The Angel (on my shoulder)

So Hannah's been like my little conscious the past few days. So far, now, she's caught me doing things that haven't been "wrong", but to her, I should have made a different decision - and she's probably right! She has no problem telling me so too, and I suppose that's just fine.

Monday night, I was running late to pick her up after work. We have gymnastics at 6:00 and I had agreed to stop and pick Tony up on our way, so I was running about 10 minutes late. Anyway, after I picked her up from daycare, we were going down the one street out of our babysitter's development and I sort of "rolled a stop sign" really, not thinking a thing of it until:

Hannah: "Mommy, you didn't stop at that stop sign"

Me: (stuttering because she was right) "Well, I slowed down, but you're right, I didn't stop all the way. I'm sorry."

Hannah: "That's OK, Mommy. That's OK"

Just about 500 feet ahead, there's another stop sign and I made "a complete stop"

Hannah: (sounding so proud) "That's better Mommy. You did it right this time!"

Me: "Oh, good! Thank you for noticing" (laughing!!!)

And then this morning, as she was going potty, I started brushing my teeth. I turned on the water to wet my brush and then was squeezing the toothpaste on my brush when:

Hannah: "Mommy, you're not saving the Earth"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Hannah: "You need to shut off the water when you brush your teeth. If you let it run, you will ruin the Earth. You have to save the water to save the Earth, Mommy."

Me: (turning off the water) "Thank you for telling me, I'm sorry"

Hannah: "That's OK, Mommy. That's OK. Just remember to shut it off when you're not using it"

I'm so glad that I work hard to set a good example for her because it's clearly obvious, SHE'S WATCHING!!!

Here's a latest picture of my dear little angel

Big Sister

Hannah's going to be such a great Big Sister! Not only does she talk about taking care of her baby when it comes, but she also loves this sibling already!!!

She asked me if she could hug the baby last week and then gave by belly the sweetest kiss. I had Tony get the camera and had her do it again.

She's going to be such a good helper too! She's been starting to help more around the house - with laundry and now she helps set the table. I just know she's going to be so much help when the baby comes!

Wiggle Worm

This little baby is quite the Wiggle-Worm!!!

We have good news to report. We had our mid-way (20 week), full anatomy ultrasound this morning. My appointment was first thing this morning. The ultrasound tech sort of sighed as she started. She went on to tell us that her first patient on Monday morning seems to set the tone for the week for her. She signed because this wasn't an easy ultrasound to perform because the baby didn't stop moving!!!! She thought for sure I must have eaten breakfast to give it such a boost, but I hadn't - just a crazy baby! I'm afraid we're in trouble!

So the first answer is NO!!!! We didn't find out if it is a boy or a girl - despite Tony's many, many tries to get it out of her.

The next answer (probably should be the first question), but everything looks good! Everything seems to be well developed and where it's supposed to be. Brain, Spine, Heart & other organs, arms & legs -all seem perfect! Baby measured right where we thought, 19 weeks 3 days and is about 10 ounces - "just over a stick of butter" as the tech described it!

It was so fun to see this little thing! It has a pointy chin like Hannah and looks to have big eyes like her too. The tech said it had a little button nose, but I'm not sure a button nose is possible with mine & Tony's genes!!!

We didn't get great pictures because she had such a hard time capturing anything with constant movement, but we definitely saw lots during the 1/2 hour. We saw hands waving, feet kicking and even here....a yawn!!! Sort of looks like a bad "Scream" pic, but that's just our baby yawning!

And this one is just a shot of it's face. Big eyes like I mentioned and the chin and nose. And then part of it's tummy.

This profile is a little better. It's looking up and the scan is hard to see, but there are 4 little dots that are the tops of it's fingers.

And then this one was our best picture. Another profile shot, but here we have the head and nose pointing up. You can see the cheek and jaw bones, some ribs near it's back and then there is a leg bent with it's little knee up in the air! Isn't the baby so cute???

One really nice thing that I didn't get with my pregnancy with Hannah was that these pictures are actual 4x6 prints on glossy photo paper. I just had the thermal paper pictures before, so I'm not sure if that's new technology or just a newer/better machine. I like it though!

I tried showing Hannah the pictures of her baby tonight. I'm not so sure she really saw the baby in them! I suppose it's hard to see for a 3-year old since it's usually hard to see for most adults!

So anyway, this day started so great seeing this little person! Sure makes me even more anxious to meet him or her!!

In other news, Tony went to Detroit last Friday for the Kiss concert and he's downtown Cleveland again tonight for another one. I'm so happy for him that he gets to see them again - he truly loves it! I just also secretly hope (and out loud I guess) that their tour keeps them out of this area for a while! This gets expensive fast!!! He hates when I say that, but it's true! Oh, well - makes him happy!

Story Time

Hannah went to her first week of Story Time at the Library Wednesday night. It was so much fun. I'm sorry that I forgot to take my camera, but she was so good and had a great time!

This week's story time was all about elephants and hippos. The read two stories, did a few songs and dances and then read the story while listening to the song "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas". Next week is all about opposites. She's supposed to wear her clothes either backwards or inside out next week.....she's not so keen on that so far, but we'll work on it. This is a week session and we intend on taking her every week if we can!

There were about 15 kids there and I'm proud to say, Hannah was about one of 3 kids that sat still, listened and was non-disruptive to the class. I realize more and more just how well behaved she is and how she loves to learn.

She is learning so much and we get nothing but positive remarks about how she does in school time at daycare. She's progressing further and faster than the two 4-year-olds. One amazing thing (I think) is that she can now also spell her last name - all 12 letters!!!! It's amazing enough that she can pronounce it, but now she can spell it out loud and write it too!!! Her Spanish vocabulary is quite impressive too. She counts to 100 and up and backwards to 100 by 10's. She's gets most opposites and she continues to work on rhyming.

She has settled into her new room quite nicely. She loves her new bed and I so far love that her toys are now all up there and not in our living room and family room. She still brings them down to play, which is fine, but then puts everything away before bedtime. Works for me!

So I think I've made up my mind about Tony's little deal for Monday's ultrasound.....I am saying "No Deal" and I will lose out on naming a boy Nathan....I'd rather wait for the surprise until the baby is born. So as long as I can help it, we'll be waiting until the baby is born to know whether its a boy or a girl! One more thing that I'd like to express my joy about is that my good friend Maggie is pregnant too!!!! After lots of trying and lots of heartbreak, she is progressing very well so far and had a healthy looking ultrasound to mark 12 weeks last Friday. Not only is it so cool that she is finally getting this wonderful miracle of her own, but it's so cool for me that I shared my first pregnancy with my good friend Erin and now this one with my other good friend Maggie. Wow - how blessed am I?!?

Moving Weekend

Moving is so much work! And why is it when you move do you need to buy all new stuff?

No, we didn't move houses, just two rooms, but by my exhaustion, I might as well haved moved my whole house!

It all started Friday night right after work. We went to buy a new desk, Hannah's new mattress, new sheets & mattress pad and then had dinner. I got home and surfed the internet for a chair for Hannah's desk. I cannot believe you can't just buy a plain wooden chair to fit at a desk. Only one chair - with no arms, and a natural wood color....Oh, and for less than $100. I opted not to order the chair that came with her furniture for $140 because I was certain that they'd be a dime a dozen, but to my unpleasant surprise, I can't find one. Looks like I'll be ordering the chair that goes with the set afterall....in a few months.

So then Saturday morning, I started doing laundry and cleaning up the house. The furniture delivery guys got here just before 10 and started putting her bedroom together. When they were done, we got Hannah's bed all made (what a pain that is!!) and she was just so excited to be in her new bed. She thought it was just so cool and couldn't wait to take her nap in her new bed.

Then the cable guy came and he ran a new line for the internet into our family room. When he was done, Tony and I put together our new desk. We managed to do it without arguing (much) and it all went together perfectly! We got it done and put the computer back together and we realized it was like 6:30 and we were all getting hungry and crabby, so we took off to get a bite to eat. We ran to Target after dinner and browsed around, but didn't get anything and then went home. Hannah went to bed and I didn't make it much past 10 and went to bed too.

Sunday morning, we got up, had breakfast and then got ready and headed back out. I wanted to go to Bed Bath & Beyond to get a few things. I got a new hamper for our hallway, we got a new lamp with shelves for next to our desk, I got Hannah a second set of sheets and a few other things. I had to return some things to Home Depot and then we got Hannah one of those cubby shelves with the fabric baskets for her room and a shelf to hang on the wall. We all went grocery shopping and then it was alreay past 3:30. Hannah was overdue for a nap and Tony went to watch the Browns game at his buddy's. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't just chill....I had to finish putting things together. I cleaned up a lot of the family room, putting things away in the new desk and trying to find a home for all of our stuff. Then I made stuffed peppers for dinner. We ate and then I went to finish putting Hannah's room together. I got her shelves built and started putting all of her toys, books & games in their places in her new room. I got her old closet & dresser emptied and moved over and then I was done! I was happy to say everything in both rooms looks great. I've got to get a few more things to help organize some of the stuff, but I'll do that in time. I've also still got to make Hannah's curtain and put her wall shelf up as well as get her some decoration stuff. I'll also do that in time.

Here's some pictures of our new spaces:

The new office area in our family room

Hannah's new room:

This is her bed. The front part of it has 5 drawers and the backside underneath is a bookshelf.

This is a bad angle, but this is the other side of the bed which is a desk. This is what we need to buy the $140 chair for!

Her new dresser

And the wall with the cubby shelves. Her kitchen is to the left of this and in between her wall & bed are other toys out of the way.

Oh, and one more earthbreaking news of this big moving weekend. Hannah had been telling me that when she moves into her new big girl room, she would leave her lovey's in the old room for the baby. SHE DID!!!! It was all her idea. I asked if she wanted me to put them in one of her new drawers and she told me no, she didn't need them anymore. By the end of the weekend, she had two naps and two night times and never asked for a lovey! Now, of course, she still has her "B" but hey, one big girl step at a time. I have to say, this was sort of sad for me to see her be such a big girl now. Good thing I've got a baby coming to fill that void.

I also started cleaning out that room to start getting ready for a new baby. Oh, and now I've got a dilema. Remember how I've made my mind up to wait to find out if we're having a boy or a girl? Well, Tony's dying and just has to know. I have my ultrasound and now he's given me an ultimatium that I just don't know how to process. He says that if we can find out Monday, I can name the baby Nathan if it's a boy. That's the the only boy name that I love and he previously ruled it out. So do I take my chances on using my favorite boy name or stick to my guns and wait this out?!?! I'm not sure why, but it's not killing me to wait. About the only reason I want to know is so that I can know whether or not I need to keep saving Hannah's old clothes!!! Gee, what to do.........