Hannah - 15 months

Hannah had a great 15 month check-up!  She weighed 24 lbs 9 oz and was in the 76th percentile for her weight.  She was 31 inches long and was in the 66th percentile for her height.  She really didn't appreciate any of the nurses'/doctors' efforts to check her out.  She was very serious during the entire appointment.  She cried several times to let them know she didn't appreciate what they were doing, but then would quickly calm back down as soon as they finished (weighing her, etc.).:)  

Hannah's Favorite's at 15 months:  

Food:  Cheese, bread, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, etc. 

Movies: Baby Signing Time  

Books: She loves them...all!  She brings me books all the time and then will turn around and sit down in my lap so that I can read it to her.  

Activities:  Dancing, reading books, taking baths, playing with Em, feeding herself

Words she can say: Mama, Dada, Emmy ("Mem-me"), shoes, baby, juice, yay, up, hey, bye, Mimi, Papa, night-night, uh-oh (her favorite), poopy

Sleeping Habits at 15 months: 

-Hannah takes 1 or 2 naps a day.  She will usually take 2 naps if we are at home for her to fit in 2 naps, but she can easily get by on 1.  

-She sleeps 11-12 hours at night...almost never wakes up.

-She sleeps with her bunny...she must have her bunny!:)  One night a few weeks ago we couldn't find her bunny and had to put her to bed without it.  She screamed for an hour until we found it and then went right to sleep as soon as it was in her arms.  Note to self:  Get a backup bunny, pronto. 

Things I treasure about my 15 month old:

-She has 4 teeth (top two middle, bottom two middle)

-She's getting more and more hair in, slowly but surely! 

-She's a very happy baby...smiles all the time.

-Loves her thumb.

-She gets so so excited when I pick her up from the nursery.  She pretty much throws a party for me every time I come to get her...squealing and jumping around.  Warms my heart every time.:)  

-She loves to be outside...taking walks in the wagon, playing in the yard, swinging.  

-She can point to her nose, ears, mouth, hair, feet,  and belly button.  

-If you ask her to point to her eyes she usually points to her nose...we don't have that down quite yet.  

-She loves music.  She especially loves to be held while we dance with her around the room.  

-She shakes her head "yes" and "no" when we ask her a question.  When we ask her a question she will answer "correctly" with the right shake of the head maybe 40% of the time.  She has an exaggerated shake of the head that is just too cute!!  

-Several times recently we've asked her if she's ready to take a bath (she loves bath time).  She'll start running for the bathtub, while shaking her head "no" and will stand beside the tub until you get in there to put her in.  

-Her favorite phrase these days is "uh-oh."  She says it anytime she or someone else drops something.  She drags out the ohhhh just a little and every time she says it I think to myself that I've never heard anything so cute.:)  

-She's learning to climb and can climb on a stool by herself. Scary for Mommy.

-She's quite the explorer.  She wanders into other rooms all day long, walks off when I'm trying to talk to someone at church, she's very busy checking out her surroundings and most definitely keeps me on my toes!    

-She and Emily are playing more and more together. 

-She loves my phone.  My phone is a flip phone so all she has to do is open it and she can press all the buttons she wants/make all the calls she wants.  I try to keep it out of her cute little hands, but she ends up with it more often then you might think.  

-Hannah loves to pull off all the books on their bookshelf.  It is absolutely unbelievable how fast she can do it.  She usually does it by herself, but this day she recruited her sissy to join in the fun! 

The other night she picked up Daddy's hat off the couch and put it on all by herself.  I snapped a picture of her as she ran by me.  Busy, busy I tell you.:)  

My cutie playing in the playroom.  She just looked like a big girl to me in the picture below.  

Happy 15 months, Hannah!  You make me smile....you're so full of life...learning new words every day, walking around with the cutest little walk, working hard to keep up with your big sister in all things, letting us know what you want and don't want, but then still wanting to be held by your Mommy and Daddy. Sign me up for snuggles with you anytime, anyplace.  We love you, we love you, we love you, Hannah Beth!:)  

Our Yard

Bert has done such a great job working in our yard over the last few months.  He's planted new shrubs in the front, flowers in the back, a beautiful rose bush (that he and the girls gave me for mother's day), and much more.  I know there is more that he wants to do, but he really is just doing such a great job!  I knew he would.  He has a green thumb (like his Mom and Grandmother) and he really enjoys working in the yard! 

 I love the azalea's along the side of our yard!  (And I love these two cuties in front of the azalea!)  

I had a perfect view of the azaleas from our bedroom windows.  Our house is to the left of the picture below.  Every morning I would open the blinds and they would literally make me happy every time I saw them throughout the day.  They were just beautiful. Now they're a little sad looking as all the blooms have died, but I enjoyed them while they lasted.  

This was on the other side of the house...I like the color of the flowers on this azalea.  

The previous owner had a garden back behind our fence.  We've talked about expanding our fence to make our yard bigger, but that's a project for another day.  Until that day, Bert decided that we would use the garden and enjoy getting fresh fruit and veggies all summer long.  He's planed green beans, lima beans, watermelon, tomatoes, zucchini  squash, cucumbers and cantaloupe!  

It was a good bit of work to get the ground ready to plant and then planted (this part of the yard was overgrown), but I'm thankful for all his hard work.  We can't wait until everything starts coming in!!  

Spend the Night Party

Last weekend I had the youth girls over for an old fashioned spend the night party.  Our girls spent the night at Mimi and Papa's and Bert was on a camping trip with the men from our church.  

We started out the night with a scavenger hunt through the neighborhood.  A big thanks to all of our friendly neighbors who helped the girls find all the items on their lists.:)  

We had a fun night of games, hanging out, eating yummy snacks, games, and more hanging out!  

Some of these girls were impressive with their Twister skills.  

In the picture below they were giving blind makeovers to each other.  Haha!  It was definitely fun to watch!! 

The finished product...

A big thanks to Melissa for all of her help....from sending out reminder texts to the girls, to planning games, to providing breakfast....I really appreciate it so much!  We had a fun night!  I love every chance I get to hang out with these beautiful young ladies!!!

Mother's Day - Hannah's Dedication, Emily Singing, and a walk in the park!!

Mother's Day 2013 was packed full of fun!  It really was a great day!  Emily's preschool choir sang two sweet songs about mom's.  She sang both songs this time and was very into it!  We were so proud of our girl.  At the end of their performance all the kids gave a rose to their mom.  The rose has been on our mantle all week and I've so enjoyed seeing it.  Yesterday during lunch several of the rose peddles started to fall.  Emily got this panicked look on her face and said "OH NO MOMMY....the flower is falling!!!  I'll have to (still in a very stressed voice) tell Mrs. Kristen when I go to choir so I can get another one!!!!!!"  

We also had Hannah's dedication at our church. We were saying in front of the church that we will raise her in a godly home.  The church was also saying that they would help in that process, which we are very thankful for, but it's ultimately our responsibility to disciple our children.  We're praying that Hannah would one day trust in Jesus and live her life to glorify His name!  

Side note:  Not long after the picture above was taken Hannah decided that she wanted to get down and walk around.  She never cried but she got a little fussy, especially during Pastor Paul's prayer.  She was working hard to shimmy out of my arms and seemed very frustrated that I didn't understand what she wanted.  Ha!

Me and my girls!

My mom and our girls!  I truly believe that I have the best mom in the world.  I just can say how thankful I am for her! 

My mom and dad came over to Greenville for the aforementioned activities. We ate a wonderful Mother's Day lunch that my mom made (she still spoils me, people) and after naps we took the girls to a park to play on the playground and walk around.  We went to the park that is just outside of the Greenville Zoo.  It had great walking paths and a fun playground!  The slide on the playground is a little steep and Emily refused to go down it (surprising for this slide-loving-child).  We were going to be at the bottom to catch her (she's been down steeper slides), but she wouldn't hear of it.  Maybe next time!  

Emily was playing peek-a-boo and Mimi caught this picture.  I love her sweet, natural smile.  

I am one very blessed Mama on this Mother's Day, and every day!  

Amelia

My friend Megan had given Emily a Build-A-Bear gift card as a gift for being the flower girl in Megan and Chris' wedding....such a fun, thoughtful gift!  A few weeks ago we took Emily to Build-A-Bear for her first experience building a bear.  She LOVED it!!  She picked a really soft pink bear and decided to name her Amelia!  

Putting Amelia's heart in...

Em loves her new teddy bear!  

One of Emily's other teddy bears got booted out and Amelia now snuggles up next to Emily every time she goes to sleep.  Thanks, Megan, for such a perfect gift!:)  

Greenville Zoo

My parents bought us a family pass to the Greenville Zoo as a Christmas gift.  We've been so excited about going, but we have wanted to wait for it to warm up a bit first.  Last weekend was beautiful and we decided to spend the morning at the zoo.  Emily was so so excited about seeing all the animals.  She's watched a Barney episode about Barney going to the zoo several times...it's one of her favorites.  As we getting out of the car to walk into the car she said "Maybe Barney will be here!!!!"  :)  

Just outside the zoo is a Greenville park with the most amazing playground.  Seriously!!  We actually didn't have enough time for them to play on it for very long, but we're so looking forward to being able to play on it longer on our next trip.  

We rode the girls around in their wagon while we were at the zoo.  They rode in it most of the time (with a little encouragement), but Emily pretty much was too excited to sit still and Hannah didn't want to stay in there if Emily wasn't going to.  Ha!  

The elephants were our first stop and just happened to be Em's favorite!!  

Sleeping lions...

The giraffes were my favorite!  

Family picture while on our fun trip to the zoo!  

The Greenville Zoo is so great!  This was both of the girls' first trip to the zoo and I'd call it a big success.  We are so thankful that this fun family activity is just 15 minutes from our house.  The family pass makes it even better...we feel like we can come and go, and we don't feel bad about just staying a few hours. We'll be heading back to the zoo very soon!