new tricks

libby is holding onto things and standing today. she didn't pull up, i put her here like this and she loved it. she's pretty sturdy on her legs. doesn't she look so big!?

6 months

on libby's actual 6 month mark she was running a fever, so we went to the doctor and got more medicine for another ear infection. we went for her checkup monday, and there was fluid on her ear still which could lead to another infection, but we are hoping that they'll clear up for the summer, at least. if not we'll have to seriously consider tubes. she's been sleeping better the past couple of days and has been in a great mood so i know she's feeling better for now. she weighs 17.2 pounds, 27 inches, and her head is 44.5 cm. she tries hard to get up on her knees when she's on her belly, so it won't be long until she's crawling around here trying to keep up with her big sister. her two favorite things are the television remote and cups. whenever i'm holding her and i go to the fridge to fill up a cup with ice and water she gets so excited. she starts jumping and grabbing at the cup, and tries to drink it.

last day of school

hannah's last day of school was wednesday (the 18th). they had a little program where the 3 year old class sang some songs and the 4 year olds graduated. they've had several programs throughout the year where the kids have sang songs, and hannah has done better each time. the first time she looked scared to be up in front of people and didn't sing at all. this time they did it in the sanctuary up on a stage which i thought might make her nervous, but she did great. she sang the songs and did most of the hand motions. the slideshows that the preschool director made (one is above) were so cute. i know that i'll be a crying mess next year when it's hannah's time to graduate. but let's not think about that right now! ;)

she has had a wonderful school year, and i don't think she's quite gotten the concept of summer. she asks everyday, "i go to school today?" she had great teachers and classmates, and she's grown so much throughout the past 9 months. it's hard to believe that last summer we were just trying to really get potty training down good and now she seems like such a big girl, doing so many things on her own.

here she is with a certificate that she got, and with one of her teachers, mrs. april. 

i'll try to upload a video of her singing to put here later...

a pretty perfect saturday

for the past few mornings hannah has made her breakfast, and it makes her so proud. "i make breakshast by myself, mom," she says. she gets a box of waffles from the freezer, takes out two, puts them on the counter, gets the toaster out from under the sink, puts the waffles in and pushes them down. all i help her with is plugging in the toaster.

after she picked out a dress and purple hello kitty socks i fixed her hair. she asked for pigtails, which she never does. she said, "put one here and one here," pointing to either side of her head. i did, of course, and she looked adorable. there's nothing much cuter than a little girl in pigtails.

after painting a couple of pictures, putting together a couple of puzzles, playing in the backyard, and eating lunch we went to the new frozen yogurt place in town.

then we went to the park, one of hannah's favorite places. the first thing she wanted to do was ride the train.

then she wanted to swing and slide.

libby swang for the very first time, and LOVED it.

hannah pushed her for a bit, and kept telling the other kids that were around, "look at my baby swinging by herself." she was a proud big sister.

then we got dinner from our new favorite japanese restaurant near our house. hannah can use chopsticks better than i can. no clue where she learned that.

libby had some pretty tasty carrots.

all in all, it was a perfect day. i am so grateful for saturdays with our little family.

beach

we took a family trip to gulf shores last weekend. after all the sickness of the past couple of months i think we all needed to get away for a bit. we always like to go to the beach in early may before it gets too crowded for summer. we stayed at the gulf shores plantation. our room was small but cozy, and there was hardly anyone at the hotel, so it was perfect!

i learned that it's much harder to travel with two little ones! i had to pack SO much stuff. everyone had their own suitcase, plus food, toys, bath stuff, and beach stuff. i hoped and prayed that they would sleep in the car, but there wasn't enough of that! it was worth it, though. we had a great time. hannah loved going to the swimming pools. i loved us all sitting on the beach together. we got a tent with SPF protection to put libby in, and of course hannah wanted to sit in there too. it rained on friday so we decided to take a trip to the outlets and lamberts. on sunday we took our highly anticipated trip to lulu's and stayed there for a couple of hours watching hannah play with other kids in the sand.

i think the girls really bonded during our trip. hannah helped out with libby in the backseat during our drive down there - she talked to her, sang to her when she was crying, and handed her toys. they were also so cute together on the beach. hannah was excited to show libby the ocean and sand. and the way libby looks at hannah and smiles at her and the way hannah acts silly to get those smiles... oh, floods my heart with so much happiness. unrelated to our beach trip, but yesterday i was putting gas in the car, and i was looking at the girls through the back windshield. hannah was entertaining libby, and she looked back at me, and i couldn't hear what she said but i saw her mouth say: "she smiled to me, mom," with a BIG proud smile on her face. i almost can't stand it sometimes! i am so proud to be able to watch them grow together.