Hannah Beth Update - 2 years, 2 months, 2 days old

It's time for a Hannah Beth update --- can't believe my little girl is already over 2 years old!

 

Hannah Beth, here's what things are like for you at 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days old:

• You weighed exactly 25 lbs at your 2 year dr. appt.
• Size clothes: some 24 months, mostly 2T
• Size diapers: 4 (mostly cloth though) - as far as potty training goes, you talk about it often and about how you get M & M's as a treat if you go on the big potty, but nothing happening yet...I'm thinking you're not quite ready, and we're at least going to wait to focus on it until after our holiday travels are over.

• You love your brother so much - you get so excited to see him in the morning when he wakes up - and you love to help get him a burp cloth (we need lots of those for him) or give him a toy, etc. You think it's hilarious to blow bubbles on his tummy and you love to see him smile and laugh or hear his squeals.

• You are an eater!! I still can't believe sometimes how much of an appetite you have at home. It's not uncommon for you to eat a big bowl of oatmeal, a small bowl of cold cereal, and part of a bagel/english muffin for breakfast. For lunch and supper you regularly eat a serving of vegetables, a sandwich or meat, a boiled egg, a roll or some type of bread, some type of fruit, yogurt, as well as cottage cheese - and you still almost are always asking for "something else, Mommy?" - so I am looking in the cupboards/fridge for something else to fill up your tummy!
• As far as drinks go, you like to have your milk and water both next to you during meals or snacks but you usually need to be reminded to drink them. You do seem to like milk better now though since we have switched from whole to 1%. 

• You love arts & crafts projects, coloring, painting - anything like that- which makes Mommy happy because I love doing these things with you whenever I can. We also are working through a little 2 year old Bible preschool curriculum a few days each week here and there and you love "doing school."
• You love to put your colored pencils/crayons/markers all in a row very meticulously.

• Above and below are two gifts you got for your birthday - a pink (your favorite color!) tricycle and an Elmo doll. The trike stays in the basement during the cool outside weather but I know you will have so much fun with it this coming spring and summer (and your legs will probably reach the pedals better too). So fun!
• Elmo is one of your favorites - we watch Sesame Street a couple mornings a week when we are home. You can be heard saying "Street's on!"

• You have a soft heart in many ways - you're often concerned when hear that someone is sick and then later you'll talk about them feeling better. We try to remember to pray for them too.
You like to take your turn praying before our meals (sometimes it sounds like jibberish but you know exactly what you're saying) :)

 

(Doing school)

• You're a good helper quite often and help Mommy unload the dishwasher, set the table once in a while, collect laundry, turn humidifier off and on, put clothes in the dryer, measuring and pouring in ingredients while cooking, etc.
• You are certainly a 2-year-old in that you often show your stubborn, I-can-do-it-myself, short-tempered ways... 
• You love spending time with Daddy and get so excited to see his truck and see him come home from work. You're a little Daddy's girl in lots of ways. You also love going to Grandma & Grandpa Smith's house, and Great Grandpa & Grandma VK's every Thursday.

• This fall you started both Sunday school class and Puggles (AWANA for 2 year olds) so Sundays are busy days for you! You love them both and have a great time with your teachers and little friends. Sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall and see how you interact and behave...we are working on the sharing with others thing, slowly but surely.

• In the middle of September we moved you from your crib to a toddler bed. The transition was seamless and you haven't even tried to get out once! You love your new bed. The quilt on top of it was made by Grandma VK.

• You're still my little "bookworm" - we read several books each day before nap and bedtime and throughout the day when we can as well. But you can often be found on your own with a stack of books by your side (especially if I have recently traded out a stack from the attic). You also really enjoy storytime at the library on every other Thursday morning. Your favorite part seems to be "Ashes, Ashes" (Ring Around the Rosie) at the end though.
• You recently decided to try undressing and dressing yourself so it's not uncommon to find you without any pants or socks on! haha.
• You can sing the ABC song very well, individually identify about 85% of the letters (you know them by what word they go with, like M for Mommy, D for Daddy, C for Cat, etc.)
• You know all your colors and basic shapes, and can identify numbers 0-10, although 6 & 9 are confusing.
• You love to sing (can be heard singing throughout the day) --you remember the lyrics to lots of songs - and at naptime we sing a few songs and bedtime as well – you know that the last two before bed are “Jesus Loves Me” and “I Will Lie Down and Sleep."
• You are learning the important of obeying Mommy & Daddy - we talk about how happy it makes us, and you add "makes Jesus happy too" as we've reminded you many times and now you remind us :)

Hannah Beth quotes:

•    "I look like a princess" - while wearing her black velvet jacket or a skirt
• "big part" - you like to sit in the big part of the shopping cart when we go to the store.
• "more stores?" -- my little shopper
• "what's this?" -- you are always asking about who various people are (their names) by saying "what's this?" - and you're amazingly good at remembering names too and you know a lot of a people from church, youth group, sunday school, all the extended family, etc.
• "twenty-teen" - your way of saying "twenty" - you can count up to 20 very well, although you sometimes skip 14 and 15  

 

We love you so much, our sweet little butterfly!

Anthony Update - 4 months

Anthony is now over 4 months old! I haven't done very well with the monthly updates like I did with Hannah Beth, but here's his 4 month update...

 

At 4 months:

-- You weighed in on Friday at 16 lbs, 9 1/2 oz, and 25 inches long (77% for weight and 47% for height). You're a big boy! It's hard not comparing you to your sister - who weighed about that same amount at about 8 months! Guess she was a peanut compared to you ;)

--Lots of people comment on your chubby cheeks!

--You were a happy boy at the dr's office right up until before the shots, after which you screamed for just about a minute and then calmed down quite quickly. At 2 months and this time, you seemed to have sore legs later and slept a lot the next day.

--Diaper size: 3, but we use cloth most of the time

--Clothes size: 3-6 or 6 months, though you may be wearing some 9 months pretty soon here.

--You haven't rolled over completely yet, but you roll onto your side and get close. I bet it won't be long.

--You sleep on your back and still don't love tummy time, but it's getting a little better and those neck muscles are getting stronger.
--You love to be talked to and love to "talk" back - by cooing and gurgling with"gggg" and sometimes spitting too!
--You are quite a spitter-upper! It's not uncommon for us to change your clothes (and sometimes ours too) 4-5 times a day due to the amount of spit up on them. At least you're happy and smiley afterwards though!  
--You love to be held and snuggled! Such precious moments...Mommy loves it too!
--You've definitely found your fingers/thumb in the last few weeks and can almost always be found sucking on them, if not your paci. I think you'd suck on your pacifier all day though if we'd let you.

--You're a good eater and nurse about every 3 hours during the day.
--You take a bottle of mama's milk about once a week from someone other than Mom.

--You love to watch people - especially your sister - she makes you smile too!

--You love looking in your little mirror and lying on your playmat and playing with your toys that hang down.

--You love to lie on your changing table with just your diaper on, and you love bathtime! It seems to make you happy even during fussy times at night.

--You're good at holding onto things - you grab anything you can now - burp cloths, blankets, paci clip, rattles, our fingers (you seem to find comfort and security in holding mommy's fingers when you're upset).
--You love to be sung to and love to hear music!

--A couple weeks shy of 4 months, you giggled/laughed for the first time when Mommy accidentally tickled you on your chest/armpits - it is the sweetest sound! You are very ticklish!



 

--Naps aren't the greatest - you usually nap a total of 4 times each day, but they're usually pretty short catnaps unless Mommy is curled up next to you. It often takes you a while to get to sleep and you lose your paci a number of times before falling asleep.

--We moved you to your "big bed" in your own room about a week ago, and the transition was smooth - you seem to be sleeping a little better at night now too. Bedtime is usually around 9, then you wake up to eat around 5-5:30 and go back to sleep for a few more hours. A few nights ago you even slept 10 1/2 and then 10 hours straight. Good boy :)

This is you and Mommy with your birthday buddy Eli and his mommy Maria - this picture was taken at a ladies' retreat where you two were the only boys allowed :)

 

We sure do love you, Little Man!! :)



Hannah Beth's 2nd Birthday Bash!

I can't believe my little Hannah Beth is 2 already! Her official birthday was August 31st, but we had her party several days later on September 8th so that all the family from out of town could attend.

 A few of the decorations for the "polka dot" themed party: purple & pink m 'n' m's, cake, gumballs, and circle sugar cookies with little dot sprinkles and m 'n' m's in the shape of a "2"

 

A close-up of the funfetti cake made with colorful fondant circles (this was my first experience with fondant and I enjoyed it!...of course I did go the easy route and buy it already rolled and colored at Hobby Lobby...made me feel like I was playing with edible play-doh)

 

 I had fun making this "2" out of coffee filters (and then spray paint)- thank you to my friend Kristi for sending me this idea (along with many others)! :)  

Hannah Beth has lots of other 2 year old friends (mostly from church), so we decided to invite them and their families this year. We ended up having 19 adults and 19 children (including 2 babies) totaling 38 people! Thankfully we had the party at our church so there was more than enough space for everyone.

 Party activities included: playing in cardboard box tunnels (created by my dear husband - who also thought of this great idea),

 Coloring with markers and crayons on large pieces of posterboard,

 "Place the Nose on Elmo" game (Hannah Beth is a huge Elmo fan),

And then it was time to blow out the candles and eat! The menu included: Grilled hot dogs (my husband would want me to mention that they were Angus beef ones), cheese balls & grapes (sticking with the polka dot theme), pretzels, cake, cookies, ice cream, and punch made from a mixture of cherry 7-up and raspberry lemonade. Party favors were 2 dum-dum suckers tied with a ribbon (forgot to take a picture).

 Here are some snapshots of some (but not all) of the party guests:

After we ate, it was time to go outside! God gave us an absolutely gorgeous day for the party and we are blessed to have a church that is equipped with nice outdoor playground equipment. 

Some of the kids enjoyed chasing bubbles...

 ...while others just had a great time climbing on the equipment and using the swings and slides.

The party was quite a bit of work in preparation, but my mom, sister, and my brother's girlfriend were a wonderful help in serving the food, and many others pitched in to clean things up afterwards as well.

Hannah Beth and the other kids had a great time and the party was a success! My only regret is that we didn't get a picture of all the 2-year-olds together...that would've made for a fun photo to pull out and look at 10 years later ;)

And as a side note, this sweet little guy slept in his car seat through the entire party! That was a blessing since I was able to be free to make sure things were running smoothly. I took this picture of him later that evening. He's a little sweetheart...and has no idea what he missed out on! ;)