"helping" water the flowers

gramma wanted to set up the sprinkler tonight, and when i saw the water, i had to jump in....

adventures at gramma & "ba-ba"'s

i threw that good, didn't i?

i love gramma's flowers!

why is it dark here?

i'm smelling a flower petal, not picking my nose (for once)

wee!!!

grass is fun!

i love you, kitty!

at least this kitty lets me cuddle!

nap time!

i have a new vacuum!

daddy is working in memphis, so mommy and i came, too!

i'm having a lot of fun. i especially like picking "fow-fuh" (flowers) and

giving kitty lots of hugs & kisses.

sitting in the swing and vacuuming are pretty cool,

and gramma is impressed by how much i like to play with my "kuh-wers" (crayons).

photo catch up...

4/21/07- dancing under the sprinkler

(mommy was watering the flowers and the porch, in case you are wondering)

4/16: picking up my pet rock

4/16/07- helping Mommy garden

4/16/07: 1st fingerpainting session

4/22/07: Getting ready for church!

unofficial weight check

Mommy stepped on the scale with me and without me tonight. I weighed 25.5 pounds. Grandma wants to know if I weigh more than cousin Maddie yet. That puts me between the 50th-75th percentile according to babycenter.com's calculator.

Mommy says it's no wonder I feel so heavy when she picks me up!

Happy 1 & 1/2 th Birthday!

My Dear Hannah Eileen,

18 months ago, on October 25th, your Daddy and I were in our hospital room anticipating your birth. I don't remember a lot of details about that day; all the medicines they had me on made it a little blurry. I do remember that I was excited. Scared, too. We were about to evict you from your home inside me, so that you would be able to meet your Daddy in person before he had to go away for a little while. It was very surreal. GranDaddy and GranWendy came by to visit, I was given popsicles, and the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural since she was going to be in surgery with another patient and I was too scared to attempt to deliver naturally.

At 6:08 p.m., your Daddy saw your head of dark brown hair. He and the doctor were the first to hold you, and I remember how proud he looked. He doesn't cry very often, but there were tears of joy glistening in his eyes. How perfect you looked, even covered in new baby slime. You were not happy to be out of your warm home, but we were oh-so-thrilled to hold you. Aunt Becca and Uncle Brett had arrived by that time, too, and I was excited to share you with our family.

18 months. Where has the time gone? A year and a half does not sound like a long time. But you have changed so much. You are not that completely dependent little newborn. You probably think your middle name is "Bear"; I know your older cousins Emmy and Maddie do. Your middle name is actually the name of GranWendy's Mommy, your Great-Grandmother. You'll meet her in Heaven some day. For now, you stand on your tippy toes and pound on the keys of the same piano which she played in her living room, as we keep it in ours for the time being.

You are fascinated with other children and animals. Your names mean "full of grace" and "bright and spirited". They suit you well. You love to play peek-a-boo, chase, hoppy feet, and bounce your ball. You understand so much of what we ask of you, and you vigorously say, "no" or shake your head "yes". You freely share kisses (blown, on the lips or cheek) with just about anyone, which thrills your grandparents but torments Princess-the-kitty. Your almost black hair and eyes have soften. Your eyes are a rich brown, and your hair is now light-medium brown and full of Shirley Temple curls. Your vocabulary is expanding daily, as you often try to copy words. You identify objects with excitement, as though you are proud that you know their names. You also love digging in the dirt, picking flowers, grass and leaves, and petting our terra-cotta bunny. (Maybe some day we'll get a real pet, but that bunny was a wedding present and is much easier to take care of than live animals.) While you definitely have a little tom-boy streak, you also actually seem to enjoy pretty things. Just yesterday, you picked a flowery bathing suit off the rack at the store, and would not put it down. Your Easter dress this year was a hand-me-down, but I don't think either of your older cousins actually wore it, at least not more than once. They never were the white lace and pink satin types. (They will gladly teach you about moths and other bugs, though!) Lately, you have even let me put bows in your hair and not pulled them out within 5 minutes. You love to pat the Bible, clap your hands, and dance to music. You bring us so much joy, and I am torn between wanting you to stay small forever and feeling thrilled with each new task you master.

We love you, Hannah-Bear. Happy Half-Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

baby & boxer

Tonight we visited Daddy' coworker and met 9-week old sweet baby Ben. Hannah loved Ben, but she also loved their pet Boxer, Toby. What a lovable "bear"! Hannah went from loving his kisses to being overwhelmed and intimidated by the sheer size of a "toddler" 2-year old dog that is bigger than any domesticated animal she has ever met. She quickly returned to patting him. I left my camera behind, so no pics to share, but it was quite a cute sight! It was also a welcome change from the hisses that Princess the kitty has been giving her for getting too close.

"explosive" appetite

When I went in to get Hannah after her nap, I immediately saw something alarming scattered in her crib- wooden matches! Apparently Hannah was able to reach over the sides of her pack and play to open the vanity table's drawers and reach inside. She found the one thing her aunt had not cleaned out a couple of weeks ago when she was here. Upon further inspection my heart skipped a beat. About half of the tips were eaten off. I read the box, which said "safe, non-toxic", and breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently someone expects curious toddlers to find them and try to eat them.

I called Gramma Debbie at work and told her about the "snack". She laughed and said, "at least she didn't strike them."

silly mommy should plan better...

after breakfast, mommy showed me how to finger paint. i created 10 custom cards for her to send to people, most likely grandparents, great-gramma, aunts & uncles, etc... she says they could be on display at the Met in New York someday; they are priceless.

of course I needed a bath after art time. but after bathtime, mommy wanted to go outside to play in the dirt. she promised grandaddy he can have some cherry tomato plants if the extra seeds take, so we dug dirt out of the big pot and patted it into small starter pots. we were a mess by the time we finished. i especially liked squishing the nice black dirt between my fingers and dumping it onto the grass. after the outdoor excitement, helping mommy water the flowers, dropping my pet rock on the front porch and seeing pieces splinter off from it and petting the lily leaves, it was time for the 2nd bath of the morning. it was also the perfect way to calm me down since i was growing cranky.

bath was followed by lunch, and mommy is typing this for me while i nap. (she can read my mind for things like this.)

today's tidbits

when we went for our afternoon stroll, a neighbor's tabby cat walked up to us and rolled on its' back, as if to request, "pet me, please!" i asked hannah if she thought we should get a real kitty. "yah!" she responded enthusiastically. then i told her she would have to talk to her daddy about it.

i've had to put away the folding chair that we use as our desk chair. she likes to climb onto it, stand up and rock back and forth. that's just not safe.

photo fun

not quite wordless wednesday

"snuggle-bears"
saturday, april 14th, 2007

i posted this at my other blog, too... but i had to include it here. daddy has been working out of town a lot during the week this month. this picture shows how happy hannah is to have him home with us!

let's go ride a trike!

you've come a LONG way, baby!

Bec told me about the collage feature on shutterfly, and I just had to try it out. I dug out some photo cd's and started from the "beginning". Well, close enough to the beginning.

While Mommy Was Cleaning

POTW

walking in daddy's shoes

opening my Easter basket
(it also enabled mommy to distract me enough to put a bow in my hair)

two cute girls in their Easter frocks

cousins on the couch

chasing the Easter bunny

Isabella-bug likes Hannah-bear's shoe

scrapback in progress again

I understand I can't continue to put just one picture per page, but this is how I was inspired today. Progress, is progress. Now to print off more pics so I can continue to strike while the iron is hot. (I'm very well aware that some of you may cringe at some of the borders. Cringe away.)
Oh, here's the link to the first couple of pages....

Good Friday Fun!

Catey didn't have school today, so she came over to play with us. We did crafts together, she watered my plants, and we dug up some herbs for her to bring home and potted them with their own water resistant tags. Hannah-Bear loved the extra entertainment!

p.s. There are only 2 plants because we planted sweet basil seeds. The basil either didn't survive winter or will turn green later.

wordless wednesday debut