The Townsends

Music To My Ears

2012-02-02T08:23:00.002-06:00

Our little munchkin is quite the musician! She loves to play on her piano, sing a little tune in her microphone and put the beat down on some drums. Maybe she'll be the 2030 American Idol and Momma can retire. ;)

This face cracks me up! I have no idea what she's doing here but it's too funny not to share.

Check out those cheeks! Someone doesn't miss a meal in our house....

What's up Mommy?

Daddy, please be quiet. I'm laying down some tracks here. If you must talk, please leave my playroom.

Ok, now back to business.

Hannah LOVES her music station! She really does sing into the microphone. Sing/slobber on it which happens to make noise, whatever you want to call it. ;)

New Look

2012-02-01T13:36:00.001-06:00

I figured it was about time to get rid of the Christmas background so while taking a little break I decided to give the old blog a face lift! I'm not sure about the pictures I chose yet so I may still change those, we'll see.

Since I can't possibly do a blog post without a picture of the munchkin, here you go! Isn't she just the CUTEST?!?!

I have a few posts that I'm working on so you'll be seeing some more pictures soon!

2011 - A Great Year!

2012-01-19T10:46:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm almost caught up on blogging! Just to get behind again next week I'm sure. If you think I'm behind on blogging you should see the stack of birth announcements I have YET to send out! Well, I've sent out about half so far but still have the rest to address. Seriously, my child is five months old and I'm just getting around to it and I've had the announcements for three months.... Oh well, I've been busy! ;) Anyways, this is my last post about 2011 (three weeks into 2012).

2011 was hands down the best year of our lives for obvious reasons. We spent the entire first seven months of the year preparing for our baby girl to arrive and then the rest of the year enjoying every moment with her! I figured I'd do a recap of how 2011 went for us.

January

January was a very eventful month for us!

We rang in the new year with some of our closest friends

Aggies go to the Cotton Bowl

Brody hurt his back

I announced our big news on the blog and started my weekly updates!

I entered the 2nd trimester and was released from seeing my fertility specialist and ended my acupuncture sessions

February

Austin got a kidney stone

I attempted to burn our house down by trying to enjoy one of my pregnancy cravings

We enjoyed the Rodeo Cookoff weekend

March

We found out we were having a GIRL!!

We celebrated our four year wedding anniversary!

At 21 weeks I developed a heart condition

April

We watched our friends Megan and Wade get married

I experienced my first Braxton Hicks contractions in full force

May
I entered the 3rd trimester!
We had two baby showers, one a couples shower and one all girls shower!

We started taking a few baby classes
We had maternity pictures taken

June
We went to the Townsend family reunion

I had two more baby showers! One at work and one girl one in Dallas

July
I was put on rest, no more work for me until November!
At 36 weeks I went into false labor

Best part of July by far, sweet Haley was born!

Last baby shower for Miss Hannah!

August
Hannah's due date came...and went.
Hannah was born!!

Leah turns two
Newborn pics taken of our sweet girl

September
I turn 31
Hannah has her first hospital stay

October
Hannah goes on her first road trip

First Aggie game!

I return to work
I cut 11 inches of hair off for Locks of Love
First Halloween

November
Hannah started solids

One year anniversary of finding out Miss Hannah was going to arrive!
First Thanksgiving

December
Hannah met Santa!

Hannah had her first plane ride and met the Townsend family
First Christmas

Big girl starts sleeping in her own room
Celebrated NYE with the cousins!

It's crazy to think that this is just a short recap because SO MUCH happened!! We had a GREAT and busy year and I just know 2012 is going to be even better!

Five Months Old!

2012-01-14T17:22:00.000-06:00

This month has been so much fun! I can't get over how quickly our little baby is growing. Month five was a big one for Miss Hannah!

Hannah, here is what you've been up to in your fifth month!

Sleep: You are still the BEST sleeper at night! Thank you SOOOO much for that!! You go to sleep every night around 7pm now that you are in daycare (you get worn out because of all the playing you do every day!). During the week I wake you up to feed you around 5am and then you hang out in your swing and usually doze off until we leave for the day around 6:20 and on the weekends you wake up on your own between 6-8am and go back to sleep for an hour or two after I nurse you. You still aren't consistant with your napping but you usually get at least two or three hours of naps throughout the day.

Daily Routine: Your daily routine has changed now that you're in daycare. You are still getting the hang of things there and are getting back to your normal napping it seems but for the first few days you weren't napping much. Now all you seem to do is play with your teachers and toys and apparently you are very popular and all the boys like to touch your face or try to push you over since some of them can crawl. Hmmm.... Daddy is already going to have to talk with the boys about how they treat you I guess. ;) Your teachers say you are the happiest baby and don't mind anything that is going on around you, you just take it all in. I'm not surprised one bit by that either, you are such an easy going little girl. You are usually the first one to your class at 6:30am and I pick you up before 5pm. The other day your teacher Miss D told Daddy they love you so much and thanked him for us bringing you to their class everyday. It was so nice and I'm pretty certain that everyone who knows you loves you because you are just so sweet! I can tell you love it at daycare just as much as they love you because when we drop you off in the mornings you've never cried and you always smile at Miss Ava when you see her. We are really happy with the daycare we chose for you, you seem to be in great hands. (Your Daddy wants me to make a note on here that we expected you to get sick after starting daycare and a week and a half into it, Daddy and I got super sick, not you (hence the delay in posting your monthly update). We are very grateful that this virus passed you up!) At the end of the day we head home, you eat and then have a fruit or veggie that I made for you and then Daddy gets home and it's bath time (your favorite!) and then you eat again and you're out for the night. On the weekends we just spend as much time as possible playing with you and enjoying our time with you because you are growing SOOO fast!!

Feed: You still love nursing and love to eat pretty much at anytime. You get bottles during the day while I'm at work and you take those great. You get one bottle of formula each day in addition to your breast milk bottles(6oz each). You are just the happiest little baby when you're eating. You've been getting easily distracted while eating lately so sometimes I have to mute the TV or tell your Daddy to finish telling me a story until you're done otherwise we could be sitting there forever while you "snack" rather than eat a full meal. Right now each night you are eating one fruit or veggie and trying new things every week. You seem more like a veggie girl than fruit girl so far.

Weight: I weighed you on our scale and you seem to be about 15.5 lbs. I'll know you're exact weight at your six month appointment.

Length: You're long, that's all I know!

Diaper Size: Size 2 Pampers

Clothes Size: You're in some size 3-6 months but mainly 6 months. You are so long that you need the extra room! You are still wearing 3 month pants mostly, but some are starting to look more like capris.

Hair Color: We're still not really sure what your hair color is. It will look light brown/blondish but then in the sun it looks reddish. You're eyebrows are still light and have a red tint to them so who knows! Your hair is growing so much every month.

Eye color: Your eye color is still the same as at birth, it's a dark gray color but they look green in the light.

Funniest moment: You crack us up everyday but one day last week you really had Mommy laughing. You were sitting in your seat helping me cook dinner and I started dancing for you and clapped loud and raised my arms up in the air and it startled you and you threw your arms up in the air too. I laughed so hard and kept doing it until it got old to you. It was so cute.

Milestone: You have grown the most this month than any other month. You went on your first plane ride and did great! You sat up on your own on New Years day! You got not one but TWO teeth in! You eat fruits and veggies now. I've been making all of your food for you so I know it's good and healthy and I like that I can make it myself for you. So far you've tried green beans, sweet potatoes (your fav so far), pears (not a big fan surprisingly), bananas and sweet peas. You began sleeping in your own room and started day care this month.You also have really been enjoying Brody, you think he is just SO funny! You also think blowing bubbles is super fun because you do it constantly. Just so I remember when all of this happened, you got your first teeth, slept in your own bed, sat up, started eating foods and started daycare all within one week. We hadn't planned on everything to happen that quickly but you adjusted so well that we just kept trying new things and it was a success! It's been a BIG month for you!! You also seem like you want to talk but just don't know how to put words together yet, I'm guessing we have another few months until words start coming. I've noticed that when I'm talking to you you're watching my mouth most of the time instead of my face, which you didn't use to do. You've been making different sounds lately too so who knows, maybe you're going to say something soon. You already say "mama" and "dada" but you just repeat it over and over very loudly and have no idea what it means, we're pretty sure it's just baby babble. You sure are chatty!

Sweetness

Loves her Daddy

All bundled up, ready to go!

Sitting up playing with the toy Gabou gave you

Sweet girl always drooling!

Must. Eat. Everything.

Face off

Your favorite toy: You REALLY love the jumperoo! You have so much fun while you're bouncing and just squeal and laugh. Your laugh is the cutest sound I've ever heard! You also love your Sophie giraffe and ball with holes all over it that you can hold easily. Your crinkly book is still a must in the car.

Some of your firsts this month were:

First Christmas
First plane ride (you did GREAT!!)
First time to eat food (you started with green beans)
First time to sleep in your own room
First time to sit up on your own

First New Years
First tooth! Followed a few days later by your SECOND tooth!!
First time at daycare
First time to sit in a high chair

Here are some outtakes from your five month photo shoot, we had the curtains closed in your room because it was almost nap time and it sure made your pictures pink!
Checking out your lamb...

Happy girl

Sweet face

Laughing at Daddy

Sweet Hannah, your Daddy and I love you SOOOO much and we both just light up when we talk about you or see you. You are the happiest and sweetest baby I've ever known and you bring so much joy to so many people's lives.

NYE 2012

2012-01-10T19:39:00.000-06:00

This New Years Eve we knew was going to be a different one now that Miss Hannah is in our lives. We planned to spend the evening with Tracy, Ryan and the girls at their house having a low key NYE and it ended up being a little get together with a few of their old neighbors and their kids. We had a blast and stayed up WAAAAY too late (like, went to bed an hour before I usually wake up for work late) considering we had three girls who wake up early no matter if it's New Years Day or not!

Sweet baby girl dressed in her cute NYE day outfit. Seriously, how cute is she?!

This picture is proof that we still have a dog! Ha! Austin making some yummy food while B waits for food to drop.

Me with my sweet chubby cheeks little girl

Tracy and her girls. It's the best pic I could get, a two year old and a five month old baby don't always cooperate. They always look cute though. :)

Ryan wearing his daughters hat. This was early in the night...

Family of three, our last pic together of 2011!

Leah wanted to wear all of her hairbows!

Tara and Tracy

Sisters :)

This makes me laugh. Sometimes with Leah you have to, how should I say this...."persuade" her that you need a hug. If you tell her you're sad about something, she will always come give you a hug because she is sweet and doesn't want you to be sad. We may or may not take advantage of that sweetness.... Here I am "possibly" telling her that I'm sad. Don't judge. ;)

I must have been giving an Academy Award winning performance because B came to give me some loving too. Ha!

I picked her up to give her a big hug for being such a sweet girl and she wanted to pretend she was asleep. Silly Leah.

After all the little ones went to sleep we brought out the fireworks. Here's Matt and Ryan getting excited about what was, according to Ryan, the "best $50 he's ever spent".

These boys crack me up. Austin looks like a pyro with the lighter and Ryan just keeps yelling stuff at us in excitement.

Ryan finally got Tracy to go out there to light up one of the fireworks and I told her to smile. She posed. :)

I'll agree with Ryan, it was a great fireworks show!

And that's about where the pictures end for that evening.... There were several other people there and lots of other activities and laughs being had but I forgot to take pics of all that. Oops!

The next day Hannah decided to sit up on her own!! She's such a big girl.

The guys "watching" football.

We had lots of great food and just hung out eating pretty much all day ringing in the new year. 2011 was the best year of my life and I can't wait to see what 2012 brings! Happy New Year!

Hannah and Her Many Christmas Outfits

2012-01-04T20:36:00.001-06:00

For Hannah's 1st Christmas her wardrobe did not disappoint! Between me buying her a few special outfits and other family and friends getting her an outfit here and there she was set for the 12 days of Christmas!

Hannah's traveling attire. The bottom has ruffles on it that match the top. So cute!

I love this onesie, I had it made for her back in October with her name on it

This onesie says it all "Mommy's Favorite Gift"

Aunt Beth made this adorable Christmas tree onesie for Hannah. She LOVED all the ribbons and tried to get each one in her mouth. She may not look too happy in the picture but I promise she loved it.

Looking precious in her Christmas Eve sparkly dress, white tights and black patent leather shoes

Sporting her jumper with the "h" on the front. She LOVED the ribbons on the shoulders of that outfit too. It was quite the challenge for me to keep them out of her mouth when she'd wear it. She looked so cute that it was worth the effort. :)

Ready to get on the plane Christmas morning with her "My 1st Christmas" onesie

My favorite, her Christmas day dress. She looked like a little doll in this one. LOVE!

Such a styling Christmas baby :)

Christmas Day

2012-01-04T12:28:00.000-06:00

Christmas day my mom picked us up from the airport and we headed over to Lainey & Pops house to celebrate with my side of the family. It was a great day filled with a little bit of drama.

The girls got SO many presents this year! This was the "before" pic. I didn't get an "after" pic but it basically looked like a wrapping paper factory exploded in the living room.

Haley and Hannah hanging out waiting to unwrap some presents. Haley looks excited, Hannah looks terrified. Ha!

Haley telling Hannah a secret

It must have been a good secret ;)

Sweet sisters

Cousins! I wonder how many years it will be until we get all three looking in the same direction and smiling all at the same time.

Pretty girls

Two out of three looking at the camera, not bad!

The first present that Hannah opened was my favorite of all our gifts! Aunt Tracy made the most special book for Hannah about the story of how she came to be. As soon as we opened the book I shut it and said I'd have to read it later because I knew I was going to cry. Everyone made me read it anyways and sure enough, I cried. It was just so sweet and such a special keepsake and I can't wait until she's old enough to understand it all. This little girl is SO LOVED and I hope she always feels that way!

Note to all present givers of Leah: the bubble wrap is gift enough. You can just put a bow on it and she's good to go. Ha! I had to distract her and throw it away when she wasn't looking so she would be interested in all the other 50 presents she still had to open.

Playing on the Sit-N-Spin we got her. Can you believe they still have these things?! So much fun!

Right about that time was when the drama happened. We were in the middle of opening all the gifts when my Mom asked where Minnie (Tracy & Ryan's dog) was. No one knew because so much was going on that the dogs weren't getting much attention. My Dad looked outside and said "she's in the pool!". Ryan and my Dad ran outside and got poor, soaking wet, nearly drowned Minnie out of the cold water. It. Was. STRESSFUL!! Thank the Lord that she was ok after getting dried off, getting a good long blow dry and being spoiled the rest of the day. Poor Minnie, we have no idea how long she was in the pool but just her little nose and mouth were floating above water when they got her. She was SO cold too but thankfully she didn't experience shock and she's back to her crazy, barking self again. If Christmas was a Friends episode it would have been titled "The One When The Dog Almost Ruined Christmas". Ha. ;) Just kidding but we are SO happy she's ok!

After everything settled down from the drama and we got all the Christmas presents put away into HUGE piles we enjoyed an awesome Christmas day lunch my Dad made. Beef Wellington and all kinds of yummy sides to go along with it.

Haley has suddenly decided that she's scared of Pops for some reason. Only sometimes, other times she loves him. Her teacher thinks it's because he wears glasses because she's noticed her being a little confused by glasses lately. Who knows. It makes us laugh though for a few seconds before we grab her and she's fine again.

See, all better! Pops and his mini-me

And then it starts all over again with Uncle Jeff... Silly girl.

Hannah loving on Pops

Mommy and my sweet girl

Lainey, Pops, Aunt Janet and Uncle Jeff

Leah reading Hannah's book from Aunt Tracy and Uncle Ryan

Lainey with all her girls...looking in three different directions of course

Brody and Gabby were exhausted from a long day of worrying about their pal Minnie

Hannah was exhausted from a long day of opening presents :)

I think our baby girl had the best 1st Christmas we could have asked for! She got to spend time with all of the Townsends and about half of the Autrey family and got lots of lovin' from everyone! She is the greatest gift we could have asked for!

Townsend Christmas

2012-01-02T12:07:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the delay in posting about Christmas, I've been on vacation for the last two weeks and have been very busy with our baby girl. :)

We started off the holidays at the airport on Thursday to head down to the Valley to visit the entire Townsend family. Oh the airport.... we spend 6 HOURS there waiting for a 45 minute flight! We made it to our destination when they put us on another plane all together and finally got to see everyone. Hannah did GREAT on her first plane ride, we were so proud of her! She didn't even cry once while we were waiting at the airport for our flight!

Watching planes take off with Daddy

Landed! Our cute little traveler

We got to the condo that night and baby girl passed out! She was so sleepy from her travels. The next day she woke up and wanted to bounce! CiCi went out and bought her this bouncy hanging seat and she had so much fun!

After she was done bouncing we took a family pic at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Friday night we headed out for some yummy Mexican food near the border with the Pat Townsend crew. Hannah's eyes crack me up here. She loved playing with her cousins Gracie and Libby!

JB, Cindy, Hannah and Austin

Christmas Eve morning we woke up at the condo and had our family Christmas with Aunt Rachel, CiCi and Papa Coach. Cindy drew our stocking bags herself! She's so talented.

CiCi and Papa Coach gave Hannah her first baby doll!

After opening up presents we got ready and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the Townsend Christmas.

CiCi and Hannah

Christmas cutie

Gracie, Hannah and Libby looking cute together

Family of three

Gracie LOVED Hannah and was so cute playing with her

Rach, Elizabeth and Hannah hanging out

Christmas Eve night we all went to Paul and Nancy's house to celebrate some more.

Cindy and Austin making some yummy food for us

Ha! This picture just made me laugh for obvious reasons

Hannah hanging out with a few of her cousins

We had a great time in the Valley with the entire Townsend family! A professional photographer came over on Christmas Eve to take pics of the family so I'll share those once we get them. There are a LOT of us!! It was so nice to introduce Hannah to everyone and get to spend time with family.

On Christmas morning we packed up and flew back home and thankfully had a very uneventful flying experience and made it in town right on time! Hannah did just as great on her second plane ride as she did on the first one!

Back in town!

Cutest passenger on our plane

Next up, Christmas Day!

More Firsts!

2011-12-29T21:37:00.002-06:00

Not only did Hannah have her first plane ride, visit to the Valley and meeting all of the Townsend family over the holidays last weekend this week we gave her even more firsts! She slept in her OWN ROOM Monday night (can you believe I actually moved her in her own room?! It took me long enough) and ate her first real food Tuesday night! Big girl learning new things!

Miss Hannah took sleeping in her own crib just like she takes pretty much everything else...no big deal, easy peasy, no complaints. Mommy on the other hand had to hold back tears. She just looked like such a big girl in her bed! When I went into our room to go to sleep I almost cried again looking at the empty pack-n-play next to my side of the bed.

Sweet sleeping baby all swaddled up

Night one of course went great because that's just how she is. I didn't even wake up once to check the video monitor. Night two I woke up around midnight because I could hear her moving around (I have the sound on full blast just in case, I'm nervous, what can I say) and I saw that she had busted out of her swaddle. Austin and I have been going back and forth for a few weeks on whether or not she needs to be swaddled anymore. I say yes because she sleeps so well swaddled up and seems to like it. Austin says no because he says she needs her independence. Whatevs. So, back to last night, night two. I watched her on the monitor for a few minutes thinking I was going to have to go into her room and feed her to get her to go back to sleep but she fell back asleep on her own. This morning at six (I'm on vacation so we get to sleep in) I hear her whining and I looked in the monitor and saw that she had rolled over since she was unswaddled. I got up and by the time I got in her room she was asleep again. But this is what I found. Poor baby got her arm stuck in the slats of the crib and just decided to go back to sleep instead of fight it. I rolled her over and re-swaddled her and she went back to sleep. So, for now she will remain swaddled until she gets better at rolling herself from her front to her back easier and then we'll let her sleep freely.

To answer anyones question as to why she doesn't have her bumper pads up the answer is that I'm paranoid and I'm terrified of SIDS and of her suffocating in her sleep so until I think she can move her head freely enough and not nuzzle her face into the bumper pads this is how her crib will remain.

So, moving on to her next big first of the week, Hannah got her first taste of real food! I made her some fresh organic green beans.

She's excited can't you tell?!

Tongue out, ready to get a taste!

Her face cracks me up here! First bite was a little surprising.

Taking it in great!

Yumm..... green beans

Ok, enough already Mommy!

I got this one with my cell phone. She actually liked the green beans for a little while! Such a cutie.

Best picture of the night! Ha! After she was done eating, she suddenly started silently acting like she was going to throw up. She never did and Austin and I cracked up laughing at her! So dramatic!

Our baby girl is getting big so fast!! We are so proud of her for taking to new things so easily. Next up will be all of our Christmas festivities!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas!

From our family

to yours!

The best gift we ever could have asked for!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas with your families!

Little Lina

2011-12-20T21:20:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday night around 11pm I got a text from one of my best friends Liz saying her water broke and they were heading to the hospital! I was SOOO excited that I couldn't fall back asleep for a while and when I finally did I had a dream about bringing her Five Guys burgers to the hospital and getting mugged in the parking lot for the food. Ha! Nice. I have strange dreams but only when Liz is in labor would I dream about bringing her food and getting mugged for it.

Anyways, Monday afternoon after Hannah's Dr appt Austin took her home and I headed up to the hospital to see if anyone needed me to get them some food or anything and when I showed up Liz had just started pushing so I got there at the perfect time!

Here's Liz's mom listening for Lina to arrive. We stood out there for about an hour and then we heard those sweet sounds of Lina crying! It was such a special moment, even from the other side of the door. I was so happy for my sweet friend, there were tears all around and we all were so excited. I told Austin that since I didn't get to experience Hannah's delivery the way I had hoped that I got to experience it through Liz, through a hospital room door. Ha!

Adelina Lucille Johnson arrived beautiful, healthy and perfect!

Awesome cell phone pic of little Lina and me

A few days later I went to visit the sweet girl and her parents once they got home. She is sooo tiny! She arrived two weeks ahead of her due date and is just the tiniest, sweetest little girl. When I picked her up for the first time it was like picking up air compared to my four month old baby girl!

Teeny tiny toes

Having a chat with Lina

Today Tracy and I went to Liz's parents house to visit and so Tracy could meet Lina. Hannah came along and she was passed around by everyone, including Lina's grandpa. She was quite entertaining. :)

We put the girls (and future BFFs according to me and Liz, they really don't have a choice ;)) next to each other and check out how HUGE Hannah looks next to Lina!! They are four months and one day apart and WOW, what a difference that makes!

HOLY COW!! Lina is curled up here but seriously, Hannah looks so big! Her Aunt Beth made that shirt for her, isn't it cute!?

Cutest picture ever! Minus all the drool spots from Hannah of course... I just love how they're both facing each other and are positioned the same. Other than placing them next to each other, they did the rest on their own!

Liz, I love little Lina so much and can't wait for our girls to grow up together!! These two are going to keep us on our toes I'm sure!

Santa Baby

2011-12-19T20:33:00.001-06:00

A few Sundays ago Austin and I did what every parent does at least once in their child's life (according to Austin it was a once in a lifetime experience. Ha!). We braved the crowds and lines and took Hannah to visit Santa! I have to say, I'm so proud of Austin for standing in line with us for TWO hours and not complaining ONCE!! Not only did we take Hannah to see Santa but we took her to get her pictures taken too!

Taking some pics at home before heading out to see Santa!

What's up with this big poofy dress Mommy??

Cutest little girl EVER! :)

We had an appointment with the picture place in the mall right when they opened. Miss Hannah was ON and just smiled and had a great time! Within five minutes we had our money shot! :)

Seriously, does it get any cuter?! LOVE her SOOOO much!!

The quality of this one wasn't too good because it's a pic of a pic, I couldn't get the scanner to work. It's still super cute. :)

After the pictures we headed over to see Santa. We got so lucky and our sweet girl decided that the exact time we stood in line was going to be her nap time for the day. Woo hoo!

Ok, so I may be biased but I'm pretty sure this is the cutest Santa picture EVER!! Also, I didn't realize until now that Santa has the biggest hands, maybe in the world. Ha!

Hannah and Santa reading The Elf On A Shelf . I noticed after we got home that the little Elf was watching over them on the chair.

Baby girl was AMAZED with Mrs. Claus! I have no idea why, you'd think it would be Santa that would get her attention but nope, it was Mrs. Claus that made her jaw drop. Check her out looking at Mrs. Claus!

It was such a good day! I was smiling the whole way home thinking about 1. how great of a day we had with our baby girl and 2. how we have the sweetest baby in the world. :)

Four Months Old!

2011-12-18T14:49:00.001-06:00

Wow, I'm way behind on blogging! I wrote this post on her four month bday and I just got around to adding pictures to it. Anyways...four months old!! How on earth is our baby already 1/3 of the way through her first year?! This has been such a great month, Hannah has learned so much and is just such a fun, happy little baby girl!

Hannah, here is what you've been up to in your fourth month!

Sleep: You are still the BEST sleeper at night! Thank you SOOOO much for that!! Daddy and I are SO lucky that you sleep so well. You go to sleep every night around 7:30-8pm and on the weekends you wake up on your own between 7-8am. During the week I wake you up to feed you around 5am and then you hang out in your swing and usually doze off until we leave for the day. You still aren't consistant with your napping but you usually get at least two or three hours of naps throughout the day.

Daily Routine: You spend the weekdays switching from playing on your activity mat (which you LOVE!), swinging in the swing, watching your mobile and TALKING. I pick you up from Lainey and Pops house around 4:30 and we head home to hang out until Daddy gets home. Then your Daddy and I eat dinner while you sit in your bouncy seat (AKA the poop chair, no lie, you poop almost every time you get in that thing! It's like the vibrations just push the poop right out of ya! TMI?? Ha!) next to us at the table, then it's bath time (you looooove bath time!), nursing and you're out for the night until the next morning!

Feed: You still love nursing and love to eat pretty much at anytime. You get bottles during the day while I'm at work and you take those great. You always prefer nursing over a bottle I think because it comforts you but you take a bottle like a champ, always have. You get one or two 6oz bottles of formula each day along with breast milk. You are just the happiest little baby when you're eating. Sometimes you'll just look up at me and smile while you're nursing, it's so cute. You'll take a break from eating and I catch you staring at me and when I look down at you, you'll smile so big, it's just the sweetest thing like you were just wanting to get my attention and say "hi mommy!". I think you're playing a game when you do it and it just makes your Daddy and I laugh. I have started calling you my little birdy too because you remind me of a baby bird when you're ready to eat. You just open your mouth up wide and wait to be fed!

Weight: Today at your four month appointment you weighed 13lbs 15oz (59%!). That's more than five lbs than your birth weight! We are just amazed at how quickly you are growing. I swear, sometimes when I pick you up from a nap it seems like you are bigger than when I laid you down! You really chunked up this month too, the days of our skinny little baby are long gone, we love those chubby cheeks! You did SO great at your appointment too. It was one of the sad immunization appts and you only cried for maybe 10 seconds and then you quit! Daddy and I were so impressed with our big girl.

Length: You are 24.75" long(70.5%)! More than four inches longer than birth! I can definitely tell how long you are the most when I'm nursing you because your legs start wrapping around.

Diaper Size: You moved into size 2 Pampers diapers yesterday because we finished the last box of size 1 and it seemed like you might need some extra room in there with some of your poopy diapers.

Clothes Size: You're in size 3 months and we're just moving you into a few 6 months onesies and jammies. You are so long that you need the extra room!

Hair Color: We're still not really sure what your hair color is. It will look light brown but then in the sun it looks reddish. You're eyebrows are still light and have a red tint to them so who knows! Your hair is growing so much every month.

Eye color: Your eye color is still the same as at birth, it's a dark blue/gray color but they look green in the light.

Funniest moment: Just today you cracked your Daddy and me up! You were laying in your bed and Daddy would turn the light off and your eyes would get HUGE and then he'd turn the light back on and they'd go normal again. Lights off, HUGE, lights on, normal. We laughed so hard!
Here it is :)

Milestone: You have done so much this month! You're now officially a roller! You can roll from your front to your back pretty much any chance you get and you're trying sooo hard to get from your back to your front but you're just not there yet. You started rice cereal too and you are not a fan but it's hilarious to watch you eat it. Your eyesight has really improved this month, you follow us from across the room when we walk by. You also grab a hold of things like your toys and your Sophie giraffe and just about anything that you can grab goes into your mouth. It doesn't matter if it's a burp cloth, your fingers, a toy, you just want to put it all in your mouth. Along with that comes the DROOLING!! WOW! Girly, you are quite the drooler! You wear a bib now about half the time just to keep us from having to change your clothes several times throughout the day.

Your favorite toy: You love your activity mat still and REALLY love the jumperoo! Just a month ago you couldn't reach the ground when sitting in it but your little toes now can reach when you're bouncing since you weigh more and are longer. You will bounce in that for 20-30 mins at a time. It's so great to watch you having so much fun! You also LOVE Mr B and think he's just sooo funny! You and him get along so well together, it's just really sweet.

You also have become quite the mover! You start off in one spot in your bed and wake up in another. Speaking of your bed....you wake up VERY chatty!! I tell your Daddy some days that you woke up on the chatty side of the bed because you just talk and talk so much and SO loudly! Your Daddy said that you were yelling at him the other day because you were so excited about what you were talking about. Ha!

Some of your firsts this month were:

First Thanksgiving

Visit with Santa (pics to come)
Staying two weeks during the day with your CiCi while Mommy and Daddy worked

Bouncing yourself in your jumperoo

First tastes of rice cereal

Rolling over from front to back

Arching your back (you can't be left alone anywhere anymore! You are on the MOVE!!)

Here are some outtakes from your four month photo shoot

Arching your back!

Happy girl

Playing with that tongue!

Fingers in the mouth...what's new?

Sweet Hannah Lee we love you SO much and can't wait to see what this month has in store for us! You are the sweetest, happiest baby and we couldn't feel more blessed to be your parents!

Cutie Cousins

2011-12-10T21:03:00.000-06:00

Back in October (yes, almost two months ago...) Cortney Russell, the photographer who took our maternity and newborn pics came back to take some pics of the girls. I just now got the picture CD from her so I can finally share them with you! It's amazing now to see how much they have changed in less than two months! Hannah looks SOOO much bigger now! She's definitely added a few lbs to her frame!

Sweet cousins, Hannah and Haley

Happy girl

Check out those beautiful eyes!

Daddy, Mommy and Hannah

Hannah and her Daddy's Aggie ring!

Sweet sisters

Hannah and Leah

Cousins!

Love them!

Tracy and me with our baby girls

They aren't so sure about this...

Lainey, Leah, Tracy, Haley, Kelly & Hannah. All the girls! Haley decided that getting pictures taken was LAME-O by that point.

Leah and her "Ya-yee" (Lainey)

Cutest. Picture. EVER!!

Pretty girl Leah

Side by side pics of the girls. Hannah was over it and Haley was just OUT! Ha!

Love the comparison from May and then October. Crazy to think these little ones were the reasons we had big bellies just a few months ago!

I love all these girls so much!

Thankful

2011-12-01T13:24:00.000-06:00

FYI, this is a LONG post with LOTS of pics! Thanksgiving week started great with me having the entire week off work to hang out with my favorite girl!

Wednesday morning Hannah wanted to help her Mommy make pies for Thanksgiving day. I love the face she's making.

Just hanging out in her bumbo looking cute

Hey Mommy!

Love that sweet smile

Chocolate cream pie done! Hannah looks excited doesn't she?? ;)

Thursday morning we woke up and Daddy and Hannah watched the parade while I made the pumpkin pies. Hannah LOVED the parade! It was so cute, she really liked watching the dancers the most.

After the parade we got dressed up and took some pictures before heading over to Lainey and Pops house.

She always makes this face. She tilts her head down and looks up at you. We think it's pretty cute. :)

Oh my gosh, can it be?! A family picture where we're ALL looking in the same direction!

B made it in the picture!

Leah and Haley's Gabou came to visit all the way from Ohio. Hannah loves her too and liked making faces. She looks like she's yelling "hey guys!" here. Ha!

Miss Hannah has been ALL about her tongue this month too! Actually, since she was born she's stuck her tongue out a lot but she really has figured it out this month.

Leah being silly with her Mommy

Big girl giving her Aunt K some lovin. Love her so much!

Leah and Aunt K

Pretty girl :)

Sitting up like a big girl!

Hannah hanging out with her Lainey

Almost all of the Autrey fam! The sun decided to shine on half of us during the picture but hey, it's a miracle we even all got in one picture!

Townsend and Josefovsky crews. The guys are way outnumbered now!

The girls!

Mary, Haley, Leah & Tracy

Hannah was sleepy from all the turkey so she wanted to take a nap. Hair bow in, dress up to her waist and all!

Emily and Hannah

The next day Austin, Hannah and I headed to Waco to celebrate Thanksgiving with his mom's side of the family. Hannah got lots of attention from everyone.

She was happy :)

Hanging out with her Papa/Coach. She thinks he is just SO funny!

This picture made me laugh, they are just checking each other out

This is Hannah's 2nd cousin Sam, he's about six weeks older than she is. His face cracks me up here. He wasn't quite sure what to think about her!

She was talking to him but he thought she was a little strange. Ha!

You think we have a happy girl?? Love her!

She surprised us to by holding her own bottle when CiCi was feeding her!

All of the 2nd cousins!

Hannah, Garrett, Miles, Sam, Emory, Cole and Noah

After dinner we headed to Georgetown for the weekend where Hannah got lots of CiCi, Papa/Coach and Aunt Rachel time! She's hanging out watching football here. She watched a lot of football on Saturday and even got babysat by Coach! She slept the entire time for him too so he had it pretty easy.

I'm not doing a great job lately of taking pictures because I feel like I never sit down so that's the only one I got from Georgetown. Oops! We had a great Thanksgiving and we have more to be thankful this year than ever. Hannah is our little miracle baby and we are thankful every day when we get to see her sweet little face.

Rock-A-Bye Baby Shower

2011-11-30T07:58:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago a few girls and I hosted a Rock-N-Roll themed baby shower at my house for our friend Liz and baby Adelina (due date is Christmas Eve!). Liz is one of my oldest and bestest friends and is probably the funniest person I've ever met so it was a lot of fun getting to throw her a shower. We worked hard to make sure there was food she loves, drinks she loves (when she's not preggers) and a theme she loves since she has never been one to shy away from a personal concert.

Champagne cocktails bar

Lindsey found someone on Etsy who made the invitations and all the accessories to go with it. Gotta love Etsy!

Popcorn favors for the pop star momma!

I found the cutest guitar diaper cake (also on Etsy) for the mommy-to-be placed right along with her all time favorite foods - beef jerky and pickles! The only thing missing was a plate of cheese. Liz has quite a mature palate. ;) Hey, you like what you like!

Yummy cupcakes

Rock-a-bye baby invite

Adelina's own water bottles!

Mommy-to-be!

I can't wait for Hannah and Adelina to grow up together! Liz and I have big plans for these girls, they are going to be best friends, they just don't know it yet! :)

Lots of yummy food

Amber got our girls the cutest little ruffle bottoms

I made Liz some burp cloths and I've never really appreciated how large they are until now since Hannah spits up all over the place these days.

To go along with the theme, I got Adelina some rock star clothes for both mom and dad

Liz got a ton of great gifts including this NKOTB onesie! Gotta love old school boy bands

Liz rockin' it out

Mommy-to-be with her hostesses

Me, Liz and Lindsey. Our friendship began a LOOONG time ago when Lindsey and I took Liz to the movies one night and we've stayed close ever since!

Congratulations Liz!! I can't wait for sweet little Lina to arrive and for you to get to experience how special motherhood is. It's the best thing in the world and you are going to be such a great mommy to your baby girl.

Uh Oh

2011-11-29T14:15:00.000-06:00

It looks like we've got a little thumb sucker on our hands!

Baby girl LOVES to stick her fingers in her mouth and she's just recently discovered that she has a thumb also! She's the cutest little thumb sucker I've ever seen. :)

Cereal Is Yucky!

2011-11-29T08:16:00.001-06:00

There was a big event at the Townsend house last night! Miss Hannah got to try rice cereal for the first time!

Take a look and you can decide if she liked it or not....

First taste

That is a look of pure disgust on her face

Austin and I could not stop laughing at this picture because we've never seen her make a face like this! Best. Picture. EVER. Hahaha!

Pretty sure more ended up on her chin and bib than in her mouth

Looking at Daddy with the video camera giving him the "help me Daddy" eyes.

But it was all worth it because she got her bath afterwards! How sweet is this?! She's just holding onto her Daddy's finger while getting her bath. Love it.

She's such a big girl now!

One Year Ago...

2011-11-22T17:31:00.002-06:00

One year ago today our lives were changed forever. We got the news that we'd all anxiously been waiting to hear, I was pregnant! I remember that day so clearly. I had only been home from the hospital from my kidney stones incident for four days and I was back at the doctors office getting my blood taken, then off to my regular acupuncture appointment (that would continue until I was 12 weeks pregnant), then a stop by Tracy's to see Miss Leah and back home to wait for the phone to ring. Every single time my phone rang that day (and it rang a LOT because all of my family and close friends knew we were getting the news that day) my heart would drop thinking it was the dr's office calling. Nurse Allison finally called at 3:30 while I was sitting on the couch distracting myself with some Beverly Hills 90210 (ironically it was the episode where Janet tells Steve she's pregnant, I'll never forget that!) and told me my blood test results were in and I was pregnant! Dr H called not much later to congratulate us and I just could not stop crying. I seriously have never cried such happy tears in my life. We had gone through the hardest year of our lives and to have it all end the way it did we couldn't have been happier. So, 10 days after the embryo transfer, little Miss Hannah was growing by the day and it was just the beginning of the greatest thing that's ever happened to us!

B and me impatiently waiting for Austin to get home to give him the good news!

B wearing his Big Brother shirt to surprise his Daddy with the news

A year later we get to spend every day with this sweet baby girl and we couldn't be happier!

Hannah Lee you are the greatest gift your Daddy and I ever could have received and we love you SO much! We smile every time we see you and never could have imagined love this big. Your smile warms our hearts and your squeals and coos are music to our ears. You ended 2010 on the highest note for us and 2011 has been better every day. We love you baby girl!

What a difference a year makes!

Early Bird

2011-11-18T09:30:00.002-06:00

I got woken up this morning 10 minutes before my alarm went off because someone has found her voice and IT IS LOUD!! I couldn't even be upset that my alarm hadn't gone off yet because she's just too stinking cute!

(Photo courtesy of CiCi who sends me sweet pics throughout her and Hannah's days together)

It really was cute though, she was just squawking (yes, squawking is the appropriate word for the sound she was making) and cooing away. Baby girl LOVES the sound of her voice now that she realizes it's her!

Another big event happened this week, Miss Hannah rolled over on her own!! Video to come!

It's also worth noting that while she was up early this morning talking away, she got to fall back asleep into a blissful slumber while Mommy and Daddy had to get up and start their day. Still worth waking up early to hear that sweet sound. :)

Cutest Pumpkin In The Patch!

2011-11-16T13:52:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago we decided to have a mini photo shoot in our backyard with our little pumpkin. I sent Austin to the pumpkin patch to buy a large pumpkin (large pumpkins are not cheap by the way. Yowza!), we carved it out, set up the scene and got the cutest pictures ever of our sweet baby girl!

Cutest pumpkin in the patch!

Baby girl had a great time hanging out in her pumpkin!

Love that cute face!

Sweetness

Some more cute pictures

Behind the scenes! I basically just walked around our house and picked some of our larger fall decorations and brought them outside and set everything up. The only "real" thing in the picture is the pumpkin and the yellow mums that Austin had planted a while back in that pot.

Getting Hannah ready to be a super model! No one ever said being a model is easy.... We had her in her footed jammies that we only had on her bottom half. Then we wrapped her up in a blanket and put her in the cleaned out pumpkin. We then packed her in there nice and tight with another blanket stuffed down in the pumpkin. Miss Hannah was NOT going anywhere! I think she really liked that she was sitting up on her own since she was supported so well. The only part of her body actually touching the pumpkin were her arms. Austin used the umbrella as shade for her during the photo session while I snapped away like a crazy momma trying to get the best picture. Her entire photo shoot lasted all of five minutes. :)

Stuffing her in!

Snug as a bug!

B even wanted to be a part of the picture!

She was so cute, I love our sweet little pumpkin so much!

First Aggie Game

2011-11-13T07:31:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago we headed to College Station for the first of many Aggie football games that Miss Hannah will attend! Times sure have changed. It was an 11:00am game against Missouri and I had to wake up at 6am to make sure we got on the road in time. Austin was so excited to take his baby girl to one of his favorite places!

On the road with some entertainment

Hannah's first time at Kyle Field!

We were lucky enough to be in a suite for the game. ~~I don't think~~ I know we wouldn't have brought Hannah if we had to sit in the stadium seats. She's a high maintenance girl. ;)

One of the many benefits of watching the game in a suite! Hannah could be changed and fed all in one spot and we didn't have to go searching for a public bathroom.

Watching the game with Daddy! I thought for a while that she was the Aggies good luck charm but I was wrong. :( My friend Allison makes these cute bows and it was so funny because during the game they show people in the stands on the jumbo tron and they showed a little girl wearing the same bow and Austin's bachelor boss said "Hey, Austin! That girl has the same bow as Hannah!" It just cracked me up that 1. he noticed Hannah's bow enough to recognize a similar one and 2. he was yelling around for Austin so he could see the similar bow as well.

Cutest little Aggie I've ever seen!

Fightin' Texas Aggie Band at halftime

Maggie was so cute, as soon as she found out Hannah was there she wanted us to bring her down to see her. She was just amazed and kept petting Hannah. It was too cute.

Just touching Hannah and being so sweet to her!

Over and over again... ;) She's going to be such a good big sister to her little sister arriving soon!

Mike and Austin with their sweet girls

Three men and a baby

Hannah makes me laugh in this picture. She's checking Maggie out.

Our attempt at a family picture. It was a fail. :(

Sleepy girl. She slept through the 3rd quarter.

We met up with AJ, Aunt Nan and Uncle Jeff after the game. Hannah got lots of lovin'!

Ok Mommy, enough pictures already. She looks like her Daddy here big time!

We met everyone to tailgate after the game. We only lasted about an hour before heading back home but we had a great time! This made me laugh, Austin was shading his baby girl from the sun, he was afraid she'd get a sunburn walking from the stadium to the tailgate. So sweet.

Can't wait until next season when we get to bring her to more games!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-12T21:14:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago Austin's parents came into town for his birthday (and to see sweet Hannah of course) so we took advantage of having some extra hands and headed to the pumpkin patch! Ok, so technically we weren't at a "pumpkin patch", we were at the church outside our neighborhood but it's as close as we're getting to a pumpkin patch this year.

Before we went to the pumpkin patch Papa and Hannah were hanging out. Clearly, they weren't having any fun. ;)

Baby girl hanging out with the pumpkins. She's thrilled, can't you tell??

Little cutie

Our attempt at a family picture. B even made it into a picture!

CiCi giving those sweet cheeks some lovin'

The cutest little sad face ever! Of course she had absolutely nothing to be upset about...

Sweetness

Attempt #2 of a picture of our little pumpkin

Hannah cracks us up. She smiles NON STOP until you put a camera in front of her. Then she stares in amazement at it. Same thing with the cell phone too. Even when she's not smiling, she's still the cutest little thing I've ever seen!

Three Months Old!

2011-11-11T10:22:00.001-06:00

Baby girl, you are THREE months old today! These have been the quickest and happiest three months of our lives! Today is even more of a special day because it is the one year anniversary of when I had my embryo transfer and you officially became YOU! This time last year we were hoping and praying SO hard for you and now we get to love on you every day and we just couldn't be any happier. What a difference a year makes!

Three months old!

Happy girl

Hannah, here is what you've been up to in your third month!

Sleep: Sweet baby girl, you are the BEST sleeper at night! Daddy and I are SO lucky that you sleep so well. You've been sleeping through the night since after you were one month old but now you don't even wake up in the mornings, I wake you up to nurse you around 5am and then I put you back to sleep until it's time to leave for the day around 6:30. You go to sleep every night around 7:30-8pm and on the weekends you wake up on your own between 7-8am. We are blessed beyond belief with this and we know it! You still aren't consistant with your napping but you usually get at least two-three hours of naps throughout the day according to Lainey.

Daily Routine: This is kind of different now since I've been back to work for two weeks. Right now I wake you up to nurse you around 5am, you go back to sleep until around 6:30 and then we head to Lainey and Pop's house for you to spend the day playing with your Lainey. Most days you sleep an hour here and there instead of taking that long afternoon nap you used to take. You spend the day switching from playing on your activity mat (which you LOVE now!), swinging in the swing and watching your mobile. I pick you up around 4:30 and we head home to hang out until Daddy gets home. Then your Daddy and I take turns eating dinner while the other one plays with you and then it's bath time (you looooove bath time!), nursing and you're out for the night until the next morning!

Feed: You still LOVE nursing and love to eat pretty much at anytime. You get bottles during the day now while I'm at work and you take those great. I don't think it matters what/how you're being fed, you just want to eat! You always prefer nursing over a bottle I think because it comforts you but you take a bottle like a champ, always have. This month I started adding a bottle of formula into your feedings just to make sure you get enough food. When I'm at home you don't get the formula but I was getting nervous about you not having enough when I'm gone so we added that bottle into your routine just to be safe and it's going great! You are just the happiest little baby when you're eating. Sometimes you'll just look up at me and smile while you're nursing, it's so cute. Lainey says sometimes you do that while she feeds you a bottle too. Right now you get a 4oz bottle which you only finish about half the time, other times you like to eat a little and then come back to finish it after a break.

Weight: We went to the doctor yesterday and you weighed 12 lbs 3.5 oz. (37%) Almost 4 lbs more than at birth! You've grown more this month than any other month so far for sure. You're actually getting little chubby legs which is so cute. It's crazy though because last month you were in the 50% of your weight and now you're 37% but you're SO much bigger! You're growing soooo fast, Daddy says it's way too fast for him and I agree!

Length: I'm not sure you're length right now, we'll find out at your four month check-up. You are still long and lean, just getting bigger everyday!

Diaper Size: You wear size 1 Pampers diapers

Clothes Size: Some 0-3 month sizes but mostly 3 month sizes. You're so long that I think we'll be moving you to 6 month jammies soon! I think you're going to be a tall girl. It's sad packing away all your little clothes, you are just growing so fast!

Hair Color: We're still not really sure what your hair color is. It's definitely getting darker and looks like it will be brown but then in the sun it looks reddish. You're eyebrows are still light and have a red tint to them so who knows! Your hair is growing pretty quickly now, it's the softest hair I've ever felt.

Eye color: Your eye color is still the same as at birth, it's a dark blue/gray color. Daddy always says they look green to him which wouldn't surprise me because he and I both have hazel/green eyes. Everyone always comments on how alert you are because you're always looking around and following us with those big beautiful eyes.

Funniest moment: You've really started talking this month! You make us laugh with the noises that you make and you try to mimic us when we make sounds at you. You are seriously one of the happiest babies I've ever seen and you smile constantly! When you're not fussy of course... When you see someone you love you do the cutest thing, you kind of tilt your head down all shy like and get a huge smile on your face and bury your head in the person's shoulder who's holding you and then look back at the person you're admiring. It is so sweet. We couldn't have asked for a happier baby!

Milestone: You are really close to rolling over! You're advanced too, in my opinion of course ;) because you are trying to roll over back to front instead of the opposite way. This is a new thing this week. You've found your voice this month also and you just love to coo and make sounds at us and squeal when you're excited. You've also started giggling at us too! It's so cute! It just melts my heart.

Your favorite toy: Your favorite toy hands down is your little cloth crinkly sounding book. We never go anywhere without it. You are also obsessed with your hands! Not necessarily a toy, but your hands sure do entertain you and you just stick them in front of your face and look like you're concentrating really hard on how to get them from in front of you to in your mouth. You always succeed. ;) You just suck on your hands like crazy and drool all over yourself while doing it. Hey, whatever makes you happy! You also have really enjoyed your activity mat this month, last month you still weren't interested but you just lay on it now and look at all the lights kicking and trying to hit everything that's hanging down in front of you.

You and Haley enjoying some activity mat time at Lainey & Pops house

Some of your firsts this month were:

Being away from Mommy during the day

Giggling

Halloween

Visiting a pumpkin patch (pictures soon)

First time sitting in a pumpkin (a whole post on that to follow)

Hanging out in your Bumbo seat for longer periods of time

Staying with Lainey all day

Roadtrip to College Station

Aggie game

Here are some outakes from your three month photo session

Never without those hands far from your mouth!

I have SO much catching up I need to do on the blog to show everything we've done this month. Hopefully I'll get to some of that this weekend.

We love you so much Hannah Lee!

Locks Of Love

2011-11-02T11:20:00.000-05:00

So, you remember the changes I talked about last week? Well, this was the second one! I decided around the first of the year to donate my hair to Locks of Love. In the world of Locks of Love, my hair is prime real estate so I decided to only get minimum hair trims here and there throughout the year so that when I did get the big cut I wouldn't have super short hair. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Locks of Love is an organization that makes wigs for children suffering from illness/diseases where they lose their hair.

So, here are the before and after pictures!

Ladies and gentlemen, I had some looong hair! I got 11 inches cut off and when my hair was in a ponytail it measured 18 inches long. It. drove. me. crazy!

Before haircut

After haircut, it turned out much longer than I expected. It's crazy to me that after 11 inches gone it still was shoulder length.

Here's the donation! It looks shorter than it is in the picture because it's kind of curled under a little bit.

Can I interest anyone in a pair of hair earrings?? Gross. Ha!

I love having my hair cut, it feels thicker and so healthy! As Tracy said, I literally had a weight lifted off my shoulders. Ha! I'm so happy I was able to do this for little kids who need the hair and I'll probably do it again one day in the future. Unfortunately for the Locks of Love people, they are going to need quite a few more people to donate their hair to add to mine for a full wig since I have such fine hair but I think it will do. :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:00:00.001-05:00

When you're this cute...

and you're face is this sweet...

and your smile lights up a room....

you need TWO Halloween outfits!

Mommy's little sweet pea. I've called her that since she was born. That actually was the 1st thing I said to her in the delivery room "Hey sweet pea!" I have no idea why, what can I say, I was on some serious meds. Ha! But when I saw this pea costume I knew what she was dressing as for Halloween!

Cutest little pea I've ever seen!

Silly girl trying to eat her hand (something she constantly is doing!)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Changes

2011-10-30T20:35:00.002-05:00

Last week was full of changes. The first change was a sad one, I went back to work on Thursday. To say I was dreading it would be a major understatement. I started crying about two weeks ago. I just couldn't imagine being away from my baby girl all day long, the most we'd ever been apart was about two hours every now and then. I know that every new mom who goes back to work experiences these emotions but it didn't help to ease my heart ache. Now I will just cherish those weekend mornings with Hannah when we wake up and just spend time together smiling and talking to each other even more. It's so sweet, it's my favorite time of the day! For now my mom is watching Hannah so she's getting lots of Lainey time which I know she loves. Lainey is doing a good job of sending me Hannah pics so I don't get too sad during the day!

I have the BEST husband and sister EVER! Austin knew how hard it was for me to go back to work so he sent me these beautiful flowers to cheer me up!

Tracy also sent me flowers! Hers is a little plant so I'm going to try my best to keep them alive in my office. She wrote the sweetest note to cheer me up too, so thoughtful.

Sweet baby girl was worn out by the time I got home on Friday! She slept 11 hours straight that night!

I miss her SOOOOO much during the day but I know that she is in good, loving hands. She seems to be a little confused not having her Mommy around and is missing me but she loves her Lainey so I know she'll get used to the new routine and do great.

I'll post later this week about the other change that happened. It's one that I've been waiting on for almost a year. I have several posts I need to get to, I'm just having a hard time finding the time!

Too Soon???

2011-10-26T15:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, I thought it was supposed to be years before I started getting looks like this! Isn't it too soon for my sweet little baby girl to be looking at her Mommy like this?!

We were at the grocery store and she was in a very good mood, just smiling away at me and I just happened to catch her giving me this look about halfway down the baking isle. I was cracking up at her. She's such a silly little girl. LOVE HER!!

Hannah's Nursery

2011-10-23T21:25:00.000-05:00

First of all, what is the difference between a "nursery" and a "room"? But since Hannah is a baby I'll call her room a nursery. :) I finally got around to getting some pics of my favorite room in the house. Before Hannah was born I used to come into her room and sit in the chair and look around and dream about what it would be like once she was here and now she is and it's better than I imagined!

The view entering our little munchkins room. It's hard to tell in pictures but the walls are a pale mint color that is so soothing and pretty.

Here is the best spot with the most comfy chair and ottoman ever! My AWESOME sister and brother-in-law gave us this as a gift when I was pregnant! So sweet of them!!

Two of my favorite pictures with Hannah in my belly are on display on the side table. We took a really cute picture with the girls last weekend that will look so cute with the cousin belly shot of Tracy and I.

Here is where I store some stuff like her teeny tiny little socks and shoes, bows, cards, etc and display some of her sweet gifts from friends and family while we were in the hospital. We have a small TV in there for now so that we can be entertained while I'm nursing her at night (once she's in her room) or when we're just hanging out in there while we're rocking her or she's playing in her crib. Once she's older we don't plan on keeping it in there.

This sign was on display at one of my baby showers. I love this verse because it's so true.

This is another saying that is true

I love this frame. I always sing this to Hannah when I'm trying to calm her when she's fussy.

This sign hangs over her closet door

Here is one of Hannah's favorite spots. We got a dresser instead of a changing table so that it could stay in her room later on. I changed out the knobs for cute ceramic pink knobs to match her room.

This is the bow holder that a friend of mine made to match Hannah's room. She did such a great job matching it too! Almost every single one of these bows was given to us as a gift. Baby girl has plenty of bows to last her a while!

I ordered these blocks off etsy and had them made to match her bedding. I love how they turned out.

I love this little sparkly shoe. The bottom has all of her birth info on it. Austin's Aunt Nan gave it to me at one of my baby showers.

Our sweet baby girl before she was born and then the day after

I absolutely LOVE this saying!

Hannah's crib that she'll one day sleep in. One day very far from now if I have my way... I have a feeling I'm going to lose that battle.

The wall decal I ordered soon after we decided on Hannah's name. It is so cute and looks great against her walls, it's just hard to tell in the pictures.

We striped one of her walls with glossy paint (same color as the rest of the walls just glossy) for a little change. I love it.

That wall has some of my favorite things on it. Our God daughter Avery and her brother Payden gave me the pregnant mommy figurine for Christmas last year and my parents gave me the parents and baby figurine the day Hannah was born. Tracy, Ryan, Leah and Haley gave Hannah the block with all of her birth info on it. It's such a sweet keepsake that I love.

This is so special to me, Hannah's CiCi (Austin's mom) drew this picture 40 years ago! She showed it to me last time we were visiting and I just loved it and knew it would go perfectly in Hannah's room. How talented is she?!

Hanging to the left of that picture is baby girl's sweet picture and her foot and hand print from when she was about two weeks old.

This is the view while sitting in the chair.

Of course no post would be complete without a picture of Miss Hannah herself! I love this little girl SOOO much! I can't believe she's already 10 weeks old!

Such a cutie!

And then 30 seconds later.... still so cute, just not as happy! She loves sticking that little lip out.

Mr B wanted in on the action too of course. He's very protective of his sissy. He doesn't like anyone he doesn't know to come into her room. A neighbor that he hasn't seen much came over and I was showing her Hannah's room and B growled at her but after she pet him he caved and let her enter. ;)

Two Months Old!

2011-10-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many times I'm going to say this (probably every single monthly post) but I CAN NOT believe my little munchkin is already two months old! Austin and I were talking about it last night how every single moment, short of a few hours here and there, I am with her since I'm still at home all day. I love it! It's going to be soooo hard going back to work in a few weeks because I seriously am rarely in another room without her for extended periods of time. I think she loves it just as much as I do. :)

This month has been even better than the first! We are having SO much fun with Hannah and I love her more and more everyday. It's just amazing how much you can love your child.

Hannah, here is what you've been up to in your second month!

Sleep: This is pretty much the same as the first month. You are really consistent on your sleeping 90% of the time. You are GREAT at night but don't like to nap too often during the day. Normally you take a good 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon and that's your big nap for the day but you almost always take a few cat naps in the mornings. You have gone from waking up twice a night in your first month to once a night (YAY!) and that's usually between 4-5am so when I go back to work I guess that's when I'll get up for the day. You usually go to bed around 9-10pm and wake up between 8-9am. We're working on getting you to sleep earlier so you can have more of the pattern that we'd like to set for you when you're older. Hopefully by next month you'll be going to sleep for the night around 8pm. One of my favorite things about you sleeping is that you smile so much when you first go to sleep. It is so sweet and we love watching you fall asleep.

Daily Routine: You usually wake up around 8-9am and eat and spend time in your Boppy pillow playing with Mommy. It is SO cute and you give me the BEST smiles in the morning! We just talk and smile for about 20 minutes and then you like to hang out and enjoy your morning in your swing. You just relax and look around for about 30 mins to an hour, half the time you doze off for a little while. Then we just hang out, you eat more and some days you keep Mommy super busy by wanting to be held, going potty, getting fussy, etc. We've been getting out of the house more these days so our routine isn't set but if we're out that's usually when you start your afternoon nap. If we're at home then you go down for your afternoon nap around 1-2pm and sleep until 4-5pm. You eat and we wait for Daddy to come home. When he comes home it's all Hannah/Daddy time! We give you a bath every other day and then hang out with you until bedtime. You started taking Zantac twice a day for reflux, it's not too bad but we could tell you were feeling a little discomfort and getting fussy while burping and having some spit up so the doctor thought this would help.

You are still getting fussy every night around 6-7pm. We have no idea why but something is making you mad. I think you're just worn out and cranky. That's ok though because you smile SO much at us all day long! I think you're a really happy baby. :)

Feed: You eat often, probably between every 1.5-2 hours while you're awake. That is one thing that ALWAYS comforts you. If you are crying and we can't get you to stop any other way I just start feeding you and you're a happy girl! If we give you a bottle because we're out or someone else is watching you then you take between 4-5oz and don't eat again for a longer period of time. Last night Daddy watched you while I was gone and you took a 3 oz bottle at 7:45pm and fell asleep shortly after and didn't wake up to eat again until 4:45am! If you were younger I would have woken you up to feed you but you're big enough now to wake up when you want to eat so we just go with it.

Weight: At your two month doctor visit on Thursday you weighed 10 lbs 8.6 oz (50%)! Two lbs more than you did at birth! You're face is a lot fuller and you're working on a pretty impressive double chin these days. Ha! You are just SO cute. :) You got your two month immunizations while we were there and you did so good. You only cried while the nurse was physically giving you your shots and then you stopped about 30 seconds later. It made your Daddy and me sad. :(

Length: 23 inches (81%)! A whole 2.5 inches longer than at birth! You are still long and lean, just getting bigger everyday!

Diaper Size: You wear size 1 Pampers diapers

Clothes Size: 0-3 month sizes and some 3 month sizes. You're so long that you fit in 3 month sizes pretty good but they are still a little roomy on you everywhere else.

Hair Color: We're not really sure what your hair color is. It's the same as when you were born and sometimes it looks light brown but in the sun it looks strawberry blond. Your eyebrows are all red though!

Eye color: Your eye color is still the same as at birth, it's a dark blue/gray color. Everyone always comments on how alert you are because you're always looking around and following us with those big beautiful eyes.

Funniest moment: You're a sneaky little thing! You know what you're doing 100% of the time I'm convinced. The other night you didn't want to go back to sleep for some reason and when I turned the lamp back on to see what was wrong you gave me this sneaky little smile like you wanted to play. I just laughed at you and put you in your swing for a little while until you fell back asleep and we went back to our room. You also suck on your hand constantly and make the loudest noises while doing it! I'm surprised you don't have a mark on your hand. It makes us laugh. The grunting noises that you make while trying to go potty get us pretty good too!

Milestone: You played in your jumperoo for the first time this weekend. You loved it! You're still to small for it but since you can hold your head up so well we decided to give it a try. I'm going to keep putting you in it everyday for a few minutes so you can get a change of scenery and play.

Loving all the lights

Sweet little feet not anywhere near the floor yet!

Trying to reach for the toys

Your favorite toy: This past week you've really started to notice toys when I put them in front of you. The fabric kind that have crunchy sounds are your favorite. You will just smile when I'm playing with you and make noises with the toys. You still love your swing and LOVE being on your changing table! I get some of your best smiles while you're hanging out there. After I change you I'll just sit on the ottoman by the changing table and let you entertain yourself. Most of the time we're in there for over 30 minutes because you're just having a great time kicking your legs, making sounds and getting so excited.

Some of your firsts this month were:

Roadtrip to Georgetown

Lunchtime with the ladies (Dede, Audrey, Tiffani and Amanda)

Visit to Daddy's work

Already bored with it!

Lunch with Mommy's coworkers

Lots of going out to eat adventures

First sleepover with Leah and Haley

Hannah, your Daddy and I love you SO much!! You are getting so big SOOO fast (Daddy says it's too fast) and we can't believe you are already two months old!

Some outtakes from your two month photo shoot

The ABC's of Me

2011-10-10T15:20:00.000-05:00

I saw this on another blog and thought it was a fun thing to do so I copied it. :) Well, with my own ABC's of course.

The ABC's of Me

Age: 31 (seriously, when did THAT happen?!)

Bed size: king

Chores you hate: Floors! Sweeping, mopping, anything to do with floors I hate.

Dogs: Brody our sweet little Brussels Griffon

Essential start of your day: water

Favorite color: when I was little it was purple so I guess I'll stick with that

Height: 5'0" I'm tall ;)

Instruments I play: Um...does Guitar Hero count?

Job title: Instructional Designer, thrilling, I know.

Kids: sweet baby Hannah Lee

Live: Texas

Mom's name: birth name - Margaret, name she goes by - Elaine, Grandma name - Lainey

Nickname: Kel, Kellbell

Overnight hospital stays: Oh yes, three different occasions in the last 11 months! The kidney stone fiasco of November 2010 (4 nights), labor with Miss Hannah in August (5 nights) and Hannah's hospital stay in September (2 nights)

Pet peeve: talking with your mouth full (gross), biting your finger nails (AUSTIN!) and people interrupting while you're talking (rude)

Right or left handed: BOTH! I'm ambidextrous and I love it! It makes eating and putting on makeup SO easy! Apparently only 5% of the population is fully ambidextrous.

Time you wake up: Well, right now it varies when Hannah gets up for the day, usually between 8-9am. In a few weeks it will be back to the early hour of 5am. :(

Underwear: um...yes!

Vegetables you dislike: raw onions, is cilantro a vegetable or an herb because I hate it. Yuck!

What makes you run late: Before Hannah, nothing made me run late, I was very punctual! Now, it's pretty hard to make sure we get out the door on time but it's so worth it.

X-rays you've had done: Lots! I played a lot of sports and was a cheerleader growing up so I had lots of injuries throughout the years. Never a broken bone though!

Yummy food you make: lots of good stuff, I'm pretty good at following a recipe. ;)

Zoo animal: monkeys

Favorite

2011-10-05T21:33:00.001-05:00

I had my favorite moment (so far) of being Hannah's Mommy tonight. She LOVES being on her changing table and just kicks her legs, waves her arms and stares at the fan and lights. It's so cute. I stood over her and said "Hi" and she just looked at me and smiled. I kept smiling and saying Hi over and over to her and she just kept looking me in the eyes and smiling bigger and bigger. Melted my heart. I got teary eyed looking into that sweet smiling face and I realized my cheeks were hurting from smiling so big.

Love. Her.

You've Got A Baby! In A Bar...

2011-10-01T16:29:00.002-05:00

Anyone remember Reese Witherspoon saying that in Sweet Home Alabama?? That was my first thought when we took Hannah to a benefit today. It was for a six year old sweet little boy with leukemia and it was at a sports bar & grill where there were kids everywhere but it just made me laugh that Hannah was in the place that we've gone to on several occasions to drink brewskis and watch football.

We watched the Aggies lose to Arkansas :(

Pops feeding Miss Hannah after she decided to wake up and join the party. She was pretty popular there too!

Trying for a family pic, seven week old babies don't like to look at the camera for some reason. ;)

Hannah in her Gig 'Em ruffle bottoms

This isn't a very good quality picture because it's from my phone but I just thought she looked so cute wearing her new Aggie bow from the Ostermann's!

1st Road Trip!

2011-10-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Hannah went on her first road trip. She did SO great! We went to visit CiCi and Mark (we still haven't decided on Mark's "grandpa" name yet, many names have been thrown around but Grandpa just doesn't fit for him. Picking his name has been harder than picking Hannah's! Ha). She slept the entire three hour drive there and was ready to gets lots of lovin' once we arrived.

Hannah with the grandparents

You think they love her??

Hannah hanging out watching the Aggies play

This is a pretty typical face around our house. Baby girl LOVES eating her hand!

Watching the Aggies!

Her serious face

Chubby cheeks

Too cool for school

On Sunday we all headed to Waco to visit the Horton side of the family. Hannah got to meet all her cousins! She met five of the seven cousins but we only got a picture of four of them together.

Miles, Sam, Hannah & Emory

Emory giving sweet kisses to Hannah. Emory finally gets a girl to play with! The other five cousins are all boys.

Mommy, Daddy and little Hannah Lee

CiCi with baby girl

Hannah slept the entire three hour ride home too. She was worn out from all the fun she had all weekend. Let's hope all of our road trips are as good as this one was!

Sweet Cousins

2011-10-01T15:34:00.000-05:00

About a week ago my mom, Tracy and I took the girls to get their pictures taken. They did SO good, I said when we got there if we got even one picture I'd consider it a success and both of them were so good the entire time! No meltdowns, no poopy diapers, nothing!

Mommy with her baby girl

Sweetness

Haley and her Momma

Lainey with two of her girls

Lainey & Hannah

Lainey & Haley

Sweet cousins

Check out those big pretty eyes!

Little cutie

Haley is such a sweetie but don't be fooled, this girl can scream just about as loud as an adult can. Ha! For real. It makes me laugh so hard.

Little Hannah

Mommy's little sweet pea

Wide awake!

Tracy and me with our pretty girls

Besties!

Hannah - 6 weeks, Haley - 8 weeks

Next time we go little Miss Leah is coming with us!

How Cute Am I?

2011-09-29T16:27:00.000-05:00

I'd say pretty darn cute!

Love my SEVEN week old baby girl!

Weekend

2011-09-27T13:40:00.001-05:00

The weekend before last was a busy and fun one! We started it off by going to Sams for the first time with Hannah. It was her first official outing that wasn't a Drs office or another house. We were almost to Sams when I realized we forgot her diaper bag! Rookie mistake! Luckily we were going for diapers and wipes so if needed, we could just open those up before buying them. She slept the entire time so we were good. :)

Saturday was Aggie game day so Hannah was all dressed up in her gear looking cute. She has on ruffle bottoms that Lindsey bought her on at say "Gig Em" on the bottom and are SO cute, I need to get a picture of them. Liz and Chris came over for dinner and to see Miss Hannah and get a glimpse of their VERY near future when their little girl arrives in a few months! She and Hannah are going to be BFFs, we already know this. :)

Me and my sweet little girl, LOVE her!

Sunday we headed over to Tracy and Ryan's to hang out for Ryan's birthday. A few days before that Hannah and I stayed the night while Austin was out of town. This was the scene in the morning, babies just hanging out!

On Sunday Leah was running around like usual entertaining everyone and saw her baby doll. Since Haley has arrived she's caught on to what's going on with Haley during feedings. A few weeks ago she started "feeding" her baby dolls. It's hilarious! Since she's two and as seen in the pictures doesn't really know what she's doing we get a good laugh about it. She's right though, that's how babies eat! Sort of....

Leah feeding herself with the baby dolls bottle while being a good mommy and feeding her baby.

She's more talented than most, she can feed her baby AND herself AND walk around the house at the same time! She's a multi-tasker. Something I have not yet accomplished. ;)

Riding the horsey on Uncle Austin!

Haley was snoozing away most of the time we were there.

Leah was being a sweet big sister and wanted Haley to have a scarf and stuffed animal while she was swinging. She just piled stuff on her little sister. Ha

Hannah snoozing away too

Check out those eyebrows! I think we may have a little redhead on our hands! Her eyebrows are getting more red by the day it seems.

Leah putting Pops' hat on her Mommy

Sweet girl giving kisses

Look who woke up! Happy girl so cute

Giving Pops kisses

Kisses for Hannah

When the girls are together it's like a glimpse of what our lives would have been like with twins

Sweet cousins

Check out those forehead wrinkles! She always raises her eyebrows, it's so cute

Cutie

Just hanging out with Daddy

It was pretty much the most "non-birthday birthday" for Ryan but he did get presents still and we had fun. We've all learned now that kids are involved our birthdays are no longer the same. Hannah proved that one to me this year for sure!

Poor Baby

2011-09-15T14:10:00.000-05:00

My birthday was this past Friday. The plan was for Hannah and I to have a great day at home together and then when she took her afternoon nap I was going to shower and get ready for our evening. We had a night out planned with some friends and Lainey and Pops were all ready to babysit Miss Hannah for the first time. I've never even been away from her longer than a trip to the grocery store (which I gladly took since I hadn't been in a grocery store in months since I was on medical leave) so I was excited to go out with Austin and some friends for my birthday.

Yeah....didn't happen.

Friday morning Hannah took a nap and when she woke up I changed her out of her jammies and noticed that her right breast area was really red and had a HUGE lump on it. I'd guess it was the size of a quarter. I called her pediatrician and got an appointment for that afternoon. My Mom came and picked us up and we headed to the doctor. I thought it was probably some kind of infection and that we could get some antibiotics for her and be back at home an hour later. Well, it was an infection but we didn't get antibiotics and get sent home. Hannah's doctor wanted us to go to the emergency room from her office and get admitted for at least 48 hours so she could receive IV antibiotics. Um....WHAT?! You want us to go to the HOSPITAL!?! NOT what I thought was going to happen!! The problem was that since Hannah is so young she can't take oral antibiotics effectively so she needed an IV. I'm happy that her doctor takes such precautions with newborns but I was just shocked. Luckily my Mom was there with us because the second I got into the car I started crying. I called Austin and let him know what was going on and he left work right away to meet us at the ER. Our poor baby was so upset too because when we had to put her back into her carseat the straps hurt her infection spot. :( It was so sad.

Hannah sleeping in the ER. Doesn't this just break your heart? My poor baby, she's too little to be in the hospital!

She was 100% unfazed by the ER experience thankfully. Getting the IV put in wasn't the most pleasant experience but they gave her something called "TootSweet" which was awesome and helped a LOT! Baby girl LOVED it!! It's 24% pure sugar basically and it releases endorphin's that make the babies not feel pain since they've never had any kind of sugar before. It was awesome!

A picture of her IV that I took with my phone. Sadness. :(

Sleeping away while she got her first round of antibiotics

Finally that evening we got admitted to our own room in the pediatrics unit. Sweet Hannah was pretty popular there! We had GREAT nurses who took care of us the entire weekend, other than the fact that she was in the hospital sick, it was a fantastic experience. We were in a regular room with a hospital bed and couch and they just brought in a crib for Hannah. I didn't like to see her in that crib but it worked for her! It seemed too "hospital" like for me for some reason. It was nice for all of us to be able to stay in the room together though.

This just about broke my heart. :( Baby girl sleeping away with her arm out so they wouldn't have to wake her up to give her the antibiotics in the middle of the night. The IV was always in her arm obviously but she was only hooked up every six hours for about an hour while they administered the medicine so we didn't have to mess with the tubes all the time thankfully.

Daddy rocking his baby girl to sleep

The view I had from my bed. Love looking at this sweet face.

Smiling Hannah :) I took this with my phone while she was sleeping. LOVE HER!!!

Sticking her tongue out at Mommy! Silly girl

Elizabeth came by to visit Hannah on Sunday before she headed back home. She was there when the doctor came in to tell us we got to go home that day instead of Monday! Woo hoo!

Hannah and Mommy waiting to be discharged. Happy faces!

So, our little girl was officially diagnosed with mastitis and a staph infection. Mastitis is basically a breast infection caused by a clogged duct mostly found in nursing moms. I actually had just finished antibiotics for mastitis the day before I found Hannah's lump. I asked if there was a link between both of us having mastitis and the doctors said no. On Sunday morning I showed the hospital pediatric doctor my fingers because once he said that Hannah's mastitis was a staph infection the wheels started turning in all of our brains. Two days before I gave birth to Hannah I got a manicure. About a week later I started noticing my cuticles one by one looked horrible like I got a really bad manicure. They were just red and swollen and a few of them had spots on them that looked like ingrown nails. I didn't really think anything else of it other than noticing they hurt. Well, once the doctor mentioned staph my mom asked if I showed her doctor my nails. When I did on Sunday he said "yep, that's staph too, you need to take the same medicine Hannah is on and wear gloves every time you touch her for a week". He also said that the staph infection on my cuticles is probably what caused my mastitis AND hers! Insert horrible guilt HERE! :( So, in a nut shell, a manicure I got before my daughter was even born ended up with her in the hospital when she's four weeks old. How does that happen?! But thankfully she's all better now and I have some words I'm going to share with a certain nail place near my house once I can get up there without Hannah.

Hannah hasn't had the greatest reaction to her antibiotics but after going to the doctor again yesterday she's doing much better! We had a rough few days after coming home from the hospital but she seems to be back to her old happy self again and we're just ready to put this past us! Never did I think that in her first four short weeks she'd have been to the doctor FIVE times and have a hospital stay! Poor baby!

Since we went to the doctor again yesterday we got her latest stats. Baby girl is growing like a weed!

Height 21.75" (71%)

Weight 9lbs 7oz (52%)

Head 15.12" (78%)

One Month Old!

2011-09-12T21:46:00.000-05:00

I can not believe our sweet girl is already a month old! I feel like I was just sitting in the hospital bed feeding her in the middle of the night. We love our little girl SO much and it's been the quickest, most exhausting and happiest month of our lives!

Hannah, here is what you've been up to in your first month!

Sleep: You are really consistent on your sleeping 90% of the time. You are GREAT at night but don't like to nap too often during the day. Normally you take a good 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon and that's your big nap for the day. I'll take that great night sleeping over naps any day! You wake up twice at night, usually between 1-3am and then again between 4-7am. You usually go to bed around 9-10pm and wake up between 8-9am. One of my favorite things about you sleeping is that you smile so much when you first go to sleep. It is so sweet and we love watching you fall asleep.

Daily Routine: You usually wake up around 9am and eat then you like to hang out and enjoy your morning in your swing. You just relax and look around for about 30 mins to an hour. Then we just hang out, you eat more and some days you keep Mommy super busy by wanting to be held, going potty, getting fussy, etc. Sometimes you surprise me and take a morning nap. Then you go down for your afternoon nap around 1-2pm and sleep until 4-5pm. You eat and we wait for Daddy to come home. When he comes home it's all Hannah/Daddy time! We give you a bath every other day and then hang out with you until bedtime.

Feed: You eat a LOT!!! Between every 1.5-3 hours. That is one thing that ALWAYS comforts you. If you are crying and we can't get you to stop any other way I just start feeding you and you're a happy girl!

Weight: During your hospital stay this weekend you weighed 9lbs 6oz! We can tell too, your face is really starting to fill out. You are just SO cute. :) You are still long and lean though, just getting bigger everyday!

Length: 21 3/4 inches, a whole 1.25 inches bigger than one month ago at birth

Diaper Size: Newborn size fits the best still but you're bladder is apparently bigger now because at night you get your clothes wet while wearing them so we're putting you in size 1 Pampers (LOVE the wetness indicator line!) while you're asleep until you fit in them more. They are just huge on you.

Clothes Size: Newborn and 0-3 month sizes. You're so long that your newborn fitted jammies don't fit anymore but all your newborn clothes still fit. Most 0-3 month onesies are still too big on you but a few of them fit good.

Hair Color: We're not really sure what your hair color is. It's the same as when you were born and sometimes it looks dark blonde but in the sun it looks strawberry blond.

Eye color: Your eye color is still the same as at birth, it's a dark blue/gray color. Daddy and I both have hazel/green eyes but yours don't look like they're going to end up that color. Only time will tell I guess.

Funniest moment: You like to go potty on Daddy and I weekly while we're in the middle of changing you. We end up laughing so hard at you and you look like you're pretty proud of yourself.

Milestone: You have started smiling at us! REAL smiles! L.O.V.E it!!! You gave me your first real smile on my birthday this past Friday! My birthday may have ended up in the hospital with you but it started with you smiling at me so it still was one of the best birthdays ever. :)

Your favorite toy: You love your friend the giraffe that stays in your crib. We turn your crib mobile on and you just lay there and stare at the giraffe and listen to the music and just look so happy. You also love your swing, you just hang out in there looking happy. One of your favorite places, not a toy, but where you're happiest is the changing table in your room. For some reason you are just SO happy there!

Hannah, your Daddy and I love you SO much!! You are getting so big SOOO fast and we can't believe you are already a month old!

Some outtakes from your one month photo shoot

Wondering what Daddy is doing while he's trying to get her to smile for the camera

Going...

GONE!

Daddy's Dream Come True

2011-09-12T13:07:00.000-05:00

Labor Day weekend Jackie and Bryan came into town to meet Hannah so Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner. The boys grilled while the girls played with Hannah. :) I only got three pictures the entire night, I guess someone kept me a little busy!

This picture cracks me up! I don't know what she was doing but it's hilarious.

Playing on her activity mat for the first time! That's Bryan's arm, that was the closest he got to Hannah all weekend, he was a little scared to hold her.

Sunday was the big day! The 1st Aggie football game of the 2011 season. Daddy was SO excited to get his little girl all dressed up to watch her 1st Aggie game with him. She must have been good luck because they won! She loves laying on his arm like this.

Ready for some football! Times sure have changed! Instead of heading to College Station, tailgating all day and watching the game from the stands we stayed home and gave Hannah her bath during halftime.

Cute little nose

I'm not lying when I say this, right before I took this picture Austin said to me "go get Hannah's bow so I can get a picture with her". Ha! I've trained him well! ;)

Leah Is Two!

2011-09-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

I'm really behind in my blogging right now so I'm just getting around to posting about my FAVORITE two year old! Leah Shay turned two August 13th, just two days after Hannah was born! Two weeks ago we got together at my parents house for a family birthday pool party for Miss Thang. Considering her baby sister was born just two weeks before her birthday she didn't get a big party like last year. I don't think she knew the difference. ;)

Rachel and Dean came into town so Aunt Rachel could see her niece again and so Dean could meet Hannah.

Cindy, Rach, Austin and Hannah

Lynda loved spending time with sweet Hannah

Haley passed out on Uncle Austin

Hannah passed out on Lynda. It was the theme of the day for the little girls

I wish I could sleep like that at any time!

Mommy with her baby girl. She was two weeks old here

Gabou came to town! All the girls got lots of lovin'! She got an extra special treat when Hannah left her a present in the shape of an umbilical cord on her shirt. Nice. ;)

Present time for the birthday girl! Leah LOVES her birthday, she walks around saying "MY birthday!"

Austin, Hannah and I got her a car for her bday! She loved it!

Mickey themed birthday cake, Leah's obsession! The girl LOVES her some Mickey!

She drove her car right over to blow out the candle

"I drive Gabou!"

Happy girl driving around her baby doll

LOVE!

Little sister Haley just hanging out. She's not ready to ride around with big sister just yet.

Lainey hanging out with sleepy head Hannah

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I think she had a good time!

We love you soooo much Leah Shay!!

Three Weeks Old!

2011-09-02T15:00:00.000-05:00

Hannah, you are three weeks old! Three weeks is more challenging that week two in my opinion. Baby girl is getting big and is making her presence more known!

Three Weeks Old

September 1, 2011

Hannah, this week you:

Have found your voice for sure! You really know how to cry and once you get started, feeding you seems to be the only thing to get you to stop. You aren't very loud, you still have that newborn cry but we definitely hear it!
You've also found your pout! It's so cute but sad at the same time. You stick out that little bottom lip when you're upset.
Your embilical cord fell off on Saturday (on poor Mary's shirt!). You lost it at Lainey and Pop's house just like Haley did on the day you were born!
You are still sleeping great at night! I'm always a little scared to say that in case I jinx us but we are SO thankful for this!! I only wake you up twice to feed you and then you go right back to sleep.
As of Monday you still hadn't reached your birth weight yet but you've been eating like crazy this week so I'm pretty sure you're there by today.
You still get fussy each night for a while, we have no idea why but we think part of it is from gas. Your little tummy hurts. :(
You had your roughest day yet in your little life on Tuesday, you just were NOT having a good day and cried and cried for Lainey and me. We were so sad for you and you finally wore yourself out by 5pm for your first nap of the day. Poor baby :(

Hannah, Daddy and I love you SOOOO much! Here are a few pics of your week.

You made your first friend this week! We put you in your crib, had the mobile going and put the giraffe next to you and you were so happy! You smiled and touched him and just looked so cute!

Sucking on Daddy's finger. You had JUST eaten and were getting burped but you apparently wanted more food but from the wrong source... I love that cute little nose!

Showing us that bottom lip!

CiCi went back home on Sunday but got lots of Hannah cuddle time while she was here! B couldn't be left out either! You can see two of his toys in the background, ever since Hannah came home he's been wanting whoever is holding her at the moment to play with him. He follows you around with his toy in his mouth and waits for someone to pay attention to him. Poor guy is feeling left out I guess. :(

Hannah also met two of her great grandparents!

AJ, Grandmother and Granddad (CiCi's parents) came all the way from Waco to meet our little girl :)

Hannah also gave herself a hickey this week! Check out that bruise on her left arm! I was getting ready to feed her and apparently she just couldn't wait because she started sucking on her arm (for about 5-10 seconds MAX) and that's the bruise she got from that short amount of time! You can only guess how awesome feeding time is for me.... ;)

Little munchkin, she already looks so different to us!

Happy girl after bath time

Climbing up Daddy while getting burped

Hannah and Haley all tuckered out from their big day on Tuesday

Sleepy girl

Hannah and Haley

2011-08-26T11:38:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday CiCi, Hannah and I headed to Tracy's house so Hannah and Haley could hang out together. We of course had to take pics of the girls together! It's crazy how different they are just being two weeks apart! Hannah was bigger than Haley at her birth but since Haley is two weeks older she's already so much bigger! In another month it will be interesting to see how close in size they are.

Sweet Haley

Hannah loved snuggling up to her cousin. Haley was clearly excited about this. Ha!

Haley doing her best Elvis face for us

Beautiful girl

Mommies and their girls!

Locked arms. They did that on their own. Ok, maybe with a little help... ;)

Sweet baby toes

Hanging out

Haley got so comfy during the photo session that she decided to just take a little nap. :)

Hannah after we got home. She was worn out!

Such a fun day with our girls! Can't wait to spend more time together while we're both on maternity leave!

Two Weeks Old!

2011-08-26T11:15:00.000-05:00

Hannah is two weeks old! I can't believe she's already been here that long.

Two weeks old

August 25, 2011

This is what she thought of Mommy taking her picture. BORING!

Hannah has grown so much this week! I can already tell she's growing each day. It makes me sad to think how fast she is growing but excited to see how different she becomes everyday. CiCi came back this week to hang out with us and Austin made his first work out of town trip for the day and missed his baby girl so much. She is such a sweet baby and we just love her so much!

Hannah, this week you:

Still LOVE eating! You eat like a champ and would eat all day long if I'd let you!
Sleep GREAT at night! You usually only take 1-2 naps during the day but sleep all night long unless we wake you up to feed you. I really really hope this lasts! It makes for a very happy Mommy and Daddy!
You still get fussy at night around when Daddy gets home and then right before bedtime. We're trying to figure out what is wrong but usually I end up just feeding you and then you calm down.
You went to the pediatrician for your two week appointment and you're doing great! You aren't quite up to your birth weight like you're supposed to be but the doctor was pleased enough with your progress so we don't have to go back until you're two months old. :)
Your two week stats are height 21" (76%) and weight 8 lbs 3 oz (47%) so you're a long and lean girl!

We just love you so much and are enjoying every day with you! It's been a great week!

Here are some pics of our week

Snuggling on Mommy

Hanging out with Lainey and Pops

B checking out his Sissy

On Monday Tracy and Haley came over so the cousins could meet. Our friend Megan came over with Tucker and I had to take a pic of how different it is now. Babies everywhere!

Sleepy girl in her swing. She looks like she's having a very serious dream.

Stretch!

Sweet girl

Week of Firsts

2011-08-20T12:47:00.000-05:00

Considering it's Hannah's first week of life she's pretty much full of "firsts" but there are a few that I wanted to make sure to document. I know there are a few people who read this blog that are expecting lots of Hannah updates and I don't want to disappoint! :)

First pediatrician appointment

Hannah did so good at her 1st appointment! She actually went twice this week and once again next week just to make sure she's gaining weight the way she's supposed to. She is! She gained 2oz in two days from leaving the hospital and then another 3oz in the next three days. She's up to 7lbs 15oz now! The girl eats like a champ so I wasn't too concerned about it. Here is Miss Hannah about five seconds before she had her first blowout diaper. I hurried and got her to the changing table and Austin and I stripped her down quickly and it was EVERYWHERE!! Somehow it even got on the floor! Austin and I could not stop laughing.

Pretty girl ready to see the doctor!

First bath!

CiCi and I gave Hannah her first bath while Daddy took pictures and video. Hannah wasn't too thrilled with her bath at first but she calmed down and loved being clean!

All clean!

Happy girls!

First professional photography shoot!

When Hannah was six days old the awesome Cortney Russell came to our house to take her newborn pictures. She's the same photographer who took our maternity pictures a few months ago. She posted a few pictures but I won't see the rest for another week or so. Hannah wasn't a big fan of getting her picture taken so I have no idea how the rest are going to turn out but I love the ones I've seen so far! Hannah really showed her appreciation for getting her picture taken by going potty on Cortney's blanket right after she got started. Daddy had to work on that stain while she took the rest of the pictures!

LOVE this one! Hannah really does smile a lot!

We just love this little girl so much and can't wait to see all the "firsts" she's going to have over the years!

One Week Old!

2011-08-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

Our sweet baby girl is already one week old! Well, yesterday she was a week old but I don't know how "on time" I'm going to be these days with the blog so it's just a little late. Miss Hannah likes to remind me who's in charge around here as far as time goes!

One week old!

August 18, 2011

We've had the greatest week with her! We came home from the hospital on Monday when she was four days old and had Austin's mom here with us until yesterday. She was a HUGE help! She's coming back next week to help us out some more especially since Austin is going back to work. Sadness. :( So, we're on our own for now and it's going great!

Hannah, during your 1st week you:

LOVE to eat!! You will cluster feed at times and want to eat every hour for a few hours about once a day. This makes for a very worn out Mommy but that's ok, I know you'll develop more of a pattern soon. When you don't do that we usually have to wake you up to eat.
Sleep like a CHAMP at night!! You don't wake up unless we wake you to feed you. Daddy and I have a pretty good routine down. His alarm goes off every three hours and I wake you up and feed you and then pass you over and he burps you and wraps you back up and you go right back to sleep! You go down for the night around 10-11pm and sleep until 7-8am. We know we are very blessed for this!
Seem to reach a difficult hour most nights around 8 or 9pm. You get very fussy and we're just trying to figure out what you need. Most of the time we think it's because you need to burp but we're not always sure.
Are so alert when you're awake! You have great head control and like to lift your head up for several seconds at a time. Daddy is working on tummy time with you everyday for about five minutes and you're so good at holding yourself up!
As of today you weigh 7lbs 15oz so you're doing great gaining your weight back!
You have peed on Daddy a few times and that makes me laugh pretty hard! You also seem to like to make a messy diaper and let Daddy change it and then within five minutes you like to go potty again. One morning I was changing you and I guess you weren't quite done because you "took care of business" on Mommy's hand. I couldn't even finish changing your diaper because I was laughing so hard so Daddy finished it for me. You are a sneaky one!

We are having so much fun with you and love watching you do your thing! You are the sweetest baby and we just love you so much! We have over 500 pictures of you already so I'll just show a few from your first week at home.

Katie and Lunchbox came to meet Hannah on Monday since they were out of town while we were in the hospital. This picture cracks me up!

Baby girl loves her swing!

Check out that neck control!

Passed out! She loves curling up in the fetal position

Hi Hannah!

Hannah's stork

Talking to us

Pretty

Hannah, CiCi and Brody. Yes, B is still here! He just gets less picture time. ;) He's doing great with her, he just kind of follows me around and every now and then he sniffs and kisses her.

Hannah sticking out her cute little tongue

Hannah and CiCi before she headed back home

Tummy time with Daddy and B!

She loved it

I have to give a major shout out to Austin for being so awesome all week! He has been 100% hands on and has helped out with EVERYTHING!! He's changed more diapers than I have! When we were in the hospital I couldn't do much and I couldn't lift her or change her because it was really hard for me to get in/out of bed and move around and he changed every single diaper minus ONE! He also burps her after each feeding and swaddles her and gets up with me during the night to help out. He's the best Daddy and we're so lucky to have him!