It's naptime..."Hannah, go lay down for naptime, " I say.

I return to find this:

She's successfully putting on Ethan's karate gear.  (He has to wear an adult sized helmet!  Bless his little pun'kin heart!)

And the video is here.

Today will probably be another cloudy day, and with a little one obviously coming down with a cold, we'll probably spend the day reading aloud and watching videos.  Hannah started running a fever last night.  Bless her little heart...she went and grabbed a pink princess blanket and curled up on the couch...a very un-Hannah like thing to do.  She's normally very busy!

Poor Beau!

From the mouth of my little sickie:

"Bless food Mommy.  Bless food Daddy.  Bless food Ethan.  Bless food..."  When Hannah prays, everyone's food is blessed.

They sat there, arms around each other for quite a while...

To my sweet little girl,

As of yesterday, two years have gone by far too quickly!  Hannah, you are such a light in our lives!  I'm so thankful that you're a part of this family!  The Lord was gracious when he blessed our family with your sweet presence.

Right now, in your little two-year-old life, you can have a heart of gold and red-hot temper in the same five minute span.  You are the girliest little thing one second and can turn around and pop out with some major tom-boyishness the next! 

Ethan still dotes on you, but Daniel cuts you no slack.  Let me assure you, sister, you don't cut him any slack either!  As a matter of fact, you probably get in more trouble than the boys do combined on any given day.  Just testing the two-year-old water, I believe.  It's hard to keep a straight face when you get mad because you can almost see smoke coming out of your nose! 

She's always busy!!

But don't let that deceive you.  You are precious.  You are so very kind.  You think Grace is your baby, and you're quite a little mama to the dog and to all of your stuffed animals and pretty much anything smaller than you.  You love your brothers, and your imitations of us are sweet.  It's very humbling to have you mimic us.  I hope and pray I'll be worthy of that very sincere and innocent form of flattery. 

You consistently say "please," and you talk so much now.  You're getting close to potty-training...something I'm eagerly looking forward to! 

We are so blessed with you, my dear!  Happy second birthday!

We love you beyond words!

Love, Mommy

or My Funniest Christmas Memory 2008 or Her poor kitty!  Couldn't decide on a good title.

I don't know if anyone that hasn't actually been around has noticed, but in most of her pictures, Hannah has adopted a little beanie baby kitty cat (that the nurse gave her when she busted her head open) as her own child, I think.  She sleeps with this cat; she pushes the kitty in her stroller.  She lets the kitty come to the table.  And I honestly think she would let us fix it a plate if we would.

Well, she loves the cat, but on Christmas morning, Ethan received a plastic...fake...shotgun. He loved it and has played furiously with it since then.  Hannah got a hold of it while she lovingly toted around her kitty cat.  So there she is, walking around with a shotgun under one arm and her kitty in the other.

She's cookin' up a storm!

Then, the unthinkable happened!  She placed the kitty on the bricks by the fireplace and shot it!  Yikes!  Then, she picked it up and kissed it...like it had a boo-boo.  Ha!  It was hilarious! 

She's definitely got brothers.  She'll turn everything into a weapon.  The number 7 block at Daniel's speech became a gun yesterday.  And yet she's still such a girl in everything else.  She would love it if I'd let her wear her bright pink nightgown and Sunday shoes everywhere she goes.  She's a mess!  And despite her birthday on Thursday, I think she's been two for quite a little while now!

Miss Priss when she accidently fell asleep during Deron's birthday party!

Deron and I have made it through the last five and a half years without having to call 911 due to an injured child.  That was nice. 

However...all that changed Monday night.  It was a crazy night.  We'd just gotten back from the grocery store and the house was a wreck.  The dishwasher's on its last leg and we'd been out of town for the weekend, so laundry was covering the place!  Deron had taken Hannah and Daniel into the garage with him and the next thing I knew, he was yelling for me to open the door for him. 

He came in with blood all over him and Hannah.  He yelled for me to dial 911 while he held the gash on her forehead closed.  While the ambulance was on the way, she kept trying to pass out.  Deron continued screaming in her face to keep her awake until the paramedics got there. The paramedics arrived less than ten minutes later, but it felt like an eternity. 

I sat there with her, holding the bandage in place, screaming and praying!  I don't know if I've ever been so scared in my life!  Daniel, my "worst-case-scenario" child, continued to tell me, "I hope she doesn't die!"  about a thousand times, but he did try to help me talk to her a lot. 

When we got to the hospital, she started throwing up (which is normal from what I understand), and Deron ran around and carried her inside along with the keys.  They took her back immediately, seeing that Deron was once again holding her wound shut.  I had to wait until a nice lady came and stood with the van for me so I could run in and get the keys from Deron.

My brother and sister-in-law rushed to the hospital and helped us with the boys.  The nurses let Grace stay with us.  I was so thankful for them.  They even ran by Target and picked up some clothes for Hannah.  The Lord was so good to us.  We'd never been to this hospital before, but last Thursday, I missed my turn coming home from picking up some things at Breadbeckers.  I remember being frustrated, but I rode right past this hospital that has the Pediatric Urgent Care Clinic.  So I knew where it was!  The Lord provided!

When I was, actually, able to go back there, it was just in time to be with her while they were numbing the cut for stitches.  She kept showing us her "boo-" a paper cut that was on her right hand from three days earlier! That struck us a little funny in the midst of it all since she was very concerned about that little paper cut.  The gash seemed huge to me, and let's just say that we could see that her skull wasn't broken. It took twenty minutes for the numbing meds to kick in, and then, they put her in a papoose to stitch her up.  She did great!  She even told the doc and nurse "thank-you" in Hannah-dialect.  I guess she heard us say it.  She has nine stitches and I'm hoping it won't scar up too bad, poor little thing.  She'll go back Monday or Tuesday to get them out. 

Hannah has grown so much in the last little while.  She's popping out new words left and right, but don't try to play "red light green light" with her because she can only say "red light." 

She's pitching fits like a full-grown two-year-old. She's picking out her own clothes (usually the most colorful thing she can find) and trying to boss her brothers around.  She's in desperate need of true-blue little-girl toys and dress up clothes since she spends most of her time trying to navigate our new home in my shoes.  She likes to brush her own hair and her own teeth.

If she can't communicate what she wants, she'll take your hand and show you.  Sometimes, she'll just take your hand and guide you aimlessly around the house. 

She likes to kiss Grace first thing in the morning and "talk" to her in baby talk...a.k.a. the highest pitch voice she can muster up.  Her dimples seem to get deeper the older she gets, and her laugh keeps getting cuter.

Yes, she's growing up... 

Somebody loves tools...whether they're hardware or kitchen...she loves tools!

She dumped all the toys out of the box because, obviously, she thought the box made a better toy anyway!

Have a great weekend! (Oh, and by the way, my appointment went pretty good yesterday.)

My sweet little Hannah-belle!

Wow!  I cannot believe an entire year has gone by since you danced into our lives...into our hearts! A year ago, today, my water broke a little while after 8:00 p.m.!  It was quite hilarious since I wandered around the house for a full fifteen minutes before I even told your daddy!  He couldn't believe I waited that long before telling him, and he insisted that I call the doctor.  I "just wasn't sure" you were on the way just yet, but yes, oh yes, you were!  And you were in a "lickity split hurry" !  You were born at 3:12 a.m.!  Feels like it was just yesterday!  It has gone by far too quickly. 

Your hair was so dark, and now, it's light and curly as can be!  But your dimples have done nothing be get more pronounced from the very day you were born.  You are such a beautiful girl!  Such a girl... Your smile is so sweet, so incredibly adorable and precious, we can't help but smile at your smiles! 

There has been a world of difference between you and your brothers.  I was always told how different boys and girls could be, but gracious, you've proven it all true!  You are gentle...even when you take food from my hand.  And while your brothers are able to be gentle, they have to think about it.  You, on the other hand, are naturally bent in that direction. 

I see quite an independent streak in you, but you got it honest!  You don't mind playing by yourself, but you do like an audience, as well!  I've enjoyed seeing you grow into your own little person!  So unique and special in every way!  You love to dance and "sing" and bounce and go and do anything!  Hence your nickname...Busy-belle!  So busy, you are!  You love your brothers and you're simply in love with your daddy!  I love to watch it all, and I hope I soak in enough memories to last me long after you've gone and have a family of your own.  

I love that you love for me to rock you and sing to you and play with your precious curls.  Sometimes, you reach up and play with my hair and grin a sleepy grin at me when you're trying your best not to be as sleepy as you are!  I love to smell that baby smell and feel your baby skin! 

You are so precious to us, and I hope and pray that you will always know how much we love you and care about you!

I love you so much, my sweet "Busy-Belle"!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Hannah has grown particularly fond of this lion!  It's just about as big as she is!

The power of genetics!  Beau...the daddy...can sleep just like this! LOL!

Have a lovely Tuesday!

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For Aunt Jenn and Uncle Joe!  They didn't get to see Hannah walk before they moved away!  We love y'all!

Sweet Hannah is 9 months old...as of yesterday.  We took her in for her check up today, and I just can't believe she's this old.  Partly because time has gone by so quickly...partly because she's so tiny!  At nine months old, she weighs a whoppin' 15 lbs. 1 oz. and is 28 inches tall!  The doctor said she's healthy...just petite for her age.  She's taking  three and four steps at a time and eating anything that won't eat her first!  I think she's been the worst about putting stuff in her mouth.  I have to watch her like a hawk!  I love to listen to her giggle, to watch her one tooth smile, to tote her around.  I love all her little girl clothes and putting her in outfits I thought she was way too small for!  She's trying to grow up on me, and she's doing it all too fast!

She only had to have one shot today, and Daniel wasn't a bit happy about it.  According to him, she is a baby and should not have a shot!  He sorta gave the nurse a dirty look but didn't say anything ugly...thank goodness!

Standing up!

Balancing very well!

Falling flat on her little bottom!

It seems that my dear sweet Hannah-belle is trying desperately to keep up with her brothers!  She took her first step yesterday!  Although I was touching her clothes, I was not touching her.  I wasn't steadying her at all!  But I think she thought I was steadying her. It's amazing how these milestones are exciting no matter how many children you have.  I can, distinctly, remember each of the boys' first steps!  What precious memories!  It seems we are, constantly, going in and out of seasons, and we're headed back into the "newly stepping/walking" season...for a time!

P.S. I will be working on getting a picture of her standing/stepping, if possible!

Just thought I'd share a few pictures of my sweet-girl!

I tried so hard to remove the red eye in this picture, and I usually do fine.  But it wouldn't stay removed!  I don't know what I'm doing wrong!  Note:  She truly does not have red eyes!    Just thought I'd clarify that!

I can't believe my little Hannah-belle is six months old and....crawling!!  Yes, she's even more mobile tonight than she was last night.  It's a momentous day in our little household!  She's not just rocking on her knees anymore.  When did all this happen?  She was just born for cryin' out loud!  She's too young for this, I tell ya!  She has her check up tomorrow morning, so I thought I'd put this up tonight.  I can't wait to find out how much she's grown, and I'm sure I'll get a lecture from the ole doc about how she's not wanting cereal, yet. {sigh} 

Six months!  Her hair is so light now compared to when she was born !  She's such a light in our lives.  We are blessed beyond measure with this little princess!  We all love her so much.  It's a special feeling to see her being loved by the boys too.  That, in and of itself, is wonderful!  The way the Lord works in the hearts of these little ones is amazing.  We can teach them how to treat one another, but we can't teach them to love.  Maybe ways to show that love, but the emotion comes from Him.