Blast from the past

Ah, polyester, the fabric that never dies. My mom has proven that by dressing my daughter in one of the outfits that I wore as a baby in the 70's (yikes, am I really that old??? Ok, LATE 70's!) Although it's a little dated, I must admit that the outfit is pretty cute, and it's held up amazingly well. Maybe it will be in style when Hannah has a daughter someday. I'm sure the outfit will still be around, even if the style isn't!

Catching up

Ok, I know I've been really bad about posting the last couple of weeks. Once it got away from me, it was really hard to get back to it. Here I am now, and I'll try to catch you up to speed. *Warning - this post is very long!*

Hannah's hair is growing to the point where I'm debating on getting her a trim to clean up some of the ends. I discovered that it's actually long enough to put in little pig tails, if I can get her to sit still long enough to put them in. Of course, they're not in long before she pulls them out, but they're so darn cute!



We met up with our friends Conner and Morgan and their Mom Juleen at the mall play area recently. Hannah's been there several times with her babysitter's play group, but this was my first time there. The place was crazy with kids running all over. Hannah got right into it like an old pro, crawling through and over all of the obstacles. She kept me quite busy.


My mom was on spring break last week, so they came over to babysit on Thursday. Hannah had a great time getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa.

She's just gotten tall enough to barely see out the front window on her tip toes. Whenever anybody goes outside, she crawls right over to the window, climbs up the wall, and peaks out the window. Cracks us up!




If she can't see out the front window, she crawls over to the front door to look out.



Grandpa taught Hannah a new trick while they were here.



Thankfully, she's too afraid to turn around and go down, but I'm sure that would be just a matter of time. We do have a gate at the top of the stairs, so I'm not too worried.

I've found the best way to keep Hannah busy while I'm getting ready in the morning is let her unload my bottom drawer. She's really a big "helper" and puts everything away, too. Of course, she pulls it all right back out, but at least she's got potential!


I think that about covers it. I'll try to do a better job of keeping up. Time just gets away from you when you have a very busy one-year old!

Steps

I'm a little late in posting this, but on Wednesday Hannah took her first step!! She's been so close but just hasn't had the courage to let go. Jason and I both got on the floor with her, and with lots of encouragement from us, she finally took a step and a half all on her own going between the two of us. Unfortunately, since we were both cheering her on, we didn't get a picture, but I'm sure many more steps are ahead to record.

One year old

Hannah just did not want to cooperate in her photo with Mr. Bear this month. So rather than post a picture of a very distracted little girl, I thought I'd leave it to the professional. We had Hannah's one-year pictures taken last Friday by Amy Oonk, the same photographer we've been to for Hannah's 3 month and 6 month pictures, and once again we were thrilled how they turned out. If you'd like to take a look at her online proofs, they're at: http://www.everydayjoyphoto.com/index2.php Login is Hannah.

Here's what Hannah's been up to this month:

• She is standing all on her own.
• She loves pushing her activity cube, and now her new princess ride-on, all around the house.
• She loves to share her toys (and then get them right back).
• She has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on the bottom with 2 more on the bottom not far behind.
• She eats anything! So far, there has not been a single food that she hasn't liked.
• She's developed some stranger anxiety. She gets clingy and starts to cry around people she's not familiar with. Hopefully this stage passes quickly.

We went to her one-year doctor appointment today, and I'm happy to say that she is doing very well. She's 17 lbs. 13 oz. (5th %) and 27 1/2" long (10%). She's a little peanut, but definitely growing.

We're so amazed to look back over the past year and realize how much Hannah has changed and our lives have changed. I wouldn't go back for a minute. God has truly blessed our lives through this little girl. We're looking forward to all that God has in store for us.

Birthday Girl

I can't believe our baby turned one today! The day was just like the day she was born - beautiful, sunny, and warm. I think that pretty well describes what Hannah's brought to our family :-)

In honor of Hannah's the special day, we hosted a little birthday celebration at our house with family and a few close friends.

Hannah and her grandpas

Great-Grandpa Obie and Grandpa Davis and Hannah with Grandma Davis

Great-Grandma and Grandpa Ocedek

Our neighbors Yassar and Rina

Friends Hannah and Amani playing by Claire's mom and dad

Grandma Cramer helping to clean Hannah up before getting into her gifts

We started off with a light lunch and then Hannah got to break into her presents. She got lots of nice things including several cute outfits, some fun new books, and a boat like Daddy's :-).

Apparently, Uncle Todd is trying to get Hannah hooked on off-roading young. He and Aunt Courtney got her a battery-powered pink princess 4-wheeler.

Good thing Claire was there to help show Hannah how all of the gadgets work on the princess ride-on that Grandma and Grandpa Davis got her!

And then of course, we had cake. We got a super cute cake for all of us to enjoy, but we got Hannah her very own special cupcake. This little girl is serious about sweets! She inhaled all of the frosting from the cupcake and then proceded to dive into the cake. She made a great mess - perfect for her first birthday!

"Don't even think about it, Grandma!"

We love you, sweetie!

1st birthday present

Hannah turns one this Saturday (I know. I still I can't believe it.) While we were at my parents' house this weekend, Hannah's Great-Aunt Tina and family brought over an early birthday present. My mind was so set on the shower that the thought never occurred to me to have her open her present while Tina was there! I had Hannah open her very first birthday present tonight instead.


Oh, the anticipation!


A super cute "Birthday Girl" teddy bear...


...a "Birthday Girl" bib,...


...and an absolutely adorable "1st Birthday Princess" onesie, perfect for the upcoming occasion!

Thank you, Aunt Tina, Uncle Paul, Haley, and John!!

Our little shorty

Hannah's friend Claire let us borrow a super cute vest that she'd outgrown. I was excited to try it on Hannah after her nap this afternoon. It's adorable, but unfortunately her body is just a little too short for it. When she stands up it's fine, but sitting is a little bit of a problem. Hopefully she'll hit a growth spurt b/c it's too cute!!

Butterfly time

After church and breakfast this morning, we headed over to Frederik Meijer Gardens to take advantage of our membership for the first time to see the butterflies. This is something that we love to do every spring, and we were especially anxious this year to see Hannah's reaction. Although it wasn't sunny, the butterflies were still out in full force.


I wasn't sure if Hannah would even notice them, but they definitely caught her attention. A few times, the butterflies swooped right by her, and she stretched out to try to grab them.


Checking out the butterflies by the orchid exhibit.

She was a little bit tired due to the time change and not having taken her afternoon nap yet, but she still seemed fascinated by them. Hopefully we'll get back a few more times before they're gone.

Welcome baby GIRL Cramer

Here are some pictures from Courtney's baby shower this weekend...


Zehnder's did a great job with the cake


I think it's getting more difficult for Aunt Courtney to carry Hannah!


Aw, look at that belly!


A close family friend made a special gift for Todd - a Daddy Toolbelt, complete with all of the baby essentials.


Trying out the toolbelt with a test baby :-)

It's a......

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother and sister-in-law are due with their first baby in the beginning of May. They found out the sex of the baby but had been waiting to reveal it until the baby shower. Well, this weekend was the big shower where she FINALLY told us that we're going to have another little girl in the family! We actually turned the announcement into a game. We wrote the gender of the baby on the bottom of one of the plates, so we had everybody turn them over (before we ate!) to discover the winner. It was really a fun way to find out. Our whole family thought for sure it was going to be a boy, so we were totally surprised! We are so happy that Hannah is going to have a little girl cousin to show the ropes :-)

I will try to get some pictures up soon, but right now I'm beat. Hannah and I just got home tonight. She's now in bed, and I'm waiting for Jason to bring a pizza home.

Congratulations, Todd and Courtney!!

Fun new toy

Hannah got an activity cube for Christmas, but due to our lack of space we hadn't put it together. She's now past the stage of using her exersaucer, so we decided that it was time to replace that with the cube. I wish we'd put it together sooner. We didn't realize that it is also has wheels and is pushable. She loves it! She's already an expert at pushing it around the room.



Now to teach her to steer...