7 months!

Today I’m 7 months old! Can you believe it? I remember those days where I just laid there and looked around and now I’m sitting up all by myself! I’m trying so hard to crawl and I know one day I’ll get it. I get a little frustrated at times but it’ll come. It’s a hard thing to learn.

I’ve become quite the Mama’s girl. My mama will try to leave me and it’s so hard to see her go. I start giving her my sad face and tears and that’s all it takes to get her to come back to me. I sure have her trained.

One thing I hate is sleeping. Whoever thought of that just wasn’t that smart. Do you know how much you miss you when you sleep? You miss out on a lot! There is no way I’m going to miss out on anything at all so I make sure I’m up a lot for my mommy and daddy. They think I’ll get better with my sleeping. I guess they’ll have to wait and see.

I get to be in my first parade this weekend! My Grandma and Papa are going to be in the parade in St. Croix and they’ve asked me to be in it with all the other grandkids and I’m so excited! My mommy will be pulling me in a wagon. I hope everyone will think I’m cute.

Nothing else is new here. My days are just full of playing, eating (bananas are my favorite), drinking my bottle and occasionally sleeping, although again that’s a big waste of time. With trying to learn to crawl, my days are full! But if you ever want to come and visit me, please do! I always have time for my admirers and I’m always full of hugs, kisses and smiles to give you!

Love you all!
Hannah Banana

Looks who's the big 3-0!

That's right, my little girl is the big 3-0 weeks.

Wow. I can't believe how fast that has gone. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was 1 week old? **sniff, sniff**

My goal is to take weekly pictures until she turns 1 but it's getting more and more difficult. She not only wants to put the teddy bear in her mouth, she really wants the piece of paper in her mouth, too. It sometimes takes both Mark and I to hold her down and hurry up and snap the picture before she can stuff her mouth.

I remember when Mark would have to hold her up just to take a picture.

Time just flies!

Is it wrong that I think this picture is so cute??

Hannah's 6-month pictures

Angel eyes

Our Gotcha Day party

On July 4, we had a family celebration for Hannah's Gotcha Day. It was unbearably hot that day. The high was 100 for that day. That's very hot for Wisconsin. The amazing thing is that we still had a wonderful turnout which meant so much to us. My brother and his family traveled a couple hours and left beautiful weather to come celebrate Hannah's special day with us.

We had so much fun. We had a water balloon toss, croquet, sidewalk chalk, bean bag tossing game and of course fireworks. :) We had a picnic with grilled hamburgers, brats and hot dogs. It was so much fun.

Sure wish the weather would've cooperated a little better, but it was better than rain. Although at times, rain would've felt good. :)


Here is our grill master. Mark did an awesome job of keeping up! We had about 40 people there.


The ice cream cake we got for Hannah


Daddy and Hannah


All the cousins came to celebrate our special day!

Look at my butt!

Aren't I the cutest thing?



My grandma made these shorts when my cousin Jamie was born. They were handed down to me after he grew out of them and I finally fit in them! Aren't they the cutest thing?


Golly, I'm a cutie

Mommy and me

Things I don't want to forget

There are things I want to document so I never forget

**Hannah loves to be wrapped up in a blanket before a nap or bedtime. She can be so upset & then when I lay her on the blanket she knows she's getting wrapped up to go to sleep & she gets so excited. After she's wrapped up she gets upset again. It's so cute. She won't go to sleep unless she's wrapped up. Even when we were in 90+ degree weather she wouldn't go to sleep without being wrapped up.

**Mark goes in to say good night to Hannah every night & he tells me how beautiful she is every night.

**Hannah loves grabbing her hair on her forehead & rubbing it. It is so cute!

**Mark wants Hannah to know his first Father's Day with her was the best ever.

Mommy, Daddy and Hannah on Gotcha Day

Adoption is not a substitute for pregnancy

I heard this once from my consultant and something I’ve shared before. I agree so much with it.

First, let me clarify that I LOVE my Hannah so much, more than I ever could’ve imagined. I’m so glad she came into our lives and I can’t imagine my life without her. Seriously, she is the most precious baby girl I could ever imagine. I thank God every day for her.

The other day I was watching TV and saw a new (or at least new to me) commercial for EPT (pregnancy tests). It showed a woman so excited to see a positive test.

My heart broke.

It mostly brought back memories of when I got my positive test and I, too, was so extremely happy. Of course we all know how that ended.

But, it also made me sad. I want soooo badly to feel that again. I’m thankful I can say “again” as I know many women would just love to see that positive test once and I’m thankful God gave me that experience. I also know that I WAS pregnant, something I always wanted and I’m thankful to God that He gave me that.

But, that commercial also reminded me of the things I didn’t get to experience:
I didn’t get that positive test with Hannah.
I didn’t get to feel her first hiccups or kick.
I didn’t get to experience the morning sickness (yes, call me crazy but I wanted to experience that).
I didn’t get to see and feel her growing inside me.
I didn’t get belly pictures with her.
I didn’t get to deliver her into this world. However, I do realize how fortunate I was to be in the delivery room and help the birthmother deliver which is something I will always cherish forever and always be grateful to our birthmother for giving us that experience.

And sometimes I feel like I’ve let Hannah down because I didn’t get to give her that as a mother. Crazy, huh?

Again, I couldn’t be more happy with our little girl. Wow, is she a dream come true. Honestly, if God gave me the choice of going through a pregnancy or having Hannah, I would choice Hannah in a heartbeat. She fits in our family so well and so perfect. I just can’t even imagine anything different. She is so perfect.

But the truth is, like my good friend, Jennifer, said “Adoption never heals infertility. It will always be a loss we never chose to have.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Happy Fourth of July!!

We Gotcha Hannah!!!

Today was the final hearing for our adoption. We were scheduled at 10:30 our time & we got the call from the agency at 10:48 that everything had gone perfect & everything was final!!

The courts ruled what we knew back on 11/10/11 when we got an email saying we had matched in a situation only God could have provided......

HANNAH DAWN WONDRA IS OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!