...and happy new year's eve!

as i type this one-handed while holding libby, i just heard her laughing in her sleep for the first time. what a sweet sound! makes me so much more excited for the new year and her first full year of life. there are SO many challenges in the first year but also so many fun and rewarding and amazing moments. i can't wait to see her and hannah grow together. i hope i can encourage them to have a great relationship, and to become best friends.

merry christmas!

well christmas has come and gone, and i've been meaning to write about it and post a few pictures for a week now. we had a great one. christmas is my favorite time of year. i love how cozy it feels in the house with the christmas tree, the christmas music and the christmas smells.

hannah, for some reason, decided she wanted a sleeping bag and candy. santa brought her both of those things. one of her favorite things was unloading her stocking. everything she pulled out she said, "oh, this is just what i needed." it was a pretty perfect day. it even snowed!

we made cupcakes for santa AND jesus' birthday... multitasking ;)

after santa's visit. hannah got a little mermaid chair with a sleeping bag zipped inside, a suitcase, art supplies, a tea party set, and a lot of little things in her stocking. libby got a crib soother and a baby gym.

one month

wow, this last month feels like both a second and an eternity. we've certainly been busy around here. libby is a great baby. it's funny how different her personality is so far from hannah's. i could tell a lot about the girls' personalities from the time they were in my belly. hannah kicked SO hard, and certain things (like the sound of the blow dryer) would really set her off. of course, i know now that that was her temper emerging! she was born with that little temper. libby was much calmer, and didn't really kick as much as she did just move and stretch. and for the most part, she is a very calm baby. she rarely ever cries, she's a great eater, and a good sleeper. sometimes she'll sleep for an hour and wake up to eat, but she can also go for as long as 4 or 5 hours. she mostly sleeps through the night, waking up just a few times to eat, but then goes back to sleep. she has three periods of being really awake - one the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. in the past few days she's become much more alert, so we've been able to lay her on the floor and interact with her a little. friday was the day where it seemed like she really woke up from her slumber and just stared at me and babbled a little. yesterday, on her one month birthday, she rolled over! from her stomach to her back. quite advanced, if i do say so myself. ;) we took her for her one-month checkup today. she weighs 10 pounds, and is 22 inches. here are some of my favorite pictures from this month.

right after we brought libby home from the hospital. hannah is a proud big sister.

most favorite picture - what a sweet face! she has such a peaceful expression most all of the time.

she smiles a lot but i've only managed to capture this small one.

one month picture

meet libby

happy thanksgiving! we have so many things to be thankful for this year. our elizabeth pearl was born friday, nov. 19th at 8:56 a.m. she was 9 pounds 1.5 ounces and 21 inches long. she is absolutely perfect in every way! she's such a beautiful baby and is sleeping and eating well. we thank god for bringing her to us healthy and strong. what a blessing.

now comes the hard part of trying to find balance with a 3 year old and a newborn. it's been a stressful few days, since hannah has come down with some sort of virus. i am trying my hardest to stay healthy and keep the baby healthy. other than that, hannah has been really sweet with libby. the hardest thing has just been trying to get her to keep her distance. no signs of jealousy yet, though it is hard on her sometimes when she wants my attention and i can't fully give it to her. especially with her being sick and me trying not to catch it.

pure joy

look at this face.

have you ever seen anyone so happy over a chocolate pop-tart? or "reptar," as hannah calls it. we have had quite the time getting hannah to sleep in her own bed. this past spring, granny got her a big queen mattress, comfy and soft, and i got her a pretty pottery barn kids quilt to put on it. we painted her room and made it as inviting as possible, hoping to trick her into wanting to stay there. sleep troubles started when she learned to crawl out of her crib right before she was 2. she would crawl into our bed in the wee hours of the morning and get the rest of her sleep out there. but for the past week or so, a miracle has occurred. she has decided that she will stay in her bed. and the reward is a chocolate pop-tart for breakfast, which as you can see, she L-O-V-E-S. so i guess we've traded a healthy breakfast for a full night's sleep, but nevertheless i am really proud of her. this is just the kind of thing we need before the baby gets here.

speaking of the baby! she will be here next friday for sure, unless she decides to come on her own before then. the last ultrasound we had was last week, and it showed her weighing 7 pounds and 10 ounces. we can't wait to meet her, we're excited and nervous and anxious. going to use this next week to get all our last-minute preparations done. please pray that she arrives strong and healthy!

trick-or-treat

well, i think we trick-or-treated earlier than anyone this year. halloween was on a sunday, but the city decided we should trick-or-treat on the thursday before. we went thrifty and used something we had in our closet already: an auburn cheerleading outfit that we got from mimi and had yet to wear.

i have to say that i don't remember ever really liking halloween. but hannah has made it so much fun. it's probably her favorite holiday, considering how much she loves candy. we started reading halloween books sometime in september, and she asked me almost every night for a month if it was "palowing time."

i think we have a picture just like this from last year - hannah pointing at our neighbor's decorations. he really goes all out. 

 

grace was a cheerleader too!

the girls looked so cute together.

checking out all the candy at the end of the night and watching other trick-or-treaters. hannah was great at handing out candy to other kids.

...and on a sugar high. we let her eat quite a bit of candy and stay up until 10:30. hannah heaven.

pumpkin carving

it's not october without a jack-o-lantern. hannah helped me carve one last year too, and wore this same exact shirt.

pumpkin patch

i've decided that october is my favorite month because of pumpkin patches! last year was the first time we went to one, and we enjoyed it so much. this year we tried a different one, dream field farms near union springs. while we were waiting in line to pay admission, her friends from school - hope and nicole and their mom, sister maggie, grandmother, and cousin - walked up behind us. i couldn't believe we were all there at the same exact time! hannah was in absolute heaven to have kids that she could follow around and play with. we had the best day!

after we mastered the corn maze:

hannah's always been our cautious girl so we were surprised when she walked right up these steep stairs and went down the big slide.

i'm not sure who loved playing in the corn more: tim or hannah. ;) we are still finding corn kernels in our laundry and in random places around the house.

their pumpkin patch was beautiful! i don't think i'd ever seen a real pumpkin patch like this before. even better, we got there right around sunset so the light couldn't have been more perfect!

wild animal safari

we went to the wild animal safari in pine mountain on oct. 17th for tim's mom's birthday. we rented a van to feed the animals, and the animals stuck their stinky heads and tongues through the bars of the windows to get food. hannah was really nervous at first, but she worked up her courage and fed a few animals - mostly by throwing it out the window rather than sticking it in their mouths, but who can blame her? i think i fed one or two animals and that was good enough for me. we let tim and his dad do the dirty work. ;)

after she fed her first animal she was so proud!