Last Week

Last week Bert had the opportunity to go to Nicaragua with a team from our church to minister to the sweet people down there.  They had a great trip!  He came back with stories, pictures and a burden to go back soon...

The girls and I decided we would take a trip to Toccoa while he was out of the country.  We spent time with Mimi, Papa, Aunt Katherine, Uncle Brett, Jacob and Uncle Stanley....fun fun!  

We had playdates with Katherine and Jacob every day. Jacob plays well with both Emily and Hannah and it is so fun to watch.  Emily and Jacob like to push the shopping cart around, dance to music...Jacob and Hannah like to chase each other while crawling around, play with blocks....good times with their cousin!  

On Tuesday we decided to go to story time at the Stephens County Library.  Katherine and Jacob go every week and they love it!  I had to wake Hannah up from her morning nap so that we could make it, but it was worth it.  The lady that does the story time each week is AMAZING!!!  I was so impressed with how well she kept the kids attention!  They also sang songs and danced!  Not long after it started Emily stood up and walked up to the front to inform the lady doing the story time that she has a boo-boo...she also showed her where it was.  Ha!  My face definitely got a little red, but all the parents just chuckled and no one seemed to mind.:)  Katherine said those cute little interruptions happen all the time.

Here they are about to sing a song and do hand motions...all the big kids were standing in the front of the room...that's Em on the far left in the picture below.  It's crazy that Emily is a "big kid!" 

My mom works right across the street from the library so she took her lunch break during story time.  Hannah wasn't missing a thing! 

Happy girl!  

Aunt Patti stopped by to visit and bring Hannah a birthday present.  She gave her this fun tunnel!  Hannah loves it....she just goes back and forth....smiling the whole time of course.  I know the picture below is a little blurry, but I liked it!  

My parents have 2 stairs right off of their kitchen that lead up to the landing that you see in the picture below.  All three kids LOVE these stairs.  They would rather be playing on these two stairs than any where else in the house. If they take off crawling or walking somewhere just know they're heading for these stairs.  The only problem is that Hannah and Jacob are absolutely fearless and would literally dive off the top stair head first if we weren't there to catch them.  Jacob is doing better with them than Hannah, but still can't be totally trusted on them.  So, hopefully in another year these stairs will no longer be a danger zone.:)  

Here they are on their beloved stairs....

Thursday morning we headed over to play at the Sanders' house.  The train table that Jacob got for Christmas is always a big hit!  

Hannah getting tickled by Papa!  

Emily playing with Mimi!  

The morning we were leaving I was upstairs packing our bags and Mom was downstairs in the kitchen with the girls.  She was washing dishes and decided to let Hannah pull out everything in her lazy susan.  Haha...this is what I found when I came down the stairs.  I had to grab my camera.:) 

Things you only get to do at Mimi's house....:)  

We were so thankful that Bert was able to take part in the mission trip to Nicaragua and that we were able to spend time with my family.  It was a great week, but we were SO excited about seeing Bert on Saturday night!  He got in about 1:30am, so the girls were asleep, but he made sure go and give them a kiss and check on them as soon as he walked in the door.  He missed his girls, and we missed him!:)  

Hannah - 1 year Update

Hannah had a great 1 year check-up!  She weighed 23 lbs and 4 oz and was in the 82nd percentile for her weight.  She was 29 inches tall and was in the 48th percentile for her height.  We're so thankful for our healthy, happy one year old.  

Hannah's favorites at 1 year:  

Food:  Bananas, yogurt, green beans, cheese, puffs, ham, mandarin oranges, peaches

Movies:  Baby Signing Time

Books:  Peek-a-boo books...especially "Peek-A-Who"

Activities:  Looking at/reading books, playing in their play kitchen, copying Emily, clapping

Words she can say:  Mama, Dada, Night night (nigh, nigh), Hey! 

Sleeping Habits at 1 year:  

-Takes 2 naps a day - about 1 1/2 hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon

-It usually takes her about 2 minutes to fall asleep each time we lay her down

-She sleeps 11-12 hours at night.....almost never wakes up in the middle of the night.  

-She sleeps with her bunny and a sound machine that sounds like rain

Things I treasure about our 1 year old:  

-She is a very happy and content child.

-She's a good eater - she is pretty much happy with anything we give her.  

-She has a stubborn streak.  Last week I stopped bottles and started giving her all her liquids in sippy cups.  Hannah didn't appreciate the change and has let me know it by clamping her mouth down tight any time I tried to give her the cup.  It's been just over a week and she's starting to do better, but I'm still counting ounces to try to make sure she's getting enough to keep her hydrated.  

-Her adorable dimple, beautiful blue eyes, and long eye lashes.:)  

-She loves it when Daddy tickles her! 

-Any sound or movement that we make, Hannah can and usually will copy.  It's impressive. 

-She loves music...she starts bouncing up and down.

-She LOVES it when Daddy comes home from work.  She crawls straight to him saying "Hey ... Dada" and pulls up on his leg.  She gives a warm welcome for sure. 

-She's learning to walk.  She can take about 10 steps at a time.  

-She doesn't let her big sister push her around.:)  There once was a day when Hannah would let Emily take toys right out of her hand, but that day is no more.  If Em even tries to mess with her you hear Hannah screeching ...LOUD!  

-She likes to climb.  So far she isn't able to climb up high enough to really make me nervous, but I have a feeling the day will come.:) 

-She's independent.  I often find her playing happily by herself in the playroom.  

-She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth!!  I will not be sad when this phase is over.  

-She loves her Bunny.  She doesn't get out of the crib without it and she holds it for awhile after she wakes up.  Tonight we said...."Hannah, go get your bunny."  She looked around the room and then took off crawling across the room to go get her.  Sweet girl!  

Hannah: Month by Month

  

Valentine's Date Night

Tuesday, Feb 12th Bert and I got to go on a date night for Valentine's Day!  A big thanks to Lesley for coming over to watch the girls for us!  We've decided that from now on we'll celebrate Valentine's Day on some day other than the 14th.  We both want that day to be all about celebrating Hannah and making her feel so special and loved.  It's actually a win-win....we get to miss all the crowds and we get to be with our baby on her birthday.:)  

So, Tuesday night we went to Outback and then to get some ice cream.  We had a great night just being together!  I'm so thankful for my husband and best friend!  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Other Weekend Activities

Hannah's birthday party wasn't the only thing we did last weekend! Saturday afternoon we decided to take the girls to the park.  It was a beautiful day and we just couldn't sit inside!  

Carrie and Emily playing on the slide.  Emily loves her Aunt Carrie!  A few minutes after we dropped Carrie off at the airport on Sunday Emily spotted an airplane.  She pointed to it and said "LOOK!  There is Aunt Carrie!!"  Carrie probably hadn't had time to check-in, but Emily was so excited we didn't disagree with her.:)  

Hannah swinging!  Please notice her hair blowing in the wind.  It's coming in!  

The girls also enjoyed Aunt Carrie reading them lots of books!

Hanging out with Pawpaw!  

Hannah looking adorable!  She gets on and off this doggie about 250 times per day.:) 

Snuggles from Grandmama!  I don't have a picture of Emily and Grandmama from this trip, but just know that Emily was attached to Grandmama's hip.  She wanted to eat beside Grandmama, she wanted only Grandmama to take her to the potty, she wanted Grandmama to put her to bed...you get the idea.  Emily and Grandmama were soooo sad that they had to leave each other!  We're thankful for FaceTime!  

It was a fun birthday weekend, and we're so thankful for all the family and friends that were able to come join in the fun!

First Cake

It's funny how different the girls responded to their first cake. Emily literally went face first into hers, and Hannah took a little more ladylike approach.:)

Hannah took a minute or so to just look the cake over before she got started.  Then, she slowly started eating the icing.  She preferred the pink icing, but would eat either.:)  Here she is thinking about what to do with this thing that we set in front of her.  

She got the hang of it, although I don't think she ever made it past the icing.  The icing is my favorite part too, so I definitely can't say anything.:)  

Happy girl!  

I am pretty sure she would have kept eating the icing all afternoon.  We finally had to pull it away from her (which she didn't appreciate), so that she didn't make herself sick:)  

Welcome to the wonderful world of sweets, Hannah!:)  We love you!!!

Hannah's 1st Birthday Party

We decided to have Hannah's party the weekend before her birthday.  Party day (Saturday) started early. Trying to work around nap times, etc., I decided to have the party at 10am.  The night before, as I was thinking about everything we needed to do in the AM, I decided that maybe next time an afternoon party might be best.:)  Everything actually went beautifully though...we had lots of family willing to jump in and help with whatever!  

Here are a few pictures of some of the party decorations..

This picture is a little bit hard to see, but we hung up pictures of Hannah from each month of her life.  It was fun for everyone to see how much she's changed over the past year.  

Food table...

Smash cake! (More pictures of Hannah digging into this in the next post.)

My sister-in-law makes amazing cakes, and she had planned on making the big cake and the smash cake.  Alison and Stephen live in Wake Forest and they were going to be driving into town early Saturday morning.  On Thursday night Alison called to let us know that she had come down with a bad case of strep throat (she had a temp of 103, etc.)...so they wouldn't be able to come to the party and she wouldn't be able to make the cakes.  We, of course, totally understood!  

As soon as I got off the phone with Alison I started trying to think of a plan B.  I texted my good friend, Jennifer, who has lived in G'ville her whole life, and asked her if she knew of anyone that made cute children's cakes.  To make a long story short...Jennifer had a good friend that makes cakes, Lauren.  Lauren and Jennifer saved the day!!  Lauren made this adorable ladybug cake and had it delivered to us in less than 24 hours.  I can't say thank you enough!  This cake couldn't be any cuter...Lauren is definitely one talented lady.  

The back of the cake...

Family picture.  The girls don't look overly happy, but they really were having a good time.:)  

Opening presents...

Hannah got a swing from Bert and me for her birthday.  All the kids were pretty excited about it and took turns swinging!  

Roberts family photo...

We also had a bubbles station.  I think Hannah had already gone down for a nap at this point....all the excitement wore my baby out!  

Group picture!

It was a fun party!  Thanks so much to everyone for coming!  Carrie (Bert's sister) wins the award for coming the farthest distance....she flew in for the weekend from California.:) We had a great time and so enjoyed celebrating our Hannah!  Happy 1st Birthday, sweet girl!  

Finally Here!

Hannah's first tooth is finally here!! It broke through on Jan 28th...she was about 11 1/2 months!:)  I decided that I wanted to try to get a picture of it, but that's harder to do than you might think.  

I kept making her laugh, and she wouldn't let me get close enough to see that tooth!  

I'm super excited about her teeth coming in, but I'm pretty sure I'll miss her adorable gummy smile.:)  

  

I finally got it!  You may have to zoom in, or get out a magnifying glass, or squint, or you can just trust me....but it's broken through!!  Go Hannah!  

I can't look at the picture above without smiling...she makes me happy!  I love her beautiful eyes, adorable dimple, and scrunched up nose.  I could just eat her up!:)  I can't believe this cutie is turning one in less than two weeks!