Christmas 2009

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. The festivities started on Christmas Eve when we went to my parents house for lunch and presents. I love exchanging gifts with my family because we all try really hard to get each person something they will love. We open our gifts one at a time, going around the circle youngest to oldest. This year, while we were opening gifts, I noticed that 9 out of the 12 people there were in their 20's. Hannah and my parents were the only ones who weren't. It's fun having so many brothers and sisters, and I wonder what our Christmases will be like in 10 years or so when everyone has a few kids. I think someone needs to buy a bigger house! My parents got Hannah & I a light up Christmas tree that plays music. She loved it! I'm just hoping we get it packed away before it gets broken-so far so good! Hannah got lots of fun toys, all of which play music I believe, so she was a happy camper. She loves the Black Eyed Peas and I got their CD from Phil & Erika, so my dad put it in his CD player. However, he was showing off his new sub woofer, and it scared her and she started crying! That one backfired! After spending the afternoon with my family and eating way too much, Josh and I went to the Christmas Eve service at church, and then we took Hannah home to get to bed. For the first time in our married life, Josh and I spent Christmas morning at our own home. It was really nice to have Christmas morning as a family with Hannah since the days were chaos. My mom made Hannah a really cute nightgown for Christmas morning. I get told that she looks like Pebbles or Cindy Lou from the Grinch pretty much on a daily basis, but I thought this nightgown made her look even more like Cindy Lou. Hannah kind of grasped taking the paper off presents, but we still had to help her. Hopefully next year, she'll tear into them! After opening gifts, we headed to Champaign to spend the day with Josh's dad's family. It is always a fun day of playing cards, opening presents, and eating lots. Here are most of the toys that Hannah got for Christmas. Needless to say, we tripled our toy collection which is a lot of fun, but if this trend continued for every kid on every Christmas, we would need a bigger house!

Hannah with her friends Lily and Violet Johnson!

The Best Christmas Present Ever

I just got done directing my first children's musical at church. I have helped with them in the past, and I have directed the children's choir on Christmas and Easter for a few years, but I have never done an entire musical. Honestly, when the idea came up in August, I wasn't sure that we could pull it off. We were going to need several Junior High students for the big speaking parts, and I just wasn't sure they would be interested. But, when we had our first meeting, a big group of JH kids came, and I was so excited. We had already decided to do the musical "The Best Christmas Present Ever" and it was like it was written for our group. Everyone who wanted a speaking part and/or solo got one with no people/parts left over. It was perfect. We practiced drama and music every Wednesday from September until now, and we practiced music every Sunday morning. We had 6 rehearsal aside from all of that, so it was a lot of work! The kids were so great. They had their lines memorized early on, and as all musicals go, it really came together in the last week. Of course, there were imperfections here and there, but that's what makes it cute. During the first performance, one boy yelled "Stephanie?" when the stage was completely silent. I motioned for him to come off stage. He had to go to the bathroom. I can just imagine if he would have yelled "I have to go pee!" Our shepherds were played by twin boys, and they started fighting on stage during the Finale of the first performance. That was definitely a highlight. Then, during the last two songs of the last performance, another little boy was restless from being on stage all day and started singing high pitched opera over everyone. The audience was roaring laughing. I was trying to maintain composure while conducting but was also laughing myself. There were many touching parts of the programs. One of the little girls memorized and recited the Christmas story during the program. She had it down word for word and spoke it so eloquently. I had to keep my game face on or I would have had tears streaming down my face. It was beautiful. Several of the soloists were awesome too. I was impressed and proud. We had a lot of fun!

Hannah the Character

Hannah continues to be a little character. I wanted to write down a few funny things she has been doing lately so I don't forget them. First, if she notices that Josh is in our bedroom closet, she will run over there and close the door on him. She thinks it's hysterical to shut him in the dark. She also will open and close the door for "peek-a-boo." She opens her mouth as wide as possible when she sees who she is hiding from. She thinks she's hysterical. She will play peek-a-book just about anytime, anywhere, with anything she can find. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but she LOVES sweets. Whenever we give her something with sugar, she smiles and nods her head "yes." If I bake something, she will stand next the counter where it is, crying and reaching for some, especially if it involves chocolate! She has recently really started to understand what we're saying. If I ask her if she wants breakfast, she runs to the kitchen and grabs onto the fridge handles. If I ask her what she's going to wear today, she runs to her bedroom closet and reaches for her clothes. If I tell her we're going to get a clean diaper, she runs to her changing table. If I ask her if she wants to go see Grandma, she runs to the backdoor. When I sing "Rock-a-Bye Baby," she will run and get her blankie. If I tell her to go get a book to read, she gets one. She is in LOVE with reading books right now. We read them over and OVER again. She will throw them in our lap and then reach up to sit in our lap. We read them several times through and she always wants to read the same ones. One night I was vaccuming, and she got out her toy vacuum to help me. I was surprised she put those two together. It was cute. Josh also recently taught her to give kisses. If you make an mmm sound, she will pucker up and kiss you. One day, she was playing and got up and ran to me and gave me a kiss and then went back to playing. That melted my heart. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that she has no discretion on who she will kiss. She will kiss just about anyone on the lips, and I became a germaphobe when I became a mom, so I'm not really crazy about that one. She also started patting other people on the back. I always pat her on the back when she's upset, so she started doing it to me and my mom too. It's so sweet. She does it to her baby dolls and stuffed animals too. She is quite the little cuddler. I hope she keeps that! She also is very independent on the eating front. She hates to be fed, and she is getting pretty good at using a fork. She loves to carry her forks around the house. I think I need to buy more because she loses them a lot. If she is not carrying a fork, she is carrying a pen, and pity the man who tries to take it away from her. I have several pens with no ink in them now because she just likes to hold them. One night, she went to sleep clutching her pen. She "talks" a lot more now too. Everyone says we're not going to be able to get her to be quiet when she's older. When people ask me if she can say words, I always say not really, but if I think about it, she is saying several "words" that we know the meanings for. Of course, she has been saying "dada" and "mama" for awhile now, but she is saying "mama" a lot more, which I love to hear in her sweet, small voice. She also says "mimi" for milk and "buhbuh" for book and "baba" for ball and "bebe" for baby and something that sounds like apple. She also says "oh-oh-oh" when she drops something (usually on purpose). But it is so funny. So, if I think about it, she really is talking more than I even realize. She loves her push toys, but she will ram them straight into the wall or furniture and then get mad that they are stuck. When we are shopping, she loves to get out of the cart or stroller and help us push. That is really hard to do, but she laughs hysterically. She loves it. My arms are getting stronger by the day... She loves to put her coat on. She will sometime put it on just to wear around the house. She thinks it's funny for some reason. She is still in the phase of refusing to let her dad put her to bed. I was gone at rehearsals several nights this week, and Josh tried for a long time to get her to bed, and she would get really mad. I was literally in the door less than 60 seconds, and she was out in her crib. Ridiculous Hannah. But you're so much fun! I love you!

Thanksgiving

The Downing Family-Thanksgiving 2009

Sisters-Alisa, Betsy, Stephanie, Erika, Emily

Cousins-Emily, Maggie, Stephanie, Betsy, Molly

Uncle Phil & Hannah

Cousin Molly & Hannah

Aunt Emily & Hannah stuffing their faces with rolls-that's all they eat :)

Four Generations-Grandma Teresa, Stephanie, Hannah, Great-Grandma Miller

Cousins Hannah (15 mos.) & Sammy (26 mos.)

Snoozing with Grandpa & Grandma!

Thanksgiving was a little different and much more relaxed for our family this year. First we went to my parents' house in Catlin for lunch with 22 of our relatives. It's always a loud, chaotic, good time. Then we went to Danville to see Josh's Grandma who was in the hospital. Most of his family spent their day there with her. She was fighting off a blood infection. She is doing fine now and is back at home. We celebrated with Josh's mom's family on Sunday this year because Bob had to travel with the Illini football team on Thanksgiving. That is unusual, but it actually worked out better not to have to go to so many houses in one day. It was much more relaxing for us and we got to enjoy our time with everyone. Plus, we got to spread our eating out a little!

Our First Trip to the ER

I was really hoping that Hannah would be older before I'd have to write about our first trip to the ER, but she broke us into this reality of parenthood one day before her fifteen month birthday. She loves to play "I'm gonna get you" and have us chase her around the house. Well, last night, she and Josh were playing this in the dining room, and she tripped over her highchair and hit her head on the corner of the drywall. She split her forehead and it was bleeding pretty well at first. Emily and Betsy were over, so they called Paul's wife Alisa, who is an ER nurse. She came over and said it looked like she may need stitches. She went into the ER with us and had a doctor check her out before we checked in. Luckily, they thought that glue would do the job. I was glad Alisa was around to tell us what to do. Hannah was actually very calm through all of this. She didn't cry much, even when it happened, and I think we were more upset than she was. Luckily, she doesn't know what blood is, so it didn't scare her. I on the other hand, was fighting back tears and cringing at the words "laceration" and "sutures." Can't they say "cut" and "stitches"? To me, that somehow sounds better. However, the care we got at the hospital was great. We did not have to wait long at all; I think we were in and out in less than an hour which is amazing for the ER. They gave Hannah a little teddy bear that ladies at a local church had made. I thought that was really sweet. Hannah unfortunately was not a fan of the actual gluing process. It wasn't very fun. Don't get me wrong; I think stitches would have been a million times worse, but gluing a toddler's head is no picnic either. I held her in my arms while a nurse held her head still. They had to "clamp" the skin together and had their hands all over her face to keep her from moving. Plus, they said that the glue stings. Needless to say, she was not very happy while this was going on, and if she cried, it made the glue separate. How can you tell a hurting child not to cry? She was upset for awhile after it was over. She woke up a couple of times in the night last night and I went in and held her. I was so afraid of her bumping it and breaking it back open. Even though this was a very minor injury in the scheme of things, I still hate that my little girl got hurt. I don't want anything bad to ever happen to her!

The National Missionary Convention

Josh, Hannah, & I went to the National Missionary Convention in Peoria last night to go to a Pioneer Bible Translators dinner and visit with college friends. Josh was able to take 1/2 day off work so we could get there early because I wanted to go to some workshops. However, Hannah had other plans. She was unusually crabby when we got there, and it didn't seem that going to a class would be an option. So, we just walked around and explored the booths. I was amazed at how many people we ran into that we knew; it was an LCC reunion! We seriously couldn't take two steps without seeing someone! We met up with the Davenports, Humistons, & Gorschs for a very nice dinner sponsored by PBT that Nathan had organized. I was worried that Hannah's crabbiness would continue through dinner, but luckily she was happy after she got some food. I'm a great mother... my child was simply starving. Our table was full of toddlers, and really, I was amazed at how well they did. Don't get me wrong, we were the loudest table in the room, but I think it could have been worse :) After dinner, we walked back over to the convention and visited for awhile. We ran into Jon & Jessica Pittman. I was so happy to see them; it has been forever! I really love them and wish we could see them more often. LCC was having a party that night at the Holiday Inn, but it didn't start until 9 and we had a toddler and a 2 hour drive home, so that wasn't really an option. But, I hope to be able to go again in the near future-Indy 2012?!

Festival of Trees

My mom and I took Hannah to the Festival of Trees in Danville again this year. She loved it! There were decorated trees everywhere, and when we first walked in, she pointed with her mouth wide open. We let her run around and look at the trees. She had fun looking at them and dancing to the Christmas music. We stopped for a quick picture with Santa, but she really wasn't so sure what she thought about him. She didn't want to take her eyes off of him. She also got her picture taken with Mrs. Claus who she was a little more comfortable with. It's a fun Christmas tradition that I hope we get to do every year!

My Little Ham (at 14 months)

I cannot tell you how many people in the last month have told me that Hannah is "a ham." I don't know if it's her age or her personality, but I am beginning to wonder as more and more people say that. She doesn't seem to be very bashful around strangers! From the people on the buses in Disneyworld, to the stockers at Wal-Mart, to the shoppers at Sam's, she seems to attract a lot of attention. She is a little flirt. Is this a picture of what is to come?

One of my favorite new things she is doing is making this face where she opens her mouth wide open. She does it a lot now when I pull out the camera, but she will usually do it mimicking someone else who is doing it. I think it is so funny. Speaking of mimicking, she is starting to do that a lot more. One day, I saw a squished bug on Josh's back (he didn't know it was there) and I put my hands on my face and started shrieking. She put her hands up on her cheeks like mine and started squealing. It was so funny. Also, like me, she loves to carry around a pen and paper to make her “lists.” She also will pick up the cordless phone and push a few buttons and then put it up to her ear. One day she seriously dialed 991... that was close! She also managed to call Josh at work all by herself with the cell phone (she only had to push the green button twice since it was the last person I called). Another new favorite of mine is when she plays peek-a-boo by herself. She holds her blanket over her face and then drops it. I yell “peek-a-boo” and she laughs hysterically. I love it.

About a month or two ago, she started hearing the garage door go up and knows that means that daddy is home from work. She runs to the back door, and then she claps for him when he walks in. It is adorable. It's fun that she is so excited to see him. Clapping is her way of showing her joy. Also, whenever someone claps on TV, she stops what she is doing and claps along with them. Even if she is tired, it's like she feels obligated to clap if someone else is. She also loves to dance anytime music comes on TV. It's so funny.

Today when I was on the phone with Jennifer and putting away laundry, I heard Hannah crying in my bedroom. I walked in and didn't see her anywhere. She had managed to crawl under our bed and was in the very middle and couldn't figure out how to get out. She was fine after I helped her out. Too funny...

Another new favorite of hers is stairs. She is really starting to master them, but it still makes me nervous. At church, she always makes a mad dash for the nearest set of stairs. She gets really mad if you pick her up! And speaking of climbing, she climbs on furniture now. Every time I leave the living room, she crawls onto the chair where we keep the laptop and starts playing with it. She changes settings and pulls up screens I’ve never seen. Sometimes it takes awhile to fix it! She also pulled two keys off of it, but Josh was able to get them back on without a problem. While we're on the subject of damaging technology, we lost our cell phone a couple of weeks ago, and we're pretty sure she wandered off with it somewhere. We have looked everywhere we can think to look. My fear now is that it left with the trash...

As far as eating goes, she is becoming much more independent. She really does not like to be fed. She is getting the hang of using her own spoon and fork, but it can be pretty messy. She also likes to flip her tray off the highchair when she's done... did I mention messy? Basically, my floors are always dirty. She's also started to figure out how to get food for herself. The other day, she walked into the kitchen, pulled the bread off the counter, got herself a piece, and walked around the house happily eating her snack that she "prepared." She also got into my chocolate stash and started eating away. She LOVES chocolate. Since her first birthday when I started allowing more sweets, my mom has started to spoil her a little. She has been baking her chocolate chip cookies in the afternoons, and she is CRAZY about them!

On the sleeping front, we transitioned to one nap around her 13 month birthday. She started sleeping longer at night (about 13 hours instead of 11 ½) and less during the day. Her nap is about 2 hours in the afternoon. I think this schedule is a little easier and definitely helps on Sundays. She used to get so tired in the nursery having to be in there for 4 hours with no morning nap. She definitely recognizes bedtime and usually goes down easily. Today, she and I were playing with her baby doll and I started singing "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" to it like I do when Hannah goes to bed. She ran and got her blanket to take a nap! Josh and I started singing it again tonight at bedtime and she ran and got her blanket. How cute is that?

Hannah had her first cold this week. It was pretty bad. I called the doctor three times, and this is the first time I have ever called the doctor for sickness. They said it sounded like croup; she sounded like a barking seal. I hate that she got sick, but I'd say we did pretty well to make it 14 months-props to breastfeeding! Is it a coincidence that we just stopped that about six weeks ago? Maybe, but I know it helped a lot. She is also currently working on her molars. She has three, so only one more to go in this set. Some have been bad, some have been easy, but it seems like teething is never ending… and we’re just about halfway done! She seems to get more fun every day, which is the only thing that makes it bearable that time is going so fast.... She is the joy of my life!

Trick or Treat

Halloween was fun this year. First, we stopped by my parents house for treats and a few pictures. Hannah was Cinderella, compliments of Grandma Teresa who made her a beautiful dress. She also got Hannah a crown, which she surprisingly left on her head for quite awhile. My cousin Sammy was there too (Hannah's 1st cousin once removed :). He is a year older than her; he was dressed as a lion. After that, we stopped by LuAnn Kees' house and then headed to Danville. We went to Grandpa Steve's house, and Aunt Judy and Great-Grandma Downing came over. Hannah had a blast exploring his house, and he made us chili-mac, which was one of Josh's favorites growing up. Josh always says he misses his dad's chili. He also boiled some whole-wheat pasta for Hannah, and she ate tons! After that, we headed a few blocks over to my Uncle Art and Aunt Linda's house. All my family was there celebrating my Uncle Art's birthday. We had fun eating pizza and letting the kids run. Hannah got a collection of little pumpkins, one each from my mom and my Uncle Art and Josh's Aunt Sherry. She likes playing with them. We didn't carve one this year.... but maybe next year!

Paul & Alisa Got Married!!!

My brother Paul and his new wife Alisa got married last week in Jamaica! My parents got to go to the wedding, along with Alisa's mom and sister. I definitely wish I could have been there, but it wasn't an option for many reasons. First of all, children under 18 were not allowed at the resort, and I'm not ready to leave Hannah that long. Secondly, it was only weeks after our Disney vacation which was booked well before we knew about the wedding, making time off and money a slight issue as well. So, sadly, we had to wish them well from afar. The day of the wedding was a little weird knowing that my brother was getting married and I was sitting at home in my pajamas. But, we got to have a big reception when they got home. We had fun eating and dancing. I think Hannah danced more than anyone. I don't have a ton of good pictures right now, but I'm sure I will have more later. Their wedding pictures in Jamaica were beautiful.

Jonikay's Wedding

A couple of weekends ago, I got to go to Naperville for Jonikay's wedding. I had a really good time. Jennifer came to stay with me on Friday and Saturday, and we went to the wedding minus husbands and kids. It was a lot of fun to get to spend so much time talking without interruption. We drove up to Naperville early on Saturday morning to do a little shopping at a nice outdoor mall. Being the country girls that we are, we were scrambling for money to pay the tolls and the parking fees at the mall. Seriously, who carries change? We left the mall for our "10 minute" drive to the wedding, which turned into an hour drive. Good thing we left early! Luckily, the wedding didn't start exactly on time, so we were there in plenty of time. Jonikay looked gorgeous, as I knew she would. Her dress was perfect and definitely said "JoniKay." I was so happy for her! Eric seems like a great guy, and I know they will be happy. After the wedding, a bunch of us went out to dinner at BDs Mongolian Grill. It was a fun stir-fry place where you mix up your own ingredients and then watch them cook it for you. We had a baby shower there for Courtney, who was having contractions all day! She was a few weeks from her due date but ended up having her baby days later! I was glad we got to see her but also glad she didn't have her baby away from home! I miss days with the college girls and know they are getting less and less as we now have no more weddings or bridal showers. Plus, I'm sure it will be more difficult as we all add children to our families. I know that our friendships are strong enough to last a lifetime though and that we have many memories yet to be made...

Pumpkins, Covered Bridges, and Birthday Fun

We got to do lots of fun fall activities the week of my birthday. First, I took Hannah to Josh's office and we went out to lunch in Cayuga at the Covered Bridge Restaurant. Hannah had not ever been to Josh's office, and they had been teasing that she would be walking before we ever brought her in. Unfortunately, they were right; she has been walking for months now! Hannah liked running around the office, and she even dragged a lady's filing cabinet out of her cubicle... she loves anything on wheels! That night, mom made us a spaghetti dinner, which is kind of a birthday tradition. It is my favorite! The next day, we took all of the church kids to Curtis Orchard. Josh and I walked Hannah out to the muddy pumpkin patch and picked a pumpkin. We had fun, but it kind of reminded me of going to cut down our Christmas tree... walking through a muddy field, looking for that "perfect" pumpkin/tree. Hannah tripped over the vines several times and ended up kind of muddy. That night, Josh, Hannah, & I went shopping and out to eat. I got some new jeans and Hannah got some new shoes. We finally made it back to Minneci's since it was closed on Josh's birthday. The food was delicious; I would definitely go back. Hannah is big on salad which cracks me up. She helped me eat mine. A few days later, a bunch of ladies from our church took a trip to The Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana. I recruited my friend Jody to tag along with our girls. We drove separately from the other ladies since we had two carseats, two strollers, two diaper bags, two toddlers, and two moms. We packed her mini-van! It was a great day to just get out of the house and visit. I bought some cute things and had yummy fair food. I was glad we went!