Sister Babies

Welcome Arya Grace Tilford!

She is a beauty!  Arya was born on Saturday, April 21st late in the evening.  (For the record Arya, your momma worked very hard and for a LONG time to see you.)  Six pounds & 15 ounces, 21 1/4 inches long and one head FULL of DARK hair!  She's already knocking Hannah out of the park in the hair department.  :)

There are many reasons to be excited about Miss Arya-

1.  I am now an aunt! :) 

2.  She's healthy and gorgeous!

3.  She and Hannah are so close in age!

It's crazy to think how far apart 7 months seems right now, but in actuality, Hannah and Arya will probably be in the same grade in school.  Whoa.  Lara and I are going to have a lot of fun raising babies so close together.  Lots of stories, lots of "what do we do now" moments, and much sister bonding.  

Arya and Hannah both had their first outings with their Grandma Diane at Target.  (Hopefully Target sees what devoted shoppers we are and gives our children full-ride scholarships to college. Ha. But, seriously.)

Hannah was so little for so long that she is wearing the same outfit at TWO MONTHS that Arya is wearing as a NEWBORN.

In just a few weeks, Hannah and I are going to venture up to the NE to meet Miss Arya.  We can't wait!  Plus, it will provide a nice trial run on a plane before our looonnnngggg flight to India here in a month.  But, until we can get a picture of the four of us all together, this side-by-side shot will have to do.

I can't wait to meet you, Arya!

p.s.  Yes, I know my hair desperately needs to be highlighted.  Don't worry, I have an appointment coming! :)

Family Date

I love Wednesdays.  Always.  It's our date night.  Don't be confused by the word "date."  It's not a "get dressed up, go to a fancy meal and a movie" kind of date.  We're simple people.  And we have a baby.  It's more like a "Bob and I are both home for an entire evening, let's eat a home-cooked meal together and go to Menards or Target" kind of date.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

This last Wednesday it was nice out so we decided for a change of pace to head to the park and have a picnic.  It was so much fun!  Hannah loves the swings, so we had a blast swinging, laughing, and just being a family. 

Loving Life

Giggles

Bob was a great sport and let me take gobs of pictures.  He even set this one up on a self-timer so that we could get a family pic! What a stud!

Family of 3

Sleeping

Sleeping Beauty

Dear Momma,

I decided to celebrate Thursday by taking a 2 1/2 hour nap.

Love, Hannah

P.S.  Don't expect for me to repeat this daily.  It's only when you least expect it.  :)

Play Dates

You know what's crazy?  Growing up.  It happens way too fast.  Here's an example:

It seems like just the other day (okay, maybe like 9 years ago).... I was in college loving life and spending time with my RA Tracy.  A few years later, she marries a boy who when to my high school.  (small world).  Now, she has two kiddos and I have one.  Whoa.  That happened fast.

And PERK!  She lives in the same town as me.   What does that all equal?  A play-date.  More like a "you should come over and we can talk about life, the kids can play, and we can take lots of pictures" date.

Our oldest babies are about a year apart.  What fun!  It was the first time that they actually "played" together.  The last time we tried Landon just growled (more like a "Hello, how are you?" growl) at Hannah. Ha!

Just Reading

Who knew Hannah liked to wrestle?

Our girls are about 6 months apart in age.  Its crazy how big of a gap 6 months feels like now, but they will probably be in the same grade at school!

The girls

Our second play-date was to the park with some of our K-State friends.   It was a little chilly, but overall a beautiful day to enjoy the outdoors.  

Hannah with Libby, Katie, and Misha

If sororities had a "house baby" like they do a HouseMom, I'm pretty sure Hannah would win out for Alpha Xi Delta. (Forgive me, ADPi...I still love you).  Since Hannah and I do a lot of different Bible studies with these girls, she has lots of friends in the house.

I love this picture.  Misha comes over to our house at least once a week and Hannah just can't get enough of her!  I think they are destined to be best friends. :)

And, of course, I had to leave you with another pic of me and my sweet girl.  I just can't get enough of her!

Me and My Girl

P.S.  Please notice that my baby is wearing a Juicy Couture shirt, one sock, and a hat.  And, no, she did not pick out her outfit.  I did.  :)

Easter

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:5b-6

Yay!  He is Risen! :)

I love Easter.  Not just because of all of the newness of life outside- flowers, trees blooming and budding, birds singing- but because of what it means.  Christ has beaten death.  Christ reigns.  Hallelujah.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter with our little family of 3.  Instead of heading back to Kansas City to spend it with family, we just stayed in good ol' Manhattan.  Glorious.  Since we do a lot of traveling, a lot of times staying at home feels like a vacation.

Although it was Hannah's first Easter, we didn't really even do anything that "Easter-y."  No basket, no dying of eggs, not even any jelly beans (mama's fav.)  But, to our surprise, on Easter morning, our house had been "egg-ed" by some of our friends.  They had scattered some plastic eggs filled with candy throughout our humongous 10x10 front yard. :)  It was so fun!  Even though Hannah is too little to even understand what was going on, we took some pictures that are definitely worth sharing.

Looking for Eggs with Mama

I love this picture of Hannah and Bob.  I've learned that the best way to capture great pics with a very fast moving baby and an average camera is to use the "sport" setting.  It takes lots of pictures quickly.  That's how this great pic was snapped.  I'm so glad I caught this moment.  

What do you think he's saying?  ---  "Hannah, let's get all the eggs filled with chocolate before Mom.  I'll share with you."  Probably not.  I bet he's saying, "Hannah, I love you.  Hannah, Daddy loves you very much."  

Secret Sharing

There were a few students in town for Easter,so we decided to have an "extended family" dinner.  We are a very blessed family- Hannah has a TON of "aunts" and "uncles," in fact, she probably  has more friends than me.  We had a blast with our friends and were so glad they could come over- OH!  And they even cleaned up AND loaded my dishwasher for me.  Wow.

Our "Extended" Family

They also snapped some photos of our little family of 3 before they left.  We had tried taking some with a timer on the camera earlier, but it is difficult to get a baby to look at the camera when you're not behind it.  So, photo credit goes to Maria and smiling baby credit to Jordan.  Thanks for jumping around like a goof to get Hannah to smile!

And here's one more picture of the babe.  She's just too pretty not to share.  I think her Dad is going to have his hands full when she gets older.  :)

Happy Easter!  We hope you had a blessed time celebrating!

Growing Up

Wow!  7 Months already.  It feels like just yesterday I was bringing home this little Miss from the hospital.  I have a feeling I am going to be thinking that from here on out. 

Hannah continues to get more and more fun by the day!  She is full of laughs, jabbers on and on (especially to her Daddy), wishes that she could get her hands on everything, and is incredibly close to crawling.  Although she thinks she's ready for the last one, I'm not entirely sure if I am ready.  

Daddy has some fun nicknames for you, Little One.  He often calls you Squirms and Squeals.  We watch Daddy leave in his "red car" every day for work.  We wave out the window and you are starting to get the hang of it! 

Another fun thing is that she is beginning to recognize a lot more people.  College girls will come over to the house and she'll immediately break into a huge smile!  And, is that not the best smile ever!!

Belly Laugh!

Hannah continues to enjoy jumping, playing on Mommy's computer, reaching and grabbing for EVERYTHING, and being outside (a girl after her daddy's heart).  I am amazed at how quickly she gains new skills- it's almost as if everyday she's learning something new and doing something different. 

Little girl, you are growing up way too fast.  

Pondering...

Hannah used to be an INCREDIBLE sleeper.  She slept through the night at a really early age- so early, in fact, the doctor told me that I needed to start waking her up to feed her.  However, the incredible sleeping habits disappeared around Thanksgiving/Christmas time.  We were doing a lot of traveling for the holidays and for our job, so we were always on the go and a lot of the time sleeping in one room.  Since Bob often had to be up early to prep workshops, I would feed Hannah just to get her to go back to sleep easily.  Oops. I created my own monster.

Last month, the doctor told us not to continue feeding her much longer in the night.  I knew that she didn't need to eat, she wasn't hungry, but it was just faster to get her to go back to sleep than anything else.  I could be in-and-out in under 20 minutes.  Boom.

Thus begun the adventure of helping your little one sleep through the night again.  The books said, "Just let them cry it out one night and they'll get the hang out it."  (Do you ever wonder if these authors are parents?? I mean really...they must have perfect babies.)  After lots of screaming for lots of times, I would normally give in and feed her after an hour and a half of blood-curdling screaming.  And of course, call my MOM the next day and ask her what to do next.

BUT... Hannah was just waiting for the perfect time.  On her 7 month birthday, she slept through the night.  Hallelujah!!  And last night as well.  I'm hoping we'll keep up this pattern.

Even with all of the craziness, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Never.  Ever.  

Happy 7 month Birthday, Sweet Pea!

See, Momma?  I want to crawl so bad!

Random

Wow.  It's April 3.  How did that happen?  This post doesn't have a theme or any point really.  Just an update and lots of pictures of the cute baby.  Because that's all people really want to see anyway, right?

1- Our India Team!  What a fun, fun group!  Hard to believe that we are leaving 2 months from TOMORROW.  Whoa.  That got here quickly!

2- Baby Girl playing with daddy at the ER.  After 3 doctor appointments, 1 trip to the ER, and 3 different medications... the spider bite is no longer an issue.  :)  But I a lot more worried now if I EVER feel ANYTHING touch my leg/arm/neck/whatever.  

3- New curtains!  Over Spring Break the boys in the family went fly-fishing for a few days.  So, Hannah girl and I went to my mom's house for a little vacation.  It was a blast!  We relaxed, played a lot, shopped for bridesmaid dresses, and mostly importantly lengthened my curtains.  I LOVE these purple curtains, but they were always a bit too short. Problem-solved!  I love the black tone-on-tone fleur-de-lei fabric we added to the bottom.  Gorgeous! 

4- A picture of me and Hannah playing.  She's moving- like always- but I take so few pictures WITH her, that this will have to do.

5-  Fun in the sun.   I love walking around campus with this girl.  Plus, they have the best sidewalks.

6-  Bath time! This has become more and more important for Hannah.  Because she eats real food now, I feel like I always have a dirty baby.  The other day we left the house and she had prunes on her ear lobe.  Gross.  But seriously, how can you not fall in love with that sweet face?!?!

 Hannah turns 7 months on Thursday- so expect another post then!