11 Week old Hannah is Happy, Baptized and Celebrated Halloween

Dear Happy Hannah, 

You sure are a joyful girl. From the moment you first wake up in the morning, you are full of sweet, sweet smiles. You smile just about at anyone who talks to you. 

Unfortunately, you, like your brother, are also super drooly. You blow lots of spit bubbles and my shoulder is almost always soaking wet after you've been hanging out on it. Oh well, I have drooly babies.

This weekend was a special weekend for you because you got baptized. Grandma got you a pretty dress and great grandma got you a pretty bracelet.

You were so calm during the baptism, fussed for a split second when the water first hit your head, but then you were calm afterwards as Pastor sprinkled water on your head.

One day this week, you slept for a 6 hour stretch. That was nice. Very nice. But on most nights, you will sleep for at most 5 hours during your first stretch after bedtime (which is about 8). I've dropped the dream feed since you are sleeping for longer stretches. Nighttime feedings are not too bad either. They run about 20 minutes and then you are out like a log and will sleep for about 3 hours. 

You are truly a bundle of joy and I look forward to seeing how you will develop into an amazing woman. 

***

Dear Nathan, 

This week has been another exciting one. Your vocabulary continues to grow and each day you are talking more and more. It seems like you are making up for all those moments in your first few months of life when you were unable to speak. You've been pointing to things, wanting to know the name for them. For example, this morning, you pointed to a toy toaster and looked at me. Once I told you "toaster," you repeated it and then walked away. 

On Thursday, you had a Halloween party at school. Everyone showed up in their costumes and walked in a parade to show off their cool attire. 

 You did a good job of not whacking anyone with your light saber. There were a lot of princesses.
On Friday, the whole family dressed up once more to go trick-or-treating. We hit up a few of our neighbors' houses and then camped out in our driveway to pass out candy.

You also did a great job of handing out candy to all of your "friends." One of the candies we handed out were gummy bears, and since you love gummy bears, you wanted to eat more but we would tell you, "No more." Then you would remind us that there were plenty more gummy bears in the basket by walking over to it, picking up a pack, pointing to it, and saying "eat." 

After we explained that the gummy bears were for your friends, you were really understanding and stopped asking. You would vigilantly be on the lookout for more kids and when you saw some approaching, you would get super excited, grab a piece of candy and run towards them. 

At 8 o'clock, you said "home" and so we called it a night and thus ended your second year of trick-or-treating.

The next day grandma and grandpa came to visit. We all went downtown to check out the Formula 1 fan festival. They had a few activities for kids, like a balance bike track for younger kids and some trampolines and big bubbles for the older ones. 

 You really liked looking at all the cars, and you particularly liked watching the skateboarders on the ramp. Today I found you imitating the skateboarders. You did this:

and then you said "skateboard" with this approval-seeking expression on your face. I couldn't help it but to say, "Cool, what a great idea."

The next day, we went to the wildflower center and you had lots of fun playing in the sand pit and on the tree swings.

On Monday, we decided to drive to New Braunfels to visit their children's museum. Before we left, we had to get dressed. I thought this was a cute look on you.

 You do a great job of reminding me to give Hannah her Vitamin D drops everyday. In the picture above, that's what you are holding in your hand.

At the museum, you liked playing with the train set, of course. While you probably would've stayed and played at the trains for the whole time, we got you to try the other activities as well.

 Daylight savings time started this past weekend and you have adjusted to this very well. I don't look forward to the "spring forward" time when we need to try to get you to start sleeping earlier. I think it's way easier to get you to sleep later, although I don't think you are waking up later just yet.

You are still playing a bit rough, although I think there is an improvement. You only had to go to "time out" once yesterday at school. I really hope you are not one of those kids that make the teacher grumble when you walk in the door. I just hope that you become a caring person and not a bully.

Potty training has gone pretty well. You are now back to telling us when you need to go poo poo before you need to go. The gummy bear treat is pretty effective as well, especially when you tack on this song...

You absolutely LOVE this song. You will watch it on the potty, dance to it, and even hold off on eating your gummy bear until the song is over (we sometimes have to remind you to eat it). Maybe I'll try finding you some yellow undies like the gummy bear. 

We have started a tradition of dancing to this song after dinner. It's actually a lot of fun. I enjoy dancing to it and Hannah loves to watch us all dance. 

I'm very proud of you this week for being more gentle to Hannah. I can only remember one time where you were a bit rough with her. Now if you would only do the same with your friends at school. Don't hit them and be too rough when playing. I appreciate the fact that you will tell me what you did to deserve a time-out at school, but I really would like it if you didn't do things that cause you to go to time out. Be gentle, ok? 

Well, that is it for now. Tomorrow, Hannah goes in to get an x-ray and we will see if she will need to wear her brace any longer. 

Until next week, 

Love,

Mommy