This is for David: Hannah Singing

This is the second song Hannah has learned. I love her smile at the end. (In case you can't tell it's Twinkle Little Star.)

Ben's Handywork

Ben and I have been very busy this month. It seems like Ben has no time to spare, ever. We're busy fixing up our house nowadays. Well, actually, Ben is. I watch. He's done a lot of painting and that sort of thing and since I am pregnant and want to be safe I stay away from where he is working most of the time. It's kind of annoying to have to watch and wait for results when I want to be participating in the fix-ups half the time, but it is fun to see our house transforming all the same.

These pictures are of Ben as he put it "performing a death-defying act" which meant he spent a long time on a shaky ladder, sometimes very near the top of it, just to change the light fixture in our entryway. It ended up looking really good though.

Ben and I have a ward talent show coming up and we couldn't think of anything to do to participate. Ben jokingly said something like, "I can't think of anything to do, unless they want me to change a light fixture at the church." (He's already changed five of them in our house.)

I'm lucky I married such a handyman. Among other things Ben has put a peep hole in our door for me, changed our leaky, disgusting, uncleanable tap in the kitchen, fixed a hole in the wall and a sticky drawer in the kitchen and built several very nice shelves in our laundry room and pantry. Last weekend he replaced our counter-top in the bathroom and installed a new tap there too. Everything looks very good and very professional and the best part is that Ben loves doing it!

Shoes?

These pictures were taken around mid-December when Evelyn was obsessed with putting everything on her feet. She spent about half an hour or more trying to put on shoes some days. Later on it was socks. (She says both words really well.) One day I got some cute videos of her trying to put on a shoe. I filmed her for about ten minutes. She sometimes got frustrated and threw herself backwards on the floor before sitting up to try again. She expresses her emotions loudly. She always has. She's either very happy or very upset and there's no inbetween, although her moods do change from minute to minute. I'll give her one thing though; she is very persistent when she wants to be.

Hannah this Time!

These are some of the most recent pictures we have of Hannah. We took them a couple of weeks ago. Hannah is so much fun. She's very independent but very shy. She loves to look at books and she's finally started to enjoy watching movies. But her favorite thing to do is have friends come over. She loves playing with other children. Or bossing them around or something like that. Just kidding. Mostly. It depends how old the kids are. If they are younger than she is, she's the boss. If they are older, she's friends with them. And she laughs a lot and runs around and plays and has a glorious time. It's fun to watch.

In this last picture, Ben asked Hannah to smile and "show her teeth." It looks more like a grimace doesn't it? I don't think Hannah knows how to smile on demand yet!



These are some of the most recent pictures we have of Hannah. We took them a couple of weeks ago. Hannah is so much fun. She's very independent but very shy. She loves to look at books and she's finally started to enjoy watching movies. But her favorite thing to do is have friends come over. She loves playing with other children. Or bossing them around or something like that. Just kidding. Mostly. It depends how old the kids are. If they are younger than she is, she's the boss. If they are older, she's friends with them. And she laughs a lot and runs around and plays and has a glorious time. It's fun to watch.

In this last picture, Ben asked Hannah to smile and "show her teeth." It looks more like a grimace doesn't it? I don't think Hannah knows how to smile on demand yet!

More of Evy

(Evy is the name we usually use for Evelyn. Eh-vie). Anyway... here are some very recent pictures of Evelyn. She's a very active girl. She can hardly ever sit still. (She's also very loving though. She spends a lot of the day coming up to me and giving me quick hugs before running off to play again.) You may notice that she has a black eye. She fell in the bathtub about a week ago. She falls a lot. She likes to climb. That's partly because she watches Hannah and wants to do all of the things that she does.

Evelyn is only fifteen months old but she thinks she is at least three. She's starting to talk a lot too. It's so much fun. She started talking months before Hannah did. Again, I partially think that's because she copies Hannah. She's learned a lot of the things she says around the same time that Hannah did. Although she pretends to say full sentences, usually the last word is the only intelligible one. I bet she can say fifty or more words on her own. It's so much fun! Her latest words are "boot" and "book" (she walks around practicing saying "k" and "t") and "hat." She can pronounce all of them perfectly. She also recently started to enjoy saying words like "hand" and "hair" and "eye" (as she pokes mine of course.) I can't get over how cute it is!

Evelyn My Sweetheart!

I'm in love! Evelyn makes my heart swell every day. She is a bundle of life and personality and joy. She's such a happy baby and she is so much fun! She's so adorable! Her face is always filled with expressions that make me laugh and smile and appreciate life just because it's obvious that she does! I don't think anyone could be any sweeter! It's no wonder that her name means "life" or "light!" It's obvious to me.

I'm back!

So many people have asked me why I haven't been updating my blog. It was obvious to me but not everyone else I guess. I got pregnant near the end of June and Ben was gone for a lot of the summer and I was SO tired. I also felt consistently sick all the time, and I fell out of all the routines I had established and all desire to do anything that I didn't absolutely have to do. It was hard enough to have to change diapers when the need arose! But I'm feeling absolutely GREAT now and overall I have a lot of energy and so I decided to see if I can get back at it!

Hats and Shoes

Hannah's favorite game right now is dress up. She puts everything on her head that could possibly fit there, and she loves to try on shoes. It doesn't matter whose. She tries on mine, Ben's and even Evelyn's. And when we go places and there is a front entrance with shoes, she's in heaven. Until I stop her from losing everyone else's shoes, of course.

These are some of the pictures I've taken this month. It's so much fun to take pictures of my babies.

Evelyn's First (Sort of) Walk

I've taken Evelyn on walks before, but only in our travel system stroller. She's been in her carseat with her head covered the whole time. This is the first time she's been able to see what is going on. I remember when we took Hannah for her first walk. She stared silently, not moving, straight ahead the whole time. Hannah is like that. She has to warm up to a new situation and analyze it before she'll react.

Evelyn, on the other hand, looked interestedly around for a short while and then fell asleep. Our walk was only a few minutes long, since it was only six degrees outside. Ben thought it was a beautiful day. It hasn't been that warm in a long time. But we didn't count on the cold wind that blew across our faces, and we had to return earlier than we would have liked.

I love this picture. The girls look so cute together!

We Just Can't Get Enough of Each Other!

I love the way Hannah loves to hug and kiss Evelyn. Evelyn loves it, too. She loves any attention that Hannah gives her, no matter what kind it is. I really hope they will be able to grow up feeling close to each other. My greatest hope is that they will be best friends. Aren't they just so adorable?

Where did Hannah go?

This is Evelyn searching for her playmate (Hannah of course). Hannah had walked away and Evelyn was trying to see her for as long as possible. It's so much fun to watch them together. There isn't anything I would rather see.

By the way, I'm glad I don't have to put my body into contortions like that just to see what is going on!

Look! I'm Flying!

Okay, so Evelyn is much more active than Hannah was. I know mostly all babies "fly" but Hannah never did. It's so much fun to see Evelyn doing it. I left her on the floor for a long time, taking pictures. By the end she was zonked. It was hard to take pictures since Hannah kept on wanting me to take hers instead.

Mommy, Come OUT!

I was in the laundry room where I have my changing table set-up. I was changing Evelyn. Hannah likes to follow me from room to room, but I had gone in and shut the door. Suddenly I heard Ben, who was home at the time, say, "Be careful! Don't open the door!" I guess Hannah decided she wanted to come in after me. He took a couple of pictures and then moved her away from the door so I could come out. (Hannah doesn't actually know how to turn the doorknob and push at the same time. I'm grateful. She couldn't have opened the door. It's cute to see how she tries though.)

Best Friends Sit on Each Other?

I know I've told this story to some people. I was in one room and my girls were in another. I decided to check on them since they were being too quiet. I found Hannah sitting on Evelyn. I almost made her get off, but as I was opening my mouth to tell Hannah to move, Evelyn looked up at me and smiled brightly. I laughed to myself. She was enjoying being sat on. So I left Hannah there. Evelyn loves Hannah so much. She doesn't seem to mind when Hannah does strange things to her. She laughs when she sees Hannah coming and she smiles when she pays attention to her and stops crying when she enters a room. It's adorable!

Oh So Cute!

I just couldn't pass up posting this picture of my adorable eyed little angel.

Computer Technician

Hannah watches me at the computer, often, and she loves to play with the keyboard and the mouse herself. It delights her. She's had a lot of fun with it, especially since she learned how to climb on the kitchen chairs. I don't mind, except for when I accidentally leave the computer on. She has so much fun though that I've resigned myself to letting her play.

Making Empanadas - Quite a Story!

Okay, so my latin friends would laugh to know that one of the only posts I have made about myself is about me making empanadas, since any one of them could do it with their eyes closed. But I feel so proud of myself, so I'm going to do it anyway.

Recent events have caused me to reflect a lot on the mission I served in Paraguay and to ponder over it, perhaps excessively. Perhaps because of this I have recently craved foods I ate there. So a few days ago I tried my hand, again, at making Paraguayan tortillas. Compared to a Paraguayan standard they probably weren't very good, but to me they were delicious. Then the other day I was watching a video about how to make butternut squash ravioli, and the little ravioli looked so much like empanadas that I got a crazy idea. I would make meat empanadas!

I thought it wasn't too farfetched of an idea. After all, a Paraguayan family had showed me how to make empanadas, and albeit it was more than two years ago, I thought, "How hard can it be?"

So at about three o'clock, thinking it would be a snap to prepare in time for dinner, I got out my cookbook and read the recipe for the dough: 8 cups of flour, 1 cup of shortening, warm water and salt. I should've known the measurements for water and salt would be non-existant. Nobody in Paraguay who knows how to cook would ever need such a thing as a measurement. But I thought to myself, "I can do it." And then I set to work. An hour later I looked down at my stiff, lumpy mound of dough and thought "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Admittedly, I had to throw out a bunch of it before I had a dough product that looked and rolled out well enough to use. And about the same time that I was up to my elbows in flour and ground beef both of my daughters started to cry. And cry. And cry. And, well, you get the point.

I was trying to roll out the dough, which was still too stiff, and my daugters were crying, and I was starting to wonder where I could buy a wig when all of my hair fell out, and that just happened to be the time that my husband came home. I was acutely aware of how glad I was not to be a little Paraguayan wife, because by the standards of Paraguayan wifery, I'm sure I'd be classed as a failure.

I quickly set my husband to rolling out the dough for me, when all he really wanted to do was take a shower. He is such a great guy!

That was when I tried to shape the dough into empanadas. It was gruelling, frustrating work and I threw the first one out. (To make empanadas you have to cut out a circle of dough and then fold it in half, encasing the filling.) I remembered how the family who taught me how to make empanadas showed me how to fold them over and squish the ends together, and then make a pretty little pattern on the ends. I tried and just got frustrated. Ben kept on offering suggestions. Finally I just decided to squish the ends with a fork.

Then I fried them, anxiously awaiting the grande finale, the best part, where we would get to enjoy "the fruits" of my exhausting and frustrating evening. I quickly took the empanadas out of the frying pan and took a bite out of an oddly shaped one. I closed my eyes even. And I was rewarded by an undercooked, doughy empanada. But man alive did it ever taste good. It was divine. I remembered in detail the night that family showed me how to make empanadas, I remembered the lady who I used to buy them from in Luque, and for the first time ever, I fully appreciated how much work she used to do, and I remembered just how wonderful it was to bite into a Paraguayan empanada just hot out of the pan. I hope I never forget that feeling. That's why I had to write all of this.

The truth is, Ben and I kept working at it and although we didn't finish until almost three hours after I had started, the final empanadas were just as delicious as I remembered. That's why I had to share. Here's to my little empanaditas!

Learning How to Dress Myself

Here's Hannah...again. Why don't I post pictures of myself? It's because I don't take pictures of myself. I take pictures of everyone else. Most of the pictures I take of myself just don't turn out. Usually it's my nose that is completely disproportionate. Ah well. Hannah's cuter than I am anyway. So, on the 10th I tried a new dress on Hannah and told her she looked gorgeous in it. Then I took it off, so she could wear it to church the next day. She didn't want me to. She was pretty upset about it, in fact. So I gave her the dress. I guess she wanted to wear it pretty badly because it's the first thing she actually successfully got over her head. Then today she started putting on one of her onesies. She's never done that before either. She put it on over the new dress which she wore to church today. I thought it was pretty cute. It sure would be nice if she could learn to get dressed by herself.

Evelyn's First Rattle

(Actually I don't know if this was the first rattle she played with, but I believe so.) I love this rattle because it's easy for Evelyn's small fingers to wrap around. I gave it to her and came back quite a while later and she still had it, and was gleefully sucking on it. Later I came and found her asleep, with the rattle still in her mouth.

By the way, although lots of the pictures I have of Evelyn are of her in the swing, I do take her out sometimes. I do admit, though, that it is the easiest place for me to leave her, because Hannah can't step on her or squish her there! Also, something about the swing seems to easily soothe her, and that's nice too. Before I had Hannah, I asked Mom what baby things I should buy. At the top of the list, before a crib even, Mom told me I should get a swing. I haven't ever regretted it.

Elf

It's so fun to take pictures of Hannah in hats nowadays. She never used to let us take pictures of her in hats because she hated them and didn't wear them. She still doesn't particularly like them. We usually get her to keep them on by saying, "Let's go look in the mirror!" (Yes, we bribe her.) She loves to look in the mirror. In this picture Ben is trying to keep her excited about seeing herself since she kept on trying to yank the hat off. We didn't even get the picture that we wanted. When we first put the hat on her it stuck straight up and she looked just like a perfect little Santa's elf. This picture turned out fairly well, but (no offense Ben) it would have been so cute without Ben in it.

Here's Evelyn! Isn't she just the most adorable little thing? She does a fairly good job of holding up her head. She did a really good job before Christmas, especially. And then we didn't really put her on her tummy at all for a couple of weeks, since we were travelling and visiting, and she kind of forgot how to do it. Every time I would put her on her tummy she would scream and fuss after just a few moments, and rub her nose back and forth on the blanket without lifting her head. Then, suddenly, it was as though something clicked in her mind again, and she started holding up her head again and enjoying her tummy time more. It was kind of strange, but I'm glad she's over it.

Toque and Mittens

Is that how you spell toque? I couldn't find it in my dictionary. I just thought this picture of Hannah was really cute. She doesn't mind putting on her toque and her mittens but when I try to put on her coat she often has a fit. She doesn't like that at all. She likes to go outside though.

A Little Bitty Box for a Little Bitty Girl

I already have a few posts of Hannah climbing all over the place. This represents her newest achievements in that area. I absolutely LOVE being a mom, because I get to be a part of moments like these!

Expressive Evelyn

When we were taking pictures of Evelyn in her dress she started smiling and talking to Ben (who was holding her.) She made some cute faces, and I was able to capture a few on the camera. I couldn't decide which one was the best, so I am including two. Also I have an extra picture just to show all of Evelyn's dress. There is a story behind it. When Evelyn was just a few days old Ben's mom asked if we needed anything, wondering what she could get for Evelyn. We already had everything we needed, since we had Hannah, and were just planning on using everything for Evelyn that we had used for her. But Ben really wanted Evelyn to have her own special not-hand-me-down just-for-Evelyn dress. So Ben's Mom searched and found this one. I think it's adorable, and it really is nice to have a dress just for her.

Little Climber

Hannah got a stroller to push her dolls around in for Christmas, as well as a little playpen. She really enjoys them and spends all day wrapping her dolls in blankets, putting them in my swing (when Evelyn isn't in it), putting them to bed (I've encouraged her to use the playpen as a bed)and pushing them around in her stroller. But today she found another use for them. I came upstairs from doing something downstairs and discovered her inside her baby stroller. I guess she doesn't think she's done being a baby. It also helps that she is becoming more of a bold climber. She got a little chair for Christmas from her Grandma and Grandpa Hogenson and she's been practicing climbing in and out of it. Later that same day I was holding Evelyn on the couch and I watched Hannah discover another use for her baby's playpen as well. I took pictures of both events, and I think it's funny that they both happened for the first time on the same day. The sad thing is that although I took time to take pictures, Ben and I don't think climbing inside of her toys, especially her stroller, is a good thing. We're going to try and prevent it from happening as much as possible, much to Hannah's disappointment. I noticed that sitting in the play pen is making the stitching on the bottom pull out, and once when she climbed into the stroller she came dangerously close to falling out of it when it started to roll underneath her when her weight shifted.

Exciting World of Plastic Bags

(I'm adding a disclaimer to this entry right now. I do not let Hannah play with plastic bags and as soon as I took this picture I confiscated it.)

Hannah got a really cool toy for Christmas. It was so cool that I played with it for about half an hour on Christmas morning. It's a fisher price toy. It's ten hollow domes of varying sizes. They stack on top of each other, or they stack inside of each other, or they can be made into little balls, or they can be put together in such a way that all of the pieces end up inside of each other to make one big ball. The other day Hannah found a ziploc bag I must have had some pamphlets in and she went around and picked up all ten of the pieces of her ball. It was pretty cute, because she invented the idea all by herself. It was pretty cute.

The One Way She Sleeps

Once again Evelyn is awake and I wish I was in bed, but what can I do? I realized the other day that she seems to sleep well in the swing, and she prefers to be upright. I think that's one reason why she doesn't sleep well in the bassinet. She just likes the swing better. It's too bad. I've come to rely on the swing. I put her in it to keep her off the floor, because when she's on the floor Hannah wants to play with her, and she always seems to squish her, or pinch her trying to pick her up, or all sorts of things. I feel like she's much more safe in the swing, and I can leave the room and not worry as much as if I had left her on the floor. I don't like to leave her on the couch either because, especially when she was brand new, Hannah would grab the blanket she was wrapped in and pull it. I'm afraid if I leave them alone together Evelyn will end up on the floor. But somehow I've decided I have to wean her off the swing to see if she'll sleep at night time. Wish me luck!

I didn't forget about Evelyn

You may have thought after all those pictures I have up of Hannah that I had forgotten about Evelyn. Ha! No way is that possible. Here's a cute picture of my other little darling. Doesn't she have nice eyes? I couldn't resist taking a picture today. I can't believe how nice and fat she's getting, especially since she throws up all over me every night. Why did I just publish that comment? I don't know, I guess. Maybe I want everyone to read it and sympathize with my plight. While I'm at it I should also tell everyone that she seems to have her days and nights mixed up. She wants to eat every two or three hours at night, while during the day she'll sleep for about five hours at a time. And the time she is the most alert is from about eight o'clock to twelve or one o'clock at night, precisely when I want to be sleeping. But I guess it's all worth it in the end, isn't it? I'm just going to have to figure out a way to turn her clock around. But even with all that, when I'm about ready to fall asleep holding her at night, and I can feel my mouth hanging open, I want to hold onto her forever and look at her beautiful face and always remember it. I wish memories were as easy to preserve as pictures are. Somehow the memory always seems better, no matter how good the pictures are.

Family Home Evening Adventures

Today for Family Home Evening we put up our Christmas decorations. (Yeah, I know it's late, but things are kind of busy with two little babies in the house.) Hannah had a delightful time looking in boxes and pushing them around. At one point I pulled out a little stuffed Christmas squirrel and arranged it carefully beside the T.V. with a garland curled around it. I saw Hannah's eyes light up as soon as I pulled it out, and I should have known right away that it would be useless to try my artistic talent on it, but I did anyway. No sooner had I taken my hands away from it (and perhaps even before) than Hannah headed purposefully towards it and claimed it as her own. She spent the next few minutes giving it hugs and kisses. It was pretty cute. I couldn't even begrudge my wasted efforts to use it as decoration.

This second picture didn't capture the moment very well, since I took it at a bad angle, but Hannah decided our empty boxes were just simply meant to climb on. She hasn't been much of a climber since she fell down the stairs one day, but she still has moments.

My Little Model

This was so adorable I just couldn't help but put it up. Once upon a time a long time ago (Hannah was maybe nine months old) her Grandma Jensen gave her a necklace. Ever since then she's delighted in wearing it. She doesn't really like hats, though. It looks like she's posing in this picture, but really she was trying to take the hat off. Appearances can be deceiving!

Isn't she just adorable though? My little model queen.

First Spoon Meals

The first thing Hannah ate by herself was applesauce on December 5th. (I'm publishing my post under that date although it has been a couple of weeks now since then.) Ben was feeding her and she kept grabbing the spoon and eventually he just gave it to her. The first picture is of her eating applesauce. The second picture is of the second thing she ate all by herself; yoghurt. Just look at how covered she is in it! By the way, she's always liked getting her picture taken and sometimes she's started pointing at the camera and squeezing her eyes shut. I'm not sure why, but I think it sure is cute!

Hannah Baby

Hannah really enjoys doing baby things nowadays, like playing in the bouncer and the infant carseat. Sometimes she falls out though, and gets little bonks, but she still seems to love it.

Hair All Gone!

So...I did it. Just like I said I would. I told everybody that as soon as my baby was born I was going to get a haircut. It wasn't very hard to do, since I was really ready for a change. One day I had noticed that my hair was very long...longer than it had been for several years. I wanted to grow it out just as long as it was before. I could be a couple of inches short of my goal, but it did reach the small of my back. I loved the way it felt on my elbows. But I had to use a lot of shampoo, and it took forever to dry, so I always wore it up, and I didn't really like the way it always got in Evelyn's mouth when she was trying to eat. I could get used to having shorter hair.

Evelyn's Blessing

Evelyn was blessed yesterday, and here are some pictures of our family and of Evelyn in the blessing dress Mom made her. She's fifteen days old in these pictures.

Here are some more pictures of my new little beautiful. They were taken a few days after she was born, I believe on the 22nd.

Hannah's New Little Doll

These pictures kind of depict how Hannah treats her doll. I gave her a doll a while ago so that she could practice taking care of and loving it. That way when the new baby came Hannah would not be as jealous since she'd have her own baby to play with. However, I quickly noticed that Hannah's favorite thing to do with her doll was to give it a hug, sling it over her shoulder, take a few steps and then drop it, head first, onto the floor. I guess that gave me a good idea of how she would treat Evelyn when she came! Hannah is really a good big sister, although I watch her VERY closely and don't leave my two little girls in the same room. Hannah gives Evelyn multiple hugs and kisses a day. (She just learned how to give kisses and they are very involved. Anyone who has had a baby learning how to kiss will know what I mean.) At first Evelyn (who is a lot more expressive than Hannah ever was) complained a little bit. She didn't really like being mauled. (Can you blame her?) But now she gets this expression on her face that says, "Oh well, what can I do?" and she just lives with it. She is turning out to be a good little doll for her big sister!

Evelyn's Fourth Day

Here are a couple more updated pictures of Evelyn. Mom took them. For those of you who don't know, Mom has come to spend a few days helping me adjust to having a new baby. Isn't that sweet of her? Evelyn and I got up this morning and Mom said Evelyn already looks different. (Today is Wednesday, and Evelyn was born on Saturday). I guess it could be true. She kind of looks different to me, too.

Our New Little One

So, everybody, pictures, like I promised. I really think that the pictures speak for themselves. I am the Mom in green (obviously) and Hannah is the sweet little beautiful girl gazing in awe and wonder at her new sister. The new sister is Evelyn Jane Hildebrandt, born October 18, 2008, weighing seven pounds and one lonely ounce, and both of her Grandmas appear in the pictures too. Alas, you can only see my Mom's arm, but there is a lovely picture of Ben's Mom, Jane. Enjoy!

Hannah's Second 1st Birthday

Although Hannah celebrated her first birthday on her birthday with the Hogenson family, we celebrated with her again when her Dad was home from working in Castlegar, B.C. Ben and I gave her some late gifts ... a doll and some blocks, and her Grandma Jensen gave her a book. These were some cute pictures of the event. I know you can't see Hannah's eyes when she first looks at the doll, but look at her mouth anyway. She was really excited about it. She wasn't sure how she felt about the baby having a bottle though ... She wanted that for herself!

So, everyone, lots of immediate family members (mostly doting uncles) have been asking to see this video, and it sure is cute. Ben had said that he didn't mind missing Hannah getting her first taste of icecream, as long as he could watch her eat her first bite of cake, but Mom convinced us to wait anyway, and Ben was very glad we did. It was a lot more fun to watch her get her first taste of icecream than it was to watch her eat her first cake. Since then, Hannah has delighted in eating anything cold. She'll down a whole popsicle in just moments. I guess in some ways she's just like her Daddy!

Hannah's First Birthday

I've got lots of pictures for this one, but I couldn't help it. Hannah was delighted with all of her gifts, especially the little picture book Linda, my sister, made her. She still loves to touch the soft spots on the book.

Hannah was so spoiled on her birthday. She received a lot of gifts from her aunts and uncles and her Grandma and Grandpa Hogenson. It was a really big birthday party for such a little girl. She got lego and a Fisher Price phone and books and electronic toys and all sorts of things. We chose Stephen to help her open the gifts because he played with her the most during the summer while we were in Calgary, and they became pretty good friends.

I think Hannah is so lucky. There are so many people who just adore her, and love her, and cuddle her and spoil her. I don't think she'll ever have reason to think that she isn't loved with so many people around "loving her" all the time!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah Walks

See my Hannah baby? This first video is an earlier video of her walking. These aren't her first steps...I don't actually think we got them on video, since by the time I'd see her take a couple of steps, it was over. This is one of the first times she'd taken more than a couple of steps, though. However, she's usually more careful about falling. It's not as often that she just goes ker-plonk. Grandpa broke her fall and saved the day.

The second video is kind of funny. We took it today (the 30th of July). She's getting better at walking and has taken over twenty steps now. However, she usually chooses the shortest route to get somewhere, as you can note since she headed for the couch first. Mom was holding the video camera, and a "kazoo," (incentive, you know), and half-way through her Grandpa suddenly rushed out seemingly from nowhere, and this video is the result.

Growing Up So Fast Part II

The picture of Hannah sleeping is really cute. My brother David babysat her and when I came home I found her asleep and took a picture. Ever since she learned to roll over she's preferred to sleep on her stomach, usually with her face planted into the sheets. The picture of Hannah standing up is the most recent one of her, at about eight and a half months. I was working on the computer and when I turned around I found she had pulled herself to a standing position to get the books on the second shelf (which she isn't allowed to have.) That's the first time I saw her do that, but she did it again today, although she propped herself up on the toolbox instead of on her walker.

Growing Up So Fast

Just thought this picture was cute and had to add it.
This was a picture of Hannah and I when we went to the Devonian Gardens in Calgary. There were lots of turtles and fish in the water behind us. Hannah didn't honestly seem to be that impressed, but it was a peaceful place and we enjoyed ourselves.
Here's Hannah with a baseball hat Ben and I got her. For those of you who don't know, Ben has about fifteen and he wears a different one almost everyday.
I think Hannah looks cute even when she's upset.
Ben took this picture. It was the first time Hannah discovered that she could find us by leaving the room we had left her in. It was kind of a cute peek-a-boo picture.

Hannah Changes

Well, I've thought about it and decided that a better name for this blog might have been "Hannah, in the Hildebrandt Family." Ah well. I just can't get over talking about her and showing pictures of her. She's the pride of my life. She is my life. I spend all day with her, every day. That's a lot of time.
So, the first picture is of Hannah wearing a headband her great grandma sent her, and the second, obviously, is of Hannah playing with her feet (it's been her obsession for quite a while, every since my Mom pulled her feet up and bonked them on her nose), and the third picture is of Hannah with a spoon, which she also loves, since she loves to eat and that, to her, is what the spoon represents. Back to the second picture. It's funny that Hannah really likes to be undressed nowadays, because she can get at her feet better. The first thing she does when I take off her sleeper or change her diaper is grab her feet. It makes for an interesting diaper change.






Okay, so this is a video of Ben playing with Hannah. (The funny thing is Ben is the one making the most noise.) But I would definitely say we have a beautiful little girl. She learns so much every day. She's so happy. She always coos and laughs and plays and it's impossible not to catch her joyful spirit.

I am Bragging

Here's the latest dress I made Hannah. It turned out really cute. I made it in exchange for one of my old skirts, if you get my meaning. Isn't Hannah so beautiful?

So, Ben and I went to the inagauration of Honorary Colonel, Art Smith. It was held at Ben's school, the SAIT aerocenter, and Ben received a personal invitation from Mr. Smith, having interviewed Mr. Smith for a report he wrote for an English class at school. It was very kind of Mr. Smith to invite us, and likely it is the only time Ben and I will ever attend such an event again.

The air force brought in a couple of their fighter jets, which we were able to see and take pictures of, and they are so cool I wanted to share them. Cool, huh? Look at this jet!

Hannah was really good, too. She hardly made any noise, and fell asleep during the reception.

Christmas and New Year's Celebrations

Ben and I spent Christmas in Cardston with his family. Hannah cuddled a lot with Great Grandma Jensen, which was really unusual for her. Christmas Eve, Hannah slept in a chair we pulled up to the bed we were sleeping in. She really liked it, and I discovered that I did, too. It felt really nice to have her sleeping right beside me. Since then I have sometimes wished I could pull her crib over to our bed and take off the edge, but that would be just silly. Hannah really liked the toys she got for Christmas. Both Great Grandma and Grandma Jensen got her beautiful dresses for Christmas, and she liked those too. It's funny how much she likes to be dressed up in cute clothes. I have so much fun with her, and I'm always grateful I got to have a baby girl first since they are so much fun to dress up and "play house" with. (Sometimes, as a mother, it seems like really I am just playing house. It's hard to believe that I really am "grown up" and that I have a family of my own. Sometimes I catch myself saying, "When I grow up I...".)









Ben and I had a really good New Year's Celebration, too. We spent part of the night at a friend's home talking and playing games, but, ultimately, we had decided that we had never spent a New Year together, with just the two of us. So we did. We drank a sparkling grapefruit cider or something akin to it (Ben was really excited since he could drink pop, having made a New Year's resolution the year before to abstain from it for the year), and we played Skip-Bo, which is my favorite card game. No matter how often I play with Ben, or which card games I play with him, he always wins. It's uncanny really. But that was that. Very romantic. I hope we do it again someday!

Hannah, My Beautiful.

Okay, here's Hannah again. (I have a lot to put up right now, since I haven't for so long.)

Hannah's so cute, I just can't resist putting up pictures of her. Sometimes I get carried away. I know more isn't always better, but sometimes it sure is more fun! I love how Hannah is learning to be more interactive, and how she is learning to like playing on her tummy (she used to hate it), and I love how cute she is, and how expressive and beautiful her eyes are. I love everything about her. Of course I do; I'm her Mommy. And just to show how cute she is, and to prove my point about her enjoying to eat everything, I have a kind of funny video following this text. Ben started taking it just as she grabbed onto her chair and started to eat it. I'd tell all about it, but it really is more fun to watch it, so just click below! (Sorry about all the background music...I really wanted to capture Hannah, but you have to listen closely to hear her...).

I also have a story to tell. Well, it's sort of a story. I think one of the times I've loved the most with Hannah is when she figured out who I am. I breastfeed her, and one day she kept breaking her latch and looking up at me, and she would suddenly smile or laugh or try to start talking to me. Sometimes I'd catch her looking at me in a calculating sort of way. After a couple of days I realized she was starting to figure out there was a person attached to her dinner. Now whenever she sees me preparing to feed her, she gets really excited. She rarely breaks away anymore, as if in surprise, to look at me. She's figured out I'm there. It makes me feel really special. What beautiful moments!

Hannah, The Scholar

I was given this baby book as a gift about a month ago, and Hannah has just started to play with it. Mainly she's interested in eating it, just like she seems to be preoccupied with sucking her fists for hours and hours at a time, but sometimes she does look at it. I thought these were cute enough to merit sharing.

Hannah is starting to get a lot of personality. It's obvious if she doesn't want to do something, or if she wants to do something else, and sometimes she complains about it. She's generally a very good and very quiet baby, though, with an easy going personality. She's easy to pacify or placate, and she's generally very happy and smiles a lot. I really enjoy this stage of her development, since she's starting to communicate with me (or at least I'm starting to understand her when she tries to communicate with me), and I absolutely love seeing her laugh!

Boeing 737

I have no idea how to spell "Boeing 737", but the good thing is that these blogs are edit-able, so if I realize I've made a fool out of myself, I'll just go and change it. I like that.

So, I've been neglectful lately, and haven't updated this blog like I've promised. But I've decided to ruin my original plan and put a picture of myself up here. Definitely not as cute as Hannah, but I couldn't exactly cut myself out of this picture, and I have been meaning to put it up for a while, so ah well, what can I do? This picture is from when Ben took Hannah and I to his school and showed us around. (He goes to SAIT and is in the AME program, for those who don't know). He showed us around the hanger, and we were lucky enough to run into a very helpful and friendly teacher, who not only let us into a usually restricted area of a plane, but also took pictures for us. This is one of them. It's of us hanging out in the cockpit.