Ready or Not...

We have started a new chapter in life...SCHOOL! Hannah started preschool on September 4th! She is in the two's class and going two days a week, for 3 hours each day. It was definitely bitter-sweet seeing her start "school". She was so excited on her first day and thankfully the excitement has continued.  She is in a class with one of her best friends (the "other Hannah") and she loves her teachers!  I love that she has something fun to do twice per week since there aren't a lot of fun things happening here with a newborn around.  I love that she is becoming independent, but I hate it too! :-(  My baby is growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop her.  Boo!

August 29, 2012 - Meet Your Teacher Day

Hannah did great!  I dropped her in her classroom for one hour while I went to a meeting for the parents.  She was happy when I dropped her off and happy when I picked her up!  I was pleasantly surprised!

 

 

 

September 4, 2012 - First Day of Preschool

Hannah had a GREAT first day.  Mommy and Daddy took her in for her first day of school and she walked right into her class, without hesitation!  A huge success!

 

September 18, 2012 - 5th Day of School

Showing off her "I Love School" shirt!  It's true! :-)

 

 

September's Art Work

I am taking a picture of each of Hannah's creations that she makes at school.

 

 

 

 

iPad Mania and Other Randomness

How did we ever live without this thing? It has taken over my life. Haha Just kidding, but it definitely is addicting! Last night I had a horrible night sleep because I couldn't stop playing words with friends in my head. Has that happened to you or am I the only crazy one? Years ago when I played free cell all the time, the same thing would happen. When I close my eyes I see the letters and start making words...crazy right!

In other news, I apparently thought it would be a good idea to chop off the tip of my thumb this morning. Ouch! I was preparing a delicious beef stew for Hannah, while she was eating breakfast (obviously the beef stew was not for breakfast...it had to cook all day). I was doing great..chopping away and feeling all supermom like. Next thing I knew I was sawing through the tip of my thumb....nice visual, right? I didn't know what to do...wash my hands to get the raw meat out of the wound or apply pressure first? It started bleeding so much, that I chose to apply pressure and not worry about the thousands of bacteria breeding on my skin. That choice was also easier because it meant that I didn't have to look at the tapping wound. I immediately called Brian, just in case the cut was so bad that I passed out or something. I figured it was probably in Hannah's best interest for me to notify another adult of the siutuation. I am happy to report that I did not need to go to the emergency room, but I have been changing the bandaid every couple hours and it is gross! It really is amazing how incapacitating it is to not be able to use your thumb. I tried to take a picture of the nastiness, but it wouldnt show up in the picture, so you can thank the camera for sparing you.

Anyone have fun plans for the weekend? We have another weekend with nothing on the calendar, which makes me smile. I get to do my favorite thing...spend lots of time with my two loves.

I'll leave you with this video of Hannah walking!

Walking!!!

Hannah's 1st Birthday Party

I am so behind in posting and the only thing I can blame is life. Things are always crazy around here, but with a toddling 1 year old, it's just get crazier by the minute.

I took Hannah for her 1 year check up and she was 22 pounds 2 ounces (75%) and 30 inches tall (90%).  She is growing and developing right on target and took her 2 vaccines like a champ. :-)  I also spoke with the peditrician about my desire to not give Hannah cow's milk (I'll have to write a separate post about that) and she was surprisingly supportive.  I am still nursing her 2 times per day (morning and night), but when I stop that we will reevaluate ways to get enough calcium and vitamin D into our little peanut. 

Now on to the fun stuff.  We celebrated Hannah's first birthday on March 12th with some of our family and closest friends.  It was a beautiful day and Hannah had a great time.  She LOVED her smash cake, but was thankfully (and surprisingly) very neat with it.  That certainly made this neat mommy happy. ;-)

Unfortunately I did not take many pictures on the day of her party, as I was a little busy with hosting.  But thankfully my wonderful sister-in-law, Lauren and photgrapher friend, Lindsay got some great shots!

Hannah's Smash Cake

 Decorations

 Cupcakes (made by my sis-in-law, Lauren)

 The Birthday Girl

 Food!

 Carrot and Cucumber Flower

 Red Pepper Flower

 Not particularly happy at this moment...

 Party Favors

Showing off the hand-colored water bottle labels

 Here comes the cake!!

 A little shy about everyone singing to her

This is as messy as it got....

Happy Birthday little peanut!  We love you!!!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Hannah turns one on March 11 and I am shocked.  I have been told, time and time again, how fast time flies with a baby and I have to say, it's true.  Somehow time just speeds by and you are left wondering where the last year went.  Yet in the day-to-day, time sometimes seems to stand still.  Funny, isn't it.

With Hannah's birthday quickly approaching, I have spent the last few weeks reflecting on the past year and all that has happened.  Something about birthdays that just make you reflect....especially first birthdays!  A year ago I was a nervous wreck, 9+ months pregnant and ready to pop.  I so wish I could have seen into the future and told myself some things.  If I could have, here's what I would have said....

Dear Sabrina,

You are about to jump on the craziest roller coaster ride of your life!  It is absolutely amazing and incredibly scary and insanely fun and excruciatingly hard - all wrapped into one.  But take a minute to just relax and enjoy these last few days of baby-free life.  You will have enough time to worry about all things baby in the year to come. 

You will feel completely overwhelmed for the first 6 months or so of Hannah's life.  Your hormones will cause you to be crazy for a little while and that's okay.  You will cry for no reason at all and that's completely normal.  The first two weeks with a newborn will be the hardest weeks of your life, but it will get better!  The nights will be the hardest, but Brian will be right there for you, every step of the way.  He will wake up with you for the 2am feeding and lay on the floor in Hannah's room while you nurse her.  He will fall asleep there, but he's there and that's all you will need.  You will feel distant from Hannah in the beginning - like she is a stranger.  That will make you sad and you will feel guilty about it, but after just a short time you will fall madly in love with her and never look back.  You will forever be grateful for a sweet friend that told you it is completely normal to feel that way and that you aren't a bad mother for it.

Being a stay-at-home mom will be the toughest job you've ever had.  It will be different every day, but painfully the same.  But it will be your favorite job yet!  You will try to keep the house in order, but you will fail.  You won't cook dinner every night and the house will be in shambles some days, but that's okay.  It's only because you will be too busy crawling around on the floor with your precious baby to even notice. 

I know you are worried about the labor and doing it drug-free, but you will do it and everything will be okay.  Yes, it will hurt and you won't be prepared for the intense pain.  You will say, "I can't do this" several times, but you can!  It will only last 8 hours and Hannah will be perfectly healthy and BEAUTIFUL!  You will be taken away by her beauty....so unexpected.  Your recovery will be scary and you will shed a lot of tears, but things will go back to normal and you will survive.

Breastfeeding will be painful in the beginning and there will be times where you just want to give up, but don't!  Nursing will be one of the best things you do in the next year.  It will become very natural and believe it or not you won't want to wean her at 1 year....and you probably won't! :-)

Hannah will not be a good sleeper!  This will drive you crazy and make you pull your hair out.  You will spend hour after hour reading about ways to get her to sleep.  You will try everything and nothing will work.  You will change her schedule when she is 6 or 7 months old and that will be the best thing ever.  No, she still won't sleep well, but things will get better.  Why don't you just go ahead and start out with the Babywise schedule from day one and things will most likely be a lot smoother for everyone!  Hannah will cry for what seems like hours when you put her down at night, but eventually (around 10 months) she will sleep through the night consistently and you will feel like a new woman!  The Lord will teach you so much over the next year about how not in control you are.  It will be a painful learning experience, but such an important one.  I hate to tell you, but even when Hannah turns one, she still won't be a good napper and you are just going to have to deal with that.  Some days she will sleep great and others she won't sleep at all....oh well. 

You will worry that Brian will stop loving you as much as he did before Hannah came along.  I know you are scared about having to share him with someone else, but don't be.  He will be the most amazing father and will love you even more than he does now.  Your heart will burst when you see him hold her.  He will love her unconditionally from the moment he lays eyes on her and that will melt your heart.  He will change every single dirty diaper while you are in the hospital, but don't be fooled.  You will have your fair share to change the moment you get home. :-)  Oh, and Hannah will look just like her daddy!  You won't get any credit for her amazing looks...she is his twin.  But you will LOVE that about her.  Her eyes will be crystal blue, just like Daddy's and her facial expressions will be his.  But every once in a while you will see yourself in her and those moments will be priceless. 

Give her a pacifier...just do it!  Don't be so stubborn for the first 3 months and refuse to let her have one.  It's silly.  There are much bigger things to worry about.  She will not go off to kindergarten with a pacifier in her mouth.  I don't know how you will break her of the habit, but who cares.  You can cross that bridge during her second year of life.

Hold that little newborn every chance you get.  She will grow up way too fast and you will wish you could cuddle with her again.  She will only be cuddly for about 2 weeks of her life and then she will want nothing to do with being close to you, so get it while you can!  You will not ruin her if you hold her the entire first week
of her life.  Do it!  You will wish you had.

You will spend the next year memorizing which steps creak and how to close a door without making any noise.  You will learn to flush the toilets when Hannah is awake and you will accomplish nothing during nap time out of fear of doing something that might wake her up.  Whoever came up with the saying, "sleep like a baby" must not have had one.

You will make some amazing friends over the next year.  They will keep you sane and help you in more ways than you can imagine.  They will make you feel like you aren't crazy and not alone.  They will be there to listen to you complain about how hard being a mom is and they will completely understand! 

Everything you think you know about being a mom will prove to be false!  Nothing will happen the way you planned and that will be hard. 

You will fall deeply in love this year.  You will better understand your heavenly father's love for you as you learn to love unconditionally and without reservation.  There is nothing you wouldn't do for that little peanut.  She will fill you with such great joy and will help you understand what is truly important in life.  

Big Girl!

Hannah is growing up so fast!  I can hardly believe that in less than 2 months we will be celebrating her first birthday.  We have started planning her big bash and it has really started to take on a life of its own.  Less than a week ago we didn't even know if we would have a party, but now we are throwing a big bash! :-)  I am excited about it, but also getting a little nervous.  I don't plan on going crazy and doing an over-the-top soirée, just a gathering of our closest friends to celebrate this special milestone in Hannah's life.  I am determined to have fun planning it and on the day of....I will not get stressed out! (Now, you better remind of that in a month!!)

There have been a lot of fun milestones happening around here.  Hannah has been doing the cutest things lately.  She started giving high fives a couple weeks ago - I had never even thought to teach her that, but the day I started, she caught right on.  I hold up my hand and say, "Give me five" and she slaps my hand a couple times with the largest smile on her face!  She loves it!!  This past weekend she also started playing peek-a-boo.  When she is laying on her back, she will pull a blanket over her face and then we say, "Where's Hannah?" and she pulls the blanket down, smiling her enourmous grin!  PRECIOUS!  Another favorite that she learned this past wekeend is "So Big!"  We ask her, "How big is Hannah?" and she throws her arms over her head as we say, "SO BIG!"  Again, she smiles the entire time.  Then just today she started my ultimate favorite - kissing!  I ask her for a kiss and she will lean in with her mouth wide open and then I go in for the kiss.  She giggles and I melt!  Oh my sweet baby girl is growing up so fast and I am trying to soak in all those precious moments.  I just can't get enough of that sweet baby girl!

Happy Thanksgiving

A trip to the beach to watch the sunset

Playing ;-)

With Uncle Brent and Aunt Lauren

4 Generations!

We had a wonderful trip to FL for Thanksgiving. We left on Sunday night at 5pm and arrived at 11:30pm.  It was definitely a good idea to drive at night because Hannah ended up sleeping the majority of the trip.  She did such a good job on the way down and was in a fabulous mood the entire week!  She smiled the majority of the time and slept very well while we were there.  She hit a few exciting milestones during the week as well.  She started pulling herself up in her crib and she got her first tooth!  She handled the new tooth like a champ! :-)

It was great to spend time with my parents (MeMaw and PaPaw) and Hannah got to meet her Uncle Brent and Aunt Lauren for the first time.  It was so good to see all of them and made us realize just how much we wish we lived near our family. 

We came home yesterday and drove during the daytime, which was definitely not as easy as the night.  Hannah took two short naps during the drive, but was definitely ready to get out of the car during the last hour or two.  I ended up driving for the second half of the trip and Brian sat in the back with Hannah, to give me a break from the entertaining.  When we got home Hannah was in quite a mood - she obviously missed all the attention she had been getting.  She slept horribly last night and so far today has cried through both of her naps.  She is definitely paying us back for the car ride yesterday.  Maybe she's getting another tooth and this time isn't taking it so well?  Not sure what the problem is, but she is miserable. :-(

We have so much to be thankful for this year - a healthy baby, wonderful family and friends, a secure job for Brian that he loves, the provision Brian's job provides that allows me to stay home with Hannah, our health, our home, and most importantly our Savior who loves us unconditionally!

We Have a Crawler!

Hannah officially started crawling this afternoon!  She has been so close for a few weeks now, but today she finally did it!  She's still learning, but she is already getting into everything.  Oh boy!  This is the first video we have of her crawling...more to come.  Don't mind our crazy voices and over-excitement.



Solids & Sippy Cups

Hannah has started eating rice cereal on a more regular basis.  We started her at 3 months, but then stopped after a week or so because she started not sleeping well.  We thought the cereal might be causing her troubles.  Then at 4 months, we started again.  She was definitely ready!  So far she has had rice cereal, baby food apples, all natural applesauce, and peaches.  It is fun to let her try new things, but for now it is mainly just for practice.  She is definitely still getting all her nutrients from breast milk.  She only eats a couple tablespoons each day (if that), but we are trying to increase that slowly. 

We also gave her a sippy cup of water for the first time.  She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but after a few days she is starting to get the hang of things.  I only put a small amount of water in her sippy cup each day (1-2 oz total) and only give it to her after she eats (nursing and rice cereal).  It's not that she needs the fluids, it's just for the practice.   Most of the water ends up running down her chin and around her neck.  But at least it's just water, so it's not to messy!

 

While it's fun to watch Hannah try new things, I am definitely a little sad to see my little peanut grow up.  Didn't we just bring her home from the hospital?

We have a screamer....

Hannah can scream!  And scream she does! :-)  In the past few days, she has really found her voice.  She screams a lot now and has also started blowing raspberries.  For those that don't know what raspberries are, it is when you vibrate your lips by blowing air through them.  Of course, when Hannah does it there is a lot of spit involved!

Please don't mind my horrible filming, but I have to try to tape her without her noticing.  She gets camera shy the second she sees the camera. 

Capturing the Memories

Does anyone else get overwhelmed with trying to capture every memory?  Maybe it's a new mom/first-time parent thing?  But I feel like I can't put my camera down or step away from the baby book because I might forget to write something down.  The days go by so fast and Hannah is changing so much every day.  I always want to remember her just as she is now.  Since I can't slow down time, I feel like I need to capture it all!  What an overwhelming task!  Sometimes I feel like I can't even enjoy the here and now because I'm too busy trying to remember it...does that even make sense?

Maybe this all stems from my horrible long-term memory (and short-term for that matter).  For some reason I cannot remember much from my childhood or even my teenage years.  I barely remember even going to High School!  Yikes!  I guess in an attempt to not have the same thing happen to Hannah, I am overcompensating.

When I think about Hannah growing up, it makes me so sad.  I want her to always be my little baby.  As I picture her life flashing by, it breaks my heart!  SLOW DOWN!  I'm sure I am overreacting a bit, but you always hear how fast life goes when you have kids, so I just want to be sure to capture it all!

Rolling Over!

Hannah can roll over!!  She is rolling over like crazy.  The other day I had her on the floor doing tummy time and she must have rolled over 10 times in less than 10 minutes.  I kept putting her back on her tummy and she kept rolling over.  So fun!  I didn't get her on video that day, but we did capture her rolling over a few days before that.  If she started rolling over at 5 weeks, I think we have our hands full!  We have a VERY active little girl!!

Click on this link to see the video of Hannah rolling over!

Rolling Over

Milestone: Umbilical Cord Fell Off!

Nasty!!  haha  Hannah is 10 days old now and her umbilical cord stump fell off this morning.  We noticed yesterday that it was just hanging my a thread, but we didn't mess with it, hoping it would come off on its own.  Thankfully Grandma Vaccaro was changing her diaper when it came off because mommy would not have enjoyed that!  I'm a bit squeamish about those kinds of things!  Yuck!  The belly button still looks pretty strange and crusty, but the majority of it is gone.  We are looking forward to being able to give Hannah a full bath and not just a sponge bath (she's not a huge fan of the sponge bath). 

Our house is now empty.  All our company is gone and we are on our own....SCARY!  It has been SO nice to have our family here for the past 2 weeks and it was SO hard to say goodbye. :-(  It is going to be scary for us to be on our own tonight.  Having grandma's around to help with the middle of the night crying times has been wonderful!  We have even been able to get a decent amount of sleep as a result.  Brian is thankfully staying home from work tomorrow to help me transition into being home alone all day with Hannah...also scary!  But then on Tuesday, it will just be me and Hannah during the day.  I am definitely nervous about that, but hopeful that everything will be great! 

Now it's time to go wake up a peacefully sleeping baby to get her awake enough for a good 10pm feeding and then a long night of sleep..hopefully!!  If you can, please pray for us over the next few days!  We are trusting the Lord to guide us day by day in the raising of our precious lil' peanut.  And leaning on Him for the peace and comfort that we so desperately need.