Hannah-2 Year Update

Hannah just had her 2 year check-up. She is 35 1/2" tall (87 %) and weighs 28 lbs. 2 oz (69%) and her head measurement is 19" (69%). Hannah's personality continues to be pretty outgoing. She is pretty friendly and will say hi to about anyone and often gives hugs and kisses to strangers. I can tell we are hitting the toddler years as her emotions are very up and down. One minute she is being adorable and the next she is throwing herself on the ground because she didn't get what she wanted. We are working on that! She is still sleeping in her crib. I may try to transition her soon, we haven't decided. But, I figure there is no rush if it doesn't work. The new baby can sleep in the pack 'n play. She still goes to bed really well for us and sometimes even tells us that she wants to go to bed. The only time she doesn't like going to bed is when we have company. She doesn't want to miss any fun! She loves to drink milk and juice and actually we are going to have to start restricting her somewhat because she's been drinking until she gets sick. She has done this several times lately. So we are going to work on that too. Her new love is Sesame Street. I held off on TV until very close to her 2nd birthday, and Sesame Street is the only show she watches, but I think she would watch it every waking hour if we let her! She is obsessed with Elmo! She continues to add new words to her vocabulary every day, and sometimes I am surprised by words that she knows. She has just begun to put words together, but not too much yet. She also has a little bit of her own language that most people probably wouldn't understand but I know what she is asking for (sysy=applesauce, caws=cards, cool=pool, nyny=all gone, but I have no idea where that came from!). She recognizes a lot of letters and can say all of them repeating after me. I love when I explain something to her and she nods her head and says "kay;" I think she is beginning to understand a lot of things! When trying to say her name, she almost always called herself "Haha." Josh tried and tried to teach her Hannah, and she finally has it! It is so cute to hear her say her name, but I liked "Haha" too! Also, she has heard me calling Josh by name and has called him "dosh" lots of times... we are trying to discourage that but it is so funny! She gets really jealous if Josh and I are cuddling and wedges herself between us. She loves to help me unload the dishwasher which I think is hilarious. She just started handing stuff to me one day when I was on the phone, and I put it away as quick as I can because she is fast! This is one of my least favorite jobs, so she makes it more fun! Maybe I can pass this job onto her someday.... ! She loves the bath and the pool. Sometimes she'll ask to take a couple of baths a day, which I try to avoid :) She also loves to wash her hands... OCD much? I love her so much and she brings me so much joy! It's hard to believe that we'll soon have two.... I hope that means twice the fun!

Josh's 28th Birthday in Cincinnati

For Josh's 28th birthday, I thought it would be fun to take a little weekend trip. His birthday happened to fall on a "Fifth Sunday" which meant there was no children's church so it would be easier for us to get away. Also, the Cubs were playing in Cincinnati, and since two of his friends now live there, it just all seemed too good to be true. We headed to Cinci on Friday and met the Maurers at the Great American Ball Park for a Cubs/Reds game. We had dinner at the park and enjoyed walking around. It was pretty hot. We bought dinner at the game, but I think Hannah was too hot to eat. She instead chugged two big cups of apple juice and ate some fruit snacks and then got sick...all over the seat in front of us. Luckily no one was sitting there, and she was unphased. The kids did pretty well for the most part, but we left during the 8th inning because they were about done and so were the two pregnant ladies. The next day, Josh, Hannah, & I went to The Creation Museum which is just south of Cincinnati. It is a pretty cool place. You are supposed to take about 2-3 hours to go through the walking tour part, but we jetted through in about 45 minutes. You have to keep moving with a toddler! I know Josh would have liked to spend more time, so we'll have to go on our own sometime-or when our kids are much older. Hannah did really enjoy the petting zoo part. She got brave and petted a few animals. She also stuck her nose right up to the sheep's nose and yelled, "Hey!" That night, we got to go to Eastside Christian Church, where Brandt Wilson is currently doing family ministry. We went to their Saturday night service. It was really nice to enjoy sitting in a service. I can't remember the last time we visited another church. Hannah got to go to class with Elijah and she loved it. She didn't even tell us bye. She saw kids and toys and went running! After church, we went to dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube with the Wilsons and Maurers. It was a really fun place and the food was great. There were very accommodating to our table with three toddlers! The next morning, we attended Christ's Church at Mason where Benji Maurer is now the worship minister. It was good to hear Benji lead worship again-we miss that from LCC! Their church is really big. Hannah was in a class for kids born between April and September of 2008! She again was not shy at all. She just walked right in and didn't look back! After church, we got to have lunch with the Maurers at Chipotle, my new favorite restaurant! To me, vacation is all about good food! I was also introduced to Skyline Chili on this trip which I thought was pretty good! Josh got our hotel on priceline. He has been able to get us some really good deals on there this summer, and we have stayed at pretty nice hotels for much less than the cheap hotels! Luckily on this trip, we had a really big bed because Hannah ended up sleeping with us. It just seemed easier. She did great aside from kicking Josh out of bed on the 2nd night (he finally just came around to the other side!). We had a fun, little trip, and I'm glad we got away and got to spend time with friends we rarely see. Happy 28th Birthday to Josh-I hope we get to celebrate another 60 more together!

Hannah's 2nd Birthday

If I have learned anything as a mom it's that time really does go quickly. I hate that people say that all the time, but I guess they wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. That being said, yes, it is hard to believe that Hannah is 2 already, but then again, there's a part of me that knows this must be true because I'm about to have another! Even knowing this, I was a little sentimental as I thought about how much she's grown in the last year and how fast it has gone. This year, we decided to try smaller, separate parties instead of one big one. It's hard telling which is better. I loved her party last year, but it was nice this year to be a little more laid back, especially since I am pregnant and pretty tired! It was exhausting to me to do dinner for small groups, so one big one probably would have killed me. Her first party was with my immediate family which was still eleven people... but that's a pretty small party around here. We started the evening by taking some pictures in the backyard, but Hannah wasn't feeling super cooperative. Once we gave in and let her wear her red shoes, we did manage to get her with her tree, and we also got some of Josh & I. We failed at getting a good one with the three of us. Then we had dinner, opened presents, and had Elmo cake and ice cream. I made the cake myself and was pretty proud of how it turned out. I was afraid it wouldn't look like Elmo, but it did! Hannah got lots of fun presents: a Cinderella blanket, her own wallet full of "credit cards" (since she likes to take mine apart all of the time), a big sister shirt, skinny jeans, a kitty that walks and meows, Sesame Street figurines and book, and a pink pi shirt. I love that my daughter knew the pi symbol before she was two, thanks to her Aunt Betsy, the math major! On Hannah's actual birthday, she and I got to spend the day doing fun things in Danville. We first went to Winter Park, which was a really nice playground that we had never been to. She had a lot of fun there! Then we went to McDonald's for a Happy Meal, which she had never had before. I was so excited because the toy was a Madame Alexander doll. This was meant to be for her birthday because her Great Aunt Sherry had just given her some Madame Alexander dolls the week before which were ten years old, and she LOVED them! We will be going back to get them all! After that, we went to The Custard Cup and Hannah got chocolate ice cream with sprinkles in a Cubs hat! We had a really fun mommy/daughter day. That night, Josh and I spent the evening with her and gave her our presents. We got her a pink DVD player for the car with an Elmo DVD. She LOVED it, and I think we will too since we are going on a couple of road trips soon! A few days later, we had Josh's dad's family over for dinner, presents, and cake. We again had a great time, and Hannah got some fun presents, including some really cute clothes, money to go shopping, and a dollhouse! I was having as much fun with it as she was! Happy 2nd Birthday to our baby girl. We love you so much!

A Much Needed Girls Day!

On Saturday, I got to meet up with five of my college friends (Jennifer, Kristina, Amy, Betty, & Abby) in Bloomington for a day of fun! As a rare treat, we left the kids behind (with the exception of the nursing babies... and the one in my belly!). We planned this months ago, and I think God knew I was going to need this day when the time came. I feel like I have been going from one thing to the next lately, and I really felt like I needed a day "off." I usually hate leaving Hannah, even for just a day, but I think I am beginning to see a narrow tunnel of time before I cannot escape alone again for awhile. So, I was relieved to be flying solo for the day. We first met up at The Children's Place to look for clothes for the kids and also ended up going to Target for crib sheets. My sisters found this humorous that we were ditching the kids but shopping for the kids. That thought hadn't occurred to me; I just thought it was just nice to be shopping alone! Oh how your perspective changes.... Then, we went to Chipotle for lunch. I had never been there, but I thought it was really good and definitely would like to go back! After that, Betty had arranged for us to have pedicures at the cosmetology school in town. All six of us got to sit around and chat while our feet soaked and had our nails painted. That was a fun, rare treat! I would like for someone to do my nails the rest of my pregnancy please! We finished off with dessert at Coldstone Creamery. It really was a good day and I was so happy to see my girlfriends! I miss them and wish we all still lived in the same town!

Jordan & Courtney's Wedding!

This past week, our whole family got to be a part of Josh's brother's wedding. We had a lot of fun. The activities started the week before with the bachelorette party. I had a fun night out with girls, which is a rarity around here! We went out and then went back to Courtney's for some games and cake. All of the bridesmaids were there: The rehearsal dinner was really nice. It was an uncharacteristically beautiful August night, so we got to sit outside at The Vermilion Place courtyard and have dinner. Hannah, Josh, & I had matching outfits although I didn't manage to get a picture with me in it! The next day, all of the girls met at the hairdresser at 9 am to get our hair done. It was really nice not to have to worry about it! She teased all of our hair REALLY BIG before she put it up, but I can say in 12 hours, it did not move! Then, we all went and did our makeup, ate lunch and met back at the church to get dressed and have pictures. Hannah totally had to skip nap time, and I wasn't sure how that was going to go. About two minutes before she was supposed to go down the aisle, she started having a meltdown. Luckily, I had a package of fruit snacks, and they came to the rescue! She took them and walked right down the aisle with them and her basket. We didn't even bother teaching her about throwing the petals; I just wanted her to go down the aisle! She is not a very shy girl, and the crowd did not phase her at all. The other flower girl was 3, and she was throwing her petals. Hannah walked behind her and picked up the petals and put them in her basket. She even set down her fruit snacks in order to do this! Everyone was laughing. Josh and I were obviously already at the front, and she came right to me and wanted to be picked up. So, I held her for the first few minutes of the ceremony. I was getting worried that I would have to hold her the whole time, but I convinced her to go to Josh's Aunt Sherry who had brought some dolls for her to play with. After the wedding, we did a ton more pictures and Hannah and I were both exhausted! The wedding party took a limo to the reception, but I followed in our car because I was afraid that Hannah would be cranky in the limo and I was hoping she would fall asleep in her carseat. Luckily, she did. We got announced when we walked into the reception and Hannah slept on my shoulder the whole time, even through the clapping and yelling for the bride and groom! The reception was beautiful and the food was great. Josh was the best man, and he did a great job with the toast. I was very proud of him. He hates public speaking almost as much as I do, but you couldn't tell it! The reception was right by a golf course, so the bridal party got to go out on golf carts and get more pictures taken on the course. That was fun. I was very excited that despite being nearly six months pregnant, my dress still fit, even though we didn't know I was pregnant when we ordered it. That was a big relief! The dancing began once we got back, and Hannah danced ALL NIGHT! She would NOT leave the dance floor! Finally, after 10, she laid her blanket down in the middle of the floor and tried to go to sleep! She got mad when I tried to pick her up so I just let her stay there! She was a party girl! It was a fun day for all of us and we are glad Jordan and Courtney are finally married!

VBS 2010

VBS has come and gone once again, and we had a lot of fun! We had about 100 kids each night, which is twice as many kids as we have at church every Sunday, making this our biggest outreach of the year! This is not to mention all of the parents and volunteers from the church and community. Overall, we had over 200 people each night! Each night started with a great dinner prepared by our cooking staff. They work so hard to cook a meal for such a large group, and their efforts were really appreciated! Lots of moms said they enjoyed having a week off from cooking dinner so "thank-you cooks!" We then began the event with music each night on the basketball court. Thanks to the whole worship team for setting up in the heat and having great music for us! Then the kids divided into groups and rotated between crafts, games, and lesson time. Our lessons centered around heroes of the Bible; We had great crafts including capes, T-shirts, prayer boxes, and picture frames; Games were a hit as always with lots of water involved! VBS Sunday was also a big success. We had lots of visitors in our church, including almost twenty more kids in children's church than normal, which I thought was awesome. It was great to have so many people come! The picnic was our grand finale, and the kids had fun on the giant slide and bounce house. VBS is by far our biggest event of the year and takes the most time to plan, but this year I just kept thinking about how much time our volunteers put in. Josh and I may coordinate things, but there is NO WAY we could pull it off without so many helpers! Just to give you an idea, we ordered 80 T-Shirts for volunteers who were at the park, and there were many more behind the scenes workers (sewing capes, donating food, cooking, etc.) who are not included in that number! I am especially thankful for all of our crew leaders: Kathleen Bennett in crafts, Sandy Chew in games, and Teresa Sudlow ("mom") in the kitchen. All of these ladies have been heading up their respective areas for several years now. I am amazed by all of their energy and willingness to help. I don't know what I'd do without any of them. I also really love how our whole church staff pulls together and plays a part. Darren and Mike were our teachers, Cheryl was in charge of the music, Dora had a huge job doing all of our registration and publications, and Ruth was our photographer for our crafts all week. I just think it's really cool how everyone pitches in for this event. There are SO MANY more people who helped out tons, but there are too many to mention. So, THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU. We couldn't do it without you!