Runnin' her Mouth and Feet

Of course, none of you would believe what all she's doing now. She can make it down the stairs by herself (although there's a Mommy or a Daddy right there anyway). She says "Thank you" Thank you very much" "Thank you so very much" and "Inappropriate" along with a myriad of other conversations. She improvises on Old Macdonald: "And on that farm he had a. . . .curtain. With a 'close'close here and a close close there" or "And on that farm he had a . . . . Mommy. With a "I love you here and a I love you there. . . " Her favorite music for the longest time has been The Wizard of Oz due to Cherokee High School's production of it recently. She frequently sings and requests "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" "Somewhere over the Rainbow "Ha Ha Ha", which translates into "The Merry Old Land of Oz" even though she doesn't really know that's the title. But recently Brad showed her the recent version of Annie. So, now she's on an Annie kick. Tried and True!

We thank God for our healthy, happy, smart, funny beautiful baby!

A Year Later!

I cannot believe it's been almost a year since I worked on this site. My apologies!

Before I get started, I wanted to lift up our friend, Joseph, whose parents are Scott and Laura Martin. Their story can be read at babyandbabymartin.blogspot.com . He and his brother, Campbell were 3 months premature. Campbell has since passed and is growing, literally, in Jesus' arms and in the arms of his family in Heaven!

Our little bean sprout is 2 now! She was awake and rolling around yesterday aroun 6 a.m. After going into her room and encouraging her to go back to sleep I said "Happy Birthday". To which she squirmed a little, with her face in her pillow and said "... cake.... ikee " which means ice cream!

I'll write more and post more pictures when I'm not at work :) Just wanted to put a few words down in case anyone's reading :)

OK! Hannah's party was an absolute blast. She was an early riser that day so we feared that she might be tired by the time the party was underway, but she did just great! Luke and Noah Johnson, and George Loehr were Hannah's friends in attendance. Sarah, my older daughter, was there helping, herding and partying as well. We had streamers, balloons, dancing, cake and ice cream. . . the whole thing! I don't have the party pictures on this computer, so those will have to wait.

more later

Since we last posted. . .

So since we last posted, Hannah has turned 1, is tap dancing and can say "Daddy, would you take me to the park so that we can swing and slide? . . . . . pleeeeeease?".

Ok, not really!  But seriously, all kinds of things are happening.  She DID turn 1.  And what a fun time we had turning one.  She got to where she would hold up her "1" finger when we asked how old she was.  She smiled and sometimes laughed when we sang Happy Birthday.

She got a swing, a set of bells, a musical drum and a ball this season.  She loves them all!  Swinging is quite a spectacular thing, she says.  She seems to respond naturally to musical things like drums and bells, oh, and Sarah's guitar and djembe (African Drum).

She is using sign language for  "please", "Light on", "light off" and "that "or "you" (translation: pointing at something).  She points to which food she wants at mealtime now.  She points to whatever it is she wants then signs "please", and, of course, she gets it!  For instance, she now knows what a fire and a fireplace is and loves it.  So one Sunday afternoon around 3:30 Hannah and I (Brad) are playing in the floor in the den.  She points to the fireplace and signs "please". . . .so we had a fire that Sunday afternoon at 3:30!

She is standing with the help of a prop.  She is quite verbal and expressive.  Most mornings we hear her in her crib chatting with her toys and stuffed animals.  She still does lip trills and monster noises.  She is VERY social in the store.  She must wave and get a response from everyone she sees, even those people who are uncomfortable around babies.  She'll lean over and wave even more for them!

Our friends Bob and Libby, who are letting us borrow most of the things we have for her, let us borrow a little lion that is designed to walk behind or ride on.  Sharon attached a rope to it and pulls Hannah around the house with it.  She LOVES that !

She can now eat banana unmashed and loves it.  She tries to bite of half of the banana at one time, so I have to put my finger on the banana at a certain point so that she doesn't, literally bite off more than she can chew!  This morning she ate raisin toast and some of Mommy's eggs.  At our friend Cris' house the other day, she ate some of Cris' chicken croissant dish, green beans and macaroni and cheese.  With mommy the other day she had baked potato soup.

She points appropriately to her head during 5 Little Monkeys, 'bumped his head'.  She also is doing the motions to "Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes".  She gets head, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth and nose.

She's still way too cute for words.  We wish you could all be along side us to witness her life and growth and cuteness!

Hannah is 10.5 months old now. We're in the stage when she is doing something new every day. She babbles up a storm & it seems 'Da' is her first word...for Daddy of course! Although 'NnGg' is a close second for our dog, Nugget. She's picking up on more than I realize. Just yesterday I said 'I hear Nugget outside.'  She turned around in her exer-saucer & pointed to the back door.

She gets excited when I say 'outside' - she loves it! She loves the trees, leaves, breeze. She can identify more & more things in her books & toys. It really amazes me what they learn so quickly.

And Elmo is still one of her favorites!

We spend our day on at least one, usually two, good strolls, playing in the floor with stuffed animals and toys, playing in her exer-saucer (where she sits in the middle & turns herself around to play with toys), & reading (she loves books). My mom had kept my favorite books from when I was a baby & toddler, and what do you know, those are Hannah's favorites as well!

She is a great eater but still no teeth. We're slowly introducing more table food but it has to go through the food processor a good fork mashing.  She does not like foods with texture & spits out even the baby snacks that melt in their mouths. Funny though, she'll put anything else in her mouth!

 She's finally wearing her 9 mo clothing - so she's 'catching up'! Ha!

She is starting to show signs of pulling up on things (with our help) and can stand with our assistance.  She's still not fond of tummy time but has gotten better & rolls herself around in her crib. Actually, you'll leave her in one place only to come back & find that she's rolled herself around to be upside down & on the other end of the crib from where you left her. I don't think she's going to be a crawler though.

She's happy, happy, happy! Thanks for checking in!

The Panda

Did we mention we call her Hannah Panda?  Well, when she was little. . . and Sharon would put her on her shoulder, she (Hannah) would curl up and kinda resemble a little panda bear, at least, in out little minds she did. . .

Anyhow!  As I type she is in her 8th month.  It's still a wonder that anyone gets anything done around here.  Not that she requires so much of our time, but she's just so incredibly adorable!  We just sit there and babble with her and stare at her.  You never know what she's going to do next that could be the cutest thing EVER!

She's beginning to sit up on her own.  She's not getting up by herself, but once she's there she can stay up for quite a while.  She thinks it's grand.  She's now definitely waving hello and goodbye.  A week ago it was more like an arm flap, but now she's got her wrist involved! 

She is in bed at night usually around 8:30 or 9:00 and stays down until 7:30a.m.  Sometimes she calls and asks for a diaper change anywhere from 6a.m. to 7:30a.m.  And there have been these blessed events where, after she gets a diaper change around 7:30a.m., she goes back down till 9 and sometimes 10!!  Sharon loves that.  And I, well, I go off to work.  I have several Hannah pictures at work to remind me of her unfathomable cuteness.

Today, 8-19, she rode in her grocery cart/high chair cover at Kroger.  She was thrilled with a new vantage point of all the groceries and shoppers.  And did I mention that she was cute?  Folks, it really is remarkable!

Hannah's Cross-Stitch by Grandmother

I just hung a beautiful cross-stitched birth announcement in Hannah Noel's room. The story is equally as beautiful... As some of you know, mom was working on Hannah's cross-stitched birth announcement on her death bed. She had done the baby feet portion and Hannah's name. I picked it up about four weeks before she passed away. I did the 'D, e, and c' in December for her birth date. Mom looked at it, didn't like the way I had done the 'D' (admittedly, it was wrong),  and she asked for her glasses, sat up on the side of the bed, and with Brad, Hannah and I watching, she took out my 'D,E and C' and did them over. Needless to say, the 'D' was correct this time!  She got about half-way through the 'c' and became sick and had to lay back down. She never fully sat up again like that on her own to do anything. About a week before mom's death, Hospice was asking if there was anything that was incomplete that mom would want finished.  I pointed to Hannah's cross-stitch laying on mom's dresser. On Thursday, March 6, I picked up the cross-stitch, sat by mom's hospital bed in her bedroom and told her what I was doing. I walked her through every stitch I was making.  "mom, I'm finishing the 'c' in December."  "mom, I'm putting the '3' in for Hannah's birth date." etc.  While I was talking, Mom's right hand slowly went up and down to show me that SHE was cross-stitching.  So she DID finish Hannah's piece! That was on Thursday. As you know, mom passed away the following Tuesday. I have just gotten the picture matted & framed. It hangs in Hannah's room and she LOVES it.  She really does reach out for it, touch it, smile at it. It's wonderful.  Thanks mom!

Yeah, she's still cute!

Actually, she's quite gorgeous!  At 7 months old, Hannah is as social and expressive as can be.  She's not quite sitting up on her own as the high chair picture might suggest.  But she's still darn cute.  In fact, I think I hear little miss cute upstairs right now asking for some dinner, so here I go!  Thanks for checking in.