Happy Valentine's Day!

Hard to believe that I started this blog a year ago! So much has changes and we've done so much over the past year. It's really flown by...and Hannah has certainly grown leaps and bounds! Cousin Ezra came for a visit and we got the chance to get the 3 kids together for some Valentine inspired pictures. There were a few moments of chaos and it was close to imposible to get all kids picture ready at the same moment, but that's part of the fun of these pics too! For Valentine's Day, Ryan surprised me with a necklace from TJ&Co. It includes 2 silver charms with each of the kids' name stamped on them. I've included the link to the right. Worth a look!

Hannah & Jack

A couple of pics of brother and his big sis.

Don't eat me!

Hannah has really enjoyed getting to know her little brother. She is eager to help with anything we ask her to and is always ready to sing a song or give brother his 'binka-binka'. She is getting familiar with the idea that brother 'eats from mommy' and when holding Jack in this picture she exclaimed "Ah! Don't eat me Jack!"

Meet Jack!

Most of you know that Jack arrived 3 weeks early - on January 31st at 2:09am. He was 6lb, 10oz and 18.5in. His due date was 2/20 with scheduled c-section for 2/14.

A quick recap of events: My water broke the evening of Jan 30th, with Ryan on a ski trip in Lake Tahoe (which may or may not have been a result of me shoveling the driveway that week -- we got a ton of snow and I didn't want to be trapped at home!). Lisa was able to drop Hannah at my mom's and get me to the hospital by 6:30pm and Ryan got a quick last minute flight home, meeting us at the airport at 11:30pm. Unfortunatly, the wait for Ryan put a couple other deliveries ahead of us, and I 'got' to have labor and contractions. Not too fun, but at 2am, Jack was delivered via c-section. Jack and I spent 4 nights in the hospital with Ryan running back and forth between my mom's and home with Hannah. Ryan spent the last evening with me & Jack at the hospital.

Jack has been doing really well since coming home on Feb 3. Although he was dehydrated, jaundiced and lost nearly 10% body weight in the hospital, he has rebounded and at his 2 week check-up this week weighed in at 6lb, 14.5 oz and 20.25in! He is an insatiable eater and it's really starting to show.

Things around the McWade house are a little hectic as we try and realign our daily schedule and catch up on some sleep. Hannah has been responding really well to having a little baby in the house, though it did take her several days to learn to tune out the crying. If she's tired and cranky, the crying will still stress her out, but generally speaking her schedule has been impacted very little. And anyone who knows Hannah knows how much she needs her schedule!

Hannah is really trying to be a good helper to us and Jack. She is always interested in giving him his binky and shushing his crying. When holding him, she gets concerned at his rooting for food against her tummy and says "Don't eat me Jack!" She likes to sing her songs to him and he seems to respond to it really well.

Check back for more pictures, but cut us a little slack if we're less than current...it's a lot of work to get things done with a 2-year-old and a newborn!

Mt Rainier

We drove up the mountain to play in some serious snow. Check out these pics~

Snow Day

It snowed last night and there was finally enough to play in. We got cozied up in our winter warmest, and tried out the sled we've been waiting to play with. Hannah had a blast and kept saying "Mommy, pull me around!" After running a couple laps in the yard, I was toast. Keep in mind being near 8 months pregnant. Ginger was up for the running though and kept Hannah giggling.

Happy Like a Cow and the Fruit-Snak scam

Hannah is quite the conversationalist these days. Here are a couple of our favorite conversations:

HAPPY LIKE A COW

Hannah to Daddy: "Are you my friend?"

Daddy: "Of course!"

Mommy to Hannah: "Is mommy your friend?"

Hannah: "No, you're not my friend. You're happy. Like a cow."

I LOVE YOU...

Mommy to Hannah: "I love you. I LOVE you. I loooooove you."

Hannah: (No response.)

Mommy: "Hannah, I love you. I looove you."

Hannah: "Mommy, what's wrong?"

Mommy: "Nothing's wrong, I just love you."

Hannah: "I love you mommy. I love you daddy. I love you mommy and daddy. I LOVE you. I love you mommy and daddy. I love fruit snacks."

ZooLights

Here are some pictures from ZooLights. It was cold and wet, but Hannah loved the lights and animals.

Christmas 2007

It was certainly a busy holiday for us around here! We celebrated Christmas with the in-laws on the 15th, Kristin had her baby on the 20th, celebrated Christmas with Nana on the 22nd and the rest of the family on the 25th! We may end up celebrating 12 days of Christmas next year -- haha! It will certainly get more and more busy with both Hannah and Ezra's birthday's surrounding the Christmas holiday. With Hannah's birthday being so close to Christmas, it was a slight blur of gifts, but some of her favorite things include her "monkey jams", chapstick, Little People Zoo and Preschool sets and her Little Pony ice cream truck. She has been busy trying out all the new things and gets excited to open something new and different. Here are some random pictures from all of the gift giving events...

Hannah's Pony Party!

Hannah turned 2 this week! She had a My Little Pony theme party with a few of her friends and LOTS of family. She talked about her party for days and was really excited when she woke up to balloons and decorations all over the house. We were all exhausted by lunch time! Hannah got many cool gifts and really enjoyed when we sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. I think she really liked the attention.

5 minutes of snow

We got some snow last week, though sadly didn't make much of a showing and only lasted the afternoon. Hannah got to feel it and liked throwing the snow at Mommy and Daddy. Daddy also liked throwing the snow at Mommy. Mommy got cold and went inside.

Pictures with Santa

Hannah was very excited to see Santa and kept talking about it saying "It will be fun..." but once she got the chance to sit on his lap, she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Surprisingly, though, she enjoyed talking to him asking about Rudolph and where the reindeer were.

2 YEARS ALREADY!

How amazing the time has flown. I can't believe Hannah will be 2 next week. Looking back at the older pics, I feel weepy that she's not a baby anymore. Her features seem to be slimming down and her expressions surely have become fine-tuned. Browse back through some of the old postings like Feb/Mar/Apr and you'll see what I mean. We are gearing up for a Pony Party this weekend and Hannah is starting to catch on that something is happening, and she knows to be excited, but just not sure why. We have been busy decorating for the holidays and Hannah is really enjoying it more and more. We finally got the lights on the house and on some bushes which Hannah loves. Hannah had her 2-yr appt and is still ranking in the 90-95th percentile. She is 33lbs these days and getting harder and harder to pick up with this belly in front of me! Check back for party pics next week!

Holiday Finds!

Here are a couple of websites I've really fallen for... These sights have some really great educational toys as well.

Most exciting, for us anyway, is this site www.galison.com who sells the board-style play scenes by MudPuppy, similar to Hannah's "Monkey Book" that she can barely stand to be without. They offer several different play scenes and I can't wait to get a couple for Hannah -- check out the Horse one or the Camping one, or the Fairy one...or the Circus and Theater ones...so many to choose from!

http://www.constplay.com/family/default.htm

http://www.hearthsong.com/hearthsong/welcome.asp?sc=1005&body_sc=1005&occ=1005&firstEntry=Y

Better Late...

Better late than never... The holiday feeling is really starting to hit our house and we've been busy decorating, baking and shopping in preparation. We have quite the schedule for the next month with the finale of Kristin's baby due on 12/27.
Hannah has been really enjoying the Christmas tree and loves the lights and ornaments. She couldn't resist the temptation of touching the lights and ornaments so she got to decorate a smaller tree of her own. She carries it from room to room. She also really enjoyed helping me bake Christmas cookies (check out the flour nose...) and loves to hear the holiday music all day. Her favorite song is Rudolf.

We've been trying to excite Hannah about her birthday coming up, but I don't think it's really clicking yet. She is excited when we mention a Pony Party coming up.

With Thanksgiving behind us, we are busy with the birthday party and holiday planning. We hope to visit ZooLights, the Westlake Carousel as well as a trip to talk to Santa. I will be sure to post the pics as soon as I can get some down time.