Beach Babe

We had such a wonderful time in Coronado, San Diego last week!!! Jim's sister, Therese, was so great to us! We stayed with her and she was our "nanny" here and there so we could go to dinner, go on bike rides, and just have some Jim and Robyn time! Here are some pics of Little Miss Sunshine enjoying the sand!

Not sure I like her playing with the umbrella pole...

Next year, we're building sandcastles!

Oh boy, the beach is tiring!!!

Thank you so much for having us Thereseki!!! We had a blast!

Ghetto Mom

I did the tackiest, most embarrassing thing today. First let me give you a little bit of background: Every few months or so, we get a flier in the mail telling us that there will be a donation truck in our area and if we have any items to donate, we can leave them out in front of our house to be picked up on that date. So I leave my bag of really old, weathered clothes outside, along with our old lawnmower that doesn't even work. Around mid-morning I am driving down the street and I notice a house a few blocks away that also has their donation outside. There is a really nice, leather loveseat with a bunch of stuff on top. For some reason the stuff catches my eye, and this is what I see:
A really nice toddler toy! So I decide that I am just going to drive by, slow down, hop out, grab it, and keep going....I know it sounds bad, but afterall it IS a donation, right! So as I get close to stopping, the owner of the house comes outside to put more stuff out, so I get a little embarrassed and keep driving. Then I decide that I will just turn around and ask him if I can have it! I know, totally ghetto, right! His wife walks out as I'm asking him, and aside from looking at me like I am a complete weirdo, they were very nice. Luckily Hannah was in the car with me, and I just explained that I have a 9month old and she would just LOVE to play with it! I did play dumb at first and asked if they were having a garage sale and could I buy the toy (I know they weren't having a garage sale on a Thursday in 110 degree heat, but what the heck, it helped break the ice). They were very nice to give it to me (OK actually Hannah) and even threw in a little piggy bank toy that makes noise, sings, counts, and has little fake coins. Don't worry, the fake coins are big so they are not a choking hazard!

I get home and tell Jim the story, and of course he orders me to "never tell this story to anyone...how embarrassing!!!" But I can't help it! I told my sister and she referred to it as "dumpster diving", but I prefer to call it "asking". You know what they say....One man's trash is another man's treasure! AND I just read an article that said Jessica Alba takes things out of the trash all the time and refurbishes them, so if she can do it, I certainly can too!! ha!


She wouldn't even look up at the camera because she was so interested.... Why does this little book that's attached only have one page???...
Later when I went to Target, I found out they are selling them brand-new for 39.99...looks like mommy made a good deal!

These are my dancing legs...

This is a totally separate day...Baby food can still be a battle at times. When she's not interested, she's not interested...and she is very good at rubbing it all over her face, ears, hair, etc. Good thing bathtime is right after dinner!

This is the 4th of July. She loves looking at books!

And now, for a very special moment...standing by herself! Jim and I both got to see her do this. We were so excited! She does this for a few seconds and then just sits down. The most exciting part is that she usually just stands straight up from a sitting position, without using anything to pull herself up. woohoo!

We're off to San Diego! We'll bring back some beach pictures!

Entertainment

This is Hannah watching a Baby Einstein video. It's hard to believe, but she will literally sit there like this for 1/2 hour and watch in awe of the happenings on the screen. It's pretty entertaining to watch her watching it!

We have spent a little money on toys for Hannah, but most of her toys have been given as gifts or handed down from other people. We have about 1,000 toys lying around the house. Toys that light up, toys that shake, toys that rattle, toys that make strange noises, toys that beep, toys that play music, toys that sing to you, toys that imitate animal sounds, toys that are soft and cuddly, toys with ultra-bright colors, toys that stack...you get the idea. But what you see below is one of Hannah's favorite things to play with:

Yes, that's right, old water bottles. They make a wonderful crinkling sound and are really fun when they have just about an inch of water left in them! And then there's this next wonderful discovery:

Hmmm, an empty baby wipe box. I think I might be able to use this as a way of pulling myself up to the standing position. It's just the perfect size and shape (NOT!)

Oops, it tipped over. I wonder why that happened. Well, I'm not finished exploring this fine mechanism yet...

Oh look, this one is even bigger and has a blue lid! Now this is the perfect device for helping me to stand! I might even climb up on it and sit on it, which will really freak my mom out!

Needless to say, we had to remove Hannah from all of these dangerous non-toys, so we went to the pool. It was her first time in the kiddie pool. Although she crawls all over the place at home, she is still uncertain of crawling around in the tub or kiddie pool. She wasn't too crazy about the waterfalls either. But once she adjusted, we had a great time!

Father's Day and More!

Here are a few pics from our niece's wedding (Mary Wilson--Jim's niece--remember he is the youngest of 9 kids--I know, it's hard to believe we have a niece that's old enough to get married!)
JIm calls this one her "fake smile".

Deer in the headlights look.

That's more like it!!!

On Father's Day, we went to John and Vickie's house. Here is Hannah surrounded by guys... cousin Luke, Jim, Uncle Dick, Uncle John, and Jim's dad Gramps, who is hidden by Hannah.

I just love my dad so much!!! He is so funny...
Except when I don't get my way... Actually this picture was taken when I was trying to get a good picture of Hannah for Father's Day. She kept crawling all over the couch, of course, and I was afraid she was going to fall off. So after trying to reposition her about 10 times, she got upset at me. I'm sorry!

Chicago or Bust!

Hannah and I went to Chicago last week to visit my cousin Heather and her family. Her and her husband have 2 boys--Owen (4) and Liam (6 months). We had a great visit. The weather was a bit cloudy all week, but it was a nice change of pace from the heat. We had a little rain here and there. The scenery was beautiful--everything is just so green there!

I was so proud of my little sweet pea on the airplane! She fell asleep on my lap BEFORE take-off on the way there and then slept through most of the flight! She was only awake for about the last hour. On the way home she was a bit more grumpy, but did fall asleep about an hour into the flight and then slept most of the time. One easy baby I tell you! She kept looking in between the seats and giggling at the passengers behind us. She was completely cracking herself up! So funny!

This is Hannah's first time in a real bathtub (no baby-sized tub here)...sharing some suds with Owen!

Hangin' out in Liam's crib with Owen...I've learned to pull myself up to a standing position and hold myself up!

Look Liam, this is how you sit up. You are so close! Soon you will be able to do this without being propped up!

I just can't sit still for very long!

Enjoying the beautiful Chicago Botanic Garden!

My mom is sooooo funny!

The Bikini

As many of you know, before Hannah was born, we didn't find out whether we were having a boy or a girl. However, we both agreed that if we were to have a girl, that she wouldn't get earrings until she was old enough to know what they were and to take care of them, AND we wouldn't put her in a baby bikini! No if's and's or but's...those were our girl rules.

Then Jim's sister, Mary Irene, came to visit from Minnesota. She brought Hannah some really cute outfits. She also brought Hannah a BABY BIKINI!! Mary Irene is fairly conservative and so we were just shocked at the sight of it. But, since it was from her, we decided it would be OK! It's an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, flowery purple, very cute bikini!!!

Here is Hannah getting ready for the water! Enjoying the nice cool water with mom!

I always have fun with my dad!

Look how cute we both are!

Oops...mom forgot to turn this the right direction before she uploaded it. I hope my tan lines aren't too obvious!

Wow...fun in the sun is so tiring! I am ready for a nap!!!

Now I wonder if they'll let me get my ears pierced...

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a few weeks since I last updated our blog! What can I say, other than life has been so HECTIC with the end of the school year. Jim and I (and Hannah too!) are now officially on summer break, although Jim will be teaching summer school in June, so not as much of a break for him. Hannah and I will be busy hangin' out together, hitting the pool, maybe the mall too! Don't tell Jim! Anyway, I promise I will have a more exciting blog with more information soon. I need to upload some photos. For now, just enjoy these pics of Hannah crawling EVERYWHERE! Oh and one more thing....my sister is expecting a GIRL to balance out her life with her two darling, yet crazy, boys! Congrats Jasmyn and Joel...we love you and are so haaappppyyyy for you!