Merry Christmas!

We had such a great Christmas this year - Hannah's first! Of course, she didn't really know what was going on, but we had fun helping her unwrap her gifts, and she definitely enjoyed all the family time! I think she's beginning to realize that when we go to Mama and Papa's that she is going to be the center of attention at all times. We may have to work on that later on :) Here are some pictures of Hannah's 1st Christmas!

Hannah loves this rattle from her Grandma B and Grandpa B! She plays with it all the time!

This was Hannah's go-to move with every present


Hannah loves her new Cabbage Patch dolls... she especially loves making out with them :) Actually, she's chewing on their noses. I don't know which is worse!

I don't know what was going on here!



My mom and dad bought her a wagon and she loved it! We all took turns pulling her around and when we would stop, she would start moving her body to try to get it to go again. It was so funny.

My friend Scot came over Christmas night for awhile and it was so great to see him! Scot moved to PA a couple of years ago, so I don't get to see him very often and I was so excited for him to meet Hannah finally!

This Christmas was actually a White Christmas - which is pretty impressive for Oklahoma/Arkansas! It started snowing Christmas Eve around noon, and by the time we woke up Christmas morning - it was so beautiful!

We bundled Hannah up and took her for a ride outside!

This picture is hilarious - Dad acts like it wasn't freezing that day!! Nice outfit Dad :)

And finally... Eric tried getting a picture of Remy in the snow, but this was all he could get! She was not a fan :)

Long-lost CT pics!

Here are some pictures that were on Eric's IPhone from our trip to CT... not the greatest quality pictures, but noteworthy nonetheless!

First plane ride!

With Mommy... and pacifier #430 before it too was thrown to the ground that day! (Not really #430, but that was the definitely the day we realized we needed a pacy clip!)

With Bill and Melanie

Melanie's finger is yummy!

Eric and I in front of Ted's (so good!)

At the Shirk's house

With Andy Shirk (That's Lieutenant Shirk to you!)

Sherlock Tasha (2/16/97 - 12/18/09)

The LeClerc family lost an important member today.

This morning when I was letting the dogs out, I noticed that Tasha's back legs were not holding her up and she was having difficulty walking. I had noticed something similar last night, but she seemed okay when she went to bed.

I took her to the Vet this morning and the doctor gave me the options. He wasn't completely sure, but he said she probably had a tumor on her spine that was cutting off the nerves making it impossible for her to use her legs. He said that he could give her a shot and put her on some stronger pain medication, but he wasn't sure it would work and her legs would probably not recover. He said that at best she had several months left before she wouldn't be able to function at all. When I asked him if he thought I should euthanize her, he said that he couldn't make the recommendation, but that it would probably be the kindest thing to do for her. Making that choice was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

Our main concern now is how Pilgrim will handle it. We hope to be able to spend more time with him and make him more of an inside dog.

It didn't help that I watched most of Marley and Me a couple of days ago. I stopped at the part where he really gets sick because some guests came, and now I'm pretty sure I won't ever be able to watch it.

I remember when Tasha when born. We called her Bertha because she was much bigger than most of the other puppies in the litter. Dad decided to keep her and we realized how great she was. Her ability to open gates and figure things out led to her being named Sherlock Tasha.

When I was home for ROTC, I would go out running with her along the bike path and she was so good at staying right beside me. We'd go climb Sleeping Giant (a "mountain" in Connecticut) and play fetch at Quinnipiac also. I can remember looking at all of my dad's dogs barking and carrying on, and Tasha just stood in the middle with that "What is wrong with them?" look.

We brought her to Tulsa in winter 2005 to help keep our new puppy Pilgrim company and hopefully train him. It didn't really work.

A couple of years ago, we were in Tahlequah and Tasha went missing. We searched and searched and couldn't find her. We were just about to give up, fearing that she had gone off to..well you know, but we decided to go out searching one more time with no luck. When we got back, she was just sitting in front of the garage like nothing had ever happened.

I know she meant a lot to a lot of people, so if you have anything to add, please do. She lived a good long life, but she'll be missed.

Finally!

So, we are finally all updated, so don't forget to scroll down and check out all stuff we've been doing... Hannah's first haircut, our trip to CT and the big 6 month birthday :) I promise to be better at posting! Well, I'll try anyways :)

Christmas Pictures

We took Hannah to get her Christmas pictures taken and we think we got some good ones! And to all of our Connecticut family... be expecting some of these in the mail very soon :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year... probably because we have so much to be thankful for. Eric and I are so grateful for Hannah and we tell each other every day how lucky we are to have her, but it's so easy to forget all of the other great things in our lives. We both have good jobs, we have great family and friends, and a loving marriage. But, most importantly, we have an amazing God who has given us all of these blessings.



Here is Hannah, sitting on my mom's countertop, helping us cook on Thanksgiving morning!!

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Tahlequah with my family and our friends from Tulsa, Scott and Julie and their daughter Addison. Scott and Julie are from North Carolina and are friends from our old community group who have come to Thanksgiving in Tahlequah for the past couple of years. Two years ago, Julie was pregnant with Addision, and last year I was pregnant with Hannah, and then this year, Julie is pregnant again with her second baby girl! Hannah was completely enamored with Addison... she kept staring at her and smiling, and Addison would swap toys with her and make Hannah smile even more!

It was also Hannah's first taste of table food... sweet potatoes! I don't know if she totally loved it, but it was fun for Eric and I at least :)

I'm a Boo, I'm Six Months Old!!!

Happy Six Month Birthday to my beautiful baby girl!!!

Hannah - we can't even believe how big you are getting! You can sit up on your own - something you just started doing a week or so ago. One day we sat you on our mat and you just didn't fall over. It is so great!

You have now had three rounds of shots, including a flu shot and an H1N1 shot (someday when you are older, you'll actually know what that all means!).

At your six month appointment this week, you weighed 18 lbs, and were 26.5 inches long. That puts you right around the 75-80th percentile.

We look at you every day and think how amazing you are and when you give us hugs and kisses, we're pretty sure you think we're alright too :)

We love you Hannah!

Connecticut or Bust!

This past week, Eric and I took Hannah Northeast to meet her CT family and friends!

Saying goodbye to Papa at the airport

We were pretty worried about the flight and how Hannah would do since it was hard to stick to her normal routine, but as usual, our daughter was awesome. She mostly slept on all of the flights, and seemed to enjoy meeting everyone. She loved being held by everyone and it was so great to see her interact with so many people. We arrived on Saturday, Nov 7th, and spent the night with Eric's dad and Jeanne.

Meeting Pepre's parrot, Taco (Hannah loved Taco!)

With Memere

On Sunday, we drove to Ossining, NY to visit my friends from college, Rob and Katie. Hannah loved their sweet dog Jane!

Monday, we went to Watertown so Hannah could meet her Grandma B (Eric's mom, Betsy), Grandpa B (Betsy's husband, Bill) and her Grammy and Grampy(Eric's Gram and Gramp).

Grandpa B and Grandma B

Grammy

Hannah loved being held and was so good the whole time! That afternoon, Eric's uncle John, aunt Joanne and cousins Jamey and Joanna came over. Uncle John made his infamous clam chowder (yum!) and we had a great dinner and hang-out time with everyone.

Uncle John

Cousin Jamie

Tuesday, we hung out with Norm and Jeanne and that evening went to Eric's favorite wing restaurant, Archie Moore's. Hannah enjoyed herself also! Ha!

Me, driving Jeanne's Corvette

(She and I were both born in 79!)

Checking out Pepere's dogs

On Daddy's old Jeep (Eric LOVED this Jeep... he has a framed picture of it in our office!) It's now Norm's snowplow :)

Wednesday was a day for us to just chill and relax. We went to lunch with Eric's best friend Bill and his wife Melanie at a place called Ted's that we had seen on TV. They have super yummy steamed hamburgers.

Thursday, we went back to Watertown for more Grandma B, Grandpa B, Grammy, and Grampy time!

Thursday afternoon, we also went to see Andy and Rene, Eric's youth pastor and his wife, and their two children. We try to visit them every time we are in CT because they had a big impact on Eric when he was in high school and they are perhaps the nicest people I've ever met :)Unfortunately, we forgot our camera!

Friday, Pepere and Memere babysat Hannah while Eric and I went out with Gary, Katie, Bill and Melanie to the Nordic Lodge. It's this awesome lobster buffet restaurant in Rhode Island that is so delicious... my mouth is watering just thinking about it! It's pretty expensive at $80/person, but it's definitely worth it. Katie ate 8 lobsters! 8!!! Afterwards, we went the Mohegan Sun Casino, where I lost all of Eric's money... but Melanie walked away with over $200, and Gary turned $75 into almost $600!

Katie and Melanie with the lobster guys

Melanie and me

The guys

Saturday was our last day in CT and we just chilled out and then had dinner with Norm, Jeanne, Gary and Katie.

Sunday we flew home and while we were sad to leave CT and all of our family, it was nice to be home. When we walked in, Hannah looked at all of her things and just started smiling and giggling. I think she was happy to be home also!!!

Thanks to everyone in CT though for a super fun trip... we were so glad Hannah got to meet everyone and we're already looking forward to our next trip!!!

Hannah loving CT!!!