Now and Then

Last Sunday (March 22) I was exactly 32 weeks along. Here is what I look like:

(Although, let me just make a quick disclaimer. I think this picture has a slimming effect on me. Of course it might just be that every time I look at myself I'm looking down at a belly that use to not be there, and thus it seems bigger. I don't know...)

Here is a picture of me from Feb 6 2007...32 and 5/7 weeks along.

So from these pictures, I don't look that much different. I guess it might just be an illusion that I am "that" much bigger than I was last time. Ah, who knows...I guess every pregnancy and every baby is just different.

Hannah Enjoys...

1. Stacking things. She loves to build tall towers with Legos. Below you can see she built one taller than she is. It would have gone higher had she not run out of legos. (sorry Hannah is blurry...she moves so quickly!)

Here she stacked her cups to make a mega cup, which she enjoyed drinking out of.

2. Rocking in the rocking chair. This photo captures her right at the moment of impact when the chair meets the wall. Most people don't hit the wall when they rock because you really have to rock with quite a bit of force.

3. "helping" mommy with dishes, or anything else in the kitchen. If I"m doing dishes or making anything, she wants me to bring a chair in for her so she can see what's going on. Below she is helping with dishes...altho I'm not sure if it really counts as helping because it normally entails me doing more dishes, but I'm hoping that some day we can reverse that trend.

4. Watching things bake. Anytime I put something in the over, she wants me to turn on the oven light so she can see what's going on. Luckily I have trained her to take 4-5 steps back when I open the oven.

5. Cleaning. She must have gotten this from Caleb. Anytime she spills something, I hear a series of "uh-oh's" and continuous pointing until she gets a napkin or towel to wipe it up. Here she is using the dish wand and the towel to wipe up the table.

6. Grocery shopping. Shaws has these new baskets that have wheels on them. But they only work for me if I"m getting very few items since Hannah is easily distracted and prone to add random items to the basket.

7. Playing the piano. Need I say more?

8. Balloons

9. Yogurt. She loves to feed herself. This can sometimes be messy, but she has actually gotten really good at using a spoon and fork. Such a talented baby. :-D

Fashion

Hannah loves dressing herself. Typically in the morning I let her pick out her sweater, and then I grab a onesie and pants to go with it (since they are in higher drawers). However, after a diaper changing, she typically gets up before I can put her pants back on, and so she will find something new to wear. If she can find one, she always goes for the skirts (I think because they are easier to put on...often times when she tries to put on pants she'll get both legs in the same leg hole). On this particular day, Hannah picked out a skirt. I also let Hannah pick out what shoes she would like to wear. The boots she has on I picked up at a clothing swap and they are size 9 (she wears size 7 or 8), but I put them on her and she seemed to do OK. She walked all the way to the student center and back, and got several looks from the students...probably because she looks so trendy.

The next day she decided she wanted to put on her overalls by herself. See below

This outfit also got several looks from students.

My favorite maternity pants have a sash that goes in the belt loop. Every once in a while Hannah will pull it out of my pants and want me to put it on her. So here she is trying to be like mommy (except I typically don't walk around with a paci in my mouth). :-D

Hannah also loves to put on my socks. I suppose it is easier for her to put on my socks than her own. You will also notice that she put on a skirt (which is inside out).

This fashion statement was actually Caleb's doing...but as you can tell, Hannah enjoyed it.

New York, NY

This week is spring break at MIT, which means we have no obligations with our students. Thus we are planning to take an overnight trip to New York City. Our good friend Jen (my swimming buddy) has offered to watch Hannah for 24 hours, and we thought we better take advantage of that while we can. We are planning to go see a Broadway show in the evening, but we haven't yet decided what to do the next morning. I originally wanted to go the Liberty Island and see the Statue of Liberty, but all the tickets are sold out for early in the morning (and Caleb's not super excited about that anyways). I guess we will just save that for a different time...maybe with the whole family. Anyhow, if any of you have suggestions on what we should do in the morning (good museums, etc), let me know. That said, if you have any suggestions on where to eat, you could let me know that as well.

Uh-oh

Today Hannah realized that she can open the refrigerator by herself. This is a big time UH-OH for me. She already loves to just stand with the refrig door open and look at all the food she can eat. Then she'll pull something out, like pasta sauce, and want to eat it. Or she'll pull out yogurt, so I"ll get it out for her, and then she will change her mind and not want to eat it. Now she'll be able to do that whenever she wants. I guess this means I better start using the kitchen gate again.

Her favorite item to try and get out of the frig is cheese (no surprise). I have now moved all the cheese to the back of the top shelf, the only place she can't reach. I guess the good news from this, is that now she can kinda say cheese...the bad news is that she says it all the time.

Although, I must admit, it is nice for her to be able to grab her milk anytime she wants. Or even just to let me know what kind of food she would like to eat. She pulled out the pasta several times today and now it is gone. That's an easy way to get rid of leftovers. So I guessnow I just need to teach her how to put things back in the frig...and I need to make sure she realizes that it is VERY important to close the frig when she is done. We'll see how that goes...

Our Sunday

So you will remember last weekend I went to this Women's Conference, and one of my goals coming out of there was to try and keep a Sabbath. And I think I did pretty good job yesterday. I didn't do any dishes, and our dinner was a crockpot meal, in which I chopped all the veggies the night before. The day also included family nap time, and family "hang out outside" time. Here are some pictures.

Here is Hannah right after naptime. She saw Caleb napping on the futon, and decided to lay down (for about 30 seconds).

After everyone was up from their naps, we went outside and drew on the sidewalk with our chalk.

While I was drawing flowers and mountains, Caleb traced Ug and decided to make it a crime scene. Where does he come up with these things?

Then we went on the field and watched Hannah chase birds.

Here's Hannah and I chilling in the field

And then that evening we had our friends Lauren, Nathan, and Noah over for dinner and games (after the babies went to bed). Here's Hannah and Noah sitting on Nathan's lap



All in all, I would say it was a fun day, and a good Sabbath. :-D

Our New Dog

So Caleb got me a dog for Valentines day. After the initial shock, I really enjoy our dog, "Doug." He requires minimal washing, feeding, walking. And actually Hannah really enjoys walking him up and down our halls, and she will occasionally try and feed him crackers, grapes and cheerios. Also, Doug is really snugly. I pretty much nap with him every day. I nap with Doug, and Hannah naps with Ug, and Caleb will even nap with Doug on weekends...it works out great. Here are some pictures of us enjoying our new dog:

Here I am bonding with my new dog.

Hannah loves to carry Doug around and then throw him on the floor and dive on him. Here she is attacking Dad.

Caleb and Doug

Doug also makes a great pillow...

...and blanket...

...and Hannah guard.

Sometimes Caleb will try to nap when Hannah is awake. However, she loves to sneak up to the futon and either give him a slobbery kiss, or just touch his face in not so gentle ways. Thus it is helpful to have a pillow or Doug near your head to protect you from such occasions.

Caleb's Great Idea

In my mind, Caleb is notorious for coming up with crazy ideas. Sometimes the ideas are great, and other times they are just...crazy. Tonight I made a giant Turkey for our floor (yet an example of one of Caleb's ideas). As a side note: I bought a 19.5 lb turkey and I only have 2 small tuperwares of Turkey as left overs...and the 5 lbs of mashed potatos were gone in minutes. It was a super busy week for our students and they really enjoyed it.

Anyhow, as I was making the stuffing I bent down to get an onion and decided it was a waste of energy and unnecessary pressure on my feet to bend over again to peal the skin off the onion so I just sat on the floor in the kitchen by the garbage. Caleb looked over from his computer and said, "do you know what you need?"

"A stool to sit on."

"No, a harness. That way you can just bounce around the kitchen to get what you need." So the idea is kind of like that of those kid jumpers that you hang from the doorway, except you have a track in the ceiling so you can slide from one end of the kitchen to the other...then when you get there, you can just sit in your harness and do whatever it is you need to get done. Obviously right now this doesn't make sense for us because our kitchen is so small, but someday...who knows.

So I guess for now, I will just hope in our new place I can get a stool...and maybe one with wheels. I think both Hannah and I would have fun with that. :-D

Swimming

Jen and I have been swimming most every Monday night for the past couple of months and it has been great. There is a exercise facility with a pool in Caleb's building so about 6:15 or so I head over there with Hannah. I stay to swimming, and he comes home with her. It works out pretty well. And in the fall when I was working, I would just swing by on my way home form Iris's place. Caleb would take the car (& Hannah) home and I would stay and swim. Anyhow, I've really enjoyed it.

Last Monday in the locker room, some random gal was like, "I'm so impressed that you are swimming. It's hard enough to get to the gym when you aren't pregnant." I said thanks. But as I was thinking about it, I have a couple things going for me that it alot easier.

1. Jen - there are so many monday's when I just don't feel like going, but since I'm meeting Jen, I really should go. And lo and behold, I always enjoy it.

2. I'm a Stay At Home Mom, thus it's really nice to get out. I mean, Hannah and I go out alot during the day, but it's nice to have some "me time." And swimming is great for that because you can't really hear anything and you can just think, sing to yourself, or whatever.

3. I love to swim. There is just something great about gliding through the water. And then you get out and you feel all refreshed: tired, but not sweaty and gross...and then you also smell like chlorine (that might not be a plus for everyone).

4. Caleb has a pool in his building and it is in walking distance (and driving distance :-D) of where we live. This obviously make it 50 billions times easier to coordinate with him and to get there.

That all said, getting out of the house to go exercise isn't easy...but I have a whole bunch of things going for me which makes it a whole heck of alot easier.

Sabbath

This past weekend I went to a Women's Conference at my church (basically it was a women's retreat, except for we didn't retreat anywhere, we just stayed around here). It was a really good conference. The two main speaker (that had flown in from Chicago) were really down to earth and really real.

On Friday afternoon I opted to go to a Session on keeping the Sabbath. For a while Caleb and I did this...we both wouldn't do any work on Sunday's and just hangout, go for a drive, or do something else. But now that my "job" doesn't really have defined hours, I was looking for some ideas. It's not like I can just say, "I'm not going to change diapers on Sunday." Gross!

So the first thing I am going to try and do on my Sabbath (which I have decided to be Sunday) is to not do any major cooking. Caleb's responce to this was, "so...are we just going to starve on Sundays?" Silly husband! I'm pregnant...I eat like 5 meals a day and that doesn't include snacks! This just means we will eat leftovers, take out (or go out), or eat a frozen meal...or if I'm feeling particulary energetic, I'll prepare a crockpot meal Saturday night and just turn it on Sunday morning...that will be for special occations. The other thing I've decided to do is not do any dishes. So this means on Sunday we will either eat on paper plates, or small plates. But in all reality if you don't cook, you have alot fewer dishes (no pots, pans, mixing bowls, measuring cups...those are really the annoying dishes).

So yesterday we did pretty well. We'll see if I can remember to be more restful.



ONe of the things I really liked from the talk is the emphasis that everyone's Sabbath will look different. Cooking a large meal may be restful for some people, and thus should be included in their Sabbath activity. Obviously, this is not me! (but it may be me in a couple years...who knows) If you are interested, here are the "rules" for a Sabbath that the speaker put forth: (fill in the blank with whatever the activity is you are thinking about)
1. Is _______ lifegiving?
2. Can ______ be simplified?
3. Is there an alternative day/time ________ could be done?
4. Where can I enjoy the moment in _________?
5. Do I feel God's presence and blessing? Ask God to guid you.
6. Periodically review what you are doing
7. Build in an accountability partner.

Caleb's Birthday

So yesterday was Caleb's birthday. Caleb's day started off with a yummy pancake breakfast. Check out the cute pancakes I made:



These pancakes turned out much better than the ones I tried to make for Valentines day. AFter breakfast (or lunch for Hannah and I), I headed off to my women's conference so that Caleb and Hannah could have some quality Dad-Daughter time. :-d

At 6:00 our good friend Jen came over to hang out with Hannah (Hannah really likes Jen and basically didn't even notice that we left...I guess this is a good thing). Anyhow, we went to see the Blue Man Group. I have heard about this group from various sources and thought we should do it before we leave boston. (You might recognize them from an intel commmercial.) It was good...it wasn't "oh my gosh, awesome", but it was pretty funny. After that we went out to Bertucci's. The show didn't end until 9 and we were both starving and wanted to go somewhere quick and we love the Bertucci's rolls. We got this pizza and it was the best pizza we have ever had at Bertucci's (and we eat alot of Bertucci's pizza). I don't know if the veggies were just extra fresh or if they had their top chef working b/c it was friday, but even the leftovers the next day were super yummy.

Oh, also I got Caleb a new game for his birthday, "Race for the Galaxy." We haven't played it yet, but it's a 2-4 person game and it only takes 30-60 minutes to play. I'll let you know when we bust it out. :-D

A hodg podg of pictures

So today I downloaded a bunch of pictures off my cell phone. The quality isn't that great, but since I take it with me everywhere I go, I get some pretty cute stuff on film. Observe:

As mentioned yesterday, Hannah loves to help with "big kid" tasks. Here she is unloading the dryer. She wasn't very quick, but I figure I should encourage such activities (even if it does take a LONG time). :-D

Here's some crazy hat hair.

Iris has these blocks, and just recently Hannah has really enjoyed stacking them (and knocking them down). Here's one of her taller stacks.

And here she is next to a stack that I like to think was inspired by the Stata center.

What do you think? For those that don't know, the Stata center was designed by the same guy who did the EMP in Seattle. From an airplane, the EMP looks like a colorful blob. Anyhow...

Here's Hannah and her posse

Hannah loves to treat Ugg like a baby. Sometimes she'll want me to put a diaper on him (which she thinks is really funny). And almost every time I"m done feeding Iris, Ugg will go into the booster seat and Hannah will offer him some cheerios, puffs and even water.

Last week it was finally warm enough to go to the park. And now Iris is big enough to go in the swings. And ever since Hannah has seen Iris in the swing, she is very insistant that Iris should go in the swing and that they should swing together.

Hannah still loves to push rolling things around. Here is a half shot of her with a "grocery cart" at the park. Again, this was taken with my phone and since Hannah moves so fast, it is hard to catch her in the screen.

Mommy's little helper

Hannah loves to help out. She likes the idea that she is doing "big kid" tasks. I see this all the time when I'm working with Iris and even when I'm at home.

Last night Caleb and I made a taco dinner for our floor. (Side note: Tacos are a great dinner to make for a large group because most of the topping you can buy already sliced or chopped, all you have to do is fry up the meat and add seasonings.) Anyhow, I had everything on the table ready to go out to the lounge and Caleb had this great idea to have Hannah help cart stuff out in her rolly basket. Here's a picture of her with the drinks.


Caleb even taught her to pick up the basket to get over the door threshold.


She took out several baskets full of food, and also helped bring food back to our place. And while we were in the lounge, she rolled her "drink cart" around the room so that different people could fill up their beverages. I guess it's never too early to start helping out around the house. :-D