Miscarriage & Infant Loss

Just this week, I have been made aware of two families who are in need of prayer due to complicated pregnancies and infant loss. I made a tab at the top of the blog last week for that topic and have added a few links to the bottom of it today. I hope it will help anyone who is struggling with either topic or their friends who want to encourage them. If you are reading the blog through a blog reader, you will need to go to the blog or click here to view it.

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who donated NICU stuff! This was in my email this morning from one of the ladies who works with grieving families. "Everyone loved that you came by with the adorable things and I wanted to let you know that last week I saw two moms in really sad situations and was able to share two of the donated hats and blankets you brought us. They brought tears of gratitude to the eyes of these grieving parents - what a beautiful gift you and your friends have given. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and send many blessings to you and yours."

Friday

What're we doing today?
Mommy is making laundry detergent.


Hk is playing with stuff she found in the bottom drawer.

Mommy is spilling detergent. The good thing is it's to get dirt out of clothes so it's okay if a little dirt is in it.

Bible Time

Hannah Kate was a good bible student today. She tried to say Jesus, Dear God, bible & amen!

Hannah Kate's 1st Birthday Party

I think this:

is why Hannah Kate's face looked like this: Thanks to Sarah/Carol for the top photo and Brittany for the bottom.

Hannah Kate-1 Year Old!

Wow. Time flies. Actually, I don't know how much time really has flown in the past year because there were definitely portions that I felt went slowly. Anyhow, I can't believe that Hannah Kate is one year old. It makes me so sad, but I'm so thankful that she's healthy and happy!
Diaper Size: 4
Weight: 20 pounds 14 ounces on Tuesday at the Preemie Clinic
Clothing Size: 9-12 months
Food Fun: Hannah Kate gets one bottle of 100 mL of breastmilk at night before bed (to use what is in the freezer). The rest of the day, she's drinking whole milk and water and eating her food and some of ours. Her favorite food right now is "/b/" which banana! The past week she has been sick and is finally getting better now. She has not been a good eater this past week, but it's starting to pick back up now. She likes macaroni (but it must have cheese), sweet potato fries, broccoli cheese nuggets, bananas, pears, Yo-Baby yogurt, and bread! One of the only things she would eat this week was grilled cheese sandwich. She likes cheese!
Newest Tricks:
~She's still crawling everywhere!
~She can pull up to anything and uses her teeth to help her about half of the time.
~She can bang things together-she's been able to do this, but the other day I said, "Hannah Kate can you bang your cups?" I didn't use any hand motions or anything. She picked them up and banged them together-I was impressed!
~She's also gotten really good at turning pages in books (board books). She will sit there and turn the pages and babble like she is reading it. SO sweet.
~She isn't completely "cruising" yet (holding onto something and walking sideways), but she has done it twice. Babies normally cruise before they transfer-standing and holding one thing and switching to another-according to Mrs. Diana, but Hannah Kate likes to be different. She has been transferring for at least a week.
~Wesley got sick when Hannah Kate did last week and had been using hand sanitizer after he blew his nose. Apparently, Hannah Kate picked up on it because now if we wash our hands or put on sanitizer, she rubs her hands on her arm. We have this on video. :)
~Fake coughing-when she was sick, she would stop coughing for real to fake cough at Wesley. Only Hannah Kate!

Things Hannah Kate Loves:
~being held upside down
~looking out the window on the door in our sun room-the bottom half of the door is filled with fingerprints, hand prints, nose prints, and mouth prints. I love it!
~Sign Language DVDs-We have been watching the Baby Signing Time Volumes 1-3 that she got for Christmas a lot (usually once a day, sometimes twice).
~riding in shopping carts
~getting into the refrigerator-anytime the fridge is open, she is in it! This week, she managed to get one foot up in the refrigerator and grab a yogurt container.

Things Hannah Kate Does Not Love:
~changing clothes or having her diaper changed
~having her nose wiped (which is bad news when you have a cold!)
~cleaning her hands or face after eating-she cries every single time

Words:
~hey, hi, Daddy, Mama (finally!!!!!-she said this for the first time the night of her birthday party), Nana (she's said it once and it was so clear!), /b/ for banana, more (but it sounds different....kind of garbled), /p/ for please as in "more please"-that lasted a few days, ball
~She picked up banana and more please the week after her party. She really loves bananas and would eat them all day if I let her. I was trying to limit her to 2 a day. One evening, she was in the kitchen saying /b/ VERY loudly. I was trying to offer her other things and she finally grew impatient and said, "Mama! /b/ Mama! /b/!!!" It was so funny. Of course I had to give her a banana for that! Now that she knows these words, she gets very frustrated if you don't give her exactly what she's asking for when she starts asking.

Signs:
~more, all done, ball
~waves bye bye for bye or night night
~milk.....milk was one of her first signs, that lasted a day.....this week, she was crawling and her sippy cup of milk was in the way, she was trying to crawl over it, but she was in the doorway and was having trouble. She cried, stopped crawling, sat up, moved the sippy cup, then looked at her hand and signed milk. She CAN sign it, she just won't. If she wants more to drink, I ask her milk or water and do the signs for both. She just signs more and says more until she gets the cup she wants. Silly girl.



Last monthly photos with Daddy's ring

Hannah Kate's 1st Birthday Party-Giving

Hannah Kate (& her parents) were so appreciative to her guests and friends for donating items to take to the NICU. In February, the NICU has a Swaddled with Love Blanket Drive. We took these donated items to the NICU when we went for her 1 year appointment at the preemie clinic this week. There was so much stuff, I didn't know if we would be able to carry all of it!
There will be MANY warm and cute babies at the NICU now!
Donated:
25 articles of clothing
63 receiving blankets
26 regular blankets
18 crocheted blankets
1 knitted blanket
55 crocheted hats
50 knitted hats
1 set knitted booties
WOW! Thank you to everyone for your help!

Hannah Kate's 1st Birthday-After the Cake :)

U-Dawg aka Uncle Michael had to leave as soon as Hannah Kate ate her cake.
Thanks to Mindy for making sure everything ran smoothly. I would not have been able to enjoy the party without her help!


After I told Michael bye and talked with some other guests, I froze and thought, "Oh no! Where's Hannah Kate?!" I found her in our bedroom with the Coley women :) Papa had told Sarah that Hannah Kate wanted to get down (which she definitely did!), so they snuck her back to play.


Auntie Carol snuck Baby Mollie away from her mommy and daddy and had her all afternoon!
Telling Mrs. Kellee bye!

Playing with gifts from Aunt Bonnie-she taught her to "hold your horsies!"

We were glad Aunt Jan could come too!


Gracie and Maggie helped pass out the favors.



After more socializing and partying, it was time for a nap. I'm so glad Brittany came back with us and got these pictures. I love them.
Bye! Thanks for coming to my party!

Hannah Kate's 1st Birthday Party-The Cake!

After everyone had time to eat, it was time for CAKE! Thanks to Brittany for documenting Hannah Kate's first sugar rush and to Michael for getting it on video (video below)!

Hannah Kate was surprisingly cooperative while we put on her birthday hat.

She never tried to take the hat off-I think she was confused as to why there were 40 people staring at her (I think Sarah got a picture of all of the people-it was slightly overwhelming)!
After weeks of practicing, she did try to blow out her candle. Too bad Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let her get close enough.



Time to eat!
I LOVE this one!



She gagged once and I thought it was all over. If you look closely, you can see a hunk of icing in her throat. After a drink of water, she was good to go.
We are SO BLESSED.

Again, thanks to Kellee for teaching Hannah Kate this trick-it made for perfect pictures! :)












If those pictures weren't enough, enjoy the video :)