One last spin??

Last weekend was so beautiful that Jason had the itch to get his boat out. Thankfully, our friend Eric was willing to play Skipper and go out with him for a spin on Reed's Lake in East Grand Rapids.


Although it did require a little bailing, they made it around the lake 3 times.

With the guys out in the boat, that left nothing else for Jill, the girls, and I to do but go shopping! We found a great little boutique with fabulous clothes and accessories. I really could have done some damage there. Good thing the guys called to let us know they were done when they did! After boating and shopping, we worked up an appetite. The new Graydon's Crossings was top on our list, but with the wait and 2 antsy little girls, we opted for Olga's instead. It ended up being a great choice. What better way to end the day than with great friends and food!?!

Of course, what would a post be without a Hannah picture? I was trying to get her to stay on her belly for a picture. Not an easy task. These days it's hard to get a picture at all as she's always seems to be on the move. She's becoming quite the active girl!

Photo password update

If you'd like to take a look at Hannah's pics online, the password has been changed to hannahd Sorry about the confusion!

The morning after...

After partying hard with her friend Claire last night, Hannah was feeling it this morning...

Weight Update

Hannah had her weight check this afternoon. She's up to 12 lbs. 1 oz!! Looks like the plan is working. Thank you for your prayers and kind words. They have helped us (me) tremendously.

Another busy week

I can't believe it's Friday already. We were supposed to have Hannah's pictures taken last Sunday, but she came down with a really runny nose, so we held off a couple of days. We took her to have them done on Tuesday night instead. We went back to the same photographer who took her 3 month pictures, and once again, we're more than happy with how they turned out (Amy Oonk - Everyday Joy Photography). If you'd like to check out her proofs, Amy's putting together a new website. It's not officially launched, but she tried out some of the new features on us. Check it out, and hopefully it works.

http://www.everydayjoyphoto.com/index2.php
Click on Client Proofing
Password is hannahd

Here's a sneak peak of Amy's beautiful work:


On another note - I take Hannah back to the doctor this afternoon for a weight check. Hopefully the extra formula and solids we've been feeding her have added some weight. I'll keep you posted.

What we've been up to

The last week has been a whirlwind. I worked in Big Rapids every day except Tuesday, which meant late nights and little Hannah time. I actually spent my first night away last Wednesday. Since Jason has class Wednesday night, and our regular babysitters both have class that night, my dad graciously agreed to come over and babysit that night for us. As a bonus, he threw in Thursday as well :-) With so little time to get things done, updating the blog was at the bottom of the list. So, here's a quick recap of Hannah's life this week:



She has started reaching for us and the dog. She's been grabbing things for quite awile, but she's finally starting to reach up for us. So cute!


Hannah loves shape blocks. Actually, I borrowed them from work. We used them as an example of error proofing (only square blocks fit through square holes, etc.), but I thought I'd try them out on Hannah. She wasn't so much about fitting them through the holes, but she did think they tasted pretty good :-)


Helping Daddy with his homework.


Abracadabra - she got her leg out of her pajamas!


I got adventurous and made homemade babyfood this weekend. I hit up the farmers market with a friend on Saturday morning and picked up quite a spread. I made green beans, carrots, applesauce, and of course my favorite squash! It smelled like Thanksgiving at our house.


Apparently, Hannah's not a huge fan of green beans (not mine, the Gerber kind). She does take after her Mumma, though, as she seems to like squash! We're looking forward to learning her taste preferences as we continue to introduce more new foods in the next few weeks.

6 Month Update

Last week was an unusually busy work week for me, so it's taken me awhile to get caught up. I must admit that I've somewhat intentionally been delaying in getting this update out as well. We had Hannah's 6-month check-up last Tuesday. She's now 24 3/4" long, which is just below the 25th percentile. Unfortunately, she lost 2 oz. since her last check-up. Before any of you say "I told you so" or "See, you should have been feeding her more", please know that we have been doing what we thought was best for Hannah. Nobody wants to see her grow and be healthy more than we do. We have worked with Hannah's pediatrician to come up with a plan to bulk her up, and we'll be going back for a weight check on Friday. Hopefully adding a little formula and continuing to introduce solids will do the trick. Other than that, she got her regular shots and everything else looked very good. We did have one very tired little girl when we got home, though!

We truly appreciate all of the support we've gotten from friends and family and ask that you would just keep us in your prayers. Sometimes it's tough being new parents :-)

All dressed up...

...with no place to go. Grandma Davis gave Hannah a couple of really cute dresses, so I tried one of them on her, even though we weren't going anywhere. I promised I'd take some pictures, so here you go :-) (Sorry they're not that great. She didn't want to sit still.)

6 Months!

I can't believe that I'm already typing that - 6 months. I remember when 6 months seemed so "old", and here we are. I truly love this age, though. Hannah is so interactive and expressive. Here are a few of the things that she's been up to:

-Jabber, jabber, jabber. She lays on her play mat with her fingers in her mouth and just jabbers away. Her face gets very expressive as she does this. She must have some very important things to say, if only we could figure out what they were!


-Roly poly. I can't lay her down without her rolling off, usually underneath her swing. She is definitely a girl on the move.

-Diggin' cereal. She is all about her cereal. We've been gradually increasing the amount that we feed her, and she eats it all up. Even though it tends to end up all over her head and hands, she does manage to actually eat quite a bit as well.

-Speaking of food - Hannah is now starting to hold her own bottles when she eats. What a big girl!

-A girl has to be social. Hannah and I started going to Babytime at the library once a week. We had our first session last week, and we got lots of smiles. I think she likes the singing, rhymes, and reading. Patty Cake and Itsy Bitsy Spider seem to be favorites so far.

We are having so much fun being Hannah's parents. She makes me smile every day. I just can't believe how blessed we are.

By the way, I thought it was tough to get a good picture of her when she was younger, but she does not want to sit still at all these days. Here are a few of the outtakes from her 6-month picture:







You've just gotta love that smile!

Food (if rice cereal qualifies?)!

For the last few weeks, Hannah has seemed to be more interesed as Jason and I have been eating. From time to time we have let her hold a glass up to her mouth (with our assistance of course), which she seems to love. We finally decided that since she's almost 6 months old that we'd give rice cereal a try.

It appears that she loves it. When I brought the spoon up to her mouth, she grabbed right onto it as if she knew exactly how to use it :-) Although I think she ended up wearing more than she ate, surprisingly, I think she really did eat a good deal. One more step toward being a big girl (happy and sad for Mumma at the same time)!

End of summer

It's so sad to see the summer end. It seems like it was just getting started. We finished off this summer season by going to my parents' cottage. We could not have asked for better weather. It was absolutely gorgeous - mid 80's, lots of sun, and a slight breeze. It was a work weekend, pulling out the boat and hoist and shrink wrapping the boat for the winter. Jason was my dad's right-hand man shrink wrapping this year, and for his first time, he did a very nice job!

Of course, we spent some time playing, too. We went to the annual Labor Day Hillcrest Association picnic at the beach where Hannah got lots of attention. She and Daddy also spent some time relaxing in the hammock.

When the guys were pulling the boats out, my mom and I babysat our friend Pat's little girl Jozlyn. What a cutie! She's a couple of weeks younger than Hannah, so it was fun to see them play together. They were both very curious checking each other out.

Jason was also kind enough to give my parents' (my former) dog Abby a bath. As you can tell from the picture, she wasn't too big on getting clean. I think she was plotting her escape if she hadn't been hooked up.

We wrapped up the weekend by going for a nice, long morning walk - over the Mackinac Bridge! Every year my dad wants to go, but nobody ever wants to go with him. Since I haven't done it in quite a few years, and Jason has never done it, we decided that we'd go. My dad is big on getting there right when it starts, so we all got up at 3:30 a.m. to make it to Mackinaw City by 5:30 to get in line to take one of the school buses across the bridge for the walk. We made great time and actually got to the St. Ignace side before the walk even started. It was a fabulous morning, the best weather we've ever walked in. The last time I walked it, they closed the walk early due to high winds. I was among the "lucky" few who walked into the 50+ mph winds :-) The bridge was absolutely packed! Once we were off, my dad was on a mad dash to make his best time. He certainly doesn't walk like he drives! He was cutting in and out of people all over the place. Jason and I finally gave up and just met him back at the van. He made his best time yet - 1 hr. 20 min. Jason and I made good time, too, probably about 1 hr. 30+ min. At the finish line, we each got a stamped certificate with our finish number. Jason and I were 2000+, while my dad was in the 900's! After we finished, Jason and I agreed that it was fun to do, but we're good for awhile. Maybe we'll do it again when Hannah can join us.

My dad (blue pullover and hat) speeding off ahead of us

Enjoying our walk

And now onto my favorite season - fall!!