We're almost there!

Hannah is eleven months old today. In four short weeks, we will be celebrating Hannah's first birthday. It continues to amaze me how much she grows and learns each day and how much fun it is to be around her. Hannah continues to be a happy baby who loves to play and laugh. She still only has two teeth, but it seems like she is working on more all the time. She pulls up on anything and everything she can, and is working on standing alone for a few seconds at a time. She continues to love to clap and also can do "high-five," "sooo big" (as demonstrated in the picture) and has started a little bit of "bye-bye." She still babbles a lot and her favorite thing to say is "Dada." The other night we were in the car waiting for the basketball game to be over and Hannah stood against the window and was saying "Dada" over and over again. It was pretty cute! Hannah also loves to eat! She eats all table food and shovels it in like it's going out of style! You may never guess it because she is still quite petite, but she doesn't miss too many meals. She absolutely loved Thanksgiving and all the yummy things to eat! It's the time of year that seems to go by quickly, and before I know it, Hannah will be one! In the mean time, I am excited to take some time to spend as a family and enjoy Hannah's first Christmas season. Thanks for an amazing eleven months, Hannah! We can't wait to see what is next!

My Little Pony

No, not that kind of pony - my first pony tail (sorta)! Hannah's hair is finally long enough to be put up with a rubber band. I thought she looked pretty cute tonight and wanted to share this pic!

Halloween is Here

We had a busy weekend celebrating Hannah's first Halloween. On Friday, Nana and Papa brought Hannah to my school for the parade. Sadly the rain kept us inside, but it was fun to show off Hannah to my kids and my friends at school. Before I left for school, Delaine painted on my nose and whiskers. Once Hannah looked at me and saw it, she started laughing and pointing - it was like she was thinking, "Hey Mommy, your face looks funny!" It was too cute!! Here is Hannah and I dressed up. This is costume #1 - a lady bug (and the cutest one ever if you ask me!). Saturday morning we were up and at'em early so I could run in the OTHS tennis team's Halloween 5K. Tim and Hannah "trick or treated" along the course and cheered me on. After a quick nap, we headed to downtown O'Fallon for trick or treating. We came home in time for Hannah's afternoon nap so she could be ready to go for a busy trick or treating night! After first seeing Gwannie and Gampy, we made our way around town visiting with friends. It was a lot of fun and Hannah was a trooper! Here she is in costume #2 - a beautiful butterfly!
I can't believe that next year she will be walking around from door to door trick-or-treating for real!

10 Months with Teeth (Finally!)

Hannah turned 10 months old today and had an exciting week! First, Nana and Papa Casey came on Monday and spent the week with us. They loved hanging out and playing all kinds of fun things with Hannah. On Tuesday, as we were eating dinner Nana fed something to Hannah and all of a sudden she could feel some teeth! Finally! Hannah popped both bottom teeth sometime on Tuesday -- I have a feeling a few more will come in over the next few days or weeks. She has pretty much stayed true to her nature and hasn't even really been that fussy. Hopefully that will continue with the other teeth. Hannah has also mastered the "correct" way to crawl, although she does resort back to her "dragging one leg" crawl if she wants to get somewhere quickly. She also has completely mastered pulling up and will do it with any object or piece of furniture she can find. She has not started cruising yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long. She continues to LOVE to eat and pretty much eats everything we eat. When the food isn't getting in fast enough is really the only time she gets fussy. Fall is flying by and I have a feeling the holiday's will be arriving sooner than later. What a fun month we have had! Her personality shines through every day and she is a joy to be around. What an awesome blessing to be called her mommy!

Eckert's Orchard

One of the things I was most excited about for the fall was taking Hannah to Eckert's in Belleville. It is a local orchard that is open all year round because of the variety of produce they grow and sell. Of course, now is prime time for fall fun with pumpkins galore. Every weekend there is a huge fall festival where you can pick your own while on a hayride, but we opted to just hang out at the main area this year. We'll do the hayride next year when Hannah can help pick out her pumpkin. The main reason for going this year was to take some cute fall photos of Hannah. I am excited to go back every year for Hannah to enjoy this fun fall activity. Here I am -- sittin' on a really big pumpkin (Daddy had to spot me just in case)! Hannah really liked standing on the hay-bale looking at the HUGE stack of pumpkins. Family shot at Eckert's -- October 2009.
This isn't at Eckert's, but a cute shot of Hannah on our front porch. I really love fall!

My Loves

Today is Tim and I's 4th anniversary. It has been a whirlwind of a week that I won't go into. But in the midst of chaos, Tim and I took a moment to simply love each other today. What an amazing four years of marriage we have shared. Last night before we went to bed, we were reading some old emails I sent when we first met 7 years ago at Western. We had some good laughs and I'm glad to know he hung in there through the crazy "beginnings" of our relationship. One thing we realized is how God has truly been there from the start. As we look back, we can see how God grew us individually as well as together and it is so exciting to see where He will take us in the future. It has been an awesome ride so far, and I can't wait to see what will happen next! We are celebrating next weekend, so I don't have a picture of us, but I do want to share this fun shot of my two loves --

Alma Mater

Earlier this fall Tim and I decided to try and make it to a WIU football game at least once each year if possible. During the fall, we have very few weekends, especially Saturdays, to be able to get away. We have to plan it during a weekend that we play football at home on Friday so the underclassmen are away on Saturday and no other fall sport is doing anything on Saturday - doesn't happen often. Then, of course, Western has to be playing at home. Yikes! However, this year we realized that this first weekend of October was actually going to work! We really wanted to be able to do this with some friends, so we called the Gorsch's and Knopp's and met them in Macomb for a fun day! We got there by lunch on Saturday and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings (what?? still can't believe it's in Macomb) and then drove around town for a bit. Next, we put Hannah in the Bjorn and walked around campus showing her where Mommy and Daddy met and, I know it's corny, fell in love. Marc and Kristina were sans kids and arrived in the early afternoon for a quick browse through the University Book Store before dinner. We all headed to Aurelio's (seriously, where else would we go??) and the Knopp's joined us just in time. It was fabulous and maybe the best part of the whole day! :-) We left there and headed to the football game to cheer on the Leathernecks. The girls only lasted a half, but that was better than expected, I think. Kristina, Lindsey, Hannah and I headed to the rec room at the CSC house, hot chocolate in tow, to just hang out and talk -- it was fabulous! I love these girls and the time we get to hang out together! It really felt like we were in college again! The boys arrived when the game was over (we lost, unfortunately) and Tim and I headed towards Springfield to stay with my cousin's family for the night. It was such a wonderful day and I can't wait to do it again! We didn't get any family shots, but at least we got a couple of each of us with our future Leatherneck!