Wednesday, March 25, 2009

9 month check up!

Well, I took Hannah Gray to her new pediatrician's office yesterday. What a beautiful drive there; it was before 8, so the sun was still rising and we crossed over the South River while the sun was shining over the river and the bay on all the sailboats. I wanted to stop on the bridge and just sit for a minute to take it all in.

Anyway, Hannah Gray's appointment went well. She weighed in at 20 lbs and 11 oz (including a diaper too :) ) and was 28.5 inches long. That puts her in the 75th percentile. She's getting to be quite verbal and making new consonant noises all the time. The latest one are her "d's", so she doing plenty of "d,d, da,da" on top of many "ma, ma, ma". So far nothing is linked to them yet, but it's fun to hear her say those two in particular.

That's it for now!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Hannah Gray's first hike!






On Saturday afternoon, we all (Tanner included) headed to Great Falls to hike around the Potomac. The hike was great; it included some pretty steep uphill, meandering trails around the river and even a bit of bouldering. Tanner LOVED it! He was totally in his element. In fact, when we were in obedience classes together before Gray's arrival, Tanner didn't even really care for jumping over the little fence thingies. Our instructors claimed that dogs loved doing jumps b/c that's what they were bred to do in the wild. Well, apparently our dog only goes for the real thing. He was hopping over fallen trees that were just below my waist and jumping over the rocks, climbing steep boulders that I wasn't even sure I could get up (I did have Hannah Gray on my back after all :) ). He even jumped in the water (we've had to entice him into the water and basically teach him how to swim). He was exhausted and actually slept on the way home. He actually put his head on Hannah Gray's lap in the car seat, fell fast asleep and let her just play with the ear and eyebrow she could reach. The two of them are going to be inseparable I think. 

Then today (Sunday), we packed up the crew again (sans Tanner this time) and headed to the Baltimore- Annapolis trail. The trail actually connects the two cities and is very much like the Loveland bike trail for those of you from Cincinnati. We did about 16 miles and Hannah Gray loved it! She fell sleep and took a decent nap then woke up and literally talked/sang to Daddy (who was pulling her) for just about half of the trip. The sunshine, activity and nature were so good for all of us this weekend. 

I don't have pictures from the bike ride, but I do from the hike. The one where she's looking over my shoulder is actually her cracking up at Daddy as he would make her feel like he was chasing her. She LOVES her Daddy and all his silliness!!! And she enjoyed her first car picnic as well. She's such an easy going/flexible baby!

Friday, March 20, 2009

requested video


Sorry the video is kind of long, but you can see her making her new noises and a complete attempt at crawling.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I'm crawling!


Well, kind of. Hannah Gray figured out how to kind of scoot this weekend. It loosely resembled the army crawl. But since then, she's really figured it out. She gets one arm tucked up underneath her and reaches as far as possibly can with the other hand. As she reaches, her hips scoot underneath her and she uses her toes to push her forward a little further. She's figured out how to go backwards (although this is frustrating to her, I'm not sure it's on purpose actually) when she's on the hardwood floors. But we're getting there! But she's ALL over the place. You can see it in her eyes when she notices something that she wants. She's already pulled some things off the lower shelf of my desk. Things are going to get interesting really quick here shortly.  

Here is a picture of her in her room today. She rolled all over the place (almost to each of the 4 walls), then somehow managed to wedge herself against the wall on one side and had her legs stuck up the side of the dresser, rendering her legs just about useless. She wasn't really sure what to do to get out, but while I ran to get the camera she had just about gotten herself "unstuck". Anyway, here's a picture of her getting herself out of the jam. 

another tooth!



Well, Hannah Gray isn't wasting any time bringing in her teeth. Once she started, they've come in quickly. This is her second top tooth for a total of four. I just noticed the two corners poking through her gum this morning. She's figured out how to give a big cheesy smile where she squints her eyes and shows her teeth. Here are a couple pictures showing off the pearly whites.

I'm a Big Girl now!





Well, I figured Hannah Gray's hair is long enough to try and figure out what I should do with it. So I pulled one side up and then tried it with two, giving her little antennae that are pretty stinkin' cute. But she looks like a little toddler, not a baby anymore!

9 months already?!





I can hardly believe Hannah Gray is now 9 months old! It's gone by crazy fast. I'm going to have to figure out a new way to document these monthly shots, she's too active now to get good pictures!! These will just have to do for now.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Learning to munch















We gave Hannah Gray her first real big food object earlier this week. She'll munch on fruit in one of those netted teether thingies, or cereal type of puffs, but this was her first thing to take bites of. She loved this little rice treat and she even saved some for later... Annie even shared her burrito with her!

One of my lacrosse girls gave us a special sippy cup when Hannah Gray was born. She used it this morning for the first time. It was perfect for her little hands to hold onto. She kind of knows what she's doing, but is still very surprised when water comes out.

Beautiful Day in Naptown




This weekend, the weather was gorgeous! Annie, Ethan, Hannah Gray and I went to Georgetown for the day. We enjoyed lunch outside, then we toured the streets. What a perfect day for it too. We hit REI on the way home, grilled out, then finished the night with a fire and s'mores. Can't get much better than that. What a great night to end a great visit with Annie on. Sunday, Ethan and I took Tanner and Hannah Gray down to the dog beach so Tanner could continue practicing his stroke. He did really well until his toy went out beyond the breaker made of stones. He climbed up on the stones then stepped off and realized he couldn't touch anymore. You could see the panic in his eyes. He immediately turned around and swam faster than I've ever seen him before. He was done after that, but he did so well!!




We found a couple cool things at REI and one of them was this adorable hat for Hannah Gray. We couldn't pass it up. We decided to make it an early bday present- she won't know the differene, right? And she can use it now... :)

Visit from Aunt Annie!
















Aunt Annie came out for a visit this week and it was so good to have her here. It's amazing preparing dinner without a child on your hip! And, it was such a treat to have someone else do the cooking too! We went to Baltimore one day (to see a lax game), went around Annapolis another and visited downtown Annapolis on a beautiful sunny day. We had some fun down around the water.

Harry




At a baby shower for Hannah Gray, she received books instead of cards. She now enjoys those books more than you can imagine. At that shower, she received the classic, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" along with a little stuffed animal of the hungry caterpillar himself. We have since named him Harry (he's a shaggy little creature). Harry has always been at her changing table to have something to distract her, but she's really only noticed him probably the last month and a half or so. And since then, we don't go anywhere without him. He's the perfect size for her little chubby hands and she'll wrap her arm around him so he's secure in the little nook of her elbow. She even sleeps with him and even then, he's usually in a tight grasp! She has begun to sleep on her belly now and this is how she manages to hold onto Harry while sleeping for the time being at least...

Visit from Jen!


One of my dear friends and former lacrosse players was in town with UC's team to play against John Hopkins. So Annie (who was in town at the time- more pictures to come), Hannah Gray and I ventured up to Baltimore and saw Jen and Allison (another former Sycamore player). It was SO good to see her! We're looking forward to seeing her again in April for a few days!! Unfortunately, I don't have any

pictures of Hannah Gray watching the game. It was extremely bright and sunny (despite the evening shot above) and would have been difficult. She enjoyed this game as well! Go 'Cats!

In Daddy's Equipment







Hannah Gray tried on Daddy's ski gear for fun... she's a little ham and she's well aware of it. She just looked around at everyone in the lodge and waited for them to notice her, which most did. She enjoyed it very much! :)

More Killington











Hannah Gray also took a liking to our skiing snacks and plates at Mexican restaurants.

Killington and snow!
















The last weekend in February, we had our first little family vaca. We headed up the coast and into Vermont to ski at Killington. It was so refreshing to be outside and in the mountains. I think it was just what Ethan and I needed. We ha some crazy weather while there, but it was great to get out and ski again. It's been about 2 years now since we last skiied at Breckenridge. Hannah Gray stayed at kids club (something "Penguins", I forget now) and loved it! She loves being around older kids. She also became a little snack thief while we were there too! We were told that kept nabbing another kid's banana pancake and they tried to move it out of her reach at the little table, but she kept ending up with big 'ol handfuls of it- they said she loved it!! Which is so funny b/c she's eating solids, but it's almost all pureed foods, not chewable stuff. So maybe she's trying to tell me something.










Anyway, we had fun together out around town and in our hotel room. Here are some picturs of the long weekend. OH, we also ended up with a snowstorm once we reached home. It's very unlikely for Annapolis to get more than an inch or so of snow and we had probably 6+ in. So it was crazy here for a few days. We also have some pictures of Hannah Gray's first real snow storm.

lacrosse!




A couple weeks ago we went to Navy to watch my goalie from Sycamore play with her new Detroit Mercy team. It was so fun to see a game again, but this time with the addition of Hannah Gray. It was cold out, but she loved it! She stood on our laps the whole time and just watched the field. Perhaps we have a little athlete on our hands?




Here are a couple pictures from her very first lacrosse game (out of the womb that is).