January 2013

This January, we have spent more time at home trying to avoid the weather.  It was 20 below this past week and we've tried to enjoy just hanging out at home.  Jack has also started a tumbling class that meets every Saturday morning for 45 minutes which has been great!  December was very busy with 5 Christmases and Hanna's 1st birthday.  The beginning of January was busy with Jack's 3rd birthday and their joint birthday party.  Last weekend, I threw a surprise party for Justin downtown with 35 of his friends.  It was so much fun, but I am looking forward to a laid back February!  The kids continue to play more and more together which has been so much fun to see.  Some funny stories are posted below all the pictures!!

This is Hanna's 'Where's Hannaaaaa' pose.  She puts her arms behind her head thinking she's hiding!

Hanna takes multiple steps in a row before falling down.  She's still trying to completely walk, but really enjoys walking around the railings and baby gate!  She also enjoys giving kisses!  All the time!

Smoooches!

Jack making pizza with Dad!

Jack and Grady closing their eyes for a special treat!

Hershey's kisses

 Jack's glitter picture he made at daycare this month!

 Silly boy...loves to wear pajamas that are too small...and loves this turtle mask!

 Just fishin'

Hanna Stories

January 2013:

-Hanna loves sniffing, nuzzling, kissing, open-mouthing, everything!  She still only has 1 full tooth.  5-6 have been ready to pop through for months.  She loves rolling around on our bed, on soft pillows, or all over us.  She is so snuggly and we love it!  She also loves to smell our shirts when we are holding her.  I'm not sure if it's a comfort thing, or a teething thing, but it's adorable.  Hanna spends most of her time sucking on her lower lip, or more recently, sticking her tongue up to touch her nose.  

-Hanna is weighing in at 21 lbs. (78%ile) and 14 oz., her height is 30 in. (76%ile), and head circumference is 46.8 cm. (91%ile)  

-Hanna has taken 5-6 steps at a time on occasion.  She does this multiple times a day before falling on her bottom.  

-She is so brave!  She still loves trust falling.  She will climb to the highest point (a couch, on top of her chair, ottoman, etc.), look over rebelliously at one of us, and then fall back after she's sure we'll catch her.  

-Hanna's started to give 'that 'look'.  She loves getting a rise out of us.  And while she does hate when we say 'no', she seems to love the rush of being mischievous.  Much more than Jack did!  Recently I have seen her attempting to climb into the washing machine (numerous times), crawling as fast as possible to whichever door we left open (bathroom, her room, pantry, laundry room, our room), and slamming it shut to keep us out.  The second we try to open the door, she slams it shut again.  She does NOT like it when we squeeze our way in and pick her up.

-Hanna does not like books yet.  Although this makes us sad, we think this is because she doesn't use a paci like Jack did, and we don't spend as much time trying to read her books every single night.  Hopefully it's a phase and she will learn to love them just like her big bro does!

-Our bed and downstairs.  These are two of Hanna's favorite places!  If she notices we are carrying her in the direction of either of these two places, she tenses up, starts jerking uncontrollably, and screeches loud with excitement!

-Gibberish.  Hanna LOVES to talk.  We just can't tell what she is saying yet!  She ends most of her sentences with 'dap' or 'dop'.  The other day, I was pointing my finger at Jack telling him to not stand on the bar stool and I was holding Hanna.  As I was pointing at him and scolding, Hanna chimed right in with her gibberish words and finger pointing!  Her common response to every question we ask her is, “Hmmmm mmmmm”.  Which sounds like, “Uh uh”.  So we ask her if she wants to pray, “Hmmmmm mmmmmm”.  “Do you love Mommy?”  “Hmmmmm mmmmm”.    

-The stairs.  Hanna loves going downstairs, so she can make a break for it and crawl super fast to the stairs, look back at us as we say, "No Hanna!", and then smile and head right on up as fast as she can.  She will do this over and over again before giving up.  Then she moves on to climbing on top of the kid picnic table or the treadmill.  She is a climber that is for sure!  Yikes!

  -Her Daddy.  Hanna loves the sound the door makes when Daddy is home.  She gets so excited and starts kicking her legs in her high chair and talking gibberish, or crawls as fast as possible from the living room to the door so he can pick her up!  She says Da-da all the time!!  This is definitely her favorite word.

-Hanna loves her tubby time with Jack.  She loves playing with toys and crawling all over the place.  Her new trick is throwing out each toy one at a time.  She also likes to stand up which makes us worried.  

-Hanna goes to bed about 6:20 or 6:30 every night.  Justin just takes her into her room after kissing Mommy and Jack, and he holds her and sings to her.  I try to sing Baby Beluga to her most nights which calms her instantly.  He lays her down with the lambie heartbeat going and fan on, and she'll roll around for awhile before falling asleep.  She rarely fusses, and sleeps at least 12 hours a night.  Such a good sleeper!

-Food:  Hanna loves anything.  Literally anything.  Casseroles, fruit, green beans, hard-boiled eggs, peas, cottage cheese, carrots, yogurt, bread, puffs, crackers, cheese, etc.  The only thing she doesn't seem to like is the pre-made pasta for babies.  She drinks almost 3 sippies of whole milk a day with meals and LOVES having a snack.  This kid eats every hour I swear!

Jack Stories

January 2013:

-Jack is FULL of energy!  He loves to be doing something at all times.  If he's doing something, he wants to know what he will be doing next.  'Where we gonna go afta that?'  'What we gonna do at aw house?'  He is excited to do almost everything in life, and actually told me today, "Mom, I get really happy to go to church!"  Love this kid!

-His tongue.  He has discovered the meaning of sticking out his tongue.  Only, he doesn’t do it confidently, he does it sneakily.  Out of the corner of our eye, we can see him sticking his tongue out after telling him “No” to something, and the second we turn our head, he looks away and pretends that he was just playing with his tongue out, humming a song, or making blowing noises with his tongue.  I’m not sure he realizes we are smarter than he thinks! 

-Eating.  Jack loves to eat, but he’s getting pickier.  Things he will eat no matter how full he is: cookies, Hershey’s kiss, crescent rolls.  He will ask, “What’s fo lunch?”  Even if it is actually dinner time.  We will tell him, and most times he says, “I don’t like that!”  A few days a week, he will get giddy and say, “Awww, I love that!”  It’s very dependent on his mood.  Which is very touchy after daycare.  But (sometimes after 45 minutes of bartering), we can usually get him to eat all of his veggies and take 3-4 bites of the meal.  He always has a snack after daycare too, which is why he is probably not hungry!  But until we have a personal cook, this will have to do!

-Jack loves his little sister and gets so excited to see her when she wakes up.  He loves Little Einsteins, Mater’s Tales, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and sometimes Happy Feet and Super Why.  He gets hooked on a show for months…and right now that is definitely Little Einsteins.  He loves running errands, getting a little treat (no matter how small), playing football or running with Daddy, and playing in his tent.  Especially if he can get Hanna in there too.  He thinks that is the coolest!  He loves being a scary guy, or scary animal.  He will stay in character for quite awhile, and no amount of convincing will make him be a nice guy or nice animal.  He growls, hisses, makes dramatic faces, and lurks slowly.  He prefers if we act scared, and also prefers that we stand not sit during games.  Jack loves to race his cars on the loopdie loo, double race track, and the treadmill.  At least it’s getting used! 

-“Just a ‘lil bit?!”  (head cocked to side, voice gets higher and softer as he asks).  Jack loves to use this phrase when requesting one more bite of something good, or one more drink of water.  It’s hard not to laugh when he requests this way.

-“A cookie is a circle and a hexagon has 6 sides!”  Yes, this was what he said the other day while eating a snack.  I was so proud that he was actually remembering things I’ve said to him!

-“Know what a cat’s called?” 

“What, Jack?”

“A cat.”

“Know what a kitty’s called?”

“What, Jack?”

“A cat.”

“Know what a dog’s called?”

“What, Jack?”

“A dog.”

“Know what a puppy’s called?”

“What, Jack?”

“A dog.”

-“Daddy, say yes if I can have another cookie!”  (Good trick question while Daddy and Mommy were busy with Hanna!  He wanted us to say, “Yes Jack?”  Jack typicall says, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy”, over and over again until Jack says, “Yes, Jack?”

-The other night, we could hear him in the monitor.  After looking at it, he had turned around in bed and was on his knees pointing at his name letters.  ‘A, C, K, Jack!’  The small ‘j’ was confusing him.

-On the cereal box of ‘Bolden Grahams’ (which he will NOT say as Golden, he saw a 3.  He pointed to it and said, “That’s how many I am, 3!” 

-Tumbling class.  Jack loves going to tumbling class every Saturday morning.  This is the first time that he has met someone with his same name.  He officially became “Jack B.”

-Jack had his first inappropriate conversation…which just happened to be with his 12 year old babysitter…and overheard by my mom.  “Hey Avie….look!  My pee-pee is getting bigger!!!  WATCH!!!”  Ruh roh.  That is all I can say right now.  My mom just said that Avie blushed and Mom quickly diverted the conversation. 

-Daycare play.  A few months ago, Jack was found on the top of the swingset with another little girl and they both had their pants down.  When Vickie asked what they were doing, Jack confidently replied, “We just playin’ hotellll!”  So last week, Vickie told me that she again caught Jack and two other 3 and 4 year olds in the corner all huddled together will their pants down again.  Oh…such curious 3 year olds.  Hoping this phase moves quickly passed!