Christmas 2011

We started Christmas Eve with a special breakfast. Hannah enjoyed the music at the Christmas Eve church service. We read the Christmas story (using her nativity scene that was a gift) and let her open one present.

On Christmas Day we snuck her stocking into her crib. Daddy got to see her open those presents before going to work, and we did the rest later in the afternoon. She got to see Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dan on skype first, and then Grandma and Grandpa. Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob came over for Christmas dinner and presents. We had a very enjoyable Christmas!

Two

Hannah's 2nd birthday was so much fun! Daddy and I snuck presents into her crib before she woke up so she'd have a fun day from the beginning. We gave her a wooden play kitchen and had balloons on it so she'd see it as soon as she came out of her room. She's been playing "cook in the kitchen" each day since. Poppa, Granny, and Aunt Amy came up for her party that evening, and she was surrounded by friends and so much love on her special day. Daddy and I made her a cookie cake with a playground scene with Abby Cadabby and Elmo, her favorite Sesame Street characters. She gobbled up her piece of cake and she had a huge smile on her face when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She was spoiled rotten with all the toys and clothes she received. It was really wonderful to have a house full of such special people to us. Aunt Amy was able to stay 2 nights and we had a great visit with her!

Hannah seems to have even more energy now that she's 2!! She's not as keen on her nap anymore and sometimes plays with her stuffed animals for an hour before she gives in to sleep. Her language continues to explode with new words and phrases. She says 5 word sentences now and it's fun to have conversations with her now. Daddy taught her to say "Hannah Jit" when asked her name and Judy taught her that I am Mommy Jit and Andrew is Daddy Jit!

Talk Talk Talk

My friend Leah Puckett did a photo shoot for us and I'm finally posting a couple of them. They are beautiful photos! The bunny photo is from Halloween. I thought it only made sense to dress her as her best friend.

Hannah has been talking up a storm the last couple weeks or so. She asks for her favorite stuffed animal friends by name- Bunny (sounds like money at times), Eeyore, Pooh, Elmo, Abby, etc. She takes 10 stuffed animals to bed most nights. She loves to ask "where did he go?" when Daddy walks into another room or "where did bunny go?" when she can't find him. She asks inquisitively "what's this?" about tons of things she sees each day. She says "love you" and "night night" and still spoils mommy with cuddles before bed. She asks for special friends like "Bob & Ju-ju" she adores and "Amy", who runs our church nursery.

We took a little trip to Hilton Head earlier this month and Hannah enjoyed the beach and playing at the children's museum there. It's so fun to see her learning every day. We're looking forward to celebrating her 2nd birthday in just 1 month!

Sweetness

My little girl gets sweeter and sweeter. I was reminded last week what an amazing miracle and blessing she is in our lives! I am thankful for every day with her and every smile. We've been seeing plenty of smiles as her Grandma has been visiting us from New Zealand for a couple weeks and she is adoring their time together! Grandma bought her a tea set and Hannah loves pouring tea for everyone over and over. Her favorite game lately is "where's Hannah?" as we pretend that we can't see her and call her name. When she wants to play she calls out her name like we do. She is talking so much lately, even short sentences now like " I got books"! She's adding new words all the time. She's pictured above in the personalized apron that Grandma brought her.

Summer Fun

Hannah has been enjoying her summer! Still growing fast and loving her time outside on our new deck that Daddy helped build. She's adding words to her vocabulary and even said the alphabet and numbers 1-10 with Daddy last week- we were shocked! She's been to visit our friends Pamela, Eric and Audrey, and my great aunt Mimi this summer. We went to the Children's museum in Indianapolis and loved it all, especially the carousel! We also visited Grandpoppa and Granny and went to the Louisville Zoo. Aunt Amy came to visit us all the way from Alaska and we had a great time! Swimming has also been a highlight of our summer. Hannah now weighs a little over 21 pounds and is 33 inches tall!

Stop the Clock!

A year and a half goes by so quickly! I can hardly believe how fast my baby is growing up. She is talking a lot more now; she insists on having either her ball or bubbles just minutes after waking up each day. The best is that she prays with us now, saying 'Jesus' and 'Amen"- we love it! Hannah continues to dance whenever she hears music and enjoys our trips to the library and anywhere else she can see other kids. She spent last week in the nursery during Vacation Bible School and was charming all the adults she saw. Her favorite part was going to hear the big kids sing because she got to dance! She still loves being outside and taking her to the pool has been fun. She has swim lessons next month and I'm sure she'll be swimming like a fish in no time. We just celebrated Father's Day on Sunday and I got some super cute pics.

New Discoveries

Hannah is making new discoveries every day! She intently studies the world around her and you can almost see her brain processing everything. We took her to Florida this month, where she walked up and down the beach waving (Miss America style) to everyone she saw. She also splashed into the ocean when she saw a little girl playing in the waves, much to our surprise because she wasn't too fond of the water initially. She gained confidence quickly and even started "jumping" off the side of the pool into our arms by mid-week. I couldn't believe it! We had a lovely family vacation. Hannah is growing up so fast! Her language is developing rapidly, adding about 5 new words each week. She kisses Daddy goodbye each morning when he goes to work and runs to the window to watch his car pull away. She gives us both kisses as if to make sure one parent doesn't feel left out. She still loves music and spending as much time outside as possible.

No more baby stuff- all toddler now!

I'm not sure exactly officially marks toddlerhood, but perhaps it's the moment that mom realizes she's suddenly not in control anymore! Hannah is 16 months today and I've had my share of these moments lately. She is happy exploring the world on her own and turns her body away if I take her hand when we go out for a walk, as if to say "Mama, I've got this!" She nods her head emphatically 'yes' or 'no' to our questions as if she understands every word, and she says "bye-bye" when I hang up the phone or to people she knows when we are out.

At her 15 month well-check Hannah weighed exactly 20 pounds and measured 31 inches tall. Her doctor says she will be tall and thin.

Now that we've had some nice Spring days Hannah loves being outside. She would spend every minute of the day outside if we allowed. We take toys outside on the deck for water play and she constantly hands me the container and signs "more" for more water- she never gets bored playing outside. She kicks the ball around in the yard and our neighbors 2 doors down have a daughter who is a month older than Hannah so they play together sometimes. After dinner Hannah loves to sit in the big rocking chair by herself and we hand her book after book to read. It's one of our favorite parts of her bedtime routine. These are sweet days ( even the stressful toddler times) and we are truly blessed!

15 months!

It's been 15 months since our baby was born and she's becoming more of a little lady every day! My favorite things she is doing right now:

-Walking around the house like she owns it!

-She's a bookworm! She wants to read books first thing in the morning even before breakfast, all through the day, and it's part of our bedtime routine. The best is when she "reads" them to us.

-She studies our mouths when we try to teach her a word. She repeated "uh-oh" and "hop" this week, and was close to saying "yellow". She calls Andrew "Daddy" now in addition to "Da-da".

-Huge belly laughs! We put her on our bed and tickle her like crazy and now she points to our bed when she wants to be tickled.

It's been a sad week for us in Springfield. We lost our dear friend Rand Miller. We knew him only about 14 months, but he was very special to us. He was "Pap" to Hannah and his lovely wife Sheryl is "Nana". Hannah now has an opportunity to put those beautiful smiles and laughs to use to cheer up Nana. The photo attached is of them with Hannah at her 1st birthday party. The other photos are from her 1 year photo shoot.

More Discoveries

Andrew went to India on a mission trip on Jan. 19th and a few days later he called us on skype. Hannah decided it was time for her to show off and as Daddy looked on she walked all the way across the room for the first time! Hannah is discovering many new things now that she's walking more than crawling. She loves standing by her dresser and throwing all the clothes out of a drawer, by the bookcase and throwing the books out, or dumping food out of the bowl she's been given- anything that creates a mess for Mama to clean up! It still surprises me a little when I see her walking around the corner towards me. :)

At her 1 year well-check appointment she weighed nearly 19 pounds and it's fun to see her growing and changing into a toddler. She makes the funniest faces now, especially if she doesn't get what she wants. She's still the sweetest little cutie on the planet. We got her 1 year photo proofs this week and they are beautiful! I'll post them as soon as we get the CD.

Christmas and our NZ Trip 2010

I had to include a few favorite photos from our Christmas and time in NZ! We took way more photos than I could upload, but here are a few that we love!

#1

Hannah Lynn had quite an exciting 1st birthday spent in New Zealand! We had a fun birthday party in Ohio with our friends here before our trip and then another party at Grandma's! Hannah is truly loved by many (and a little spoiled, too). We brought a whole bag back full of her presents. We took Hannah to Mairangi Bay beach on her birthday. She wasn't too sure what to think of the sand.

We had a lovely two week visit with her Grandma and Grandpa. And Hannah was a pro at traveling around the world- she slept over 7 hours of the 12 hour flight to Auckland. We've put together a "time capsule" present for when Hannah turns 16 so she can see what was happening in the world on her 1st birthday. It includes newspapers from Ohio, Kentucky (thanks Granny and Grandpoppa) , New Zealand, Scotland (thanks Aunty Sarah and Uncle Dan), and the Middle East that Grandpa Jit brought to NZ on his way home for Christmas.

Another special memory of our NZ trip is that Hannah took her first steps there about a week before her birthday! We've had a wonderful first year with our sweet baby and we celebrated big!