Movie star

Hannah's been taking more steps on her own, so we decided to try again to get some decent footage. These are some clips we got a couple of evenings ago playing in the kitchen before her bed time. I kind of wish I had video of her right now, having an absolute ball disassembling the paper recyling behind my chair. Happy as a clam! Of course now I've broken the spell and she's off exploring the study with all of it's various cords and other hazards. And I'm off!

I just had to add...

Some more of my Hannah favorites...

Her extremely expressive eyebrows. Sometimes she'll see me and raise them just before she smiles. Magic.

Her love of pairs. Two things in one hand is her joy. Two of the same thing is bliss.

The fact that her hair is filling out in a nice mullet.

Happy feet. I'm sure it's something that many babies do, but she still kicks her feet sometimes when she's happy. Just in case she can't stand to take her thumb out of her mouth and smile, she can still let us know how she's doing.

When I pointed at a pretty sunset the other night, she pointed and sighed.

The fact that she fell asleep this afternoon even though a really intense hail storm started within minutes of me putting her down. (Somehow it always comes back to sleep.)

The sweetest Hannah things

Kisses - she'll lean in with her lips out for a kiss. The last couple of days, she's leaned over to give me a kiss before I put her in the high chair. I'm not sure why she does it, but I like to think it's her way of saying thank you for the coming food!


Standing - if we put her down standing, she'll just stay there for a while, looking around, grabbing her belly, contemplating life. Sometimes she'll even take a couple of shuffle steps before dropping down to crawl.


Laughing on the changing table - she loves to play with me with her feet after I change her. If I rest my head on her foot, she'll move it and drop my head on her belly. Big giggles for both of us.

The fact that she snorts when she laughs hard.


The silly grin - I have seen the face that she'll make when we tell her to smile for pictures when she's 4. It's this impish, squinty-eyed, toothy grin. Sometimes it's followed by a kiss.


"All done" - she's figured out how to sign it and does it when her tray is empty, or when I take the tray, or when she's playing, or in the bath, or... We're working on the meaning, but it's really cute when she signs!


Sleeping - which she's doing right now.

Here's a funny sequence involving the end of a banana...

Too much fun!

Let's call this the "maybe not so witty, but full of photos and video" update - 'cause it's been way too long! We had a really nice Christmas at home with my parents here. We also hosted the Doggett (Lindsey) family party, which was a lot of fun. We really appreciate so many people making the drive from all points Texas to share some holiday time with us in our home. Some of our friends and neighbors were even brave enough to join us!

Our wonderful neighbors, Scott and Lauren - recently engaged!

My mom/running buddy, Cynthia. We ran half of the White Rock Marathon together in December - with no strollers!

Hannah spent Christmas as most babies do, enjoying the wrapping paper and bows and falling asleep in her high chair. She received so many wonderful gifts from family and friends. It's been fun to watch her explore new things - and dress her in new cute clothes! (And she got to repeat it all a month later at her birthday! See below...)

She only got away with this because Grammy was watching her!

Yeah, whatever mom - this looks like something I can tear/eat!

After the presents.

A couple of days after Christmas, we left my mom and dad to close up the house (including taking down the tree - THANK YOU!) and drove to Copper Mountain, CO for the annual LeCuyer ski vacation. We had a fabulous time skiing, and thanks to my wonderful in-laws, I spent more time away from Hannah than ever before! Of course the close-in condo also meant that we got come back for lunch and a bit of play with the munchkin - and Elliot and Juliet, our niece and nephew, who were tons of fun. One of the highlights of the week for me was baking Andy's birthday cake with Elliot, who's almost four. What a good helper! (Not to put the pressure on, but once again the good photos are on Andy's mom's camera, so you'll have to wait to see them...)

Of course we couldn't get too settled at home, because Hannah turns one tomorrow!! We had her birthday party this Sunday to avoid any Superbowl conflicts. It was really fun to have a house full of friends and babies. Props to the single friends who braved the crowd! Hannah once again enjoyed the wrapping paper and of course had fun eating her cake and a taste of chocolate mousse. Her dork mom made a virtually sugar-free, half whole wheat carrot cake. Then I covered it in cream cheese frosting that had nothing low-sugar or low-fat about it, just in case it was too bland for the adults! Andy made superb chocolate cookies, which got way more compliments than the cake, but at least it was edible!

Hannah and her friend Caroline have fun at the after party.

Don't think this one needs a caption...

In addition to all of the holiday festivies, we've been having a great time playing with Hannah. She's sooo close to walking right now. She's gotten to the point where she'll take several steps to get to a toy (or food), but she's also just as likely to drop and crawl. It's exciting, but I'm really in no hurry to be chasing a toddler! The rate at which she learns new things right now is astounding. It's such a joy to watch her find new ways to play and communicate. Our favorite is probably her kissing sprees in the mornings. And they're getting much less sloppy!

Exploring her world.

In the mama report, I think I'm starting to hit the point where I'm needing some more intellectual stimulation. So I'm starting a book group and am currently registering people for another session of baby music classes. I'm shooting for 3 classes this time, so it will almost be like having a real part-time job! I'm excited, but also apprehensive about adjusting to having a real schedule that's not dictated solely by Hannah. I think I've got it figured out, but I also realize that her schedule will change in the 8 weeks of classes. But for now, it's not enough income to justify child-care, so Hannah is automatically enrolled in every section!

On the more professional front, Andy's with an in-town client right now, so Hannah and I will both really enjoy having him around more. Even if it means earlier mornings to say goodbye on his way to the gym!

The first video was my best attempt at getting Hannah walking. I now understand why these videos are taken with 2 adults around! The second is her after her nap today. Sleep sacks rock!

Walking with no (mommy) hands!

I picked up a well-used walking toy at a neighbor's garage sale last weekend, and this was Hannah's first journey!

It's been a while!

Story time with Papa.

What a fun time we've been having! We had a wonderful visit to Carlisle, PA for Thanksgiving with the LeCuyers. Hannah got some great time with Grandma and Grandpa, and got to play with (watch and be amazed by) her older cousins. We kept up the family tradition of all doing the Turkey Trot at the local Y and enjoyed another wonderful group-effort dinner! Anna sent us home with another huge bag of wonderful hand-me-downs for Hannah. What a blessing to have such a generous family (and a niece who's not too much older than Hannah). I'll post Thanksgiving photos when I get them from Karen. She takes wonderful photos, so we didn't even bother taking our camera!

Hannah's a real joy these days. Even when she's tired, she's generally in a good mood. She spends a lot of her day standing and cruising around various pieces of furniture. When she's not doing that, she's emptying the contents of a drawer - preferably the tupperware drawer. It's a lot of fun to watch her sort through and find her favorite objects. A couple of times recently, she came across a sock then kept searching until she found another one, then joyfully presented them to me. Baby girl can sort! I tried really hard to capture her accomplishment on film, but she kept crawling towards the camera.

Hannah sharing her passion with her friends after music class.

We joined other McKinsey families for the Dallas Christmas Parade a couple of weekends ago and got a photo of Hannah in McSanta's lap. She hadn't napped all day, so this was the best we could get!

In grownup news... Andy's wrapping up his current project and will be taking a long break for the holidays - yay! I've managed to get myself back into decent shape and ran half of the White Rock Marathon with my mom friend Cynthia last weekend. We ran a cool 2:18 and lived to enjoy a hearty IHOP meal with they guys and the babies! I've also just wrapped up my first session of baby music classes. It was really neat to get to put my experience to use at a new level. Thank you to the moms who participated!

Some fun photos of Hannah...

Exploring my 30-year-old scooter!

9 months

A visit from Grandpop (my dad) marked the end of a busy couple of weeks at the LeCuyers. The painters have almost finished a complete repaint of the exterior of our house, and some new trim work makes it look great! Hannah is an accomplished crawler and puller-upper, and cut her first top tooth yesterday - with no noticeable crankiness! I'm expecting a delayed reaction any minute now. (Or maybe this will make up for 3 colds in a month.)

It's amazing to me that I've now known Hannah for as long as took to wait to meet her. This has been a wonderful age. It's such a joy to watch her discover her world and grow into her own little person. I've been wondering lately how I can possibly stand to see her grow up! I can't imagine not getting to hold her cuddly baby self and not being the recipient of so many gorgeous gummy smiles.

Fun Hannah things...

She laughs often, even snorting like her mama sometimes. She protests little at meals (though she mysteriously dislikes sweet potatoes right now, which is discouraging when you see how much orange there is in our freezer!), and has for the first time ever not been draining every ounce of every bottle. She pulls up on everything and is usually quite content to play at the coffee table or playing kissy-face with her reflection in the oven door. Speaking of... slobbery baby kisses have become a regular occurrence around here. If you're lucky, she'll stick out her tongue, yell, or chew a bit while she kisses you!

Favorite toy - the coffee table and whatever's on it.

Note the snotty nose. A much-too-common occurrence! From pumpkin pants to playing in the pumpkins.
So much to discover in her world!