7 months cutie

Happy Hannah is now 7 months old!  This is not a 7 month picture, this is actually about a month old, but my most recent pictures have not been transferred to the computer yet, and I thought this was a fun picture to share.  This was taken on our trip to Disney World, the three little ones had a great time and were ready for another fun day when I took this picture. 
Hannah has earned the nickname Happy Hannah because she is overall a very happy baby!  She smiles so big when you give her your full attention and she just loves to watch her brothers play!  She is starting to get really curious and wants to get right in there with them.  She has started rolling around and has figured out that she can roll herself over to their cool trucks and cars...so far the boys think it's great, but I'm sure they will soon get annoyed by her trying to get their toys. 
Hannah has a tooth!  She has not been sleeping well the last few weeks and I was trying to figure out what I should do about it.  She typically doesn't cry when she wakes up, but will talk very loudly in her crib for up to an hour in the middle of the night!  Then a couple of days ago I realized that there may be a little tooth poking through, sure enough there is!  Only she had to be different, she got a top tooth first!  I think the other top one and the two bottom ones are very close as well, so I'm thinking that all of the teething is what's been messing up our nights.
She has started to eat solids, and she does better everyday!  At this point I think bananas are her favorite!  She is definitely not a big fan of the cereal.  She still will not take the bottle, actually she now refuses it and gets very upset when you try to give it to her.  Oh goodness, did I mention we have a bit of a diva on our hands?  :-)
Hannah loves to be outside!  The other day I had her outside in her jumper while the boys biked and drove vehicles on the driveway, she was on cloud 9!  She was laughing and hollering at them, it was precious!
She is sitting up really well, can basically sit unassisted.  She is not trying to crawl yet, but I think it will come soon. 
These months go by faster and faster, before I know it I will have to start planning her first birthday party!

6 month old Hannah

Hannah Grace is now 6 months old, half a year already...it's just not right!  She is growing, learning new things, and changing daily.  Some of her favorite things are sticking out her tongue, "talking," watching Isaac sing and play his guitar, jumping in her jumperoo, and being outside.  She has started sleeping on her stomach, still in her swaddle blanket (with her arms out).  She is very ticklish, she laughs so hard when you tickle her!  She is still a very mellow baby, which was such a blessing on our recent trip.  We went as a family to Disney World, and she was the best baby!  She slept most of the flight on the way out there, she was very chill in her stroller all day everyday, and she adapted very well to all of our crazy adventures.  Another thing she loves, is big Disney characters!  She gave them the biggest smiles and reached out to them everytime they came near her.  It was a precious sight!  On the flight home she talked a lot, a lot!  After landing, the man behind us said, "That was quite a dissertation you gave us."  I tried giving her baby cereal a few weeks ago, but it didn't go so well, so we gave up.  I started again yesterday, but she still needs practice, her silly tongue pushes all the food out.  This past Sunday she went to the church nursery for the first time, granted, Carl and I were in the same room the entire time, but she was by herself and did great!  Baby girl is growing too fast, so we are trying to savor every moment with her, and enjoy all the sweet baby things. 

1st day of Pre-K

The summer has come to an end, and school is officially back in session for Isaac.  I hadn't really dwelled on this day too much, we were having a good summer and were staying busy enough to keep us all entertained.  This summer was a big one for my big guy, he learned some new big skills!  The three main things he accomplished are:  1.  He learned to swim!  He is a fish!  2. He learned to write his name...it's not perfect, but it's legible and pretty cute.  3.  Just last week he learned to ride his bike without training wheels!  He calls it his motorcycle, even turns it on/off with his pretend key and makes engine noises as he drives.  It was a fun summer, we made many good memories with family and friends! 

Now it's back to school and a good routine.  Isaac was a bit hesitant at first, but then found out that he would have one of his teachers from last year as his main teacher this year and he was thrilled!  He was so excited this morning as we were getting ready and he walked right in to his class with little hesitation.  Today was only a gradual entry day, which means the kids were only there 1.5 hours and we stayed in a meeting the majority of that time.  Isaac had a lot of fun during that time, they painted and played.  I am excited about the year that lies ahead for him, I am confident that he will learn a lot of new academic information and will grow spiritually as well.  I am so thankful he is in a school where God's truth is taught in all they do.  I will admit though that it hit me hard today, this is his last year as a preschooler, his last year of "freedom."  My heart is a little sad, my baby is growing up so fast!  My prayer this year is that he has a wonderful year, full of growth and fun, and that the Lord prepares my heart for the next step (I think I'll need the entire year to prepare for sending him off to kindergarten).

Rockstar/Worship Leader

Isaac has always enjoyed music and singing.  He got a guitar for his 3rd birthday and has played with it a lot over the last year.  Lately though, it has gotten a lot of playing time.  He has discovered YouTube videos of his favorite songs, one in particular, "Pharaoh, Pharaoh."  He will only watch the videos that show someone playing a guitar.  He plays the video, stands in front of it, with his guitar in hand and often sunglasses on (every good rockstar needs glasses).  He will sing and play the guitar to his little heart's content.  He tells us he's on stage and he's the worship leader.  He gets very into this!  This past week he was able to be with us during worship at church, so he saw it all first hand.  This spurred him on even more, and he had all kinds of questions about why things are done certain ways.  Even though I get really tired of hearing the same song over and over again, I do love watching him enjoy music and worshipping so much.  Maybe he will be a worship leader  one day or do something else that involves music.

Little fears...

Okay I will have a confession...I HATE roaches!  Growing up we had roaches in the house at times, and I always hated them.  I think that as I've gotten older my fear of them has gotten worse.  Last week my parents came home after a 5 week vacation, so when returning to their house their were a few dead roaches.  Isaac saw them, and did not like them.  I can handle a dead roach, so I did not show fear, it was all on his own.  Well, since we've lived in our house we've had very few roaches, and the majority of them have been this summer.  Today we had some friends over, we were getting Hannah up after her nap and I saw a dead roach by her bed.  I was digusted, how could there be a roach in her room?  Did it get in her bed?  Is it the only one?  Yuck, I was not happy.  My friend picked it up (because I had my hands full holding Hannah), and we all headed to the gameroom.  Isaac was still by her room and he yelled, "Mama, a roach!"  I thought he was kidding, but I could tell by his behavior this was no joke.  I grabbed a shoe and started searching.  I saw it crawl behind the changing table...eeewww!  So I did what any good mom would, I called for daddy.  He came to our rescue, but we had to hunt that thing down.  We finally found it, after only a few screeches from me and the kids, Carl killed it and we all moved on.  WELL, apparently I've scarred Isaac.  Tonight after having been in his bed and quiet for about 30 minutes, he calls for us.  I went in and he hollered, "There's a roach on my blanket!"  I tried my best to stay calm, flipped on the light (Luke was already asleep, but I had to have full light to find this thing.), and looked at the blanket.  Then Isaac said, "Oh no, it was just this light on the firetruck picture (on the blanket)."  I told him I had killed all the roaches, he didn't need to worry about them...only a little white lie, then kissed him and came downstairs laughing.  Thankfully Luke slept through the entire situation.  I learned my lesson today, stay calm even when scared/disgusted by a bug.  I'll try my best to do that next time, but I can't promise that.

Luke is growing too fast!

Okay, maybe Luke's not really "growing" he is still my peanut, but he is maturing so fast lately, he's really turning into a little boy.  He is finally starting to talk more and more, I think he tries to say new words daily.  Isaac started to talk at such a young age, so I don't really think Luke is behind, he's probably average.  He is putting words together to make little sentences, and sometimes they are so silly.  He won't call animals by their name, he calls them by what they say.  So a dog is a woof woof, a cat is a meow, and a cow is a moo.  You get the idea.  He loves ducks, he has always talked about them.  He enjoys going to feed the ducks with Emmy and Gumby in their neighborhood, so now when we drive by their neighborhood pond he says, "Emmy, quack quack, eat."  Which means, Feed the ducks with Emmy.  One of his latest words that I love is, "help."  It's great that he can say that now because it means less yelling when he can't do something.  One of his new words that I don't like is, "Mine!"  I guess it's inevitable that he will learn that word when he spends all his time sharing toys with his brothers.  ;-)  One of the cutest things he says is, "Ow Ow" which means owie.  He also talks a lot about his private part, aka wee wee...such a boy!  When he is asked a question he often says, "ummm" before he answers.  He says a few words that I don't understand, but for the most part his words are very clear.  He loves to sing, one of his favorite songs is a song he learned in Sunday school, "Deep and Wide."  He is very proud of himself for being able to sing that. Hannah's favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, so we sing it a lot, and he now hums the tune, which is precious.  Isaac loves to sing a song called "Pharaoh, Pharaoh."  The main chorus says, "Pharaoh, Pharaoh, ooohh whoe, let my people go."  Luke sings, "oohh whoe, Oma Opa, go."  I'm not sure where that came from, but he has decided that's how he will sing it.  Besides talking he is also maturing in other ways.  He is great in the pool, he floats around by himself in his puddle jumper.  He is so careful getting in and out, I don't think I've met another boy as careful as Luke.  He absolutely adores his sister, she can always make him smile, and he loves making her smile.  He has always enjoyed reading books, he will bring me books at random times all day long.  Now he even gets books and quietly looks through them by himself.  Oma and Opa gave him a Thomas the Train magazine from Holland, and I have often found him sitting alone studying each and every page of that magazine.  My little Luke is a thinker, a focused worker, a bit of a stubborn boy, with a sweet sweet heart.

5 months

Hannah is 5 months now!  Wow, really someone slow her down!  She is so precious, sweet, and fun!  She has a combination of Isaac's mellow temprament and Luke's determination.  She LOVES to be with other kids, especially her brothers.  Her face lights up when someone talks to her or makes eye contact...she is a social butterfly.  Although, I have noticed that she is getting attached to me more and more, she's started to sometimes hesitate a little when going to other people (especially when she's tired).  We still keep her with us during church, but I haven't been able to sit during the last few sermons because she is so talkative and loud, I feel like I'm disturbing everyone.  She likes to yell out during the quietest times, like the prayers, I think she's just praying along with them.  She always sleeps through the worship time, I guess she's used to the noise and sleeps well with that going on.  She has gotten on a pretty good schedule, she naps 2-3 times a day, depending on the day and the length of the naps.  She goes to sleep around 7 every night, eats again before I go to bed, and then wakes to eat around 5 am every morning.  Thankfully she goes right back to sleep after that, sometimes until 9:00!  She enjoys being outside, she watches everything going on around her and just relaxes.  She also enjoys the pool, she just chills.  We started cereal today, I am not sure how much she actually swallowed, but I think she did like it.  The boys were thrilled to see her eating from a spoon!  She can roll from her stomach to her back, and can roll from her back to her stomach (but she has no interest in being on her stomach, so she doesn't do that often).  She is so squirmy, sometimes it's hard to hold her because she gets to wiggly!  Her hair still sticks up and has a reddish tint to it; everyone always comments on her silly hair.  She has a great big smile that lights up a room and makes everyone around her smile.  The boys are still so great with her, they love to tickle her and make her giggle.  When she wakes up they are always the first in her room.  She immediately stops fussing and starts smiling when she sees them. 
I am so thankful for our sweet baby girl, she has taught me to be flexible, slow down a little, and really savor every moment.