49 weeks!

Gah it’s cold still but the weekend after next brings Day Light Savings Time and then certainly Spring can’t be too far behind.

So, Hanna this week…

• Has turned into a chatterbox! It’s a constant stream of sounds but she alluvasudden has three distinct words she loves: train, Guinness {our dog, not the beer}, and Dad. I love hearing this. Now, to the uneducated observer, these “words” would be sounds but we know what she’s saying and she definitely copies us when we say the actual words. There are no surprises here, obviously, considering she adores her dad, LOVES staring at the trains from her chair looking out the window, and things Guinness is hilarious. She does say “mom” and “mama” but not quite as often and usually when I’ve abandoned her in the high chair for too long.
• Took a couple of five-ish-step-long walks on her own. One was at daycare when I picked her up and each time she takes steps on her own she has this look that she knows exactly what she’s doing, she’s just choosing to crawl most of the time because it’s faster.
• Has some great new foods…mashed carrots, adult oatmeal {plain with frozen berries added in} eggplant/spinach/feta pizza {my fave!}, and a few other things…yum!
• Is quite the mermaid in her baths; Hanna Lu has taken to getting on her tummy and pushing up with her hands {a la upward-facing-dog or Ariel on the rock in the Little Mermaid} and kicking her legs – it’s a good thing there are some swim lessons in her future! She will also still play along with “running” {splashing} away from me when I say it’s time to get out of the bath.
• Hung out with some pals in town last night and adorably tried to feed their little guy {five months older than ours} some snacks the kiddos were sharing. He patiently sat there and let her. Swoon!
• Is enjoying her toys with gusto these days; we cleared out a bunch into temporary storage to maintain less clutter and give the babe a chance to enjoy what she has and then enjoy some “new” toys later on when these lose their sheen.
• Will be one year old quite soon; we should get on that party-planning bandwagon shouldn’t we? Though I suppose I should make a mother’s promise of never giving our March 18^th baby a St. Patrick’s Day themed birthday party. She might very well have parties that just happen to be green themed since that’s what might be on sale {or even Valentine’s/pinks/red/hearts…I hadn’t even realized the timing}…have a great week folks and stay warm!

11 months.

Only one more of these...though I might try to keep up with the monthly ones post birthday since I love looking back at these and it'll be easier not doing it each week, right? Anyway, here's what Hanna's up to this past month.

How old: 11 months.

Weight: about 20 pounds.

Likes:

• Food.
• Playing.
• Crawling.
• The playroom in our building.
• Guinness our dog.
• Peering out the window while sitting on her chair.
• The trains outside our window.
• Her bath.
• The push-walker toy that is in the playroom.
• Other kids as well as her daycare provider.

Dislikes:

·         Being placed on her back for a diaper or wardrobe change.

·         Having something taken away from her, though she gets over it pretty quickly.

Milestones:

·         This kid has taken about five steps on her own but has yet to really go for it…walking seems imminent.

·         Another tooth came in the past month and several others are threatening to do so as well.

·         Had her first Valentine’s Day…we didn’t do much for her; sorry baby.

·         Enjoyed several snowy days and is still experiencing some frigid cold.

Sleep and eat:

·         Sleeping is the same as last month; 10 to 12 hours a night depending on when we put her down. She might have a night where she wakes up once and we just let her put herself back to sleep, unless she gets loud and upset, which is rare.

·         Hanna expanded her palette and tried a bunch of new foods; spoon-feeding her baby food remains the quickest way to nourish this child, though.

Miscellaneous:

Hanna is in 12 to 18 month sized clothing, size three disposable diapers, has one “long” row unbuttoned on her diapers and three to four rows around her waist unbuttoned…if you know the Bumgenius lingo.

48 weeks!

I woke up this snowy morning with the sniffles Hanna is finishing off from last week so hopefully Michael misses out and we're all cold-free even if the weather is just that, cold. In other developments this week Ms.Hanna Lu...

• Had a bunch of new food for the first time: gyros, French fries, quinoa enchilada bake, corn {off the cob}, spaghetti {a HUGE hit}, meatballs, and regular oatmeal {with frozen berries added in}...here's to getting that babe on more "human" food and having her get more efficient at eating it.

• Watched some Curious George on the Netflix, thanks to some cabin fever which was a direct result of the crummy weather...she actually watched one whole vignette and we truly were not proud of it.

• Continues to love climbing up onto her chair and peering out the window. 

          She especially enjoys the trains and metro that go whizzing by.

• Gets very excited whenever someone enters a room or our apartment; she stops what she's doing, gives a huge grin, and makes some very happy sounds. This also translates to when she's nursing so she'll stop each time she hears someone or something to pop up and get a reaction.

• Enjoys exploring the cupboard and it's a good thing we have a tiny pot for some reason because it's perfectly her size to pull out and play with.

• Tried a piece of Guinness' dog kibble for the first time. I'm frankly very surprised we made it to almost a year. I was scurrying to get ready to get out the door today and baby was playing with the pot I just mentioned and had a pacifier in her mouth which usually keeps unwanteds out and I looked over at her to see a very funny face. She was seriously peeved with me for taking it out of her mouth. The crunchies are small enough she probably wouldn't have choked but I was still scared as heck and really guilty. 

• Finally cut a new tooth, almost six months after the first two came out. This is one up top and there are three others around it that are threatening their appearances but if they're anything like this brand new one, it'll take a long time. She hasn't seemed to fussy regarding this development nor has there been much extra drool but you sure can see them below the surface.

• Has been really good at playing with her toys in the toy area as opposed to trying to crawl all over the place in our home and get into all the dangerous things, minus today's doggy food incident.

• Wore pig tails for the first time yesterday!

          So cute!

• Continues her "tricks" of 1. where's Hanna?, 2. clap your hands, 3. how big is Hanna?, and 4. play the drums. 

• Has taken a few solo steps but still nothing substantial and will gladly crawl to any new locale.

• Got swaddled today. In a fit of boredom and because I saw one of her old swaddling blankets and felt inspired.

           Though dizzingly quick, it's still not difficult to believe how quickly the past year has gone by 
           and our newborn turned into the dangly legged creature above - since that's how all time seems
           to move. It's impressive, though, that we've somewhat survived almost a year...I can't even tell 
           if I'm tired anymore!

Stay warm out there folks, winter will surely soon abate.
xoxo, natty ♥

47 weeks!

So for our growing girl, we have a new white onesie and a different hair bow. I was going to buy a new pack of the Carter's onesies but realized that we never put the baby in these things except for her pictures so the $10 isn't worth it in my opinion so I found a funny white tank-top onesie thing at TJ Maxx today...TJ Maxx for the win! In other news, Hanna Lucille...

Jazz hands.

• Is still taking one or two steps at a time, unassisted. Then she realizes that she can get to her destination much quicker by crawling.

• Loves the push-toy-thing; we "borrowed" it from our building's play room {I love that place on weekends and snow days} and have yet to return it because she's had a few sniffles and I don't want to infect the building's kiddos. We brought it home in the first place because Saturday was a day void of much stimulation for our child so I let her "walk" home from the playroom. Going down two hallways is a lot of work for a small child...

• Really enjoys crawling up on her chair.

Big ruffly-butt climbing and exploration.

       We reconfigured her playspace, which included strategically removing some of her toys so as to  
        keep her well-stimulated {?}, because she's grown out of some of them {playmat}, and since 
       she had recently been really into poking her tiny fingers into the electrical sockets. Today we 
       also bought little things to stick in there so her fingers stay out {TJ Maxx too, incidentally}. 
       Since her chair is now below the windows and Hanna Lu loves looking out those windows this 
       is a perfect set-up. Except for how she doesn't know how to get down from the chair but I'm 
       assuming that will come with time.

• Has a wee cold this week but seems to be OK for the most part. She's coughing a bit and sounds a tad phlegmy which we don't love but such is life.

• Has some good family visits coming up for her birthday and Easter; almost all the grandparents!

• Continues to adore her daycare provider and be so happy for her in the morning, but I also love that she reaches for me in the afternoon when I pick her up.

• Shared my restaurant dinner the other night; bacon wrapped meatloaf and garlicky mashed potatoes - girl is a fan.

• Continues to love her baby food, baby cereal, and full-fat plain yogurt.

• Has been having a huge appetite, though with her ailment this week has been into eating a bit less.

• Still has only those bottom two teeth, though I haven't been, ahem, bitten in several weeks. Except for one random fluke time this past weekend but I don't count that.

• While nursing, though, has figured out how to blow raspberries against me and though it's adorable I'm not encouraging this behavior since it's supposed to be Serious Eating Time.

• Is trying to crawl into the bathtub; we get her all ready for bath in the bathroom and she knows exactly where to go.

• Will gladly play "chase me" in the bathtub when it's time to get out, which she so playfully started last week.

• Continues to love opening cabinets and pulling things out of bookshelves. It's actually great to indulge her, to a certain, safe, extent, and let her get bored/lose her interest so that she isn't quite so fixated on it instead of getting frustrated at being told "no" {a mutual frustration, truth be told}.

• Learned "Where's Hanna?" this past week, a variation on "Peek-a-boo". It's glorious and we request this game several times a day. Hanna seems to enjoy it too.

• Is wonderful and we love her so so much...five more weeks until we wrap up these weekly updates because, as much as we can adore someone, a weekly update is quite a lot after those special first 52. Woah.

xoxo, natty ♥

De colores.

46 weeks!

It's February!! This thing turns ONE next month...in six weeks actually, so let's see what she's up to today. Hanna Lucy...

• I dare say has been in a bit of a growth spurt; she seems starved all the time and that onesie is well and truly Too Small, as are some jammies that fit just fine last week.
• Is still standing a ton and taking maybe one step unassisted before she decides that she can crawl much faster.
• Loves looking out the window.
• Loves pushing the elevator buttons; our fault here for letting her do so in the first place but it's just so cute.
• Adores her daycare provider.
• Has been having more "food" than baby food while at home...banana, avocado, cheesy toast, yogurt, raspberries, and black beans were all on the menu this past week. She's just so dang slow with eating it all that it's easier to just spoon feed her the baby food, but I think it's good for her all around to eat the "real" stuff. She does still get and love baby rice or oatmeal cereal with milk mixed in.
• Took a bottle which was random because it seemed a lost cause over break in December and we hadn't tried since then.
• Really enjoys the playroom in our building as do her parents since it's a big and safe space for her to crawl around in.
• Was in the bath until the water drained completely tonight and when I told her "it's time to get out", she crawled away from me, though she obviously couldn't get too far. 
• Will clang two toys together.
• Uses our hands to do things for her; she has a toy that will pop up if a button is pressed but instead of doing so herself, Hanna Lu grabs one of our hands and puts it on the button for us to press it. She will do the same with the "more" hand sign - she moves our two hands together to say "more"...maybe she'll soon figure out that she can do these things too!

xoxo, natty ♥