Because I Haven't Taken Pictures In A While

Hannah scoots toward the pink sheep...
...which is apparently quite tasty: "I like mutton, Mommy!"
This is Hannah standing on the stairs, holding herself up by the railings as she looks at Daddy on the other side (don't worry, I was close to her in case she decided to take a dive, which she didn't).

"I wonder if I could taste the stair railing while still sucking my pacifier? Oh, oh, yep, I sure can!"

Under close supervision, Hannah works on her stair skills. So far she has figured out how to get down one stair, but has been frustrated in her attempts to get UP a stair.

In other news, while Hannah still has not really crawled forward, she has in fact crawled backward (much to her consternation), and has learned how to roll all the way around the dining room table (until she gets stuck under the chairs). Our next big project is getting the safety gate installed at the top of the stairs!

Figuring It All Out

It's so funny watching Hannah try to figure out crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees, and then LUNGES with one leg to propel herself forward a few inches. Then she thinks about what she's accomplished and makes a contented noise like "AH!" Sometimes she can do it again, but sometimes she gets confused and rolls over instead! She gets to point B eventually by a series of lunges, scoots, rolls and wiggles. I feel like any day now she's going to figure out how to do this faster and I'll be caught off guard, but for now it's pretty easy to keep an eye on her!

Happy Father's Day

I tried to get Hannah to give the present to her Daddy, but she was more interested in opening it herself! Happy Father's Day Josh! Technically this was Josh's first Father's Day, although we did celebrate it last year by getting Josh a weed wacker (hence, we did not move to Nashville). :)
So Hannah played with her keys while Daddy opened his present. This picture doesn't show a very good view, but Hannah wore the blue dress her great aunt Catherine made for her and looked very pretty in it!
After church we went over to Josh's parents' house because his sister and brother and their families were in town. This picture shows (from left to right): Josh's sister Juliet and her daughter Gweneth (9 months), Josh's brother Justin's wife Jennifer and their daughter Madalyn (sorry Jen and Maddie this picture is not great, hopefully Judy got a better one!), and Hannah and me! We didn't get any pictures with Juliet's boys John and Thomas or with Justin's son Zack, but hopefully we will next time!

Hannah and Gweneth playing together

Hannah and her cousin Madalyn

And Now Dinnah!

Fun With The Tigger Ball

Sampler Finally Finished

I finally finished embroidering Hannah's Peter Rabbit sampler - it's 14 inches by 18 inches. Now I just need to get a frame for it. My mom made one exactly like it when I was born!

Five Months Old Pictures

I took these the other morning before Hannah got out of her pajamas. She's still working on crawling, but has gotten quite proficient at sitting. Her feet are still among her favorite toys. I'm pretty sure she knows what she means when she says "Hi" and once or twice she has tried to wave. Sleeping is still going well, and now she gets a little rice cereal for dinner. She likes it a lot, and looks like a baby bird when the spoon comes near her - flapping her arms and with her mouth wide open!

I tried to get a good picture of Hannah wearing this dress, which was another one that my mom made for me, but Hannah thinks it's cute enough to eat, and hence that is what she attempted to do!

Baptism Audio

The audio from Hannah's baptism is online now. Please check out the link to the right. Brad M. who got it posted for us says that it's not a huge file so it shouldn't take forever to download.

Hannah says hello to all her fans! I am trying to teach her the wave-to-your-adoring-public wave: "Elbow! Elbow! Wrist, wrist, wrist!" :)

Lost and Found

Our hard drive died on Friday, taking all of Hannah's baby pictures with it! Sadly, we had only backed up a few of the earliest ones, so we're really thankful that we have this blog or we'd be entirely bereft of Hannah's babyhood!

Also lost: Hannah's voice. She is getting hoarse for some reason, and sounds very pathetic!

Found: Hannah likes rice cereal! I had planned to wait until she turned six months, since the pediatrician said there was no reason to start earlier than that unless Hannah stopped sleeping through the night. Thursday and Friday nights she woke up multiple times, as if hungry. So on Saturday I gave her some rice cereal and she loved it. She slept just fine last night! Since we have food allergy issues in the family, we'll stick to rice cereal for a long time, I'm thinking, before adding other foods.

Hannah Is Baptized

Last weekend, Hannah was baptized. Pastor James Faris, who performed the baptism, began by talking about baptism as a sign and seal of the covenant. Josh and I then gave our testimonies and Josh mentioned why we chose Hannah's names and that our prayer for her is that she would be a woman of fervent prayer like the Hannah in the Old Testament. We were asked and answered several questions indicating our vow to raise Hannah in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and the congregation likewise promised to aid in teaching Hannah about the Gospel. James baptized Hannah, who obliged by not crying and, more amazingly, not spitting up or making motorboat noises. Finally, James prayed for Hannah. We are hoping to put an audio link of the whole thing on the blog, because it really was a special and meaningful time. Please check back for the link. Below are some pictures from the day:
We changed Hannah into her baptism dress once we got to church to minimize the time she would have to spit up in it. Of course, no sooner had we gotten it on her than she spit up. We did put FOUR bibs on her (one in front, one in back, and one on each shoulder!) to keep her sort of dry between the start of the service and the baptism. The picture above is Hannah in the slip. Hannah was the fifth generation in my family to be baptized in the dress. It's special because it's beautiful and old and an heirloom, but also because it signifies the long spiritual heritage Hannah has, which I think is a special blessing.

My testimony
Josh's testimony

The baptism
Family Photo

Hannah, my mom, and me
My parents and little (ok, younger, but not so little) brother, Thomas came to visit for the baptism
Josh's parents were also with us
Mom did a lovely flower arrangement to honor the occasion

That afternoon we had a little party to celebrate Hannah's baptism. My aunt Catherine made a very pretty and delicious cake expertly decorated with Hannah's monogram.