Friday, June 24, 2011

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

This morning as I was finally cleaning up the aftermath of hurricane Turney downstairs I heard the crashing of books being pulled off their shelves upstairs. 

"Hannah," I said in my most stern voice, "What are you doing up there."

No response.

"Hannah there better not be a mess when I come upstairs." 

I walked to the top of the stairs and Hannah was waiting for me.

"Oh no Mommy," she started, looking as innocent as can be, "mess! Give me hug now."

I of course couldn't resist her cry for love and affection, even when caught in a naughty moment. I gave her the hug and asked:

"Hmmm, and who made that mess?

"Daddy made mess. Daddy did it."

"Daddy is at work Hannah, I know Daddy didn't make this mess." 

"Baby did it."

"Baby who?"

"Baby Paige did it. Baby Paige mess." 

"Hannah baby Paige was with me in my tummy downstairs. Baby Paige didn't make this mess."

After thinking about it for a minute I asked if she made the mess.

"Hannah made mess Mommy...I wuv you Mommy." 

I think she is going to enjoy having someone to blame things on.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's day



Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful fathers out there! My dad was the best dad I could have asked for. I love him so much and I'm so grateful for everything he gave me. This post, however, is for the man that I have watched transform into a father.

Adam is the best dad in the world. I honestly believe that no man loves and cares for his daughter quite like him. He has been actively involved in every moment of Hannah's life. I have never had to ask him to change a diaper, or to feed Hannah, or dress her, bathe her, etc. If he sees a need he jumps up and takes care of it. The only thing he has never done for Hannah is do her hair, and lets face it, nobody wants to see that attempt. He even got up with her every night to bring her to me for feedings, and then after I stopped nursing in the night he was the one who would get up to comfort her if she needed it.

Hannah loves her daddy so much. All day she asks "Where's Daddy go?" then she'll tell me "Daddy working." She loves when he comes home. Last semester when Adam was working 70 hours a week with full time work and school, he would come home, play with Hannah, read to her, eat dinner with us as a family, and dedicate the hours between work and bedtime to his family, then wait to resume his work until she was asleep. He told me the other day that he has made it a priority to spend extra time with her, because as life goes on and we get more and more busy he hopes she'll remember that her daddy loved her and wanted to spend all the time he had with her.

When we found out we were having a girl with Hannah, Adam was visibly and vocally disappointed. About a month later, he came to bed and I was already asleep. He started to cuddle with me and suddenly felt Hannah moving. From then on he was wrapped around her finger. When I became pregnant the second time, Adam was very vocal in his desire for another girl, knowing that there is quite a special connection between daddies and daughters.

While I was in labor with Hannah, the nurse said "There is nothing better than having a baby with the man you love." I've often thought about that and it truly has been a privilege watching him grow into fatherhood. I love you Adam, you are the best gift I could give my children

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Father's Day Photos










As a camp fundraiser our young women had a few ward photographers donate their time to take pictures for Father's day. I just wanted to get pictures of Hannah but Adam requested a few of the both of us, or I guess the three of us. Here are some of the photos. I LOVE them!

In case you were keeping track...

I have read 22 books so far in 2011. My goal was 100.

That means currently I am 24 books behind my goal.

I don't know if I can make it :)

I blame it on the morning sickness....I didn't read at all while I was sick and now I'm trying to catch up, however, I have read 4 "classic books" and 6 "non fiction" books. My goal was to do ten of each. I'm doing pretty well there.

We'll see what happens!

Hannah Update:

This girl just keeps getting cuter and cuter!

Every time she wakes up in the morning or from her nap she has an agenda. I go in to pick her up and before I even reach her crib she has a list of demands such as "Change diaper Mommy," "Get Violet Mommy," or "I eat now Mommy." When I ask her what she wants to eat she ALWAYS says "Pizza." This morning she said "I eat Mommy." I asked what she wanted to eat and she said "breakfast." I asked what she wanted for breakfast and she said "breakfast pizza."

Hannah loves to walk around on her tippy toes. She is going to have some strong calf muscles because she just goes from room to room on her toes. It is too cute!

Hannah loves Youtube and can navigate it on my Ipod. Some of her favorite videos to watch are I am a Child of God, Nursery Rhymes, Gummy Bear, and recently 100 different varieties of Wheels on the Bus.

Hannah also loves to sing together. She knows lots of songs like I am a Child of God, I Love to See the Temple, Families can be Together Forever, ABC's, Elmo's Song, Baby (Justin Bieber), and lots more. At night I tell her we can sing three songs together and she gets to chose. She ALWAYS chooses I am a Child of God and ABC's and then she'll throw in a wild card like Baby, or Row Row Row Your Boat, or even Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast.  Sometimes she get's confused when we sing Baby and she'll sing "Beiber Beiber Beiber oooohhhh."


Hannah loves to watch Dora the Explorer, Elmo (Sesame Street), and Wonder Pets. She also loves to watch Wall.E, Toy Story 3 (still and forever....), and any Princess movie, especially Tangled.

Her favorite activity is to go to the park, especially the water park because she gets to "go swimming." She's getting to be a brave little swimmer. We have to watch her carefully because she likes to randomly put her head under the water and hold her breath. She can do it for about 8 seconds. When she comes up she has a huge "did you see me guys" grin on her face. She also loves to swing a lot. She used to love the slides but now she is a little nervous going down them.

She recently had pneumonia which was scary for us. She was a great trooper though and came through great. Aside from the RSV it was the sickest she's ever been. She's never really had a fever above 101 and it got up to 104! We are grateful for Doctors. We told her we were going to take her to the Dr. and we checked in at reception. Because we'd never been before we had to fill out a bunch of paper work. It took about ten minutes before we could head over to the waiting area. When we did Hannah waved to the receptionists "bye bye doctor." Unfortunately for her it was not over. 

She recently had her first girl playdate with our friend Alaina. Alaina and Hannah are both pretty bossy in nursery together so her mom and I were a little nervous but they LOVED each other. I can't wait for her little sister to arrive because kids can entertain each other like adults can't. For example, Hannah would slam the door in Alaina's face and Alaina would open the door and they would giggle like crazy.

I don't think any kid can travel like Hannah. From the time she was tiny she could go on long 7 hour car drives and not fuss or complain. She keeps herself entertained and happy. She's also been on 16 or 17 plane rides in her short lifetime.











I love this girl. She is so affectionate. She always tells me and Adam that she loves us. She is always saying "Oh I love it," and is always the most positive little thing. She thinks everything is funny, she is not a complainer, she is just the happiest kid on the block!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

I have read some good books this year, among my favorites: One Child, Night, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. None of them have stuck out quite like Unbroken.

Unbroken tells the story of Louie Zampernini. The book begins with Louie's childhood...and I thought Hannah was naughty. He jumped from a subway car when he was 2 years old and his mother frantically watched him grow smaller and smaller as the car chugged away, another time she had to take him to a neighbor's home to get a toe sewed back on, as a five year old he took up smoking discarded cigarettes and by 8 years old he was getting drunk regularly. Louie shaped up however, in his late teens and became a runner. He was so fast that it was assumed he'd be the first person to run the mile in under 4 minutes. He ran in the Olympics, placing 3rd (if I recall correctly) and was training for the 1944 Olympics in Japan when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He enlisted and became a bombardier.

The rest of the story talks about Louie, and several of his friends in war, including Russell Allen Phillips (Phil). After their B-24, the Superman, is shot down they are assigned to the Green Hornet to fly a rescue mission. Somewhere over the ocean something goes wrong, the Green Hornet goes down and Louie, Phil, and Mac find themselves surrounded by miles and miles of ocean and hundreds of sharks.

Surviving for 47 days off rainwater (when it came) birds, and fish, that they were able to capture and kill with some luck and ingenuity, they are finally found. By the Japanese.

The rest of the book is the unspeakable horror that awaited Louie at the POW camps, his will to survive, stories of the other men in the camp, how his celebrity status affected him in the camps, the days in Japan following the drop of the Atomic bombs, and finally, his survival back at home and how he coped with post traumatic stress. (One of the saddest accounts in the book to me is when he goes out to lunch with some friends who survived the POW camps and one of his friends is served white rice. The friend completely snaps and goes crazy until the plate of rice is taken away).

It was such an incredible book. I couldn't put it down. I cried reading of his devoted family at home who never gave up hope, even after his obituary appeared. I cried as he watched his friends die, I cried at his conviction and will to survive, and the difficulty to do so when the war was over. It was a story filled with hope, faith, and love, dispite the circumstances. I recommend it to almost anyone. Many people won't be able to stomach the stories of death and torture but if you feel you can, go read it!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

One Smart Cookie!

Last night Adam took me out on our monthly visit to the temple. My parents were in town so they decided to take Hannah to the park while Mommy and Daddy were gone.

Hannah is usually pretty good when we leave but she likes to know where we are going and she likes to hear that we are coming back so before we left I told her "Mommy and Daddy are going to the temple, but when we come back you'll be asleep so we'll give you a kiss."

According to my mom she frequently asked where Mommy was while I was gone, just to make sure she knew where I was.

At the park, Hannah was doing something that would probably be considered a little dangerous for a 22 month old (as she always does...) and a woman told her "be careful sweetie, maybe you better go stay close to your mommy."

Hannah looked right at her and said, "Mommy temple." And went back to doing whatever she was doing.

Smart girl!