Mmmmom, mom, mom, mom

Finally, enough of the Da, da, da, da, das! Hannah has finally decided to bless me with some mom, mom, moms :) Today she's been doing it all day and it just makes me smile every time I hear it! I get so excited that she does it again just to see me smile and clap! Then of course I smile and clap more.

As for other less important :p Hannah updates, Hannah passed her hearing test with flying colors. She won't have to have another one until she turns a year old unless we start to notice any problems. From here on out she has them every six months until she's 3 years old and then we are completely in the clear.

She continues to eat like a champ and really seems to like absolutely everything we put in front of her. Nothing new shakes this kid. She's even warmed up to the barley cereal. We have noticed that peaches seem to bother her digestive tract a bit, but she likes the taste of them ok. Prunes also may be having a similar effect, but at the moment it's a bit too soon to tell.

Yesterday Hannah had her 7 month pictures done and her regular photographer was sick so we had a new guy. Hannah, who had been being absolutely adorable, took one look at this guy and decided that there was something she didn't like about him and began to scream! This theme continued throughout the entire session! I had to work really hard at distracting her so that she would not notice he was looking at her when he took the pictures because if she saw him even looking at her she would go into another round of screams complete with tears and a horribly runny nose :( There weren't very many cute ones this time so it made it very easy to choose which ones to order. I guess I can be thankful for that!

On Wednesday my new mommy-do was completed so now I can finally post that picture you all have been asking for. The reason I was waiting is because I decided to get a perm done too. I haven't had one of those since 6th grade so I was a bit nervous, but it turned out pretty good. I'm still getting used to it and I haven't been able to wash it yet so I'll let you know what I really think about it in the next post. I was a bit worried that Hannah might get a bit scared by it because I read in on of my books that babies at this age don't like big changes to their home or parents and this was a pretty big change. Hannah, however, handled it like a pro and was as flexible as ever.

Hannah's newest trick (of which I am NOT pleased) is throwing tantrums. She's decided that since she's wearing 18 month clothes she can start throwing tantrums like a toddler too. She does it when I wash her face after she's done eating, when I don't give her food fast enough, when I make her sit down after she has been standing for awhile, or when I sit her on the floor after I've been carrying her. So, I've started really working on teaching her the word "NO" and giving her a look that lets her know I am not pleased as well as ignoring her continued behavior until she calms down. Right now there hasn't been any progress, but I have a feeling this could be a VERY long battle.

I finally got around to uploading some more of Hannah's videos. To see the video just click on the link and enjoy.

The first video is just of Hannah talking and rolling around on the floor. Not too exciting, but for those of you who don't get to see her you can at least see how her personality is developing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5393554616343596730&hl=en

Hannah loves to get into the clean clothes while I fold laundry and she thinks it's funny to steal something I've already folded. She gets a really proud look on her face when she thinks she's gotten away with something!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2165618576115601540&hl=en

Hannah frequently rolls herself into a corner and can't get out. She thinks it's funny for awhile, but then gets hostile if you don't rescue her when she's done playing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9207544038951777663&hl=en

Hannah currently obsessed with the dog beds. She loves to flip them over, kick them, or roll underneath them.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2809187550474091139&hl=en

Belly Sleeper

Well, it's now official. Hannah is definitely a belly sleeper and we have given up the fight to try to make her sleep on her back or side. It's to the point now that she sleeps completely on her belly with one leg and arm tucked up underneath her and her butt in the air. It's pretty cute to see, but still scares me to death. We've tried and tried to turn her back onto her back while she is asleep, but she now turns her immediately back over without even waking up. She did this 3 or 4 times in a row last night! The Ferbering continues for Hannah's sleep issues. I think it may be getting better, but it's hard to tell. I still hate letting her cry.

Hannah's been working really hard on crawling and can now occasionally get up on her hands and knees and wiggle her butt back and forth, but she's not consistent with it at all. She continues to search out other alternative forms of transportation and is getting quite creative at it. This morning she was pushing up on her hands and toes (like the yoga plank position) and then swinging her upper body over to the side and setting herself back down, resting, raising back up and shifting over some more. To move forward she rocks side to side over and over again and slowly inches forward. Of course there is always the old stand by of rolling all over the place.

Hannah's newest foods are green beans, peas, applesauce, and bananas. She's becoming a pro at picking up and depositing veggie puffs into her mouth. She's getting much better at chewing them up too! Sometimes she even relaxes her vigil with that extra finger and chews them with no fingers in her mouth! Her sippy cup skills are also improving and she's starting to get the idea that she should hold it with both hands and that she needs to tip it up to get more than just air coming from the spout when she sucks. Dropping things from the highchair has also become a fun game as has taking her arm and completely clearing the coffee table with one fair swoop!

Next week Hannah goes to have her 6 month hearing test done. Because of her exposure to herpes at birth she has to have it checked every 6 months until she is 3 years old because herpes can cause late onset hearing loss and we don't want to take ANY chances. We're lucky that one of the testing sites is the Purdue Audiology clinic here in West Lafayette so at least I won't have a long drive. The bad thing is that her appointment is scheduled for 12:30 and they said that she has to be asleep for the screen. I tried to explain to the lady that Hannah usually only takes 2 (at the most 3) half hour to 40 minute naps total during a day and that 12:30 is not one of those nap times, but she was not sympathetic. I'm not sure how much she knows about babies, but most of them will not generally just sleep on command when they are 6 months old. That has been my experience anyway. I'm not thinking this screen is going to be a good experience for either or us, but we shall see. Maybe Hannah will be super cooperative and go right to sleep. She IS a VERY GOOD girl, but that may just be expecting too much from her.

Well, I'm back. It's been a few days since I started this post. Now it's Friday and Hannah has hit another big milestone. She got her second tooth! She's been quite cranky today because of it, but thankfully this time it wasn't at night! Just to prove to me how proud she is of her new tooth she bit me several times today HARD. Kyle thought I was being a baby about it until she bit him just a little bit ago. He really hollered because it hurt a lot. :P That'll teach him to make fun of me!

For an update on the cutest baby contest I am happy to report that I chose the picture of Hannah sitting up wearing the reindeer antlers. I used the closer up version that Tina doctored for me. Thanks for everyone who voted to help me make up my mind! The deadline for submitting photos is next week I believe so I will be sure to put the link up to vote as soon as they have the pictures assembled on the newspaper website. I would appreciate all the votes we can get. A $2000 savings bond would really give Hannah's college fund a jump start!

Another new thing that Hannah decided to try today is pulling up from sitting on the side of the pack-n-play. I had been sitting her down in the bassinet part of the pack-n-play while I check my email or pay bills online. Well, today I heard her making some cute noises and I turned around to see that she had pulled herself from the center of the pack-n-play to the edge and was pulling and bouncing to try to stand up by holding onto the side of the bassinet! Well, that's the end of the bassinet. :( I took it out today and now she has to sit down in the bottom like a regular old play pen. We will see how she likes that.

Here's a video (it's about a month old) of Hannah practicing transferring objects from one hand to the other and practicing sitting up on her own. Now she's to the point that I don't even put up pillows to break her fall anymore unless she is sitting on something really hard like a floor without carpet. Just click on the link and enjoy the video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7153612364983465505&hl=en