Our baby became a toddler today

So Mia has been walking for exactly one week. All of last week she was practicing walking but preferring the speed of crawling not to mention that she could not get up after falling without the assistance of something to hold on to. Today, she woke up from her 9am nap refreshed and ready to take on the world. The first thing she did was get up on her own and then practice that over and over again. She didn't stop moving the rest of the day. She was like "I have places to walk, get out of my way!". All of the sudden our little baby became a toddler which is both a happy and sad thing. So go Mia, the world is waiting for you to conquer it!

This afternoon, Mia tried out her new water table for the first time given that it was so hot. She loved it and note to self...next time take the clothes off and wear just the diaper.

Thanks to our neighborhood yardsale on Saturday, Mia has her very own rocking chair which she is in love with. She is also in love with standing on it.....not good...so we'll have to work on that.

In other notes, this week we drove to Raleigh to visit Fran, AJ, and new baby Zaira. Thanks to Kristin (actually Kristin's mom), we had a portable dvd player in the car for the first time and it was a godsend. I would never do a long trip without one again because it made a usually irritable Mia very happy. We had a great visit and Mia really enjoyed baby Zaira's little feet. It was very cute. We had the added bonus of seeing Melissa and Erin who were visiting from Boston so that was great too.

For those who don't know this is the week of my families annual St. John vacation...which I am obviously not on so I must go so we can have a tasty beverage on our porch in the 90 degree heat and pretend we hear the ocean.

Yes, this is actually St. John....ahhhhhh.

We Are Walking!!!!!!!

It's been a big weekend in the Hanna household. Yesterday, we went to the Kids In Motion festival where there were many fun things to do but Mia's favorite activity was chasing the Chick Fil A cow around...but she got a free coupon for a kids meal because of it (yes, I am training her early).

Then we watched our friend Charlie take a pony ride.

After lunch at Chick Fil-A and a good nap, we talked grandma and grandpa on the webcam then headed out to the drive way to drive our car. This is Mia's favorite thing to do outside.

This morning daddy hung Mia's birthday swing.

And Mia got her first ride...

This afternoon....after pushing our car, Mia took her first large quantity of steps in the drive way. We think the downward incline of the drivewary helped with the momentum ;-) ! And she has been practicing ever since. Hope you all had a good weekend

Happy Easter!

I didn't realize I was so behind on the blog....sorry. Here's a quick synopsis of the last couple of weeks.

We started using everything for it's actual use....phones, remotes, brushes...

Uncle Meelad came to visit Mia for her birthday and we had lots of fun until Mia got that horrid stomach virus going around and we all learned what "throw up" actually looks like....thanks Meelad you were a trooper!

We had our kitchen cabinets painted which was very entertaining to Mia.

Mia went to her first parade (St. Patty's day) and came home and slept for 2.5 hours.....so we think she liked it!

Mia and mommy went to visit grandma and grandpa for a week. Mia started to take 5-6 steps at a time alone....but we still are not officially "walking".

Mia's vocabulary is quickly expanding....she now says "good girl", "cracker", "door", "ball", "ta da", of course "bubble", and then her version of "dog" and a few other things that are evolving.

Yesterday, Auntie Lisa and Uncle David were married. When David finished his vows Mia said "ta da"! It was very cute. Pictures to come of that later on.

I think that brings you up to date. Happy Easter and don't eat too much ham!

Love,
The Hannas

Our Baby is One Year Old

Dear Mia,

It is so hard for us to believe it's been a year because the time has flown by so fast. This time last year, I was on my first week of leave from work and planning to spend the day catching up on some things around the house on Monday. But at 11:20pm I was awoken by my water breaking and you were soon on your way into this world. From our perspective, things around here have changed a great deal. I no longer go to "work" every day in a car, daddy and I eat a lot more at home than we ever did, we haven't slept past 7am in a year, and our lives seem to circle around your napping schedule. It's been a big change but has been worth every second. Your smile can steal a room and you have stolen our hearts. We look forward all of the fun times ahead and I am so thankful to be able to be with you every day.

Happy 1st birthday baby girl! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know!

Auntie Erin Comes to Visit

Wow, what a great week! Auntie Erin came to visit for February break and boy did we have a great time. We....

Celebrated Valentine's Day with balloons from daddy.

Went to the park....

Bought some cool movie star shades...

Discovered the cool train table/castle table at the bookstore (which we visited twice)...

Went to the gym to play with our friends...

Made lots and lots of bubbles with our new bubble making tools....this also caused Mia to perfect her pronunciation of the word "bubble"...
And made art with some washable paint! Whew! What a great week. Hope you had a good one too!

On my way....

Mia is in the home stretch to being 1 year old! This week we had beautiful warm weather in Charlotte so we spent most of the week outside. Mia thought this was outstanding. The front yard was a whole new play ground to explore. She got her first taste of walking in the grass....crawling in the grass...eating the grass.
In fact, she loved the front yard so much that I opened the front glass doors to get some leaves out of the threshold and she pushed past me and crawled out the front door with determination and speed like you have never seen!

Mia's other favorite activity these days is playing in the kitchen. She loves to push the chairs around, try to pull stuff out of drawers, and crawl around and find any available crumb on the floor (note: this is not to say that mommy does not sweep the kitchen floor daily only that Mia is a pro at finding anything no matter how small that is out of place in a given room).

Leggo my Eggo! Mia's favorite breakfast food....

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!!! XOXOXO

Make sure to check out the video link especially. There are some really good new video's!

Almost 11 months!

I feel like I say this every month but I can't believe Mia is almost 11 months old. I was just at a play group today where a mom leisurely sat and watched her 4 month old play on a blanket and I ran around after my child and stopped her from stealing toys, chewing on a granite top side table, and from throwing pieces of my lunch on my friend's floor. It was today that I realized...wow...my child is actually almost a year old but sometimes I feel like she still only a few months old and laying on a blanket. We have never had a year of our lives go by so fast.

Mia spent the majority of her 10th month teething. One tooth took 4 weeks to finally break the gum. The poor girl chewed on everything she could get her mouth on as you can see above. She proudly has a new chopper bringing her to 6 teeth and so many still left to come.



We wouldn't be surprised if Mia just gets up and walks some day soon sort of how she decided to crawl all of the sudden. Every once in a while she lets go and will stand on her own for a few seconds without holding on to anything. She loves to push her car around, push the kitchen chairs around...actually it doesn't matter what it is, if she can push it to get where she wants....she will.

We have officially entered the playing with kitchen utensils phase. Mia now has her section of the kitchen which is not locked up and lots of fun stuff to play with. Who needs toys when you have pots and pans right?

Yesterday Mia started making a devil child voice (kind of a low raspy tone). It is funny but really scary. Lisa actually said to me "well if she starts crawling on the ceiling you'll know it's time to call a priest." I got it on video so I'll have Sam upload it soon. I was really relieved to hear another child her age doing it today at playgroup so hopefully this is just a phase. :-)

On a non-baby note, I have big news....ok to me it's be news but maybe not to you...I pulled down the horrid wallpaper in our mudroom...yes even the wallpaper on the ceiling to encourage myself to start the painting project. Now you may ask, why am I embarking on this project? It is because the wallpaper is from the 70's and I just can't stand it anymore?...no it is because IKEA is opening here in 12 short wonderful Swedish meatball filled days and I intend to purchase and install a coat rack in our mudroom. Yes, I am ripping down wallpaper and repainting so my coat rack has an appropriate new home. Sad but true.

Some day I promise to be like my dear friend Holly and update this blog weekly. Don't forget to visit the picture and video links to make sure you have seen the latest!