Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!

Hannah has survived a whirlwind of Christmas activity already and it's only Christmas Eve! Actually tomorrow will most likely be the tamest day of her holiday season! So far she's attended 7 Christmas gatherings already. Of course, she's loved every minute of every single one of them because she LOVES to socialize. I actually think she gets enjoyment out of entertaining guests and just generally being a socialite. As was the case when she was born, she has received many, many gifts which we appreciate greatly. We have so many generous friends and family members who are determined to spoil Hannah rotten!

Ok, time for all the new Hannah milestones and updates. Her cold that appeared last week continued to linger on through this week so Friday we took her in to see the doctor just in case since we knew it was either Friday or wait until Tuesday. Boy were we glad that we took her in because it ended up being more than just an ordinary cold. When the doctor listened to her lungs he said that they sounded different from each other, but that in infants it was often hard to tell if they are really different or not b/c of how wiggly babies are. Hannah was acting ok and not running a temperature, but he decided to send her for a chest x-ray just as a precaution since it was a holiday weekend and we would be out and about and it would be difficult to get treatment if she got worse later. Anyway, it turned out that from the chest x-ray that the doctor was able to diagnose Hannah with pneumonia. It was in the very early stages and only in her right lung. She was barely showing any symptoms at all and since we managed to catch it so early the doctor said it wasn't a big deal at all. He even cleared Hannah to go ahead and attend her 2 holiday gatherings the very next day as long as she didn't take a turn for the worse. It seems that once again Hannah dodged the bullet on what could have been an extremely serious illness since she is an infant all because of the quick thinking of her doctors. We are so fortunate to have some wonderful doctors involved in her care.

Hannah's newest trick is drinking from her sippy cup all by herself. She will still let me hold it for her occasionally to help her drink, but mostly she wants to do it herself and she is totally able to do it! Every now and then she doesn't get it tipped up quite far enough and she sucks in a bunch of air, but really she's pretty much mastered the skill. She absolutely LOVES to drink from the cup. The other day when she wasn't feeling well from her pneumonia and was refusing her bottle, we managed to get all of her formula down her using the sippy cup instead of the bottle. The doctor had stressed that it was important for her to stay hydrated and that she really should not be decreasing any of her fluid intake while sick. So, we were quite happy that she was so willing to drink from the cup because it made our life much easier.

Now that Hannah's hair is getting longer I can finally put it in pigtails and she looks absolutely adorable that way! It makes her look much older with them in. I took a picture of her sitting up by herself looking at a book with her pigtails in and she looked just like a toddler instead of a 5 1/2 month old! Speaking of looking older, when she was at the doctor they took her weight and she is now up to 18 lbs 2 oz. I don't remember the exact weight, but my mom told me recently that I was only l8 or 19 pounds at a year old! Hannah's 7 months ahead of what I was as a baby! Then again, she was double my weight when she was born since she was 8 lbs 14 oz and I was only 4 lbs 7 oz!

This Christmas season has been totally amazing. Hannah has brought more joy to our lives than we ever could have imagined. At church this morning the pastor spoke about how in our society today people are never satisfied with what they have and are always wanting more. In general I agree with him, except with one thing. I prayed and prayed to God to bless us with a child, and while I would be thrilled with another child somewhere down the road, having Hannah has completely fulfilled me. If we never have another child or if I never get another material thing my entire life I will be happy, I will be content, I will feel completely fulfilled and satisfied because the joy we have known these past 5 months is like no other I have ever experienced. It is the most precious Christmas gift (and birthday gift, anniversary gift, or Mother's Day gift) I have ever received and it continues on and on every single day when I look over the rails of the crib and see Hannah's face always bright eyed and shining smiling up at me with a smile of pure joy and love for only me. This gift keeps giving and giving. God has truly blessed us with the most wonderful daughter in the world.