"New" crib!

I FINALLY set up missy Miss's crib! I was waiting until her room was done but I give up! should have done this a long time ago! She sleeps so good in it!

Quirks

For some time now i have been meaning to write down some of Hannah's funny little quirks that she has so far. She does so many funny little things that just make me smile. She is definitely unique in her own special way.

• She does NOT like to be swaddled. Even as a tiny newborn she hated when the nurses swaddled her. Spencer even said that in the nursery all the other babies were crying because they were not swaddled, nit Hannah. She just laid there sprawled out Just chilling.

•She doesn't do this anymore, but up until she was two months old she would bury her head in the crook of my arm after she was done nursing. I looked so funny!

•She is so so so busy that she is constantly on the move! Even if she is nursing! The whole time she is either playing with my face/nose/lips/hair, plays with my necklace twiddling it between her fingers, or petting my arm. It's so funny she really can't sit still!

•she is a momma's girl! Has been since she was a tiny baby. So much that she was trying to scoot along the floor at 10 weeks old in order to get to me! She couldn't quite use her arms yet so she looked like a little inch worm.

•She does not like me to cover her up while nursing. I can put a blanket on her as long as it is below her shoulder. If I ever try to cover her arm (or head when i'm trying to be discreet) she will fling it off with her arm.

•she is so determined to get up and run that as soon as she learns one skill she is literally trying to figure out the next before she has even mastered one. For example a month ago just finally figured how to use her arm while scooting on her belly using And the next thing I know she is trying to crawl. She only did the whole army crawling for about a week! I swear she is going to be walking soon! (7 months)

•she is THE. LIGHTEST. SLEEPER in the world!! The smallest tiniest noise wakes her up. Makes it a little difficult for nap time.

•whenever she sees people she puts her hand up in the air almost as if she is saying "hi". I really think she is too, a few times I've told her to say hi and she does it! (7 months)

• she HATES the carseat! She wishes she she could just stand at the car window and lick it.

These are the quirks so far, I'm sure I'll add more to this list as this little busy bee sassy pants gets bigger!

7 months!

Sassy Sister! You are 7 months old today! Oh boy! It seems like I was just writing about your sixth month! Craziness! You have learned so much in the past few weeks! And the things you started to learn a month ago you have perfected! Here are your newest tricks.

~You are REALLY good at pulling yourself up on things now! If you see anything that might possibly be a good spot to pull up on you try it out! Sometimes it doesn't work out so well but have no fear! You quickly find something else!
~you are VERY quick with the army crawl! Especially if you see something that looks good enough to shove into your mouth (which you are also very quick to do) You see THE.SMALLEST.THINGS! I don't even see them until you quickly head toward it.
~ Apparently the whole scooting on your belly is old news, even though you just mastered it TWO weeks ago! You are already starting to try crawling on your knees. You will do a couple strides on your knees, but then you go back to the belly since it's quicker. I am sure you will have it down soon (too soon if you ask me!)
~You have become pro at pushing yourself into sitting position from your belly and back again.
~ You have started to sign "milk". You sign it pretty much every time you are hungry. Love it!
~You have started to like other people and you really try to engage them with the biggest smile and leaning towards them. You will even let others (even complete strangers) hold you.

You have grown and learned so much in such a short time! A lot of those things you learned seriously happened within a week! I can't believe how fast you are learning new things! You are very determined and have no fear!

Love ya baby girl!

Signing

The past month or two Daddy and I have been signing to you whenever we say specific words. (Mommy, Daddy, milk/nurse, all done, more and etc.)  About a month ago you started signing Daddy, we weren't sure if you were actually signing it but then Daddy walked into the room and you put your hand to your forehead! So we think you really are doing it!

Now the past week you have been signing milk, a lot! I finally got it on video too!

I love that you are actually learning and doing the signs that I am teaching you! It is so fun watching you figure them out and it makes me want to start signing a lot more words to you!

Here comes trouble!

Dear Hannah,

You are only 6 MONTHS you should not be doing this stuff already! Looks like we need to start baby proofing and lowering your bed!

I sat  you in your bed while I ran to the bathroom real quick and came back in to find that you had pulled yourself up on your knees! I couldn't believe my eyes! I laughed and you fell down trying to look at me. So I sat you back in your bed and you did it again, this time you pulled yourself into standing position! Oh my goodness! You are a very strong willed and sturdy little girl! We are going to have our hands full!

Just make sure it wasn't a fluke I have put you in your bed multiple times, each time you do it over and over again! Looks like you are going to keep me on my toes!

Half a year?!

Dear Hannah,

Happy Half birthday! I can't believe you have been in our lives for HALF of a YEAR now! I don't think I like how fast time is flying! I know I keep saying this but it is a very bittersweet thing that you are growing up so fast! Its not fair that it seemed forever for you to get here and now that you are here time is going quick!

It is so much fun watching you grow and develop. I am constantly amazed! I love seeing your little personality show as well. You get sassier and more determined everyday! I love it! You are also the biggest Momma's girl and becoming more so everyday as well! I think you would be truly happy if you could just be connected to my hip.


Here are some other fun things about you at this age!

• you LOVE kids and babies! Any time you see one you screech with excitement!
• you love to eat pretty much anything I give you but your favorites are bananas, eggs, and popsicles! You also love to drink out of your sippy cup but ONLY if you can do it yourself.
• In fact you want to do EVERYTHING by yourself! I think you will be much more content when you figure out how!
• You are starting to figure out how to scoot around. You have been able to for awhile now, but you are finally getting a hang of how to work your arms. 
• You are sitting like a pro. You figured that out a month ago!
• You love Daddy, Savannah, Jakey, Grandma and Millie right now ( and of course Mommy!)
• You decided to surprise us by pulling yourself up to standing position in your bed! We had to lower it to keep you from falling out
• You love to walk around. If I pick you up to carry you I have a very unhappy baby. 
• We discovered your love of music the other day! We used to sing to you at night so apparently you liked it more than we thought!
• You sign "Daddy" whenever you see him! 

You are keeping us very entertained with so many other things that you do these days! The list could go on and on! We love our little sassy pants so much! Life wouldn't be the same without you!

Six months Stats:
16 lbs 12 oz
26 1/2 " long

Yummy Yummy in My Tummy

Dear Hannah,

Today we gave you your FIRST "solid" food {besides the little tastes of stuff Uncle Justin and your grandma gave you without mommy knowing}. You didn't hate it but you didn't love it, you were just interested. You didn't even really make too many faces like I was expecting.

Can't believe it!

One year ago today I found out the most exciting news, today was the day I found out I was going to have a baby! I was going to have you! I remember the day so clear, almost like it was yesterday.  I remember peeking at the pregnancy test expecting to see a negative but instead with great unbelief, seeing a very light second line. I could not believe it! I was smiling so big, but I still could not believe it. I had to take a few more tests to convince myself. Finally  a few {okay maybe five} tests later I finally convinced myself it was true! No words could describe my excitement!

 Waiting for your arrival seemed like an eternity, and now you are here laying in my arms! It so hard to believe your arrival seemed so far away and now as I look back I can't believe how fast time went. Now you are my big 3 month old {almost four!} You have quite the little personality! You are such busy baby  and you keep me on my toes! You are very opinionated as well! We love you so much sweet girl! I can't believe you are mine forever! I still can't believe it was just one year ago that we learned of our little blessing growing inside of me!

Love you Princess

Miss Independent

Dear Hannah,

You have become our little Miss Independent ALREADY{?}. Once upon a time you would let me rock you to sleep or snuggle you until you fell asleep. NOW you just won't allow it. Somedays you will still let me but for the most part you would prefer that I just lay you down in your bed. You don't even cry. As soon as I lay you down for your nap or bedtime you nod off pretty quick. Its a little bitter sweet for me. I love that you can fall asleep all by yourself, but I also miss being able to snuggle with you until you head to dream land. Although I won't complain, I am just happy you fall asleep so easily! No need to let you cry yourself to sleep {which I totally disagree with and never would do so anyways!}


Sweet dreams my love!

Music to my ears!

Dear Hannah,

Today you laughed for the first time! It was so stinking cute!!! I was playing with your cute little fit {that I cannot get enough of} and you just let out the cutest laugh! I wanted to get it on video, but there was no video camera near by and I was having too much fun to stop and find one! Grandma was able to get a picture though :)

3 Months!

Dear Hannah,

I know I say this a lot BUT I still just can't believe how fast time is flying!My Baby Girl is 3 MONTHS!? You are getting so big so fast and you are changing so much, almost daily! You are definitely not my tiny little newborn anymore, which is a little bitter sweet!

You have become quite the little stinker lately. Once upon time I could snuggle you up in your blanket and sit in my bed to rock you to sleep. Now {even though you are soooo tired} when I snuggle you in your blanket and lay you in my arms you get so mad, especially if I am sitting down. I have to stand up and walk around and sing to you in order to get you to sleep. Speaking of sleep, you have been sleeping sooo good at night. You usually get up once or twice, depending on the night. Either way that feels so amazing! Especially when compared to the every hour or two!

Not to mention when you are awake, you would prefer us to stand up {with you facing out and dangling your legs} and walk around or bounce you. You love to be on the move!If we lay you in our arms and cradle you, {like we did when you were teeny tiny} we are quickly reminded that is not allowed :) You want to be up and part of the action!

You definitely love to be held! and I am okay with that, because I love holding you! so much that Daddy and Grandma tease me that your head is getting flat from "never holding you", of course its quite the opposite! {nice and round}. The downfall of you thinking Mama's arms are more comfortable is that {lately} when I lay you down to sleep, you wake up very quickly! Don't get me wrong! I do love holding you {reread the beginning of paragraph to reconfirm that ;)} It does make it hard to get things done when you are not sleeping. BUT then again, you will only be this little once, so the laundry and dishes can wait!

I'm definitely loving this new thing about you... You KNOW who your Mommy and Daddy are! without a doubt. You will easily smile at anyone, even strangers, but we can get the biggest smiles out of you very quickly. Especially Daddy, all he has to do is look at you and within seconds you are smiles galore! Lately when others are holding you, you look for me, and sometimes you are so happy with some people holding you. You go from zero to sixty very quickly and only Mommy can calm you down.


You have become my little "inch worm". When you were 10 weeks I put you on the floor and you started to try and push your self forward. You couldn't quite figure out your arms but you would push you butt up with you legs and then slide forward, making you look like a little worm. SO funny! Once you figure out those arms I am going to have to keep those floor VERY clean!

You are growing right before my eyes! When I pick you up now, you feel so sturdy! I love it! Also {much to my dismay} some of your cute 3 month sized clothes are too small! So sad! Time for them to retire!

I can't believe how quickly you are developing and growing! These past three months have been amazing! I look forward to the many months ahead of us and to see what adventures you are going to bring us!

Love, Mommy!

Other fun facts about Miss Hannah

• you have a love-hate relationship with your binky
• You want your fingers SO bad, and you are getting better at getting a hold of them (which I believe is the cause of your the love-hate relationship of the binky)
• You have started to drool so much!
• of course you still love to "talk" to us!

Nicknames:

Princess
Monkey
Drool Monster
Hanners
Sweet pea
Beautiful
Baby Girl

Two months!

Dear Hannah,

Right now I am laying in bed with you sleeping in your bassinet right next to me {I probably should be sleeping too} I can't help to think about how blessed I am to have you in my life and how thankful I am to be your mother. I'm going to be honest it still feels a little weird and very surreal, in a good way of course. Time has flown! I feel like it was just yesterday I was staring with an unbelieving smile at that positive pregnancy test. My pregnancy seemed to drag on and now here you are just a few days short of TWO months old! Time is going too fast now that you are here! So fast that I feel like I can't take it all in!

Hannah, you are getting so big! You can hold your head up pretty good; you've really been able to do that since day one, but your getting so much better at it everyday. You also rolled over from front to back a few weeks ago {7 weeks old!} You are our strong little girl!I've tried to get it on video for proof, but you always roll over right when I put the camera down! Little stinker!

You are so curious about everything around you. You love it when we hold you in a sitting position or better yet up on your feet so that you can look around. Oh, you love to look around. Whenever you find anything of great interest, you will focus in and stare for quite sometime. You still especially love to stare at our bedroom curtains in the mornings with light coming through. You also have been focusing on us a lot more too! You will just stare at us when we talk to you AND you always reward us with that beautiful smile of yours! Not only to we get rewarded with your smile, but you have definitely been chiming in with your own little stories with your little gurgles and coos. I love it! I love just sitting there having our mommy & daughter story time.

Nights have been so nice lately! You used to wake up every two hours to eat, now you will sleep anywhere from 3 to 5 hours! I'm definitely loving that! It is for sure a step up from the 2 hour stretches! Right now your bed time is anywhere from 10-12 and you usually wake up 4 or 5 hours, then you will sleep for 3 hours. Keep it up sweet cheeks :) {or better yet, lets make it only one time during the night :)}

Hannah baby, I can't imagine life without you! You are my angel! I feel so very lucky to have such a sweet baby girl! I can't wait for all the adventures we have ahead of us!

Love always,

Mommy


Two months Sats:
11 lbs 4 oz (61%)
23.7 inches (91%)
15.5" head circumference  (66%)

Nicknames:
Princess
Beautiful
Sister (mommy)
Monkey (daddy)
Sweet pea

One Month Old

Dear Hannah,

One month ago today we welcomed you to the world! One month ago today we fell in love! The moment you were place in my arms was the most amazing moment ever! I can't believe that was a month ago! How are you already ONE month?! Time has flown! You are already getting so big. You already have to many funny little quirks AND much to my delight you are already a momma's girl! {lets keep it that way ;)}

One of my favorite little quirks that you have is when you are done nursing you bury your face into the crook of my arm and fall asleep. So funny! You also are still trying to figure out how to nurse, you do okay for the most part but sometimes you get a little confused and look for your "food" on my arm even though its right in front of you. You practically bend backwards to my arm. Silly girl.

My most favorite thing is your smiles! You always smile in your sleep, or you will be looking the the wall and smile. BUT today you smiled at me! I love it!

I love being your mommy and I can't wait for the many more months and milestones to come!

Welcome Baby Girl!

Dear baby, 

You made your grand entrance today! Oh my, am I in LOVE! You are so beautiful!  So sweet! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect angel!

Hannah Noel Nielson

 

October 3rd, 2011

12:37 PM

7 lbs 12 oz

22 in 

 

We both are so smitten!

38 Weeks!!

only 2 WEEKS and counting!! (unless you are the select few that think I am going to go over my due date).. I feel HUGE and so ready to have this baby! I am getting very anxious to see my baby girl and to hold her, I hope she decides to come soon!

 Some things about baby girl:

• She has calmed down a lot, and doesn't move quite as much as she used it (although it may be the lack of room she has in there)
• She gets hiccups a lot! At least everyday! 
• She apparently likes to keep her hands near her head, because quite frequently I get a tickle on my bladder or nice little jabs to my pelvic bone. 
• She still likes to stretch her feet close to my ribs, luckily I haven't gotten too many kicks, just some discomfort.

All about the pregnancy:

• I though I hit the uncomfortable stage months ago, but now I really am in the uncomfortable stage! Everything hurts! My back, ribs, legs, hands, etc...
• the heart burn SUCKS! I wake up every night with heartburn! I have gone through a whole bottle of tums with this pregnancy, and I am starting on my second one... yuck!
• Oh the insomnia! I am so tired from not getting ANY sleep! I guess I better just get used to it. and Hey if you ever need to talk at 3 AM, hit me up! 
• I am so ready to be done, although I know I will miss some things about being pregnant... for one, I have an excuse to look "fat" I'm carrying a little human inside of me! which brings us to number two, I am carrying a HUMAN inside of me! It is so weird to think of and so amazing at the same time! Three: i love feeling baby girl  move around in there! I know it will be amazing to actually have her here, but I still will miss feeling her kicking and moving all day and night long! 

Anyways, let the countdown begin! I hope she comes sooner than Later!!!!

28 weeks!

Today is my 28 weeks mark! These past few weeks have been going by so fast!! It also probably helps that I have been keeping myself busy, because even though it is going by fast I am starting to feel so impatient to be able to hold my little one!

Right now we are slowly getting ready for baby. I kind of feel like we are not quite ready and don't even have close to what we need! Hopefully we get some good stuff at my baby showers to help me feel less stressed. Although I can tell you this much, baby girl has a lot of clothes to dress her for quite awhile :) I am having way too much fun with all this baby clothes shopping!

Well at 28 weeks Baby girl has become quite active! Even more active than she was before. She pulls some crazy stunts in there, which I absolutely love feeling, besides a few small exceptions, like when she decides to kick dangerously close to my ribs -OR- when she decides to be awake and crazy active at 3 AM. But other than that I am in love with all those crazy gymnastic stunts she trying out in my belly.

According to "what to expect" My baby is:

•  17 inches tall and close to 3 pounds
• Her wrinkled skin is smoothing out as fat deposits underneath her skin
• Her "living quarters" are getting pretty tight now, so any jabs I feel are going to be mostly knees and elbows. 
• She is getting stronger, which also means so will her kicks 
• She will respond to different stimuli; sound, movements and light. 

As for me:

• I feel like I am starting to get at the uncomfortable stage, well I feel like I have been there for awhile but its getting worse. 
• My ribs HURT, even if baby girl is no where close to them, they just ache.
• I have had heart burn galore. I have actually had it for the past couple weeks unfortunately. 
• I feel like I am HUGE! My mom and sister ask if I am sure I don't have two in there. Which wouldn't surprise me if I did. ;)

All up in my grill....

Alright well not really "up in my grill" more like "all up in my ribs". This child LOVES to stretch out right into my ribs. Not so fun for me, but apparently she has inherited another one of my traits...STUBBORN. She will stretch out right into my ribs, I will nicely push her away, to which responds by   listening  very well and moving far away from my ribs moving right back five seconds later. No wonder my ribs have been killing me the last few weeks. Not to mention her kicks and Jabs are getting much stronger, which don't always feel the best, BUT as much as it hurts I LOVE feeling this girl move! She is a crazy little acrobatic gymnast.

Three of my favorite things to feel are:
1) I will be sitting here quietly and so is baby girl. It almost feel as if she is sleeping, then out of the blue she starts kicking and squirming like crazy all over my belly, then stops completely. It feels so weird. But the weirdest is to watch my belly as she does it. CrAzY!

2) I love it when she stretches out and I can feel one little hard spot on my belly right where she is stretching out. sometimes if I touch it she will give me a few little jabs with that particular appendage.

3) Lately I have been able to feel the exact spot where she is chilling. My whole belly feels pretty soft expect for one hard lump on the side she is on, or in many cases the whole bottom of my belly as if she is just snuggled in. Love it!

I am in love with this girl so much and I love being able to feel her everyday! Can't wait to hold her!

Baby Bump @ 27 weeks

Double digits!

I just want to point out that as of today we are in the DOUBLE DIGITS in the count down. 99 DAYS left!!!

Even though that seems so far away, it feels like we have come far very quickly. In the beginning of my pregnancy I felt like everything was going by sooooo sloooooow and now looking back I can't believe how fast it has actually gone by! Crazy!!

Maternity photoshoot

My mom and I went on a Maternity Photoshoot the other day. Here are some of her amazing photos!!


24 Weeks along!