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. 

Swimming

We took a trip to Minnesota to see friends and family this past weekend.  While there we had a nice stay in Minneapolis at The Depot where there is a water park.  Hannah loves her baths, so we thought she might like the pool....and we were right!  She loved it!  She was fearless and tried floating, kicking and splashing.  Cousins Liza and Larken were less than thrilled with the noise, splashing and activity - but Hannah enjoyed it all.

We had a lovely visit with family and lots of fun.

We have now signed Hannah up for swim lessons starting April 15th - can't wait!

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.

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

Back To Work

Maternity leave is officially over.

I think we're all sad about this.  It means that Hannah is getting older - we've lost our little 3 lb wonder and struggle to carry around a 9 lb behemoth.  She has also been much more alert and awake - looking at toys, occasionally smiling, grabbing things put near her and paying attention when we read her stories.  This part is fun.  The crabby-after-8-pm part is not as fun, but this is followed by the sleeping-for-up-to-5-hours part which Abi thinks is fun.

It also means that Abi is back to work.  Funny how you forget so much when all you know is bottles, diapers, pumping and nursing! The first few days were a little rough.  This month I'm at a new hospital so not only do I have to re-learn everything but I have a new computer system, new people, new nurses.....it's been an adjustment.  As usual I'm settling in now, about 1/2 way through the month.  This week is my longest work week yet but I've got a light at the end of the tunnel with a fun 3 day weekend coming up.

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