Texas in July!

What an amazing time we had in San Antonio! Two glorious weeks of relaxing, playing, shopping, eating, cooking, and visiting! Hannah and I are pretty popular when we head home to TX - so many people, never enough time! Hannah loves her cowboy boot socks...aren't they cute!? A Texas girl at heart, just like her mama!


So many fun places to go and things to see and do in SA - we packed in a lot this trip! Had a great time at the San Antonio Zoo! Hannah loved to see the animals - monkeys were a big hit, so were the hippos! Loved feeding the ducks and fish too! My aunts, uncles, and cousins (12 of us in all) went to Sea World of Texas - thanks Scott for the tickets - and what a blast we all had! Hannah and Jason enjoyed the shows, loved the animals (Shamu and baby Shamu were a big hit!), napped in their strollers, and didn't mind being outside in the TX sun! What an adventure!






This trip we did manage a small road trip to South TX so Hannah could meet her Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma. Grandpa was so happy to have us visit! Hannah loves music and enjoyed Grandpa's guitar skills very much! We spent the morning at the nursing home visiting my Grandma, who took to Hannah immediately! She has advanced alzheimer's but something about Hannah really brought her spirits up and got her "talking" and humming! Four generations all together! Pretty amazing...



We had lots of play dates with cousin Jason - the zoo (followed by lunch at Chris Madrids - highlight of the outing for me!), kids museum, Sea World, the pool - and spent time with my favorite Aunts (my mom's sisters Kurly and Carla) and 1st cousin Lisa (Jason's mom). Hannah started walking in TX :-)and I think we owe it to the push toy my dad bought her...she LOVED it! Can you tell?


My sister Carla flew in for a long weekend so we could ALL celebrate my mom's birthday! So very rare that we are home together - what a fun birthday! We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Paesano's and then headed back to the house for homemade desserts - yummy! Hannah was soooo tired...can you tell??? She was a rockstar at dinner (who wouldn't love Paesano's??) ate cupcakes, and crashed hard that night!


Hannah has mastered the "more" baby sign and at times, she seemed to do it just for fun:-) She played so well with all of her "Texas" toys, many of them my old toys - she loves the set of zoo animals and loved playing with them in the window. We didn't get to the ranch this time, or get to make salsa...but Hannah was working hard at rolling out tortillas! Thanks for a great visit mom and dad - miss you all so much! Cannot wait until next time!




P.S. Hannah was not a happy girl the day we left, check out that frown! She would absolutely NOT smile at anyone at the airport or on our plane...AND when we arrived home she would not let me unpack the suitcases!!! Too cute!

Walking!

Today, July 26th, in San Antonio, TX Hannah took a few steps...and hasn't stopped yet! Funny how she decided, "Hmm, today I am not going to crawl, bored with that - I am going to walk around!" So proud of of our little walker!!!

14 Months Old!

Whew! This monthflew by! We were so busy with birthday party's, traveling, and summer fun!

Hannah's summertime favorites:
bananas and applesauce (she loves those squeeze ones and can eat them on her own!)
cheese and yogurt, those baby cheese puffs for snacks!
Sesame Street (not the best attention span but she does dance to the music and pays attention to Abby and Elmo)
pool time
playing outside in the driveway
reading stories (she loves to pick out books and bring them to me all day long!)
stacking and emptying - taking on and off lids from everything!
pushing things around...chairs, stools, toys, cars, sooooo ready to walk!
talking - Hannah wakes up babbling and more words are becoming clearer! mama, dada, ah-done, more, up, yes/this, bah.





Not so much:
milk
getting face wiped
brushing teeth (she still only has 6 teeth...)
sitting still (as you can see from her 14 month pics on the chair)
waiting for meals - she is grumpy when she is hungry!



We are still working on utensils and eating out of bowls and plates - she has dumped a few but we will get there! Overall Hannah is a happy little girl! We keep to a good schedule and routine everyday (naps are still one or two), loves to run errands with mama, is a good car rider, and is happy playing with other kids outside (she shares and takes turns pretty well so far!) We have definately enojoyed this month of summer!

Happy 4th of July!

I thank God for my life
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly
Let it ring...

Salute the ones who died
The ones who gave their lives
So we don't have to sacrifice
All the things we love...
-Zac Brown Band




What an amazing country we live in! Thankful today and every day for our many blessings as Americans!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!
Love, Hannah

Weekend in ATL!

Had a great weekend in ATL - visiting with the Smith family is always a good time! Linc and Hannah played so well together...what sweet precious babies they are! We shopped and ate as usual (had amazing burgers at FLIP burger boutique!) BUT this time we added a trip to Turner Field to see a Braves vs. Texas Rangers game! No one was really sure how well this whole idea would turn out...but Hannah and Lincoln were both MVP's! We had amazing seats one row behind the Rangers dugout and did get to enjoy a little bit of the game before the skies opened up and the storm of the century occurred! Luckily our seats gave us access to the 755 Club so we headed up there to stay dry and wait out the rain...unfortunately it kept raining and raining - I think the game did continue later on that night but we coudln't stay! Thanks again Smiths! Had a blast!



Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks,
I don't care if I ever get back!
So let's root, root, root for the home team...
If they don't win it's a shame,
For its ONE, TWO, THREE strikes your out -
At the old ballllll gaaaaammmme!

13 Months Old!

Teetering and cruising...sooooo close to walking! Hannah has taken her "first steps" but continues to be quite comfortalbe crawling around - guess we will have to wait until next month! She is also chattering like crazy...with some words that we are able to identify: mama, dada, mo (more), a-don (all done), wa-wa (agua/water), and a few others! She loves to wave and clap her hands (especially to music) she can also fold her hands together to pray before meals, and loves to "bump her head" when we are singing "5 Little Monkeys" by patting the top of her head! Hannah likes to stack things (books, blocks, cups, bowls), take things out of drawers, baskets and then put them back in. She plays well independantly - loves her doll house, musical toys, and books. She loves to play in the cusions on the couch, it makes her laugh and giggle!



Hannah has six teeth, four on top - two bottom, and does a great job crunching and chewing up larger pieces of food! She continues to like fruit (watermelon and banana are current likes), bread of all kinds, chicken, avocado, yogurt, applesauce, blueberry waffles, cheese quesadillas, and french fries! She does a great job when we take her out to restaurants - eating and looking around, waving at random people! She tends to hand things back to us if she doesn't want to eat them...she will try things first before giving them back! Eggs didn't go over well, neither has milk, or tomato sauce (she did like the noodles and turkey meatballs). Hannah drinks well from her sippy cups all by herself - prefers the straw type best. Did someone say snacks? Hannah loves snacks, everything from yogurt melts to those cheese puffs by gerber, to dry cereal (kix and o's) to graham bunnies (Annie's brand) and arrowroot cookies.



Oh what fun we have playing outside! She loves water play and just being outside when we the temperature allows! Pool fun, beach fun, and backyard fun - although play time inside is fun too. She loves to unscrew lids from jars and water bottles, scoot around cars, and "clean" like momma with papertowels or small washcloths. She loves to dance to the "Elmo Song", "Old MacDonald", and the songs her push zebra toy "Marty" plays. She enjoys bath time, is a good sleeper at night (about 10-11 hrs) and is slowly changing from two naps a day to one. We have so much fun playing together - love my sweet baby girl so much!