"DAAAA DAAAA!!!"

That's all I've heard all day long.  Now, I know I'm not a ton of fun right now because I'm sick of being stuck in the house.  And "Daddy", of course, is a TON of fun when he comes home at night.  And I know the poor kid has got to be sick of seeing me, and only me, for the past 2 days.  

"Daddy" came home for lunch and played and played and played.   But evidently it wasn't enough.  She got up from her nap yelling this today.  She immediately crawled to the front door and yelled this out the windows.  She's been yelling it from her highchair as she eats her snack.  I think she loves her daddy, what do you think?

I tried to get a video of all of this, but she stops every time I pull the camera out. 

Weekend of sickness

Well, there's no cute pics to go with this story, needless to say!  

Last weekend, I had to go to the doctor because I had strep throat.  I was SO careful all week long, hoping that this time Hannah wouldn't get it.  But, sure enough, Friday night she didn't sleep without being held and rocked, and she was running a fever that wouldn't break with Tylenol.  So, Saturday we headed to the walk-in clinic.  Miraculously, we only spent about 45 minutes there, got her prescription and got out.  She has strep throat, and her ears are looking red, so we're on a 10-day round of antibiotics, hoping to knock both things out.   

So, Saturday and Sunday were low-key days around here.  We had big plans that included a babysitter and going out on a date, plus a packed Sunday, but instead we just stayed around the house.  Yesterday we watched chick flicks all day, had a PJ party, tried to have fun with it!  I think she's feeling a little better today, and no fever so far!   Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

She's still been learning all sorts of new things lately, even with not feeling good!  She can now take about 7-8 steps on her own, when she feels like it. Most of the time she still just drops to her knees, though!  She's trying SO hard to be able to put on her socks and shoes all by herself.  And when she first wakes up in the morning, she's immediately calling for her daddy.  I love it! Now HE gets to be the first one up out of the bed! :) 

Today's other new trick

She has loved this car thing for quite some time.  At first she would just walk behind it, holding on for dear life.  Next she wanted to sit on it all the time.  And I do mean all the time.  But she just couldn't figure out how to get anywhere on it.  We kept showing her over and over again how to move her feet, but she'd just grin and sit and wait for you to do it again.  

Well, today she finally got it!  Only she goes backwards.  So she goes backwards until she can't go any more (see 2nd pic) and then just rams it over and over again into whatever she's run into.  She really gets into it!  For a second, she thought about turning around backwards on the seat and going back the other way (1st pic) but decided against it.  She sure does love this toy!

Today's new trick

A friend of mine (thanks Anne!) told me recently that before babies turn 1, they're learning something new every week.  But after they turn 1, it's something new everyday.  Well, Hannah conquered 2 new things today:

She got a little toy purse from the Haas family for her birthday, complete with a little pink cell phone.  This morning I was playing with her, talking on it, then putting it up to her ear so she could talk on it.  This afternoon I caught her jabbering away and looked to see what she was doing.  She had the phone up to her ear!  I tried to catch it again later with the camera...

And finally.... birthday party pics!

Fun day at the park

We managed to squeeze in a trip to the park this afternoon after Rob got off of work.  It was such a beautiful day!  We went for a walk on the nature trail, then played on the playground.  It's so much fun now that Hannah can move around and play more!

Birthday girl

Here's Hannah on her very first birthday!  Yep, she's sitting in a rocking chair at Cracker Barrel. Yep, we took her to Cracker Barrel to celebrate her birthday.  What can we say, we ARE from the South! :) 

Just wanted to post this picture really quickly.  More pics from her party to come soon!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet girl!!

Well today was Hannah's first birthday.  Such a special day.  Even though we had her birthday party 2 weeks ago, we had a fun day today.  Robbie was able to take the day off after doing some things this morning, so we just had a low-key day playing with Hannah.  She loved her presents from us - a basketball goal toy and a little purse with stuff to go in it.  She got so excited about the little bracelet that came with the purse!  Every time we put it on her wrist, she would grin really big and hold it up in the air for everyone to see.  Too cute! And of course Robbie was proud of how quickly she caught on to putting the balls into the basketball net!

She is such a blessing to us.  We spent most of today talking about how humbling it is that God has chosen to give her to us.  We have such a responsibility in raising her, but it is such a JOY!! We are consistently amazed and overwhelmed at how God chooses to bless us.

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord!" Psalm 127:3

On the road again

Well, we survived yet another road trip!  We took our college students to Atlanta to the Passion Regional Conference this past weekend, and boy, are we glad to be back home for a while!  It was a great trip, but quite a bit of driving in 3 days.  Poor Hannah was really glad to not have to go anywhere in her car seat today!

We had a good time while we were there, though!  She loves all of the students, and they all took turns entertaining her in the car when we were on the road.  On Saturday she and I had some down time together while Robbie and the students went to the conference.  So, we played in the hotel room and watched cartoons, took a good long nap, and then checked out the indoor swimming pool!  I didn't have the camera, but I took a few pics of her in her cute little swimsuit on my phone.  (Hopefully I can figure out how to get them off my phone soon!) 

This was her first time swimming, and I think she really enjoyed it.  There were two sweet girls swimming at the same time we were there, so they played with her some.  She would watch them swim back and forth, and when they came near she would lean forward and start kicking her feet!  It was as if she was showing them that she could swim too!  It was a good time, except for the fact that her floaty had a leak in it and I kept having to put more air into it every couple of minutes.  I guess that's what I get for buying something last year on clearance!  Trying to save some money and I just ended up wasting it! 

We also got a chance to see our friends from Hammond and seminary, Chip and Sarah Beth Wheeler, and their 2 kids Cade and Caroline.  They are planting a church in an area outside of Atlanta, so we drove over to see them.  It was great to visit with them.  It's always good to see old friends!

So, we are back home, and all very tired from the trip.  But, we're looking forward to one special little girl's birthday tomorrow! 

Talking back already?!?

Here's the Hannah story of the week!  I think she's already learned how to talk back!

She was sitting in the high chair the other day at lunch saying bye bye to her food and tossing it over the edge of the tray. (I guess my cooking's not quite as good as I thought!)  I caught her doing it and told her "no, no!"  She looked at me, grinned, and said "yeah!"  and kept doing it.  I thought it was just a coincidence, but later on she got into something else (I think it was the garbage can) and I told her no, only to have her respond over and over again with "yeah!"   She is too smart.

For my mom...

Here's a pic of Hannah in her Easter dress since you haven't seen it yet!

So we've finally joined the world of bloggers!  Yippee!  We're pretty excited about this so that we can more easily keep up with our family and friends that don't live near us.  

More to come soon!