{Hannah}: four months old!

Hannah is 4 months old! She's our little chunk, who wears 9-month clothes, size 3 diapers, sleeps all night (knock on wood) and, clearly, loves to eat! She smiles with her eyes and it'll knock your socks off.

This month, Hannah left the state of Texas for the first time to visit another state we love dearly - COLORADO! (We love it so much, we have taken Ethan on 3 trips there in less than 2.5 years.)

She can roll both ways if she's very motivated, but she doesn't roll across a room yet. She is very grabby and everything goes in her mouth!

She HATES being on her stomach and will roll over as quickly as possible if in that position.

She got to wear this dress to church, which I also wore as a baby!

Some other photos from this month: 

xo,

Elizabeth

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UPDATE: H's four month checkup stats below.

Stuff Ethan Says No. 2

We have two today, and it's only noon!

This morning, while building train tracks with Austin:

Austin: Aw, Ethan! You knocked it with your butt!

Ethan: (turning and sticking his tush out) I got a butt! I got a butt!

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Just a few minutes ago, after using the potty, Ethan runs out of the bathroom, to the playroom where Hannah and Daddy are, and puts his hand out, saying "one second, one second. I gotta get M&Ms." This kid has priorities! He wants to play with his sister but he definitely needs to get his potty reward first! Ha!

He says the darnedest things!

xo

Elizabeth

Stuff Ethan Says No.1

I should definitely be asleep already. I have a three month old, so good sleep is NOT guaranteed. Also, the toddler has started requesting night lights and is generally afraid of things he wasn't aware of before, so I should sleep now as some kind of insurance policy. You know, just in case...

BUT, I just had this genius idea to record #stuffEthansays because, let's be real. Toddlers are hilarious. He's learning numbers and the alphabet and how to get my attention, and it's adorable. 

This morning in the car (AKA swagger wagon), I was a little preoccupied with the winding traffic in front of me, when...

Ethan: Mommy! Mommy! WHOO! Mommy!

Me: Yes, Ethan?

Ethan: Mommy, where go cows?

We pass two pastures on our way to MDO, and his cows weren't close to the road today. But seriously, y'all. He said "whoo!" like you would whistle to get someone's attention! Whoever taught him this, it's adorable... For now.

Just a kid and his heart balloon in the swagger wagon! ❤️

xo,

Elizabeth

{Hannah}: three months old!

Hannah is 3 months old today, and each milestone comes quicker than the last. She can roll over front to back, and halfway into her belly from her back. She has a steady head when she's upright, and she LOVES to sit up. She loves chewing on toys and kicking and swatting at her kick n play piano!

She's chunked up a little and we love it! She has three incredible rolls on her thighs and is a very healthy girl!

She's more alert and learning to sleep well. She is easily entertained and enjoys being with her brother and being held by him!

We can't get enough of this fabulous girl!

xo

Elizabeth

{Hannah}: two months old!

Good gracious, I can't believe Hannah is two months old! I'm so excited to see her develop and for what comes next, but since we think H is our last biological baby (unless the Lord changes that! Someday I'll write about our desire to adopt/foster... someday), it's bittersweet when we pass these milestones!

Hannah caught what her brother had two weeks ago, but instead of a head cold, it settled in her chest: bronchiolitis. I thought she just had a cough, and visited the doctor as a precaution because she was so young and I wanted to be sure she was ok before the weekend hit. While there, our doctor expressed concern about her respiratory rate, and debated sending us straight to the ER as we couldn't get her breathing rate down and she might need oxygen. Because he felt confident that we would monitor her closely, he let us go home instead. We did monitor her closely over the weekend, and the illness peaked that Saturday/Sunday. The mucous in her stomach also caused her to throw up almost every meal that weekend, but she managed to stay hydrated and continue to eat. She's still throwing up occasionally because of the mucous as her cough and congestion haven't left (the doctor said it would be around for two weeks). We are so grateful for our friends and family praying over her!

She started smiling at us sometime between weeks 4 and 6, and she coos like she wants to giggle. I truly can't wait to hear her laugh!

We also celebrated Hannah's first Christmas!

On to her two month pictures!

Giraffe smooches!

Ethan was thrilled to be in on the action! 

And a mini Ethan update (2.25 years old!):

We got his snow boots in for our trip to Colorado next month, and he LOVES them!

Happy Sunday, friends!

xo,

Elizabeth

{Hannah}: one month old | Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for this year:

- Hannah will be a month old tomorrow!

- Ethan is becoming an amazing big brother - protective, concerned, and affectionate. I love watching him with his sister, even if he is a little rough-and-tumble!

- We have had amazing support from our family (Ethan had a spontaneous sleepover with my parents -- they survived a night without his KiKi/blanket!), and we get to see so many family and friends over the next couple of months and introduce them to our sweet girl!

- I'm thankful that Austin's test is over (no results yet)

- I'm thankful that we have gotten plugged in to our new community so quickly! We love Bayou City Fellowship - Cypress! We even got the opportunity to visit SB at their new campus last week as we commissioned some friends to serve the Lord in planting churches in Bogotá, Colombia, and see some people we love from our small group there!

-My mom hasn't had any new health issues! For such a healthy woman, she sure has faced her share of health issues and surgeries - hopeful that those are over, thankful she has been healthy for a year!

And here are Hannah's 1 month pictures (a day early)!

I love that their arms were (accidentally) the same!

A hint of a smile!

Her dress for Thanksgiving was made by my mama!

Thankful we have survived a month of little sleep together, little one! 🎀

In all these things, God has blessed us beyond what we could've imagined. Thankful to see Him answering SO many of our prayers this last year!

xo,

Elizabeth

{Hannah}: two weeks old!

I'll start this by saying that I will take any tips from mamas who successfully warded off the angry green monster when baby number two arrived. That sums up our last two days (since daddy went back to work). It was pretty manageable when daddy was around because he didn't necessarily have to wait for me to nurse Hannah and someone else could help redirect him.

Ethan needed lotion... Because Hannah was getting lotioned up.

He had grandma hold him the way she was holding Hannah.

Otherwise, Hannah and I are in a MUCH better place with breastfeeding (seriously, it felt like we had every problem in the book!). I finally got antibiotics on Sunday for flu-like symptoms caused by either mastitis or a blocked duct... That was the peak of my frustration, as I could hardly function with the fever/chills/aches. Thank the Lord for antibiotics. Seriously, I'm a new person! I share this not because I just love divulging this information, but primarily because I think people should know that breastfeeding is hard in the beginning, even if your baby seems to be doing it perfectly in the hospital (ha-ha!). I don't love everything about breastfeeding (am I allowed to say that?) and sometimes a bottle seems easier in more ways than one. But, I believe it's good for me and for Hannah... so we persist!

We also (finally) lost the umbilical cord yesterday! Hers was huge and curled over toward her stomach, I was glad to see it had disappeared!

We took a few pictures with our fancy camera, too (we took way more than this, I liked 3 of them).

And today, at two weeks:

Today, we are starting to work on establishing a schedule/rhythm for Hannah. She has an inconsistent routine already but I would like to be able to get out of the house every now and again, and Austin's Grammie is going to be with us for a few days starting today, so it seemed like a good day to (finally) start that. We are also hoping to make it out of the house this weekend so hint of a schedule would help with that.

The rest of our postpartum recovery time has gone really, really well, and we are happy to be at day 15! I go back to the doctor in 2 more weeks, and Hannah goes back at 2 months, so we won't have a weight/height update until after Christmas, though I'll be back again next week with her week 3 update!

xo,

Elizabeth