Hannah Happenings

Backpack, Backpack!

2011-07-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

So, this past weekend, I bought Hannah a new backpack for school that came with a lunchbox and of course, I had to go with one of Hannah's faves... Dora! She loves everything about Dora, so I just new she would go crazy for this backpack. Today was our first day to go to school since we got it, and she couldn't wait to put it on! She's been going through this crazy separation anxiety thing when we drop her off lately, which is so wierd because she was never like that before! But, today wasn't so bad because all of her school friends loved her backpack and I think she was excited to let them all see it. Score one more point for Dora...

Enough with the pictures, Mom!!

Let's go, vamanos!

Fun Saturday!

2011-07-02T13:28:00.002-05:00

I switched shifts at work today so we got to have a fun Saturday morning together. We went to Rogers so I could buy Hannah's leotard for her ballet class this fall. There was a good sale on them this week at Academy, so yay!

After Academy, we drove around looking for a park and found one in Bentonville that was empty, so Hannah had free roam to swing and slide!

Then we went to Mama Fu's, played with some chopsticks and ate yummy mac and cheese. Well, Hannah did anyways :)

Now, it's naptime before I go to work!

Our New Church

2011-06-15T21:07:00.001-05:00

So, sometime last summer, Eric drove by a church called BNC (Brand New Church) when he was coming back from working in Branson, and he thought, "that looks cool, we should check it out." Then, the next day, there was an article in the newspaper about the church's pastor, Shannon O'Dell and a book that he had just written, called "Breaking All the Rurals," about pastoring in Rural America. Needless to say, we took that as a sign, and started going early last fall. We really liked our previous church here in NWA, but it was kind of a drive, and it was SOOO big, that we felt lost. We had enjoyed our community group, but we just felt that we really needed to find a better fit for us. And we are so glad that God pointed us to BNC! We have been going for about 10 months now, and it has been a life-changer for us! We have met amazing, Godly people, our community group at BNC is exactly what we had been looking for, and every Sunday, Pastor Shannon blows us away with his messages. We went to the C3 Conference at Fellowship Church in Texas in February with some of the people from our campus (the main campus is about an hour away, in Bergman, AR, and then there are several satellite campuses in various rural areas around AR), and it just confirmed even more that this is the place we are meant to be. And, on top of it all, Hannah has made great friends because there are several kids there that are right around her age (all within about 4 months of each other!). We have also felt called to give to help redo the children's area of our particular campus, so a bunch of us are working on that and it is going to be amazing when it is all done! We can't wait to see what all God has in store for BNC-NWA!

Party in Tquah

2011-05-26T21:24:00.004-05:00

Sunday, we went to Tahlequah to have the last of Hannah's parties, this time we shared with my cousin Zach, who had a birthday the weekend before. So, we hung out with family, and opened presents and ate a yummy (although slightly odd-looking) Mickey Mouse cake! (Hannah LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Mickey and Minnie Mouse!)

The highlight of the day was Hannah's present from my Uncle Larry - a new teeter-totter (a seesaw according to Eric!). He welded the base himself and then built it for her - he is so talented! Thanks Uncle Larry, Hannah LOVES it!

Hannah's B-day Parties (Round 2)

2011-05-25T12:11:00.000-05:00

So, after two parties in CT, it was time for two parties down here... one in Fayetteville with all of your friends, and one in Tquah with the whole fam!
The theme for your party here was "Ladybug Love" - to which Eric responded with "She doesn't even express any interest in ladybugs." Haha - I told him that until Hannah was able to tell me what kind of party she wanted, then I was picking the themes based on the cuteness of the party decor. I think that's perfectly acceptable, don't you? Heehee.

I saw a decoration set on Etsy for this, and I bought it three months ago, so all I had to do was print the stuff out on cardstock, and then hang it up! It was so easy!! This is our attempt at a panaramic pic of the decorations...

We decided to just do cake and ice cream this time, due to the fact that I knew I had to work until 10pm the night before, and we had just gotten back from CT six days before and were still exhausted!

So, my Aunt Pam came over and was the Storybook Lady, which actually didn't go over too well with the kids because they weren't really in the mood to pay attention! Haha - who would have guessed with a bunch of two year olds?

It was such a great party and Hannah had a great time! Thanks to everyone that came!!

Mother's Morning Out

2011-05-22T21:14:00.003-05:00

Hannah started going to Mother's Morning Out in November, so of course, I'm just now blogging about it :) She goes twice a week, and we think she's really liking it! She gets to color and play with other kids her age, and it gives me a chance to get some errands done throughout the week. We pack her lunch everytime... it's so cute!

Here are pictures of her on her way to school over the last few months...

(first day!)

(I love this face... haha!)

Here are some pics of the art projects she has worked on!

Hannah's 2nd Birthday!!

2011-05-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to our amazing daughter, Hannah!!! You are truly the light of our lives and we thank God for you and the blessing you have been to us. You are growing so much, and have become such a little girl!

You can count to 10, know all of your colors, shapes, numbers, and letters (our favorite is "W" - you call it "double"), and just started sleeping in a big girl toddler bed!

We are so proud of you and your sweet spirit, and we love you more than anything!

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!

Red Sox/Yankees!

2011-05-19T20:08:00.000-05:00

As everyone knows...Eric LOVES the Boston Red Sox, and HATES the New York Yankees. So he's always wanted to see them in person and watch the Sox beat the Yankees. And when we were in CT, we got to do just that!! Thanks to my awesome friend Rob, we had free tickets to see the Red Sox beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium! We went with Rob and Katie (two of my best friends from college), and it was awesome! Before the game, we met up with another one of my friends from college, Katie (haha - KPW, for those in the know!) and her boyfriend Tom, and so the six of us had a yummy dinner near Grand Central, then the four of us went on to Yankee Stadium. It was such a fun night... the rain we thought was going to drench us held off, and the Sox won 6-0!

We didn't get back to Eric's dad's house in CT until 1:30AM, but it was well worth it! Thanks again to Rob for being awesome!

Josh Beckett, about to do his thing!

Eric and Rob

Katie was so jealous of my sweet visor!!

Day at the Zoo

2011-05-19T11:25:00.000-05:00

We took Hannah to CT's Beardsley Zoo when we were there. It is kind of small, but the perfect size for Hannah! It was her first zoo trip, and she didn't really grasp the concept of stopping at the animals and watching them for more than just a few seconds! But, she seemed to really enjoy it! We went with Memere and Pepere, and Memere and Hannah rode the carousel. Hannah really likes carousels :)

They had a fun prairie dog exhibit, where you could go pop you're head through a hole and it was like you were with the prairie dogs... it was cool.

They also had a section on farm animals, and Hannah went up to the cows and said "Hi, Moos!" (That's her name for cows.) It was pretty cute :)

Of course, the zoo is also where I broke our camera, which resulted in us getting a new camera. Eric was pretty attached to the old one, but I think he's coming around! Our new camera takes awesome pictures!!!

Hannah's CT Birthday Party!

2011-05-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

The last Saturday we were in CT, we had a little party for Hannah... it was so much fun! She enjoyed celebrating with everyone! Her favorite part was the fun floor piano that her Uncle Gary and Aunt Katie got her... haha, it was NOT our favorite part :)

Hannah and Lila = Cutest Cousins Ever!

2011-05-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

Hannah had such a great time hanging out with her sweet cousin Lila... here are some great pictures of them together! We can't wait to see Lila (and Sky and Brad!!) when we go to CA in October!

Day at Gram and Gramps

2011-05-19T11:06:00.000-05:00

Monday, we hung out with Eric's Gram and Gramp, along with Lori, Lila, Bill and Betsy (and a special visit from Eric's Uncle John!). We had a good day of eating yummy pizza and watching Hannah and Lila play together! It is always good to see Gram and Gramp, and we always look forward to our visits with them. Eric and his Gram always work on Geneology together and I know that also means a lot to Eric!

When we were there, we also celebrated Hannah's 2nd birthday! Gram made a great cake, and it was so much fun!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

We were in CT for Mother's Day this year, and spent the day with Eric's mom, Betsy and her husband Bill. It was great to celebrate with her, and I think she felt really special as well. Lori, Gary, Gary's wife Katie, Eric, Hannah, Lila and I all went to church with Bill and Betsy and then we went to a super yummy restaurant afterwards for a great Mother's Day brunch. Then we went to their house and sat and talked. It was a great day!

Then, to celebrate my Mother's Day, Eric and Hannah and I spent a day driving up the coast of Connecticut and eating yummy seafood at one of my favorite CT restaurants, Lenny and Joe's. We had a great day of looking at fancy houses on the beach, and just spending the day together.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, who is such a great friend and mentor. She is someone I truly look up to... I mean, she clearly did a great job raising her daughter :)

Also, Happy Mother's Day to Jeanne! It was great to see her on Mother's Day as well, and I know she had a great day hanging out with her son, Evan!

Happy 60th Norm!

2011-05-18T10:53:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we returned from our yearly CT trip. We usually don't go for a specific reason; but this time, we had a special reason for going... Eric's dad turned 60! It was a great time to get together with Eric's family (including his sister Lori, who flew in with her youngest daughter Lila, from CA) and lift up Eric's dad. Norm has been so good to us, always helping out with projects when he visits, and he has been super-welcoming to me as a daughter-in-law, which has meant a lot to me.

Happy Birthday Norm!

The Return of the Blog!

2011-05-16T22:12:00.003-05:00

So, almost every day I think... "Man, I really need to update the blog/load pictures/do laundry" (Ok, that last one doesn't have anything to do with blogging, but I seriously think that every day because for some reason, we have an INSANE amount of laundry in our house.) And then, something happens.... I have to go to work, Hannah has a poopy diaper, something good is on TV. But, now, it's time for some season finales and work has calmed down somewhat, so I really don't have any excuses. :)

So, as soon as I get over my jet lag from our whirlwind, 10-day CT trip extravaganza, and upload the pictures we took on our sweet new Nikon DSLR, I will be blogging again!

Yay!

Crazy Monday!!!

2011-03-17T08:05:00.006-05:00

So, this past Monday was my monthly MOPS get-together. I was especially looking forward to this one because Michelle Duggar was going to be speaking! For those of you who don't know, Michelle Duggar has 19 children! 19!!!! And while we may differ on parenting styles and ideas, she is such an inspiration in that she makes no apologies for her faith and beliefs. I think that's great... I wish I could be more open in my faith! Anyways, with the time change, I just haven't gotten into a groove yet... I love the extra hour of sunshine in the afternoon, but I don't like that when my early-bird daughter wakes up at 5:15am every morning, that it feels like 4:15am!!!!

So, Monday morning, I got up with Hannah at 5:15am, and then brought her to bed with Eric and I so she can watch cartoons and mommy and daddy can get a little extra sleep. (Great parenting technique, I know!). Well, Eric got up and got ready and left at 7:30am or so, and for some reason, I just could not get out of bed. So, imagine my surprise when Hannah starts banging on my face and I turn around and it's 8! MOPS is at 9 and I had to go get donut holes! And Hannah still needs breakfast! AHHH!!!

So, I rush around, get Hannah and I both ready in record time, grab my fave coffee cup and we're out the door!

We go to the donut shop, I grab a sausage roll for Hannah (great parenting technique #2 of the morning!), 4 dozen donut holes, and we're off to MOPS.

At this point, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, because I'm there by 8:50am, and I even remembered to downsize the diaperbag (the nursery workers just wanted diapers and wipes in a ziploc bag to make it easier). So, Michelle Duggar did her talk and it was really good... she is very, very sweet in person!!!

Man, I look like a GIANT next to her!!

Then, as she is praying for someone, my phone goes off and I don't recognize the number. After she was finished, I got up and checked the voicemail, and it was the nursery workers telling me Hannah had a MAJOR blowout and needed a second set of clothing. I headed back to the nursery and it was so bad, I could smell it down the hall!! Then, when I got back there, they handed me her dirty clothes in a plastic bag and Hannah is just wearing a diaper, her shoes, and a hairbow. It was too funny!

So, I go out to the car and what do I find? I don't have any more clothes for her!!! So, for the rest of nursery and the whole way home, all she had to wear was a raincoat. (Excellent parenting technique #3 for the day!)

It was one of the craziest mornings I've had as a mom so far!!

Snow day!

2011-01-23T15:57:00.004-06:00

Thursday we had about 6 inches of snow, so Hannah and I went across the street to play in the snow with our buddies Calla, Carter and Cedar! Here are some cute pics from the 15 minutes we were outside :)

November 2010

2011-01-23T15:39:00.006-06:00

November was another great month for us... Eric and I both have birthdays in November (two days apart!), so we always do something super fun. This year, Eric decided to surprise me with tickets to see Wicked in Tulsa, but as usual... I figured it out beforehand :) I have a habit of always seeing his email at the most inopportune time (for him at least!). Anyways, we went to Tulsa on the 19th to see our awesome friends, the Beams, for the last time (at least for awhile) because since November, they have moved to Toronto!! We met them at Spaghetti Warehouse and then they watched Hannah while we went to the show. The show was so awesome - I was so excited that Eric thought about buying me tickets. I've been talking about wanting to see it for the past couple of years!

We love the Beams, so we are really hoping they will be coming back to Tulsa in a couple of years!

For Thanksgiving, Norm (Eric's dad) came to visit and we had a lot of fun with him while he was here. Hannah loved seeing her Pepere! Eric and his dad got the huge project of redoing the floor of our shed, so that was awesome! When we moved it this summer, the floor was definitely in need of repair, and now we are able to fill that sucker up! It's great :) Thanks Norm!!!

December 2010

2011-01-11T10:02:00.000-06:00

So, this December was very busy for us (which would be the reason why we didn't send out any Christmas cards this year!!)

Eric started a new job at the VA... he is now the Lead Inventory Management Specialist. (Everyone say it with me..."ooooohhh"). Basically, this means he is in charge of making sure stuff gets ordered for the whole hospital. So, needless to say, he was super busy trying to learn the job before the previous person retired at the end of the year.

I helped a lot at a new Walgreens in Tahlequah, and so Hannah and I stayed a few nights with my parents so I didn't have to drive over there everyday from Fayetteville. It was fun, but it was very nice to get back to my store!

We went to look at lights on the town square with people from our community group and Hannah rode a pony for the first time! We think she liked it! Then we went to dinner and Hannah wanted to sit with the "big girls." It was really cute :)

Right before Christmas, Hannah had her very first ear infection ever! She made it 19 months without antibiotics, so I feel pretty good about that!!! And let's hope it's another 19 months before she has to have them again because ear infections are no fun! Hannah, who is usually awesome at taking oral medications, screamed and refused to swallow her medicine unless we added it to yogurt. And she didn't sleep very well either, which mean Eric and I didn't sleep very well. Then, to top it off... she made both of us sick also! We were supposed to go to CT the week after Christmas, but God definitely watched out for us by us not going! We would have had to fly the day that all of the Northeastern US was shut down because of snow, and the flight would have been terrible on all of our ears! So, we ended up having a staycation and it was awesome :) It was really warm that week after Christmas, so we went to the park a couple of times!

Christmas was great this year - Hannah got a play kitchen from us and she loved it!! She plays with it everyday now and it's so funny because when you put certain pans on it, it makes different noises (water boiling, frying, etc)... so we can tell her to go "boil some eggs" and then pretty soon, the boiling water noise comes on. So cute!

We spent Christmas Eve at my aunt's house, playing a game tournament with my whole family. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time.

Christmas day was spent at my parent's house, where Hannah got this cute slide and swing -and then proceeded to go down the slide about a million times!

Here is Hannah opening presents (I couldn't find most of the pictures, hopefully I can find them when I organize my photos!)

Apparently, we've been busy....

2011-01-06T14:12:00.013-06:00

So, every week at least I think, "I really need to blog" and then I get busy and forget until the next week. This has been going on for the past couple of months, so that would explain our lack of blogging in the last few months of 2010. So, I'm just going to make a couple of really big posts, because we really did pack a lot into 2010!!!

In September, we went to Dallas with my parents and my cousin Ashlea to see the Dallas Cowboys play the Chicago Bears. Now, I am a HUGE Cowboys fan, and Eric is a HUGE Bears fan, so when we found out they were playing at the new Cowboys stadium, we just knew we had to go!!! Ashlea babysat Hannah while Eric, my parents, and I went to the game... which was a sad day to be a Cowboys fan (of course, that is pretty much every day this football season!). Even with the loss, it was still fun and we had such a great time all weekend!

In October, we went to Connecticut and New York for 10 days... it was definitely a great trip!!!

My parents also drove to New England to see the foliage and for my dad to go to a work conference in Boston, so it was great that they got to see where Eric grew up and to see a part of the country that they'd never been to!

We went to church with Eric's brother Gary and his wife Katie, and made our annual Nordic Lodge trip! It was so yummy and we all really enjoyed it!

We took Hannah to a petting zoo when we were there, and she liked petting all the animals (although I had to refrain from dousing her in hand sanitizer the whole time!).

We went to Gram and Gramp's house a couple of times when we were there and hung out with them and Bill and Betsy and I got to meet Eric's Uncle Charlie for the first time. He and his family live in FL, but he was up helping his mom and dad with some stuff, so we had a good day hanging out and talking about all things geneology (ok, so it was more fun for Eric than for me!).

Saturday night, we went to my friend Sarah's wedding and it was so beautiful! It was without a doubt, the fanciest wedding I'd ever been to... Sarah, you did such an amazing job! And you looked amazing as well :) It was a great night of hanging out with Duke friends. There's a reason why we are all still friends 9 years after graduating college, even though we rarely get to see each other. There is just something that happens when we get together that makes me realize how much I love them! (Ok, now I'm going to cry!)

Sunday, we went a fun post-wedding bruch at a restaurant in Grand Central and it was the first time some of my friends had met Hannah, so that was great! Then, we went back to Katie's house (by this time, Hannah was a pro at riding the subway/train) and drove back to CT from there.

Needless to say, we were super exhausted from this whirlwind trip!

We did a few other things but I didn't get any pictures... we had a fun date night out in Hamden (home of Eric's alma mater, Quinnipiac), we went on a double date with Eric's best bud Bill and his wife Melanie, and we did LOTS of shopping!

Then, for Halloween, Hannah was Minnie Mouse! It was such a great costume....

We didn't actually go trick-or-treating, since we don't let Hannah have that much candy, but we did our usual walk around the neighborhood with the Bowlings!

Happy Fall!

2010-09-26T13:36:00.001-05:00

Fall started a couple of days ago, but it really feels like it today!

I love fall... it means football, pumpkin patches, leaves turning, warm chili on a cool day, and sweaters!!

Hannah looks pretty happy about it also!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Go Hogs!

2010-09-25T11:09:00.004-05:00

Because we live in Fayetteville...

Because this is the biggest game of the season...

And because we're true football fans at heart (even though our hearts will always belong to our Sooners!)...

GO HOGS!!!!!

BEAT BAMA!!!!!!

Lunch with the girls

2010-08-26T20:55:00.003-05:00

On Thursdays, Hannah and I usually go to lunch with two girls from work, Sarah and Meriah. Today it was just Sarah, Hannah and I, and someone was not on her best behavior!!!

This was right before her meltdown:

Of course, her sour attitude could be because she kept eating lemons before our food came!!!

But, she did successfully color her first picture, so that was exciting! She only tried to eat the crayons twice :)

Now her artwork is hanging at Chili's for all of Fayetteville to see :)

-- Post From My iPhone

JBF Sale and Dancing!!!

2010-08-23T16:09:00.003-05:00

Last night, while Hannah was taking a bath, Eric was playing music and we discovered there is one song she really loves, and she's been playing it on Eric's phone over and over and dancing to it... Here she is today, dancing and twirling:

She cracks us up!

Every year in Tulsa, there is a big Just Between Friends (JBF) consignment sale in the fall and spring, and while we have some here in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas, the one in Tulsa is HUGE! Thanks to my friend Julie, who as a volunteer got to go the "presale," Hannah now has an awesome kitchen playset!

It's going to be her Christmas present from us this year... if I can wait that long to give it to her :) It has some bowls and dishes and even has a phone that goes with it. And, even better, it was only $35 dollars!! Thanks for picking it up for me Julie - I definitely would have missed out by waiting until today!

So, when I went to Tulsa today to pick the kitchen up from Julie's, I also went to the actual sale, and got Hannah some great clothes for this fall and winter. I cleaned out her closet and drawers yesterday, and while she had tons of clothes for the rest of this summer, and tons of pants for the fall - she only had two long sleeved shirts. So, I think I managed to get some great stuff today for her!

Hannah didn't enjoy shopping quite as much as I did, but we had a great time in T-town!

New posts!

2010-08-19T21:40:00.001-05:00

So, I've finally posted pictures and edited some posts from the past three months, so scroll down and see all the new blog posts! I included a bunch of stuff from Hannah's birthday, our travels this summer, and all of our latest Hannah Happenings!!!

Fun with Mommy and Daddy

2010-08-19T20:52:00.009-05:00

Last night, Eric and Hannah and I went to cheer on the Arkansas Naturals (our local minor league baseball team) and my friend Sarah from work joined us. We had a good time and the stadium is really nice. Hannah's favorite part though was definitely running all around!

This was a misting booth that Hannah liked to play in

Today, we went to Red Robin for lunch with Daddy, and Hannah was really getting into the ketchup!

Then, when she ran out of fries... this is what happened!

After lunch today, I took Hannah to go get her haircut... this is what it looked like before:

As you can see, even though it was long and we could pull it in a ponytail, or pigtails, it was just always in her face, so I decided it was time our sassy girl got herself a sassy new haircut!

Here's what it looks like now...

Our girl is getting SO BIG!!!!

Swimming Pool fun!!

2010-08-19T20:49:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Aunt Lori, Uncle Ken, and cousins Sky, Brad and Lila for the fun pool!!!

Meeting Great-Grandma Brusveen

2010-08-19T20:43:00.004-05:00

Hannah and her Great-Grandma Brusveen finally got to meet the Friday before we went to Vegas, and we had a great time showing off our Hannah. Grandma was so surprised... she turned 79 the day before, so this was a great birthday gift for her!

Here are some pictures from the afternoon!

Summer Rundown

2010-08-10T17:13:00.007-05:00

So, I am the worst blogger ever! This summer has been so crazy with work and stuff around the house that it's 10pm before I can even think, let alone blog!! So, we thought we'd give you a little news on what's been going on with us!

The 4th of July, we spent here in Fayetteville, because we really needed a non-travelling weekend! I worked that Saturday, and then had off for the 4th, so we had a relaxing day. We went to church, and then we went across the street to Hilary's house for dinner and some fireworks. Hannah didn't make it up for the fireworks, but since Hilary just lives across the street, we brought the monitor out and watched fun fireworks. Our little town has a couple of fun neighborhoods that put on really good displays and we don't even have to leave our little street to watch them!

This video shows Hannah putting the moves on Carter! As soon as he woke up from his nap and came into the hallway, she attacked him and started kissing and hugging him! I think we're going to have to watch these two later on :)

Mid July, Eric went to Maryland for a week for work, so Hannah and I went to see our peeps! We went to Tulsa one day to see our friends the Beams, and then that afternoon, we went to dinner with two of my friends from pharmacy school, Diana and Kami, and Kami's son TJ.

Here is Hannah with Addison and Emma!

Later that week, the two of us went to Tahlequah for a couple of days, and when we were there, we went to dinner with my best friend Cari and her husband Marcus and daughter Isla. We were pretty sure it was the last time that we take the girls to dinner until they graduate high school - they were that messy!

Towards the end of July, we started on our huge backyard renovation. Here is what our backyard looked like before:

And this is what it is looking like now that we have started working on it. It's not finished yet, but Eric and my dad have extended the main deck, and started on the paver patio. We still have to finish the patio, then build two more sides to the deck - one to put the patio table on to eat and the other will surround our new hot tub. Then, the huge mound of dirt hidden by the tractor will be turned into a play area for Hannah. And eventually, I will finally finish painting the shed, and it will get a new floor. It's all going to be so great when it gets done!!!

This past weekend, Eric and I went to Vegas to see GARTH BROOKS!!!! We bought our tickets four months ago, so we couldn't believe the weekend was finally here! We stayed at the Wynn and it was so amazing - the bathtub is bigger than mine at home! And the view was amazing! We were on the 29th floor and were only halfway up... the place is huge!

View from our floor-to-ceiling windows - awesome!

What you can't see in this picture is the tv in the bathroom! It was SOOO relaxing...

This picture was from Eric's phone, so it's really blurry, but here we are in front of the fountains at the Bellagio

The concert was so great - Eric got amazing seats and I seriously cried when Garth walked out on the stage and started playing! It was such a neat concert - it was just him and his guitar (and at one point, Trisha Yearwood!!!), and he took us through all of his musical influences, from Merle Haggard to Bob Dylan to Otis Redding. I think he played as many songs by other people as he did his own songs. I am definitely already thinking about seeing him again!!

Eagerly awaiting Garth!!!

We had a fun weekend, but we missed our Boo terribly! We kept talking about her and watching videos of her we had on our phones. It was so great to see her this morning! She gave us both big hugs, so I think she was happy to see us too!

Now, Eric is in Maryland for work again, so Hannah and I are going to have a fun couple of days hanging out! It's so hot here that we can't be outside much, so I'm thinking the house is going to get totally tornadoed!!!

MyTrip to Maryland (Part 2)

2010-07-28T11:35:00.003-05:00

So, in our last episode, Monday was ending after a trip to Gettysburg. On Tuesday, I went back to work and I found out what we were doing there. Basically, there are thousands upon thousands of transactions performed by the VA. Many of these are not done with all of the required information in the purchase orders or credit card records and this make it hard to categorize what was puchased. In FY 2009, our $17 billion was spent which fell into this category. It wasn't wasted (at least, not necessarily), but it was "Uncategorized". So, the VA hired an outside firm which developed a software program to help. It takes these transactions and compares them to what it already knows and tries to guess what each would have been for. For instance, if the vendor was FedEx, it was probably something to do with shipping. If the money came from the Prosthetics Department, it was probably something prosthetics related. So, this company, took about 9,000 of these educated guesses and wanted us to go through them. There were three categories: The first were items which it was pretty sure was accurate, the second had two choices and it wanted us to either pick one of the two or find a more accurate one, and the third category was pretty much the computer saying that it had no idea and please help. It wasn't exciting work, but I can see its usefulness.

We finally started working on Tuesday at about 1:00 PM once all of the logistics were taken care of. We stayed until about 4:30.

After work, I drove to Baltimore to catch an Orioles games. They were playing the Rays (Matt Garza was pitching) so it held some interest for me. It was also cheap bleacher seat ($9) and free t-shirt night, so that was cool. Michelle Obama was there to promote her "No Fat Kids" initiative. It rained right up until gametime, and then the sun came out and it was pretty muggy. The Orioles started out pretty well. Three straight batters got home runs off of Garza who is one of the best pitchers in baseball (he had a no-hitter last night). The scoreboard said that the last time the Orioles had three home runs in a row was in 1992. For the first few innings, they were doing well. Then, in the sixth, the Rays scored 4 runs and took the lead. It was starting to rain again, so I figured I'd leave since the Rays looked like they were about to run away with it anyway. Plus, I realized that Orioles fans are pretty boring. There wasn't a single attempt at a wave or any "Let's go Orioles" cheers. It was like they were there against their will. Well, the game turned into a classic after I left and it wound up going 13 innings with the Orioles winning on a walk-off hit. Oh well.

After work on Wednesday, I was pretty tired so I just sort of laid low. I went to the mall and then to dinner and then to Walmart. Nothing too exciting.

On Thursday, they told us that we'd be done early, so I worked on cancelling my hotel room and changing my plane tickets. I ended up leaving at about 4:45 on Thursday and drove to Manassas to find the marker about the 20th NYSM (Walter's regiment in the Civil War). Thankfully, I found a website that had the exact coordinates of it or I would never have found it. I had to drive about 3 miles down a dirt road and then hike about another mile after that along an area known as the "Unfinished Railroad". I was glad I made the trip though. It was a much different feeling from Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, everyone knows about it and it is really crowded. It deserves it of course, but I'm just saying. When I found this marker, I was by myself in the woods on a spot where the 20th lost a lot of men in one of their first battles. In fact, one of the men who died was Colonel George Pratt, the first wartime commander of the 20th. I had written a report on this area and I had tried to picture what it would have looked like. To actually see it was really a neat experience.

There is a webpage about the marker here.

Also, about a quarter-mile away is the marker for the 15th Alabama Infantry, the regiment that was fighting against the 20th. I've read the stories that some of the soldiers from the 15th wrote which made this all very real to me. It was just nice to be alone with my thoughts about the battle and the brave men who fought in it.

My hotel for the night was back in Baltimore. I had gone about an hour out of the way to visit Manassas, so now I had to drive back in rush hour traffic. When I got back to the main road, I turned the opposite direction I had come and there was the rest of the Bull Run battlefield. Somewhere on this field, another ancestor of mine had died, Horace Merrithew. He had lied about his age and enlisted in the 104th New York Infantry, only to be killed in his first battle. I've been trying to find a reference that would show where he fought in the battle, but to no avail.

It took about 2 hours to make the one hour drive to my hotel. I had gotten a hotel closer to the airport as I was flying out the next morning. I took a dip in the hot tub, changed, and then went down to have a drink at the bar. I met a guy in a Twins jersey and we started discussing baseball. A little while later a couple more Twins fans showed up and we wound up chatting for about an hour and a half. Each of them were on quests to visit as many baseball ballparks as they could. The older guy said Camden Yards was his 30th location, and the younger guy said it was his 21st. I did the counting in my head and I am at 8: Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago (Comiskey), Cincinnati, Kansas City, Texas (Arlington), and St. Louis (old Busch Stadium). If I go back to Maryland, I'll try to add Washington as well. I need to get my number up.

Anyway, I flew home Friday and everything went well. Hannah picked me up in Tulsa with her mommy, Mama, and Papa. We stayed in Tahlequah that night and drove home to Fayetteville the next day.

This is where the story of my trip ends, but the story of our backyard continues....

My Trip to Maryland (Part 1)

2010-07-26T19:48:00.009-05:00

So, I have a few minutes so I figured I'd tell you all about my trip to Maryland last week.

It started on Friday the 16th. We were planning on a big backyard project for the weekend so I had requested some leave to go home early. We were going to rent a tractor and do some serious remodeling. Well, at 2:30 PM, I get back to my office and my supervisor tells me that someone was needed to volunteer to go to Maryland for an audit and that the volunteer was me. My boss couldn't go because he was in training and my supervisor couldn't go because he was doing my boss' job in his absence. I called Michelle to see if we had anything that it would conflict with and she said there wasn't. So, I told my supervisor that I could go but that I would prefer not to if there was anyone else. Well, in about five minutes, he sent an email that I had proudly accepted the invitation and would love to go to MD. I figured I would still leave early, but I had to go through the process of getting approval for the trip. My supervisor and I had to walk the paperwork through the front office and then to Fiscal. About five minutes before we started this, the sky opened up into a torrential downpour. That made it so much fun (sarcasm).

So, we cancelled the plans for the weekend and the trip was set.

My trip was scheduled for Sunday the 18th through Saturday the 24th. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare only to find out that my tickets had never been ordered. They had been reserved and my name was in the system, but they just weren't paid for. I called the travel company and they remedied it and the trip was back on.

I got to Baltimore at about 6 PM, got my rental car and went to the hotel in Frederick, MD. The next day I reported for duty. Monday was spent explaining the basics of what we were there for (even though it still didn't make much sense) and then we got out early. I knew that I wanted to go to Gettysburg, but I hadn't planned on going on Monday. With the extra time we had, I decided it would be the best day for my trip so off I went.

I got to Gettysburg at about 1:30 PM (about an hour drive) and went to the Visitors Center first. I started with the video and and the cyclorama (which was awesome) and then went to find the Walter Van Rensselaer display. I found it in short order and realized that it was pretty dark in the corner where it was located. I wasn't sure how I'd get a picture, but I found a willing photographer. I told him that Walter was my ancestor and he said he'd take my picture if I told him Walter's story. He had no idea what he was getting into.

When I got back outside, it had started raining, but it didn't last long. I tried to decipher the maps to find where the monuments to the Twentieth New York State Militia (Walter's Civil War regiment) were located. The closer of the two was the monument that was put in place along Cemetery Ridge on July 3rd, 1981. This was the location where the 20th NYSM helped to fend off the attack known as Pickett's Charge. For those who are not historians, many believe that if the Union had not held during this one charge, the war might have been lost.

The other monument was placed on the location of the fighting that took place two days before Pickett's Charge on July 1st, 1863. It was dedicated by the veterans of the 20th NYSM on October 4th, 1888.

After checking out each site a couple of times, I had dinner at General Pickett's Buffet and headed back to Frederick. I had homework to do before midnight so that just about ended that day.

It was absolutely incredible to be there. To be on the spot where those men had fought and bled and died for their country. To see where the men of the 20th stood up the immense numbers of Confederate soldiers who came rushing across that field made me feel pride beyond words.

Someday, I'll go back and spend more time in the Visitor's Center and really gain a broader understanding of the whole battle, but for now, this was more than I had hoped for.

Part 2 coming soon...For now, here is the link to Snapfish for the rest of my photos from Gettysburg. http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4511605008/a=44950176_44950176/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

LIttle Rock/Father's Day

2010-06-21T21:54:00.007-05:00

This past week, Eric graduated from his VA Leadership class and the graduation was in Little Rock. After I was able to switch shifts at work, Hannah and I went along for the ride!

Here is Hannah in her pack and play in the hotel room.

A friend I grew up with, Kelly, is a photographer in Little Rock, so I met up with her Wednesday night when Eric was busy with work stuff to take some cute outdoor pictures of Hannah. I can't wait to see them!
Here's a sneak peek...

We went out to dinner afterwards and caught up - it was so good to see her!!! We talked about our husbands and kids, and our mutual love for blog-stalking people :)

Thursday, Eric had work all day also, so I met up with Kelly again to get some more cute pictures of Hannah taken - this time, Kelly took birthday cake pictures of her. Well... she tried at least. Apparently, Hannah isn't a big fan of getting dirty! She was poking at it and being shy about it, and then she accidentally stuck her foot in the cake and it was all over! She cried and came running towards me... I ended up messier than her! Kelly and I had a good laugh, but I'm pretty sure she didn't get one good picture of Hannah that day!

Friday was Eric's graduation ceremony, and I tried to get a cute pictures of Hannah and Eric together, but sadly... this is all I could get!

Hannah was hungry AND tired during the whole ceremony and it was not a good combination. So, the only good picture we got was just Eric and I. :)

Friday afternoon, we just hung out and then took Hannah to the pool. She liked it and kept kicking her feet. It was so hot the whole time we were in LR, that the pool was AMAZING!

After the pool, we took Hannah to see the famous ducks at the Peobody Hotel! They are these ducks that march every morning to their pool, and then every afternoon march back. It was pretty cool, but I think Hannah liked riding up and down the elevator more!

Saturday, we left LR and drove down to Tahlequah for Father's Day weekend. We had a great time hanging out with family!

Happy Father's day to Eric - who is such a great dad to Hannah. I love that she is such a daddy's girl!

Happy Father's day also to my dad, Marvin, and Eric's dad, Norm! We love you both so much!

And Father's day wouldn't be Father's day without Hannah wishing Happy Father's day to all of her grandpas... Papa, Pepere, and Grandpa Bill!!

Happy Anniversary!

2010-06-15T21:39:00.001-05:00

Our anniversary was June 10th and to celebrate, Hannah went to my parents house and Eric and I went to dinner and then to see...

The A-Team!

Eric is a huge A-Team fan - he once admitted to me that he used to have a van he wanted to turn into the A-Team van. Crazy!

But, since I love Eric so much, (and secretly also really love those kind of movies!), we went to see it. Because, as Eric put it, he "couldn't tell his grandkids he didn't see the A-Team on the night it opened!"

Seriously - CRAZY!!!

Happy Anniversary baby - it's been such an amazing 4 years!

First Boat Trip!

2010-06-05T21:49:00.005-05:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, we took Hannah out on Mom and Dad's boat. I don't know if she really liked it all that much, and it totally made me a nervous wreck! She is just such a walker now and that's all she wants to do, but there's only so much space to walk around a boat. Here are some cute pics though to commemorate Hannah's first boat trip!

1 Year Appointment

2010-05-27T13:13:00.004-05:00

Today was Hannah's 1 year appointment, and it went well! We are so thankful that our baby girl is so healthy!

She was 31 inches long (95th percentile), weighed 23.11 pounds (85th percentile), and her head circumference was 18.5inches (90th percentile). We were so happy that her head isn't the biggest measurement anymore :)

She had another round of shots, and these seemed to be the worst ones yet! She started screaming when I laid her on the table and she saw the syringes that the nurses had! I think she's starting to figure out that those needles are not cool!

Now we are in Tahlequah, and she is going to have a fun night with her Mama, Papa and Aunt Pami while I work at the Walgreens in Tahlequah.

This coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend and we are taking her out on the boat for the first time... it should be so much fun!

Birthday Party Recap!

2010-05-27T13:05:00.010-05:00

This past Saturday, we had Hannah's birthday party and it was so much fun. Almost my whole side of the family came, and we had a special guest appearance from Eric's side of the family - Auntie Lori and Cousin Lila came all the way from California!! It was so great for Lori and Lila to be there to share the fun weekend with us!

This is a picture of five generations - starting with my Great Grandma Jesse, my Papa, my mom, me and Hannah!

Miss Hilary came with her mom and her three kiddos... Carter, Calla and Cedar. Carter and Calla enjoyed playing with the sand table with Hannah!

Miss Cari and Mr. Marcus came too with their daughter Isla. It was so great for them to be able to come up from Tquah - Isla is so adorable and sweet! She enjoyed playing with Hannah's toys and watching all the "big kids!"

Hannah started cutting her third and fourth teeth a couple of days before the party and had been screaming in the middle of the night so much that it made her voice hoarse for the big day, but she still had a good time (even if this picture doesn't look like it!)

Here she is in her new "big girl" chair.... she sat in this for a long time, just staring at everyone that had come for the party!

The theme for the party was the Wonder Pets, so I had the bakery make a cake and frost it, and then I decorated it. I think it turned out pretty good... I made the fly boat out of fondant wrapped around a toy boat and it was so cute!

Finally, Hannah started getting pretty tired after we opened presents and so when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" to her, she was less than thrilled!

After the "Happy Birthday Song" fiasco, Hannah and her daddy took a much needed nap!

Thanks to everyone that came for helping Hannah celebrate turning the big "1!"

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

2010-05-20T12:55:00.004-05:00

ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Hannah, we can't even believe that you are a year old! This past year has been the best of our lives. We never could have imagined how much we'd love you!

You've gone from being a tiny baby who loved to snuggle to a big girl who loves to move around! Now that you are walking, you just want to go everywhere!

We thank God every day for you Hannah... you have blessed us and given us both a renewed sense of purpose. We pray that as you grow up, that we can be Godly parents to you and raise you with a sense of independence and responsibility, as well as the freedom to become exactly who you were meant to be. You have a special place in the hearts of those who love you, and I pray you always know what a treasure you are.

Happy 1st Birthday Hannah!

Walking!!

2010-05-15T08:27:00.004-05:00

Hannah just started walking this past Wednesday (5/12) and since then, it seems like that's all she wants to do!

I was home with her Thursday and we played a fun game of "Get Mommy," and I took some video, so enjoy!!!

Fun Picture Day

2010-05-10T11:58:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of May, we took Hannah outside to take some pictures for her birthday invitations... we think we got some cute ones!

11 Months Old!!

2010-04-22T19:37:00.003-05:00

Hannah, you are 11 months old! We can't believe how big you've gotten... you're just such a little person!

You have been cruising along, and on your 11 month birthday, you took your first step! Of course, since then, we haven't been able to get you to take more than a step at a time before you decide to just crawl.

You say two words, "Daddy" and "doggy"!

You finally have teeth! Your two bottom teeth have broken through, and you are not happy about it!

We love you so much Hannah! We can't believe that next month we will be celebrating your one year birthday!!

First Red Sox game :)

2010-04-12T19:37:00.002-05:00

We took Hannah to her first Red Sox game when they played the Kansas City Royals! We went with my parents, and had such a great time. Kansas City is a lot of fun, so we hung out Saturday and then went to the game that night. The weather was beautiful, and the ballpark was so really cool. Hannah loved her first game - she liked people watching, and all the people sitting around us kept talking to her and telling her how cute she was!

The Red Sox won - yay!!!

California or Bust!!!!

2010-04-06T19:36:00.014-05:00

At the end of March, we took a fantastic vacation to California! It was such a great trip, and we got to introduce Hannah to so many people!

It started on Friday, 3/26 and Eric, Hannah and myself took a late flight to LAX... something I don't know if we'll do again. We left at 9:30PM our time, thinking she would sleep the whole way, but sadly... she did not. And then when we got to LA, it was almost 1AM our time, and we still had to wait for our luggage, take the bust to the rental car place, get the rental car, and drive to my friend Emily's house. But, Hannah was a trooper! We stayed Friday night with my friends from college, Emily and Bo, who are expecting their first baby at the end of May! It was great to be able to see Emily while she was pregnant, and to talk to her about all things baby. We stayed up late talking and then the next day, were surprised by friend Steve! He lives in San Francisco, and his husband Jonathan had a business conference in LA, so he came to see us and spend all day with us on Saturday! It was great! We went to a cool place for brunch, and then we all headed to the beach (5 blocks from Bo and Emily's place... it was awesome!). It was Hannah's first beach experience, but she was so tired from the night before that she mainly crashed! She wasn't a huge fan of the sand...

Hannah with Bo and Emily

Hannah and Steve

We took her down to the water, but it was so cold, she didn't get in. But we did let her play with the sand and she got to see the ocean and hear the waves... It was a great day!

Saturday night, we drove to Eric's sister house and Hannah finally got to meet her Aunt Lori, Uncle Ken and cousins Sky, Brad, and Lila! She immediately loved them :) Well, Brad, anyways :) She started attacking him and crawling all over him! It was so funny. Here they are in the bath together... Sky and Brad loved taking baths with Baby Hannah!

The next day, we drove to meet Eric's friend Matt and his wife Jaymee... we spent the day having a great lunch and watching Duke basketball :) Matt and Eric definitely aren't Duke fans, but I was certainly happy about it! After the game, we took Hannah to a park.

Monday, we mainly relaxed, which was great! We did some shopping, and just chilled with Lori, Brad, and Lila, while Ken was teaching and Sky was in class.

Tuesday, we went to Knott's Berry Farm, which was so much fun! We had a caricature done of Hannah, and she got to ride her first ride... the carousel! She was mainly interested in the leather strap that held her on the horse, but she also liked having the breeze in her face. Eric and Lori went on the big roller coaster, the Silver Bullet, while I stayed behind with all the kiddos. They said it was a lot of fun, but I didn't believe them... I really, really dislike roller coasters!

By the end of the day, Hannah was exhausted!

Tuesday night, Lori and Ken watched Hannah (she was a complete handful, sleeping the whole time!) while Eric and I went to dinner with Matt and Jaymee in Brea. We went to this awesome restaurant, Yard House, and then we went to the movies to see "Hot Tub Time Machine." It was just as silly and hilarious as the name implies :) The movie didn't start until 10pm... I haven't gone to a movie that late in forever!

Wednesday was another hang out day, we took the kids to the park and then Eric and I went to this cool spa that Lori had been too. They were having a Grand Opening and everything was half price. We got facials, something I loved, but Eric... not so much. It was really cool though... except for when I fell asleep and started snoring!

On Thursday, Eric and Lori took the kids to the children's museum, while I went to visit my friend Emily. We think Baby Lilliana heard Hannah through her mommy's tummy and wanted to come play, because Emily started having contractions after we left that weekend. So, she had been admitted to the hospital, and while that is no fun, it was nice that I was able to go see her! So, I spent the afternoon with Emily at the hospital, and it was really great.

Thursday was Ken's bday, so Eric and I paid for a babysitter that night for Sky, Brad, and Hannah and took Ken and Lori to Medieval Times! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! We loved it and had so much fun cheering for the awesome Red Knight!

Friday, Ken and Sky had the day off for Good Friday, and we spent the day hanging out, having lunch at the park, and Eric and I made my uncle's famous carnitas... Lori and I may or may not have complemented those carnitas with awesome margaritas :)

Saturday, we went to the La Mirada Easter Egg Hunt, and while Sky and Brad were hunting easter eggs, Eric and I took Hannah to get her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. She was not impressed... haha!

Sunday was Easter, and we went to church, where we got to watch Sky and Brad perform a song with the other kids... Sky even had a solo! Hannah and Lila went to the nursery in their matching Easter outfits.

After church, we tried getting the kids' picture together, but this was the best one we could get!

Hannah and Lila in their flower hats, "eating" toy Oreos

Sunday, I started making a bunny cake, which has been a long-standing tradition in my family, but then - the earthquake hit! The bunny cake sadly didn't make it :( I was mixing it and when the earthquake happened, it fell off the table. But on the plus side, the dining room carpet got shampooed! We ended up making a bunny sugar cookie instead :)

Monday, we left to come home and were said to leave Cali! It's so beautiful there... and we had such a great time seeing everyone!

Remy and Pilgrim

2010-03-07T22:26:00.003-06:00

Valentine's Day weekend, Eric and I went to Dallas to have a weekend away and we had a really great time. It was nice to have some time just the two of us to hang out, shop at Ikea, and explore Dallas a little bit. Hannah, Remy and Pilgrim were all at my parent's house for the weekend. On Sunday, when we got back, we found out that Remy and Pilgrim ran away that Saturday and hadn't returned. Dad and my uncle looked for them all afternoon, and Eric and I looked again on Sunday, but we didn't find any sign of them.

We returned to Fayetteville and it was so wierd to not have our dogs with us. We spent the next two weeks not knowing anything about them, and missing them terribly.

On Saturday, Feb 28th, we received news that Pilgrim was no longer with us. The details are too hard for me to blog about, but we have spent the last week thinking of the good things and remembering how sweet and loveable our big bear of a dog was.

When we found out where Pilgrim had died and knew the direction they ran, we hung fliers with Remy's picture, hoping someone would call. This past Thursday, Eric received the call we'd been waiting on, and it was amazing news! Remy and Pilgrim had wandered into a yard, and while Pilgrim ran off, Remy stayed and had been staying on their back porch the whole 3 weeks. What was even more amazing is that the man who called had been working on my uncle's barn, not 100 yards from my parent's house!!!! He lives about 5 miles from my parents and had been at the barn working almost every day that Remy had been missing. It just happened to be my day off and Eric took a few hours off work so that we could go pick up Remy and bring her home. She had lost some weight, and she has been a little traumatized since coming home, but she is slowly coming out of her shell and becoming her old self again. It has been interesting to see how she interacts with Hannah, because Hannah had barely started crawling when Remy left, and now, Hannah is all about being all up in Remy's business. But, we took Remy to the vet today to have her checked out and we got her microchipped in case anything like this happens again.

Thanks to everyone who prayed with us and for us.. .It is bittersweet to welcome Remy back with open arms... we are so glad to have her home, but we are still missing Pilgrim. RIP sweet buddy.

Pilgrim and Tasha, 2008

9 months old!!

2010-02-20T22:09:00.002-06:00

Hannah, you are 9 months old!! At your 9-month appt, you weighed 20 lbs, 15oz (80th percentile), were 25.5 inches long (75th percentile), and your head circumference was 19 inches (90th percentile). As your daddy put it, "that's a Crowell head for sure!" (For our friends that read the blog, according to Eric, his side of the family all have large heads... I'm not really sure if this is true or not, but he swears it is. For Eric's family that reads the blog, I secretly think it's just him.)

You just started crawling a couple of weeks ago, and you are quickly becoming a pro. You also started pulling up on things and standing up, which means nothing is safe now!

The pediatrician said you could start eating real food now, so we have been introducing it to you slowly... but you can't seem to get enough!! You love yogurt, cheese, ham, chicken, taco meat, avacodoes and you somehow manage to eat almost a whole bag of yogurt melts a day (ok, ok... with the help of your mommy... but they are really good!). Also, you really love these puffs that look a whole lot like Cheetos which make me feel slightly guilty for feeding them to you in restaurants. I want to bring the Gerber can they come in and say "Look... she's supposed to eat them!"

Every day is something new with you Hannah, it is just such an exciting time. We love you Boo!

Crawling!

2010-02-08T09:11:00.008-06:00

Hannah is now officially crawling!!! She has been army-crawling for the past three weeks or so, and then all of a sudden she just started crawling for real! It was so cute, and then we started clapping and saying "yay Hannah" and then she just looked right at us and sat up and clapped along. It was great!

But, when we tried recreating that on video, it sadly didn't work. Guess you just had to be there :)

But here is a video of her crawling down the hallway. Our girl is getting so big!!!

2/15 UPDATE: Since this first day when she started crawling, she has been non-stop! Here are a couple of cute pictures of her in action :)

Pardon the drool :)

Gymboree!!

2010-02-08T09:10:00.018-06:00

Hannah and I have started going to Gymboree classes on Mondays as a fun mother-daughter bonding thing... a couple of weeks ago, Eric went with us and took these pictures!

It is so much fun to watch her interact with the other kids, and it's really amazing how quickly she is learning things by watching them. I feel like she has gone from just sitting there to standing to army-crawling in just a couple of weeks. It's crazy!

But, I have so much fun going with her.... it gets us out of the house and we usually have lunch with Daddy, or go shopping afterwards, so it's a great girls day out.

Dedication day

2010-02-08T09:10:00.014-06:00

Yesterday was Hannah's baby dedication day at church and it was so great! Hannah's Mama, Papa, Great-Aunt Pami, and Aunt Katie came and we had such a good time. The header at the top of the blog was the slide they showed when we walked up. I thought it was so cute, I put it on the blog!

We had dedication with our good friends Jamey and Hilary and their two precious babies, Carter and Calla. Carter and Calla are truly miracle babies and they are just so adorable and sweet. We love them and it was so special for us to share this day with them!

Our life verse for Hannah is Joshua 1:9, and it is our goal to teach Hannah that God is always there for her and He will never leave her.

Hilary's family recorded the entire thing and she put it on YouTube, so I copied the link from her page :)

Here it is: BabyDedication 2/7/2010

We love you Hannah and we will always remember this sweet day!!

Haircut!

2010-01-16T21:23:00.004-06:00

Hannah had her second haircut on Thursday and we think it turned out much better this time! Perhaps its because I didn't attempt to do it on my own :) Anyways, that night we took some pictures to try to get a cute on for her baby dedication that is in a couple of weeks. She was in a super good mood that night, so the pictures turned out great!

This last one is the one we're using for her baby dedication... we think it captures her perfectly :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T22:27:00.005-06:00

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!

2009-12-28T22:06:00.004-06:00

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)

2009-12-18T17:46:00.005-06:00

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!

2009-12-14T22:36:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-10T21:12:00.009-06:00

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!

2009-11-27T21:35:00.003-06:00

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!!!

2009-11-20T22:00:00.005-06:00

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!

2009-11-16T17:26:00.015-06:00

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!!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T17:16:00.002-06:00

Hannah was a Halloween Fairy this year... although her outfit didn't quite make it the whole day :) Her Mama and Papa bought it for her and it was super cute while it lasted!

Hannah and I went tailgating at the Arkansas game with my parents and the Nolans while Eric stayed home and worked on a paper for his class (he is in the process of getting his Master's degree). We had a great time and Hannah was a big hit!

When we got home, we discovered Hannah had had an accident and her outfit was banned to the dirty clothes. So, we went trick -or-treating dressed not in costume. We walked around the neighborhood with Hilary and the twins, Carter and Calla, and Hilary's sister, brother-in-law, and nephew Cade. Hannah and the twins are too young to really trick or treat, but it was funny watching Cade (who was dressed as a ninja) go up to people's doors, ring the doorbell, then run away.

5 months old!

2009-10-20T17:11:00.002-05:00

Hannah is five months old!

She has been getting so big and developing such a personality. We can hardly believe how different she is and how fast she's growing up!

Here are our attempts at fall pictures...

Trip to Louisiana

2009-10-16T11:31:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, Eric and I took Hannah to see Chris, Mary and Sarah (my uncle, aunt and cousin) in Monroe, Louisiana. It's about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Fayetteville, and Hannah did pretty good in the car for such a long trip! My parents went with us and we had such a great time. Here are some pictures of Hannah with them!

We (and by we, I mean me) decided it was time to cut Hannah's hair and because I am pretty impulsive, I thought it would be best to do it myself on this trip. Note to self: NEVER do this again! I had bangs until I was 18 and I used to cut them myself all the time, so I thought I could handle Hannah's hair. Too bad I ended up cutting them completely uneven and waaaay to short!

The next day, we took her to a salon to fix my mistake and she did so good! The hairstylist had never cut someone's hair so young (not many 4 month olds need their hair cut!). Hannah sat in my lap and as long as we held a mirror in front of her, she would just stare in the mirror and stayed completely still. I'm not sure if that should tell me something, but hey, it worked :)

Here is mom and dad with Hannah at our favorite store in the mall in Monroe. They have the most awesome candles in the whole world and everytime we go down there, we stock up on them for the whole year (and some of you have gotten them as gifts, so you know what I mean... they smell so yummy!) The store also has a year-round Christmas section, so it's really fun to go into!

Funny Remy?

2009-10-15T19:40:00.005-05:00

Hannah was sitting on Eric's lap and staring at Remy, and all of a sudden, this happened!

It was such a funny moment... Eric and I were both laughing with her!

One day, these two will be the best of buds!

Yay for Hannah!!

2009-10-14T21:45:00.003-05:00

Sweet Girl...

2009-10-02T09:52:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was a lot of fun, but super busy! Friday night we stayed in Tahlequah with my parents so that I could go to a women's ministry event at Cornerstone (my parents' church). It was really fun; my aunt was one of the speakers, and my mom made all the food. Eric spent the morning with Hannah... which explains the onesie... :)

Then Saturday afternoon, Eric and I came home so that we could go out that night to celebrate our friend Jamey's 30th birthday and Hannah spent the night with Mama and Papa, where she was of course, completely spoiled. Sunday, my parents brought her up here after church and she had her hair done and looked so cute, we had a great photo-op....

Hannah just has such a sweet disposition (haha, most of the time!), and these pictures are some of our new favorites :) I know, I know... I say that with every picture!

4 months old!

2009-10-02T09:32:00.004-05:00

Hannah's 4 month birthday was Sept 20th, and we celebrated by taking pictures supporting our favorite team... the OU Sooners!!!! We love football season around here, college and pro, and already, we can tell Hannah loves her some football :) She will be looking all around, at Eric and I, at Remy, at her toys, and as soon as football comes on the tv, she just stares at it. We swear, she even cheered a touchdown one time!!!

At Hannah's 4 month doctor's visit, she did so great getting her shots... she cried for a couple of seconds and then she was done... not even any tears this time! We started laughing at her because she was totally faking it for a bit, and when we would look at her, she'd just smile.

At her doctor's appointment, she weighed 15 pounds (75th percentile), was 25 inches long (80th percentile) and her head circumference was 80th percentile as well. She is getting so big!!! We can't believe how fast she is growing up... and how different she is now than when we first brought her home.

We tried to take more cute pictures of her, but this was her response!!

Happy four month birthday Boo!! We love you so much!

It's Football Season

2009-09-27T11:35:00.003-05:00

Remy is ready... are you? :)

Random Collection of Pictures

2009-09-11T16:36:00.010-05:00

So, even though I haven't been posting with a lot of regularity, we are still taking a million pictures... here are some of my favorites that I thought needed to be put on the blog! Enjoy :)

These next few are ones I took off mom's camera, so some of them are from when she was still itty-bitty! (I say this, and she's still not even 4 months old yet... but in our eyes, she's getting SO BIG!)

A week with Mommy!

2009-09-09T09:55:00.010-05:00

This week, I have the whole week off to just hang out with my sweet girl. I purposely didn't use vacation time to further my maternity leave so that I could have more time later in the year, so I have a week off in September, October, and November and a couple days in December. That equals lots of time with the Boo. My job has been a little crazy lately (which is why my posts have been non-existent!), so it is nice to be able to relax and just focus on Hannah, without thinking about Walgreens :) We spent a couple of days in Tahlequah and we went to see Cari, who is due November 1st with her first baby. We can't wait to meet little Isla! I wish I had a picture of Hannah and Cari, but I forgot my camera.
We also met up with all of my family... Aunt Pam, Ethan, and Grandpapa. And of course, the Mama and the Papa.

Hanging out with "Uncle" Ethan (my cousin, who is more like my little brother). We visited him when he got done with class. Hannah was very intrigued with the hot sauce he had in his lap.

We went out to lunch with my Papa, Hanna's Grandpapa.

Chillin' at Mama and Papa's

Bathtime...

On Thursday, Eric had the day off and we had a great time all together! Here we are eating our favorite sushi at our favorite sushi restaurant. It is in Bentonville, just down the road from my dad's office, so we meet him up there quite a bit. Our favorite roll is called the Green Monster (can you guess why we had to try it the first time?) It's so yummy!!!

Cute pic from the car - she was really trying to tell me something!!

Smiling Boo

I had a dr's appointment with Dr. Collins, my OB-GYN who delivered Hannah. Since Hannah was with me, I wanted to get her picture with her! Dr. Collins is really great and she was excited to see Hannah.

When we got home from running errands, we put Hannah in her bassinet while we were bringing things in from the car. She was so happy and in such a great mood, I had to get some pictures!!!

3 months old!!

2009-08-25T10:50:00.007-05:00

Hannah - you are 3 months old!!

This past month has flown by and it seems like in the past week, you have started so many things! I can't even believe how big you're getting!

You have started finding your toes and want to grab them ALL the time! You grab them when we're changing your diaper, and when you wake up... you even grab them when you're eating!

One of your new favorite things is to watch the new mobile your Papa bought for you... you stare at it, and talk to it, and grab your toes all at the same time. Your favorite time to do this is when you wake up in the middle of the night! Your mommy and daddy wake up to hearing your sweet voice... although how sweet it is at 3 AM is up for debate :) The other day, your daddy went in to calm you down and try to get you back to sleep and when mommy came in to see if you were hungry... you were so loud that your daddy had to repeat himself 3 times!

You have also been holding your head up for longer and longer periods, all by yourself. You like to set in your Bumbo and look around at everyone.

You have also started grasping at toys recently... which has of course led to your mommy making weekly Target trips to buy you new toys! (I know, I know... I'm rediculous!!!)

Hannah - we love you so much and everyday we tell each other how amazing you are!

Happy 3 month birthday Boo!!!

Weekend at Mama and Papa's!

2009-08-25T10:38:00.006-05:00

Every year, the Red Sox play the Texas Rangers in Arlington, TX (about 5 hours away) and since Eric is such a big Red Sox fan, we try to go every year to see them. Also, Dallas has some cool things/stores/restaurants that we don't have up here, so it's always a fun trip. Well, this year, they played them the weekend before last, so we decided that since Hannah was almost 3 months old, it would be a good time to see how she does overnight at my parent's house without us. We only went down for one night, but we crammed a bunch of stuff into the 20 hours we were there! We went to Ikea, and to dinner (hooray for my first margarita in a year!) and to the game. We were going to go on a Dallas Cowboys Stadium tour, but we didn't get a chance to - thanks to our GPS guiding us through the DFW Airport instead of the highway! For future reference, when trying to go somewhere that is new, make sure you have the updated maps on your GPS!

Eric and I had such a great time and it was really nice for us to get away, but we missed Hannah so much! Hannah, on the other hand, was in heaven - being held and played with all weekend! My parents live next door to my Aunt Pam, who was also soaking in some Hannah-time. Here are some pictures of her weekend away... she has her own space in one of the guest rooms (actually, it's more like Eric and I now have a bed in Hannah's room). She also had her first cold that weekend (I know... I'm a terrible mother for leaving her when she had her first cold, but in my defense, I thought it was just allergies!) But, that would explain her red eyes in some of the pictures! Thankfully, it didn't last long and she is feeling great now...

It's a shame she's always so neglected :)

Her swanky pad at Mama and Papa's

Off to church (with poor red eyes!)

Playing with Papa

This was what I got my mom for Mother's Day this year... It says "That's it, I'm off to Grandma's" and at the bottom it says "The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy." I thought that was funny!

Truly My Daughter...

2009-08-23T19:02:00.004-05:00

Our new favorite thing is to watch Hannah "talk" to us! And let me tell you, she talks ALL the time! Here she is talking while playing in her bouncer.

And here she is talking to her Daddy and telling him all about her day.

2 months old!!

2009-07-23T19:07:00.012-05:00

Hannah turned two months old on Monday, and to celebrate, we took fun pictures on Sunday. My friend Julia had made a blog post about how to make a tutu, so I decided to try my hand at it! I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some pretty light and dark purple tulle and ribbon... I think it turned out pretty good, what do you think? Thanks Julia for the awesome idea and instructions!!!

So, we took some Hannah ballerina pictures... we couldn't get the lighting to work very well, and she started getting fussy, so we'll have to try them again this weekend, but here a few cute ones. On the next ones, I'm going to make her tulle bow the darker purple, and we are going to try a lighter background... you can't really see all her hair on the black background! And what's the point of having all that hair if you can't show it off!

Today, Hannah had her first set of shots and it went pretty well, all things considered. She weighed 12 pounds (75th percentile), was 23.5 inches long (80th percentile) and her head circumference was 15.75 inches (75th percentile). She is getting so big, we can't hardly believe it! When it came time for the shots, two nurses came in and each of them took a leg and gave her a shot at the same time - it was pretty crazy. She flung her hands up and started wailing! Needless to say, both Eric and I cried. Now she is sleeping in her Papa's arms and seems to be doing pretty well, but we'll see how the night goes! Here are some pictures of the big day!

So, Hannah - now that you are two months old,

what have you been up to?

You have been sleeping six hours straight in the middle of the night, which makes your mommy and daddy VERY happy!

You sleep best when people are holding you and you're such a snuggle bug!

You can almost hold your head up completely by yourself... you do good for about 15 seconds, then you need some help. You love to look around at everyone and everything, so we don't think it will be much longer!

You have recently started smiling more often and silently laughing... it is so cute, it melts our hearts!

We love you so much Hannah - you are the greatest blessing in our lives!

Back to work

2009-07-13T21:59:00.001-05:00

This past week was my first week back to work and it wasn't really like I expected. I was of course sad to leave Hannah but since my mom is watching her, it wasn't quite so scary. I have pictures of her on the fridge at work and I made a photo mug with all my favorite Boo pictures to drink coffee in (which is necessary when working at 8 AM after getting up three times a night!). I also make all my technicians tell me ten times a day that I have the cutest baby in the world. None of them have children, so they can say that :) But I have to say that in some ways it was nice to go back to work... I know what I'm doing and I don't constantly worry that I'm screwing it up, which can't be said for this whole motherhood thing. And it makes my time with Hannah that much more special, and because of that, I've been having some great times with her lately. I have the day off tomorrow and I've spent all night tonight thinking about how great it's going to be. Now this isn't to say that if I had the chance, I wouldn't drop everything to stay home with her and I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry to Eric at least once a day about how maybe we should both quit our jobs and move in with my parents. (Crazy, right?). But I do see the benefits of me going back to work and they aren't just monetary ones. On my weekends to work (such as this last weekend), Eric is with Hannah all weekend and that gives them good father-daughter time, which is so precious to see. And I feel good knowing that my mom is with her and that I'm doing what is best right now for our whole family. Also, its probably good for me to actually be forced to put real clothes on instead of just pajamas all day and to not watch The Price is Right quite so much :) So, I'm vowing to love this time in our lives just like I did my maternity leave and look forward to showing Hannah off to all my patients who come into the pharmacy. And tomorrow when I am home with her, I'm going to soak her all in.

Hannah's new cousin

2009-07-13T21:58:00.001-05:00

We are happy to greet Lila LeClerc Way who was born today at 1:44 AM. She weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces and looks just like her big brother Brad :). Congrats Lori and Ken... we can't wait to meet her!

Bathtime

2009-07-09T22:40:00.004-05:00

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-04T23:56:00.004-05:00

Today we went to Tahlequah for the day to hang out for the 4th. We had lunch with the fam and then we went to the fireworks at my parent's church. We didn't actually stay for the fireworks since it was late and we weren't really sure how Hannah would handle the noise, but it was fun to introduce Hannah to some of my parent's friends and we also got some great pictures of the Boo!!

Just like her daddy!

2009-06-28T21:47:00.007-05:00

Tonight, Eric's grandma emailed us this picture she'd found of Eric. Looking through pictures we put on Snapfish of Hannah reminded her of it. We think she's right... the resemblance is definitely there!! The picture of Eric is when he was 25 days old, and the picture of Hannah is when she was 14 days old. Thanks for the picture Gram!

Fun Weekend!

2009-06-28T21:13:00.004-05:00

Eric's best friend Bill came to see us this weekend, and we had such a great time!! Bill and Eric had some good guy time by going to the casino Friday, and on Saturday, my parents came up to watch Hannah so the three of us could go see Transformers 2. The movie was good, although I must admit... I've been so tired from some recent not so good nights with Hannah that I fell asleep during part of it. How tired must I have been to fall asleep while Autobots are battling Decepticons?!?!? Today we took Bill to see the local civil war battlepark and then Eric made his infamous curry for dinner. Yum!

Here is a picture of Hannah with her Uncle Bill... he was really great with her and even changed a poopy diaper!

We wish his wife Melanie had been able to come, but we were happy she let us have Bill for the weekend! Thanks for coming to see us Bill - we had a blast!

Cute Boo Pics

2009-06-24T09:36:00.006-05:00

This girl loves her sleep!

Having fun on her play mat

Preppy Boo

Lounge Lizard Boo

First freckle!!

Laughing at Mommy

Contemplative Boo

PTL!

Precious Boo

Finally, here is a cute video (well, I think it's adorable). I have been reading a book called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" that my sister-in-law recommended and it's been really helpful. Part of it talks about the importance of swaddling, and so I've been trying to swaddle Hannah like they say in the book - arms in, super tight. She usually sleeps with her arms out, so this has been a bit of a struggle. I will say though that when we can swaddle her with her arms in, she really does sleep better. But we took this video the first time we tried to do it and she was clearly confused!

Hannah's New Ride

2009-06-23T23:56:00.004-05:00

So, in an effort to comfortably drive people around with Hannah in her car seat, as well as all of the baby paraphenalia one needs... I traded in my trusty 5-speed Camry for a 2005 Toyota Sequoia. It is super comfy and roomy, and very fun to drive :) I had forgotten how hilly Fayetteville was when I got a standard, so this is also much easier! If we get Hannah this for her one month birthday... imagine what will happen when she's able to drive herself! Ha!!

Memere and Pepere came to visit!

2009-06-22T22:39:00.010-05:00

This past week, Eric's dad Norm and his wife Jeanne came to visit us and we had such a great time! They are Hannah's Memere (pronounced mem-A) and Pepere (pep-A), which is french for Grandma and Grandpa. Every morning, they would take Hannah out on the back deck with them while they drank coffee and Eric and I slept in. Then, Eric and his dad would do some sort of project around the house and then we would all spend the rest of the day either hanging out around the house or going around Fayetteville/Northwest Arkansas. We were excited that they got to meet their new granddaughter and that we were able to show them our house and the area we live in. We will be going to Connecticut in November, but by then Hannah will be six months old. It will be interesting to see how different she is between now and then!

Overlooking the mountains on the way to Van Buren, AR

With Memere and Pepere

I love the look on Hannah's face here!

So sweet!

Trying to pack Hannah to go back to CT! Something tells me we would have noticed she was gone!

Thanks to Memere and Pepere for their visit... Hannah misses you already! (And I am definitely missing those early morning sleep-ins!!!)

Also, a big thank you to Norm and Jeanne for helping us with so many projects! Norm fixed some electrical issues around the house, helped Eric put up a gate on our deck, installed outdoor ceiling fans and helped Eric shingle the roof of our shed! And Jeanne weeded our landscaping, and also knitted the cutest scarf for Hannah. Jeanne - I promise we will finish the mulching soon and I will be sure and show you the finished product! Here are some pictures of all that got done...

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-22T22:38:00.002-05:00

Happy 1st Father's Day to my baby-daddy :)

One Month Musings and First Father's Day Reflections

2009-06-22T20:21:00.004-05:00

This is Eric...

I know it has been a while since I posted so I thought I'd take this opportunity to make up for that.

I've known Hannah for a little over a month and I wanted to share my feelings on how it has been going.

So far, she has been everything we could have hoped for. She is beautiful, healthy, calm, alert, and lovable. We have learned how to read her emotions and get her to respond to our interaction with her.

It is still hard to believe that she is really a part of this family. I look at her and see a little bit of both of us (mostly Michelle though). I think its funny how everyone in our extended families want to assign a part of her anatomy to them. If everyone's observations were correct, her hair would have come from 8 family member, her eyes from four of us, her cheeks from everyone who was ever a baby, etc. The truth is, God formed her and all of her little parts exactly how He wanted them. She is God's perfect little girl.

I can't say that I've seen a lot of change in her from when we brought her home, but I know she has. She has probably already had several growth spurts and her hair is definitely still growing. We were glad to see her weight get above her birth weight finally and she is actually into double digits now.

I do feel bad about the whole middle of the night thing. For the first few weeks, Michelle had to be the source of Hannah's food every time she wanted to eat. I tried to help out and change her or calm her down and get her to sleep, but I still felt like Michelle was and is really being worn down. It got a little better when she started pumping, but not all that much. Plus, she has been gracious enough to not ask me to help on work nights. I say all that because I want you (and Michelle) to know how proud I am of how she has taken to this whole motherhood thing. I know she had worries and fears before Hannah was born, but I think they were all unnecessary.

So, one month has gone by and I realize now that all of the books I read prepared me mentally for our little girl, but not really for the reality of her. Thankfully, she has been great and made it as easy as she probably could. The hardest part of my day is leaving her in the morning, and the best part is when I get home and have my "Hannah time".

I can't wait to see what happens next month...

One Month Old!!

2009-06-22T13:56:00.006-05:00

Saturday was Hannah's one month birthday! We actually spent the day in Tahlequah, so there were lots of people to hold her and help her celebrate! Eric, Norm, Jeanne, my parents, Sheri, Terry, Ashlea and my grandpa all went out on my parent's boat while Hannah and I spent the day driving around Tahlequah and then hanging out with Pam at her house until they came in off the boat. It was a great day and by the time we got home that night, we were all exhausted! Here are some pictures of our day...

Ashlea holding Hannah (preparing herself for babysitting this fall!)

Pami and Hannah

Hannah and her Papa

Celebrating being one month old!

Three great years...

2009-06-09T20:47:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow is our three year anniversary and to celebrate, we went out to dinner tonight while my mom and dad watched Hannah. We went to a movie last night and then dinner tonight - two date nights in a row! Here we are before we went out tonight.

To Eric... after three years, two houses, two cities, three dogs, three years of pharmacy school, Air Assurance, one particularly horrible online psychology class, Tresea, Half-Brain, and our sweet, sweet Boo... I am still just as in love with you as I was when I married you.

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

And, because we can't have a post without a picture of Hannah, here is what happens when you let my mom and Eric style her hair... Hannah is not impressed.

More Pictures

2009-06-05T20:13:00.004-05:00

So, Eric, my mom, and I spent last night taking pictures of Hannah... what could be more fun? In an attempt to take somewhat artistic pictures, we bought some fabrics from Hobby Lobby and busted out the tripod. Here are a few of our favorites!!!

Also, just to brag on my two week old daughter... in the second picture, she is totally holding her head up on her own!

Funny Eric Story

2009-06-05T19:52:00.002-05:00

So, one of the things that I love about Eric is that he talks in his sleep, and it always makes me laugh. He does it whenever I stay up later than him or if I get up and turn my light on and most of the time, instead of shushing him or telling him to go back to sleep, I talk back to him because it's funny to see what he says. This past Monday, we had one of the best sleep conversations ever!

It was 1:30 AM and I had just woken up because Hannah was crying and I could hear it on the monitor. I turned on the light and was putting my glasses on when Eric turned towards me and said "Watch out for the babies." I looked at him and said "What babies?" He started patting the covers and said, "The babies that are under here." I said "No, there's just Hannah, and you're hearing her cry through the monitor... she's in her room." He looked at me and said, "But we have visitors." So, I looked at him and said "It's just my mom and dad." Then he said, in complete seriousness, "Do you mean to tell me that they didn't bring any babies with them?" I started cracking up and leaned over to kiss him and said, "Um, that's exactly what I'm telling you."

So maybe it's not as funny reading it, but man, I've been laughing about that all week!

2 weeks old!

2009-06-03T09:49:00.011-05:00

Hannah, you are two weeks old today!

(I promise I won't do this every week... but two weeks is a big one!)

You are still sleeping a lot, but you have been having a lot of "open eye" time and we look forward to it every day!

The big news this week is that you started sleeping in your big girl crib! You had been sleeping in the bassinet in your pack-n-play in mommy and daddy's room, but now that daddy is back at work, we moved you to your own room! You seem to really like it... you will lay in your bed and move your arms and legs and look around. You are such a sweet and content baby!!

You do not like your baths, but we're hoping that will change when we can start giving you a real bath (if only your stubborn umbilical cord would fall off!)

At your doctor's appointment this week, you weighed 9 lbs, 4.5 oz. The doctor said your umbilical cord was very healthy, which means it could be awhile before its gone! Thank goodness your grandma is here to clean it, because it makes your mommy and daddy sick :)

We got you all dressed up for your doctor's appointment, but we don't think you liked it. We just wanted you to wear some of your cute shoes because at size 0-3 months, they won't last long! Someone has big feet for such a little girl!

Finally, we think maybe you've gotten sick of all the pictures?

Happy two week birthday Hannah! We love you so much!!

We love this girl!

2009-06-02T22:42:00.010-05:00

We have been having the best time with Hannah!

Eric was off work until this past Monday, so we spent the rest of last week hanging out, just the three of us. We took Hannah on her first Target trip, where she was by far the best behaved baby in the entire baby section! Friday afternoon must be a popular time to take your child to Target, because there were tons of screaming babies around... but our Hannah slept the entire time. Too bad something tells me that won't happen very much longer!

Saturday, our friends from Tulsa, the Beams (Scott, Julie and Addison) came to visit us and meet Hannah for the first time. We were so happy to see them; we miss our Tulsa people a lot!

Also on Saturday, we took Hannah for her first walk around the neighborhood. She loved being in the stroller, and the weather was perfect.

Sunday night my parents came over to spend the week with us and it has been so great having extra help now that Eric is back at work. My mom is definitely more than happy to rock Hannah to sleep after I feed her at night, change her dirty diapers, and watch her so I can nap in the afternoon. It's only been two days and I already feel more rested. Of course, I don't think Hannah is complaining about having her grandma around either...

Of course, when Daddy comes home, he makes sure and gets his share of Hannah-time as well!

Teaching Remy About Hannah

2009-05-27T21:33:00.004-05:00

In an effort to make Hannah and Remy into friends, I tried a trick I read about online. We swaddled Hannah in a blanket for a day and then I gave it to Remy.

Do you think it's working?

One Week Old!

2009-05-27T20:14:00.012-05:00

Hannah, you are one week old today!

You already have so much personality
and we just keep finding new things out about you every day.

For one thing, you love your left hand!
You always manage to get it out of your swaddle,
and you have it right next to your face everytime you eat or sleep.

You also love to show us your favorite finger...
We try not to get offended :)

(This picture was not staged...promise.)

You have been sleeping most of the time
(causing your silly mother to run to the baby books
to make sure you're not "excessively sleepy"),
and you eat every 2.5 to 3 hours.

Again, with the left hand...

(Sorry. No picture of Hannah eating.)

You love your play mat and your swing,...

...but you don't really like tummy time.

You have already melted our hearts...

We spend hours just staring at you and our favorite part of the day is when you are awake and staring back at us.

We love you Hannah-boo!!!

First Doctor's Visit

2009-05-26T18:57:00.005-05:00

Today was a very eventful day for Miss Hannah! We went to the doctor today for her newborn wellness checkup and while she didn't much like being naked with a cold stethoscope on her chest, the doctor said everything was great... she was beautiful and healthy. Today she weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces - 7 ounces less than she weighed at birth. But, since most babies lose about 10% of their birth weight, this was a good sign that she is eating well. Here are some pictures of her at the doctor's office.

After the visit to the pediatrician, we took Hannah to see our chiropractor, Dr. Myshka. He does a lot of pediatric consultations, since the whole birth process can be rough on them. But, he said everything was in alignment, which was good to hear. Perhaps it's because I pushed her out in 8 minutes?

Lastly, this afternoon, after we all took a long nap (Daddy, Mommy, Hannah and Remy), Hannah tried out her new play mat. We tried a few minutes of tummy time, but she was not loving it. But she did love just lying there and looking up at all the colorful animals!

Hannah is Home

2009-05-25T20:43:00.002-05:00

Michelle pretty well covered the events of the last few days, but I wanted to add a few Daddy-related items.

First of all, she mentioned that Papi hit his first home run of the season on the day she was born, but the Red Sox also won. Good omen for my baby.

Second, I have (temporarily) given up on the "banana" nickname. For now, I call her my "Hannah-boo."

She is such an amazing baby. I know that things will change and our patience will wear thin, but for now, I can't believe how awesome she is. She is so content. She only cries when something is wrong. When her eyes are open, she seems to be thinking things out. We are both very thankful to God for this little miracle. Plus, I think she has Michelle's looks, which shows that God cares for Hannah.

The picture of Hannah on my stomach on our couch from Michelle's post was taken tonight. We have been watching Ken Burns' documentary on Baseball. She was sleeping on me as Jackie Robinson was making history in the big leagues. I only point that out because it is a memory I want to keep for the rest of my life. Me and my little boo...

The nights have been tough. Michelle has the worst of it because she has the food supply, and it is hard for me because there isn't much I can do to alleviate that. I have tried to wake up and lay in bed with her for moral support, but that has proven really really hard. For now, we have the system that Michelle mentioned in her post. I take Hannah and check her diaper and unswaddle her. Meanwhile, Michelle gets all of her pillows set up for feeding. This helps me stay up with her a little while longer because I got a little bit of blood flowing.

I'm not sure this added much to what Michelle said, but I wanted to mention it.

Newspaper?

2009-05-25T14:50:00.002-05:00

We were just wondering if anyone still had a newspaper around from the day Hannah was born (Wednesday, May 20th)? We meant to pick up a couple so we would be able to tell her all about the big headlines around the world (besides Big Papi hitting his first homerun of the season and the Red Sox winning their game against the Blue Jays), but of course, we forgot! Thanks!!!