A Princess Birthday and Party!

Okay, I promised over a week ago that I would post some more details about Lydia's birthday. Sorry, I get so caught up in other things! But I do want to make blogging a little bit more of a priority! After all, this is pretty much my journal :).

Lydia's birthday was quite the event! She got to celebrate several times! The weekend before her birthday Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and Uncle Neil came to visit! That was so exciting! This is the first birthday of Lydia's that they've been able to make it down for :). Well, I guess my mom and Neil also came when Lydia was born, so that's not completely true. Saturday morning, after a 4 hour drive from San Antonio, we all got in the Mardi Gras spirit! It was the kickoff parade for Mardi Gras! And this will be our last year attending it (well, hopefully. We'll see.). We always love catching all the beads and random things that they throw! And this is the first year that Lydia has gotten into it! Hooray! She couldn't get enough of the stuff! And she quickly learned how to cover her ears when the marching bands came through :).

Uncle Neil also loved getting all the beads! He would have put on twice that amount if we had given it to him!

Lydia and her friend, Miyah, loved all the pretty beads!

 

 

After a fun day at the parade, we finished it with a small party for Lydia with her grandparents. She got to blow out some birthday candles and open a few gifts from my parents. She loves her new wooden magnetic dolls, matching nightgowns for her and her baby and dora bath bubbles! Thanks Mom and Dad!

 

 

 

Sunday was spent saying goodbye to my parents and playing with the stuff that they gave Lydia.

 

 

Monday was Lydia's real birthday. And I think that it was a pretty darn good one, if I do say so myself! Lydia woke up to balloons hanging from her bedroom doorway! So, first thing she did was come into our room to tell us about all the balloons! She wanted us to get up to go see them. (Like we hadn't already seen them.) When we asked her how they got there, she thought for a second and then said, "I don't know!" Like it was magic!

 

 

I also put some extras at the bottom of the stairs, for kicks :)

 

 

When Lydia walked into the living room, this is the first thing that she saw!

 

 

(This was the other reason that my parents just had to come for Lydia's birthday! I got this incredible dollhouse from one of my mom's friends for an INCREDIBLE deal! And I couldn't fit it in my car to bring it back to Galveston.)

Lydia was quite impressed! She just stared in awe at it for a few seconds before realizing that she could actually play with it and that it was hers!

I'd say that Lydia got quite the haul for her birthday this year! We gave her the dollhouse, a wooden farm puzzle (with actual puzzle pieces and not just shapes), and a Cinderella barbie (this was actually mine from when I was in middle school/highschool. I was very into Cinderella and just collected them, but never took them out of the box. So, it was just like new!)  She also got to open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson. She got a couple barbies, awesome light up shoes, some clothes, playdough stuff, and coloring books. So, between us and all of her grandparents, she was quite the spoiled little princess! She has loved it all!

 

Most of the day was spent just playing with all of her new toys. Her friend, Miyah, came over for a couple hours to help her break them all in :). She got her favorite food for lunch, macaroni and cheese, and she didn't even have to take a nap! I decided to see how she would do without one. Lucky for me, she fell asleep on our car ride to Chuck e Cheese that evening! So, we are still in the nap-taking stage :).

 

As mentioned above, we finished off her special day by playing at Chuck e Cheese! Both David and I hadn't been there since we were kids, so it was fun to take her. And she was in heaven! Her friend, Miyah, was able to come with us too! (Can't you tell that these girls are destined to be BFF's! They do everything they can together! And it sure helps that her mom, Stormie, is one of my best friends too :).

 

Lydia wasn't so sure about this one. It was sure funny to watch her though! They were pretending to fly an airplane and it was vibrating and doing other weird stuff :)

She really liked the train!

Even Hannah and Misty got to enjoy this one with the big girls!

 

 

After a fun day of celebrating our big 3 year old, we went home and went straight to bed! Maybe we were bad parents for not giving her more cake and having her blow out candles again, but I just figured that we would be doing all that again for her party and it was so late anyway when we got home. Plus we had sung to her all day long. (And she loved every minute of it! It was so fun to see how proud and yet shy she was everytime we sang!)

 

The whole week was spent enjoying the birthday decorations (minus the balloons that came down after a day because they got so tangled up) and playing with all her new toys. And in final preparation for the Royal Birthday Ball that was coming on Saturday. It couldn't come soon enough for all the little princesses! This year we decided to only invite all of the little girls, because there were just too many kids with the boys and I didn't want to make people feel left out. So, a princess party it was! I decided to go all out! It was sure fun!

 

 

Upon arrival, each of the princesses got to visit the Beauty Bar (modeled beautifully by our Princess Lydia).

 

 

I love how you can see Lydia's reflection in the mirror even when she's not standing in the pictures! Each of the princesses got to pick out a couple bracelets, a ring, a nail polish, an eye shadow (made from nail polish, perfect for play time!), a lip gloss, and a purse. They also got to put on some glitter and perfume. Then they got to get a back with beads to make some pretty necklaces and bracelets. The next while was spent with princesses and queens getting themselves all prettied up for the ball.

 

Lydia wanted me to dress up too. So, I was Belle :)

It was so cute watching Melinda put on her eye shadow! She knew just what to do with it!

Jadyn made a beautiful Snow White!

And, according to Lydia, Sydney was a beautiful Sleeping Beauty!

Eliza loved all the bracelets!

Daddy even dressed up as Prince Charming for Lydia! He enjoyed helping Lydia make her necklace. She had to sort all of her beads before she even began. First all of the hearts went on, then the butterflies, and then all the foam shapes could go on :)

 

Next, the princesses each took turns putting the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot. I think there was no doubt in the Prince's mind that Cinderella could be his Princess by the time they were through!

 

Next it was time for some cake and ice cream!

I love how the cake turned out! Lydia just had to have a Cinderella cake! And, luckily, my mom still had the cake mold from all the doll cakes she made for me growing up! (That was another big reason for their trip out here! I forgot to get the mold when I was out there for Christmas!)

This is a shot of the table. I made the wands for each of the girls. So easy! It was fun! The snowglobe/carriage was actually another part of my collection in highschool. It has been a permanent decoration in Lydia's room. And the table cloth was one that David's Grandma Hallberg crocheted for our wedding (I made sure to put a table cloth cover over it! There was no way I wanted blue frosting ruining that!)

The princesses each enjoyed their cake and drinking out of their fancy princess glasses.

Here are all of the princesses that were able to attend the ball. At first I was kinda bummed that so many of the princesses were unable to come, but once the party got started I was grateful! Five princesses makes a perfect party! From left to right is Princess Sydney, Princess Jadyn, Princess Lydia, Princess Eliza, and Princess Melinda.

And then it was time for presents! Lydia made sure that we didn't forget it!

I love seeing how excited all the girls get to open the presents! I was amazed that we didn't have a whole group helping this time!

Lydia got some fun new things! Her friends seem to all think alike this year! Play Doh was a major theme :). Lydia absolutely loves playing with her Play Doh and so these are a perfect addition to her collection! This castle one is pretty neat! It has molds to make dresses for the princesses and Rapunzel's hair and even a prince!

Later that day Lydia decided to try out a new way of putting on her lipgloss. She quickly learned that it does not go on her face, or toys, or even her babies lips. Sigh. It was sure funny to catch her though!

 

Overall, it was a wonderful party for a wonderful princess! We love our sweet Lydia! And it was a great day/week to celebrate her being in our family! Happy birthday Lydia!















(Dancing with her Prince Charming!)

To Hannah at 9 Months!

Dearest Hannah,

Hooray! We have made it! You have now been outside in the world as long as you were inside of me! This probably feels more like a milestone to me than for you, but let's celebrate anyway!

You are such a big, beautiful, adventurous little lady! Last month I wrote that you were crawling, but now you are a little speed demon! You follow me most everywhere I go, but also like to venture out on your own to explore. Probably your most favorite discovery so far is the pantry. Luckily you don't know what's in all those interesting packages yet! This morning you also discovered what happened when you pulled at the toilet paper hanging on the bathroom wall. If only I found that one as exciting as you did!

Along with the crawling has come you pulling yourself up on things. And you are a speed demon at that too! You prefer to be standing and exploring. Especially in your sister's new dollhouse. It's so cute to see you in there playing with her!

However, my favorite development of yours is your ability to self feed! This has been a long time in the waiting! But your desire to have food in your mouth has finally over-ruled. You still haven't mastered the pincer grasp, so as a result you end up with your entire fist in your mouth trying to eat the food that is buried inside. I think that will be our goal for this next month :). You also continue to love food! Actually, I think that is an understatement. You ADORE food. You never back down from anything we give you. This month you have gotten to try more real solid foods, such as spaghetti, bread, grapes, green beans, apple slices, and broccoli. All were a huge success! And, guess what! You finally have teeth to chew/bite on them with! Your first tooth popped out about a week ago (bottom left) and it is currently getting a friend right next door! Hooray! And, you are an incredible teether! You get a little fussy, but that's about it!

Another goal for this next month, I think, is to encourage you to talk a little more. You enjoy making squeals and grunts, but you don't babble very much. I don't think that this is an area of concern as of yet, but I do hope that it picks up soon.

Your sleep schedule is very particular. You wake up in the morning at about 7:30 (though I wonder if you would sleep later if your sister did), You have your morning nap between 9 and 9:30 and sleep until about 11 am. Then you go down for your afternoon nap at about 1:30 and sleep for about 2 hours usually. However, here is the catch, you are incredibly tired and ready to be in bed by about 7pm for the night. This makes for a lot of challenges when we are out running errands or just want to have some fun in the evening. Sometimes you are flexible and let us do our thing, but other times this makes for a miserable evening for both parties.

Sweet Lady, you have been such a blessing in our home! It's hard to imagine life without you here. I asked your sister the other day if she could remember how things were before she had a sister and she couldn't. You are all we know now. We love having you here and hearing all of your sweet giggles! I love going to get you out of your crib and seeing how crazy your hair has gotten as you slept! It's a wonder how you can even see me past all of your thick brown hair! And I absolutely love how you smile and giggle at me whenever I toss you up in the air or tickle/blow raspberries on your tummy and thighs! You are a beautiful sweet angel! I love you!

Love,
Momma

You enjoyed your first Mardi Gras Parade! You loved playing with all of the beads!

 

How do you see past all that hair?!

Mmmm...I wonder when the last time that was cleaned.

You really liked the spaghetti! You even paused to give me this cheesy smile when you saw the camera!

Happy 9 Months, Hannah! I love you!

Happy Birthday, Lydia!

I'll put more pictures into the next post which will describe more of what we did to celebrate Lydia's birthday and her Princess Birthday Party that will be happening on Saturday. But I just had to get her 3 year letter up before I waited for all of that to happen :).

Dear Lydia,

Happy Birthday! Are you really 3 years old?! Time has flown by! And you have certainly grown! You are a beautiful, strong, opinionated, and compassionate young lady. A born leader. And yet you are still my sweet little angel. You still love to cuddle up with me and watch a movie or read a book. I sure hope that this continues forever!

This year has brought so many wonderful things, and also some challenging. You are finally through the "terrible two's" and it shows. You've never had the throw yourself on the floor type of tantrums. And for that I am grateful. But during the times that you were incredibly moody and stubborn, we had our fair share of time outs.

A wonderful accomplishment from this year is that you are fully potty trained! We have taken several long road trips now and you can last for a long time in the car and give us ample warning when we need to make a quick break.

However, one of your more amazing accomplishments is that you have both the 1st and 2nd Articles of Faith memorized! And you are well on your way to learning the 3rd. You are so incredibly smart! I am constantly amazed at the things that you remember! (Though, sometimes this bites me back later!) Today we went to your dentist appointment and you asked if they had bunny glasses (you got some at your last appointment). I thought that you had long forgotten about them because I threw them away almost as quickly as you got them, but apparently I was wrong.

This year you have also started attending a Joy School with several of the other kids at church. This is one of the highlights of your week! You are so proud to put on your backpack, take your lunch and leave home for a few hours! I'm also surprised that you love having school at our house when its our turn! This may have some credit due to the fact that when its at your house then you get to lead the Pledge of Allegience and do the weather chart.

You are also a great big sister! You love taking care of Hannah and playing with her. I love watching y'all interact together. However, I am also reminded that with the fun of having a sister comes the sibling rivalry. One day during nap time I could hear you yelling at Hannah. Upon inquiry, I saw Hannah sitting in her crib smiling at you. You, however, were incredibly angry and yelled, "She won't stop looking at me!!!" It was very hard for me to suppress my laughter. Most of the time though, you love it when Hannah plays with you. If I put Hannah into her crib and you are in your bed, Hannah immediately crawls over to play with you. She truly admires you and looks up to everything you do. I know that y'alls friendship is only in the beginning stages and I'm excited to see it grow.

Lydia, I love so many things about you! I can hardly begin to describe it. Your favorite color is pink, you love everything princess (particularly Cinderella), you love getting your hair done every morning (complete with hair bow), you dress yourself every morning (and actually match pretty well most the time), recently your favorite toy is the doll house you got for your birthday, but you also love playing with your kitchen (you constantly cook me delicious dishes!), your wood dolls, play doh and your babies. Your best friends are Miyah and Callie. Unfortunately Callie has moved to Ohio and Florida in the last 9 months and your haven't been able to see her. However, no matter how I try to tell you that you can have more than just those 2 friends, you are very insistent. You will not betray their friendship. Sigh. You had a blast staying at all of the "holy tales" (hotels) on our long road trip the last couple of months. You are still very attached to your "Pooh" cuddly. You don't like using pillows. You dance whenever you hear music. You get a high pitched voice whenever you play with your barbies. You made your barbies pretend to go to church yesterday. So cute! Your favorite food is macaroni and cheese and chocolate. You still beg for your sippy of milk both morning and night. You love cuddling up to a good book. You give the best hugs and kisses. You have already turned into a back seat driver (you yell at me to stop when the red light is still 1/4 mile ahead of us! Maybe I shouldn't have taught you that red means stop.) You love exercising with me. I take you in the jogger most of the way and then let you run with me the last block. You are pretty fast! You love going to "Chik a flay" (Chick fil a: probably because they have great play places). Every morning you come into my room to wake me up by telling me that the sun is awake (as if that is a good excuse for you to be awake too) and then proceed to Daddy's side of the bed to give him his "Sleeping Beauty kiss". You are incredibly ticklish most everywhere. You identify cereal by the character on the box and not the name of it, even if it is no longer in the box (Cheerios is the "bee cereal" even if it's not Honey Nut, Fruit Loops is the "bird cereal", etc.). You enjoy watching Dr. Who and Fineas and Ferb with Daddy. Daddy caught you singing "I love you, Dr. Who" the other day. This made him very proud (though didn't quite please me). You love helping me with whatever I'm doing, whether it is cleaning, cooking, making something, or just hanging out. You get so excited for me or Daddy to play with you with your toys. And I love playing with you too and watching you grow.

I love you, sweet girl. I could go on forever describing things that you like and do. But, I think that the most important thing is that you know how much I love and treasure these sweet moments with you. You are the reason I push through the hard days and can smile even when times seem bad. You are my sunshine! Keep shining on sweet girl!

Love,
Momma

To Hannah at 8 Months

Dear Hannah,

This month has been an incredibly exciting one! In it you got to celebrate your first Christmas, New Years, 3 birthdays, meet all of your cousins, aunts and uncles on the Anderson side, learned to crawl and pull up onto things, and can fit your hair into pigtails! Wow! Quite the list!

This year we spent Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house in San Antonio. All of your cousins and aunts and uncles were able to make it for an exciting family reunion! It was especially exciting to see you play with your 2 cousins that are the same age as you! Matthew is just a month older and Abby is just 3 weeks younger! It was so cute to see you and Abby grab each other's hands. I know that y'all will be life-long friends :). It was also interesting seeing the differences of y'all. You were the mobile one that was always very eager to eat, Matthew was the jolly one who was content to sit for hours with a toy, and Abby was the serious, timid one. On Christmas Eve you and your cousins acted out the nativity. You were the sweetest little angel! And you loved opening presents for Christmas! Especially the part where we let you play with the wrapping paper. If only everyone else were so easy to please! While we were there we celebrated Uncle Blake's birthday. You loved eating ice cream! You were always shocked by how cold it was, but quickly begged for more.

Just a few days after coming home from Grandma and Grandpa's house, we went back again. Daddy had to fly to Milwaukee and Orlando for a couple more residency interviews and so we decided to spend the time in San Antonio instead of home by ourselves. On this trip we got to celebrate Uncle Neil's and Grandma's birthdays! We also discovered that you like to go to bed REALLY early! We had always been putting you to bed at the same time as Lydia always did. 8 pm. But apparently you prefer to go to bed around 7pm and sleep all night! I am more than happy to oblige!

After we got home, we both made a few more discoveries! You discovered that instead of rolling and twisting to get around the room, you can crawl. You aren't by any means proficient at it yet. You still require a lot of coaxing and will only make it a short ways, but you can crawl. You also have pulled yourself up onto things a few times. You especially like pulling yourself up onto the ottoman or your toy bin. I, however, discovered something just as important, but not as exciting. Apparently I don't produce enough milk for you. I had already started supplementing you with a small bottle of formula for the week previous, but I decided to experiment with how hungry you really were one night after breastfeeding you. You hardly drank anything off of me (I don't think there was much in there) and then drank an entire 8 ounces from a bottle. You were so happy after that! So I did that for a few nights. Then I realized that you were also still hungry after lunch. So we added a bottle there too. At this point I am only breastfeeding you in the morning. But with how my body seems to react to weaning, I don't think it will last long. Soon you will be a complete formula baby. I know that that is an okay thing. Lydia turned out just fine and she had formula from 6 months on. I'm glad that I was able to finally figure out what was going on with you. Since this discovery and these changes you have been much more content to sit on the floor to play with your toys for long periods of time and grunt at me far less when I feed you solids.

And speaking of food, you eat anything that I let go to your mouth! Luckily you don't really try to put your own things in your mouth yet. I guess that's one good thing about you not really using the pincer grasp yet! This month you enjoyed eating cheese, orange slices, cucumber slices (this one just might be your favorite!), avocado, various baby foods, pasta, and scrambled egg. Some of these were just tiny samples off of our plates, but you loved them all just the same. Now you need to grow some teeth so that you can try out a bigger variety! That can be a goal for this month! Grow a tooth :)

You have made such huge strides this last month! I am so excited for all of the developments that you have made! I'm sad to have it all go by so quickly, but I enjoy watching you learn and grow. And with each new phase comes new exciting parts of you to discover and enjoy! I love getting to know you! It's so interesting watching your personality develop. You are very curious about the world around you and eagerly want to be a part of it all. You see things and very passionately want them! However, you also get frustrated when you can't easily get to what you want and, instead of pushing toward it, you melt down and end up in a stand still. I hope that as you learn new skills and develop that you will be able to push yourself toward your goals rather than getting frustrated in the beginning. So, this isn't really a great attribute I see in you right now, but I hope that the passion that you have will continue to grow. Another personality trait I see in you already is shyness. Whenever someone new (or sometimes not so new) talks to you while I am holding you, you will turn your head into me and hide. I love having you cuddle into me, but I hope that you will also be able to share more of your sweet smiles with others. Everyday you laugh and smile more easily. You love getting attention from me, Daddy and especially your sister, Lydia. And Lydia loves getting you to smile and laugh too!

Sweet Hannah, I love every little chunk of you! I love how you hang your long tongue out as you smile at me! I love your long beautiful dark hair and your big dark brown eyes! I love how you love reading books with me! I love how I am constantly discovering new things about you! But most of all, I love you! You are a beautiful, sweet daughter of God!

love,
Momma

 

 

 

 

To Hannah at 7 Months

Dear Sweet Hannah,

I had heard before having you that life goes by even more quickly with a 2nd child, but, until I experienced it, I never understood.  I often wish I could create a clone of me to take care of all the tedious work that just needs to get done so that I can enjoy more time with you. Unfortunately, that is not possible and so you are often expected to entertain yourself as I run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Or, as in the case right now, I write a long awaited letter for you to read several years down the road.

You are such a beautiful, sweet girl and are growing so healthy and strong. At your 6 month well check you measured 27 inches (90th percentile) and weighed 16 1/2 pounds (50th percentile). Dr. Beach commented that you are very tall, however if you look at your weight percentile according you your height instead of age then you fall in the 25th percentile. You sure don't look like a skinny baby, but I guess most babies your height are really chunky! But I love the sweet rolls that you do have. You are especially ticklish in your thigh rolls and I love making you giggle!

Speaking of giggling, you make all sorts of noises now. You enjoy babbling and giggling, however you have also taken to grunting and growling at us. Maybe it's a result of you trying to get and keep attention more.

You are doing so many things now! You sit up like a champ! And have even ventured into the realm of reaching for anything you can as you are sitting up. You also can get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth. So, it's only a matter of time before you're crawling. In your attempts to move forward to get that much desired toy or person, you end up scooting yourself backwards. This frustrates you to no end. Unfortunately you also only roll in one direction, so you always end up in a corner. I almost feel bad for you...almost. As much as I would like you to be mobile and get those toys that fall out of your reach, I don't want you following me all around the house and getting into all the other things that I have yet to baby-proof. So, I'm okay with you waiting a few more weeks or months for this next big step.

You are a very particular child. We just got back from a long roadtrip for Daddy's residency interviews and stayed in several different hotels and at people's houses. On the nights where you got to sleep in a pack and play, you were happy and slept for most of the night without complaint. However, on the few nights where you had to sleep in a metal portable crib, you threw hefty fits and wound up sleeping in our bed for most of the night. However, even that wasn't completely satisfactory for you. You like your bed, with your snuggly and your thumb. If anything messes with that arrangement then there are heavy consequences. You also have grown very attached to me lately. If I walk into or out of the room then you cry out for me and wimper. Even if your Daddy is holding you. While this phase is endearing and I feel so important and needed, I also won't be too sad to see it pass. Your poor Daddy loves holding you too :).

Sweet Hannah, I love you and thank Heavenly Father every night that He chose to send you to our family. You are and will always be my little angel.

Love,

 

Momma

To Hannah at 5 1/2 months

This past month and a half has been extremely busy with traveling, Halloween and all the other little things that I can't even name off. So, with all of the excitement going on, I haven't had time to sit and write Hannah's 5 month letter. Poor girl! Don't worry, I've been spending a lot of time with her and taking in all of her little rolls! She is such a sweet sweet girl! So, better late than never!

 

Dearest Hannah,

I can hardly believe how big you have gotten! This past month somebody asked me if you were 1! Yeah, they were just crazy, but you really have been growing a ton! And it's no wonder with how much you love to eat! You already eat 2 hefty solid meals a day and still love to nurse. So far you have tried oatmeal, mixed grains, peaches, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears and bananas. The only thing I'm not sure you agree with is bananas. So, we'll try that again at a later date. But you love food and surprise me with how much you can consume in a sitting.
Other new developments in the past month and a half are that you can sit up for short periods of time. This actually happened just a few days ago. The first time I was able to get you to sit up (while Lydia entertained you with a picture of Christ) you lasted an entire minute! This happened twice in a row. You are already quite the spiritual young lady :).
Our family went on a long trip this month for Daddy's residency interviews in El Paso and Albuquerque. You didn't do very well.  Once you slept as long as you could in the car, there was nothing for you to do but scream. And then you didn't want to sleep at night, which made it more challenging to drive for long stretches. But, luckily, you got to meet your Great Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. It almost didn't happen because Grandma had to go to the hospital and children weren't allowed to visit there. Fortunately she was discharged the day we were leaving, so we got to visit for about an hour. You charmed them quite well with your sweet smiles. They loved holding and cuddling you. We also got to spend some time in San Antonio with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and Uncle Neil. And we spent a day at Sea World. You didn't really watch the shows and whales, but you didn't appreciate it when Shamu sent a huge wave of water all over the audience! But neither did your sister :).
You experienced your first Halloween. Though you didn't go up to each door with your sister to get candy, you matched her in costume. Lydia dressed up as Fancy Nancy and the rest of the family dressed up as Fancy Nancy's family. You looked adorable in your pink leopard print dress, ballet shoe socks, wings and feather headband!
The month started off with your main "talking" consisting of high pitched squeals and has evolved into sweet babbles. Though the squeals were cute also and unique, I'm glad that they didn't last for too long. It's so sweet to hear you talking to your mobile and you play with your feet in bed. And to have you tell me how yummy the food I just put in your mouth tastes, though it is much more messy that way.
Our main goal for the next month is for you to sleep through the night. We began the painful process lastnight as you screamed for nearly an hour halfway through the night. You usually wake up to eat once each night and then a couple of other times for Daddy to rock you back to sleep. While we endured this for almost 6 months, it is time to end. We love you and love holding you, but we want to be more rested in the morning when your sister comes in our room around 6. I pray this transition goes well :).
Sweet Hannah, I love having you in our home! Your smile illuminates the room and your eyes sparkle when you laugh. We love you dearly. I wish I could describe my feelings for you more eloquently. But I'm not a writer, nor am I very good with words. So, in the words of Fancy Nancy, "I love you. Because there isn't a fancy-or better-way of saying that".

love,

 

Momma

 

PS: I tried to upload some videos to this post of Hannah, but my internet was too slow. So, look at the pictures link to see them :). And please let me know if there are any problems with the link.

To Hannah at 4 Months & Other Updates

This month has been crammed with all sorts of excitement! Hannah is 4 months old, Lydia started Joy School, David sent in his applications for residency programs, we got a new car (not really willingly), we took 2 trips to San Antonio (only 1 sort of planned), David flew to Washington, and now Lydia is potty training again (I sure hope this is really it!). And, actually, except for Lydia starting Joy School, all of this has been in September! Wow! I sure hope the rest of this month lets me catch up!
So, I guess I'll start on all of our explanations of everything and then end with Hannah's monthly letter.

The biggest story/experience of all has been the car. I will dearly miss our CRV! I already do! There were so many things I loved about it despite it's need for constant TLC. Like how I didn't have to hunch over to get kids in and out of carseats and didn't constantly bang my head doing so. And how there was space between the 2 front seats for me to put my purse, diaper bag and any other essentials. And how I didn't have to worry about what I could take on daytrips because there was plenty of room in the back. I also loved how it had an awesome table in the trunk that I could pull out and use whenever we went to the beach (A super cool thing about CRV's!). Sigh...
So, I'm sure you're wondering what happened to my amazing car. Well, Ol Bessie came with her share of problems. We made several pricey repairs in the 3 1/2 years we had her. Most recently, we were trying to get her A/C fixed. No matter how much money we spent and how convinced the mechanics were that they really knew what the problem was, it just never seemed to get fixed. So, Labor Day weekend we decided to take a last minute trip to San Antonio to see my family. My sister was getting ready to go back to BYU-I and we wanted to have some fun in the middle of their frantic packing and getting ready. So we drove up late Friday night after an Astros Game. About 3/4 of the way there our check engine light came on. Yikes! The car didn't sound good and was shaking like crazy whenever I slowed down or came to a stop. Luckily it made it the rest of the way to my parents house though. The next day we took it into the shop and got the bad news. The 4th cylinder was shot and the entire engine would need to be replaced. The part alone costs about $3000! That's the car's trade-in value without any problems! We got a few different opinions, but they all led the same direction. It was totalled. And, not only was it totalled, but it was also unsafe to drive back to Galveston.
After spending the afternoon confirming the bad news and looking through our budget, we went out to start looking at new cars. However, we had very little money for a down payment, couldn't afford much of a monthly payment, and didn't have any income yet. So, we would need a co-signer to even get a loan and then we would be living very tight for the next while. Not our ideal scenario. But we really wanted to get a reliable car that could get us all the way through residency because we were initially planning to get a second car next summer when we moved for residency. We didn't want to get something that would have to get replaced right away or have too many expensive repairs. Things were not looking very promising. And we had very little time to find something. David had to be back to work by Wednesday.
Luckily, Sunday was Fast Sunday. We prayed and prayed that we would know what to do and that we could find something to meet our needs. That evening David talked to his parents who told him that his Grandma was thinking about selling her car. It was very old (a 91), but she hadn't driven it much (only 38,000 miles). We talked about it and prayed about it some more. And decided that it was an answer to our prayers. So we started figuring out all the details. We got a rental car to go home to Galveston on Tuesday. Then on Friday I drove David to the airport in Austin (the plane tickets there were about $200 cheaper that leaving from either Houston or San Antonio) and then continued on to San Antonio with the girls where I would spend the weekend with my mom and brother, return the rental car, and work on selling our car. David flew to Washington where he spent a late night trying to see his brother and grandma there, then drove with his dad to Utah the next day. He got to visit with his brother, Adam for a couple hours (Adam just got home from his mission last month). Then he drove with my dad for the next couple of days from Utah back to San Antonio. My dad had driven my sisters car up to Idaho for her to use the week before and was spending time at the Family History Library in Utah. So, conveniently he was already up there to help David drive back home. Thanks Dad! I know you would have rather used the plane!
So, we were able to sell our car for a decent enough price to a salvage yard, we got a new, but old, Honda Accord and eventually all made it back home to Galveston. It was a very long couple of weeks! Now we're just trying to wrap up the last few details of getting the car registered, etc. But it left me completely worn out and stressed! I sure hope that is all said and done! And that this car will last us a good while!

At the Astros game before going to San Antonio for the first time.

Aside from the car drama, a lot else has been going on! Lydia started a Joy School where we rotate who is in charge each week with 4 other moms in the ward. We are using the book "Teach Me Mommy" by Jill Dunford. They meet twice each week for a few hours and get to learn a new subject, play with their friends and eat lunch out of a cool lunchbox. Lydia loves it! She constantly asks to go to school. And I love it too! I get a few hours each week to actually clean the house, shop, or get other stuff done while Hannah sleeps. I get to teach next week. We are going to learn about our 5 senses and the clothes that we wear. I have tons of fun things to do with the senses, but if you have any fun things for 2-3 year olds for clothes that we wear then let me know!

 

Lydia's first day of Joy School

 

 

No wonder she loves school so much! This is her first day and she already is enjoying cupcakes! PS: I have no idea why she decided this was how to eat a cupcake. Maybe she didn't want her fingers dirty?

Lydia is also potty training, again. I wasn't planning to do it for a while. But for some reason one morning I was talking to Lydia and decided that she might be ready. I can't remember if she said something or what. But we pulled out her panties and lined the living room with towels and we watched a movie. And she stayed dry almost all day! She had just one accident as she stood in the bathroom by the toilet. Then she was dry all the next day. Sunday was more difficult with nursery, but we will keep working on that one. And she has stayed mostly dry all week! She has even worn her panties to school without having any accidents. She talks a lot about how her friends wear panties and don't use diapers anymore. I think that she's finally registering that wearing panties is the cool thing and diapers are for babies. Hooray! I hope that I never have to buy diapers for her again!

Lydia with her potty training doll. She loves having the baby sit on her potty next to her!

The other major events of this month are getting residency applications in. It was very stressful getting everything together and deciding where we wanted to apply. But we finally got them in last Saturday, September 15th. The soonest we had heard of people hearing back from programs for interviews is about 10 days. So, we weren't really expecting anything. But on Tuesday we heard back from 4 programs! And we have heard back from one everyday since. So far we have interviews in Corpus Christi, TX, Albuquerque, NM, Louisville, KY, Oklahoma City, OK, Milwaulkee, WI and here at UTMB. We are trying to arrange some of them into roadtrips for the family. We would like to attend most of them with David to save money on flights, have fun around the country and so that I'm not left home alone with the girls all the time. We are so excited that he has already heard back from so many programs! Hopefully that means that we will have a good pick of places as we rank them in March! I just hope that he gets some more interviews in Texas. Corpus Christi is also on the gulf. I have enjoyed living by the beach, but I don't really want to endure any more hurricane seasons! It's too stressful! I was really disappointed last week when we found out San Antonio is not taking any new residents next year. That took one of my top places out of our options! Now I'm really hoping for Dallas and Austin! Please!

And last, but not least, Hannah is now 4 months! I can't believe how much time has flown by! She is such a sweet little lady and has grown so much! Here is my monthly letter for her:

Dearest Hannah,

4 months seems like such a short time, and forever all at once. It's like you have always been a part of our family. You are a tremendous blessing in our home and bring so much joy wherever you go. I would describe you as being a very happy baby. The only times you cry are when you are hungry, tired, stinky, can't get your thumb, or are getting bored. Yet it takes a lot to get you to laugh. You are only ticklish on occasion and look at me like I'm crazy with I try to tickle you with my hair. And when I finally do get you to laugh, I hunger for more! It is so adorable how it usually ends in a squeak! But your smiles are getting to be more frequent. And you talk to us frequently. Mostly it involves blowing bubbles out your mouth and you make cute noises. I love hearing you. I imagine that you're telling me how tasty your food was, how much you love us, and what you want your next meal to be.
This month you have grown a lot! You have begun grabbing at things. We first noticed this at dinner one night when you were waving your arms as you stared intently at the ketchup bottle. When I held it closer for you, you worked hard and were able to grab on. You are quickly drawn to colorful objects and have since learned that you can grab on to them. Now you get more excited when we hold toys up for you and when you lay down with your little jungle gym toys hanging over you.
You also have officially moved into your crib in Lydia's room. Lydia loves having you in her room with her and always makes sure that we turn your mobile on for you to listen to. And y'all have done pretty well together! You have only woken her up a couple of times (you're lucky that she's such a deep sleeper!). You still fluctuate between wanting to eat 1-3 times/night. However, I have figured out that you wake up less when I don't swaddle you up. I'm sorry it took me so long to figure out that swaddling up a baby who likes to suck her thumb isn't a smart idea! Now you are able to roll onto your side and suck away as you soothe yourself to sleep. Which, by the way, melts my heart! As soon as I lay you down in your crib you grab onto your blanket with one hand, stick the other thumb in your mouth (usually your left thumb) and roll onto your left side. So sweet!
You also are getting a little bit more of a regular schedule during the day. You take a good nap in the morning and also in the afternoon. You take a few other little cat naps throughout the day. But this seems to be your new schedule.
Speaking of rolling, you sure are doing a lot of it! I'm noting this in your 4 month letter, but it's mostly started the last few days since your 4 month birthday. You roll onto your stomach all of the time now. I don't think that you do it on purpose yet, at least you fuss a lot once you get onto your stomach. You are able to make it back onto your back on occasion, but that seems to be more difficult for you. I hope that this doesn't mean you will be rolling around my living room soon and getting into everything! Relax. Enjoy being a baby and staying in one place. There is plenty of time for mobility later!
So far we haven't come up with many nicknames for you. I frequently refer to you as "Hannah-bo-banna", Sweetie, and Little Lady. Lydia calls you Hannah pronounced like the A in Hannukah. But no matter what we call you, they are only a small symbol of our love for you. We are so grateful for you. I love you and everything about you. Especially your beautiful hair and big eyes. But most especially the sweet spirit that emanates from your smile and babblings. You have me smitten!

love,

Momma

On another note, we finally got out on a date!!! Hooray! Thanks Jason and Diana! We did the tree sculpture tour here in Galveston. It was really neat! All of the trees were ones that died in Hurricane Ike and were carved into sculptures right where they sat on the trunk. This one is carved into several birds flying away. There are several other pictures in the September folder if you would like to see more.

Also, for any of you who remember this house that I talked about a few years back. It has been selected to be part of Galvestons restoration project. They have been working on it for about 6 months now and it is slowly coming together. I'm excited to see it when it's finished!