What a Day

Today was quite a day.

We started out this morning early. Because my children seem to have an uncanny sense of the days that I am not working and insist on refusing to allow me to sleep in. Not even a wink. Of course on the days I DO work they have to get practically dragged out of bed. How do they know when to be zombies at 6 a.m. or when to be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:30 a.m.? I don't know, but if you ever figure it out please let me know so I can make it stop.



So, we got up very early today, since I am off. And watched some cartoons. But as I attempted to catch a few extra winks on the couch Hannah found a small, plastic mound of peas from her toy food stuffs and began licking it and saying "HMMMMM! PEAS! Peas Mama! HMMMMMM!" which very quickly lead to "More peas please, mama, pease please pleeeeeeaaassseee" My response to this was "Hannah, you can't possibly want peas. Its barely 6 in the morning." to which her polite response was "PEAS!! MORE! PEAS! PLEASE!" Fine. Fine. I made some peas. And she ate two entire bowls.



Around 11:30 we started making preparations for the Big Game. The Army Navy football game, of course. This is the first year we have ever watched it, but we really got in to the spirit. Everyone put on one of Dean's PT shirts, except for Hannah who had a smaller shirt that used to belong to Eden, and we all cheered "GO ARMY!!" right up to the point that the game started and the Navy promptly began kicking our trash. But at least our guys had REALLY cool looking uniforms to wear as they were soundly defeated. Cause you know, looking good is always important. Especially if you are really bad at football.



Then about half way through the game we had another major event in our household. Jude lost his first tooth!! He had been wiggling it when he turned to look at me and said "Mommy, I think its about to come out!" except his mouth was full of blood because in fact the tooth had already made its way to the floor. I said "Jude, I think it already did come out" and still with a mouth full of blood he says "REALLY?!?!" I found it on the carpet while Eden ran to the bathroom to get some toilet paper to stop the bleeding. It was all very exciting, and Jude immediately wanted to call people and share his big news.




After our sad defeat and exciting unexpected tooth-loss we had nothing left to do with our day but play. Hannah decided the View Finder was the most awesome toy of all time ever created, and also found she quite enjoyed sitting in a cloth bin talking to herself. But she didn't want me to take her picture while doing so. Oh, to be two years old. And theres a few other funny photos. Enjoy.

Big Little Girl

Hannah Rebekah turned Two Years Old on November 30th.


When I think of Hannah as an infant, the first image that comes in to my mind is that of her Daddy holding her for the first time at the hospital. Rocking her gently back and forth, whispering to her quietly that he loved her. Its one of those moments in time that is perfectly frozen in my memory. She was such a tiny, perfect, little baby, barely over 5 pounds, but from moment one she owned our hearts.

And she knew it too.

Her big brothers were so absolutely adoring and attentive, and to this day that has not lessened. They were, and still are, quick to tell me if she needs something and quicker to tell me if they think I am doing something wrong. They always want to love and hug and kiss her, which sometimes she tolerates and other times she does not, but they keep trying anyways. They always want to make her smile and laugh, and she gives them some good laughs in return. Watching the three of them together is the greatest joy of my life.

Trying to put in to words what this little girl means to me is nearly impossible, there is so much in my heart. When she came in to being she brought with her a force that shaped our little family, all of our love for her binding us tightly together, no longer a "step" family or a "blended" family, just quite simply a family. Her family.

Hannah is strong-willed, tender-hearted and tempermental. She likes Alligators, sparkly dresses, playing in the dirt, dancing in front of the mirror and washing her hands. She knows all her shapes, including "crescent" and "hexagon", which never ceases to amaze me. Her favorite thing in the world is her Daddy Doll, who goes everywhere with us. She can speak in sentences and knows all kinds of big fancy words but still insists on calling her sippy cup "ah-kum" for reasons no one has yet been able to discern. Just because shes Hannah. She is bright, beautiful and endlessly entertaining. And so very, very loved.