Playing piano

The other day, Dan's mom was at our house, and got Hannah to play the piano. At first she just stared at the keys and watched Cheri play, but after a few minutes, she started pounding on the keys herself. So cute. She loved it.

Learning to smile

Hannah's gotten really good at smiling lately. It's so cute. It is my favorite part of being a mom. And to make it even better, she laughed last night for the first time. We were reading her "This is my Monster" book that my dad got her, which she loves, and she was smiling from ear to ear. Then we played patty cake and she giggled! It caught me off guard at first, but then she did it again. It was the most awesome sound I've ever heard. I love her so much! Her one downside, though, is the fact that she is super camera shy. She always stops whatever she's doing any time the camera comes out. It is so annoying. But I was able to get two pictures of her smiling. They're not perfect, but they're the best I could get, and you can still tell how beautiful her smile is so it's all good.

In the jungle, part 2

Hannah's now 2 months old! And she is a lot more aware of her surroundings and able to focus on things she sees. Last week, during tummy time, she noticed for the first time that there's a mirror in her jungle. She stared at herself in it for a good 3 minutes. She's able to hold her head up higher and longer, and is working on getting those knees under her. She wants to move! And she does. She doesn't get very far, but she scoots around on her back all the time. She almost scooted herself off the changing table at church one day!

 

Watching the Crossfit games

This year, ESPN2 is broadcasting the Crossfit games! For those of you who don't know, crossfit is an international workout program. On their website, they define it in part by saying, "CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist." Dan is a certified Crossfit instructor, and I've been doing crossfit for over a year. The Crossfit games are kind of like our Olympics, to win the coveted title of fittest man and fittest woman. On Wednesday night, Hannah watched the games with us, and totally loved it! She sat and watched almost the whole thing with us. When Dan asked her if she was going to grow up and do crossfit, she smiled really big and went back to watching TV.

Sitting up

So here (finally) is the video of her sitting up that I took like a week ago. She was getting a little tired by this point, but still having fun. She's so cute. And Dan is so goofy. He's always making commentary for what he thinks she's saying, which often includes jokes about her being "milk drunk." Before I got the camera, he'd been making royal decrees from "Princess Hannah" declaring that I must feed her whenever she desires, and other such silliness. These two bring so much fun and happiness into my life!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

 

Hannah loves her jungle, and as you can see, she's getting really good at kicking the zebra to make it play music. It's so cute. And very nice for me, since she will play in this thing for up to an hour sometimes! 

Getting stronger

As I've said before, Hannah is super strong, and she loves to exercise. The other night we had her sitting up in her bumbo, and she was having a great time. I didn't grab my camera until the end, so she was getting tired, but still doing good. I have a couple of awesome videos, but I can't get them to upload, so I'll just settle for a few pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get them to upload soon.

Hannah's blessing day

Hannah was given a blessing in church on Sunday. She was held in a circle by her father, grandfather, and 3 of her uncles. She was wearing a beautiful dress made by my mom. Dan gave the blessing, and he blessed her with the faith and courage she needs to deal with life's challenges. He also blessed her with the ability to rely on the love of her family and her Savior as she deals with those challenges. He blessed her that her faith and testimony will continue to grow throughout her life and that she will be an example to everyone around her. Both of our families were there. The only members of our family who were unable to come were Dan's grandparents, who were dealing with the fire down in Austin. Afterwards, everyone -almost 30 people- went to my in-laws for lunch and hung out for the rest of the day. In addition to her Grandpa meeting her for the first time this weekend, her Great Grandma met her for the first time, too. It was a wonderful day filled with good food and lots of love.

Grandpa's first visit

This weekend Hannah was blessed in church by her dad. So this was the perfect opportunity for my dad to come and meet her. He lives in Washington DC. He came in on Friday and got to spend most of the day with her. He brought her a super cute book called "This is my monster" and got to read it to her. She seemed to like it and Dad had a ton of fun reading it to her. It definitely didn't take long for her to wrap him firmly around her cute little finger.

Family Tragedy

Before I write about the wonderful weekend we had with Hannah's blessing, I should acknowledge the tragedy our family experienced this weekend. Dan's grandparents own a large piece of land down in Austin, with a beautiful home they built themselves. But this weekend their home was destroyed by a wild fire. I don't know what the future will hold for them, or their land. Hopefully they will be able to rebuild. The great grandkids love to visit their house and play on the tractor and walk in the woods, and I was excited to take Hannah down there to visit. Thankfully they are both safe and sound, which is really the most important thing. I hope they will get to meet Hannah soon.