Monday, August 31, 2009

Visit from Jen















This last weekend, my friend Jen came to visit us. We had some rainy weather from the tropical storm that made its way up the east coast, but that didn't keep us from enjoying NYC. We decided to take the gamble and head on into the city anyway, and it was worth it. It rained at the beginning, then cleared up and was nice and cool the rest of the day. We enjoyed some fantastic NY style coal oven baked pizza, had a surprise (thanks to Ethan) trip to Dylan's candy store (featured on Oprah and is the coolest candy store ever, even if you don't like candy very much) and then to the FAO toy store. Last time we had our picture taken at Times Square, I was almost 7 months preggo with Hannah Gray.

Hannah Gray loved the toy store! She was so into checking out the Muppet Puppets until I touched her with one, then she didn't want anything to do with it. But I do think she loved on just about every cute dog or animal in that store. The toy soldier out front was awesome, but Gray didn't think he was as cool as the three of us did, unfortunately.

Jen and her mom sent us a HUGE treat by shipping Graeter's ice cream to us! WOW, it's always good, but especially when you haven't had it in months (maybe even close to a year now)!! Thank you thank you thank you! :) We had a great time with Jen and Hannah Gray loved having her here. Jen makes super cute balloon animals which she made some while she was here. Hannah Gray got SO attached to them! I meant to get a video of Jen making Hannah Gray's favorite, a butterfly, but we just ran out of time. Next time! :)

Findlay











Last weekend we flew to Ohio to see the Petros in Findlay. We had such a great time with them. We took a day trip to Toledo to go to the zoo, which Hannah Gray loved (who am I kidding, I did too! I LOVE zoos!). She's crazy about all animals and she got to see some really up close and personal, which she was very interested in, but also a little scared at times.

She went nuts over the hippos! I wish I had a video of it, b/c she was jumping up and down in Daddy's arms and kicking her legs and squealing! I would never have guessed she'd be so excited over hippos. We also got to go into a little petting zoo area where goats were just roaming around. Here is a picture of her "loving" on one of the goats.

Hannah Gray loves her balloons, so Daddy blew up a bunch to show Nana and Papa how excited she got over them. Only she got so frustrated that she couldn't hold them ALL at once! She would get one in each hand on her own then ask for help by sticking out her little finger that was available, so someone could put the other balloon underneath that finger too so she could carry two in one hand. She did not want to put them down at lunch, so Ethan fed her while she held all the balloons. She wouldn't even let go of them to push loose noodles into her mouth! Usually, any little remnant of food bothers her until she can push it into her mouth with her hand.

Nana and Papa took her on some wagon rides around the neighborhood and Hannah Gray thought that was pretty cool. We're looking forward to hopefully seeing them again before Thanksgiving!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

BALLOONS!


Hannah Gray has this new, slightly embarrassing obsession. Every time (I mean every time) she sees a balloon, this is the reaction. It's pretty hilarious, but it's hard to quiet her down. This is like a 10 sec clip of what will go on for minutes. She's pretty stinkin' loud when it happens too. This is at our Trader Joe's that's walking distance, so we go a couple times a week and this happens each time! :) Too funny...

oh and ps- the vigorous clapping, that's "more" and "please" all wrapped up into on. She'll do it hard enough that she's actually making a clapping noise! She really means it!!!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Marty and Quinn came to visit!!!














Wednesday afternoon, Hannah Gray and I picked up our dear friends Marty and Quinn from the train. They were in northern VA for a conference and were going to stay with us when we lived in Annapolis. So obviously our plans were disrupted with the move. So Marty and Quinn graciously offered to take the train up to us so they could see our new home and we could all go to the beach. We also got to celebrate Marty's birthday with her which was so fun b/c I don't think we've done that since we were in high school! We headed to town after dinner and found a gelato place (I had the best gelato ever and look forward to going back). We had our pictures taken with the girls in their strollers. We tried to get a video b/c they both started crying/screaming at the same time and it sounded like a "beautiful" chorus, but we missed it. Oh well.

So Thursday morning we loaded up on a very cloudy and misty day and headed to the beach. It was so fun! There was hardly anyone around and we were very surprised by how cold it was! I managed to not bring another outfit for Hannah Gray and none of us had warmer clothes!! Oops! But we had a great time anyway. The girls didn't' mind one bit!! They both LOVED the waves as we stood on the beach and let them crash on us. We even got soaked by a couple. The girls were so wet and sandy, that we had to totally strip them down and hose them off in the beach shower. They will be so embarrassed some day that we did that! :) Oh well, what are mom's for?? The girls took their baths together and had a great time. Quinn was so excited that she tinkled in the tub! It was hilarious, but it's sterile, right? :) Hannah Gray didn't seem to notice... I guess I'll put a dollar in the therapy jar for that one later. The girls were fascinated with each other in the animal towels. They thought they were pretty cool.

Friday we hit up our local coffee shop for a treat and walked to the park where we discovered a great playground to let the girls run off some steam, especially for little Quinny who was going to have a long train ride ahead of her. It was such a blessing to have them here and we look forward to seeing them hopefully very soon!! I love those girls!!

Monday, August 10, 2009

green beans

Just noticed Hannah Gray at dinner last night pulling her green beans apart at the seam to intentionally pull the seed out. She would inspect it, then eat it first and then eat the rest of the bean! She did it again with leftovers today at lunch. Just kind of surprised me and I thought it was pretty cute!

"Doggie"

Well, Hannah Gray had her first obvious first word right before we left for Ohio. We were walking outside and Tanner bolted out the door. Hannah Gray got really excited and yelled, "Doggie!!" as she watched him go into the yard. She said it again and looked at me and said Doggie as she held her hand out towards Tanner. I couldn't believe it. She's been saying more noises like "ma", but this was clear as day, "doggie".

My family had Hannah Gray at a water park in Cincinnati and she pointed to the wave pool she was in with my brother and said, "water". This one I haven't heard her say yet, but Keith said it was clear as day.

Then very quickly, she's now saying, "Hi Doggie" especially once we came home from Cincinnati. She could not get enough of Tanner!! She's started saying "hi Daddy" too. I tried to get a video of her saying it while we were camping (she was in the pack on Ethan's pack and kept saying "hi daddy" and patting Ethan while she said it) but stopped when I pulled the camera out. Go figure :).

Camping











We had a unusually cool night coming on Friday night, so Ethan and I decided Friday morning to take Gray camping! We figured we'd go for one night just in case it didn't go so well. She LOVED being outside. She sat patiently and waited for dinner as she enjoyed watching Daddy set up camp and me cook while Tanner enjoyed it all. She went down well despite the fact that I think she flip flopped through the entire tent multiple times while sleeping. We had the most obnoxious, loud group of drunks near our campsite that started getting loud probably around 11. Then by 12:30 I figured they would eventually get tired or someone would say something or the campground people would come around. Well, by 1:30 it just got louder and louder! I could not believe it. A couple of them wondered onto our site as I got out of our tent extremely angry. I think they continued well past 3 AM, but they didn't not fully wake Hannah Gray which I was so thankful for. But she did wake up around 4 or so and realized, "Mommy and Daddy are in the tent with me" and didn't want to settle herself down. I thought, "maybe if we lay really still she won't notice we're in here". That did not work. She wiggled her way up towards our heads and ended up flip flopping and falling asleep on my face/head and then finally settled on Daddy's sleeping pad (daddy gave up and moved to where she was) with her bottom half in the top of my bag. Silly girl!!

She was a trip. She had such a great time that we figured we will do it again soon and for longer. Hopefully no obnoxious college students will be near by!!

Hannah Gray's reaction to a baby






Our friends, Lindsay and Madison came over for a visit. Madison is only 2 months old and absolutely adorable. Lindsay and I have been friends since we were probably 5 years old or so. We've been to school together, college, YL, in each other weddings and now have entered into the kids phase together! We thought it would be cute to get a picture of Hannah Gray and Madison together if Hannah Gray would cooperate (she's getting busy!!!). So here is a sequence of photos. It started out with me trying to make sure that she wouldn't bolt and knock over Maddy. Then it goes to Hannah Gray totally leaning her head back on the pillow behind her acting like, "do I seriously have to do this?!", then the next one she realized she really enjoyed this! The final picture I didn't get (I think Lindsay has it) was Gray leaning her head on top of Maddy and doing her "I love you" or "snuggle" noise that goes something like, "awwhhh" with inflection. It was pretty stinkin' cute and hilarious.

Cincinnati






Hannah Gray and I ventured back to Ohio last week. I left Hannah Gray overnight for the first time as I joined my college friends for a bridal shower weekend while my mom took little bit for me. We had a great time seeing family and friends. We were fortunate on our flights that we didn't have to share our row!! I guess in the smaller planes there are only a few rows that have an extra O2 mask, so they had the other person next to us move so there would be enough masks if we needed them! Here is Hannah Gray enjoying a few Cincinnati foods that I couldn't wait to enjoy!! Here's some UDF and Skyline Chili with Mimi. We got to see all the cousins and aunt and uncles (although we don't have a picture of Melissa and Brent unfortunately).