Eight Great Months

Yesterday, Hannah celebrated her eighth month of life. This has been a fabulous month! Things she was not doing just a few days or week ago, she now acts like a pro! Last week we were sitting at Tim's baseball game and I had to hand her cereal puffs for her to be able to make it to her mouth. This week, she picks up her finger foods using her pincer grip and feeds herself. Crazy! Speaking of food, she is LOVING table food! I think we are on the downward slide to pureeing all of her food for her. Each meal now conisists of something she can feed herself. These new foods include toast, waffles, biscuits, mac and cheese, ravioli and anything else that seems yummy! She is also getting stronger every day. She loves to stand up and has a new toy to play with that goes from the floor to a little table. Recently, she also loves to be in her jumper. Although she has been able to play in this for a few months, she just recently has enjoyed jumping up and down to the music it plays. We also had a big milestone today -- we slept with out our swaddling blanket! For some this seems like no big deal, or even asking them selves why it took us so long. While most babies are done with this months earlier, Hannah loved being swaddled and slept so well that we decided to let her tell us when she was ready. This morning, she was flipped over with only one arm out so we moved on to no blanket and she had two great naps today! We'll see how tonight goes. She is also adjusting more and more every day with the new routine of Daddy in the morning, sippy cup of milk for lunch (whew! this sure has been interesting!) and a new sitter in the afternoon while Mommy and Daddy are at work. We have been going through a little bit of seperation anxiety, but I hope it passes soon. Overall, this month I have seen so much growth in Hannah. This may have been one of my favorite months so far! Can't wait to see what next month brings!

Summer Fun

Wow! This summer has been so awesome! I am writing this on the eve of the first day back to school and reflecting on how much fun we've had this summer. I have loved every minute of being home, being a mommy and truly being present with Tim and Hannah. It has been a great time of rejuvination as well as making memories of Hannah's first summer of her lifetime (she is seriously changing all the time!). I really do think of my job as my ministry that God has called me too, but I also praise Him for blessing me with the job of a mommy! I cherish every minute I have with Hannah and I know that will be even more important with school starting tomorrow. I pray that God will help me balance these parts of my life...that of a wife, mother and teacher.

I want to share some of my favorite pictures from our summer. Thank you, God for gifts that you have given us the last three months!

Vacation!

At the end of July, we headed to North Carolina for our first "family of three" vacation! This year we decided to go to Raleigh, North Carolina area to visit some of our very dear friends from college, Erin and Mical. They got to meet Hannah for the first time and experience her first beach trip as well we got to visit with them just a few months before they are expecting their first daughter! It was a fantastic trip!

We knew it would take a day and a half to get there so we left right after Tim got done with work on a Thursday and made it to the Kentucky/West Virginia border that evening. After getting some much needed rest, we left early the next morning and made it to Raliegh by that afternoon. We started our trip with a wonderful dinner at Bahama Breeze.

Our lunch stop on our first full day of driving...Hannah loves to eat, but she also loves to be nosy and look around. The result: a very messy face!

Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Surf City beach which was 2 1/2 hours away. Sadly, Hannah was not super fond of her first trip to the beach. It was pretty much par for course with the other experiences we had this summer with water. It probably didn't help that she accidentily got tackled by a wave, and not once but twice! Oops! Even though that part was not so much fun, we loved being on the beach for the day! Tim even enjoyed it for probably the first time in his life!

Family photo at the beach! We hope for some better beach trips as Hannah gets bigger!

Sunday we had a nice morning at church and afternoon at home before heading toward the Durham area. First we went to Duke University to walk the campus a little and visit the Duke Gardens. It was very hot, but a fun afternoon. I really enjoyed playing "photographer" with the scenery. We finished our day by going to a Durham Bulls Triple A Minor League baseball game. It doesn't take much convincing for either of us to watch some sort of baseball when we take trips.

The chapel at Duke University - absolutely gorgeous!
At the Durham Bulls game - very fun, but definitely the end of a very long, hot day!

Monday morning, Tim went to play golf (at a really sweet course) and Erin and I spent some time shopping and just enjoying each other's company. That evening we stayed in, enjoyed dinner and some quality time together. Our visit with Mical and Erin was fantastic!

Tuesday morning we left early to head to Louisville, Kentucky. Before leaving NC, we found the UNC campus and drove around for a few minutes. Then we spent the rest of a really long day in the car to make to Louisville by Hannah's bedtime. This was sort of a last minute decision to extend our trip, but it was a lot of fun!

We spent Wednesday exploring Louisville including taking a tour of the bat factory, walking around downtown and seeing Churchill Downs. We did a little shopping in the afternoon and finished our vacation with a fantastic dinner with a view of Louisville across the river (we were in Jeffersonville, IN).

Outside the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum - a perfect tour for this baseball family!

I am so glad that we were able to take this trip this summer! It was (hopefully) the first of many family vacations! Thank you Mical and Erin for being such gracious hosts and making our first family vacation so memorable!