap her life experiences - she has:

- Been to 5 states (WI, IL, IN, MI, MN)
- 2 weddings
- 1 funeral
- Grown 4 inches and gained 4 pounds
- Eaten about a billion bottles of milk (my stats may not be quite accurate here)
- Started to hold her head up
- Started to actually cry
- Met the vast majority of both sides of her large family (and more to come in the next few weeks)
- Been to 10 softball games
- Been to 5 restaurants (although she hasn't ordered anything)
- Been to a bar (!)
- Had a babysitter who wasn't family
- MAYBE smiled this morning - it happened twice and I was so excited that it could be a "real" smile, we will have to see if it continues!

And the moment you've been waiting for - the pictures!

 Homemade dress

 At her first bar!

 Cousins