Hannah - 8 months

I guess I should post Hannah's 8 month pictures seeing as how she'll turn 9 months in just 1 1/2 weeks! 

Going from seven months of age to eight months was fairly calm for Hannah.  Things finally started slowing down a little and we started working on getting into a new routine with all her therapies.  Each week Hannah sees a physical therapist and occupational therapist in Dayton, our chiropractor, and an occupational therapist from the county comes to our home.  I'd say things are still fairly busy, but at least we're done (for the time being) with all the doctor appointments and testing. 

We're realizing Hannah's progress is going to be much slower than we anticipated or hoped. None of the therapists will give us an idea of when they think she might hit different milestones, which is completely understandable seeing as how they don't know.  It would be so nice to at least know what to expect or to know if she'll even be able to do certain things.  Right now it's hard for me to picture her even crawling because that seems light years away.  So, patience is the key. 

Some have asked what they do with her in therapy - basically they're solely working on her gross motor development.  They do lots of tummy time and really emphasize how important it is for strengthening her back, neck, and tummy muscles.  They also try to get her to roll by motivating her with toys, lights, sounds, anything!  She has started rolling from her tummy to her back, so that's encouraging!  They also sit her upright and try to get her to balance herself.  She's gotten to where she can sometimes sit solo for 3-5 seconds before toppling over.

The physical therapist will also stretch her legs and arms.  She's made the comment that she foresees Hannah's hamstrings being very tight.  I'm not exactly sure what that means or how it will directly affect her.  We have some friends who have a son with CP and he has to have Botox injections in his hamstrings to help with the stiffness - so not sure if that's something we'll have to do down the road or not.

 Also the occupational therapist in Dayton noted how Hannah keeps the thumb on her right hand tucked under her fingers.  They want to get the thumb out because it can cause the muscles to contract, so Hannah now wears a thumb splint on her right hand at bedtime.  Sometimes I'll put it on her during the day, but she's not able to grasp anything with it on and it seems to irritate her skin.  So I try to keep it to a minimum.

This past month Hannah also had her two bottom middle teeth pop through!  She looks adorable with them!  She is still our happy little girl  - she smiles so easily!  She had her hearing retested this past month and she passed with flying colors!  We never doubted whether she could hear, but we figured it wouldn't hurt to have the 6-month follow-up appointment. 

Jenna and Grant can't get enough of her!  It's so sweet to see their love for her.  They're quite the helpers when it comes to Hannah and do a great job of playing with her.  She is blessed with two siblings who love her very much!

September Misc.

And the last post of September - just some random pictures from throughout the month:

I picked up this Steelers jersey at a garage sale because our brother-in-law Brian is a big Steelers fan, and particularly a fan of Ben Roethlisberger who is #7.  So Jenna decided to wear it for pajamas one night and we had to snap a picture for Uncle Brian.  Go Steelers!

Jenna is going to preschool this year at the local Christian school twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) for 2 1/2 hours each day.  They have some field trips and class parties throughout the year and in September they had a get-to-know-you picnic at the park.  Her good friend, Travis, from church is also in her preschool class, so here they are playing together at their class picnic.

The yummy food at the class picnic.

Jenna is also taking ballet right now and has her class once a week downtown.  So one day during her ballet class, Grant, Hannah, and I walked around downtown Troy.  We walked past the courthouse and with the beautiful blue sky, I just had to snap a picture.

We stopped in a coffee shop and picked up a watermelon gummy for Grant and Jenna to enjoy after her ballet class.

You know Grant is truly sick when he asks to be held.  Poor guy, but I do love these moments! 

Hannah and Mommy getting some fresh air on the front porch while Grant and Jenna play.

Climbing in a "cave" at the grocery store.

Hannah had a follow-up hearing test and she passed!!  Yippee!

Tummy time - she's doing so much better with her head control!

Playing with his Lincoln Logs again.

We filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse.  These boxes go to needy children around the world.  It's such a great opportunity to talk to the kids about helping the needy and praying for others in need.  It's also a good opportunity to talk about being thankful for how God has blessed us!

Don't let those smiles fool you - these kiddos were sick.  When they'd rather lay down than run around, you know they must not be feeling well.  Thankfully it was a small bug - no fevers (yay) and no vomiting (double yay) - just "under the weather" for a few days.

This past month Hannah started "rolling".  I hate to say she's rolling because it's still a very rare occurrence, but she has started to roll, which is HUGE.  Before when we put her on her tummy, she would just lay there and cry and could barely lift her head off the ground.  So to actually see her move her arms and legs and throw her head back to roll is a huge blessing to us.  Thankful for the little things!

Just before leaving for Galveston we were able to meet up with Grandma Borton and Ed!  They were traveling through our area on their way back to Colorado.  We don't get to see them often, so we jumped at the opportunity!!  We had such a great time eating dinner together and visiting while the kids played.  :)  Definitely one of the highlights of the month!

Brumbaugh Fruit Farm

Every Fall we try to go to Brumbaugh Fruit Farm - they have some delicious baked goods and lots of fun activities for the kids.  This year Kelley and her boys as well as Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw joined us.

I love the pumpkin patch with the Peanuts gang!

A big shed with a bunch of bales of straw for kids to climb and play on.  Then next to it are a few calves.

They're so cute!!

We weren't able to go to Brumbaugh last year, so this swing was new to us this year.  We put all four kids in it and Jenna was big enough to walk them around in a circle.  They all enjoyed it except Bentley - poor guy!

A little train ride through a section of the apple orchard.

Tire swings shaped like horses - very creative!

Paw-Paw took Bentley down the slide.

And then Aiden.  :)

This Kiddie Korn Maze was so neat! 

I love how they had trivia questions for the kids to help get them through the maze.

A favorite of the kids is a giant slide.

All the "big" kids

Of course we had to go on a hay ride too

Something else that was new to the farm was a Storybook Forest - you walk on a trail through the woods and come across different Disney characters - so cute!  I love this ship with Peter Pan, Smee, John (up in the tree to the right of the picture), and Wendy was just to the right as well.  Love it!

Here is the Beast's castle - there are stairs inside for the kids to climb up to the top.

And then here's Belle and the Beast.  There was also Snow white and her cottage and a few others.

They also have goats, rabbits, chickens, pigs, and calves that the kids can pet as well as a sandbox, corn crib (like a sandbox but with corn kernels), a playset, a small zipline for the kids, an adult corn maze, and much more.  We had a great time going with family this year and look forward to doing it again next year!

ABF Camping Trip

The following weekend after getting back from our Galveston trip, we went camping with our church ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) group.  It's something we do every year and always have a great time.  We were originally planning on going both Friday and Saturday night, but the weatherman was predicting quite a bit of rain Friday night, so we opted out of Friday and just came late Saturday morning through the following afternoon.  (We camped once before in the rain and vowed never to do it again...ever.)

Our group hanging out Saturday night.

The majority of the kids that were there (minus about 3 babies and 2 toddlers that were not in the picture).  Lots of kids!

If there's a puddle, Grant WILL be in it!  He's like a moth to a flame!  At least he had his rain boots on, right?  :)

Sleeping in my arms - love it!

Going on a hike with Drew and some friends.

Jenna and her good friend, Travis.  They're buds!

You can't go camping without a campfire (and Smores)!

The kids favorite part about camping (besides the smores) - sleeping in the tent.

I love having a huge tent - we're able to fit two blow-up mattresses, a pack-n-play, and our suitcase.  Everyone has a place to sleep.  Not sure what we'll do though if we have any more children.  ;)

They just love their Hannah!

It was a tad chilly Sunday morning, so we're all bundled up.

As we were packing up our tent, we had nowhere to put Hannah, so we laid her in the trunk of the van.  She didn't seem to mind.  :)

One of our friends brought along their stomp rocket (like the one we have from Cathy).  They placed it next to a tree stump and took turns jumping off it to launch the rocket. 

And of course Drew had to give it a try as well!  ;) 

As much work as it is to go camping, it's definitely worth it for all the great memories for us and the kids.  They love going and have already asked us when we can do it again.