Hannah-21 months

On St. Patrick's Day our little Hannah turned 21 months old!  I know that generally this is not a significant life stage, but for Hannah I feel like she just blossomed overnight into a little girl, and NOT a baby.  For about a week leading up to this day, Hannah had started calling everything boo (blue), you asked her what her favorite color was, "boo", you asked her what color this or that was, and with intense enthusiasm, she always replied "boo".  On Saturday morning (the day before St. Patty's), while getting Hannah out of bed, she pointed to something and said "Purp-ull".  Whatever it was, was in fact, purple.  The whole day, she could correctly identify purple things, but everything else remained "boo". On Sunday morning after Matt got dressed, Hannah shouted with exclamation, "Geeen!!".  And she was right.  She can now correctly identify, blues, greens, purples, pinks, browns, blacks, whites, reds, and oranges!  And it has only been 4 days.  Yesterday as Hannah and I were playing outside, she started gathering rocks.  I asked her if we could count how many rocks she had.  I said "one", to which Hannah continued, "doo", "tree". Then I said "four", "five", and Hannah said, "sicks".  I then said "seven", and Hannah said, "aitch".  After that, every other rock was either "sicks" or "aitch".  But even still, I was VERY impressed with my not quite two year old.  We are also now averaging Hannah using the potty once a day.  She has had a potty for months now and would only just use it as a place to sit and read books.  When we moved, I decided not to put the potty out because I did not think she really understood what it was for.  Then recently she started asking about it.  As of yesterday and today, we've had two successful potty uses.  Each time she has said "teetee, poppy?". And then when I put her on the potty, away she goes! Of course, she doesn't keep her diaper dry all the time, and only asks to go to the "poppy" after she goes number 2.  And we've had a couple times where she asks to sit, but then nothing happens.  But overall, I'm pretty proud of her.  So much so, that I am considering trying to potty train before new baby gets here!  We will see how it goes, and I'm completely okay if she's not quite ready to be completely diaper free.  Over the last few weeks her motor skills have continued to improve and she can now walk up and down the stairs while only having one hand touch the wall.  I'm still pretty nervous about it, but always stay close in case she needs me.

She continues to be such a joy and a super happy baby little girl.  She loves her "bobby" (mommy) and her Daddy very much and gets super excited about being around others.  She has begun recognizing that people have names, and will often talk about people by name (really she just repeats their names over and over).  She has recently developed a deep love for "piecy" aka, pizza, and asks for it just about every meal.  She loves to read still and has really started mimicking what each book is about.  She "picks an apple and a plum" while reading "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb", she repeats letters over and over while reading "Dr. Seuss' ABC", she rocks her body "back and forth, back and forth" while reading "I'll Love You Forever", and she even "bundles up so you don't freeze" while reading "Go Dogs Go".  She's a great sleeper still, but has on occasion refused her afternoon nap.  She plays happily in her crib for an hour or more, but I'm still not ready for her to give up her nap!!!  So far it just happens occasionally and she really stays pretty happy the rest of the day.  We just love her so much and are so excited to see her become a big sister!!!

She also LOVES to dance.

February

February was a very busy month for us.  The first weekend of February we had planned to take a few trips up to the house to start slowly moving in, however, like with most "best laid plans" that didn't exactly happen.  We had some hiccups with the mortgage and closing on Friday, so nothing could get worked out until Monday!  Thankfully everything was able to be straightened out and we got the keys on Tuesday morning!  My dad came up on Thursday and was able to help Matt move a bunch of stuff, and the movers came on Friday.  We were so thankful that my dad was able to help!!!  We were definitely not as prepared as we would have liked to have been and he was a HUGE lifesaver!!  But the move in went well, and we have been getting settled slowly.  We have met all of our immediate neighbors and been treated to cupcakes, cookies, poppy seed bread (more like cake!), and potato soup! Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming.

The day after we moved, my dad spent the morning helping us unpack boxes, and then he headed back to Lilburn.  Then on Sunday, my sister and her family came for a quick visit!  Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of their visit, but we had a great time!!  It took them just a little over an hour and a half to get here, and we had a super fun day!  We cooked out for lunch, and then spent the afternoon at Ikea.  Hannah had an absolute blast playing with her cousins and showing them her new house!  We are so excited to be living close enough to have these fun day or overnight trips more often!!!

Hannah has done awesome with the move!  As with our move from Indy, as soon as she saw her crib, she felt right at home!  She has been sleeping great and really has not skipped a beat.  One day we went back to the apt to clean, and Hannah was very confused that her books were not in her old room, but other than that, I think she is LOVING the new house and having much more room to play!  

In mid February, Hannah experienced her first snow!  Atleast, the first one to her knowledge.  She was so cute and did not know what to think!  We got about 2 inches over the course of 1 hour!  Once we finally got her to taste some, she could not stop eating and called it "ice" the whole time!  She just wanted to run around and play in the snow and was very sad when it was time to come in.  

The day after the snow, Hannah and I joined Matt on his business trip to Charleston/Myrtle Beach.  We left on Sunday so we could spend President's Day touring Charleston while Matt had the day off.  The other days, Hannah and I just hung out while Matt was in meetings.  I think Hannah's favorite was the day at Myrtle Beach.  It was quite chilly on the beach, but it was sunny and she LOVED the sand!!!  At one point she saw some other people walking in bare feet, and insisted that we both take our shoes and socks off!  

The rest of the month has just been filled with trying to put things in their place and get settled.  We are really enjoying our church and getting to know new friends.  Hannah has a few little friends in nursery that she talks about all the time.  She is just growing so much, and her vocabulary continues to amaze me!  She has far too many words to list anymore, and just this month started calling me "baba" or "bobby".  For some reason though she occasionally make the mmmmm sound, in m words she uses the b sound.  I'm sure it will work itself out, and for now, I think it's cute to hear her call for bobby!

I helped Hannah make a snow angel!

Our most precious piece of luggage!