Hannah 3 months old

Happy 3 months, Hannah!  

Hannah has found her hands and it looks like she's trying to reach for objects - or at least move her arm in the direction of objects above her. 

I did take dairy out of my diet and we were seeing a decrease in her fussiness; however, we didn't know whether that was because of the lack of dairy or just because she was nearing the 3-month mark and many times early fussiness can start to improve around 3-4 months of age.  So the doctor suggested I bring dairy back in my diet and see whether it bothered her...and it didn't. Yay!  So it doesn't look like she's allergic to cow's milk. 

Her fussiness has gotten MUCH better (although she did cry the entire day on Mother's Day - ha!).  We've been able to lay her on the ground more and she's even fallen asleep numerous times by herself when laying on her playmat - amazing!  Neither Jenna nor Grant would do that!  Just this past week she's finally started taking a pacifier and that has made a world of difference.  She seems more content.

Hannah also sleeps about 12 hours at night.  Again, AMAZING!  Jenna and Grant weren't sleeping through the night until 8 months of age and even then we considered sleeping through the night them sleeping consistently from midnight to 5am!  ;)  Thank you, Hannah!!

 Here are all three kids at three months of age....

Jenna - 3 months old

Hannah - 3 months old

Grant - 3 months old

Mother's Day and Hannah's Dedication

This was my 5th year to celebrate Mother's Day and Drew and the kids did a FABULOUS job of making me feel loved and appreciated!  It started out with breakfast in bed, followed by our church service and dedicating Hannah.  I got a sweet (and hilarious) card from Drew and some beautiful coloring pages from Jenna and Grant.  Hannah decided to make it a memorable Mother's Day by pretty much crying the entire day - poor thing!  It's alright, Hannah, Mommy still loves you!  ;)

I am so blessed with my three precious children who are unique in their own ways and a definite gift from the Lord.  Although parenting is by far the hardest and most challenging thing I've ever done, it is also the most rewarding.  I LOVE being their Mommy and wouldn't trade this job for anything else in the world!

My three precious kiddos - and yes, Hannah IS crying.

Hannah being dedicated to God.  When a baby is dedicated at our church, the child receives a book about the Fruits of the Spirit and a small New Testament Bible, while the parents get a parenting book.  This year we received Tedd Tripp's book, Instructing a Child's Heart.  And yes, she is crying...

Drew tried the "football" hold with Hannah while Pastor was talking...still more crying.

Pastor held her while he prayed for her and for us...and she cried.

After the service was over, we asked if we could get a picture with Pastor...and Hannah cried some more.  

 

 

 

 

April Misc

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from April...

Just look at this adorable outfit from Aunt Cathy!!  Love it!  (And cute hair bow from Hannah's Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw!)

Phil, a good friend from college, stayed with us for a few days.  The kids LOVED having him here, and of course Drew and I enjoyed catching up with him.  He's a great friend!

He was also a huge help with the kids!

Hannah's not too content being "put down."  She likes being held and will usually fuss when not in our arms.  It was a nice day outside, so I thought she might enjoy sitting in her vibrating seat in the shade while the kids played...but it didn't last long.  :)  Here she is starting to protest!

Love this picture of the two of them!

Jenna was all dressed up and brought down a small dress for Hannah to wear too.  So sweet!

I just had to include this picture - it's a daily occurrence in our house.  Both Drew and I would love to get new couches where the cushions cannot be taken off, but then I see how much fun they have with them and figure we can hold out a few more years.  Grant loves piling them up and jumping into them (although they're not supposed to stand on the couches!).  And if you know my kids, most likely they're stripped down to their undies.  Why is it so hard to keep clothes on them?!  ;)

Just look at that ornery face...I came down the stairs one day to find that Grant had gotten out the glue stick and "drawn" all over the wall with it.  Then he stuck one of his little dinosaur figures onto a clump of the glue.  At first I was frustrated, but seriously, how funny does that dinosaur look stuck to the middle of the wall?!  I promise I didn't laugh in front of Grant, but I was cracking up on the inside!

Last weekend was a designated outdoor work day.  We spent much of the day mowing, edging, and planting some flowers and shrubs.  So I stuck Hannah in the baby swing for a little bit and she seemed to really enjoy it.

I picked up this costume at a garage sale last weekend.  How hilarious is this?!  I love the "padded muscles".  Although he doesn't really know who Spiderman is, he got a Spiderman t-shirt for Christmas from Uncle Keith and Aunt Mary and LOVES it!  If it was up to him, he'd wear it everyday!

Hannah's been rather fussy, but we found that the cradle swing that swings side-to-side (rather than front to back) seems to help.

A few days ago, the weather was so nice we just had to eat our lunch outside!

Jenna just can't get enough of Hannah.  Whenever I put Hannah on the ground, Jenna is right there next to her and Hannah just lights up whenever she's around.  I love it!  I think they'll have a special sister bond.

These last few are just some sweet pictures of Hannah smiling!  I love how her entire face lights up!

Lots of love from her siblings!

';l

Week 26 - Letter T

Two weeks ago we did the letter T.

Our memory verse this week was Prov. 3:5 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart."

Starfall iPad app

Turtle lacing card

Letter T pattern blocks

Prewriting practice

Letter Maze

Wikki Stix

Grant helped Jenna form the letter T with their bodies.

I punched a hole at the bottom of each number card and had Jenna attach the correct number of paper clips to each one. 

Cut-and-paste - I was really impressed with how well she cut out the turtle!  I didn't help her at all and you can barely see any white from the paper around the turtle's head and foot. 

Finished product

Pattern cards - she did these all on her own as well. 

Jenna matched the numerals to the correct number of turtles in each box.

Coloring page

Another page she did completely on her own.  I was upstairs and when I came down she had already finished this page. 

Turtle color puzzles

Turtle puzzle

Letter writing

Letter Hunt

Do-a-dot page

For her ABC book, she used colorful Tape to secure Toothpicks to the letter T.

We added the letter T to our coconut tree.

We've been involved in our local library's weekly story time this past year.  When Jenna turned 4, she moved to the preschool class without parents while Grant, Hannah, and I are in the 2-3 year old class upstairs.  She's LOVED going to the story time at the library - there's always a theme each week, they read stories, and then make a craft.  It just so happened that the theme this week was turtles!  Perfect!  So Jenna made a turtle in her library class.