Got Milk?

This morning we were officially given the go ahead to give Hannah milk. She has been down to nursing twice a day and her doctor wanted me to give her either formula which she hated- in fact would throw the sippy cup away, or yogurt or cottage cheese.

When we got to the point that she was eating yogurt at just about every meal I knew something had to give.

Well, today she talked milk for the first time and LOVED it! I was so relieved. However, we did learn some lessons today, the most important being that milk is only a meal time beverage from now on. This pronouncement comes down as a result of milk being spilled all over my kitchen floor. At least it is hard wood and cleans easily! Hannah likes to carry her drinks wherever she goes and then just drops them when she is distracted. Result: milk spills everywhere. There is one resident of this house that does not mind this eventuality in the least- that would be Draca- my little milk fiend who knows what opening the door to the refrigerator means. She loudly meows until either the milk is given to her or the fridge door closes.

The downside to my cleanup crew is that she does not get up the stickiness that the milk leaves behind, so I am going to mop my floor tonight and henceforth milk is a highchair only beverage.

Little Joys

This has been a particularly special morning because I have gotten to spend it with my sweet little girl! In the time since she woke up- which was later than usual (yay! Mommy got to sleep in!!) she has, with pleasure wrecked the the Living Room and the Kitchen.

She ate a very big breakfast and kept saying "Nom nom" and pointing to the cereal- I can only assume that she wants more because when I reach for it and give it too her she grins ear to ear and bounces up and down in her seat.

She has also begun to enjoy feeding others as well, whoever is closest to her at the time- this of course includes dogs and cats. This morning I was the one closest to her and I was fed cereal from her hand. She gets so tickled when I take the Cheerio from her fingers.

After she finished eating she found a dish rag on the ground and decided that was what she wanted to play with for the next few minutes, so she carried it around like a blanket, snuggling it as she walked around.

Then she proceeded to push all my kitchen chairs into the Living Room making a noise akin to nails on a chalk board (thinking I should put some fleece on the bottoms of the chairs so that they do not make that noise when they are moved) She does enjoy it so!

When she got bored with moving the chairs, or maybe just sick of the sound, she decided to move my Tea Cart which I had previously had to empty off when I discovered that she was capable of moving it! It is currently sitting in the middle of my kitchen.

She also pulled out all of my Mac and Cheese boxes from the container they were sitting in. She enjoyed shaking the boxes and hearing the noodles- I think I should make her a Rain stick! The cutest part of this incident was that she tried to put all the boxes back in the container! Some of them made it back in. :)

As you can probably imagine, she is pretty tired by this point and not exactly listening to what I am telling her. She discovered how to remove the outlet covers from the outlets and after having to thump her hand several times I gave up and put duct tape over the outlet and outlet covers. It is completely unsightly, but my baby is safer this way.

So finally I let her take her nap. I rock her for a few minutes (with Monkey, of course) and several times while I am rocking and humming to her she puts her arm around my neck and kissing my face! It was the sweetest thing! And between kisses she was humming along with me.

Now, completely exhausted she is sound asleep for her morning nap and Mommy is going to do the same.

A trip to Atlanta

We went to Atlanta last week for a conference Jonathan needed to attend for school. I was excited to go, but extremely nervous about having Hannah is a hotel. I think I called the hotel 3 or 4 times to make sure  that they would have a crib available for us. In addition to that I was worried about hour Hannah would take to sleeping in the same room with us. She has never slept in the room with us (minus days when she has been really sick and I have slept out on the sofa with her in my arms all night.) We had finally gotten into what I think is the perfect routine! She was going to bed around 10:30 and waking up at 6:30, eating and going back to sleep. I was worried that this trip would set us back.

But my sweet Hannah- we was brilliant! First of all, she slept most of the way to Atlanta and when she wasn't asleep she was playing with the toys that I strategically placed within her reach. She was so obedient throughout the unloading of the car and though she made it clear when she was ready to go to dinner, she was so good. This week was the first time she has been to a restaurant and sat in their high chairs. I was unsure how she would take to it, but again, she was brilliant. She sat up like a big girl and ate food from our plates- I have to admit, she had a large number of french fries this week! But I made sure that she got plenty of veggies too!

When we put her down in the crib the first night I was so worried that she was going to fuss- new bed, mommy within her sight, etc, but she didn't if anything, having me where she could see me may have made her sleep better! I am so proud of my baby girl. She is so good at just going with the flow of things! Each day we were able to wake up leisurely and Hannah loved having my full attention all day- that it after I had my coffee! With no dishes or laundry or cooking or other housework to worry about, I could focus completely on her and enjoy our time!

Monday night was very eventful for little Hannah! She got to experience the Varsity for the first time!! She even wore the Varsity Hat!

And she got to eat Varsity food! 

 And after we left the Varsity we went to the Georgia Aquarium! I was so exited- I have never been to this one! I had high hopes that Hannah would feel the same!

 She absolutely did! She was mesmerized by the interesting creatures behind the glass!

 Daddy had lots of fun too- touching all sorts of creatures!

 She really enjoyed the tunnel where she got to see the fish swimming all around her! I thought it was a little disorienting but very cool- especially the whale shark! Those were so massive!

 Hannah was so intrigued by all of the fish swimming past her in the tank- she actually tried to follow them down the tank!

Just to show how enormous the tank is! And even this picture doesn't do it justice!

 And she got a lesson in jelly fish- Daddy explained to her that when we go to the beach these are not to play with! A very good lesson, indeed!

 She loved seeing all the brightly colored fish in the coral tank!

And there were Dolphins! If you know anything about me, you know I was just giddy!! And this guy looked right at me!! 

 We had such a wonderful time in Atlanta. It was just what we all needed! It was wonderful, relaxing and lots of fun!

Great Thanksgivings

I have to say, when I woke up this morning I did not expect for it to be as good a day as it has turned out to be. I woke up so sick and had to cancel my appointment at my Chiropractor. All I wanted to do was sleep all day long but Hannah woke up early and was excited to be awake. Mommy, needless to say, was not! I put Hannah in the play yard so that I could lay down on the sofa. It wasn't long before she was standing up in the play yard crying at me to pick her up. I was on the phone with my mom at the time and started crying. When Hannah saw that I was crying she stopped crying and made happy faces at me.

Later this afternoon, after being a precious little angel and taking an extra long nap so that Mommy could do the same we both woke up and I felt a lot better. I set her down to play so that could get some stuff done. Eventually, I sat down on the sofa, she was on the floor in front of the tv playing with her cards. I called her and asked if she wanted some milk. She smiled at me and started crawling towards me. When she was close to me said looked up at me clearly said, "Mama". I was so thrilled! I couldn't ask for anything better today! Any remnants of feeling poorly vanished in that moment and I was overwhelmed with joy! What a wonderful day and so close to Mother's day as well- the best Mother's day gift!

As if that wasn't enough to be thankful for and joyous about... For the past few days Hannah has been thinking about standing on her own. She has been standing holding on to things, letting go and falling... well this afternoon she stood by herself for 5 whole seconds and sat down! I was so impressed! I could not believe my eyes!

Today has turned out to be a day full of blessings despite the way that it began. I guess it just goes to show that the Lord can turn any day around from being dreadful to wonderful in a matter of moments!

Praise the LORD for such days as these!

My Precious Baby and Her Sin Nature

I promise I am not going to preach in this post, only talk about my sweet angel- who is currently devouring a church bulletin, oddly enough.

Since Hannah has become more active and mobile, she has obviously started getting into things that she should not. I have endeavored to put most things out of reach that I do not want for her to touch and put things within her reach that I do not mind her playing with-example- I moved the Pyrex and Corningware and  put in its place the less used, less important plastic tupperware. The cat food and water had to move as well. Obviously, I cannot move everything out of her reach, though every day I am rearranging more and more.

Within a day, Hannah began to understand the meaning of the word "no". When I would say it, she would stop what she was doing immediately. Now of course she would return and do it again a few minutes later, but each time when I said "no" she would stop.

Well, a few days passed and I was pleased with how well she was doing and then it happened. I told her "no" about something and she looked me straight in the eyes, smiled and turned back around to it. I could not  help but smile a little bit. I had to turn away to hide it from her!

So for a while now we have been seeing behavior of a child that knows what Mommy means when she says "no". Sometimes she chooses to obey and sometimes she chooses to disobey.

Yesterday, she did something new. She knows that she is not supposed to go down the hallway (sometimes I barricade it with toys). Well, I was rolling a ball with her and the ball went past her and rolled down the hall. Without thinking, I told her to go get it. She turned around to crawl that way, but when she got to the playpin, she sat back down and looked at me as if to say, "but Mommy, you told me not to go that way". I was so proud of her!! Not wanting to undo the progress that we have made I went and got the ball myself. Moments like that remind me that she is learning- whether she always obeys or not.

I know it may sound strange, but seeing her disobey or seeing her stubbornness makes me praise the Lord. I can see so clearly my own faults in my baby (but that is another story altogether) and that our sin nature is oh so present from birth. But I praise the Lord because that is not all that there is to it! Jonathan and I have been charged to bring Hannah up so that she never knows a day in which she did not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and that she would have a personal relationship with Him early in life.

Antics of an Angel

Ok- this is pretty much just a series of amusing pictures of Hannah.  

Celery

Popsicle- great for teething but very messy! 

Not really sure what that was... but it was a mess! And very cute!

Learning to read young! That's my girl!

Mommy's computer tastes yummy too!

SHOES!!!! (before)

And after

Mommy's little helper

But I like the Siggy...

I want the phone

Cardboard is chewy

I have my own kitty now

What do you mean you bought the Toblerone for  Mommy?

I knew it was really for me! 

Mommy, I like Moose Tracks!

Daddy, Mommy won't give me Moose Tracks! Please make Mommy give me ice cream.

Yay!

Wait a second! It's empty...

Now where does this piece go? ( Side note- this was one of my puzzles)

Having exhausted the usefulness of her own toys Hannah proceeded to pull out Mommy and Daddy's playing cards

I have so much fun!!

Cheerios

Cheerios- the coveted snack of children= eternal messes for mothers.

This is actually creamed corn, but enjoyed none the less!

One morning I realized that I hadn't cleaned up the Cheerios from the floor from last night- it was a busy night. So in an effort to keep Hannah out of the sweepings of the broom, I put her in the high chair with a couple of toys while I swept. Once I had finished and my floor was once again Cheerio free, Hannah started fussing because it was lunch time and she had been in the high chair without yummies for long enough.

And this would be chocolate pudding with whipped cream on top!

So what did I do? I gave her a few Cheerios while I finished getting her lunch and mine prepared. When  I turn around there are Cheerios magically on the floor again. I think they multiply and jump onto the floor or other places. I cannot even begin to say where all I have found Cheerios recently!

I also find that the cats and Hannah are working together to spread Cheerios throughout the house. Hannah throws them on the floor and the cats play with them and bat them around the house, and since we have hard wood it is fairly easy to get the Cheerios all over. I suppose the cats are pleased by this new development because the more table food Hannah has, the more chances they have of getting what she throws on the ground.

Yes, I made a mess, what of it?

I find that even though I am constantly cleaning up messes that I am happy to do it because (for the moment at least) it is amusing to watch her make the messes. She is such a precious little girl. I am so blessed!

Of Cats and Children

I know most people say cats are aloof and some even downright unfriendly. Well, not mine. I have two cats, a black female named Draca- we got her after seeing How To Train Your Dragon and Toothless just didn't seem appropriate and Sigfried or Siggy, a striped male. I really couldn't ask for sweeter cats. They are so loving and precious... to a fault. If they do not get enough attention they get very unhappy.

Draca is a very sweet dainty girl but one of her favorite activities is to come walking down the hall meowing at the top of her lungs. Or worse standing at the door of Hannah's bedroom doing the same. It's as if she knows that Hannah is asleep and wants to interrupt it.

Siggy, precious thing doesn't seem to understand that Hannah is mobile now. He has what we call his "safe box". This is something of a misnomer because he is definitely NOT safe in it. But for some reason he thinks he is. On more than one occasion, Hannah has driven him completely out of the box so that she could sit in it herself.

This brings me to another observation. I have never bought a single cat toy since having these cats. Why? because I have no need to do so. They are far more interested in playing with a crumpled up piece of paper than a ball any day. I have to hide my hair ties because Siggy in particular finds them and hides them from me. They would also rather play with empty shoe boxes or soda boxes than a cat climbing tower. I am finding that some days the same applies for Hannah. She is far more interested in pulling out all my tupperware and playing with empty boxes (stolen from unhappy cats) than her baby toys.

And as for the unhappy cats, they find their own ways of getting even. Siggy has found a new favorite spot to sleep: Hannah's high chair. He just curls up and falls right to sleep.

But despite the lack of willingness to share toys the cats are very fond of Hannah and she absolutely adores them!

Beginnings

I have never been very good at keeping a journal. I wish I were, but I am not. I have started this blog to record the adorable things that Hannah does. If I don't write it down somehow I am afraid that I will forget.

7 months ago I was given a beautiful gift. On September 27 Hannah Elizabeth was born. She came charging into this world at exactly 4:30 pm. And I do mean charging! I hardly had to push at all! Since then, we have laughed (a lot), cried (mostly from sleep deprivation), and thanked God for what a beautiful treasure He has entrusted us to care for and raise.

These 7th months have flown by- I can hardly believe that she is growing so fast! In just the past couple of weeks she has made some great strides and conquered some major milestones. She went from doing what Jonathan and I termed as the "worm" (her initial method of movement) to sitting by herself, actually crawling, pulling herself up to stand and saying "dada" all in one week! This all happened during Master's week, so what a blessing it is that Jonathan got to witness every one of these things first hand.

The most memorable moment from this Master's week occurred Sunday afternoon at my parents' house. We were sitting on the sofa watching the Masters, Hannah with me. Jonathan got up to get a snack and when he came back she reached her arms up to him and said very clearly: Dada!! His heart just melted and he admitted that in that moment on he was wrapped around her little finger.