I'm a big girl now!

Hannah & Abby

Yesterday we had Hannah's 2-month check-up (even though she is almost 3 months). We had a good doctor visit (despite the 4 vaccinations that Hannah got - I'm sure she didn't enjoy them). We got some good news from Dr. Ann during our visit:

• Hannah's head circumference is caught up to a term baby
• Dr. Ann was surprised that Hannah's length is caught up to a full term baby (21 inches). Usually preemies take longer to catch up in this area, so maybe Daddy's "tall genes" have something to do with her growth.

Hannah sleeping (and growing!)

Even though I'm nursing, those of you who have been around for Hannah's feedings know that sometimes feeding her takes a bit of math and is almost like a chemistry experiment. Her nutritionist at the hospital wanted us to give her at least 4 bottles of my pumped milk with Neosure (a preemie formula) as a supplement each day. We were given a special 70 mL to 1 tsp. ratio....so anytime she wasn't taking exactly 70 mL we had a lot of mixing and pouring to do. We were told that we'd do this until she was 4 months old and then the doctor would evaluate her weight gain and let us know when we could discontinue.

• We can discontinue the Neosure early!!!

I'm super excited, so now I can just nurse (or Jon can give her a bottle) with nothing added. She'll still get daily vitamins, but that's it. It's just up to me to eat a healthy diet and make sure she gets all of her nutrients. Lately, she had been nursing every 1 or 2 hours (or sometimes every 30 minutes) instead of the nice 3-hour schedule she was on when she came home from the hospital. It really made things hard with my pumping schedule, since I had to pump for her bottles. At one point I was afraid I wasn't making enough when she needed to eat. WRONG.

• Our little girl now weights 7 POUNDS, 14 OUNCES!!!

She's gained over a pound and a half in 3 weeks. The doctor was floored at her weight gain and said that Hannah had a mega growth spurt the past few weeks. That explains why I felt like I was constantly nursing - I was!

Our big girl

I asked our doctor about taking Hannah out and about before she hits 4 months since she's growing so well, but that is still a no go. It is still RSV season and it is better to be safe than sorry, so we can do open air public places, but still no restaurants, malls, church, etc. Although I'd love to take her out and show her off, we got enough good news at our visit that I won't push it.

Video - Daddy's Little Girl

My husband the budding filmmaker put together this wonderful video of Hannah's first few days of life. Enjoy!

Video - Hannah's Birth

My parents got Jon a video camera for Christmas so he would be able to film their first granddaughter. Little did they know that giving it to us in late December would be perfect timing so we would have it and know how to use it by the time Hannah arrived a month later.

Here is one of the first videos that Jon made...of the moments following Hannah's birth....We didn't quite have the video camera (or any camera) out when I was in labor because we were only together in the room for about 5 hours before Hannah made her appearance and we just weren't thinking of cameras and such (we even missed getting a photo of Jon cutting the umbilical cord). However, we were told by one of the nurses it was okay to video before she went off to the NICU and the proud papa went to work on his first movie.

Spring Walks

Now that spring is here (at least according to the calendar), we can take Hannah out on walks....we still can't really take her out and about among people yet, but walks around the neighborhood are okay. The doctor said as long as I want to be outside and she's dressed appropriately, we're okay (although I'm sure the doctor didn't realize that I used to walk the dog rain or shine, even when it was 20 degrees outside!).

So, at the first sign of a nice day (and I guess mid-50's qualifies for Ohio), we hit the sidewalk. I loved getting to be outside and I know I'll enjoy our walks even more when the weather is REALLY nice out. Hurry up spring weather!

Our first walk was a family walk down to the park to play frisbee with Abby. Hannah slept the whole time and didn't even know she'd gone anywhere. I think Abby was excited to get back into her routine because she loves walks to the park.


Our second walk was the other afternoon -- just me, Hannah, and Abby. I'm sure we were quite the sight. I was pushing Hannah with one hand and walking Abby with the other. Abby did a great job walking beside the stroller and even stayed put (with a little "encouragement" from me) when she saw a squirrel. This time Hannah stayed awake long enough to get 2 houses down the street. Abby didn't like not getting to play frisbee, but we really need another person to do that...

The Marie's

When we named Hannah, we really only spent time picking a first name....as her middle name was pretty much decided (once we decided to go with tradition, that is). We chose Hannah because it means God's grace, but Marie is a family name -- my middle name, my mom's middle name, and my grandmother's first name. Here is our 4 Generation picture of "the Marie's".

Colleen Marie (Grandma), Julie Marie (Mom),
Marie Lucille (Great Grandma), and Hannah Marie (Baby)