Bye-bye!

Hannah's first word was "Yay!" although we didn't figure it out for a week. She imitates very well, but I am not 100% sure she actually knows the meaning of what she is saying.

Today she discovered "bye-bye!" complete with both little hands curling into an upside-down version of waving. It's hard to describe the cuteness factor of this little girl. She brightens into a toothy grin every time she sees someone she knows.

She also does a good "ma-ma-ma-ma" and gets really close to "da-da-da-da" except that her "d" sounds like a mix of "d" and "t" as in Spanish. She has also started to say "na-na-na-na" which I think is a version of her name.

In celebration of Hannah's adorable wave (with both hands over her head), I thought we'd have a little Caramelldanzen. Click on the link below for a cute Japanese anime w/ dancing to a Swedish techno song... Yeah.

http://www.hongfire.com/cg/data/25/caramelldansen.swf

Hello, Grandma! I can't hear you very well because I'm eating the phone.

My good eater

She doesn't like fruit. She only wants veggies. She eats nearly 4 tablespoons at every sitting. Can't get her to like banana, apple, or pear. Nope. Broccoli, potato, beans and greens, please. Isn't she funny?

The First TOOTH!

I have an absolutely extraordinary baby. I did not even know she was teething because she was not fussy at all until this morning. Then we noticed that there was a tooth on the bottom when she bit me nursing!

So, there you go. A big milestone in her life has come without fanfare.

Tongue Clicks

This video is not as nice, because she was getting really tired of taking videos. But you can see her new discovery. Mom Reid has been working on this trick with Hannah for a long time, and Hannah has finally discovered how to do it!

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Bernard the Dinosaur

Hannah received Bernard the Dinosaur from Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Peter and Cousin Lucy for Christmas. At first, she was only interested in the little balls. Then she figured out how to make him light up by flipping the switches with her fingers. Two days ago, she finally put it all together and discovered that her hand-eye coordination was good enough to put the balls through the holes and causing a huge noise and lights. She was so excited she probably did this repeatedly at least ten times in a row. We only caught five on camera, because of course we didn't know that she was having a mental breakthrough until she had done it three times. Then the camera ran out of memory card space before the last one, but you can see it would have gone straight in as well.
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War Whoops

I was in the salon getting my hair cut, while Ryan was dutifully coaching Hannah on how to take over the world. The first step is to make a war whoop that will send the enemy running for cover. Well, not really...

Ryan was doing the video part himself, so it's a little off center at several spots, but you can still hear that she is perfecting her world domination skills!


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Other bath-time antics

Hannah loves her bath time. She loves being in the bath and she loves playing with towels after the bath. The only thing she didn't love was drying her hair, so now we use my hairdryer on low heat and intensity, and she thinks she's being all grown up just like Mommy and having her hair styled. It is just as quick and tear-free!

In this video, she is playing with her octopus but then she decides the camera cord is more exciting.


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Peek-a-boo

Every morning Hannah plays peek-a-boo with her towel after her bath. This is a new thought process she is developing called "object permanence" which means that she knows Daddy is there even when there is a towel obscuring him from sight.
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The "Bunny Hop" Game

Nothing in this world is so lovely to me as the laughter of children, especially my own!


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Nine months old

It is hard to believe how quickly children grow, both physically and mentally. Hannah is now looking like a little person. She's getting ready to crawl, pushing herself up on her knees and swaying back and forth. She has backward scooting down pretty well, but going forward is still a foreign concept. Her fine motor control skills are developing well, as you can see from the video of her playing with "Bernard" the dinosaur. She also likes to play games like peekaboo and "bunny hop" jumping with Daddy. Right now her favorite foods are veggies. We really struggle to get her to eat fruits. I know, she's one unique little girl. She has entered the phase where she hates to be separated from Mom and Dad, making babysitting (and even nap time) a bit of a struggle.

For her nine month birthday present, and because last month I got a little more than usual from my private studio and could finally afford it, we got her a stationary entertainer. Usually, I'd plunk a child down on a blanket on the floor with toys, but because there's a cat in the house, I decided to bring the toys to her. This kind of a gym is also good for her to practice jumping on her own (the legs are equipped with springs for little jumpers). So far she really loves this new toy, and has happily spent 30 minutes sitting there while I am able to eat a meal without her on my lap.

The Biggest Loser - Month #1

This month I did moderately well at achieving my goals.

We joined a gym and went faithfully to work out every day... until we got the virus. The virus lasted three weeks. Now we're in the midst of the stress of coming finals, deadlines, papers, etc, and we haven't been to the gym in a week. But hopefully things will look up after April 16 (when my students' finals are done).

Despite the virus and the stress, I managed to lose 10 pounds. So, I am doing something right. Yay, me!

Baby Love

Nothing in the world compares with the joy of motherhood. Watching a person that you created discover the world in all its glory for the first time is the biggest thrill. I cannot even describe the emotion that swells up in me every time she reaches out for me, or snuggles me with her soggy baby kisses, or laughs at something I have done.

For the first several months, it was hard to even grasp that she was mine. The birth was so difficult, we almost lost her, and then the recovery from surgery was so hard on my body. I was exhausted all the time. I saw life through a haze and all my emotions were blunt and blurry. And life was anything but simple. We moved, school began with all its craziness, I was thrust into a very demanding role while my muscle floor was still numb and healing and had to learn music with vision problems and sing with vocal problems... and then audition season, the Christmas season, taking over for a full-time faculty member, Ryan's impending graduation and final paperwork... you get the idea.

And then one morning I went in to get her, and she smiled that humongous smile of hers and reached up to me, and I knew that she was mine. And I melted from the crown of my head all the way down to my toes. And everything that I had been through was worth it for that one priceless moment of feeling her arms go around my neck as I scooped her out of the crib.

Sick

Sorry we have been horrible about blogging the past two weeks. We are all sick as dogs over here. It's a para-influenza virus, and it has swept through the in-laws, Ryan, Hannah and me. Everyone had slightly different symptoms within the same family of yuckies. Ryan was feverish, Mom Smith was sneezing, I feel like I have mono and strep, and Hannah has been fussy and congested. It's so hard for me as a parent to see Hannah struggling with her first sickness. I think it's because she's so sweet and can't talk to tell us what is wrong or how to fix it. She has been super snuggly and needing attention, and that we can give. Although it is difficult to be attentive when I feel so awful...

Hannah: More Pictures!

It has been a while since I posted pictures of our cute little bug. She seems to grow visibly every day. I find myself wondering what she will discover today.

Yesterday Hannah discovered the cat. When I say discovered, I mean she followed him (with her eyes) around the room whenever he entered, exited, or moved. This is a new behavior. So now we are teaching her about kitties and what they say. She thinks this is great fun.

Here's a photo strip of fun faces from this past month.

Temptation #1

Ok. If you have never watched The Biggest Loser, here's how it used to work. (I don't think they do Temptations any more.) They put their morbidly obese contestants in a room with some kind of junk food they really love and make them deal with the temptation for a prize. For example, one week there was a token for $5000 hidden in mounds of jelly doughnuts. For each 30 seconds of time looking to find the token, the contestants each had to eat one doughnut. Another time they played poker with chocolate covered oreos and cookies and Ritz crackers as chips, players had to eat their ante, and the prize was rearranging the teams however the winner chose.

So... welcome to my temptation. My temptation is Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nut Clusters from Costco. They sit there in the cupboard calling my name 24 hours a day. (I am a total sucker for a combination of chocolate, caramel and nuts.) They are like a new version of the Turtle. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Problem number one is that my temptation doesn't go away. If I eat them, they are refilled as soon as they are gone. (Everyone in the house loves them, and I am not the one buying the groceries.) Problem number two is that you can never be satisfied with just one. So then you eat one, and another one because it's just 100 more calories... and then do the same thing later that day. Problem number three is that I have no will power with junk foods. It's like alcoholism with sugars and fats.

I have yet to think of a suitable prize incentive for myself to overcome this particular temptation. I'd be very happy with suggestions. Especially since these little nuggets are not the only Temptation around the house.

I made it through the Bunny Hop!

Every year for as long as I can remember, my family has had a family Valentine's dance in commemoration of my parents' first date (Feb. 11 to a BYU stake dance) and my parents' wedding anniversary (Feb. 14, two years later). We always dance to the same music, a tape of different ballroom / social dance mixers that my father has had since taking social dance in college. This tape includes things like the Hokey Pokey and the Bunny Hop.

If you are unfamiliar with the Bunny Hop, it works like this: kick with right leg twice with right arm in the air, kick with left leg twice with left leg in the air, hop forward, then backward, then forward three times in a row. It's quite an aerobic workout. And this particular song always seems to last forever! No matter what, my father has always led the bunny hop line. And he always makes it to the very end of the song... and I always die about one minute in.

This year, however, I have been working out and I did not think it would make that much difference. BUT IT DID! This year, I made it all the way to the end of the song with everyone else! And that is quite an accomplishment.

The Biggest Loser - The Goal

This year one of my goals is to finally become the person on the outside that I feel like on the inside. I have always wanted to be slim and stylish and athletic, but a few things hold me back. My addiction to sweets, fats, and breads stunts my dietary progress while my over-studious, sedentary lifestyle hurts my exercise routine, or lack thereof. Over the years, I have successfully lost the same 40 pounds over and over again. This year I want to change that.

Thus, I have determined that I need to eat more healthily and to exercise regularly. Of course, currently this goal is tempered by the fact that I am breastfeeding and need to keep my milk supply going up. I just need to cut out "junk food" and engage in moderately vigorous exercise for an hour a day.

In order to accomplish this goal, I need to be accountable to someone besides myself. Being accountable to myself has so far gotten me to bend the rules "just this once" about every other day. (Chocolate is my arch-nemesis!) So I have decided to make myself accountable to my readers. This is a picture of me currently (as a "before" shot).

My goal is that by 2010, I will have achieved a healthy weight for my height and body type AND that I will have good eating habits and exercise regularly. My weight loss goal is a daunting 80 pounds, but if I can lose just 2 pounds a week that is realistic in a year. We'll see.

I will report my progress every month in an e-mail with "The Biggest Loser" in the title. (My brothers can feel free to skip these posts).

If I accomplish my goal this year, I am saving up to reward myself with a new wardrobe (although I won't be able to afford much, I will need to wear clothes that fit). Every month that I lose at least 5 pounds, I will put away a certain amount toward my wardrobe savings. Months in which I lose 10 pounds will be rewarded with double the amount.

Scroll down - Part 2

You know the drill. I have finally been updating posts, but the blogger files them by the first date saved, not the date posted. I'm not sure how to fix that. The earliest new post is Dec. 27. You'll easily spot the new material since I have such a dismal number of posts in the past two months.

The Cart Before the Horse

Much of the time I feel like the horse whose cart is pulling him. I have so many demands on my time that it seems nothing is actually moving forward. This makes me STRESSED. In high school my friends referred to me as their favorite over-achiever. I always managed to fit everything that needed doing into my day. Since graduation from college, this desire to be super organized and scheduled has waned in me. But it did not die! This year I decided that I am tired of feeling like my life is running me. I want to retake control through making specific monthly goals and adhering to a well-planned schedule.

So far I have successfully made a bunch of goals, even breaking them down into manageable chunks. I have set up a few scheduled things, like exercise and getting enough sleep through going to bed with Hannah (or at least by 9pm). Although these things are now on the books, they are still not happening. If I were to give myself a grade for my January goals, I would get almost straight F's. I am going to recommit today to regaining control over my life. My goal for this week is to make my excellent planning take the leap into action.