Hannah's News

We'll let Hannah tell our latest news!

And we are rejoicing... yesterday my midwife was unable to locate the baby's heartbeat, but an ultrasound this morning confirmed everything is A-OK! Our #2 is a busy little one and was showing off his/her two arms, two legs, two eyes, nose and mouth to mommy and daddy. (Mommy was weeping with relief!) We are 11 weeks along. Mommy has been feeling sick so far, although Sunday and yesterday were a little better. It's hard to believe we will be a family of 4!

My Little Blessing!

This morning has been a rough one for reasons I may elaborate later, but God has given me a little ray of sunshine in the midst.

We were sitting in the doctor's waiting room, waiting to be scheduled for a test. There was an older lady there. When she was wheeled in, she smiled at Hannah and played a little game of peek-a-boo. As we were there longer, she began to moan and seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. God put it on my heart to ask her if I could pray for her... I HATE doing this, but I have been disobedient to these requests too many times before, so I did and she said ok. I prayed... no immediate miracles, except for my step of obedience... (did I mention how much I struggle with doing this?). Later, they called her back to the doctor and Hannah asked about her as she left. I told Hannah that Mary didn't feel well. Hannah sat down on a chair, bowed her head, folded her hands and said "Dear God, Mary, better, Amen." Oh, God, what a precious little one. May she never be fearful of praying for anyone in need.

As we were driving home, I was sad and crying a little. My precious daughter started singing, "This is the Day, this is the Day, Lord has made... Mommy... This is the day, This is the day." What a reminder, whether good news or bad, THIS IS the day the LORD has made. May I remember to rejoice in it.

Tractor and Bull Riding

Before we get back to Christmas, I just needed to add a "cleaning" story to the last post. On Friday, Daryl was finishing cleaning the bathroom (thank you WONDERFUL husband!) and he told Hannah he needed to clean the toilet. She walked away from the bathroom saying "cleaning, cleaning, oap, oap (soap)." The next thing he hears is her banging into the bathroom door saying "heaby, heaby (heavy)." She was carrying the VERY LARGE bottle of dish washing detergent. She was bringing the soap to help daddy clean the toilet. What a cutie pie!

We have also "started" the process of potty training... well, getting her use to the idea. We purchased a seat that goes onto the regular toilet seat. She is VERY excited about it. The first night we had it (I had just shown it to her earlier in the day), Daryl was getting her ready for bed. She was laying on her changing table saying, "no body, no body" and getting kind of upset. We didn't know what was going on until we realized she was saying "new potty, new potty!" She wanted to sit on her new potty. I'm very proud to say that she has used it several times over the last couple of days... Way to go, Hannah! (pun intended!)

So, back to Christmas. One of the highlights of the trip was going out with Uncle Myron and Grandpa to feed the cattle. First Hannah and mommy got to ride with daddy in the pick-up truck. That was a fun bouncy ride. Then Hannah got out with Daddy to unwind the twine from the hay bale. Mommy was a little nervous when she saw one of the bulls walk up to Daddy and head bump him (holding Hannah). Later we were told, that was the friendly bull... Thank the Lord!



After feeding the herds, Uncle Myron asked if Hannah wanted to ride in the tractor to take some hay to a sick bull who had been pen up by himself. So Hannah and Mommy climbed into the tractor cab. Hannah LOVED it! She kept saying "toot, toot," and throwing her head back laughing and laughing. She still talks about the tractor ride. Unfortunately you can only see a part of Uncle Myron in this picture. Mommy's big red coat is blocking him! Maybe grandma got a better picture.

So Hannah just might turn into a farm girl! Of course, it probably wouldn't be quite as much fun if we had to do it EVERY day and in all kinds of weather. It was fun for a morning... since we were mostly just riding along.

Love her Giggles and "Helpfulness"

I wish you could have been here for pre-nap story time. Hannah has started wanting to sit on the ottoman for stories. I sit on the rocker and hold the books so she can see the pictures. Today we read The Hungry Caterpillar and Miss Spider's Tea Party. Her giggles had nothing to do with either book, but as I was opening the second book, it slipped out of my hands. "Oops!" I said. That did it, Hannah broke out into a fit of giggles. (I have to confess... I did it again. Just to hear her laugh!)

I don't know where she gets it, but Hannah LOVES to clean. That is definitely not a trait she picked up from me. It had to be from her Grandma Olson. When we were out in North Dakota, Hannah would come running every time Grandma started unloading the dishwasher. Here is a clip of the Cleaning Duo!



Here at home, she loves to help me wash dishes. I try to think of the future (encouraging her in her love of dishes) as I watch her drink the dish water, suck on the dish rags and pour water all down the front of her. As soon as she see me at the sink, she starts pulling on one of the kitchen chairs and asking for her apron. It is pretty cute when I don't think about the extra work involved.

Her new favorite chore is helping to set the table. She gets very excited when I ask if she wants to help. It is a stretch for her to get the dishes up to the table, but her delight makes it all worth it.

Hannah, the Boss(y)

First of all, I just want to say that Hannah has two of the most wonderful cousins in the world! Alaina and Macy... you both were terrific playmates for Hannah over the last week. Thank you for spending so much time with her. She really had a great time with you both.

Let me explain the title... one of Hannah's new favorite games is "Ring around the Rosie" (also called... by her... pocket full posie... fall down... ring the posie). Hannah would grab Alaina or Macy's hands (or both) and say "Ring around Rosie... hands... hands... Ring around Rosie." Usually the girls graciously obliged her and around and around they went. Now guess who gets to go "Ring around Rosie"... mommy and daddy. Does anyone have a cure for dizziness?

The other thing Hannah was very demanding about was playing the piano and dancing. Hannah would crawl up on the piano bench and pat each side of the bench saying "Alaina, sit here. Macy (or Matey), sit here." She loved playing the piano and actually was more gentle than simply banging on it. Do we have a future pianist?

Finally, her saying all week was "hold you... hold you." She would go up to just about any adult and demand to be picked up. The adult closest to the food was likely to be her choice, but not necessarily. She enjoyed snuggling all her family. I suppose that is why we endulged her "bossiness."

Christmas 2008

We have made it back from a wonderful trip to North Dakota. Hannah LOVED spending time with her grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncle and cousins, and great-aunts and great-uncle. There are definitely fun stories to tell and I want to share them in the days to come (I think I have said this before). For now, enjoy the pictures on our picasa account (see side-bar).

One story from when we got home... It had been a long day of traveling. We had gotten up at 5:00 am, traveled 2.5 hours to Bismarck, and then been on two airplanes. It was a no nap day, so by the time we were being picked up on Boston, Hannah was exhausted. She fell asleep on the way home holding a chicken nugget!

She woke up when we got home, but when we tried to finish eating supper, she just lost it! She was crying hysterically, so we got her ready for bed (still crying). Tried to read stories (still crying). Sat out in the living room with the Christmas Tree lights on (still crying). Finally, she started slowing down and half falling asleep on my lap. In fact I thought she was asleep when Daryl and I were talking about why she was so upset. I said to Daryl, "It is hard to say goodbye when you are so little." "Yeah.." Hannah's little voice piped up. Poor girl. Missing her cousins and family!

Stories to come...
Ring around the Rosie
Riding the Tractor
Chance and Buddy
Helping Grandma
Sledding
Opening Presents
"Hold You"
Lois the cat

For now... Happy New Ear! (says Hannah)

Hannah Sayings (Part 2), Christmas Cookies and First Major Snow

After I posted the last entry, I thought of several other Hannah sayings.

"Hannah, where does Uncle Jon and Aunt Mo live?"
"Sea-waddle" (Seattle)

"Hold you, Hold you" (She says this when she wants us to pick her up.)

"Mommy, tand tup, tand tup." (Mommy, stand up... this is "required" when I hold her)

"Dopuph and Meo-ry" (Joseph and Mary)

"Dopuph, Meo-ry, Jees wrap" (Joseph, Mary and Jesus are wrapped... this happens to be the case in several of the Christmas books we checked out of the library.)

Tonight during prayer, Hannah wanted to thank God for the pilot. I suppose a very good person to thank God for, since he (or she) will be getting us to North Dakota for Christmas.

On Thursday, I finally got around to baking my favorite Christmas cookie... peanut butter blossoms. I debated whether or not to have Hannah help me, but I decided to try it. She stood with me for over 30 minutes unwrapping the Hershey kisses while I rolled the dough! Here is a clip of it. The fact that she is so quiet means she was REALLY focused!



I don't think she realized what it was that she was unwrapping, because she didn't try to eat any until about half-way through the bag. At that point, she was holding one of the kisses in her hand (waiting for the tray to come out of the oven, so we could put them on top) and it melted. I looked over to see her cautiously tasting the chocolate. OHHHHH... she ate the whole thing as you can see from the pictures.


I washed her hands so she could finish helping unwrap the kisses. I was pleased that she didn't try to eat another one. I suppose she had her eyes focused on the cookies that were arriving out of the oven.

When we finished we both enjoyed the fruits of our labors. Yummy! Of course, everyone knows you MUST eat the kiss first, especially when it is freshly melted from the warm cookie. This fact is apparently in our DNA, because Hannah knew what to do without seeing anyone else eat this type of cookie!
It has been snowing for the last day and a half here in Gloucester. Daryl and Hannah got outside to play for a little (it was COLD... 10 degrees!... so they didn't stay long). After she got over the snow making her boots "dirty," she had a really great time. Thank you, Emily, for the coat. Hannah calls it her "Emily Coat!"

She really enjoyed going down her slide into the snow. Enjoy!