Another Milestone

This is something that I have been looking forward to for a while. I couldn't wait for Lexi to be stable enough to sit on her own in the bathtub so that I could throw her in there with her brother and savor the sibling cuteness. 

There is seriously nothing more scrumptious than squeaky clean kiddos!

Say and Choose

So many blog friends have been posting their one-word theme for 2013. It's a word to try to live by over the next year. Instead of choosing one word, I've been thinking about two actions that I want to keep in mind over the next 12 months.

SAY YES

and

CHOOSE JOY

The first applies mostly to my kids, well, to Jax at this point. I am so good at saying "Just a minute, buddy", "I'll be right there, babe", "I'll do it once I finish...". This year, I'm making a big effort to JUST SAY YES. Dishes, laundry, chores can wait. As Jax grows up, he won't remember whether there were dishes in the sink but he will remember that his mommy never had time for him. I would be a failure as a mom if that's what my children grow up and remember about their childhood. This year, I'm saying yes to Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders, and puzzles, and crafts, and story time, and movie nights. Because that's how memories are made.

The second is a goal for myself because I struggle with fear. My mind is always going a million miles an hour with every possible outcome for every possible situation. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a pessimist, but I tend to think about bad things happening... Especially to my kids or myself. There are times when it feels completely overwhelming/terrifying and I KNOW that God does not want us to live that way. So this year, I am CHOOSING JOY.

My mom gave me this book for my birthday (back in August), and that is the main message. To find God's gifts in our everyday lives. To know that bad things can and do happen, but that God loves us through and through. He will always, ALWAYS hold our hearts in his ever-loving hands. This isn't a magic cure for my fear. The scary thoughts still happen, but I am choosing to focus on the good. I am choosing joy.

*Read more about choosing joy

*Ann Voskamp's blog

 *Take the Joy Dare

Insta-Randoms

Playing a little catch-up of iPhone/Instagram pictures.

If you want to follow me, I'm @jennahansen. 

It's set to private but I would be happy to add you! It's just to keep the creepers away ;)

This beautiful girl wore her first real big girl dress to church a few weeks ago

And this ridiculously cute Christmas outfit with this ridiculously large bow

Ryan and I got to go to our friends' Christmas party, minus the kids. We had a blast!

Christmas present fun

My sweet, sick girl. Lots of snuggles over the past 2 weeks.

She is SO big now. And it's so much fun that they are starting to play together.

We took the kids to the park a few days ago and actually took her out of her car seat :)

We also took the kids to see Monsters, Inc on NYE. They did great and Jax was super cute.

She loves to chew on her sippy straw. She's still figuring out how to actually drink from it.

Silly boys!

Sicky girl and her inhaler. She actually tolerated it really well. It's too bad it didn't do much to help her.

We had to move on to breathing treatments. Sweet girl.

Umm... Weirdo.

My loves

Sleep training success! She played for 20 minutes then went to sleep without making a peep. Yahoo!

However, the sickies have thrown the sleep training out the window. And unfortunately Lexi is waking up every hour and a half at night. She's feeling so much better though, so hopefully good sleep will return soon!

Sick Lexi

Lexi has pneumonia. Please pray that my sweet girl would be healed quickly. And that I won't lose my mind from worrying.

6 months!

Miss Lexi Nicole is 6 months old today! As of tomorrow, she is closer to her 1st birthday than to the day she was born. 

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

I feel like this month has been full of developmental leaps. In just a matter of weeks she has turned from a little baby into a big baby... does that even make sense?! She just seems like such a big girl these days and it blows my mind!

She is currently sick, and has been for the past 10 days. It started out as a cold, but has developed into bronchiolitis. She has the yuckiest cough. It's so sad. And it's always making her gag and throw up everything she ate. We went to the doctor (for the 3rd time) today and ended up getting her an inhaler, so I really hope that it will help her finally kick this thing. Sick babies are no fun!

However, let's focus on the positive.... here's a list of all the stats and developments over the past month!

-She weighs 13lbs11oz (11th%)

-She is 26.5 inches (74th%, although I don't think that's accurate) 

-She wears 6 month clothes, but some are still too big

-She wears size 3 diapers

-She sleeps from 8-4/5, eats, then sleeps until 630/7. Although her schedule got all messed up from being sick. 

-She never takes long naps, only 4 or 5 power naps. It's really frustrating!

-She has started sitting up on her own, but still falls over sometimes

-She says mama! (Yes, I realize she doesn't know what she's saying, but I don't care)

-She learned that you can jump in the jumper, instead of just sitting in it

-She babbles and says "ahhhhhh" a lot

-She has tried bananas, avocado, pears, sweet potatoes, apples and butternut squash. She seems to like it all so far and hasn't really turned anything down. She loves bananas and sweet potatoes the most

-She loves to chew on my straw or the straw on her sippy, but hasn't figured out how to suck on it yet

-She is obsessed with Jax and always smiles and laughs when he's around

She is such a joy and each day keeps getting better and better. She is at such a fun age and I can't wait to see what she will do next!

[Oh hey there, shoe]

 [You look yummy. I think I will try to eat you.]

[I couldn't quite reach you, so I guess I will just take you off and eat you instead. Nom nom]

HAPPY SIX MONTHS, LEXI LADY!!!

{2012} Year in Review

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

January

-I talked about our military life

-We found out baby #2 was a GIRL!

-I talked about how bittersweet it was to be leaving NC and heading home to CA

February

-We made our big cross-country road trip. NC to OK, OK TO NV, NV to CA, Randoms. 

-I hit the halfway mark in my pregnancy

March

-My second nephew, Samuel, was born

-I talked about some of my prayer requests for my pregnancy and natural labor/delivery

April

-I posted this recipe for the most delicious(ly sinful) Salted Caramel Butter Bars

-We took a day trip to the city

-We took our first swim of the year

May

-We took a trip to the Oakland Zoo

-I was thrown a beautiful baby shower

-We went to a Giants baseball game

June

-Jax turned 3 and he had a race car birthday party

-I showed y'all Lexi's nursery

-My in-laws came to visit and we went cherry picking

July

-Lexi was born! And I talked about her birth story

-I talked about life as a mom of two

-We took our first trip to Fresno as a family of 4

August

-Jax started preschool

-Lexi turned 1 month old and started smiling

-The sibling love made my heart explode

September

-We took a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

-I talked about the things I said I would never do as a mom

October

-We had some Halloween fun at the zoo with our best friends

-I kept it real about motherhood

November

-Lexi turned 4 months old and hit a bunch of milestones

-I talked about the things that I'm thankful for
-I did a guest post about mommyhood over at Through Clouded Glass
-Jax turned 3 and a half

December
-We took ridiculously cute family pictures

-We went to Disneyland and had an amazing time

-We had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by all of our family


WE HAVE BEEN SO BLESSED OVER THIS PAST YEAR.

THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR YOUR NEVER-ENDING LOVE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, MY LOVELY BLOGGY FRIENDS!!

Christmas 2012

We had a lovely start to our Christmas weekend. We drove down to Fresno on Saturday and did lunch and presents with my mom's side of the family.

 Here's Lexi with my Grandma Carol

And having fun with Nana (my mom)

Jax loved opening presents, of course!

Lexi loved her taggy ball that she got from Grandma Carol

This was the first time in probably at least 5 years that we were able to get everyone together at once. My grandma has been blessed with 4 kids (plus spouses), 8 grandkids (plus spouses), and 4 great-grandkids (so far ;) ). It was great to have all 24 of us together at once!

The next day we ended up staying home from church because Jax has a nasty cough. By the end of that day, Lexi was starting to get sick too. 

On Christmas Eve day, we met Danielle over at Mary's house so that I could see my girls and Jax could see his buddies. I didn't take any pictures, but we had a great time. Mary got bagels and coffee from Panera and the boys had a blast playing outside and making giant messes. We shouldn't have expected anything less! 

Christmas morning was very low key. It was just the four of us, my brother and my parents. Our whole day was overshadowed by the fact that Lexi was progressively getting sicker and had developed a fever and a nasty cough. I didn't open a single present because I was holding her the whole time. 

Jax, however, couldn't wait to open his. I mean, what kid can?

He was THRILLED that Nana and Boppa got him this pirate ship he's been asking for. It's pretty much the only thing he wanted. 

For presents that come from us, we follow the saying "one thing you want, one thing you need, one thing you wear, and one thing you read". This hat and gloves was Jax's "one thing you need" so that we can go to the snow soon!

This goofiness was a stocking stuffer. He loves twisty straws so this was the ultimate!

My dad's parents, one of his sisters, and my cousin came over for presents and an early dinner. We had lots of yummy food and, as is tradition in our family, prime rib for dinner and chocolate roll for dessert. Yum and yum. 

This was how Lexi spent the day. Poor baby girl!

We had intended to stay until Wednesday, but since our kiddos were sick, we ended up driving home Christmas night. Lexi was a mess and I had to sit in the back, squished between two car seats, the whole way home. 

It was nice to be home, but I have spent the last two days holding Lexi and nursing her practically non-stop. She's been sleeping in our bed each night and waking up every two hours. So much for the sleep training that was pretty much accomplished before Christmas! 

Please pray that my sweet girl gets better soon.

And hopefully next year's holidays will be a little more joyful!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours