It's Official

We have been working on our sitting ability.  Hannah Claire has been very close but just not quite there.  She would usually fall over (to her left side).  When I picked Hannah Claire up at school today I was informed that she had been sitting all day!!!  She was sitting all by herself when I walked in.  I got very excited and applauded.  She just grinned.  She is so great!  We had to come home and show off for Mommy and Daddy and of course the camera. 

Can you tell she is very proud of herself?  Mommy and Daddy may be a little proud themselves:-)

Carrots Please

After rice cereal for about a month, we decided to give Hannah Claire some real food.  Last Monday morning we started the day off with some carrots.  It was very entertaining.  Here is a visual of the big event:

Yummy first bite!

After a few bites Hannah Claire was not so sure about the carrots.

Then she began to gag after every bite.  Hilarious!!!!!!!

"Where is my cereal?"  

"No seriously, where is my cereal?"

Even though the carrots were so terrible she had to gag, she continued to eat them.  It took a few days but she got to where she sort-of enjoyed them.  Well, she stopped gagging after every bite.  Our little drama queen.

Fabulous Friday

Last Friday started off just like any normal day.  We got ready for work and headed out.  HC was sporting her Bama gear in normal Friday fashion.  She even wore shoes for the very first time.  They were gifts from Sheila and Rowan Smith.  Thank you guys.  They are too cute!

It's hard to see but HC's shirt says, "My First Tooth".  The word tooth is written in houndstooth.  It really is adorable.

Shane and I had planned to go to dinner to celebrate my birthday since he was going to be out of town all this week.  He also informed me on Thursday that my Mom was coming to get Hannah Claire and take her to Tuscaloosa to spend Friday night with Nana & Pappy.  I questioned why this needed to happen but he insisted that it was so we could have a date night.  Okay, I will play along.  Nana was so excited too.  When I got home from work to get HC ready for Nana to pick her up I found a beautifully clean house, a birthday card on the counter and this in our fridge:

Yes, that is an Edgar's strawberry cake, my favorite!!!  It was delicious.  Nana came and got HC.  We have reservations at PF Changs (my favorite restaurant) at 6:30 so I tell Shane, "let's get ready and run by Target.  I need to get a few things for tomorrow."  He agrees and starts getting ready.  Looking back he was dragging around but I really didn't think much of it at the time.  He talks me into getting the car ready to leave in the morning for the game.  He has done all he can do and I  am pacing the floor waiting on him when he tells me to look out the window and see what is going on (there had been a car driving really slowly).  When I look out the window I see a limo outside our front door.  Shane is just grinning at me.  I immediately start questioning him if I am dressed appropriately.  He assures me that I am.  Well, now we are ready aren't we.  Not so fast, we are heading out and I see one of my best friends coming down the hill to our house.  Melissa and Tony were joining us.  We loaded up and headed to PF Chang's.

I am so surprised at this time.  Once we get to PF Chang's I hear Shane tell the people we have reservations for 8.  Now I don't know who else is coming.  We wait a few minutes then Brad and Heidi join us.  Two down, two more to go.  After a few more minutes Bill and Jennifer join us.  What a great birthday surprise!!!  

After dinner everyone went back to our house for some scrumptious birthday cake.  It was so much fun and such a surprise. Thanks to everyone who came and made my 30th birthday celebration so memorable!  To my sweet husband, you are the best!  I love you and thank you for being such a great father, husband and most importantly a man of God.

Small Group Cookout

Last week we had a cookout with our former small group.  We all still get together when we can.  However one of the couples rarely gets to join us because they are missionaries in Jordan.  They have a new addition to their family, Noah, who just happens to be 2 days older than Hannah Claire.  It was great getting to meet Noah and spend some time with great friends.  When we first got started there were only 2 kiddos.  There are 6 now and 1 more on the way!  

HC makes friends with everyone.  Here she is shaking hands with one of the little fellas at the cookout.

Hannah Claire and Noah got to spend some time together.  He's not sure why HC thinks his mommy is so funny.  Rachel is in front of the kids trying to get them to laugh.  In true Hannah Claire form, she is hamming it up for the camera.  

Noah finally gave up and went for HC's foot.  Hilarious!

They are just too cute! 

You may notice that Noah is sitting on his own.  We are working on this but not quite there yet.  I was telling the other mommies this and Miss Sassy (I mean HC) gave me a look.  She cut her eyes over at me.  She may be young but she knew I was talking about her and she did NOT like it.  Amazing.

Weekend with Mawmaw and Papa

We had a great weekend a few weekends ago.  Shane's parents, Mawmaw and Papa, came for a visit.  Hannah Claire got to play hooky from school on Friday and spend the day with her grandparents.  She had a blast.  Papa taught her a new trick.  She now loves to "ride the horsey".  It really doesn't matter what the horsey is, a leg, her exersaucer, the chair, the floor.  Really just wherever she feels like it.  She rocks back and forth like a wild woman.  It is hilarious!  Here is a picture of her in action.

Who says babies can't wink?  Hannah Claire can.

Mawmaw, Hannah Claire and Papa having some fun Saturday morning.

Hannah Claire loves her grandparents and they love her.  Look at that big smile on Papa's face.

A little family time together!

Thanks for coming for a visit Mawmaw and Papa.  We had so much fun and look forward to seeing you again soon.

5 Months Old!

Last week we celebrated five of the most wonderful, exciting, tiring months of our lives.  The time is flying by and we are loving every second of it!  It is really amazing to see how much our little girl has changed in just a few months.  Her personality is really starting to come through.  She is very laid back (like her Daddy) unless she is hungry or sleepy (like her Mommy).  HC is very friendly and outgoing.  She loves people and she loves to laugh.  When she gets tickled she belly laughs.  I hesitate to make the comparison but to give a good description of her laugh here I go.  Remember the cartoon Bevis & Butthead?  HC sounds like Butthead when she laughs.  Hers is really sweet and not profane, but it does sound like him.  She is also big into giving kisses now.  It is really an open mouth but she loves it.  So does Mommy and Daddy!  She has started reaching some, which absolutely melts my heart.  She recognizes us now.  She will smile at us when we go to pick her up at school.  That makes a long day just fade away.  We are so blessed and we thank God everyday for our precious little girl.  

Now for the fun pictures:

She is ready to go.

Social Butterfly

Some kids are just bound to be extroverted.  Hannah Claire is one of those kids.  She has recently been making the rounds visiting some of her friends.  One of my good friends lives in Houston.  They recently had to evacuate because of the hurricane.  Thankfully everything was fine back at home and we got to see them while they were here.   

HC is a hand holder.  It's her go to move for most any reason.  Here she thinks she can stop the baby from crying.

It didn't work so she moved on to the older brother.  We had a great time seeing the Morris boys.  We hope to see them again soon (just not because of a hurricane).

Last Saturday we had lots of good friends tailgaiting with us.  You could have come by last year and seen not one kid.  Boy how things change.  We will start with sweet baby Jackson.  He and HC did some posing for pictures before the big game.  We were all smiles to begin with.  How sweet!

When you are working with little ones that can't really sit up yet, it gets interesting.  Watch the progression...

Look at that face on Hannah Claire.  Can't you imagine what she is thinking... "Why is this kid on my?"

She wasn't to upset, she went for the hand.  Notice his grin.  My guess he is thinking, "boy do I have the moves or what".  Daddy may need to have a little talk with our little angel.  

Miss EK stopped by on Saturday as well.  We had so much fun seeing her.  She was all about playing with HC.  EK was very helpful in making sure all of Hannah Claire's slobber was wiped off.

Nothing like a little smoochin from a sweet friend.

EK kept HC all cleaned up.  What a great mommy she would be:)

Sometimes you just need a bear hug!

Look at the love between these girls.  They were so sweet and Hannah Claire had so much fun playing with EK.  

Noah's Ark

Rick and Bubba were talking about a man who followed the instructions in the Bible that God gave Noah and built an ark. Here are the pictures. I would love to see this in person someday!

Following in Mommy's Footsteps

My Mom found a dress that I wore when I was a wee little one.  It was my 1st Christmas dress (1978).  Mom took me to see santa in this dress.  I don't have the picture but if we find it I will post it.  HC looked so cute I had to show her off.  

Growing Girl

I will try to do at least one post that is not about Alabama football.  It's hard because most of our pictures now come from Saturdays and Sundays.  Well we are at, or watching Alabama football games on Saturday and going to church and napping on Sundays.  In fact this first picture is the look I got when Hannah Claire woke up from her nap after church today.

Don't worry she gets feisty real fast.

Miss Hannah Claire has now progressed to eating cereal.  She has done a fantastic job.  The first time we tried she did great.  The second she didn't do so well.  I think she forgot it was food and just wanted her bottle.  I put the food in her mouth and then her pacy.  Once she swallowed the cereal she remembered how yummy it was and ate well.  We haven't looked back since. We do get pretty messy sometimes, I mean most times.  She loves her food.

Open wide...

Sometimes we are just tired and nothing makes us happy.  Isn't she so pitiful?  

She looked so cute after her bath the other night we had to take a picture.  Who doesn't love a conehead?

Hannah Claire's school has theme days every week.  Last week, Monday was hat day.  Here is Hannah Claire about to leave for school.  She follows all of the theme days if Mommy and Daddy remember and she has that color/item clean (each have only happened once).  Oh, and we broke the rules on purpose Friday because it was wear yellow day and we all know that HC has to wear something Alabama on Friday and Saturday.  She decided to wear her cheerleading outfit that Nana gave her.  Yes, she decided.  I held up both Alabama outfits that she has and she stared at the one from Nana.  Since she is so fashion forward that is what she wore:)

I guess the cereal doesn't always fill Hannah Claire up so she has to nibble on what she has.  Piggy is always a trusty option.

While not eating piggy, Hannah Claire enjoys playing with piggy and horsey.  Notice her bib.  She has a nack for either taking it off or turning it around like a cape.  While taking it off is pretty impressive, it loses its flare in a picture.  The cape look is so much cuter.

Again, our child goes hungry.  She looks at the food tray and cup holder and wonders where the food is.  

Thanks to everyone who keeps up with our little angel.  She is so loved and we are so thankful to everyone who loves and prays for her.