Keeping Busy

I'm just about done with my maternity leave, I head back work on Monday. It went so quickly and as expected I'm sad thinking about leaving Will home three days a week. I'm also pretty sad to be leaving Hannah behind again. As challenging as the last couple months have been (new baby brother, big girl bed, 2 and winter all at once was a lot), we've had an awful lot of fun while I've been home. Hannah's pretty chatty these days and listening to her take care of her babies is like watching myself in a mirror. I find myself chuckling at what she says a good portion of the day and even at 5:20 in the morning, it's nice to be greeted with a good morning smile. Since Hannah doesn't have a baby book, I felt like I should document what she's like as a (almost) 2 1/2 year old and how we've passed these winter months.

I can't truly capture the amount of time that Hannah spends taking care of her babies. Wally, Emma, Jake, Baby, Other Baby, Dolly and (curious) George are each diapered, fed, burped, rocked to sleep and read to at least three times a day. I am not exaggerating when I say that Hannah spends the first hour she is awake each morning tending to her babies. And then I usually have to convince her to come to breakfast. She brings at least one just about everywhere lately - they've even been rotating and taking turns at daycare. Dolly went one day last week and Baby went this week. When we've been visiting my parents Daddy is always left to tend to those that are left behind. I tried to video Hannah tending to her brood last night but she got kind of shy when the video camera came out (sorry about the one pigtail - must have been a rough afternoon at daycare).

Wilson and I joined a gym in January which happens to have a Kids Gym. Hannah and I have gone a few times and she's turning out to be quite a gymnast. She loves hanging on the monkey bars and climbing - I think the playground is going to be more fun than ever this spring. And I think we may be looking for some gymnastics classes next winter. The funny part about the gym is that we have to walk past some windows overlooking the pool to get to it. Hannah is completely freaked out by the people in bathing caps and googles. When we went earlier today we had to walk as far as from the windows as possible and we were not allowed to stop - Hannah actually ran. I guess swimming lessons are on hold for now.

Note the lonely girl in the back of the gym. We had the entire place to ourselves!

Playing outside on the days where the temperature has permitted it. The swing set in the backyard continues to be a hit even though it doesn't have any swings on it right now!

I'll admit to taking lots of random car rides in January/February in search of drive thru caffeine. Hannah now recognizes Starbucks as "the place where Mommy gets her coffee" (we have a drive thru about 10 minutes from here and it's been a great late afternoon outing many many times). She also readily points out Dunkin' Donuts ("donuts" or "Where Mimi gets her coffee") and McDonald's ("french fries") when we're driving around. Anytime we're in a drive through line she pipes up from the back seat "Chicken nuggets and french fries, please." Ooops - I think we've created a monster!

Hannah's a big fan of the Berenstain Bears (or the 'Huggy Bears' as they're called in our house), Sid the Science Kid, Clifford and Curious George and we tend to succumb to an episode or two of TV in the late afternoon. She's pretty much given up her nap but does sit on her bed and read books for a while every afternoon. Despite the non-stop talking she does while she's up there, she comes down refreshed and ready to go again.

She's a pretty happy little girl most of the time. She loves coloring, stickers, playing in her kitchen and her little toy house that we have set up in the basement. She sings good night to all her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends almost every night (or instructs me to sing to them). She's adjusted pretty easily to life with a baby brother and he smiles from ear to ear when she comes over to talk to him.