What she's doing now

Tonight my sister was chastising me for my lack of consistent blogging.  And she is right, I have not been good about updating.  Our lives are crazy right now.  I have been working a lot, more weeknights than not I can be found on the phone at 10.  I have been doing my best to leave work early when I can and spend some time with Hannah prior to feeding her and putting her to bed before my second shift begins.  I am tired, but try to constantly remind myself how easy I really have it and how lucky Hannah is to be well taken care of all the time, whether I am home or not.  It fails to diminish my guilt, but my gratefulness also knows no bounds.

Part of the reason I started this blog was because I really wanted to keep an account of the what Hannah did regularly.  I have really only been doing that through pictures lately, but want to share some of the cool things she has been doing lately.

She seems to find new words every day, and it is so much fun watching her vocabulary expand.   I get such a kick out of it when she can tell me what she wants.  Here are some of her most common words and phrases right now:

E-I-E-I-O - when she wants to play with the Old McDonald app on my phone or listen to her cd in the car, or entertain herself as she falls asleep in her crib.  She also tries to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Jesus loves me.

Common food requests: strawberry, grape (when she wants a blueberry), rice, ice, wagua (water), cheese, watermelon, milk and banana; she will also ask "what is this" when I drop certain foods on her tray (usually chicken)

Animals: duck, fish, doggy

Other words: book, bath, shower, yes, no, flower, outside, Elmo, baby, shoes, uh-oh (I am pretty sure this is her very favorite)

She is also saying a lot of Spanish words, more than I know I am sure.  Nery babysat her the other afternoon, and apparently Hannah was speaking Spanish to her.  She told her "hola" and asked for "besitos."  I am also pretty sure she said helado the other day, as well.

I am working on please and thank you, but she is pretty resistant.  My mom says she has heard thank you.  I don't think I have.

I am sure I am forgetting a ton, but those are the ones that come to mind.

She is still fearless.  Today we were at a birthday party and she was entertaining everyone as she repeatedly ran as fast as she could and dove head first into the ball pit.  She loves to climb on anything and unload all cabinets and drawers.  I am pretty sure that dog food is her very favorite thing to eat.  I am convinced that I am starving our dog by putting his food up, but somehow Hannah still manages to consume a handful every few days it seems.  I try to make myself feel better by telling myself that at least it is really high quality dog food.  It doesn't really work. 

She loves playing outside, especially in the dirt, and throws fits when we will not let her.  She loves to find little nooks to sit in.  Her current favorites are our fireplace mantle and a stool in her closet.  She loves shoes, especially boots.  She brings them to us and asks us to put them on her.  She likes to wave bye and blow kisses.  As soon as Vilma gets here in the morning Hannah starts waving goodbye to me, as if to usher me out the door.  She loves books, she brings them to us, saying "book, book."  She really likes her first words book.  She likes to point at all of the items that she knows and tell us what they are.

Although she can be a bit whiny when she does not get her way, she still spends 90% of her days with a big smile on her face.  People are always commenting on what a happy baby she is.  We are so blessed by her infectious disposition.  Most of the time I just can't help being in a good mood when I get home because she is so happy. 

Here are a few pictures that I love from Elle's birthday party (three weeks ago) and Jack's birthday party (today).

Play Dates and Pumpkins

Last week I took Thursday and Friday off work since we were headed out of town for the wedding. Before we left town Thursday, my friend Randi who just moved back to Houston from Alaska, came over with her son Gus. Gus is 10 months old, and super-advanced. He walks, has several words and is quite a bit larger than Hannah. They played together (particularly enjoying emptying the diaper basket) and Hannah even said his name several times. Gus also really loved Winston.

We headed up to Dallas on Thursday night and got in fairly late. Friday morning we were up early to visit Mimi and Poppy.  Hannah had fun goofing around in the hotel room while Tan and I got ready.

After spending a little time playing with Mimi and Poppy (one of Hannah's most treasured activities), we headed to see one of my oldest friends, Elizabeth, and to meet her precious daughter, Allie. I only got one picture of the girls, but Hannah was so sweet with the baby. She was picking up toys and taking them to her. Based on her treatment of Winston and other children her age I was pleasantly surprised.  The four of us went to lunch with my parents and some close family friends, and both babies did great.



Hannah was quite the trooper.  After lunch we headed to the Dallas Arboretum (somewhere we would spend a lot of time if we live in Dallas) to meet Phu and Elle and enjoy the perfect weather.  There was this Cinderella's castle pumpkin exhibit and Hannah had about as much fun as I have ever seen her have running all over the place and playing with the pumpkins.  I love these pictures, memories of such a fun afternoon.

These Boots Are Made for Walking

I managed to snag some Missoni rain boots from Target. They are way too big for Hannah, but she loves them anyway. She is constantly bringing them to us and asking us to put them on her. She then clobbers around in them until they fall off and the process repeats.

Grandjackie ordered her some adorable purple John Deere cowboy boots, and she seems to be just as big a fan of those.  They fit her a little bit better, and she thought she was pretty cute wearing them at the Dallas Arboretum on Friday (lots more photos of this excursion to come in another post).

A New Aunt

This weekend Hannah attended her first wedding as we celebrated with Uncle Taylor and Aunt Julie.  I didn't get any photos of the wedding, but it was lovely and Julie was an absolutely stunning bride.  Here are a few pictures that GrandJackie took of Hannah after the service:

I was hoping she would be able to stay at the reception for a little while, but she was so tired by the time we got there (after 7:30) that GrandJackie and Grandaddy had to take her home around 8.  She looked so precious, and it was so nice for her to have the opportunity to meet some of Tanner's relatives for the first time.