Sweet Hannah is 8 months old

Can you believe it? Hannah is already 8 months old. She is changing so much and learning so much every day. Her favorite new thing? CHEERIOS. She could eat her weight in Cheerios. She gets so excited when she sees the big yellow box coming out of the pantry. It cracks me up when she's eating one because she chews and chews and chews each one and I swear she must be burning more calories eating one Cheerio than what she's getting from it! She has also learned how to play peek-a-boo. I got this sweet video of her doing it late this evening.

She is very distractable these days. I have to nurse her in her bedroom with the door closed to make sure she eats well. If she hears the big kids she will turn and try to find them. She gets so excited when she first sees them after a nap or first thing in the morning. It seems she loves them as much as they love her!

After her bad ear infection in December and our early January battle with thrush, she amazed us with a little language explosion. She doesn't really say actual words...just "dada"...but we moms know that doesn't really mean "Daddy". No word she says actually means anything until she says "Mama" because we know that's what she was trying to say all along, right? He he he... Anyway, she babbles alot these days, just talking to herself and sometimes she carries on what sounds like a conversation with you. I caught a video of it one afternoon.

She also likes to click her tongue, and if you do it to her, she'll start doing it back to you. It's so neat to watch her start to communicate, even if it isn't actual words. I can tell there are certain words she understands, like "Cheerio" and "nurse" and "diaper change" and even "night night".

She's not crawling yet, but I've noticed the last few days she's been leaning way forward and even getting one leg around behind her (sometimes making her fall over which makes her very mad). She reaches for things that are out of her reach, so I know the idea of moving herself is crossing her mind. I think I might find some super glue for her bottom because I really don't want her to start crawling yet! Not my baby!

Snow day!

School started back for Aaron on Tuesday, January 5th. Only two days later he was out for two days for SNOW! It wasn't much--barely a dusting--but they cancel school for the slightest bit of icy precipitation around here. In fact, when they cancelled school the 2nd day, it wasn't even snowing or icy roads or anything...it was just COLD. We're talking single digits cold...so apparently they decided it was Friday and it was too cold for us thin-skinned Southerners to get out, so we all got to stay home again. I thought I was going to go nuts!!

After breakfast that first morning, and after Hannah went down for her first nap, we bundled up and went outside to play for a little bit. I didn't attempt to take Hannah out in it (did I mention it was COLD?), so I don't have pictures of her in any of the snow.


Isn't Claire beautiful?


Aaron found a fun activity.


Then he made a snow angel. Claire didn't want to try.


Here he is drawing in the angel's head, since his head didn't make much of an impression in the snow.


Then we headed to the backyard to play.




They loved wiping the snow off of everything.




And of course, once we were too cold to play outside anymore, we had HOT CHOCOLATE!


We didn't attempt a snowman, because, well, did you see how much snow there was? Not really enough to make it worth our time. I hate cold weather, but I do hope we get at least one decent snow this winter so we can have a little more fun in the snow. Plus I need a picture of Hannah in her snowsuit crying in the snow...like this one of Claire.


Cruel, eh?

Hannah swinging

What a glorious day we've had today! It's 60 degrees in January, and we are enjoying every second of it! Aaron is out of school today for MLK Day, and my company was closed as well, so we've had a day OFF. We stayed outside for over 4 hours, going from one park to another to meet friends to play. We even had lunch at McDonalds...a rare treat! I forgot my camera, but snapped a pic with my camera phone of sweet Hannah enjoying the swing at the playground. She loved the swing. When she slowed to a stop she would kick her legs asking me to swing her again. So sweet!

Poppy visits for New Year's!

Poppy came to visit for New Year's. He never stays in town long...just long enough to check on the children and eat a meal or two. But we enjoyed his visit!


He's sporting his new "Poppy" hat I had made for him for Christmas. Six star Poppy, beacuse he has six grandchildren.

He calls Claire his Baby Cakes and Hannah is now his Baby Doll. They are his only granddaughters and he thinks they are precious.

His girlfriend Marilyn (dubbed Mae-Mae by my nephews) visited with Poppy. We always enjoy talking about books and making fun of the funny things Dad says.


Like the time Poppy was talking about a woman he saw who was frail and sickly, and he said, "She looked so emancipated." He meant emaciated!

Or when he told Marilyn he was putting a "hibiscus" on something. He meant "hiatus".

Or when he teasingly told Marilyn he was going to come across the counter and "plummet" her. He meant "pummel".

I'm going to start recording these slip-ups for posterity!

Hannah...lucky number 7

Hannah is 7 months old now! She is really hitting a stage where she changes so much from day to day. She is learning so much. It's hard to believe that just a few short months ago she was a completely helpless little newborn, and now she sits up by herself, grabs toys and puts them in her mouth, eats solid foods, and even babbles a little.

December was a rough month for Hannah, with two diagnosed ear infections (which really means it was one ear infection that never really went away). She's now a patient at the ENT who treats the older two. I'm hoping I can get some sort of bulk discount with him. I would not be surprised if she ends up with tubes in the near future. The antibiotics the ENT prescribed just before Christmas cleared up her infection really well, and she started smiling and laughing again. I realized she had not really been happy for very long in several weeks. However, the antibiotics gave her thrush, which she passed along to me, so now we're battling nursing issues. It's just one thing after another!

But this sweet girl is worth it!

Look how well she sits!

I really like playing with my camera. It's nice to have a willing subject again. The big kids jump around too much!


Speaking of big kids, they are Hannah's biggest fans. They seriously love her soooo much. When she's sleeping, they beg for her to be awake. They want her to be with them in everything they do. I had worried that Aaron and Claire's close comraderie would be hard for a third child to break into, but they cannot wait until Hannah is able to run and play with them!


Look at the happy smiles!




She has learned to blow raspberries and click her tongue. It's so cute.


She was doing this to make us laugh.




And she laughed too.


Again?


Poppy got her some rubber ducks for Christmas and she likes them.


She's not crawling yet, and she's not really trying to. But I think once she tries, she'll be off in no time! I am not rushing that milestone at all...my life will be so much more difficult once she's crawling! Look at all the junk the big kids leave laying around that we will have to be diligent to keep picked up! I'll also have to get a baby gate for the kids' room. They keep Legos and small Barbie stuff and marbles laying around all the time. That room will just be off-limits to Hannah for a while--I can't take away all of their toys!


Bathtime is one of her favorite times! She sits up in her bathtub now, and once I even let her sit in the big tub. She gets so excited when we go in the bathroom and I start running the water. It's cute to see her anticipate what is coming next.




Boo!

Bathtub Babies

Aaron, almost 7 months:


Claire, 6 months:


Hannah, 7 months: