Our Reader

She definitely likes to read - if she's not running around like crazy, she's camped out in a chair somewhere with a book. But then again, so are mom & dad.....

A Purse, Oh My

Hannah has started to dress herself...and accessorize herself as well. For someone who is not a "girly-girl," I am apparently going to raise one.

Bedtime Routine

Getting Hannah ready for bed I discovered that maybe we need to lock this medicine cabinet...our gal is a little too tall! She also figured out how to wash her hands herself...

Hannah is little miss independent, that is for sure. She is also little miss reader...she loves books! I went to her bathroom to clean up after her bath and when I got back to her room, this is what I found....

Cool Cat

I wasn't home from work in time to eat with Jon and Hannah....but apparently this is how Hannah insisted on eating her supper tonight.

Park with Jaidyn

While the girls were napping after their exciting morning at the zoo, Susan and I left Jon in charge and headed off to Once Upon a Child. I absolutely love that store and Susan couldn't understand what all of the fuss was about....until we stopped and shopped. Or, I guess I should say that she shopped. She found all kinds of great stuff for Jaidyn and didn't spend much money - it worked out great. I've heard that their boy clothing isn't as nice as the girl clothing because of how rough boys are in general - I don't have much experience with that side of things, but I haven't gone wrong with girl clothing or toys so far. In fact, I rarely shop at "real" stores anymore for Hannah. There is also another division, Clothes Mentor, that is women's clothing (including maternity clothes!), which is what I hit up when my "borrowed from friends" maternity collection isn't quite enough. I'll admit it is more expensive than yard sale prices, but I don't have time to yard-sale shop....so I'll happily pay the extra $1-2 to save the extra hour or two.

After shopping, the girls got up from their naps and we played in the backyard....and then decided to take a walk to the park at the end of the street. The girls loved the swings!

Jaidyn smiling!
I think Jaidyn was "talking" when I was taking this picture....and Hannah was really interested in what she had to say.

After we got home from the park, we took Susan out for a birthday dinner....since her birthday was coming up next week. We ended up having a great dinner, and we went early enough that we were put in an almost separate room with one other family with a kid, so we didn't have to worry about disturbing other diners. It worked out wonderfully.

Hopefully Susan and Jaidyn will be back for another visit this year!

Zoo with Jaidyn

My cousin Susan came for a short visit with her daughter Jaidyn. Susan showed up late Friday night and was gone after dinner on Saturday night, but we still had a good time during the 24 hour (or less) period that she was around.

Saturday morning we went to the zoo. Although Susan lives near Pittsburgh, she's not quite as close to the zoo as we are, so after an hour of trying to get both girls and all three adults ready and sun-screened up, we were ready to make the 10 minute drive up the road to the zoo. The new Polar Frontier exhibit just opened with polar bears, so Jon even wanted to go to check it out.

All ready to go!

Thank goodness for the double-stroller I was given by one of my co-workers...it makes travel with cousins and friends so convenient!

Hannah the helper wanted to make sure that Jaidyn had her juice and snacks.

Eating lunch at the zoo was easier than trying to make it home for lunch and naps. We packed our lunches and the girls ate while watching some birds. It worked out well so we could get them down for naps on time and have more time at the zoo.

Polar Bear at the new exhibit

Hannah LOVES the gorillas - it's one of her favorite things to see.

We ended up having to skip some of the exhibits since we were only there in the morning....it's just so hard to fit everything in. We told Susan that she'll have to come back so they can see the rest of the zoo! It seemed like Jaidyn had a good time watching the animals, and I know that Hannah had a good time (except when Dad was carrying her on his shoulders and he walked her head into a pole - you know he is EXTRA tall when you add her on top of him and he forgot to duck!).

Checking out the Crib

Hannah and I were in the old nursery (now guest room/nursery) last night wrapping presents. She decided to check out her old crib. She wanted to turn on the little fish aquarium that is in there...so off she went.

Little monkey on her way in

(thankfully, she never climbed out - despite being the monkey that she is....she just climbs in!)
"Baby" Hannah with her blankie in the crib

Hannah did eventually climb out and lay down on the guest bed while I finished wrapping. This girl loves her little tag blankie.

Big Girl with Big News.....

Hannah's going to be a big sister!!!!

We're having a baby later this year - due on November 18th - and we sent Hannah off to the sitter's one morning last week in her new tee-shirt to share the news. We had a quick photo-op before she left the house at 6:30am (when this picture was taken) so I could have Mother's Day cards made for the grandmas. I ended up making "Happy Mother's Day....a new grandbaby is on the way" cards for both grandmas. Then, because there were so many cute designs, I went ahead and also had other cards made to send to the aunts that included the picture and the news.

We're not entirely sure that Hannah understands what is going on at this point. What we do know is that we are unsure of how we have been able to keep this secret, considering that we took Hannah with us to our first doctor appointment in mid-April. Since I go to a high-risk doctor (who is usually running late), I scheduled my appointment for 3pm before Jon was even out of school, figuring we might be called back by 4pm. Well, for the first time - EVER - that I have had an appointment with him (other than when something was wrong and he moved other patients aside to see me), I didn't wait long at all. By 3:20 I was called back....and was worried because Jon wasn't even set to arrive until 3:30! I figured I might be in the room awhile, which tends to happen, but at about 3:35, Dr. Ruedrich came in to see me and I told him that Jon was actually on his way.....so he went to see another patient to make sure Jon could be there for the whole appointment. When Jon and Hannah arrived about 5 minutes later, I already had the paper sheet around my lap. Hannah thought that was kind of interesting and kept saying "Mommy go to doctor and take off her pants." When my doctor came back, Hannah wasn't too sure about him, but for weeks afterward, she'd frequently comment about Mommy and going to the doctor and taking off her pants....in fact, for at least one week, every night when I got home from work she asked if I'd been at the doctor. Hilarious!

At any rate, since I know you may be wondering about the risks with this pregnancy....my doctor is proceeding as if there are no risks. He is treating me like any normal patient for now. He doesn't worry if there isn't a reason, and doesn't want us to either. While having a partial placental abruption (which is what ultimately was going on with me last time) does increase the risk of having another, the odds of having more than one are actually low....since you get a new placenta with each pregnancy. And, while one you have pre-term labor the odds do increase substantially that you'll have it again, we are assuming (for now) that my PTL was caused by the placenta problems and are planning on a healthy, full-term birth. Of course, I'll be monitored closely and at my 20-week ultrasound they'll pay close attention to the location and development of my placenta, but for now, all is well. Dr. Ruedrich told me to plan for going 42 weeks and having a super-long labor this time : )

This pregnancy is certainly different than the one with Hannah. With Hannah I was working (a lot...or more than a lot - 60+ hours a week) and wasn't sick at all - no nausea (except occasionally when I'd brush my teeth), no cravings, no slowing down. This pregnancy - well, I tease Jon that Hannah was a Folger - our rhythms were in sync, she gets up early, goes to bed early, is a little OCD, etc. This baby is a Woolley - our systems just aren't entirely in sync, and as a result, this one is a challenge from the beginning : ) I have been extremely nauseous this time around - fortunately I haven't been throwing up, but from weeks 5-14, I was nauseous all day long - it didn't decrease after the morning was over, and evenings were really bad after a long day at work. I'd spend most of the night on the couch. (I'm so thankful that Hannah goes to bed at 7:30pm - I could fake a little extra energy for her....although not much.) No food tasted good (or smelled good). By the time we went to the doctor at 8 weeks, I'd been feeling yucky and Jon asked if there was anything we could do about it. My doctor told Jon that if the only thing I could stomach for the next month was potato chips, to just eat potato chips. He told me that something is better than nothing, and we can work on a healthy diet later on - that for now I just need calories in my body and he wasn't going to be picky on how I acquired them. So, Jon took that to heart, and at least 3 or 4 different nights he brought me a bag of chips to eat while I was laying on the couch. Not my usual idea of a snack, but at least it was food. For a number of weeks the only thing I could actually think about eating was cereal (plain Cheerios, anyone?), chips, and crackers. At one point, I was so exhausted that I had about 5 loads of laundry that I washed and dried, but never got folded piled up on the couch in our bedroom...I just kept piling stuff up planning to get to it eventually. At some point, I didn't have clothes for work and resorted to picking an outfit from the pile and throwing it in the dryer for 15 minutes with a wet washcloth while I did my hair and makeup so I wouldn't have to iron. I'll admit that I did that on more than one occasion before Jon and I finally got to work on the pile - I sat on the floor folding and he put everything away. I can't remember being this tired in a long time. Fortunately, the nauseous phase did finally pass and I got my regular appetite and my energy back!

We're really excited about being pregnant and everything looking good and healthy so far. We actually started trying to get pregnant again right after Hannah turned 1 (although we did take a small break after the miscarriage last summer), so this baby has been eagerly anticipated for some time. We honestly have no preference as to gender this time around. If our last pregnancy taught us anything, it's that healthy is REALLY all anyone wants (or should want), and that's really all that we care about. Last time around we both thought we wanted a boy, but God knew that girls do better in the NICU and He gave us a girl. We got a tender, loving girl who loves hugs and kisses, is funny and energetic, a great helper around the house, and who will make a great big sister to this baby. What a blessing that we don't always get what we think we want.

Fishing Trip

Friday night after school we decided to take a family fishing trip to this pond about an hour away that is owned by friends of ours. We packed a picnic dinner, bought Hannah her first fishing pole (a Dora pole, by the way), and hit the road. Of course getting to the pond took longer than we'd originally anticipated due to getting the car packed, finding said Dora pole, and getting everyone all ready. We got to the pond just in time to eat our sandwiches and chips and have some grapes. Jon then got down to business fishing!

Hannah was intrigued by the tackle box and wanted to watch everything that Daddy was doing.
Jon took the time to show her different lures and he got her pole all ready for her.
Hannah's first cast...she wasn't quite sure about what she was doing!
Hannah and Daddy getting ready to reel one in!

First cast = first fish!

Isn't it like that for everyone?!?! Hannah holds up her crappie...she actually liked touching it.
One cast and one fish was enough for our girl....we then retreated to the blanket for a cookie.

Jon spent another hour or so casting (but not really catching) while I chased Hannah around and attempted to keep her from getting into the water. I didn't fish at all this little outing. At some point Hannah got too close to the water's edge and tripped when her shoe got stuck in some mud. That led to tears and a dry-off/clean-off session on the blanket. Which led to us going back to the car and putting her PJ's on.....just about the time the water got perfectly still and the fish started to nibble....and I was at Jon's side with Hannah telling him "Daddy, Hannah sleepy" and that it was time to go. Jon cast his way back around the pond "just one more" and we were off in time to get Hannah home just a little late for bedtime.

On the way home we stopped at the barn to let Hannah feed our friend's pet donkey a carrot. Although she wasn't too sure about it at first and Mommy and Daddy actually took care of feeding the carrot, for the entire drive home all Hannah could talk about was how she fed that donkey a carrot!