Same Song, Different Verse

Well here I am again, multiple posts in one night (so keep scrolling). Matt's out of town, Hannah Cate is asleep, but this time I have this sweet thing to keep me company:

Incredibly good, incredibly easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Bathing Beauty

Hannah Cate is in agreement with the rest of the female population, trying on bathing suits is no fun!

She's going to kill me for this one day, but I just couldn't resist.....look at those rolls!

Semi Big Girl Bath

When it became obvious that Hannah Cate had outgrown the baby bath in the kitchen sink, the thought of her going straight to the "big girl" bath tub just didn't seem right. She just seemed too little. Thank goodness for the inflatabale duckie, "big girl" bath avoided, at least for now! She was not so fond of the big yellow duckie at first, it was quite sad actually. She would cling to me and pull at my hair as soon as she realized I was about to put her down in there by herself. There was much crying for two nights and then she finally realized that the duckie is her friend. It's now one of her favorite things!

The other night she realized she could drink her bath water. I quickly discouraged this....after I got a picture of course!

The Reader

I think we are going to have a reader on our hands. Or really, if I'm honest, a very good page turner! You have to give her a book to hold while you read her another, otherwise all she wants to do is turn the pages and you never get through the actual story! But none the less she does love a good book.

You can't really see it in this small frame, but there is literally a stream of drool coming out of her mouth as she looks at this book!

Slowly but Surely

Those bottom two teeth are making their way into this world. You still can't quite see them over her bottom lip when she grins, so here's a little proof that they are in fact there!

Wintertime Blues

As if it wasn't bad enough getting tired of my closet full of winter clothes, now I've added a second closet of winter clothes to get tired of! I'm ready for winter to get on out of here and bring on the Springtime! We had a little taste of it over the last couple of days. I took full advantage of the 70 degree weather and we had a sneak preview of some of Hannah Cate's upcoming spring wardrobe line!

Hannah Cate realized that she could bend in half and get her big toe in her mouth.
I asked her how it tasted and this was her reply:

I'd hate to end on a sour note, so here's one last picture for good measure!

Can we say catch up?

Matt is out of town, Hannah Cate is sleeping and me, I'm catching up! I've had all these posts floating around in my head and no time to get them out.....until now. So, here we are.....six posts later and I feel much better. Six posts in one night, that's alot to say and by the end you might officially be on Hannah Cate overload (of course unless you are one of her grandparents or her Aunt Emily!). So, if you are up for it, keep scrolling.....there's lots to see!

It's the little things in life....

Like ice!

I've had to find new tricks to occupy Hannah Cate's time while she's awake. The exersaucer, bouncer and pack-n-play full of toys only last so long. Her latest infatuation is just a little ice....in her mesh thing of course!

"More Please!"

Baby on the Move

Hannah Cate has mastered what I call the "army crawl". She's like a little worm making her way on her belly, using her arms to get where she's trying to go. She grunts along the way, but eventually makes it to what she wants.

Things are getting more and more interesting around here. Working with a mobile baby is much more of a challenge. I've turned around from my desk quite a few times to find this:

Yep, she's half-way under the bed!

Today she made it up on all fours and rocked around for a few seconds before plopping back down on her belly. I know it's just a matter of time before she's really getting around.

What am I going to do when she masters this:

Lord help me!

Funny Faces

Hannah Cate had some hilarious expressions going on tonight!

Even in her craziness, she's still so sweet!

Toys Smoys

Who needs toys when you have things like:

Little gold things on the bed

Tags on the bedspread

Lotion bottles

There can be ten colorful, exciting, noise-making, blinking light toys around her and she goes straight for the random non-toy item. Her favorites are that gold piece on the bed in the guest room, the tag on anything, my green highlighter and calculator, any kind of cord and her spoons that she eats with. I don't think we'll be purchasing any new toys for awhile!

Snail Mail

I always love getting good old fashioned paper mail. Invitations, thank you notes, announcements you name it.....I like it. Combine that with my love for movies and I'm in for a treat. This showed up in our mail this week with the movie Flash of Genius in it:
I think we're a little behind on this trend. We really do love movies. Netflix offered us a free trial and after spending $5.00 at Blockbuster on one movie last weekend, I decided to take them up on their offer. I'll let you know what we think after our first free month.

While we are on the topic of snail mail, Hannah Cate got her first piece of mail from a boy (other than Granddaddy who regularly send cards). A sweet Valentine from none other than Robert! Look how cute!

Mardis Gras 2009

I'm not the biggest fan of Mardis Gras, I just don't really get it. We thought we'd let Hannah Cate decide for herself so we took her to one of the parades in Fairhope. She loved all the people and lights and music. She especially loved the beads!

My favorite part was getting to see the Clydesdale horses.

Play Time

Looks a little something like this.....

Eight Months!

My Sweet Baby,

Eight months, I can just hardly believe it. Where has the time gone? They say it happens, they warned me, told me to prepare myself, to soak in every second because it would be gone in a flash....but really nothing could have made me believe it aside from experiencing it myself. The last eight months have just absolutely flown by, but I've been left with some of the sweetest memories that I'll cherish always. Our lives are better because you are in it.

You have been such a joy. I don't know any other way to describe it. And it's not just your Daddy and I or even your family who will says so, but complete strangers. We were at a restaurant last week and an older couple was sitting at a table close to ours. They got up to leave and the husband stopped for a second to tell us how cute you were. His wife was close behind and she stopped for several minutes to say "hello" and get a close up of you. As she stroked your hair, she went on to say that they had been watching you and were just taken with, even trying to imagine what you might say if you could talk as you played with your toys and reached for the glasses and other things on the table. I'm not sure you have met a stranger yet. You really do bring so much joy to everyone you are around!

You have your first two teeth that are popping through on the bottom. You have been a trooper! It's so strange to feel those sharp little things in your mouth, I can only imagine what it must feel like to you. I catch you often trying to figure it out, often rubbing your tongue over and over them.

You are sitting up so well now, in fact so well that you can't figure out how to get out of the sitting position! Once you get over onto your side or back, you can roll around with the best of them to get what you want. Still no crawling, but I imagine you are not too far away from figuring it out. You have made a few backward movements and you can do a little slithering on your stomach. I can't imagine you as a mobile baby, but I probably need to get ready because I'm sure it's coming!

I've cried a lot over the last few days, leading up to your eight month birthday. A family that I don't even know lost their precious eleven month old baby girl, her name was Cora. Her mama kept a blog just like me. From the beginning their story looked much like ours, a happy little family of three. A mama and daddy that loved each other and loved their baby girl more than life itself. Their story took a different path when Cora was diagnosed with cancer and a short two weeks later she was gone. There is hope in the story though, they loved Jesus and the Bible tells us that Cora is resting in His arms now. She's renewed and whole and perfect again. Her story has been heard around the world and because of her short life, lives have been impacted and people have been forever changed.

For so many reasons their story felt so relevant to me, but in large part because when I looked into Cora's big, pretty eyes, at her sweet smile, her soft brown hair and her chubby cheeks......I saw you. My own precious baby girl. Cora went to be with Jesus the very day that we had you baptized, the day that we committed your life to the Lord and that we committed to honor Him in the way that we bring you up. The Lord is teaching me great things and one day I'll share with you even more about the stirrings of my heart leading up to your eight month Birthday. We'll never know sweet baby Cora, this side of heaven, but she has impacted my life and ultimately yours in great ways. I've played with you harder, hugged you tighter, kissed you more often and I'm trying to love you more freely than I did before.

Every night when I put you to bed, I tell you that Zephaniah 3:17 says "The Lord your God is with you; He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love and He will rejoice over you with singing". And then I tell you that Mama loves you, Daddy loves you and Jesus loves you.

You are one loved baby girl!

Mama

**This is the only dress that I have that was once mine. One day I'll give it to you for your baby to wear!