15 months old

It's time for an update on Hannah Beth since she is now 15 months old already!

At 15 months old:

Size: 21 lbs, 31 inches (25%ile for weight, 75%ile for height)

Clothes: size 18 months

Diapers: almost always cloth, or size 3

Sleep habits: 1 nap (you transitioned to just one nap right around 14 months old) - anywhere from 1 1/2 hr to 3 hours (Mommy hopes for at least 2 hours!); bedtime - 7:30 p.m. - morning awake time - 7-7:30 a.m.

Teeth: you have 12 teeth now! your other 3 molars popped through soon after your 1st birthday - the molars were definitely more painful than the other teeth :(

Eating habits: you weaned from nursing (mostly self-led) at 13 1/2 months old and drink whole milk from a sippy cup - you don't love milk too much but you do eat lots of other dairy products. Your favorite foods are any kinds of fruit (especially apples, grapes, and oranges), favorite veggie is broccoli, and you love yogurt and cheese. You like beef better than chicken. Overall you're a really good eater!

Some things you do:

• You started walking at 12 1/2 months and are now running everywhere!
• Talk a lot now! words you learned between 12-15 months : hot, bye-bye, mama, dada/daddy, papa, hi, banana "nana", boo, kitty "tee-tee", quack, one "un", pop, beep, stinky, socks, books, duck, treat "teet", Jesus "de-sus", two, and your favorite word now is Bible!
• You love to read books - and your favorite one is the Beginner's Bible - you love to sit and flip through the pages and look at the pictures - especially the sun, pictures of Jesus, babies, and animals.
• You "read" independently sometimes but mostly love to back up into our laps and bring books to us to read - we have "reading time" before nap & bedtime and in between.
• At 12 1/2 months you started doing the motions for "where'd it go?" by putting both hands out.
• At 13 months you started to say "hi" to everyone you see - you're a friendly little girl :)
• 12 1/2 mos - You point to candles anywhere you see them, say "hot" and blow
• 13 mos - first scribbles with crayons, stacks cups
• 13 mos - you point to different objects/animals in books, say their names, or recognize them when asked where they are.
• 13 1/2 mos - you love to make messes all around the house - opening cupboards and pulling food out, pots & pans, clothes from laundry baskets, or toys - you're a little tornado, haha, and we love you for it!
• 14 mos - you identify lots of different body parts on yourself and dolls and others.
• 14 mos - you know lots of animal sounds
• 14 mos - you can almost always follow simple commands and go bring things or do things when asked.
• 14 mos - you've started to really enjoy watching video clips or yourself or other babies or animals, as well as Barney and Elmo.

Random facts:

• Around 12 mos - some separation anxiety started when mommy would leave you for a little while, but it has gotten better especially if you're in a familiar environment.
• 13-14 mos- your independent spirit comes out and you've thrown a few temper tantrums!
• At 14 months we took your paci away (you had it during sleeptime) - it was rough for the first few days/week, but you transitioned great after that.
• You're a great little hugger/kisser - once you get in the mood you like to kiss everything and everybody! haha.
• You LOVE your daddy - you greet him at the door when he comes home and love to play with him - especially peek a boo.
• You love getting out of the house and going places, as long as it's not when you're tired or hungry.

We love you soo much, our sweet little munchkin!

Hello Again!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've posted a blog on here.
Here are a few pics to recap...

Hannah Beth loved any chance she had to get outside this fall ~ she is definitely a outdoorsy little girl...anything from picking up acorns to finding sticks to walking down the sidewalk in front of our house to sitting next to her pumpkin or trying to pick it up to picking the grass to playing at the park - she loves it all as long as it's outside. I'm afraid it's going to be a loong winter inside.

Anyone have any good ideas for indoor activities that a 15-18 month old would enjoy? I would love to hear!

The day before Halloween, our church hosted a "Western Town" event - they spent hours upon hours building it completely out of cardboard and invited the community to this outreach event. We had a great turnout and it was amazing! We didn't take Hannah Beth trick-or-treating this year but she did get to dress up as a princess that night and get a bucket of candy :) I think she was mesmerized by the whole thing!

My dad took part in the "barbershop quartet" and mom was their pianist. Tony also participated with one of the youth group guys at a "Stump the Bible professor" booth. Hannah Beth wasn't sure what to think of Grandpa with his fake black mustache or Daddy with his glasses and goatee.

 The next night, we had quite a few trick or treaters so we answered our door until we ran out of candy! I need to remember to buy more next year. Hannah Beth was fascinated by all these strangely-dressed children coming to our door - she LOVED it!

NOVEMBER brought Betsy the inflatable cow to bounce on (a special gift that arrived in the mail)...

Weekly visits to see Great Grandpa and Great Grandma in their retirement home (it's soo great to have them only 7 minutes away!) - Hannah Beth loves perusing the long hallways, visiting the birds they keep in a cage there, and saying hello to all the elderly people as they walk by (as well as occasionally trying to walk into a stranger's apartment if they happen to have their door open)...

Mimi and Papa visiting us all the way from California!...

A wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends...

And then it was time to think about Christmas - so we got out the Little People Nativity Set that Hannah Beth got for Christmas last year - she loves it! It's super cute. [My only complaint is that it's missing shepherds...oh well.]

We set up our Christmas tree on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I've got my Christmas shopping pretty much finished up and we're looking forward to driving down to see Tony's family before long.


I think of and miss Alethia Joy every day but something about the holidays makes me miss her even more. I'm sure any of you who have lost a loved one have experienced something similar...when the family gets together, we are always missing someone.  She would just be a couple months shy of 3 years old now...hard to believe. Life "moves on" but the grief will always be there...changing with time but never lacking heartache.


The words "the joy of the Lord is your strength" were ringing through my head today - I didn't realize that those words came from Nehemiah (chapter 8, end of verse 10) until I looked it up. This reminder to the Israelites still holds true today - so thankful for the reminder that we can have JOY in the Lord no matter what the circumstances - and that JOY gives us strength to press on through life.


May you all have a truly JOYous Christmastime celebrating the birth of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ.