Our Little Butterfly

Hannah chose her Halloween costume this year. She decided that she wanted to be a "pretty b-fly" (pretty butterfly). We bought her costume back in September when we visited Jimmy and Katie, so I had to hide her wings until yesterday. She was so excited when I pulled them out.

Hannah finally got to dress up as a "pretty b-fly" this evening for our church's "Funival." While Hannah was very happy to be dressed as a butterfly, she was not too thrilled with the other costumed children and adults walking around. Hannah clung to us for the first half hour. Finally, she loosened up enough to participate in some of the games and collect candy from the different booths. And now, she is free to wear her "b-fly" wings anytime she wants. So, I am sure I will have a little butterfly flitting around the house quite often.


Hannah the "pretty b-fly."


Hannah shows us how to fly like a butterfly.


Hannah tries out one of the games at the Funival. She swept the ball into the hole on the first try. Hole in one!


Hannah searches for goodies in the plastic balls.


Hannah decorates a crown.

The Pumpkin Patch

Hannah and I pass the pumpkin patch on our walks, so she has been asking to go "see the punkins" for weeks. We finally took her yesterday, and she loved it! Of course, I made her wear her pumpkin dress I just finished sewing. Yes, I am a dork!!! She ran through the pumpkins with such excitement. She was completely overwhelmed and felt the need to touch each of them. While Jonathan and I hunted for the perfect pumpkin for carving, we let Hannah choose her own little pumpkin. I am embarrassed to say that since her pumpkin has been in our home she has played with it, decorated it with stickers, danced with it, and even kissed it. I just keep thinking . . . we have spent money on toys, and all she really wanted was a gourd!!! Actually, a pumpkin is not a gourd or a vegetable. I just found out that it is not only a fruit . . . but a berry. Weird!

Hannah searches for the perfect little pumpkin.

Hannah checks out the "Mr. Potato Head" pumpkins on display.

Hannah sits with the pumpkins we purchased.

Heading home with the pumpkins.

Hannah had her pumpkin decorated (for the first time) before we even made it home.

Congratulations Casey & Mike!!!

If you follow Jonathan's cousin Casey's blog, you will be happy to know that Miss Abby Kate has finally arrived. She was born yesterday, October 26th. Check out Casey's blog (Sailing Beyond the Sand) for more details and updates.

Post Categories

I have been working on labeling all of my posts for the last few days, and I am happy to announce that I am finally finished. I have added a new section called "Post Categories" to my sidebar. When you switch to the Beta version of Blogger, you have the option of labeling posts for this very purpose. You can then use the "drag and drop" function to add your labels to your sidebar. . . this would be the easy way. Because I have spent so much time customizing and writing html for my sidebar, I did not use the "drag and drop function." Instead, I created all of my label categories, and then typed out my commands in html so that I could customize it to fit the appearance of my sidebar format, and have them open in a separate window . . . this would be the time consuming way!!! My previous posts are still available in the "month by month" format in the "archive" section at the bottom of the sidebar. I am not sure that I am happy with the placement of the "Post Categories," so it may move to a different location on my sidebar.

You Know Your Baby Belly Is Getting Huge When . . .

You know your baby belly is getting huge, when you start looking for T-shirts in your 6'4" husband's drawer. I have started rummaging through Jonathan's drawer for shirts that will contain my big belly when I am exercising or sleeping. My belly is quite out there these days, and I think Hannah is just dumbfounded. The bad news is . . . we have four more months to go until baby girl Brooks is born. The good news is . . . this pregnancy has flown, and with the holidays around the corner, I know February will be here before we know it--probably before we have a name!

Baby girl is VERY active now, and her kicks and squirms remind me to slow down and praise God for the life growing inside me. Though this pregnancy has been much more relaxed and time is passing quickly, I am still amazed by the miracle of conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. Every time I look down at my expanding belly and think about how my 5' frame is accommodating a growing baby, I am in awe of God's perfect design!

Friday Funny

Hannah is to the point where she knows too much and can say too much for her own good. Parents of toddlers know all too well, that this sometimes makes discipline difficult and comical. While sin is never funny, sometimes our children's attempts to express themselves are quite humorous. A few days ago, we were all driving somewhere in the car, and Hannah was throwing a fit. Jonathan turned around and told Hannah that she needed to stop fussing. Hannah composed herself, got very serious, and proudly announced, "I'm not fussing Daddy, I'm crying!" We looked at each other with wide eyes and gave into our laughter. She was corrected for talking back, but sometimes you just have to laugh.

Have a great weekend!

Retraction

I knew something was fishy when my sister-in-law said that Hannah's cousin Philip was only 32 inches tall. So, we measured Hannah last night. She is NOT 35 1/4 inches. I suspected as much. She is only 33 inches which puts her in the 50th percentile range. This has happened before, because the method they use to measure infants and toddlers is so inaccurate. At our pediatricians office they lay them on the table and mark the paper at the bottom of their feet and top of their head. Children laying on a table squirm! One time we went for an infant well baby appointment and Hannah had gotten shorter (according to their measurements), because the nurse had measured her too long at the previous appointment. Anyway, for the record, Hannah is 33 inches tall--which makes a lot more sense to me.

2 Year Check Up

Hannah and I went to Fort Myers for her two year check up with Dr. Rodriguez yesterday. Hannah has only been to the pediatrician once in two years for anything other than a "well baby" visit, so we hadn't seen Dr. Rodriguez in nine months. She was amazed at how much Hannah had changed and was thrilled that she was potty trained--especially since Hannah had to give a urine sample. Hannah had complained a couple of times last week that it hurt when she went to the bathroom, so I wanted to make sure that she did not have a urinary tract infection. Dr. Rodriguez was so excited that Hannah could pee pee in a cup and would not have to be catheterized to obtain the sample. The only catch was . . . Hannah didn't have to go. So, she and I hung out in the waiting room. While she had a jolly time making new friends and counting the fish in the big fish tank, I kept pestering her to drink her juice and asked her every two minutes if she had to go potty. Finally, we got a sample, and we proudly walked it back to the lab, where Hannah also had her finger pricked for a blood sample. They will get back to me today with the results. Otherwise, everything looks great. She weighs 24 1/4 pounds, which falls in the 30th percentile range, and she is 35 1/4 inches tall (just shy of 3 feet), which falls in the 80th percentile range. Praise God for a healthy girl!!!

Hannah's Birthday

Mommy, Daddy, and the two Grandmas bought Hannah a little kitchen for her birthday. It arrived a week before her birthday, and like a good girl, I left it in the box. I decided to put it together on the Friday night before we left for Disney. Jonathan was at Fifth Quarter with the youth until midnight, and I had nothing to do, so it seemed like a good time. I was overwhelmed by the number of pieces and abundance of hardware, but it went very smoothly. The kitchen came with a very detailed instruction book (more like a text book in size), color coded hardware, and the pieces were numbered--very nice!!! 2 1/2 hours later . . . voila! I locked the kitchen in the guest room, so as not to be tempted to present Hannah with her gift early. I was so glad that we were going to be gone Sunday and Monday, because I was bursting at the seams to give her the kitchen. When Hannah woke up on Tuesday morning, we occupied her with breakfast and moved the kitchen into the playroom. She was so excited when she saw it. We didn't get many pictures, because I was video taping instead.

Hannah gets busy rearranging everything Mommy organized.

The first thing Hannah did was move all of her dishes, pots, and pans to the sink. She said she had to wash them.

In honor of turning two, Hannah spent the day acting the part! Needless to say, we got way off schedule with all of the tantrums and outbursts, so my original plan for two individual fish shaped cakes was replaced by one very simple round cake with a fish on top. I felt a certain level of guilt making my daughter such a simple, casual cake in light of the elaborate cakes I have made for others, but it was 3:00 p.m. by the time I got started, and after all . . . it's just cake. The important thing is that the cake sported a fish, which is all Hannah asked for.

2 year old Hannah!

Uncle Matthew and Aunt Kim sent Hannah a Gamecock plate set, and she was thrilled. She ate her birthday dinner (pizza) on her plate and even drank milk from the big girl cup (no lid). She's saying, "Go Gamecocks!"

Drinking from her big girl cup. Hannah drinks from her big girl cup (at dinner) every night now.

Blowing out her candle.

Disney Family Vacation; Part 3

We left the park around 7 p.m. and got on the road before we stopped for dinner. Pregnant mommy wanted breakfast for dinner, so we decided to eat at Perkins. We had a very kind waitress, who was excited to hear it was Hannah's birthday the next day. She brought Hannah birthday ice cream with sprinkles when she finished her dinner. Hannah was so excited. No captions are necessary-- you just have to view the pictures in succession!

Disney Family Vacation; Part 2

Yes, I know it's blurry. Our most prized picture . . . the one we waited all day for . . . the one we waited in line for . . . the one Hannah wanted most of all!!! We should have asked the kind lady who took the picture for us to take two pictures. Oh well, just lean back from your computer--not so blurry!

We had a wonderful day at the Magic Kingdom. The weather was perfect!!! We never waited longer than 25-30 minutes (and that was rare) for a ride, and only one attraction was experiencing technical difficulties. Hannah went the entire day with no potty accidents--hooray!!! I had packed 7 pairs of panties and 3 dresses for her in the diaper bag, as well as one outfit for me (just in case), and we didn't need any of them. I think if you can make it the whole day at Disney World with no accidents, and even ask to use the restroom when you need to, that you are potty trained!!! Hannah thoroughly enjoyed herself. I am so glad we were able to share this special experience as a family.

Riding the tram from the parking lot to the park entrance. If you know Hannah well, you can see she's still sleepy, as she is doing her signature nose rub. It was actually chilly as we started our morning.

Hannah loves Goofy, so we decided to get a picture with this statue--just in case she freaked out when she saw the characters.

Hannah and Mommy on our first ride of the day--the Tea Cups. Hannah is not looking straight at the camera in any of our pictures from the day. There was simply too much to look at!!!

As soon as we got off of the Winnie the Pooh ride, Hannah spotted Pooh Bear. Though she wouldn't pose for a picture alone, she was perfectly happy to stand with Daddy next to Pooh and kiss him on the nose (picture below).

Hannah made Pooh Bear blush--you'd think he'd already be blushing walking around in a shirt and no pants!!! Haha!

Hannah is feeling the freedom of riding a wild horse, attached to a carousel of course! She proudly waved to all of the onlookers, as if she were the main attraction.

Hannah tries to keep her 3-D glasses on her face during the PhilharMagic show.

Hannah and Daddy on the riverboat.

Eating her yummy lunch at Pecos Bills Cafe.

Mommy and Hannah in front of Cinderella's Castle.

Hannah told us that she was sleepy at lunch, but she got a second wind when we headed back outside. However, sometime around 4 p.m. I felt a thud on the side of the stroller. Her head had fallen completely over, and she was sound asleep. So, Jonathan and I strolled through the shops on Main Street and let Hannah sleep. She slept for about 45 minutes, waking up just in time to make our fast pass return time at Buzz Light year (the parents' favorite kiddie ride). Jonathan and I are quite competitive on Buzz Light year, and I was thrilled to be winning halfway through the ride. Unfortunately, he controlled the directional joystick (spins your car) and he experienced a comeback. In my defense, I was also trying to care for our child. Haha! Final score: 41,700-Jonathan to 33,700-Lori.


Hannah was so excited to spend her birthday money from the Buker's on a Mickey Mouse doll. She and Mickey have been inseparable ever since. Mickey sleeps with Hannah, rides in the car, goes to the potty, plays kitchen, etc. She talks to him like he's alive, saying, "C'mon Mickey," and "You sit here Mickey," etc.

With the exception of the roller coasters (which Hannah couldn't have ridden anyway), the race cars were the only attraction pregnant mommy had to sit out. But, it was fun to stand in the grand stands and watch Hannah and Daddy drive by. This picture is a little blurry, because I had the camera in one hand and the video camera in the other--that takes talent.

Hannah looked like a genuine tourist by the time we left the park. She was wearing her new Minnie Mouse sun visor, carrying Mickey, and had that exhausted, happy, glazed look on her face.

It's A . . .

We are happy to announce that Baby Brooks is a girl . . . and she has no name. Jonathan and I went to the OB today for my 20 week check up and ultrasound. Everything looks great. We were able to see my placenta, the baby's heart (all 4 chambers), kidneys, spine, bladder, nose bone, lips, hands, feet, umbilical chord, and of course genitalia! Haha. Unlike Hannah, this child is an exhibitionist . . . as you can see in the picture below she had her legs wide open. She is quite long measuring about 11-12 inches, and she currently weighs about 15 ounces (just under 1 pound). The baby was very active, so we didn't get very many good photos, as many of them turned out blurry. We are excited that we can finally teach Hannah that she's going to have a little sister, and hopefully we'll come up with a name soon!

Profile of the face. You can see her head, nose, etc.

There's no doubting it . . . she's a girl!

Disney Family Vacation; Part 1

We had a wonderful time on Disney family vacation. We arrived at our resort on Sunday afternoon-- just in time to go swimming before dinner.

We had a view of the pool from our room, and Hannah headed strait for the window.

"Come on . . . let's go simmin!"

Hannah and Daddy braved the large pool with the slide (in picture) . . . for a few minutes anyway--it was freezing!!! After they took one trip down the slide, we decided to move on to the heated pool.

After swimming, Hannah wrapped up in a warm towel, watched TV, and relaxed on her bed while she waited for her turn in the bathtub.

Hannah and Daddy had fun messing with the Sleep Number bed while they waited for Mommy to finish getting ready.

We enjoyed a nice dinner out, and then we retired for the evening. This was Hannah's first time sleeping in a big bed (no rails either) by herself, so we weren't sure how she would do. She slept very well, with only one "thud"--the sound of Hannah hitting the floor at 3 a.m. Thankfully, I had laid pillows on the floor just in case she rolled off the bed. I don't even think she woke up when she fell off the bed.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

It is so hard to believe that two years have come and gone since I first held Hannah in my arms. After fertility problems and nine long months of pregnancy, October 10, 2004 was a day of rejoicing. When God opened my womb and allowed us to conceive, we were overwhelmed by His grace. But words cannot describe the feelings I possessed, when I first laid eyes on our daughter. We are so grateful that God has bestowed the honor of raising, training, discipling, and caring for Hannah upon us. It is a humbling blessing.

Hannah you are a joy to parent . . . even when you throw tantrums!!! You make us laugh (sometimes until we cry) and you offer us hours of entertainment. I have loved watching your personality develop, as God shapes you into the person you were created to be. You are friendly, polite, smart, witty, full of energy, loud, musical, detail oriented, giving, loving, and an absolute chatter box. Daddy and I could not be more pleased to call you our daughter, and we cannot wait to see what God has in store for you! Happy Birthday!!!