Pictures

Last week, I took Hannah to have her 2-year pictures done. We've been going to the same photographer since Hannah was a baby, and we were lucky enough to have Amy do them yet again. Since I'm obviously showing my pregnancy, we did a few maternity shots as well. She recently posted a preview on her blog:

http://everydayjoyphoto.blogspot.com/

As with every other session we've had with Amy, we had a great time. She had such patience, especially with a toddler who was busily running around seemingly everywhere except where she needed to be. I'm amazed at how she captured such wonderful shots. We're anxiously looking forward to seeing the rest!

*UPDATE* Hannah's proofs are now available on Amy's wonderful website:

http://everydayjoyphoto.com/index2.php

Go to the client proofing link. Password is HannahD.

Easter Eggs

Jason decided that since the ice is all melted off of the lake, the dock is in, and the temperature is (barely) above 50 degrees, he'd take his boat out for a spin this afternoon. Choosing to not subject ourselves to frost bite, Hannah and I opted to stay at home and color Easter eggs instead. Nothing like stressing myself out by playing with permanent dye with a toddler!


Hannah decided that rather than gently lowering the eggs into the dye that she'd rather just drop them in instead. Thankfully, I was well prepared with a plastic table cloth and shower curtain on the floor below!


Once we got our rhythm down, she actually did a very good job of helping me fish the eggs out of the dye.


Cleaning up after our mission was complete.


The product of our hard work. Only 1 cracked!


Hannah's "outfit" after we were done. I've learned to pick and choose my battles with a toddler.

Saturday in downtown GR

On Saturday, we took advantage of Haworth's employee day at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Jason hadn't been to the new building, and admission was only $1 for each of us, plus Hannah was free! We knew better than to let Hannah walk through the museum, as much as she pleaded to, but rather restrained her in her stroller. She's getting to the point where she doesn't have much patience for the stroller, so our visit was rather short, but enough to take in all 3 floors of displays.

Itt was such a beautiful day, we took a little stroll down Monroe Center. This time, we did let Hannah get out of her stroller to burn off some energy. We stopped for lunch at The Dog Pit where we all enjoyed, what else, but hot dogs for lunch!

On the way back to the car, we stopped at a coffee shop for an early afternoon caffeine boost. All of our activity wore Hannah right out, as she didn't even make it home before falling asleep in the car.

30 weeks

I've now entered the home stretch of this pregnancy. 10 more weeks and counting (hopefully!). I'm still feeling good, although feeling more tired. I think the baby is head down, as I feel lots of kicks up near my ribs. My bi-weekly appointments have now been scheduled, with my next appointment being this Thursday. Thankfully, my gestational diabetes test came back good, so I don't have to worry about taking the 3-hour test. Since my blood type is A-, I got my Rh shot at my last appointment as well. Overall, this has been a very smooth pregnancy. I just cannot believe how quickly it's gone by. We are so happy and excited to meet this little boy and for Hannah to have a little brother.


30 weeks with baby boy


30 weeks with Hannah

Daddy day

I attended a ladies retreat at our church last Saturday, which gave Jason and Hannah an opportunity for some daddy-daughter bonding time. As a part of their date, Daddy drove Hannah by Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids and was happy to see that the recent warm weather has melted the snow on the lake. It will only be a matter of time before he and Hannah will be doing boating outings on Saturday mornings. Since it was a still a bit chilly last weekend (actually, it had even snowed the night before!), he decided to take Hannah to Frederik Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies instead.


Hannah walking right in to catch some butterflies


Our little catepillar


One of many butterflies


Diligently observing the butterflies all around.

After taking in the butterflies, they stopped for a lunch date at Wendy's before heading home for a nap. I'm so glad that Jason enjoys taking Hannah out on dates. I know that they both will treatsure these times together over the years.

Two year check-up

Hannah had her two year check-up this morning. Thankfully, this visit did not require any shots. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that her next round of vaccinations actually won't come until she's 4! Here are her current stats:

Weight: 23 lbs. 2 oz. (10th percentile)
Height: 33 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19" (70th percentile!)

The doctor gave her a once over and everything looked great. She no longer needs to eat "fattier" foods, and I was particularly happy to learn that we no longer have to buy vitamin D milk but instead she can drink skim milk along with us. All-in-all, she got a very good report. Her next well-child visit won't be until she's 3!

Hannah's spot

Hannah's favorite spot to hang out in our kitchen...

Spring fever!

We have been soooo ready for spring, so we couldn't wait to get outside this afternoon to enjoy the beautiful warm weather.

Hannah had fun pushing her baby around the yard in her stroller. What a good mumma to make sure that she was well covered up!


We got out the sidewalk chalk. Unlike last year, Hannah really enjoyed coloring on the driveway, and it kept her attention for quite awhile.


Another sign that she's growing up - she wanted to wear her sunglasses, and she actually kept them on (as much as they would stay up on her nose anyway).

Although it's only March, and we know just how unpredictable this weather can be, it was so encouraging to get outside and know that warm weather really is on its way. We're really looking forward to playing outside this spring!

2 years old

I am just amazed at how quickly the last 2 years have flown by. Hannah has brought more joy into our lives than we could have imagined. It's so much fun to see her grow and change. Here's what she's up to these days:

*She's a great helper with putting groceries away in the cupboard and refrigerator.

*She LOVES milk and asks for it regularly.

*She's growing and now just starting to wear some 2T clothes.

*She loves going to the nursery at church and will talk about it the whole way to church.

*She's so much better at communicating with us these days. She'll either tell us what she wants, point at what she wants, or take our hand and show us what she wants. If you ask a question that she doesn't have an answer to, she says "um..." She says her name (sounds like "Hah-nah"), but if you ask her what her name is, she'll say "me". She's also getting very good at saying "please" and "thank you".

*She loves us to play with her toys and will commonly tell us "'come on" as we get ready to play.

*She's really starting to get into animals. This morning during breakfast, she was quick to point out the bird that landed on our deck by saying "tweat, tweat". She's great at making all of the animal noises and identifying animals in books. I think the zoo will be a big hit this summer.

*She's likes to have my total attention when she has something important to tell me, so she'll crawl into my lap and hold my face in her hands and ramble on very seriously. Unfortunately, I have no idea what she's saying but she always seems satisified with my response of encouragement.

*We don't watch a lot of tv since our only tv is downstairs, but lately if she goes downtstairs with us to do chores, she'll grab the remote and ask to watch a show. Hmm.... not sure where she picked that up??

*She's getting more and more interested in dressing and undressing herself. I'll tell her to get her shoes from her room, and she will actually bring out a matching pair.

*She's getting less cooperative at diaper changes, but is willing to let me change her if she can have her kids Bible to read. She does seem to be getting more interested in the potty. Again today, she pulled at her pants and asked me to take her into the bathroom to use her potty. We went through the routine, and although she didn't actually go, she seemed to happy to go through the motions.

Looking back to where we were 2 years ago, we are in awe of how much Hannah has changed our lives. She means the world to us, and we couldn't have been given a better gift. We wouldn't change a single moment. We are so blessed to have such a fun loving, happy little girl.

Birthday!

Today is actually Hannah's birthday, and we wanted to make it special for her by celebrating with just the 3 of us.

We started off the day by going to church. Hannah loves going to the nursery and even talks about it on the way there, so this was a great way to start her special day.


After church, we came home and gave Hannah her presents - an alphabet puzzle...


...and a zoo train. We thought this would be appropriate and get her excited for the special outing we had planned for her after her nap.


Helping Daddy open up her new animal train.

After a quick power nap, we got her up and took her to the circus!
We started off by eating circus junk food - pretzels that of course had to be dipped in cheese and later we all enjoyed a perfectly done elephant ear.


Getting ready for the show to begin. The show started off with lions and tigers, which I thought would be her favorite, but they were a bit difficult to see through their surrounding cage.

The horses and camels were probably Hannah's favorite act. She sat totally captivated on my lap throughout the entire act. She also seemed fascinated by the trapeze artists.

We had a great view of the tight rope walkers. They were pretty amazing.

We got up and stretched our legs at intermission. Since we'd rather skip the long lines waiting for a very short elephant ride, we walked through a trailer that was filled with all kinds of "stuffed" animals. Needless to say, Hannah was a bit unsure of all of the animals staring at her as we walked through.

She did love watching the ponies giving out rides.

By the time the 2nd half started, Hannah was getting a bit restless. Since nobody was sitting next to us, we let Hannah have her own seat. That didn't last very long, and we ended up leaving shortly into one of the first acts. Considering we'd been there for nearly 3 hours at that point, though, we thought she did great! Judging from her overall response, I think she had a very fun 2nd birthday.

Birthday Girl

Where has the last year gone?? It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating Hannah's 1st birthday, and here we are a whole year later celebrating her 2nd. I had no idea how quickly time could pass until we had her. Now I can barely keep up.

This year's birthday celebration was a bit scaled down from last year. We had both sets of grandparents, Uncle Todd, Aunt Courtney, cousin Kara, and were even fortunate to also have 2 of her 5 great-grandparents join us as well! For our small space, it was still a pretty packed house.

We had a delicious chocolate and buttercream frosting cake from Arnie's. One of the best cakes I've had!

Cousin Kara got her own special lunch beforehand.

Kara is totally excited for gift time.

Hannah had a great time opening all of her presents. Much more into it than last year.

However, she wasn't so big on the cards. I suppose that's typical for a 2-year old, but we did appreciate the sentiment.

You can tell from the look on Jason's face how thrilled he was that Hannah got dishwasher with what seemed to be 5000 pieces.

A rare family photo before cutting into the cake. Unfortunately, I was too busy presenting her the cake and serving it that I didn't get any pictures of her eating it :-( We actually got her her very own cupcake, as I she has a bad habit of spitting everywhere when she blows on anything. I thought I'd save our guests the germs.

However, Hannah did mooch some of the delicious cake from Grandpa Cramer.

One of the biggest hits of the day were the balloons. They absolutely cracked Hannah up! Kara was thrilled by them as well.

Hannah sharing her balloons with Great-Grandpa Ocedek.

Getting in a hug with Grandma Cramer.

Showing off her balloon to Great-Grandpa Oberholtzer.

By the end of the party, Hannah was done with having her picture taken. As badly as I wanted a nice one with her Grandma and Grandpa Davis, this was the best we got. Overall, though, we had a fantastic party.

Weekend getaway

This weekend, Jason and I had the opportunity to get away for some couple time before the baby comes while Hannah got to spend a fun weekend with Jason's parents. Jason took Friday off, so we got up to Traverse City fairly early. We didn't make any reservations or have any set plans. Jason worked the Davis charm and scored us a great deal with a room overlooking the semi-frozen bay at the Grand Beach resort.


Relaxing in our room


View from our balcony

We couldn't have picked a better weekend. We had nothing but sunshine and temps were in the 40's. Not exactly tropical, but pretty darn close for Michigan this time of year! We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Friday and took a drive up Old Mission Peninsula where we grabbed a light lunch at a cute little deli. We then made our way back into town where we did a lot of window shopping. After catching a quick power nap back at our hotel, we went to dinner at the Jolly Pumpkin back out on Old Mission Peninsula. To satisfy our sweet tooth, we went back to Phil's in downtown TC where we'd gone with friends last fall for a chocolately treat.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous as well. Again, we had no set plans, so we set out driving north toward Charlevoix. We did a little window shopping and grabbed lunch at a cute place overlooking Lake Charlevoix. After lunch, we decided to check out Castle Farms. What a beautiful property! We took the self-guided tour, but I have the feeling we didn't get the full flavor for the place, as it looks like they have some amazing landscaping in the summer. As a side perk, though, we did get a season pass with our tour admission, so we may have to check it out again this summer if we happen to be in the area.


A chair just his size

We headed back to TC later in the afternoon and had a low key dinner at North Peak Brewing Co. There were a number of things we could have done, but we decided that spending some quiet time together was a treat in and of itself.


A well-rested, rejuvenated couple :-)

27 weeks

Here I am at 27 weeks. This pregnancy is just flying by! I've been feeling pretty good. As you can see from my picture, my belly is definitely growing. I feel like I'm getting huge, but I guess looking at the comparison pictures I'm not that different from where I was around this time with Hannah. I had my one-hour gestational diabetes test a week and a half ago. With Hannah, I failed the first test, but since I haven't heard back from the doctor's office, I'm hoping that's a good sign! Last week, we all had the stomach flu. I can definitely say that a very active baby moving around did NOT help me feel better. Thankfully, it only lasted 24-hours. We're now all back to normal and praying to remain healthy for the rest of the winter season. Spring and a new baby will be here before we know it!


27 weeks with baby boy


28 weeks with Hannah

Caught

Monday nights are late work nights for me, so Jason picks Hannah up from the babysitter. As much as I'd rather be home, I love walking in and being greeted with a big "Mumma!" and a hug from Hannah. As I approached the door tonight, I was already hearing the squeal of excitement that she gives me as I walk through the door. However, when I walked in I wasn't greeted at the door but rather Hannah was peeking through the sheer that covers the window on our front door (anchored on both ends by rods) looking outside. Initially, I couldn't figure out why she wasn't turning to me to give me my hug until I realized that she was whining, which then turned into a full out cry. She'd gotten her head stuck between the sheer and the door! Don't worry. No harm done, except for a bruised ego :-)

The potty

Lately, Hannah has been talking more and more about the potty. We've been trying to bring it up whenever we change her, and tell her what a big girl she'll be when she doesn't wear diapers but goes pee pee on the potty instead. We're not pushing it at all at this point, but since we'd gotten a little potty as a baby shower gift, we decided that we'd get it out to see just to introduce her to the idea. You can see her initial response:

Hmm... not quite what we were thinking.

We then moved it to the bathroom and showed her how big girls sit on the potty. Although I'm pretty sure she hasn't really caught on to what it's all about, she really loveds her own little chair in the bathroom.

Getting the hang of it.


Making herself right at home!

It's now been out for a couple of days, and she's more or less just used it as a seat. However, just when I thought the novelty of the potty had worn off, twice tonight she suddenly pulled down her pants and her diaper and ran into the bathroom to sit on her potty. Granted, she did absolutely nothing on it, but she's obviously catching onto the routine!