June 2014

We started the month off by attending VBS at church.  Both girls are actually still too young, but I was working so they got to come.  Abigail was just in childcare, but did get a bible story every day.  Hannah was in one of the oldest childcare rooms so she got to do all the preschool activities.  They both had lots of fun!  And I had a blast too.  I worked in the music and bible story room with two of my good friends.

Potty update on Abigail... She is doing really well!  We still have occasional accidents, but is doing much better at telling me when she needs to go.  We have even ventured out of the house on short errands in panties instead of pull ups. =) I bet by the end of the summer if not sooner she'll have it all figured out.

Both girls have sucked their thumb at night since they were about 6 months old.  Pretty much as soon as we stopped swaddling them, the thumb found their mouth.  When Hannah turned 4 we began talking a little bit about how we don't need to suck our thumb at night.  So about 2 weeks ago we decided to really start working on that.  I did some reading on the internet about how to help your child stop sucking their thumb.  There is lots of info out there and obviously not all suggestions are for every child. Our plan was to talk with Hannah and explain what happens to your teeth, how she's a big girl, etc.  She always sucks the same thumb (big callous) so we started putting a glove on that hand while she sleeps.  Lots of talk about how she didn't need to take the glove off, the glove won't taste good to suck on.  Then we told her if she could go 5 days of leaving the glove on and keeping it dry she could pick a stuffed animal to sleep with.  She has actually done really well.  Her callous is starting to get smaller and she's enjoying sleeping with a friend. We'll keep her glove on for at least another month to make sure the habit is truly broken.

Last but not least...NEW PHOTOS!

Gonna catch those bubbles!

LOVE THIS!

They love their new little bench in my parents garden!

Let's go fly a kite...(dare you not to sing the song)!

They had so much fun!

May 2014

Lots of proud mommy moments this month so be forewarned.  And cue bragging now! 

All of Hannah's letter sound knowledge clicked and she is reading.  Very basic easy words of course.  She can sometimes get frustrated if she comes to a harder word, but she can do it.  I am SO proud of her!!  She is enjoying reading lots of new words.  Hannah memorizes things so quickly that she is keeping me on my toes to find new things for her to read.  Thankfully between free internet downloads and the library it hasn't been too hard.

A few weeks ago I decided to start potty training with Abigail.  She's two months younger that when I started with Hannah, but she is so much more aware of things because she watches Hannah.  I took a slightly different approach this time and just let Abigail run around in a shirt and panties.  There were MANY accidents the first few days, but after day 3 it was beginning to click. She's had almost no accidents since then and has gone potty at church, the park, my mom's house, and a restaurant.  Just this week I started letting her sit on furniture while in panties....she was previously confined to the floor which is easier to clean.  =-)   I still put her in pull-ups if we're away from home, but I bet that won't be for long.  So proud of my BIG girl!!

Not too many new photos this month.  We've actually taken photos playing with bubble and sidewalk chalk.  But my mom has been busy getting ready for her piano recital as well has healing from her fall in January.  Hopefully I can post those soon. Until then...enjoy these!

They are enjoying the glassed Grammy bought them.  Silly girls!

Three Years Old

Can't believe it's been 3 years since Hannah was born.  My little tiny baby has turned into a big girl.

Hannah's latest pretend play activity is taking pictures.  My mom bought herself a necklace with a camera charm.  She showed it to Hannah and let her wear it for a few minutes.  Hannah immediately put it up to her eye and said "Smile, say cheese puff."  My mom gave her a little toy plastic camera to take home with her and she has had the greatest time.  You can tell she pays attention when we take her picture because she would bring me her camera and tell me to look at her focused one, she moved the toys to better light and went to change her lens.  Too cute to watch!

Speaking of taking photos.  Hannah is getting better about following directions and looking, standing, or doing what we ask her.  Of course as with any three year old, she must be in a cooperative mood!  And she doesn't last long before she says she is all done.  But we have actually gotten some really cute photos with natural smiles.  This is one of my recent favorites and I love Miss Abigail in the background.


Hannah was very exited to 'wake up' the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving.  We told her last January when we put up the tree that it was going to take a VERY long nap.  =)  I decorated the big tree during the girls nap.  Nathan and I both had small trees that we used in our apartments before we got married.  They have been sitting in the attic since we bought our house.  We decided to bring one small tree out this year to put up in Hannah's room. She couldn't quite hang the ornaments independently. So, I laid them out, she picked one, and told me which branch to hang it on.  We placed the decorated tree on top of her dresser (out of Abigail's reach) and turn the lights on whenever Hannah is awake.  Abigail has done surprisingly well with our big tree.  She has only pulled off one or two ornaments and hasn't tried to pull up on it.

I think I would officially call Hannah potty trained!!!! We hardly ever have accidents and we recently started napping in panties.  She still sleeps in a pull-up at night, but Hannah almost always wakes up dry.   Such a big girl!

 Monkey has been busy this year taking his monthly picture with Abigail.  Hannah was excited to take her picture this time and asked for balloons.  She had SO much fun with them!  Hannah's favorite place to go eat is Chick-fil-a, so we are taking her there for dinner tonight.  Then we're doing our family celebration Friday night so Aunt Kara and G-Pa can join us.  Hannah is at such a fun age, this should be a fun birthday!

Thirty Three Months

Hannah is looking and acting more and more like a big girl.  She is definitely growing up!  She has recently started helping with a few chores.  She likes to hand me pillows when I make the bed and when we empty the dishwasher she stacks the plastic bowls and puts them in the cabinet.  Nathan brought her bathroom stool over to the silverware drawer the other day and she put away all the forks and spoons too.  She thinks it's very fun!



We also converted her crib to a toddler bed a few weeks ago.  For those that don't know what a toddler bed is...it's basically a day bed with a short rail that goes across half of the front.  Leaving an opening on the other front half so the child can climb in and out independently.  Hannah is very good about staying in her room when she is supposed to be sleeping, but we have had a few talks about not getting out of bed to play with our toys.  I don't think she realizes that we can hear her making noise even though the door is closed.  LOL!  Our biggest motivation in converting her bed was so Hannah could come out and tell us if she needed to go potty.  She will often wake up in the morning or after a nap before I go get her....usually because I am nursing Abigail.  She's so good about telling us if she needs to go potty while she's awake, but obviously couldn't come get us when she was stuck in her crib.  Even though we tell her every day she can open her door and come get us if she needs to go, she has yet to actually do it.  She will occasionally knock on her door...but that may just be part of her playing.  I'm sure she'll figure it out soon.  And I'm thankful she is good about staying in her room even if she's not sleeping so mommy still have quite time while Abigail is napping!

Since Abigail has started crawling she has become even more interested in what Hannah is doing and playing with.  For the most part Hannah is very good about sharing her toys, however she will try to give Abigail some other toy so she can play with the one she wants.  =0  Hannah is also learning to put certain toys away or put them up high where Abigail can't reach them.  She really is a sweet big sister though.  She was playing on her swing in the backyard last night and made sure we gave Abigail a turn.

Thirty Two Months

Hannah is such a sweet big sister.  She has always given hugs, kisses, and brought Abigail toys to play with. She has recently started reading her books to Abigail.  Hannah has most of her books memorized so she knows all the words.  Love that she loves books.  =)



I've started telling people that Hannah talks in paragraphs and not sentences.  Unless she is sleeping then she is talking.  Hmm.. like mother like daughter my mom would say.  =)  She has entire conversations with herself and her toys.  Her pretend play is so fun to watch.  She puts on my shoes, gets her purse and takes her toys to Target, the grocery store, and the park.  She pushes them in a pretend stroller, rocks them in the rocking chair, wraps them in blankets, and feeds them.

Nathan and I think she may have an imaginary friend.  His description is constantly changing so we're not sure. But she talks about bunny all the time.  She tells me about things that she and bunny do together.  Bunny just recently starting riding in the car with us and Hannah insists on buckling him in his imaginary car seat.  It will be interesting to watch this "relationship" develop.  She definitely has an imagination which is good.

It's fun to watch Hannah get more independent.  As long as we are close by and she can come talk to us or ask for help ,she will play alone for quite a while.  Nice for mommy!  In the past she wasn't always happy about picking up certain foods or would get frustrated when feeding herself with a spoon.  She now eats almost all of her food completely by herself.  Although if she's picking up food, she must have a napkin to wipe her fingers.  Still doesn't like to be dirty.  =)

Potty training is going well.  We still have occasional accidents and haven't totally mastered pooping in the potty yet.  We wear big girl panties at home and have just recently started leaving the house without wearing pull ups.  We have also transitioned from her little potty to the potty seat that sits on the regular toilet.  I'm very proud of the progress she has made.

I know I have posted before about the CD's we listen to that are Bible verses.  Hannah is singing along with more and more of the words.  And she has 2 verses completely memorized:  Psalm 136:1 and Matthew 12:34.  She can say them to you without the music.  It makes me SO happy that she is hiding the Word in her little heart!!!

Thirty One Months

We started potty training this month.  It's been a long process, but I think we're starting to make progress.  She's finally telling us on a consistent basis that she needs to go potty.  We are still using pull ups, but will switch to big girl panties in the next week.  I'm very proud of her!

I know all children are little parrots and repeat everything they hear.  As a parent, it makes you aware of what you say.  In Hannah's conversation she says actually, apparently, definitely, and exactly.  Hannah also hears me ask Nathan how his day at work was when he gets home, so her new favorite phrase is "How's your work?"  And she will ask you many times in a row!

Hannah enjoys playing what she calls the "hiding game".  We will hide one of her stuffed animals and she will have to go find it.  Of course her toys "hide" in places like on top of the bed, or in front of the TV.  She just recently started hiding her toy for us to find.  I think she likes this even more.  She will follow us around while we are looking and giggle as we get close to the hiding place.  And if we don't find the toy fast enough then she will go find it for you.  She had found some creative hiding places for her toys and we've had to talk about not hiding inside drawers and trashcans.  =)  I love that such a simple game is so much fun!

We've gone swimming twice this summer.  This is Hannah's first year to use floaties, so between that and Hannah's cautious personality we are still getting used to the water.  She is starting to play more independently.  And she actually put her head in the water twice.

Hannah is such a good big sister.  She is starting to ask more often to hold Abigail.  Now that Abigail is almost sitting up, we tried for some sister photos.  The first one is just plain funny!  Hannah was actually being very sweet, but didn't realize her hand was right under Abigail's neck. And  it didn't help that Abigail was tired.