Happy Birthday, Macy and Uncle Jon!

Hannah was very excited to be able to sing another Happy Birthday song. We missed her cousin's birthday on Friday, so first of all...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MACY!
We hope you had a fabulous day! Can't wait to see you in July!

Uncle Jon, here is your birthday song. We will celebrate with you again when you arrive in less than 2 weeks.

She wasn't done after one version and wanted to include Mo. I thought it was appropriate to add this clip, because we have a tape of Jon singing C is for cookie when he was about 6. Enjoy! Happy Birthday, little bro!

Dee Dee, Tattoos, and one class down!

My little girl continues to develop her imagination which is so fun to see and experience. Yesterday she was sitting in a plastic tub full of blankets which are waiting to go back upstairs into storage.

She said, "mommy, see Dee Dee?"
"Who's Dee Dee?" I asked.
"Right here." She pointed to the empty spot beside her.

An imaginary friend already?!?! (Isn't she a little young?) Later that day she brought her stuffed chick to me and said, "Chick is Dee Dee." So apparently, Dee Dee has taken the shape of her animal and Dee Dee continues to be her name. We have no idea where she came up with the name Dee Dee.

Several days ago she was coloring and writing with a pen at the table. She asked me to come see her "tattoo." What?!? She pointed to a couple pen marks on her hand. "See mommy, my tattoo! It is a guitar." She's not waiting until she's a teenager to pick this battle. I'm not sure what grandma would think of her 2 year old granddaughter sporting a tattoo. I'm not sure I'M ready for that!

Here are some recent pictures of Hannah playing dress-up with some of my clothes.


This is froggy. Not sure if it is "Bridal Froggy" or "Froggy heads to Arabia." I'm sure Hannah told me, but I don't remember. I need to write these things down as soon as she tells me.

Last, but definitely not least, I'm so proud of Daryl for finishing his first class in computer software design. He has done AWESOME with his projects and appears to really enjoy what he is learning. He is speaking a language that I don't understand, but apparently the computer does because it does what he asks it to. Way to go, honey! Love you!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Here is a little video to say Happy Birthday to Grandpa!

100 day mark

Can it really be? My baby ticker on this very blog tells me that it is true... we've reached the 100 day mark. That seems like a not so far away date! I can hardly believe it.

Baby Grover is growing and moving and doing well. I had my follow-up ultrasound and received the "all clear" from the perinatalogist. She spent about 5 minutes with us and wished me well on the rest of the pregnancy. The baby is right on target with growth and everything looks great. Grover's little foot measured about an inch and 3/4. Wow!

We took Hannah with us for this appointment. She was very interested to see pictures of baby Grover... well for a little while. Then daddy was distracted as he tried to entertain her in the exam room without letting her get into too much trouble. She was chattering away and it was so cute to see Baby Grover "responding" opening and shutting his/her mouth like he/she was talking back to his/her big sister. I suppose quiet times in our house will be few and far between once this wee one arrives and begins competing for air time.

Tonight Hannah was being so sweet to baby Grover. She put her hand on my belly to try to feel the baby move. Then she bent over, gave my belly a kiss and then a hug. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to Daryl's face.

Growing up and Grover

My little girl is growing up. In one month from today, she will be 2 years old! Where did the time go? How is it possible that time could be going by so fast?!?!

There are never days that I want her to grow up faster, but there are moments. She is once again in a "mommy, hold you" phase. At those times she wants mommy to carry her around outside, to be the one (not daddy) to give her a bath, get her dressed, read her a story, do things HER way... Some of those moments I just need her to let daddy... it is getting exhausting to be pregnant and carry an almost 2 year old. But then, I realize that my little girl is not going to be so little for so long. She's going to stop asking mommy to "hold you." In those moments, I just want to wrap my arms around her, feel her little arms wrapped around my neck, and STOP TIME! Maybe it does... for a moment, but then I watch her run off and know that's my privilege as a mommy to watch her grow up, hugging her every step of the way.

Who's Grover, you may ask. Well, for some it is an adorable, fuzzy, blue monster on Sesame Street. Lately, in this house, Grover has become the new name for "Baby Boo." Daryl and I were looking over the SS list of names from the last century trying to settle on a boy's name (we think we are settled on our girl's name). He jokingly said we should call the baby Grover. Hannah picked up on it and now that is the baby's name (not for real!). It is so cute watching her "talk" to the baby. She will talk to my stomach saying "Baby Grover is sleeping" or "Baby Grover roll over." She did happen to feel the baby move one time and I think it kind of startled her. I don't know that she "gets" it, but it will interesting to see what she thinks when baby "Grover" really moves into her world.
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I had to add a final Hannah story to this post. We have been going through a bit of an "attitude" phase with Hannah. We ask her to do something and she responds with a very saucy "no." Sometimes Daryl or I will sternly say "Hannah" and she will say "yes" and come do, reluctantly, the thing we asked of her. However, we would prefer that the saucy attitude would not be her first response, so she has had to sit in "time out" a couple times. Today, she was playing with her stuffed animals and we started to pay attention to what she was saying. She said (to her rabbit), "Rabbit said no" and with that she marched rabbit into her room and sat him on the chair. "Say, yes, rabbit." She told him. We had to chuckle. What a girl!

Easter Pictures

Just a few pictures from Easter Sunday. I wanted to get a family pictures, but there was so much going on, it just didn't happen. So, who do you think Ms. Hannah looks like?



There are several more outtakes on our picasa page. Enjoy!

Everybody Needs Motrin

Hannah was cracking us up tonight... again! She was bringing her stuffed animals into the kitchen where I was cooking dinner and Daryl was working on a project for Kingdom Kids (our church kids program). She sat all her animals in a circle and began "feeding" them with a baby spoon. As we started paying closer attention to her chattering, we realized she was saying that "everybody was sick. Everybody needed Motrin." Really, we don't drug our daughter up THAT much, but she is a fan of Motrin!

Tomorrow we will be using "Resurrection Eggs" to tell the story of Easter to the kids. I was going over it with Hannah at suppertime. She was SO EXCITED to see what was in each egg. She kept clapping her hands and asking for more. Unfortunately, she didn't quite grasp the significance of the empty final egg. In fact she was kind of disappointed. Oh, well, maybe next year?!?!

For a snack tomorrow, we will be baking "Resurrection Rolls," thanks to a link sent to me by my friend Kim. Hannah and I did a trial run. I think she was more excited about the empty roll, especially since the inside was coated with yummy cinnamon and sugar. She's a bit young for the "theology" (I think Daryl was kind of laughing at me as I "explained" it to her), but it was a yummy activity to do!