Blowing Bubbles with Rhiley

I just thought this picture was too cute not to post. This was just after Hannah's party (see previous post)

Hannah's Birthday Party

We celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday today with some of her friends from church and school. We invited 2 from each place and their siblings. They all came and Hannah had a great time. The kids painted butterflies (Hannah's current favorite thing) and enjoyed cake and ice-cream. Then, they mostly just played. I let her wear the red party dress that she's been eyeing in her closet for a month now. It was given to us by a friend who had outgrown it, and it's still way too big for Hannah. But, she's been wanting to wear it so I figured, it's her birthday party so ..why not? I also let her wear her squeaky shoes from China with the squeakers in so she thought that was a real treat! (She wears those shoes fairly often, but usually with the squeakers OUT! Can you imagine how much trouble I'd be in with her teacher if I let her wear squeaky shoes to school???)

After her party, she stood otuside and blew bubbles with her friend Rhiley for a few minutes (bubbles was their parting party-favor). Then, we went back in the house so mama could have a piece of cake. (Throwing a party makes you hungry!) Hannah decided she needed another little piece too, and wanted the candles lit again..so we had a reenactment of singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles. I wasn't really sure if Hannah would "get" this whole birthday thing yet, but she seems to. Of course it helps that we went to someone else's birthday party last weekend and she's been watching an "Elmos's World" video about birthday cakes lately. All in a all, it was a good day and I'm so grateful that God brought this amazing little girl into the world three years ago and that this year, He has brought her home!

My parents are coming tomorrow, so I'm sure there will be more birthday fun and her actual birthday is Wednesday. It's a school day, so we will just do a special but low-key celebration with just the two of us at home.

SOME PICTURES and Arm Update

I've got to have my hair "just right" before I can go to bed! (and what do you think about my new PINK cast!)


I LOVE the water play area at the zoo!!

My new Raggedy Ann doll was sent to me by my great-aunt Orella. It's as big as me and I love it!

Hannah's arm was casted today and we were told she needed it on for four weeks. She has an appointment to get it off Friday, Sept. 15th. Okay, the poor kid goes to Children's on the 14th for her pre-op appointment for her cleft surgery. She gets her cast off on the 15th, and then we have the weekend free before she goes in for her surgery on the 18th!! I asked if they could just cut the cast off while she was in surgery but they said no. Apparently it causes lots of dust to fly which is not good in a sterile environment. So, we will just be trotting back and forth to the dr. for a few days. Hannah, thankfully, doesn't seem to be in any pain with her arm and she is handling the cast well. She cried when the dr. came in to see her, but once she figured out there were no needles and no x-rays involved she was okay. She cooperated great for the casting. She actually has more freedom of movement with the cast than she did with the splint (that covered her elbow), so that has been good. And, we survived our first bath with the cast tonight. I ran just a little water in the tub and wrapped her cast in saran wrap and then taped a plastic bag over it. Worked like a charm!

Fun at the Zoo, School Update, and a Broken Arm!

Well, what a week it's been. Last Sunday we headed to the zoo. It's about the 4th time we've been this summer. Hannah always loves it. And because we have a season pass, I don't feel like I have to stay all day to get my money's worth! So, we go often for a short time (1-2 hours maximum). This time we hit the butterfly exhibit and the giraffe before heading to the kids play area. We always ride the carrosel and play in the water! Hannah loves the water best!

School is going very well, although I think Hannah is becoming a bit bossy! :-) The other day I snuck up on her and caught her walking up and down her preschool class (who were all sitting nicely in a line in the gym waiting to leave there). Well, all but Hannah. She was walking back and forth and bending down at each child with her finger on her lips telling them to be quiet!
She no longer cries when I drop her off or when I see her on the playground or in the gym (the two times a day my class and her class are together.) She ALWAYS runs up to me with a big smile yelling "Mama! Mama!". But, all she wants is a quick hug and then she runs off to play. When I pick her up in the afternoon, she is always playing. She tells me about her day - which is so cool to me with all her speech / language difficulties. But, she starts telling me words she can and signing and pointing to get her point across. Her teachers help interpret. So, when she signed "paint" and I asked "Did you paint today" - her teachers showed me her painting. Friday, she signed "book" and pointed to the books in her class and then signed "ice-cream". I asked if she read a book about ice-cream, and they said no - but they did read books and they did talk about ice-cream. I am just amazed that she tries to tell me about her day!

This weekend we went to a birthday party. We had two on the calendar, but only made one. Last night we went to a party at Jump Zone! and Hannah fractured her arm there. It was one of those "freak accidents" that no one could have helped. A man was climbing the inflatable slide and when he started climbing, no children were around. Hannah was clear on the other side of the room. But, as he neared the top, she took off running and was standing right under him. Everyone reached out to grab her back and at the same time, the man fell. We thought she had been pulled out of the way just in the nick of time, but she cried pretty hard and kept pointing to her hand. But, in just a minute, she ran off to play and seemed fine. So, we thought it was just a little sore. But, this morning, something just didn't seem quite right to me. She wouldn't put a lot of pressure on it. So, I called the After-hours clinic and headed over there. (A true blessing! We didn't have those when I was a kid - we sat in the emergency room for hours and hours and hours). In the waiting room, Hannah played and carried around heavy doll-furniture (she wanted to rearrange!) and laughed and sang and seemed fine. When the doctor examined her, he too thought she had not broken anything, but he had her arm x-rayed just to make sure. And, sure enough, there is a small fracture. Hannah's in a splint for now and we go early this week to have it casted for 2-4 weeks. Poor kid, it'll be off just in time for her to have her cleft palate surgery! The good news is she doesn't appear to be in pain. She did wake up once last night crying and I gave her something for it. But other than that, she's laughed and played and sang. She also doesn't seem to mind the splint. She hasn't tried to take it off and it hasn't really slowed her playing much. She did want to watch a video tonight for a little longer than she usually does. She wanted to watch it curled up in my lap and that was just fine with me. And of course, I had to treat her to ice-cream tonight. I'll keep you posted with what we find out Monday. And I will post pictures soon - I seem to be having a bit of trouble tonight.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for my little princess. She's a big girl now with her backpack! Most of you know she's at my school in the preschool program I teach in. Hannah's in the classroom next door. She had a great day and did well according to her teachers. She cried a couple times when she saw me but had to stay with her class. I expected that and she only cried for a couple minutes and then was fine. When I picked her up at the end of the day, she was happily playing. She saw me, said "hi" and kept playing. Then after just a minute, she cleaned up, got her backpack out of her cubby, and grabbed my hand to go.

This week as a whole has been far smoother than I expected. It had the potential to be rough. I left her with some friends ALL DAY Monday. It was a work day for teachers and we had orientation that night. Then, I left her again Tuesday for another work day. Then, she started school today in the room next door to me. But, she has had a good time each day AND has been relaxed and happy in the evenings when she's home with me. In the meantime, I have been able to relax knowing she is cared for by great people. I had a good day at school today too and am excited about my class this year. I have a great class and they will be fun to work with this year.

I have completely enjoyed having this summer off with Hannah and was a little worried about going back to work. But God has reminded me that He has called me to both of these areas of my life: being a mother AND being a teacher. I love doing both of those things. And during those times when I have to rely on others to care for her because of my job, I can do that with confidence knowing that none of my job responsibilities take God by suprise and that He is willing and able to take care of my little girl when I can't be there.

A Few More Pics

Here's a couple more we had done today of princess Hannah.

WOW! LOOK AT THESE PICTURES!

Hannah and I had pictures made at Portrait Innovations today. I thought they turned out wonderful! I just had to share a few (I got a disc with the pictures on it). If you live near Birmingham, their studio in Hoover was great! I highly reccomend them. Reasonably priced too - although I went a little crazy and probably got too many pictures. They were ALL good. Here's just a sampling.