No alarm clock needed

Obviously, Hannah didn't get the memo about the time change last night in Europe. She was up bright and early at 6 a.m., which because of the time change was really 5 a.m. That makes for one LONG morning. We have all had very long talks with her today about sleeping a little later. She just looks at us all like we are crazy. And quite frankly, if she continues waking up at 5 a.m. I will officially go crazy!!

Europe has ruined my children...

My kids HATE to travel. After nearly six years in Europe, they have absolutely no interest in seeing castles, churches, monuments, museums, or towers. They are finished with touring and want nothing more than movie theaters, American shopping malls, swimming pools and maybe an occasional amusement park. But when family comes to visit, a little traveling is necessary. My mom and Dennis were here last week and we decided to take a trip to Tuscany. I had to prepare Alex & Tara WEEKS IN ADVANCE of our travel plans. We were only gone 4 days and 3 nights, but Alex simply could not understand why we would waste a perfectly good three day weekend to go to Tuscany!! (it was Columbus Day weekend so they were out of school) Plus we were going back to Pisa, a place they had already been....imagine the horror!!! Alex secretly begged my mom to tell me that SHE didn't really want to tour on the last day, but that instead SHE was ready to come back to Naples. He just knew that if GeeGee didn't want to stay that I would leave early. He said, "Come on GeeGee, take one for your grandkids." GeeGee has a soft spot for her grandkids, but I won out and we finished our touring. We went to Florence, Pisa, Volterra, Pienza and Montepulciano (small towns in Tuscany). It was a weekend full of sightseeing, Italian shopping, pasta and wine. Our kids worst nightmare, but somehow they survived.



The Leaning Tower of Pisa



Just like her big brother and sister, Hannah wasn't excited about seeing a tower that leans.




I don't know who is grumpier...Hannah or her dad.




Alex wanted to take the picture rather than be in it.

Long gone the lazy days of summer....

Yes, the lazy days of summer are long gone, even though the weather still feels like summer here in Naples. We are full force into fall activities and the craziness of busy schedules: Alex has football practice twice a week and he has had 2 football games (1-1). He also attends a Christian youth organization called Club Beyond. He has lots of homework and we are anxious to see if his straight A's continue in 7th grade. Tara does cheerleading twice a week and gymnastics once a week. She has cheered at a high school football game and a community event in the past few weeks. Matt is taking his FINAL TWO CLASSES to complete his Bachelor's degree. He works 60+ hours a week and taking these 2 classes is going to be a heavy load, so he is counting down the days until Dec. 14 when he is finished. I am staying busy with my Bible study group (PWOC). I am on the Board for the organization, so I have lots of added responsibilities besides just keeping up with my Bible study. PWOC has been my lifeline while here in Naples. Hannah just spends her days charming us all and making us laugh. Her personality is so sweet and she is really becoming quite the social butterfly...when it suits her. She certainly has a way of getting her wants and needs across. She is starting to say a few words...baby, bye bye, and our favorite of all...STOP. How appropriate that one of her first words would be 'stop'...you can tell she has 2 older siblings that love to pester and annoy her.

I'm posting some pictures of our cute little pumpkin.

3 months later....

Hannah is such a sweet baby and has adjusted into our family amazingly well. She is adored by her big brother and sister (and her mom and dad) and has accepted her role as the baby of the family. She spends half of her time either upside down or being twirled, tickled or otherwise engaged in some sort of move to get her to laugh. She is well known by all the kids in the neighborhood and everywhere we go she hears "Hi, Hannah!!!" followed by someone wanting to hold her. She certainly isn't lacking for any attention!

Hannah LOVES:
*the park and going down the slide...she climbs, runs and plays...

*shoes and going bye bye

*Sesame Street....yeah!!

*french fries and apple juice (go figure)

*her thumb!!!

She squeals and runs to her daddy when he walks in the door at the end of his work day, but she is incredibly attached to her mommy. She goes to the church nursery one day a week while I go to a Bible study and she cries when I leave her, but she soon stops. She immediately runs to me when I go to get her and is very happy to see me. The nursery workers all rave that she is such a sweet baby.

She is doing all the things an 18 month old baby should be doing, except maybe talking, which we know will come in time. She definitely understands everything we say to her. We stopped giving her a bottle and she has a mouth full of teeth so she can eat just about anything. She sleeps through the night, but still doesn't take long naps (boo hoo!). Some days she still takes 2 naps, but I'm working on getting her to just one long (hopefully) nap.

She hasn't gained much weight, but we think that is because she started walking immediately after we got her, so she is a baby on the move! She "donated" 5 viles of her blood to be tested for any medical concerns (that was NOT a fun day!) and has since received an absolute clean bill of health from the doctor. We are having to catch up on all her immunizations, so she will be getting lots of shots in the coming months, but she should be caught up by the time she is two years old.

People often say to us that Hannah is a lucky little girl. We believe we are, in fact, the lucky ones. We feel like we have won the parent lottery. She is a loving, happy little girl. She is full of life and laughter. There is no sadness, no grief, no signs of a painful beginning to life. She trusts us and has bonded with us completely and totally. We know that she is a true gift from God. There is not a day goes by that we don't thank God for her. We are so incredibly blessed to have her and to be her parents.

Too tired to care

Apparently, Hannah wasn't enjoying our lunch conversation.

I'm guilty

I admit it, I'm one of those bad, bad mommies that uses TV as a babysitter. But before you call in the child psychologists to repair the damage or put me on the Dr. Phil show, let me explain...

I am not a big TV watcher. My TV is rarely, if ever, on during the day. I have nothing against TV, I just don't watch it much. I can't stand the noise, so unless I'm actually sitting watching something, the TV is off. But I admit I have been actively promoting Sesame Street to Hannah. Not because I have strong feelings towards the show and it's "educational content", but because it is on at a convenient time. It comes on at 8 a.m. which is just a few minutes after Alex and Tara leave for school and usually the perfect time for me to either take a shower or get a few things done around the house. So for the past several weeks when Sesame Street comes on I get all excited and make a big deal of it and dance and sing along with the show. Well, for 2 weeks Hannah has had absolutely no part of it. She looks at the TV, looks at me, and off she goes to find her next potential disaster point. She couldn't care less about Big Bird, the Grouch, or Elmo. But I guess the power of marketing and persuasion finally got the best of her. Today, she actually sat through the entire show!!!! Do you realize that is 60 total minutes of uninterrupted ME time! It was amazing. So amazing that I had to keep walking in the living room every 30 seconds wondering what she was doing. I was sure she was not really watching TV. But for 60 whole minutes she sat there, sucking her thumb, holding her blanket and behaved like American children all over the country. She was glued to the TV. But it was Sesame Street, so don't stone me, ok? And I promptly turned it off at 9:00 and played with her. So have I traumatized her for life? Will she have to go on Oprah someday and talk about her horrible childhood of watching Sesame Street while her mom showered and put on make up? Somehow, I think she will survive.

Scars from the battlefield...i.e. the skatepark

Alex has become quite the skateboarding enthusiast. I'm not overly thrilled with the sport as I know we are likely to spend some time in the E.R. because of some attempt to nail the quarter pike (or something along those lines). Thankfully, Alex's first battlefield scar didn't result in any broken bones, but he did get literally knocked unconscious and had a bump the size of a golf ball on his eye. Now it has turned a rather nice shade of blue, black and purple. Once he regained consciousness and realized he was going to live, he could hardly wait to go back outside (minus the skateboard) to show off his battle scars. Over a week later the bruise remains, all in time for school pictures tomorrow.

Oh, and for the record, Alex wanted me to take these pictures. After all, they serve as great proof for any doubting skaters as to the extent of his injury.