A Christmas Miracle

At this very moment, this is the scene in our family room, and has been for about 15 minutes...


Hannah is watching The Polar Express for the very first time with Daddy. She never sits still to watch tv, and yet she is totally captivated watching this movie. This is Jason's favorite Christmas movie, and I'm sure that he's thrilled that it looks like his little girl takes right after him!

*Update: She watched the entire movie, the longest she has ever sat for ANYTHING!!!

An Interesting Combination

After church this morning, the three of us went out to breakfast. We always feed Hannah breakfast beforehand and then get her a bowl of fruit at the restaurant. However, as I mentioned in a previous post, her tastes have gotten pickier and pickier. She got her usual fruit bowl this morning, filled with melon, pineapple, and strawberries. Hannah picked through all of the fruit to get the strawberries and had no interest in eating anything else. Jason then had the brilliant idea of giving her some ketchup to dip her fruit in. Yes, sounds totally disgusting, but it worked! She ate all of the fruit right up. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do...

20 (1/2) Months

So, I'm a bit behind in posting. Seems to be my life these days! Here's what Hannah's up to these days:

*Hannah's chattering more and more. Somehow, she's picked up "ow, ow, ow" if she is inconvenienced. Also asking "What's that?"

* She loves the camera. Since I don't want her to play with mine, I gave her one of my old 35mm cameras. She holds it up to her eyes, squints, and says "cheese."

*She is now tall enough to climb up on the furniture.

*She was in awe of the Christmas tree that we put up when she was away visiting her grandparents last week. However, that quickly wore off and is now constantly going for the ornaments, especially Jason's airplane. Thankfully, I strategically hung all of the brakeables at the top!

*Speaking of the Christmas tree, she quickly discovered that her toy corner was blocked in by the tree and the couch. No worries. She quickly discovered how to army crawl underneath the tree limbs to reach her favorite toys. Needless to say, her toys are now in a new corner.

*She has become a picky eater. She still eats fruits and most vegetables. However, she is protesting meat. The only way we can get her to eat it is to give her something to dip it in. Thankfully she loves ketchup!

*She loves to sing. Not really sure what she's singing, as no tune is familiar, but she will sing to herself quite loudly, especially in the car. Christmas music particularly seems to get her going. This will definitely be her season.

*She is a very good helper. Most days our house looks like a tornado hit it, with toys scattered everywhere. However, she is very good with helping us put them away at the end of the day and knows exactly where all of them go.

It's hard to imagine that in just 3 1/2 short months, she will be 2! The time just goes by more quickly every day. We really try to treasure each day with her, for every one of them is a blessing.

Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Too often, I get caught up in the busyness of the days and weeks, forgetting how blessed we truly are. I have a beautiful little girl, who brings a smile to our faces every day. I have an amazing husband who works hard and lovingly provides for our family. We have supportive families and friends. We worship a God who loves us more than life itself. What more could we ask for?? I am truly thankful for all of this.

We are thankful for families who live close enough to each other to allow us to celebrate holidays with both of them. We started our Thanksgiving with Jason's parents and grandparents.

Thankful for a friendly daughter waving at the parade go-ers on the tv.


Thankful for our family.


Thankful for a little fashionista in big heels.


Thankful for a daddy who dries away the tears.

We joined the Oberholtzer clan (my mom's side of the family) for the second half of the day.

Thankful for a grandpa who adores his granddaughters.


Thankful for a chair that's just her size.

And finally...

Thankful for an amazing 4-year journey with the best husband in the world (yes, our anniversary was on Thanksgiving this year) and a mom who was kind enough to remember, even among the busyness of the day, to get us a cake! (It was just too good to get a picture before the cake was actually cut!)

13 weeks

Time is absolutely flying with this pregnancy. I can hardly believe that I'm almost already through the first trimester. The first few weeks were pretty rough with nausea and lack of energy. Thankfully, both have started to subsite, and I'm feeling pretty good.

I had my first doctors appointment with my new doctor this week. I had been seeing the same doctor that I saw with Hannah down in Holland. I absolutely loved her! I chose her when I worked full-time in Holland and could go to appointments right from work. However, now that I work part-time, going to Holland just didn't make sense. I am now seeing Dr. Klyn not too far from downtown GR and much closer to our house. I think I'm going to love her, too! I felt like she knew me right away, which put me much more at ease with my decision. Everything at the appointment went well. I heard the heartbeat for the first time, in the 150's. Hannah was always in the 160's, so we'll see if this difference means anything.


13 weeks

Traverse City Get-Away

This past weekend, Jason and I made our second annual late autumn trip to Traverse City with good friends Eric, Jill, Brian, and Sara. We swapped Hannah and JJ with my parents on Thursday night for their minivan. After everybody had their kids settled on Friday morning, our mini tour bus was on the way!

After we arrived in TC and got checked into our rooms, we did a quick tour of Mission Peninsula, where we stopped at Chateau Chantal and 2 Lads wineries.



Of course, one of the main activities each of the days of the weekend was eating! Friday night, we ate one of the local watering holes called Sleder's. Everybody rather enjoyed all of the odd animals staring at us from the walls as we ate.

The ladies


Macho guys

After dinner and a stop at one of the downtown bars, we wandered up to the piano bar at the top of our hotel. The place was packed! We took in some great entertainment, not just from the piano player but from the wide variety of people and dance styles being exhibited.

We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday and drove up the Leelanau Peninsula to check out the Northport Lighthouse. We made a quick stop on the way at the casino. Jill had never been in a casino before, so we were sure it would be her lucky day. Unfortunately, it didn't quite happen, but it was fun for a minute.

Lady Luck

Out at the lighthouse

The main event for the evening of course once again revolved around food. We got a hot local tip that Red Ginger served killer happy hour appetizers between 4-6. Jill and Eric had heard great things about the restaurant as well, so we gave it a try. We were not disappointed. We each had something different, and all were very pleased. We may have to make that our dinner spot next year.

Happy appies at Red Ginger

Enjoying great food and great company

After appetizers, we headed back out to Mission Peninsula where we ate dinner at Bowers Harbor Inn. The restaurant was originally a house built in the late 1800's, and is said to be haunted today by the disgruntled wife of the lumber baron who lived there. Our waiter filled us in on the story and even gave us a tour. Sara and I even had a close encounter of our own in the ladies restroom - more self-induced than anything, but fun nonetheless!

Following dinner, we hit up Turtle Creek Casino for some evening entertainment. Again, nobody hit it big, but it was fun to play the slots for awhile.

Hoping for the big one

High rollers - NOT!!

We had a fabulous weekend and can't wait to do it again! However, we're definitely ready to see our little peanut. We'll be meeting up with her this weekend when we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. Can't wait to see her!!

Who-ville

I wish this picture had not turned out so fuzzy. Could she double for Cindy Lou Who?? You be the judge!

Party!

Jason and Hannah threw me a little surprise birthday celebration on Saturday night. Jason took care of getting Hannah dinner as I got to relax and watch some tv. They called me upstairs, and to my surprise, they had a birthday cake complete with candles and even sang Happy Birthday. Not only did I get cake but presents, too! They bought me a cute, purple coat that I'd been eyeing at Old Navy and a new pair of gloves. Absolutely perfect!

Unfortunately, our little party girl must have been so excited about our mini-party that she totally skipped her afternoon nap. Needless to say, our party girl turned into a party pooper after she ate her cake.

After laying Hannah down for bed early, Jason made me a delicious scallop and rice dinner which we ate by candlelight. It was a perfect early birthday celebration!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a bit more of an event at our house this year, as this was the first year that Hannah really got to participate in the trick-or-treating festivities. To help us celebrate (and hand out candy), Jason's parents once again made the trip over to join us.


Jason and his dad carved the pumpkin while Hannah took a nap. Maybe next year we'll let her get in on cleaning out the goo.





We dressed Hannah up as Little Red Riding Hood.

Unfortunately, b/c of the chilly temps, we had to layer Hannah in leggings and a coat under her hood before heading out. Typical Michigan Halloween.

Jason, his dad, and even JJ took Hannah out to some of the houses right around us. She did great, walking on her own and keeping right up. Although she's still working on the words "please" and "thank you", she did make sure to wave and say "bye bye" at each house.

Hannah wasted no time checking out her loot upon getting returning home!

Overall, it was a great night. While the guys took Hannah out trick-or-treating, Jason's mom and I stayed home to hand out the candy. By the time the night was over, we counted over 230 kids and went through 17 bags of candy!

Happy Halloween!