Sunday, October 27, 2013

Hannah and her daddy

One of my greatest joys as Hannah's mom has been watching the bond between her and her daddy grow.

She has turned into quite the daddy's girl. When she eats, she only wants Daddy to sit down at her table and eat with her, not Mommy. I try my hardest to do it but she won't let me.

Someone warned me that she would be a mommy's girl until she was about 2 when things will switch and she'll be a daddy's girl. I was hoping they would be wrong but nope. :) She still wants me. You know, for the diaper changes and middle of the night stuff, and when she's sick....you know, all the "not so pleasant" stuff. :) But in all honesty, she's a daddy's girl.

It sure makes me smile.

And I couldn't ask for a better daddy than Mark. It's true he can't do a whole lot of things a "normal" dad can but what he does do, he gives 100%. He can be having severe nerve pain in his feet and yet he'll still let Hannah bounce on them and jump on them.

And when he's having pain or has fallen and Hannah is scared, the first thing he says is "Don't worry, sweetie! Daddy's here and Daddy's okay!". That little girl is his main priority always.

I'm so happy she has a dad who loves her as much as he does and does so much for her.


Eating at Hannah's table.

Bouncing on Daddy

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Hannah 22 months

In the last 2 months, I think I've seen more changes in her vocabulary than ever before. This age is so much fun. It's amazing the things that come out of her mouth and the things she learns. :)

Last month, she started saying "See you!" when she said bye to people. She started saying "blankie" for blanket, saying "up" and "down" to get people to sit down or stand up, saying "draw" to draw. I know there are more as it seems like there is something new every day.

She will sit and watch Spongebob or Dora for about 15 minutes now and her attention span is getting longer. While she still loves Spongebob, she's getting more into Dora and will watch other shows too and not just Spongebob.

In this past month, she started finally calling Mark Daddy. For the longest time, everyone has been Mommy, except her Papa who she has always called Papa. :) Mark was pretty excited when she officially started saying Daddy all the time now. Just in the past couple weeks she started saying her name ("Nana") and started calling her grandma "Ga-ma".

She is always thinking of others and always melts my heart. If she wants to lay down with pillow and blankie, she always has to ask me to get a "bow" (pillow) and a blankie for Mommy too. It's so sweet. She always thinks of others and she makes me so proud.

She gives amazing hugs and kisses. Sometimes if she wants something, I'll tell her she has to give hugs and kisses and she sure does. :) And of course I give in...anything for a hug and a kiss.

She's so polite. With everything she says "thank you!". I still have to remind her to say "please" but I know that will come in time. I'm so proud that she says "thank you" so much and a lot of times even when older kids don't say it. One thing we've all learned is that you have to say "you're welcome!" or she will continue to say "thank you!" until you do. :)

Any insect that flies is a "bee", even if it's just a fly. This turned out to be a not so good thing. When we were sitting in a restaurant, a fly came flying over her and she immediately said "Bee!". The girl sitting behind us started immediately freaking out, yelling, "Where's the bee? Where's the bee?". Everyone was staring at us as I'm trying to calm this poor little girl and trying to explain to her that there was indeed no bee and just a fly. Quite the embarrassing moment and I know there will be plenty more of those.

She started clogging and we got the CD and DVD with her songs on it and it is so much fun to see her clogging to it. She just loves clogging! It's hard to believe she's old enough to be in a class like that and yet there she is. :) She's had 1 clogging show and she just stood there and let everyone look at her and see how cute she is, not doing any of her routines. I know she'll get better in time. She was cute. Pictures will come soon if blogger will let me publish them.

Hannah, every month and really every day you continue to amaze me. You bring so much joy, smiles and laughter to this house. You are such an amazing, beautiful, thoughtful girl and I couldn't be more proud to be your mommy. Thank you for being the sweet girl you are. I love you so much!




As you can see she's getting less and less cooperative with these monthly pictures and is starting to get an attitude about having them done. :)

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Hannah and her big brother, Chad

I'm having a serious issue with blogger. Maybe it's just me but it's not letting me load up all the pictures I want. It seems to not like certain pictures even though they were all taken the same way and at the same time.

Not sure what it is but having a serious hate relationship with blogger right now. :(

Recently Hannah's big brother, Chad, came home to visit. He lives in North Dakota and is about 8 hours away. We don't get to see him very often. :( It doesn't sound like he'll be home for Christmas or Thanksgiving either.

He was recently home and stopped in to see us. Hannah warmed up to him right away. Chad even colored with her (which of course I have a picture of but won't download :(). Hannah cried so hard when he walked out the door. It was so sweet. She sure loves her big brother.

Here she is with Chad. I wish he lived closer but grateful for the times we do get to see him.


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Hannah's first Wisconsin Badgers game and clogging

I am so far behind on blogging things I really want to blog about.

The first one is Hannah's first Wisconsin Badgers game back on Labor day weekend.

Yes, Labor Day weekend.

This was actually our first game ever for Mark, me and Hannah. My brother has season tickets and I've always wanted to go. We were so excited to be able to go.

Hannah did wonderful considering how hot it was and that we forgot her milk...and this girl LOVES her milk. And there wasn't anywhere in the whole stadium that sold milk. Really? A Wisconsin Badgers game with no milk?

Here she is with Daddy at the game:



Then starting in September we enrolled her in the Tiny Tots class in clogging. Her babysitters are in clogging and Hannah has loved seeing them do it and has enjoyed doing it herself. So we enrolled her in it.

Here she is in her first class:




Here she is stretching with her babysitters. It was so much fun to watch her.

More catchup soon! :)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Happy fall!


Love this smile!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

In my daughter's eyes

Wow...I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. I think this is the longest I've ever gone.

I really don't have much of an excuse other than I've been busy working full-time, being a mother to a very busy toddler and being a wife to a husband who has been sick and been in the ER on top of both Hannah and I being sick.

Okay, so maybe I have a bit of an excuse.

Hannah is really growing up. I can't believe how much she has changed just in the last few weeks. Her pediatrician has said she's not 1 going on 2, it's like she's 2 going on 3. She's quite the independent, strong-willed little girl.

I've been thinking so much about her lately. I definitely have had my moments when I get so overwhelmed with everything. Sometimes I find it a success if I make it through a whole day. Sometimes I just go into survivor mode and call it good. There are times I have no idea how I'm going to survive taking care of a little girl and a sick husband. It's so much more than I can bear.

When Hannah first came into our lives, my friend introduced a song to me that she said reminded her of me. When I first listened to it I was immediately in tears. It fit so well. Since then, I listen to it all the time and every time it brings me to tears...every single time.

Because I know Hannah is a special girl sent from God to rescue me. There are times I get so overwhelmed, so stressed, so sad...and then I have my girl come up to me, arms open wide, gives me a hug and I know my life couldn't be better.

I don't know where I would be without her. She makes life so tough sometimes and yet I don't know what I would do without her. My life would be so focused on Mark and his aliments and if I lost him, I'd be alone. With Hannah, I know I'll never be alone. She was sent to rescue me, to help me get through the tough times.

My little girl, my hero.

Here are the lyrics to the song. The song that has touched my heart in so many ways.


"In My Daughter's Eyes"


In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me
strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand
around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart
has had enough
It's giving more when you feel like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daugter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes