Hannah @ 2

My baby is 2!!! How did this happen?!  

I remember bringing her home and thinking "What have we done?" and now I can't imagine life without her!  She keeps us hopping with her little personality.  

A few words to describe our little girl are: determined, energetic, happy, drastic mood swings, low tolerance, fun, smile that warms anyones day/mood, makes friends wherever she goes, says hi to everyone, independent, sassy aka sassafras, 

Hannah loves her babies!!!

She has an "outside baby" that she loves to take for walks in her stroller.

Feeding baby

Changing baby

What I find interesting is how innately different boys and girls are!  From day one, Hannah has been enthralled with babies.  She loves pushing them in the stroller, feeding them and changing their diapers.  It is so adorable how mothering and nurturing she is already!

Showing Miss Lexie what how to use the manipulative table.

As a true girl, she loves dress up!  Since we mainly have "boy" dress up clothes, that's what she uses and she's happy!  

Super Hannah

Her choice of weapon, the toothbrush!

Dress up also includes brother's shoes and daddy's shoes.  

She has a shoe obsession:).

And attitude to boot!

A typical Hannah smile.  This cheeser smile melts my heart!

Hannah has become our ER child.

She fell/jumped out of her crib on a Sunday evening.  She was pretty upset and cried hard for a few hours.  Even a bath didn't calm her down but after some ibuprofen she perked up.  I text my neighbor who's a nurse and she asked if Hannah was using her arm.  She sort of did at dinner so I said I'd call the doctor in the am.  The next morning she held her arm at her side, like in a sling position, immediately when she woke up.  I called the doctor and brought lots of snacks, books, activities because I knew it was going to a day!

Hours later, and a few x-rays with lots of tears (it hurts to twist a broken arm), it was concluded broken.  Then sent us on our way with a sling and a visit to the orthopedic surgeon the next day.  

Hannah was sad at first...

But she perked up like always:).

The next day we went to the ortho.  Yup it was broken, both the radius and the ulna.  Oh man.  

So they said they would cast it and come back in 4-5 weeks.  The lady who was casting her, said she'd never done such a little cast before.  I could tell she was nervous.  I didn't know how Hannah would do.  Luckily she sat stoic and still while they casted her!  The lady complemented her on how easy she was!  Hannah was fascinated by the process, as was I!

As you can imagine, it was hard to have a 1 year old in a cast!  We finally got a new shower head with an removable shower head so we could bathe her.  They kept reiterating how the cast can't get wet.  Easier said than done!  I was worried we would have to re-cast her so I was pretty careful with her and watched her like a hawk!  We made it the 5 weeks (I went longer, not wanting to risk a recasting)!  There were a few scares with the water table and rocks outside:).  

The day came to get off her cast.  My mom came so she could help with Hudson and Hannah:).  Thank you Nana!!!  Hannah handled it like a trooper!  All smiles, even with the saw which was VERY loud.

She was amazing! Few that was over and done with!

Within the next few weeks of getting off her cast, this happened...

Yes that's a deep gash in her eyebrow.   We were having a family planning session for Yellowstone and she was running into our pillows in the playroom which at the time were in front of our hutch.  She hit the knob, a small know, of the hutch at full speed, running into the pillow, and split her skin.  In Hudson's words "She was running REALLY fast!"  So again I text my nurse neighbor and she recommended going to Sacred Heart.  We headed down and left Hud with Nana & Pops.  

For starters, the Sacred Heart Peds Unit is completely redone thanks to Mark Rypien, a super bowl MVP.  His son died of cancer at the age of 3 and he started the Rypien Foundation.  Since "Mark and his family experienced firsthand what families go through when fighting this potentially deadly disease, and recognized the value that quality care can bring to both patient and family" quoted from his website.  We could't have been more pleased!  In the waiting room, there was a HUGE fish tank, games play, a Nintento Wii, Xbox, TV, you name it there was plenty to do and it was all BRAND NEW!  We waited for a few minutes and then headed to our room.  

Under the Rypien Foundation, they have Child Life Specialists that come and entertain your child.  At first they gave Hannah a breathing mask to get used to.  Another new feature is now Sacred Heart Peds has nitrous oxide.  So instead of having to put Hannah all the way under, we could just gas mask her.  I was excited because I knew having the wound be above her eye, she might freak out and have to be put under.  

Our dear friend Matina was doing her internship as a Child Life Specialist.  She got the IPAD out and a few toys.  Matina wasn't working but happen to be at the hospital.  It was nice to have some friends for support and entertainment:).

Then it was time for her stitches!  As you can see it's a 4 person job!  One Specialist entreating her, one running the gas, the nurse stitching her up, one holding her mask, and her mamma of course!

I ended up moving to the other side of the table.  Jared stood where I was and it was a good thing.  The nurse injected a needle with meds to numb Hannah's eyebrow and cleaned it out  of her blood, pretty roughly.  I don't do well with blood.  6 stitches later, she was done.  The nitrous made her kind of zone out.  On the IPAD they had a star scene.  They needed her to relax and not be over stimulated, makes sense!  Naturally I had to stop talking to her...She was a trooper, again!  She sat stoic and awake as she stitched her eyebrow.  The beauty of nitrous was that she was alert and back to her "normal" spunky self within 30 minutes or so.  

Here's her finished product!

They put some stitch glue over the top of it just to protect her wound.  She was happy to have a popsicle and sit with daddy!

We were so proud of her and so pleased with the quality of care she had. I can't express my gratitude for the facility and professionalism.  I really recommend Scared Heart for all your emergency needs!

Smiles:).

Hannah is super adventurous! She will do and try almost anything!  

She loves slides!  Hudson is just starting to go down them and Hannah can't get enough of them!  

She also enjoys the carrousel.  Hudson didn't care for this one downtown because it goes pretty fast but Hannah thinks its great.  Who doesn't love riding on an animal?!

So everyone knows I like to take a lot of pictures, well Hannah is watching, observing, copying.  

Here she is taking a selfie of her and her baby.

Seriously?  She's taking a selfie before the age of 2?  What am I to do when she's a teenager?!

Posing baby for a picture.

Say "cheese"

Wow is all I have to say.  Crazy I know!  I will have to watch everything I do and say, even more!

Hannah loves her Gpa.  She is a Gpa's girl!

And her Nana of course!

Hannah loves her daddy and always wants to go "high."  This is where Jared throws her in the air. Sometimes she settles for his shoulders:).

Hannah's current stats are:

Weight: 28 pounds ~ 65%

Height: 37.2 inches ~ 99%

Head Circ: 18.5 ~ 34% 

She's pretty tall which is evident in her clothes!  I had to stop buying a lot of my favorite brands because she was too long and narrow for some of them.  She's a "big girl" as Hannah calls herself.  

She's a mischief maker...instead of drinking her water she like to make it drip on her legs.  Hmmm!

Knowing she's not supposed to do that, she's caught and flashes all smiles!

Bag Balm on her face...

Emptying my purse...

Again she's all girl!  She loves hair, make-up, toes painted, anything girlie!

Gigi helps with this!  All the ladies at Holman love her outfits and it's encouraged cute outfits, hair, and lots of compliments.  She likes to look "cute."

She wants to be just like brother!  Having Hudson in school has been hard on her:(.  She misses him and gets quite upset when she's not with him.   When we dropped Hudson off with Grandma/Grandpa, she pouted and wouldn't look at me for half the trip home.  She wanted her brother!

Hannah has struggled with learning to self-soothe from day 1, along with that sleeping was SUPER hard.  She just couldn't/wouldn't sleep, unless it was in the car.  Car naps save her/us from a LONG day!

Often times she tells us she is tired by doing this...

For being so active, she is quite snugly! 

She loves morning snuggles, after nap snuggles, or just being held to comfort her:). 

We went camping this summer and she slept in the pea pod.  She can now sleep almost anywhere!

This happened one crazy day when she was teething and we were all sick

She has never "just fallen asleep" on the floor.  I always tried to have structured nap times but now I"m just thankful when she naps.  My how she's taught me to "relax.":)

She even plays with her stuffed animals and blankets and pretends to "nap."

All smiles in her bed!

We recently took off her rail on her crib and made it a daybed.  I was worried! I didn't know how my "active" little girl would do but she did fabulous!  I told her she had to wait until I came and got her.  She replies with "Ok Mommie."  So sweet!  She loves her pillow, moon night light, blanket, minnie, and binks.  She's one happy sleeper now:).

One new thing Hannah has wanted lately were books before bed.  Her favorite is "Goodnight Moon" which is a nightly read...followed by the football counting book:).  

When Hannah wants your attention she holds your face with both hands, turns it towards yours and says something usually like "mommy, shh!"  

WOW!

A few of her favorite sayings are:

-let it go

-no no touch (yes copying me...)

-Addy, where's Addy?

-Show (pointing to the tv)

-Daddy, where are you?

-Nack (snack)

-Food (signing as well)

-Minnie, binky

-owie

-thank you (after everything, especially food:))

-Where Hudson?

-chair

-water

-nigh nights (Minnie or Hannah)

-mommy/daddy high (where Jared throws her up in the air)

-I help you

-look at me (yes grabbing my face to direct my attention)

-high me

-"no no no no" we reply with "yes yes yes yes"

There are many more words/phrases but these were some of my favorites:).  She pretty much repeats everything we say now:).  

She is busy...

Hannah loves the outdoors!  

Here she is fixing her trike like daddy!

Picking Strawberries with Nana.  She patted Nana on the back after every strawberry like saying "Good job."  It was precious!

Mowing with daddy.  She follows him as he mows.  So sweet!

Ladder golf anyone?  

Hannah loves the boat.  She loved it so much that she hopped into the drivers seat and pushed Pop's hands off the wheel.  She wanted to drive.  Yes, she's independent and confident with little fear:).  Hudson did not have the same first reaction!

She's been a water bug from day 1!  She will stay in the pool the entire day if you let her.  

Swim little fishy, swim swim!

Always on the look out for a great adventure!

Balloon fun at Landon's 1st birthday!

She is busy, busy, busy as you can see!  She loves to sweep, clean, ride the vacuum.  She cleans up, throws her garbage away, puts her toys away happily, and loves putting her shoes on.  She is miss independent!  

Every since Miss Hannah was born, she has had a "frumple frow" look as Pa calls it.  This look can be that she's upset, processing what you've said (usually no) or just inquisitive and full of genuine interest!

This is a cranky frumple frow

The "frumple frow" pops up daily in our house:).

Hannah has to eat often.  She is her mamma's girl!  She will get hungry frequently and will come up and move her high chair, or open the pantry saying "nack" aka snack.  

She doesn't like melons and has gotten pickier lately so we are having to reward her with fruit like Hudson.  

She starts off our meals with her prayers:).

Pops has introduced her to foods ilke Coco Puffs. Hmmm...

 I hate to admit this, but she loves coffee.  Seriously, loves it.  It started with my desperate need for coffee daily after I had her.  Hannah needed a car ride almost daily to calm down which meant a coffee for me.  Well as I'd pull her out of the car, if my coffee had straws, she'd suck on it as I was getting her out of the car without me knowing it.  Then when I caught on it became a game to her, as everything is!    So now when she sees my coffee, she comes up and asks for a sip.  It's just funny that she loved it right away!  Hudson can't stand it.  Notice she grabbed my coffee and it's in her drink holder of the car seat below.

Uncle Joe took this pic and labeled it "art".  She is quite messy as she eats:).

Hannah loves her strawberry's!  This was our first time picking strawberries!

Hannah LOVES to do anything we do:).  So naturally when we go potty, she comes with us, and expresses interest.  So I decided to try and potty train her before I went back to school.  I really feel it's my job to potty train her, not daycare, so I wanted to give it a shot while I was at home.  I thought it would go well based on this picture....

And yes, she sat happily on the potty.  I did the same method as Hudson.  I don't think I brainwashed her as much about diapers being for babies.  I honestly thought she would just naturally go on the potty.  We shipped Hudson off to Grandma and Grandpas.  I committed 3 days to her.  Hudson took until the END of day 3 so I didn't have any expectations.  Despite my best efforts and consistency, she just wasn't ready.  She wouldn't release in the potty.  She is aware when she goes and continues to tell me daily but I will wait until she is fully committed.  Good effort little one:).  

Despite being a bit frustrated, especially after 4pm, I enjoyed the alone time with Hannah.  I had 3 days to play, read books, and just delight in my little girl.  I truly enjoyed this special time with her.

We love you Hannah bean!  You add such spunk and spirit into our family.  

Happy 2 years!  We can't wait to see how you grow this next year!

Driving off to play with the big kids; 2 going on 12!