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Hannah's 15 Month Stats

Weight--23 lbs 12 oz (70th percentile)
Height--33 inches (99th percentile)
Head Circumference--19.5 inches (99th percentile)

Grand Rapids Public Schools

I can't believe I taught here for 4 years!

http://www.foxnews.com/video-search/m/21601132/illegal_letter.htm?q=Bernard%20Taylor

Whining about Weaning

On Wednesday night, I decided that it was time for Hannah to give up her bottles. She's almost 15 months and now drinks great from a sippy cup so there's really no reason she needs one other than comfort.

The first two nights were great! It took an hour or so for her to finally zonk out, but she did it. She slept like a champ through the night both times and we were relieved it was soooo easy. Then there was the third night. She cried for a couple of hours before bed and didn't fall asleep until 9 or 10. It was so hard to let her cry when I knew just what she needed, but I really felt like it was time for her to be done with the "ba-ba". She proceeded to wake up just about every hour on the dot crying and I knew what for, but I didn't give in!

Then there was last night. Seems to me that the more nights you go without sleep the more willing you are to give in and give your kid what he/she needs/wants no matter what. I didn't feel like battling anymore and at 4am and she got a bottle. That lasted about 5 min and then the crying started again.

So, now I'm confused. Hannah does have a little cold, but maybe her ear infection's back? The bottle didn't seem to do the trick last night. Oh, who knows?! I'm going to give it a whirl without the bottle again tonight and see what happens.

When in doubt...ask the pediatrician. And that's what I'm going to do tomorrow at her 15 month check up. :) Experienced moms, any advice?

Santa Visit

Hannah got all dressed up to see Santa again this year. Last year she just slept in his arms, but this year she freaked out. I felt like I had a baby monkey squeezing me around my neck and hips. Unfortunately, Hannah would not sit with Santa this year...but she wasn't the only one. Notice all the mommies with smiles on our faces and all the kids look absolutely terrified. I think we've started a tradition here :)

sooooooo BIG

Hannah's vocabulary has been exploding over the last few weeks. It is so much fun (and a lot easier) to communicate with her. I think she's also having a blast being able to express what she wants and needs. Here are the words that I can think of that she says:

cup
Daisy (my mom's dog)
Ga-ca (grandma and grandpa)
hello (sounds more like hewo)
cheese
binky (sounds like key-key)
uppy
daddy
uh-oh
baby
doggie
kitty cat

She's also started doing a lot of the baby sign that I tried teaching her months ago. All of a sudden she can't get enough of it. She does "more", "down", "all done", and "all gone".

This is definitely my favorite stage so far. Hannah is so much fun and I just love her to pieces!

Thankful

Caleb, Hannah, and I were blessed to spend a week in St. Louis with my family for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed quality time catching up, playing games, and stuffing ourselves with food.


Hannah loved the dogs and cats. They actually let her pet them, which resulted in squeals of delight. She quickly learned how to say "Daisy" (the name of one of my mom's golden retrievers) and now calls all dogs "Daisy" instead of "doggie". It's pretty cute.


Aunt Lauren and Hannah played the piano together. When Aunt Lauren wasn't around, Hannah would sneak up to the piano and push the keys. She LOVED it! Hannah also loved giving the phone to Aunt Lauren and saying "Hewo" for hello. She called both grandma and grandpa "Ga-ca". It's so fun to see her learning new words and so cute to hear how she pronounces them.

In St. Louis, Hannah loved playing chase with Aunt Lauren, dancing with Grandpa, and reading books with grandma. She also got on the perrrrfect schedule! Every day she woke up between 7 and 8, took an afternoon nap from 1-4, and then went night-night around 8pm. It was amazing! Let's hope she keeps this up in Michigan!

Sniffles

Turns out Hannah's eternal cold turned into an ear infection. Thankfully, we have never experienced one before, and I hope we never have to experience one again. For 3 nights I couldn't figure out what was wrong with Hannah. She would wake up at about 1 or 2 am and scream her head off. She was completely inconsolable. Hannah's never been like that before and it scared me quite a bit. She would scream for a couple of hours straight and finally go back to sleep around 4 or 5. Monday night I almost decided to take her to the emergency room it was so bad.

Sometimes I thought that it must be her molars coming in since she's gotten a few already. And the resistance of laying down on the changing table had to be behavioral. Surely, the arching of the back was constipation, too. But, I was wrong. Poor little baby had an earache.

Tuesday night she started on Amoxicillin. I haven't seen much improvement yet, especially at night, but the doctor said it might take a few days to kick in. Hopefully she's all better to go see grandma, grandpa, and Aunt Lauren in a couple of days!

New Word!

Hannah says "baby" now and actually carries her doll around with her sometimes. Yesterday she pointed to the baby on her yogurt container and hasn't stopped saying "baby" ever since. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture a real clear one on video.



I thought Hannah was going to be 100% Tom Boy considering her love for climbing and things that "go". But, hopefully mommy will be able to play dollies with her every once in a while. Someone has to teach her to be gentle, though. :)

Just for Fun

Hannah got a new rocking chair from IKEA last week. A whole bunch of us met there for the 99 cent breakfast and then did some shopping afterwards. We got lots of funny looks with our big long train of strollers and carts :)



Here's Hannah's new favorite thing to do. She picks out a book and then climbs (key word CLIMBS) into anything nearby and just chills out while she "reads". She even uses her little voice to imitate the way Caleb and I read to her. It is sooo cute!
















And here's the adorable dancing baby! She LOVES clapping and swaying to any kind of music. Brings a smile to our faces every time!

Mind Your Manners

This week I'm trying to teach Hannah how to eat off of a plate (without throwing it across the room) and use eating utensils. She's doing a pretty good job and I was surprised at how well she ate her applesauce today!

Happy Halloween!

Hannah's friend, Ashlyn, came over to go Trick-or-treating tonight. Although Hannah really had no idea what was going on, we had fun dressing her up and taking pictures!

It's a Miracle

Hannah's Walking!!!

Happy Harvest!

Hannah and I went to the pumpkin patch with some of our friends on Monday. It was a gorgeous day and we had the place to ourselves. Hannah was indifferent to the hayride and pumpkins, but once she found the slide she was a happy girl! She also really enjoyed feeding the goats.

Fall Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Coddington

What fun we had with grandma and grandpa this week! Hannah loved ripping the paper off of the presents they brought for her birthday. She had a blast learning how to ride the giraffe they gave her. Hannah wanted grandma and grandpa's undivided attention during her every waking moment. She just couldn't get enough of them.

Grandma and Grandpa spent lots of time outside with Hannah enjoying the beautiful weather. She played on her slide and helped with the leaves.






















Here's our little doll baby just being cute during dinner outside on the deck. Don't you want to pull those curls to see what happens?














P.S. We would love it if you could sign the guest book at the bottom of the blog if you get a chance. Thanks!

Sorry for the Rantings

Hi everyone! Sorry about my panicked blog the other day. Thank you to everyone who gave me words of encouragement and advice about what worked for their kids.

Hannah seems to be having the perfect day today! Caleb and I have determined that all of her "issues" are because of yet another growth spurt. It's amazing how much that affects her. The late sleeping, extra naps, crabbiness, and waking up for a feeding in the middle of the night--it makes so much sense! We've been through this many times with her, but every time we seem to forget what it was like the last :)

Warming her nighttime bottle has helped a lot with her taking the whole milk. She chugs it down now without pushing it away at all. Also, I bought a few different kinds of sippy cups to try since she stopped drinking out of her other ones. Of course, the cheapo disposable ones are working the best. That's just fine with us! She's down to just a nighttime bottle now which is GREAT!

Thanks again for listening to me rant and rave about the confusion. :)

Got Milk?

It's amazing how much worrying you do as a mother. Normally it ends up being first-time-mommy-paranoia, but every now and then I've found that I really need to trust my gut.

So, Hannah has a couple of new issues that I'd like to share with you moms out there to see if you have any expert opinions. Here we go...

NAPPING
Hannah was taking her two naps a day like a good little girl until about two months ago. I figured she was starting to drop that morning nap since she was almost a year so I pretty much forced it on her because we have to be out of the house for nursery duty two days a week anyways. It was a difficult adjustment, but after about a week I had it down to a science. I had to put her down at one o'clock every day, no earlier and no later. Well, last week she decided to take a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It didn't really concern me because she had gone to bed late a few nights in a row and maybe she was hitting a growth spurt.
Once Hannah actually turned one she was doing pretty good on her afternoon nap. I was a little doubtful that she was getting enough sleep though, because her afternoon nap would only be 1-1.5 hours and most kids nap at least 2 when they're down to one nap a day. I tried not to worry about it and figured she'd adjust.
Then we went camping and Hannah decided to sleep during the day instead of at night. Since then, she awakes crying nearly every night at 3am and also in the morning she wakes up crying. She used to be a happy waker, greeting me with giggles and smiles when she woke up. Now she's an emotional disaster until her next nap. I've tried just leaving her in there, hoping she'll cry herself back to sleep, but it doesn't work. Once she's up, she's up. So, my question is what's going on? Why the sudden change?

MILK
I started dreaming up all of the typical theories that us moms have heard about. Maybe she's going to hit a milestone? Maybe she's just changing? Maybe she's getting more teeth? Maybe she's having nightmares? Maybe, maybe, maybe?
Now I'm staring to think maybe it has to do with her transition from formula to whole milk. She hasn't been having any kind of reactions such as rashes, etc., but she has been exceptionally crabby and her sleeping is really off. For example, last night we put her down at 7:30 for bed, she woke at 4, I gave her another bottle because I couldn't figure out what was wrong, and then she slept until 9:30! I rolled over in bed, thinking it was 7:00 or so and when I saw the clock I freaked out and ran into her room to make sure she was breathing. I decided to wake her up because I wanted her to go down this afternoon for a nap. Well, she didn't last that long...she went down at 11:00!
I'm thinking that the whole milk isn't filling her up like the formula did for her nighttime bottle and she's going to bed hungry every time I put her down. She's not a great eater and I'm worried that the formula was her main source of nutrition. Now that she's on whole milk, but not eating much, will she be OK?
Another thing is that I don't think she likes the coldness of the milk. She never took her formula warm, just room temperature, but she's really not fond of the cold milk. Do I warm it up for her then? That's really a habit I don't want to start. But, I want her to have a full tummy before night-night!

ADVICE
So, I'd love to hear what you all think I should do. I mixed some formula in with her milk again last night and I'm going to try again tonight to see what happens. I guess you could say I'm testing my hunger theory. In a few days I'll definitely give the doctor a call, but I'm sure you know how that is. You don't want to sound like a paranoid mom and the usual response you get is that every child is different and it's probably just a phase. But, my instincts are telling me that something else is going on (most likely related to the whole milk). I want my Hannah back! Thanks for "listening".

Nothing much new around here lately. Hannah still loves playing with her cars and trucks. She has figured out how to open and close the door of the bus and loves taking the bus driver out and putting him back in. I am amazed at how quickly she figures things out! The other day she spent nearly an hour trying to put a plastic Easter egg back together. She is a very determined little girl and does not give up until she succeeds at what she wants to accomplish.

When I was talking on the phone with a friend this morning I saw Hannah standing at our deck doors. All of a sudden, she took a few Frankenstein steps towards me and plopped down. I'm looking forward to this new milestone of walking, but my friends tell me to be careful what I wish for. I know it will be an entirely new level of mobility, but I'm looking forward to the convenience of setting her down in public places (she's getting too heavy to carry!). Not to mention how cute babies are when they're toddling around.

12 Month Stats

Hannah had a great check-up today. Doctor reported that she's healthy and happy, but we all knew that :)

Height-- 32 inches (99th percentile)
Weight-- 22 pounds, 9 ounces (79th percentile)
Head Circumference-- 19 1/4 inches (99th percentile)

Still Celebrating

Hannah had her very first birthday party tonight. Before the party started, she opened some presents, including her first baby doll. Then, Ashlyn, Monica, Luke, Carleigh, Lowen, Mason, and Jameson all came over with their parents to enjoy Hannah's favorite foods--sloppy joes, mac 'n' cheese, and canteloupe (notice a color theme?). Good thing the weather was nice because it was pretty crowded in the house!

After dinner, all the kids went nuts in the yard with balls and balloons. Hannah, you're going the wrong way on the slide!










What would a first birthday party be without a big hunk of chocolate cake?!?! At first, Hannah started crying because she didn't want to eat anymore, but then she heard all of her friends singing to her and cheered right up. Mommy and daddy made her the bunny cake (as if you couldn't tell). It didn't take long for her to realize what was in front of her. She had no problem eating nearly half of that bunny ear.

Hannah's First Birthday

Daddy was out of town during Hannah's first birthday, but that didn't stop us from having a fun day!

First, Hannah got into some trouble with the orange marker she's holding. Keep in mind, this was after she emptied the trash can, shredded some of mommies papers, and pulled all of the books off of the lower two shelves of the bookcase. What was mommy doing while Hannah was being mischievous? you're probably asking...writing lesson plans for the church program she's heading up.


Then, daddy called to wish Hannah a Happy Birthday. Hannah just loves listening to voices talking to her on the phone. They are normally high pitched and squealy (aunt Lauren!), but this time it was her favorite voice of all--DADDY! She also got phone calls from Grandma and Grandpa Coddington and Grandma Deibel.

To wrap up the evening, we celebrated with a birthday dinner at Red Robin. Hannah didn't really enjoy being strapped down in her high chair, but the bright orange balloon made it all worth it!

My Baby's One

Hannah has been such a blessing in our lives during her first year. It's hard to remember putting her in the car seat to take her home from the hospital, all of the spitting up she did, the sleepless nights, and her lack of pooping issues.

She is growing into quite an active little girl. I remember when she rolled over for the first time, started crawling, and now she's pushing furniture around the room. She has smiled her first smiles, taken her first bath, given her first kisses, and said her first words, "Uh-oh" and "Da-Da". I am missing all of the "firsts" but know there are many more to come.

We love you Hannah! Happy First Birthday!