learning to post a video

Here is a video that we took of Hannah dancing. It's her newest "trick." She can also give five, wave bye-bye, blow kisses, and she's still developing her sweet eyes. The dancing- well, she just started doing that on her own. What can I say... the girl's got moves.

Here goes!

Hospitalization, Part Three

The hospital visit wasn't ALL bad...Although Hannah was in the hospital on an IV, that didn't stop her from having a good time in there. She played in her crib with lots of toys- most of them gifts from visitors! Just look at her crib! It looks like she's having a party over there in room 129!!

She flirted with everyone who came by to see her, including her nurses. She was able to scam the stethoscope off of her pediatric nurse, Leslie.

Now, one of the coolest thing about being in the hospital is all the cool GIFTS you get! One of her favorite was when her "Maw Maw" (James's mom) came for a visit and brought her a GloWorm. It sings and it's face lights up. Hannah LOVED it. Now she sleeps with it every night!

Hannah even traveled in style while she was there.

We hope we never have to go back to the hospital again. It was scary and we were very worried. But the Pediatric unit at Women's and Children's Hospital made our stay so awesome, and our doctors were fantastic. All of our family and friends supported us so much by their visits, phone calls, and emails. That made us all feel so loved. And most of all, all the prayers that were sent to Heaven on Hannah's behalf worked, because she is home safe and sound!!

Hospitalization, Part Two

Hannah was admitted to room 219 in the Pediatric wing of Women's. She had to have an IV as soon as we got there. This was TRAUMATIC. Leslie and Monica, the Pediatric RNs,worked to find a vein in Hannah's left hand. They stuck her TWICE and neither vein worked. So they had to put it in about half way up her arm. Now, imagine what Hannah must be thinking through all of this. She is being held down against her will by her mama, and two strangers are HURTING her arm!! She was freaking out in hysterics. When we finally got the IV all wrapped up in her arm so she wouldn't rip it out, we went back to the room and started the antibiotic drip- cleocin clindamycin palmitate hydrochloride.

Over the next few days, Hannah started to act like her old self again. She played in her crib, and lots of people came to visit. Several bouquets of flowers and balloons were delivered, which made our little room seem happy and homey. Hannah LOVED the balloons. Here she is having so much fun with all her balloons.

Hospitalization, Part One

Hannah has been sick for a few weeks now. First, it was this thing called "Hand Foot Mouth" which is in the same family of childhood illnesses such as chicken pox or measles. She got over that in a day or two, only to develop high fever which lasted for days on end. We decided to bring her to the E.R. and the doctor there said she had a flu-like viral infection. So we stayed home with her for that entire week. By Friday, she was feeling better (and so was I) so I brought Hannah to Julie's house and I went on to school. That afternoon, Julie showed me Hannah's ankle. It was the size of a golf ball, hot to the touch, and it was swollen and purple. I thought she might have sprained it, so I called the doctor and he said that he was worried that it might be infected in the joint and that we should get to the E.R. Well, I had JUST been in the E.R. last weekend, so I just couldn't see us doing that again. The doc told us to monitor it, since Hannah didn't seem to be in pain, and she was walking on it.

This past Monday, I had to take off work (AGAIN!!!) to see an ENT specialist about my nose. So since I was going to be off work, I called Julie and had her bring Hannah to her pediatrician so we can get that ankle x-rayed. When we got to Dr. B's office, she ordered blood work and x-rays, and I left and got a cat scan on my sinuses. At 3pm, Hannah's doctor called me with news that I needed to get to her office with Hannah asap. So I went to pick up Hannah and we drove back to her doctor's office. Dr. B said that her ankle needed to be treated with antibiotics because her blood work showed elevated numbers in her CRP, her sed rate, and her platelets. So she would need to be in the hospital a few days on an IV drip."
My brain didn't process that information at all. I thought she meant it would be a few HOURS on the meds. Dr. B was very apoligetic because I didn't understand. But it WAS true, Hannah was being admitted to the hospital.


More of the story later!!

Blowin' Kisses... Hannah style

Well folks, Hannah's learned a new trick. It's blowing kisses. The problem though, is that something has malfunctioned and she isn't blowing them EXACTLY like we showed her. She has decided to throw in some freakish twist on the standard kiss blowing trick.

Here is what we told her: "Put your hand up to your mouth."

Hannah's interpretation:

Here's what we told her: "Now, pull your hand away and blow the kiss!"

Hannah's interpretation: Well, she listened... but somehow the directions got a bit scrambled. Nevertheless, when she puts her fingers (or, most likely, her thumb) in her mouth and then pulls it out real quick, we know that she's blowin' kisses!

Ten months

Ten months, and all is well. Hannah is feeling better and growing bigger every day. It's so hard to buy her clothes right now, because she is a small baby for her height. Up until about a few days ago, she was still wearing a lot of her 6-9 month clothes, as long as they were dresses or tops. But all her pants are too short. Eveything looks like capris on her. I am now in eager pursuit of 12 month pants for the baby girl.

She is walking more and more every day. Last Friday, she took 15 steps in a row between me and her grandpa, "Pop Pop." She is getting more and more confident walking. Since she had the flu, she's more clingy and doesn't want to walk as much, but I know this is just a stage she's going through.

She has started eating more table food. Last night we gave her chunks of REAL banana (not the gerber brand... although I have to say that the gerber baby food is TRULY convenient and it's going to take an act of GOD to get me to stop using the jars of baby food!). She LOVED it. She went to town chewing her banana chunks. Her favorite snack is cherry flavored fruit puffs. She ha been experiementing with a spoon also, but that's slow going, since mama doesn't want a big mess in her kitchen. HA!!

Hannah's favorite words are "Mama" (naturally) "DaDa" and "BaBA" for her bottle. She is also trying to say "Nana" for her nanny, and bye bye. It's so cute. She waves bye bye to EVERYONE, and she can blow a kiss. I'll post some pics soon of her blowing a kiss, Hannah style. She can also "give me five." It's so hilarious.

We got the bug

Hannah and I just got home from a trip the Emergency room at Women's and Children's hospital. Hannah's fever wouldn't go down even with Tylenol, and so I called Dr. Boustany and she said to get Hannah to the hospital to have her checked. So we did, and it turns out that we have the flu. Poor thing was poked and prodded, and just plain ol' violated! They did the temperature (and you know how poor little babies have their temperature checked, right?) UG! Then she had blood drawn and she even had to be cathertered for them to take a urine sample. Poor little darlin. Her nose is RAW and she felt like junk. But even as sick as she was, she was smiling and wanting to walk all around the triage area to check things out. She has such a good disposition, even when she's sick. The doctor even noticed that about her. Anyway, long story short... we got the bug.

On top of Spaghetti...

Hannah got some real Italian food this week. Spaghetti!
None of us were sure whether or not she would like this Italian treat, and for a while, I was worried that she would not take ownership in her small amount of Italian heritage that I claim so boldly in my own life.



The verdict is in...
She likes it! She really likes it!

I knew she'd love it! Hooray!!!! Arrivaderci mi familia!

Cleanin' Lady

Well, I think that Hannah has decided on her career. At least for this week....She has decided to be a cleaning lady. She LOVES to help Aunt JuJu with the dishes. She must have heard Momma talk about getting a cleaning lady for her house. So she's decided to do it for me. She's learning how to clean house with Aunt JuJu.

Here she is, working as a busy bee in Aunt JuJu's kitchen.

Concentrating on her hard work...


She is so happy that she could help out!


Aunt JuJu and Hannah in the kitchen, proud of how clean it all is!

A Day at JuJu's

I'm so lucky that my best girlfriend Julie is watching and caring for Hannah while I teach music. I can't think of a better situation for my daughter than to grow up in a nurturing environment.
And what luck! Julie's a photographer too! So I never have to miss out on anything that Hannah is doing during the day! Here she is enjoying herself at Aunt JuJu's.
Great pics, JuJu! Thanks a bunch!

Love the baby

Here is Hannah with her baby doll, Hanna, that her great-grandmother "Nana" gave to her. When Hannah was about four months old, she went to visit Nana. When she was there, she fell in love with this vintage baby doll. Well, Nana just couldn't let my baby girl leave without it. So we brought her home. Now, you have to know, this baby doll feels like the real deal. It's weighted to feel REAL, and it even has on Hannah's outfit when she came home from the hospital. When we first brought the doll home, she would FREAK OUT every time I held the doll. She would scoot over to me and try to get in my lap, fighting for equal attention. It was adorable.

But now, she's discovered that she loves the baby!! So we say, "Hannah, love the baby! Kiss the baby!" and she gives it tons of kisses. Isn't she sweet? Ask her for a kiss... she might kiss you too! Sha baby.