Pictures!

As promised, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Teething and More Shots

This week has been rough. Hannah's started teething, which is not exactly fun. She's clearly in pain, but when she's taken some Tylenol, she's happy. She's been drooling like crazy, trying to gum her fist and pacifier (or whatever else she can get in her mouth), had a runny nose (still), and isn't sleeping well. I also think she's going through a growth spurt at the same time because she's constantly eating, is cranky, and is acting very similarly to her growth spurt at 6 weeks. Needless to say, it's been a trying week. It's been tough because she's been off her sleeping routine since we went home for Thanksgiving. And I believe that pattern is going to continue since we'll be heading home for Christmas next weekend. Yay.

To make it even better, I have to take her back to the doctor to get her other 2 shots that she didn't get last month. I've already cried once tonight thinking about it........ I am really not looking forward to it. She was so upset last time (so was I). Hopefully it'll get easier as the process goes along. My friend Darlene is going to come with me to the doctor's office tomorrow because I don't want to go by myself again.

Sorry this post is rather depressing. I'm sad about tomorrow. Next time should be a bit more cheery...

Thanksgiving, Runny Noses, and Blow Outs

First of all, before you read any further, I am not including any pictures in this post because I am too lazy to get up and get them off our camera. :) Sorry. Maybe next time!

So. Thanksgiving. Well, let me begin by saying that I had a blast hanging out with Keagan and Laura for a few days. I think that was the highlight of the whole week for me. I'm not sure when the next time we'll see them will be, but hopefully it won't be too far from now. Time with family was good. It was a pretty exhausting week. It's already difficult when your baby gets a little off schedule. What made it even more difficult was what I like to call "baby passing." There were only one or two occasions where this took place, but the nights after that happened were especially rough with Ms. Hannah. I mean, it's tough..... because when you go to see family and half of them haven't seen the baby, they all want to hold her and pass her around. So, what ends up happening is that Hannah gets 2 minutes with each person, each one holding her in a different position (most positions are ones that she has come to hate, mind you). So she gets over-stimulated, and as a result, sleeping is pretty difficult when it comes time for her to go to bed/stay asleep. She had gotten the point where she was sleeping 7 or 8 hours at night, which was awesome! But while we were home, she wasn't sleeping well at all. Oh well.... I guess that's what Grandma is for. :)

Also, while we were home, Daniel, Keagan, my dad, and myself went to the batting cage! It was lots o' fun! I got a chance to get back in the cage and hit a little bit. It had probably been 6 years since I've really tried, but I did well! And I also got to pitch a little bit to my dad, which was neat (but left me very sore). I didn't do as well pitching--my wrist muscles are especially out of shape, which made it hard to pitch with the right technique. I still have all the mechanics down, it's just a matter of having toned muscles. Oh well. Aaaaand my mom got my brother and I Wii Fit, so I'm watching Daniel kick some Wii Fit butt right now. If you've never tried that game, you really should. It's very, very cool!

I had a great time hanging out with Daniel's parents and his sister's family while we were home. Ava is growing so fast! Soon she and Hannah will be able to play together--that'll be lots of fun. Ava wasn't very happy about Abigail holding Hannah, though. Guess she doesn't want her mommy having anything to do with other babies. :)

Unfortunately, Hannah woke up with nasal congestion the morning after we got back from our trip to Va Beach, and she's been somewhat congested all week. It was kinda sad, because babies are obligate nose breathers for a while (Hannah still is), so she woke up and was having trouble breathing, which was obviously upsetting for her. I couldn't do much for her, though, cuz it was dry. But, once she sneezed two or three times, and popped out some huge green boogers, she could breathe. So we've been fighting that all week long. It seems like things are clearing up, finally. I'm glad it wasn't any worse than just a little congestion.

And on the subject of blow outs... We have found that the Pampers Baby Dry diapers are the only ones that keep her from blowing poop out of her diapers. I used to really like the Pampers Swaddlers diapers, but they just aren't keeping that poop in anymore. Kinda strange. Hannah is also starting to hate wet/dirty diapers. She used to just sit in them and not care, but now, she can't stand it. Of course, that's not a bad thing--keeps diaper rash away because it helps us be more aware of when she needs her diaper changed aside from normal feeding changes.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I promise I'll have pictures for you soon. :)

Quick Update

Just wanted to fill you guys in on a few quick things.

First, acac is awesome! I have loved having the ability to go workout and have 2 hours of childcare! I am working with a personal trainer who has me using some Free Motion machines to build my strength back up. It's been really nice to be working out regularly again.

Secondly, Hannah has been consistently sleeping 6 - 7 hours at night. Last night she slept 7 1/2 hours! We figured out that she was getting really sleepy around 9, so now the routine is to bathe her and have her fed and in the crib around 9. Been working so far!

That's all for now. More to come next week!

Cute videos

Today was fun! Hannah and I headed over to our friend Lina's house to visit her and her little boy David, who is 2 weeks older than Hannah. David was all smiles today! Very cute. :) Lina and I always joke that they are boyfriend and girlfriend. Also, Daniel and I will be joining acac tomorrow (a fitness and wellness center in Cville), and Lina also has a membership there, so hopefully we can go work out together! The neat thing about acac is that unlimited childcare will be included (up to 2 hours and 15 minutes at a time), so I am SUPER excited about that.

Then Hannah and I headed to our friend Michelle's house to visit her and her little boy Micah who is 7 weeks older than Hannah. He is a big boy! We put Hannah and Micah in the crib together, so here's a video of the two of them:

And below is a video of Hannah in her bouncy seat, which she loves. Laura's mom and dad got this little seat for Hannah. It makes doing my hair and getting ready in the morning a breeze!

Big Day

Today was a big day--a bittersweet one for Ms. Hannah.

We went to the doctor for her 2 month well-baby check-up. She was a little over 9 1/2 pounds and was 22 1/2 inches long! So she gained 3 pounds and grew 3 inches in the last month--wow! She went from being below the 5th percentile in height and weight to being in the 50th for height and 25th for weight. Way to go, girl! She's very healthy, very alert, and our doctor was very pleased with how she's doing.

She was scheduled to get 4 vaccines today, but I only opted for 2. She got DTaP and HiB. My heart broke into a million pieces when those needles got stuck into her thighs.... I cried. I had never heard her cry quite like that. It was really really sad. She's been really sleepy and weepy for the rest of the day. I can imagine--rough afternoon! I'm tired too.... I think it was pretty rough on me as well.

As a "reward" for how well she did with her shots (because she totally understands that concept now...), Daniel and I went out to get her a bumbo chair! Yay! Below is a little video Daniel shot with my phone--very cute. :)

In other news, Daniel passed his sickness on to me--thanks, bud. I've since lost my voice, which is really stinky because I'm supposed to lead worship at an all-campus worship night at U.Va. on Wednesday evening. Thankfully, I only have a few songs that I'll be singing. But, it never proves to fail: every semester I lose my voice the week of Seek. Go figure. Be praying for that, though! I am anticipating that God's going to do some really neat things on Wednesday night and beyond.

Hannah has been sleeping 5 hours for her first stretch at night pretty consistently now. I haven't decided if I like that yet :) I find that I'm more tired when she does that, because she doesn't sleep as well once she wakes up from that first stretch of sleep. Oh well--that means we're on to bigger and better sleep stretches!

Welp, enjoy this little video of Hannah in her bumbo chair!

Election Perspective

I've been reading a lot of conservative Christian responses to the results of yesterday's election, and I have to say that I am both disappointed and rather disgusted. Here's why...

First of all, have we forgotten that God is always sovereign and always on His throne? Have we lost trust in His perfect will? Do we really believe that one person is going to cause the demise of one of the strongest nations on earth? Seriously--do people really believe that??

I understand that Obama has a very liberal platform and that he has the most liberal voting record in the Senate. I also understand that the Democrats have control of Congress. But honestly, I don't think that yesterday's outcome is about policies or about political party preferences. It's about a nation that is continuing to overcome racial oppression, prejudice, and misconception.

I am so proud of the United States of America. I am so excited about what kind of healing is going to come from this election. I am ecstatic that my daughter's first memory of the President of the United States is going to be an African American. As I watched Obama give his acceptance speech last night, I was overjoyed to the point of tears. As I listened to him list off events in our nation's history where the American people joined together to make huge steps forward, I couldn't help but rejoice in the unity of blacks, whites, latinos, and every other ethnicity to see something like this take place. We did it, America. You've proven to me that we truly are in this together.

And for the record, no, I didn't vote for Obama. But that doesn't mean I can't rejoice in his victory.