One Adventurous Nine Month Old

Hannah has become quite the adventurous little one! She never stays in one place for very long, which is why getting a picture this month was not easy - as you can see, Mr. Bear didn't make it for the picture. :-) I have so loved watching Hannah over the past few days learn so much! She is loving to crawl and is getting quicker every day. She becomes frustrated when she isn't getting where she wants fast enough! She also loves to babble away working on her new vocabulary of "baba" and "mama." She is also getting her first taste in the word "no" when she starts working her way towards the dog toys (yes, she has put one or two in her mouth - yuck!) or their food and water bowls. Other than that, she continues to be a fun-loving happy little girl! She has such a great personality and we love to just hang out with her and spend time with her. She loves to play but still finds time to snuggle up with us, too. Thank you, Hannah, for making these past nine months the best of our lives! We love watching you grow and change right before our eyes. We can't wait to see what God has in store for you over the next few months. Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Hannah's newest sleeping arrangement...

So, with Hannah's newfound movement and the fact that she is getting stronger every day, I knew we needed to lower her mattress very soon. Yesterday, I went in to get her from her nap and she was sitting up looking at me, so as soon as Tim got home, we lowered the mattress. Later that night, our friends Travis and Trissa came over for dinner and to play with Hannah. We put her to bed and then I realized that she didn't take her last milk feeding. I went into the bedroom to try and feed her a little and this is what I found...

I went out to get Tim, Travis and Trissa so they could witness Hannah and her newest sleeping arrangement. I fed her and laid her back down and to my knowledge she stayed that way all night, but who knows -- maybe this is just more comfortable!

Crawling and Clapping and Talking Oh My!!

This has been an eventful week for Hannah. Although she still doesn't have any teeth, she has been very busy learning many new things. First, in the middle of the week I came home from school and saw the video camera was out. While Hannah was playing, I started watching some new videos that Tim taped. Much to my amazement, Hannah was crawling and scooting all over the place! I looked up just in time to see her showing off to me as well. For months now she has been quite content to just sit in one place -- not any more! She is moving all over the place! Here are some pictures of her working hard to crawl. I really want this red ring....

I've almost got it....just a little closer.... Yes! I finally got the red ring and it tastes so good!

The next day, I came home from school and was playing with Hannah and out of the blue she looks up at me and started clapping. It is so cute! She get's the biggest toothless grin on her face and starts clapping away, like she's been doing it her whole life. Whenever we say "Yay Hannah!" she claps and smiles and laughs. I love watching her happy personality shine through. Here is our little clapper -- To finish off her week of new accomplishments, Hannah started saying real sounds this week. She has been babbling for a while now making all kind of squealing noises and screeching and blowing raspberries, but now she is babbling in real sounds. She mainly say's "baba" and has had a few "mama" moments and is pretty darn close to "dada." We love to just sit and listen to her talk to us. This has been such a fun week and I can't wait to see what things Hannah learns next!

Lil Shorty

Just wanted to share this cute pic of Hannah. I love this shirt - it says "Lil Shorty" and has a pink wiener dog on it! She wears it in honor of her fur brother Bosley. We love both of our Little Shorty's (and Homer, too!)

Like a Fish

Today we started our first try at swim lessons and I have to say they were quite successful! I have always enjoyed swimming from the time I can remember. I have spent many summers at the pool and continue to do so even as an adult. This summer, I attempted to put Hannah in the pool a few times, but she screamed and cried every time we even tried. So, as I was looking at the YMCA schedule for the fall, I found a class and evening for us to try swimming lessons. I was really nervous because our previous attempts failed. However, I was very pleasantly surprised that Hannah LOVED IT!!! From the first moment we stepped into the pool until we got out she had a blast! We sang songs, splashed with our hands, reached out for toys and even kicked like a little froggy. I was amazed that babies naturally just know to start moving/kicking their legs in the water. Hannah absolutely loved swimming and I can't wait to see how much she improves over the next 8 weeks. I think we have a future fish on our hands! This will definitely not be our last set of swimming lessons!Hannah and Emma (my friend Emily's litle girl) before their first swimming lesson!Mommy and Hannah at the end of the lesson - we can't wait for next week!

(Fast forward: The second week was even better than the first! Hannah loves to kick in the water! At the end of the lesson, she also took her first "dunk" under water -- it didn't seem to phase her a bit. When we were rinsing off in the shower, Hannah even got to get sprayed by the shower and laughed the whole time! I think it's safe to say she likes it!!)

Are you ready for some football?!?

The Casey's are! We started our Labor Day weekend off by taking Hannah to her first OTHS football game! It was the first home game of the season, the weather was great, so what better way to spend a Friday night than at a high school football game? We only stayed until half time, but it was fun to at least be there for some of it. One of the reasons I love Tim's job at OTHS is because Hannah will get to experience some of the same things I did when I was a little girl. I spent most every weekend of my childhood at some sort of OTHS event including football games, basketball games, baseball games, and other school-sponsered events. I have many fond memories of this and I hope Hannah will too! Before the game started, we found Daddy and took a quick family picture before the action started. (By the way, the Panthers won! Hopefully, this will be a fun year of OTHS Football!)The week continued with football...today is one of Tim's favorite days - it's the first day of the college football season! While I never had a strong allegiance to any college team (I do root for the Illini whenever they are playing), Tim is a Wisconsin Badger fan inside and out. When he left to go up to the high school this morning, he had his Wisconsin jacket ready to wear for the rest of the day. I told him I would meet him after the freshman soccer game and I said I had a surprise for him. When we got there, he was greeted with this...Hannah was all decked out in her Badger gear today! Although we didn't get to watch the game tonight (we don't get the Big 10 network), Bucky and his Badgers were in our hearts! Go Wisconsin!