Well, Hello There Baby, Week 18!

Dear Hannah and Nathan, 

Wasn't our trip to the Birthing center this morning exciting? We got a chance to take a look at our new baby! As far as the sonographer could tell, everything looks healthy and normal. Baby is weighing in at 9 oz. and has 10 fingers and 10 toes. According to Hannah, we should have 13 fingers. You counted yourself: 1,2,3,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. We know the gender of the baby, but we will hold off on telling you guys for just a few more days. We will actually be getting together with our birthing center friends for a monthly get-together and will share the news via silly string. I think it'll be a fun way for you guys to find out whether or not we will have 2 boys or 2 girls. And next week, I'll post pictures from the play-date and the readers of the blog will also get to find out which sibling will gain another ally.

Hannah is starting to ask "why" questions. Not all the time, but there are moments where the string of "why" just keeps on coming. I'm sure it has not hit its peak yet, but I know what to look forward to..."yay!" I think it's also pretty cool how I can now start to reason with you. If you do something wrong, I can usually talk to you and you understand how what you did was wrong. For example, you always like to play with your milk while eating breakfast. Whether it is when you are practicing your pour skills or milk drawing skills, or even bubble blowing skills, you almost always seem to cause some sort of mischief when left alone at the breakfast table. One morning I pretty much had it and sat down and explained how we only pour liquids in the bath tub or in the water table. You understood and you haven't done it since then. 

You are also great at following rules and directions right now. For example, when we get home every day, the first thing you do is take off your shoes and you put them back in their cubby. Or you will remind us not to step in the oily spot in the garage, and if we get close, you quickly yell out, "be careful! don't step in it!" 

Time outs are also pretty effective because you know understand cause and effect. Sometimes you are the one who reminds us that what you did deserves a time out. You basically ask us, "Do I need to go to time out?" 

For the most part, you two still play well with each other. While your games sometimes get a bit dangerous, we are trying to work on Nathan using words with Hannah instead of just running over to tattle.

Nathan had a great idea this week to play roller derby bowling. Hannah also joined in and the both of you had lots of fun skating over obstacles and knocking pins down...all in your underwear.

On Saturday, we went to an art fair and got to do lots of different things, include paint

and we even grabbed some wooden kits from home depot to complete at home. There was also live music, food trucks and other things for kids to do. We spent about an hour there, but could've easily spent 2 there.

Exactly a month ago, we put down a bunch of plant transplants from a local nursery. 

A month later, the tomato plants and basil plants have exploded!

Even though you both don't like tomatoes, everyday, one of the highlights is to come out to look at how much the tomatoes have grown and weather or not they have turned red yet. I think right now is the perfect age for gardening, because you both are able to appreciate the growth and help take care of the growing pants.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to take a quick nap before Hannah wakes up.
Love,
Mommy