Way Overdue Updates

 

I can't get enough hugs from these two precious kids.  They bring out so many emotions in me...here are some of the reasons why :) 

Can you look at this picture of Seth and not smile?  You have to share in his happiness with all those pacis!!!  He has learned to throw them into his crib when he wakes up, but he does love them and does not do it without help at times!  Speaking of pacis, Hannah gave up her pacifiers over Christmas.  She was such a big girl and wanted to leave them for Santa, along with a cookie!  She kept saying Santa was going to take them to another little girl who needed them or to Baby Jesus.  Sweet huh. She really hasn't asked for them since that night, but she definitely is not sleeping as sound without them!!!

Seth likes to put the phone up to his ear and say "hi"!

Seth loves to help play Pawpaw's guitars in his office!

Always wanting snacks

Hannah holding cousin Caleb

Hannah is really fascinated with women who are pregnant and their new babies!  She says cute comments like the following...One day when I can into her room and she was sitting there with her shirt up and looking at her belly.  She looked at me and said " I have a baby in my belly." Or another time we were going to MOPs and she said, "I'm a mommy too"!  Or she pretends to nurse her babies and with her shirt up and baby positioned, she says "I'm feeding my baby from my belly".  She's got the anatomy wrong, but she gets the idea, ha!  She LOVES holding her new cousins that have recently been born, Caleb and Silas.  We have 2 new cousins coming this summer, so that will be exciting!

I got these toothbrushes for the kids for Christmas.  They play music as they brush.  It has made teeth brushing time an activity they are excited about now!  I used to dread brushing their teeth, but now they come grabbing for the brush, ha!  I got them at the Dollar Tree!

We have been loving this nice winter weather.  They are always happy to get some fresh air!

We find Hannah's dolls "going night night" all over the house.  This time the babies are on our bed.  They usually have their blankies with them, but not this time.

My parents got Seth this slide/hoop combo thing for Christmas.  It has been perfect for Seth since he LOVES to climb up on things and also LOVES balls!   They play with this every single day multiple times!

I think we hear Seth wave and say "hi" 50 times a day :) He has also been saying "book", "more", "papa" (all sporadically and probably not very clear to others, ha)!

Shooting hoops...when we got to Nate's brother's IWU basketball games, the kids are allowed on the floor after the games.  They lower the hoops so the kids can shoot.  Seth makes a mad dash to anyone who has a ball and puts his hands up for them to give it to him.  When he does get a ball, he goes right up to the big basket and attempts a shot. 

Hannah tries to get fancy with the slide, this time going down on her belly!

Seth likes to take these animals and have them grunt at each other, or take them up to me and act like they are getting me!  As far as animal sounds go, he can now moo, baa, woof, and meow on command!

We have had very little snow this winter, but here are a few pics from the time we did get to go out in the snow!  Seth couldn't figure out how to walk in his snowsuit and boots, so he just chilled in the sled.  We can't usually get him to sit still very long but this method was effective! 

Hannah wanted to make a snowman, and right away insisted he have a carrot nose. This could be the smallest snowman ever.  Below you will see the one she made with Nate.  His is much better than mine!  On that snowman, she wanted him pink, ha!

An example of Seth climbing up onto everything! 

Seth and Nate wearing matching shirts! 

The pink snowman

Finally, some sweet pics of them together.  Hannah is always telling Seth" I'll hold you" or trying to tickle him. Sometimes he takes her up on it and they often are giggling together.  We are still working on sharing and being gentle (this goes for both of them), but they are playing with each other a lot and really do like each other.

 

A few random "things" I want to remember about this age...

Hannah:  

- She says "I love you so much"  to Nate, Seth, and I randomly throughout the day.  Awww

- She always asks for us to tell her a story before she goes to bed. 

- We have a friend who teaches dance, so she taught Hannah a couple ballerina moves.  One night she said to me..."You are a princess, I am a ballerina"!

- She has the book "Brown Bear" memorized and likes to read it to us.  She is so proud! 

- She says "maybe" all the time, so Nate thought it would be funny to teach her to say "perhaps" instead.  So over and over he would use the word perhaps when talking with her.  One morning when I came into her room, she said "Perhaps we will go to he museum today"!  She did it!!!

- She likes to help me fold laundry. She takes clothes out of the basket and kinds of wads them up.  She calls her pile her "handful".  Not sure where she got that, but it is cute. 

- She is really into asking what time it is, although she has no idea what the answer means!

- She asks a million questions, and her response to our answer is almost always a drawn out  "OHHH"

- When reading a story, she wants to know the names of each of the characters illustrated on the pages!

Seth:

- He loves to say "uh-oh" and put his hands in a questioning way

- He likes to clear out things in a drawer!

- He sticks out his tongue when you ask it where it is

- He'd love to play in the toilet water if we let him! 

- He learned how to shake his head back and forth.  The other day he was laying in his crib and I was watching him through the monitor.  Every couple seconds he would sit his head up, shake it back and forth like crazy, and then lay back down.  He did this for numerous minutes. 

- He is running and walking backwards

- In his attempt to "put on clothes", he puts things around his neck.  It could be anything from a diaper, shirt, Hannah's headband, so on.

-  He likes to carry around electronics, like the mp3 player and the Yahtzee handheld game

- He is cuddly before he goes to sleep

- 4 molars have come through, making 12 teeth in total

-  He likes to carry around his blankie on his shoulder, just like Hannah .

- It seems like he has a constant bruise on his forehead for all the times he falls or bumps into things.

Seth 1 Year Pictures

 Seth is now 13 months old, but I'm backtracking here to catch up on his 1 year pics and update on all that he is up to!  I told Nate he had to wait until Seth turned 1 before he could cut his hair, so Dec. 3rd he had his first hair cut!  Nate did a great job cutting it and looking back, I like it so much better now!  Seth was terrified during the first hair cut, but in the haircuts since he has taken it just fine!   We have had unusually nice weather and our camera works great outdoors, so we decided for his "1 Year Pics" to try our hand at taking them.  We were happy how they turned out!  We can't get enough of his smile!

And now an update on what he was up to last month...

At 12 Months...
- He could say about 4 words...Mama, Dada, hi, ball
- He liked to carry as many things in his arms as possible
- learned how to spin in circles
- when you say "jump" he bends his knees and acts like he is jumping
- loves "Wheels on the Bus" song...when he hears the song he always starts dancing with his hands
- moos and woofs for cow and dog noises
- he is falling down or bumping his head all the time but nothing seems to phase him
- he LOVES to be held by Papa Jack and PawPaw Ringger
- when he doesn't get what he wants, he throws himself on the floor and cries (for about 10 sec! )
- he loves to destroy a tower to blocks
- he likes to wrestle with Nate...if Nate lays on the ground Seth will just come over and fall right on top of him
- he really enjoyed ripping wrapping paper off the presents at Christmas and his birthday
- sleeps about 12 hours at night and still takes 2 naps during the day
- size 12 and 18 month clothes
- a true delight :)

13 month and Hannah update to come soon...

Christmas with the Clarks and Ringgers - Part 2

 Christmas with the Clarks...

Helping make Peppermint Pie with Maggie

Singing Christmas Carols

Hannah LOVES holding her new cousin Caleb!

Seth's first time in the "Christmas Chair"  He really enjoyed opening presents!

All the grandkids with Papa Jack and Maggie

Our family

 Christmas with the Ringgers...

Grandkids

The whole family

Blowing out "Baby Jesus'" Birthday Candle

Our family pic

We have been getting a lot of performances with this new gift from Pawpaw and Grandma

PJ pic

We loved our time with family!  Christmas 2011 was a really great one :)

Christmas 2011- Part 1

 We had a wonderful Christmas Day with our own little family this year.  We spent a lot of time with extended family during the break (those pics to come), but we were happy to be home together on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  When we were putting Hannah to bed on Christmas Eve, she started to get really upset.  When asked why she was crying, she said she was scared about Santa coming into our house to bring presents!  She felt completely comforted when I told her Santa would just drop the presents from the sky and under the tree :)  In the morning when she saw the presents, she said "Santa dropped the presents behind the gate!"  Both the kids loved opening the presents and stockings, as well as Daddy's scrambled eggs and waffle breakfast! That was probably Seth's favorite part of the day! Hannah retold the Christmas story numerous times and sang her version of ""Away in a Manger"! Precious memories!

Opening the last window on the advent calendar Christmas morning!

Santa Seth

Reading new books with Daddy

Stocking goodies

New presents

Merry Christmas 2011!