Hannah at *almost* 20 months

I've been meaning to document some of Hannah's cuteness during this "year-and-a-half" golden age.  I remember with my first two thinking that about 18 months was one of my favorite ages, but Hannah is definitely making me re-evaluate that!  She is definitely cuter every day, talking more and more and getting more verbal, but this girl is into EVERYTHING!  She has learned to climb on kitchen chairs, which leads to the kitchen table.  Just tonight she found a caramel Dove chocolate piece on the table, unwrapped it, took a bite and said, "Mmmmm...mama!"  (Smart girl!)

She also climbs on the basket next to the laptop where she pulls down tissue and pens and anything else she can destroy.  She loves to get in the drawers in the bathroom and pull everything out and eat her toothpaste.  She climbs on the chair in her bedroom to get to the changing table to play with the lotion and the nose-sucker.  Tonight Chris found her sitting on the 2nd story of Claire's doll house, but we didn't get the camera back there in time.  It is exhausting chasing after her, but when she's not into everything, she is such a sweetheart!

She loves to do cute things on command, like wink...


or do touchdown arms or give kisses. She gives sweet hugs and kisses to stuffed animals and dolls.



She knows the sounds/signs for several animals, including elephant, monkey, horse, cow, dog, cat, rabbit, and probably a few others I'm forgetting at the moment.

While I in no way expect her to potty train anytime soon, she definitely is aware of her toilet needs. She often tells me before she poops in her diaper, and one day while sitting on the big potty she actually pooped in the toilet! Santa brought her a little potty for Christmas, and at least once or twice a day she comes and tells me "poop", mostly because she loves for me to strip her from the waist down and let her play in the bathroom. She won't sit still long enough to do anything on her little potty though so it might eventually get hidden and we can go back to using the big potty. We'll see, no rush!! I hate potty training!


She is such a good baby. Everyone who keeps her in nursery and her teacher at school say they've never heard her cry. She definitely knows how to turn on the water works when she's not getting something she wants. She stomps her feet and buries her head in whatever floor or cushion is nearby, trying to let me know that she is MAD about whatever it is.

She has also learned to tattle!! She will come crying to me "Bubba BOW" if Aaron was messing with her bow. Or "Bubba hat" if he pulled off her hat. Or "Bubba arm" if he hurt her arm. (Notice a trend??) A few days ago her friend Lilli was playing at our house and they had a couple of spoons (which Hannah got out of the silverware drawer which she can now reach!). Lilli took Hannah's from her and Hannah told me "Hannah 'poon" trying to get me to make Lilli give it back. I can't believe the tattling has already started!

Well, I could go on and on but that's probably a good update!

15 1/2 months

Hannah is now 15 1/2 months old, and is cuter than ever! She is so very sweet and changes so much every day it seems.

She is walking everywhere. It seems like it happened overnight. We really had to bribe her to take a step or two at first, and then during the last week of August she started walking across the room unprompted. She is so proud of being able to walk and seems to prefer it to crawling now.




She has the cutest smile! She has 8 teeth, and they've been there for a while. I guess before long she'll start getting more, but I haven't seen any signs of them.


She eats like a horse! Some days she eats more than Aaron and Claire. She eats like a big kid now--pizza, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, cheese slices, smoothies, bread, oatmeal, yogurt, crackers, Nilla wafers, and even hummus are some of her favorites.  She'll eat most things, except green vegetables.  But we're still trying!

Who would think that one piece of chocolate chip cookie would be so messy??





She has a big sister and brother who love her so much. She is so sweet to them, even when they aggravate her. She gives them unsolicited hugs and kisses. When Claire is whiny or crying-which is alot!-she will go to her and kiss her cheek or lay her head on Claire. So very sweet!

She is so aware of what is going on. She seems to understand everything! She even likes to help with chores! Putting away silverware with Aaron or Claire, or handing me laundry to fold, or closing the dishwasher or dryer...she just likes to be involved. She understands basic commands like "Take the remote to Daddy" or "Bring Mommy the phone" or "Go give Aaron a kiss" or "Go get a book for Mommy" or "Go play in your house". It is so cute to see her follow through with what we told her. I'm treasuring this time when she is obedient without questioning! I know it will end soon enough!




She is into everything! Drawers, toilets, cabinets, purses, backpacks, bookshelves... I'm sure she thinks "No no" is my favorite word.


She LOVES books. That is one of her favorite words! She is fond of Goodnight Moon and In My House and Splish Splash and Five Silly Monkeys, and many others.  She recognizes the pages and does whatever motions or sounds we normally do on that page.  It's so cute when we get to the quiet old lady whispering "hush" in Goodnight Moon, and she puts her little finger to her mouth to say hush.  When we saw a bunny rabbit in a completely different book yesterday, she put her finger on her lips as if to tell me it was the same as the rabbit in Goodnight Moon!  Today she started telling me "mow" when I asked her what a kitty cat says.  So I think that's her first animal sound to learn! 

I just love this age, when they learn so much every day and can communicate it back to you.  I don't want her to get any bigger!!  But I know every age coming up has it's treasured moments.  I'm just treasuring every day with my sweet Hannah Rose.

Off to 1st grade

Yesterday Aaron started 1st grade.  It just sounds so weird to say I have a first grader!  I actually remember many things from 1st grade. 

(My teacher at Thames Elementary in Hattiesburg was Mrs. Anderson, and there was a girl named Carrie in my class who always copied off of me, but Mrs. Anderson would always tell me to just cover my paper!  That drove me nuts!!  I also vividly remember field day, and doing the three-legged race and getting a wooden nickel "medal".  Fun times!)

Anyway, Aaron was very excited to go.  He is using an individual desk this year, instead of shared tables they used in Kindergarten.  He is in class with one boy from last year, Ethan, and he was very excited about that.  (I remember that his K teacher told me that Ethan and Aaron were the top readers in her class, so I expected to see Ethan placed in the advanced class as well.)  He sat next to Ethan at lunch on the first day, and he said Ethan sits directly behind him.  Aaron told me he can earn "Armadillo dollars" for good behavior, and one of the things they can buy with their dollars is a new desk, so he is already planning to save up $40 Armadillo dollars to move to the desk next to Ethan!  It thrills me to see him making a friend!!  Back in the spring when I chaperoned the K field trip to the zoo, Ethan and Aaron were in my group so we toured the zoo as a trio.  I liked Ethan, and I think he and Aaron could be good friends.

Here is Aaron with his sweet little sister, on the first morning of school.


This picture just cracks me up! Claire is striking her little sassy pose, and Aaron is making a goofy smile. So typical of these little best friends.

We went as a family to walk Aaron to school on the first day. Here he is going into his classroom!


And sitting at his big kid desk!


And giving his sister bye-kisses. I'm guessing this is the last year for that!


Of course when Aaron got home he was a squirmy worm, bouncing all over the couch while telling me what he could remember about his day.  He LOVES rules so the first days of school where that is all they go over are very fun for him!  After we talked for a bit, he retreated to his room and played quietly with his Legos for a while!

Hannah at 14 months

I can't believe my baby is 14 months old!  I know I say that all the time, but the time really is flyin.  I never posted her 1 year stats, and I don't remember them all but I know she was 17 lbs and some ounces...close to 18 but not quite.  She's my smallest 1 year old!  The other two were about 18 lbs at age 1.  When she had her 1 year checkup she was just coming off of a week-long illness (roseola) that had her appetite way down.  I weighed her a couple of weeks after her appt and she was at least half a pound heavier.  So we're gonna say 18 lbs is the one-year weight!!  Height...well, I don't remember.  Poor third baby!  All I know is she's petite!  The doctor told us to give her as much fat as she wants.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do that?

She is still not walking, but in the last couple of weeks she has learned to stand unassisted.  Just this week she learned to stand up in the middle of a room, without pulling up.  She is so proud when she does it, but she won't take a step forward! 

Hannah loves music--she claps when she hears certain songs in the car, and she's learning the itsy bitsy spider! 

She loves to eat, although she's getting pickier.  She won't always eat banana like she used to (maybe she got tired of it?), but she LOVES cheese.  She likes bread and pizza and blueberries and will sometimes eat sweet potatoes.  Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to feed her.  She's definitely done with baby food though, so that's somewhat of a relief.  I like being able to put her dinner on her tray and she just eats it!  I discovered last week that she likes baba gannouj, a middle eastern chickpea/eggplant dip I had found on markdown at Kroger.  It was soooo good on wheat thins, so I put some on a Ritz for Hannah and she gobbled it up!  So funny!

She's officially weaned now, as of a few days ago.  It was bittersweet to nurse my (more than likely) last baby for the last time.  I was ready to be done, and she was fine with milk from a sippy cup.  Maybe now Mom and Dad can get away for a night or two??? 

Hannah is into EVERYTHING.  Sometimes I wonder why we even have toys.  She goes from the computer table to the magazine pile to the video cabinet to the toilet paper drawer to the pantry to the crayon drawers.  It's just non-stop keeping her out of stuff!  She has one cabinet in the kitchen we allow her in, and sometimes she goes nuts in there!



(Do you think her hair will be red??)

Busted!!




She's been introduced to the 4-wheeler. She loves going for rides!


Aaron just ADORES her.


And of course, Claire does too!


It's good to have a big sister!




She's also learned how to say lots of things.  She says lots of things that sound like they're supposed to be words, but alot of times we don't know what she's saying.  Sometimes it sounds like she says something very clearly, but I think she's too young to say those things!  Like "I tried" or "hold that" or "I want that".  She definitely says Mama, Dada, all done, bathtime and book.  She is doing well with her signing.  She signs book, eat, all done, blueberries, milk, bathtime, diaper change, swing, and probably a few more I'm forgetting.  She made up her own sign for "brush teeth" (she puts her finger in her mouth like she's brushing her teeth and grunts at us).  She loves to brush her teeth!!  (Speaking of teeth she has eight now!  Four on top and four on bottom.)

She's had another ear infection this summer, and her pediatrician referred her to the ENT.  The ENT wants to do tubes, but said we could wait a while if we want, so right now we're waiting to see how she does once cold season sets in.  I think tubes are in her future, probably before the end of the year. 

So that's a wrap on my baby, who is STILL my baby even though she's getting to be a big girl.  We love you Hannah Rose!!

Hannah is ONE!

I can hardly believe I've had my sweet, precious third baby for a whole year now. She went from this tiny little bundle in my arms at the hospital to a destructo-baby crawling through our entire house in just the span of a short year. I can hardly believe how she has changed, and how quickly the year has gone by.

In the last month, she has learned how to do the traditional hands-and-knees crawl, and she pulls up on furniture all the time. She still hasn't taken any steps and I don't look for her to do that any time soon. She has figured out that standing up can get her into many different things, like the shoe baskets and magazine rack. One of her favorite things to get into is the diaper bag. She loves anything she can empty out, like boxes of cereal bars or entire cabinets of dishes. I gave her an old purse with a bunch of random items in it, but she doesn't like it as much as the actual forbidden items. She is not easily fooled.

Her birthday was on a Wednesday, so I invited our family over for dinner that night. I also invited Lilli and her family, because I wanted one of her friends to come! I had a busy week with Aaron's end-of-year activities, so our favorite babysitter Carolina came over Wednesday afternoon to help me clean the house and finish the cake!





Hannah's cake was not a traditional first birthday "kiddie" design. With her elegant name, I wanted her to have an elegant cake, in her signature colors of pink and brown.


It's a banana cake (Hannah's favorite!) with chocolate buttercream and cream cheese buttercream on the inside, topped with pink marshmallow fondant and decorated with chocolate fudge icing. It was remarkably good!





When guests started to arrive it was still muddy in the backyard from afternoon rains, so we had to have the party inside. It got a bit crazy with all the kids running around, but we managed!









Sweet Lilli!


Here's Aaron conducting the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday".




It didn't take Hannah long to flip her cake over and start digging the cake out of the fondant shell.






She was sucking her fingers clean!


"I can't believe they are letting me do this."


Soon she picked it up and gnawed on the fondant.










And this picture says it all...


After a quick bath and change of clothes, it was time for presents. That bag is almost bigger than her!


I got Hannah baby food for her birthday...she has so many toys (hand-me-down) and most of them are never played with, so I didn't really want to add to the clutter here.


Look at all her "assistants".








Hannah with my Uncle Ed.


And with Granny and Brooke.




We love you sweet Hannah Rose! Happy First Birthday!