Three Months Old Yesterday

We are long overdue for an update. It has been a crazy few weeks. For starters, we moved. Two days after we got home from Louisiana, we picked up the Budget truck and started loading. We had some friends in Laramie that helped us and by Friday morning we were loaded and headed for Colorado Springs. Our friends joined us, and then after all of the work was done, we ate at a fabulous Sri Lankan restaurant in town. It is so great living in a big city again, if for no other reason than the great variety of restaurants. We were home for the weekend, and then Jon and Hannah left for Ohio, with Jon's dad, where they had a great time hanging out with Grandpa (Hannah's great-great grandpa). They left first thing in the morning on a Tuesday and my dad arrived in Colorado Springs that evening. Dad and I removed wallpaper and painted all week while Jon and Hannah were gone. We finished up when Jon got home...aka, what we didn't have completed, Jon finished for us while Dad and I hung out with Hannah. Dad and I played with her a lot and also took her to the zoo. The zoo here is pretty cool. It is built into Cheyenne Mountain and is very hilly. It also is a bit like a petting zoo, in that you can feed a lot of the animals and some of them (like the wallabies) just roam around freely. Anyway, Hannah got a lot of time with her grandpa and we, of course, got lots of pictures. Once Dad left, Jon and I started unpacking like madmen and completing our list of things to do...moving is a lot of work! We had to change banks, utility companies, cell phones, cable & Internet companies, and much more...we are still working on the list, but are getting things done a little at a time. We are also dog-sitting for Jon's parents' new puppy, Lola. Hannah flew through her three month birthday, but not without a little treat. She got a new toy, which she loves, but I will post about that later. For now, here are some pictures of Hannah while her grandpa (my dad) was here visiting. Taking a nap with grandpa. I took the picture from the top of the balcony and think it turned out well!
Hannah with Grandpa at the zoo. This is the view of Colorado Springs from the entrance.Hannah and me at the zoo...can't say that she loved it, but I am sure that she will this time next year.

Bright-eyed with Grandpa.

Ready for a nap...big yawn!

Hannah Misses Grandma

We had to say goodbye to my mom on Tuesday morning because she had to go back to work. Therefore she did not come with us to the airport. Hannah was just hanging out in her carseat for the drive to New Orleans, although she didn't see to be happy for most of the trip. Then, no lie, as soon as we pulled into the airport she started crying hysterically. Jon, CJ, and I joked that she realized where we were going and was mad about it. I thought it was so sweet to see her so upset, so while it might have been a little mean, I had to take a picture of it. Tears and all, she misses her Grandma already. We love you Mom and I miss you too!

We Are Back!

We had a great time with my mom and CJ and so did Hannah. She got to meet lots of family including cousins, great aunts and uncles, people who are like family, and even her great-grandma Belle. She also got to meet a very special friend, Emma. One of my college roomies hooked up with my mom and schemed to surprise us with a visit too while we were there. It was great to see her and her little girl Emma who's a year old now!

Everyone loved her of course, but none more than Mom and CJ. She definitely got spoiled while we were there and according to CJ, he and Mom did their jobs. He says that it's the grandparents job to ruin everything that the parents have been trying to teach their kids! We didn't mind it all though and neither did Hannah.

We have lots and lots of pictures from the trip, but here are a few of my favorites. Grandma/Mom and Hannah.
Grandpa CJ & Hannah.

Future BFF's Emma and Hannah sporting their sweet homemade onsies.

Mini MEDL Reunion...at least half of us.

The Fam.

Jon, me, and Hannah.

Wide eyed Hannah.

Hannah loved the bathtub that my mom got for her. She's just flopping around in the water right here.

Hannah loved the food! Okay, maybe she didn't actually eat the food, but sort of through me!

Passed out after a long day of eating and being held. It's hard to be a baby!

Big pile of crabs that we went through!

Just before bath time. It's my favorite one of Mom and Hannah.

Hannah's great-grandma Belle.

Hannah sporting her sweet sandals that stayed on for about 60 seconds.

Two Month Check-Up

Hannah had her doctor's appointment today, as I mentioned in the previous post. She got three shots along with an oral vaccination! That's a lot for anyone. I even got a little teary-eyed when they gave her the shots. I had never heard her cry like that before, which I suppose is good because that means that she's never been in real pain. It was just so sad and I knew there was nothing I could do about it! Before the shots, however, she got weighed, measured, and check out by the doctor. I was just a little disappointed because I was hoping she would be ten pounds. As it turns out, she came in a half and ounce shy at 9 lbs. 15 1/2 oz. Darn it! I was feeding her while we were waiting and she had an ounce of food left. I told her that if she had just finished that food up faster, we could have made 10 lbs, but such is life. I think I can be fairly certain that by next time she will be over ten pounds! She also grew 2 1/2 inches since the last time she was at the doctor's office. Apparently that is quite a bit of growth in one month. The doctor was impressed and said that while she is still really low in weight, she was happy because she was definitely growing. So Hannah is now almost ten pounds and 23 inches long. She is growing up and changing so much everyday. I think she is starting to look a lot more like me too and she definitely got my expressive faces. You can really see it in these two pictures. Walking with Dad on the bed in our hotel.

You looking at me, Mom?

Two Months Old

What a week we have had! It all started on Friday. Friday was my birthday so Jon and I made plans to go to Greeley (just north of Denver) to do some shopping and have dinner. Hannah was going to stay with Linda, a friend of the family who lives in Greeley for the evening. So we left around two o'clock that afternoon and slowly made our way to Greeley. Hannah did great in the car for this first part of the trip and was super happy to find endless hands to hold her. She had a great time with Linda and the kids, and Evan even dressed her up in his bear's Denver nuggets jersey! So cute! We stayed the night at their house that night and then got up to leave early the next morning. The rest of our weekend was to be spent in Colorado Springs looking for a place to live. None of us were looking forward to this, since Hannah got really cranky the last time we did it. But, we had no choice, so we went. We took things much easier this time (we learn from our past experiences) and tried to accommodate Hannah as much as possible. We stayed there Saturday through Monday and had a goal of getting everything settled before we left. Fortunately, after lots of incredible frustration at the outrageous prices of rental property, we did find a place to live, but it did take much longer than we had expected. So while we had planned on coming back to Laramie first thing Monday morning, we didn't actually arrive until 10:00 pm. Let's just say that Hannah was spent. So my entire day Tuesday was spent holding Hannah and trying to get her to stop crying (this is our ritual after trips). I got nothing done! Then today, she went to her two month checkup and had her first round of immunizations. Yet another day of getting nothing done! I can't say that I am all that upset about either day because I really just feel so sorry for the poor girl...she has had a rough several days too! I think both she and I are ready for things to get back to normal (at least for a few days anyway until we leave for Louisiana). Here are a few pictures of that I thought you would enjoy.

Hannah getting a bath at the hotel this weekend. Last time, I just put a towel in the bottom of the bathtub, but Jon out-smarted me this time. This is in the sink that I thought was way too small for her. Turns out, it was perfect and she didn't seem to mind it one bit!

Hannah "hearts" New York, or maybe just a few special people that live there. She asked me to give her Aunt and Nick a shout out! I know the look on her face isn't all that convincing that she "hearts" NY, but it's just that she "hearts" it so much that she is in distress, hence the look on her face. :)

She really cracks us up sometimes. She has a game that she plays with her dad where she lays on his stomach on the couch and then throws herself to one side or the other...basically, rolling from one side to the other. So while she thinks that she is actually rolling over on her own, it is a lot easier to do on him because he is softer than the floor. She gets really frustrated when we lay her on the floor because she can't roll over and tries really hard for a long time. So we thought we would try to get some pictures of it, because it is hilarious. This (above) is the first picture in the series.
Picture two (above), starting to get frustrated but Dad is trying to help her out.

Picture three (above). She's had enough because she can't do it and is really sick of trying...I am pretty sure she either passed out from exhaustion after this or wailed until we picked her up. I try not to let her turn bright red for too long.

Hannah's Travels

Hannah has a busy month ahead of her. She has already been "out of state" a few times, since Colorado is only 20 miles from here and will go "out of state" again this weekend to look for apartments in Colorado Springs. Poor girl. I don't think she likes Colorado very much right now because to her, Colorado=carseat and that is not good in her book. Ah well, I am sure that once things settle down, she will learn to love Colorado as much as Jon and I do. The three of us will also be heading to Louisiana in two weeks to see her grandparents there and to meet lots of family. While she can't actually eat any of the good food herself, perhaps she can enjoy it vicariously through me. I am sure that she will have a good time there, but more importantly that everyone will love getting to see her. Then, a little over a week later she will be traveling with her dad and Grandpa Mike to Ohio where she will be meeting her great, great grandpa. That's right, great, great! He is in his late 90's and I am certain that he can't wait to meet her. Hannah is the first great, great, so she is kind of a big deal. She should also get to meet some great uncles and cousins along the way too. Sometime in there we are going to be moving south to Colorado Springs and will have to say goodbye to Wyoming and our friends. Boy is that a crazy month or what? All before Hannah reaches the ripe old age of three months! Whew! I am sure that we will be taking lots of pictures in the next month so there will be more to come. In the mean time, here are a few of her around the house these last few days. Posing for a picture in one of her super cute 0-3 months outfits. Thanks Wheelers, she's so cute!

I am pretty sure she is going to be really sick of pictures before long!
Dad giving her a bath. Is that a funny face or what? We like to pretend that we know what she is thinking when she makes funny faces...this one is "this is my life, crazy dad sings to me while I take a bath. It's a little scary, but I'm getting used to it."
Sleeping on the couch. One of her favorite things to do.
She has been sleeping like this lately, with her legs tucked up under her. Looks horribly uncomfortable, but it must not be because she is out. It is so cute.

This is why she loves to sleep on the couch. It's good cuddle time with Dad. They were both sleeping like rocks when I got this picture. Do I have an adorable family or what?

Hannah Had a LONG Weekend

Well first of all, the poor girl has to put up with her dad messing with her hair. He says it is one of her "tricks." As seen in this photo (you may have to enlarge the pic), he twists her hair up into a "spike"...think Little Rascals. Can you tell that she loves it? Secondly, we went to Colorado Springs. It was a long trip, poor girl. We are officially moving there in August so we needed to start looking for places to live. So, not only did we have to drive down there, which usually takes three hours, but with Hannah took at least four, but she also had to be in her car seat the whole time. She's not crazy about her car seat in the first place, so four hours was more than enough. She made that very clear through her crying. Then, we had to drive around this "town" of 500,000 people to look for a place to live. We took a long lunch once we got there and that seemed to help her some, simply because she got to be out of her car seat for a while. When we put her back in to leave, she got very upset again. We did about three hours around town and then had to take a long break. We went to our hotel to let Hannah relax for a bit, in hopes that she would stop crying. In fact, we all needed to relax for a while. She finally took a nap for a while, but insisted on being held. While we dreaded it, we went out again that evening. We had to because we were there to find a place to live. Unfortunately, we only got a tour of the town, which was not what we were planning. Neither of us really realized how big The Springs actually is, so we under-estimated how long it would take for us to find an apartment. This means that we are going to have to take yet another trip there in the near future. I feel so sorry for Hannah, but she was a trooper. I loved these pictures because she totally relaxed once we got the hotel (you can almost see her smiling in the picture with Jon). Also, when we got back to our house in Laramie, she was like a new baby. Somehow she knew that we were home and was thrilled. She got all smiley and even let us change her outfit and diaper without crying! Since her long weekend has been over, she has been extra cuddly and seems to be much happier. Hopefully next time she will do better and hopefully we will do better too!