Last Tuesday marked two months since we brought Hannah home. I'm a little late posting, but better late than never, right?? Hannah has made incredible progress in lots of areas over the past month. She has really settled into her new life as part of our family.
The picture above was taken by our friend & photographer Lindsey Bilhartz. She lives in our neighborhood and is wonderful with kids. When we took Hannah for these pictures we thought she was mostly over an ear infection. Within the next day we discovered she had hand, foot, mouth virus. No wonder she was not smiley during her pictures! I love this picture though - it captures how beautiful and sweet she is!
Over the past month, Hannah has started to sleep better. She typically wakes once in the night and we have agreed to just bring her to our bed. I was spending a looong time trying to get her back to sleep in her crib and I was exhausted. When I put her in-between us she falls right back to sleep. Hannah has slept all night several times but it has been sporadic. I have started to have her take naps in her room upstairs to help her prepare for sleeping there at night as well.
Hannah has continued to learn new signs. She can sign eat, more, drink, milk, cracker, all done, banana, and yogurt. She also pats her diaper when she wants it changed and can sign, help, baby, book, mommy, daddy, brother, night night, dog, cat, horse, bird and shakes her head yes and no to answer questions. In the past 10 days Hannah started to actually say more words. She is not very confident about some words and will say them very quietly. Hannah also only says the beginning sound of many words but we always know what she means. Her current word list includes uh oh, bye bye, hi, mama, dada, cay-cay for Caleb, baby, night night, "per" for diaper and poo poo. Ha! We are excited to hear her trying new words every day!
In terms of food, Hannah has continued to try new foods. She does not seem to like typical kid food here in America, other than pizza. When we had garlic pesto salmon she was a big fan! She also loves broccoli and soup. We have also discovered she loves sweets and cheetos. Ha! Hannah is very independent about feeding herself. She can feed herself with a fork and spoon, even more difficult foods like soup. Hannah acts insulted when we give her a sippy cup at home and really wants an open cup. At just 20 months she is really good with an open cup. We still insist on a sippy cup when we are in the car or at a restaurant.
Hannah wants to stand alone so much. I think she wishes she could keep up with her brothers! She can crawl, army crawl and scoot to get wherever she wants to go. She loves to go up and down the stairs, with us following close behind of course. Hannah will go back to Shriners in Houston tomorrow to get her AFOs (ankle foot orthotics). We are hoping they will temporarily correct her foot position and enable her to start walking. We still plan to cast her legs in the fall and have a heel cord release surgery performed once her casting is completed.
Trying so hard to stand
Standing up (and leaning on the coffee table) in her first pair of Nike shorts
So proud of herself for climbing up to the stairway landing
And now in no particular order... some more fun with Hannah over the past month!
Having a little check-up at home
Hannah is a happy baby - but we do have our fair share of drama.
I think this episode took place when I told her to wait a minute to get out of her high chair because I was not done with my breakfast. Oh, the horror!
Hannah got to meet my best friend, Katy & her family when they came to visit us
Taking an important call from the play room
These two cuties LOVE each other!
...and they both love me a little too much on some days!
They think it is so funny when I carry them both.
Luckily they are close in weight so I feel pretty balanced!
Hannah occasionally likes to have a pacifier. It can be helpful when I am putting all 3 kids to bed by myself.
Oh, the little body on this sweet girl! She was copying me and trying to put her hands on her hips ;)
Hannah went on her first hike in the backpack carrier.
She was thrilled in case you can't tell ;)
Fun with my big brother after bath time!
Cutie pie loves to put on glasses, hats & bracelets
Truly meant to be my daughter-- she loves to make faces with me!
I can tell she tries to mimic most things I do.
Doing some artwork on the Leap Pad
Somebody discovered there is a camera near her crib...
My first ponytail since coming home!
I asked Caleb to keep Hannah company while I put Joshua to bed.
He decided to get in her crib with his "Mighty Eagle" stuffed bird.
I could hear Hannah giggling at Caleb but when she saw me come in she was ready to get out! Looks a little crowded in there.
Fun times at Target!
Being silly in the tub with my brothers!
Hannah set up her stacking blocks to create a little chair for herself! She was SO proud.
We got Hannah's certificate of citizenship last week!
Our last step will be to go to the social security office to have her name changed on her card. It currently says her Chinese name.
Sassy face, once again. Wearing Granny's glasses.
Playing a silly game with Joshua- he piled up tons of stuff on her and she would laugh and laugh!
Hannah LOVES to play with babies.
She signed to me and said "help diaper" so I put the toy diaper on her baby doll.
Being this cute is tiring
Working diligently to put on Caleb's boxers
Acting out "Let It Go" with Joshua. She is using a bath towel as a cape.
Snuggling with these two jealous-of-one-another cuties
