I just had to share some cute pictures of Hannah!

I’ve been trying to help Hannah start to figure out how to crawl. She still gets stuck on her tummy with her arms in the air and legs kicking. Today she let me put her in the crawling position and she actually held it long enough for me to take some pictures!

We spent Saturday down at Tim’s brother Dan’s house while Glory and Michael were in town helping Dan and Maggie install new floors. Hannah had a great time hanging out with her oldest cousin Ruby. It is so cute to watch these two play!

When Hannah and I were down in Texas for vacation and Tim was in Haiti, her G’ma and G’pa Wayman took her shopping in the church book store. Hannah got 2 tutus with 2 matching headbands. Tim wasn’t too thrilled to find out when he got home, but she sure is cute!

Ever since we found out we were pregnant with Hannah I started doing some research about cloth diapers. The biggest piece of advice I took was to wait until Hannah got older and I wasn’t changing her diaper as often, because with cloth you have to change more often than disposables. (Thank you Ashley!) When Hannah got over 15lbs I looked back in to cloth diapers because then I wouldn’t have to buy a smaller size and switch to a bigger size soon after.

Luckily Tim’s sister-in-law started trying cloth diapers  a couple months ago ’cause I then could look at a cloth diapering system in person instead of everything I’ve read online. I was wanting to go a cheap and easy route, and I think I’ve got it! I mimicked Adrienne’s system ’cause it was the happy median of the two different Bummis diapers I was looking at. One of the Bummis was all cloth which meant you had to change out the cover almost as much as the prefold inside. The other Bummis option was all plastic and I didn’t want that all over Hannah’s skin. So what I have is the gdiaper, which is kinda the new fad in diapers. I like it though because it’s a cotton cover and then has a plastic liner that the prefold goes in to, so you don’t have to change the cover very often. They’re mainly advertised as the hybrid disposable because you can buy flushable disposable inserts, which you have to rip apart and stuff down the toilet with the swish stick they give you. I’m not sure if you go that route that you’re saving money, but it is to help save our earth. But honestly, I’m only in this to save money, and helping the earth is just a plus to it. Gdiapers can be kind of pricy, but I found a great deal on the ones I have!

diaperswappers.com is a great website if you’re looking for discounted new or used cloth diapers. I went with the used route since I hadn’t even tried cloth diapers yet and wasn’t sure if I’d stick with it. Now that I’m in the 2nd week of cloth diapering I am pretty sure I’ll stick with it, but I think I’m still kind of in the “honeymoon” stage. I don’t mind the extra work and cleaning of the diapers, I just have to get in the mindset that every time I have to change Hannah it is going to take a little more time than before.

If you’re thinking about cloth diapering, here is what I recommend with it working for Adrienne, me and someone else I was reading about on diaperswappers.com…

Use gdiapers and then buy the prefolds from greenmountaindiapers.com. The small yellow edged prefolds fit inside the medium and large gpants. For the small gdiapers buy the infant orange prefolds. From all the research I’ve done and talking to people about cloth diapering Green Mountain has the best prefolds out there. They are super absorbant, and that’s what you want! I found both my gdiapers and prefolds at diaperswappers used and in great condition!

I think I have the absolute best set up/lay out of our house to use cloth diapers. Hannah’s changing table is in her bedroom and the bathroom is connected to her room with the laundry room across the hall. Everything is very close and accessible. To save even more money…at least trying, they say to do a pre-rinse before washing, and then run it through another rinse to get all the soap out. I do the rinsing by hand in our utility sink. It doesn’t take much time.

Hannah was cracking up at Tim tonight. This lasted for a really long time before and after this video. He wasn’t doing anything except what you hear. Too funny. I hope you enjoy!

Hannah had her 4 month check-up today! She is 25 inches tall now and weighs 14 pounds and 9 ounces. Hannah is in the 75-85 percentile for her height, weight and head circumference, which was 16 and 3/4. She checked out great and did much better with her shots than last time. Hannah didn’t even notice that she got the first one, and then cried for the 2nd, but it wasn’t a screaming fit like she had for her 2 month appointment.

While we were waiting to go in for Hannah’s check-up the tv playing in the waiting room had some trashy news show that updates people on all the Hollywood gossip. Today they were talking about Tiger Woods and whatever is going on in his life. I first heard that something is going on with him from someone in our church last week, and it annoyed me that someone was talking to me about it, because it is not my business, nor theirs. And so today when this show came on and was talking about all the drama I really felt like I needed to change it, but there were 2 men sitting there looking at the screen off and on, so I wasn’t sure if they were interested in the show or not. After sitting there for a couple more minutes fighting with the thought that I really shouldn’t be listening to the garbage, and really neither should anyone else because it’s just gossip. It wasn’t uplifting in any way. I asked the men around me if they were watching and if they minded if I changed the channel. Luckily they weren’t interested in it, and it sparked a quick conversation about unnecessary gossip, which all gossip is unnecessary. It caught a few people’s eyes that I got up and changed the channel vocalizing why I didn’t want to watch it. It’s been a while since I have boldly stood up about my morals, and I was hesitant to do so, but am glad I did.

I haven’t told many people that Tim and I follow the Baby Wise philosophy with Hannah. We’ve found that people either love it, or hate it. Luckily we have people really close to us that love it, and we can see that it has worked with their kids. It has been a real life saver though with raising Hannah, helping us know how to arrange her daily schedule to be best for her and us. Otherwise I know I would be one super stressed momma without a clue of what to do.

We had to dig out our Baby Wise book this past week after being baffled of what to do with Hannah. She wasn’t napping well at all, we would put her down for a nap, but she would lay there talking for a while, then finally fall asleep, only to wake up wide awake 45 minutes later! So I read up and we jumped her from a 3 hour schedule to a 4 hour schedule, and she has been doing wonderfully! We get to enjoy 2 hours with her awake, and then she’ll take a 2 hour nap, which is so wonderful to know that I have a 2 hour block to get things done (like exercise and shower, yay!).

So here’s a rough outline of what Hannah’s day looks like:

8 am up after sleeping through the night! Woohoo! eat, play

10 am nap

12 pm eat, play

2 pm nap

4 pm eat, play

6 pm nap

8 pm eat, play

9 or 9:30 down for the night!

Hannah has been growing and developing like crazy! It is so much fun now to watch her purposely reach out for something and grab it with her little hands. She is still a little spastic with her arms, but when she concentrates really hard she can get them to do what she wants.

Hannah has also been sleeping really well lately. Up until this last week we have always slept her on her side. I know, I know, “back to sleep” but she really slept well on her sides. But this week I started napping and sleeping her on her back because the other day she was super fussy going down for a nap…I put her on her back, and she napped better than she ever has. So we slept her on her back last night and I didn’t hear her cry once through the night!

I am really looking forward to the next 3 months. They are going to go by fast with all of the holidays and traveling coming up. Next week we are spending Thanksgiving with Dan and Maggie, then Christmas is out in Pennsylvania with Tim’s family, then my family will be coming out to PA for Hannah’s dedication and to see Hannah’s great great grandmother in Maryland and get a 5 generation picture. We will get a break from traveling in January, then in February we’ll head to Texas over Valentines Day and at the end of February we’re heading to Chicago for the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. It is going to be so much fun to travel and show off Hannah to everyone. I’m just praying Hannah will think it’s fun too!

Hannah has been learning a lot lately and 2 of those things are her high pitch squeal and to giggle! Enjoy the video.

We’ve been staying pretty busy around here. We’re all pretty much better, just a little bit of a stuffy nose, but not in bed sick all day anymore, so that’s great! Last weekend David, Adrienne, Noah and Addison came up for a visit. We had a great time going out to eat, which was  a bit crazy with 3 kids and 4 adults. Restaurants aren’t really made for children. We spent most of the time inside from the dreary weather, but were able to get a nice walk in on Sunday after church. It is so much fun to get Hannah and Addison together with them being 3 months apart (exactly) and see the differences in their developments. It’s going to be so much fun to watch them grow up!

Tim and I have been trading places this last week with me working as a temp at the church while they look to hire a new secretary. To make that work a little better Tim will go to his meetings in the mornings, and then on the days I need to go work, he would come home and work here while taking care of Hannah. It feels like this week has been pretty long, but I have really enjoyed getting out of the house and around adults, and make a little bit of income to help us out.

Today we got a good snow storm. When I went to the church this morning it was raining, and all I needed was a light jacket. By the time I went home for the day the snow was coming down hard and I wish I had my heavy coat. Despite the snow, Tim and I had to get back out to go open a local checking account. We’ve been using our bank down in TX, but having to mail our checks in is a hassle, and we end up waiting longer than we should.

And…my most exciting news…. Southwest Airlines was having a great sale this last week, so Tim and I were able to purchase tickets to go to Texas in February! We haven’t used up any of his vacation days, and they start over February 18th, so we needed to use them, and figured February will be a great time ’cause we’ll more than likely be ready for a break from all the snow and cold temperatures. I’m super excited to take Hannah to Texas and let my parents show her off to people down there.

I took photage of Hannah to make a video, but Tim got to it first. So here’s his video. I’ll have to get more of Hannah later.