What To Do When The Rain Just Won't Stop

It has been raining non-stop here since Friday afternoon! Hannah and daddy got a quick trip to the park Friday at 5:00 and it was cut short by the rain. Yesterday was a real relaxing day inside but today we're getting some cabin fever and we're ready to get out!

Brett and Hannah had soooo much fun playing with play-doh. They literally did not get up from the table for almost 3 hours!!

Then it was lunch time, so we made pizza!!! Yes, Alice Anne is in the bumbo...do you SEE those legs!!!!

Luckily we had a birthday party last night so we got out for a little bit. Hannah was so excited to get to put on all of her rain gear!But...baby sister was too tired to stay for cake, so what do we do...get up this morning and make our own!!
Mary was in Waco for the weekend and Papa and Jammy brought her to the airport. We got to spend a couple of hours with them this morning and as soon as we got a little break from the rain, Hannah was excited to show Mary her peppers in her garden. BUT...she had to put hats on both of them so they wouldn't get wet (Hannah got the winter snow hat and Mary got the perfect beach hat!!)

Getting Ready for the School Year

After much agony, we've decided to not start Alice Anne at Good Shepherd this year. She's my little baby and I'm really looking forward to the one-on-one time with her.

Hannah on the other hand is about to burst she is so excited for school to start!! Her mommy isn't as excited because another school year means she just growing up. We've had a really fun and relaxing summer and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Hannah's best little friend at school, Mary Alden, came over yesterday and I think that really made her excited. The 2 of them are going to be in dance class together, too, and that starts next week. It was funny listening to them talk about what they're going to do at school and dance class together.

I took the girls shopping today so Hannah could get some school clothes. She is so funny when we go shopping. She'll pick something up, go find a mirror, hold the clothes up to her and turn to me and say, "this is cute mommy!"

Getting her purse to go shopping!

My parents and Sarah, Taylor and Carter came for the long weekend. We had a fun and relaxing weekend!

Can you see Alice Anne's pig tails? She thought she was so cute (and she was pretty cute)!!!

DANGER...All 3 of the kids coming down the bounce house slide at the same time!!

We forgot the kid's swimsuits when we went to Les and Jennifer's house for a cookout so...yes, Hannah and Carter went skinny dipping!

Mommy Lesson #1

#1 thing a mommy should know not to do: tell your 2-year old that you might go to the zoo tomorrow, not knowing if it will happen or not. That's exactly what I did last night...told Hannah that we might go to the zoo in the morning. Alice Anne was not in an outing mood, so when Hannah asked me when we were leaving for the zoo, I told her we were going to have to go another day soon. She was not pleased with my answer!! So, we decided to bring the zoo to us and make a few zoo creatures with Hannah's hand prints. She loved our little zoo art project!

When I came back downstairs from putting Alice Anne down for her nap this morning, this is where I found Hannah...sitting at my vanity curling her eye lashes!!!

Summer's Almost Over

The weather has been amazing this week and despite the girls bad allergies and constant runny noses, we've been spending a lot of time outside. Hannah loves chasing the frisbee and Alice Anne thinks it's pretty funny. The 4 of us have been on a couple of bike rides and I wish I had a picture b/c I'm sure it's a pretty funny sight...Alice Anne is in the baby seat on the back of my bike, daddy is on his bike and Hannah always starts out on her tricycle but after riding a couple of houses past ours, she ends up on daddy's lap with her feet up on his handle bar.

Alice Anne had another tooth come in last week, so we had another long week, but she is so sweet when those silly teeth aren't bothering her and she has been crawling around the last couple of days just giving everyone kisses. We're hoping that we're finished with teeth for a few weeks! Hannah is having some teeth issues of her own and Monday was a LONG day for all of us! Hannah just wasn't herself and the only thing I can contribute it to was a molar that I saw coming in. She had her fingers in her mouth all day and chewed on Alice Anne's teethers. She's a little better now but is still complaining of her teeth hurting. All these teeth are seriously going to give me lots of wrinkles!!!


A few recent pictures...

Last week Hannah and I made cookies to take down to the new neighbors. She was so excited to deliver them and when we were putting them in the basket, she decided that we needed to take cookies to everyone else she could think of as well. So, the mailman got cookies, the yardman got cookies, our next door neighbors got cookies, the people that live in our old house got cookies and our old next door neighbors got cookies. She was so proud as she loaded all of them up in the wagon. She colored a picture to put on every one's bag of cookies and she loved using the hole punch to punch a hole in her picture.

A new game that the girls have to see who can drink the most water out of the faucet in the bathtub. They die laughing at themselves every single time.

Hannah getting ready to start back to school...she LOVES this new "getting ready to read" book that Granddaddy gave her at Alice Anne's party. I wish I had a picture of the whole table because she always strategically puts all of her babies in the other chairs at the table.

Alice Anne isn't trying to walk on her own at all yet, but she loves walking behind this little walker. She is NOT into shoes at all! I'm lucky if they stay on for an entire minute!!

This morning Hannah and I had our little "date." Before going to the mall, we took daddy's car to get the oil changed and walked over to Sonic while they were working on it.

Hannah's order: "a limeade with a bowl of 3 cherries and a diet coke for my mommy, please"

She pulled out her wallet and her "credit card" that she made. She looked at me and asked as seriously as ever, "mommy, do they take amep (amex)??" Has she really heard me say that?

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Happy Birthday to the BEST daddy and husband in the whole world!! Hope you had the best birthday! We love you so, so, so much! Thank you for all that you do for us!

Daddy with his girls on their favorite toy--the golf cart. They go on golf cart rides every single day to one of their favorite neighborhood parks or to the creek to go "fishing" and the girls LOVE it!!!

La La Photography

Check out Kelly's photography blog for a sneak peak at the awesome work she did with the girls this morning. I love, love, love the pictures!! Kelly, thank you so much! You did an awesome job...as always!! I can't wait to have them hanging in our house!

http://lala-photography.blogspot.com/

HANNAH

Since I am the world's worst at putting together baby books, this blog is our girl's virtual baby book. I plan on having it printed and bound every year to keep for the girls. I started this after both girls entered our lives and I want to at least include their birth stories, highlights of Hannah's 1st year and pictures. I'm also going to try to come and do a post for Hannah's 1st birthday. So, you might want to skip this post...as I am simply posting for my documentation.

Hannah was born on December 20, 2006 at 7:04 p.m. and weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. She was a perfect little baby and I loved every second of labor! Although my pregnancy wasn't an easy one, I loved being pregnant...loved it!! After having a miscarriage before Hannah, I was so fortunate to be introduced to my doctor, Dr. Ehmer. He is one of the only doctors in Dallas that will do certain testing on you after only one miscarriage. Most doctors wait until you have 3 failed pregnancies to do the tests. Luck for us, he did the blood tests and quickly discovered that I have antiphospholipid syndrome, a disorder that causes blood clots and pregnancy-related complications such as miscarriages and stillbirths. So, I was put on a blood thinner and had to give myself shots in my stomach twice a day through the entire pregnancy-something I was more than happy to do! Due to the syndrome, I was scheduled for an induction at 38 weeks. So, the day came and we showed up at labor and delivery at Baylor Hospital in Dallas at 6a.m. Brett was THE BEST "labor coach" I could have ever asked for!!! He was awesome!!! Everyone came for our sweet pea's birth...Jammy, Papa, Gigi, Grandpop, Aunt Sarah, and Aunt Mary. After she was born, she had some trouble nursing and screamed and screamed for the longest time. I remember looking up at Brett and he had this look on his face like, "what have we gotten ourselves into!" She finally got the hang of it and we were able to cuddle with our sweet little baby. We went home on the 22nd and had a couple of days to adjust before having all of my family and Brett's family over for Christmas dinner. It was so much fun!! It was such a fun Christmas with a sweet little newborn!

Much to our dismay, we discovered at about 3 weeks old that Hannah had colic!!! After trying to diagnose her with acid reflux and everything else we could possibly blame her uncontrollable crying on, my pediatrician said she thought it was just colic and there was nothing we could do about it. I remember I just sat there and cried and cried!! Did I have it in me...was I going to be able to handle a baby with colic? Brett had a very demanding job AND was right in the middle of going to school full-time to get his MBA. He was in class every Friday and Saturday and had to study at nights and on the weekend when he wasn't working, so, until graduation, I was pretty much on my own. I was ok with that, because I knew it was temporary, and I knew he was doing it for his family...but I also knew it would be a challenge!! Looking back, I'm so glad that he did it when he did because Hannah didn't know the difference. Now both girls have their daddy when he's not working now and they adore him!! I was in Waco many, many weekends during that time!! My mom would take over and walk the crying baby around and stand in front of the running faucet with her!!! The day time was fine, but around 4:00 was when it all started. We lived in a 2,400 sf house at the time and there wasn't much room to go and hide a screaming baby from a studying daddy. But we managed and just laugh about it now. The colic subsided at around 6 months, although we still had a high maintenance baby until 11 or 12 months. I wouldn't trade a second of that tough year for anything...if that's what it took to get the sweet, loving, caring little girl that we have now, it was worth every penny!!

I nursed Hannah until she was almost 7 months. I loved feeding time, as it was our quiet time together. Once she stopped crying at night and went to sleep, she was a great sleeper, but an early riser. I can't really remember, but I think she started sleeping through the night at about 2 months and then she would wake up between 5:30-6:15 and get in bed with us and play. We loved that time in the morning when she was so happy! When she was about 6 months old, I started making oatmeal with peaches in it every morning and Brett and Hannah would lay in bed and eat it together. Hannah was a great eater! Tomatoes were always her favorite and she loved any kind of fruit.

Hannah had her fair share of ear infections as a baby. By 14 months, she had had 5, so in April of 2008 we had tubes put in. Those tubes are miracles!!! She was a different child and we never had an ear infection after that! Hannah started walking when she was 15 months but it took her several weeks for her to become confident on her feet. I wish I had more documented on when she started talking and what she was saying because I really can't remember specifics.

During Hannah's first 1 1/2 years, Brett and I were fortunate to have great parents that kept her while I tagged along on many of Brett's business trips. Hannah got to spend a lot of time in both Waco and Graham while Brett and I went to California, Paris, London, Portugal and China. It was a great time for us, but I remember leaving her for the 1st time when she was 6 months old and we went to a wedding in Tahoe. I didn't think I was going to make it to the airport...I just balled my eyes out...and it didn't get any easier telling her good-bye on any of the other trips either. Going to China was the hardest because we were going to be gone for 2 full weeks and we wouldn't be able to call home very often to get updates.

I'm going to have to come back and post her birth pictures. They wouldn't load for some reason. I've posted several from her 1st Christmas and then 1 from each month up until I started the blog.

Hannah's 1st Christmas

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008
July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008