Big Sister Hana: 13.5 months

yes, it is as the title suggests... we are expecting our 2nd child on june 30th of this year. to answer all of the early questions one might have: yes, we are very excited. they will be 18 months apart. yes, the spacing is intentional. yes, we will find out the sex (hopefully) the ultrasound will be on 2/11 so stay tuned for the mass email that will be released the moment i get internet access. it's hard to answer the question of what we are hoping for because as you might have guessed, we want a healthy baby, of course. it would be nice to have a boy so that we can have one of each but if we had a girl, that would be OK too because we at least have a whole bunch of clothes already... no, hana doesn't really understand that mommy's having a baby but she does seem to notice that mommy's belly is getting bigger, which makes it all the funnier when she slaps her belly "fat bastard" style (from austin powers... "get in my belly!")... don't look at me, her dad taught her that.

in preparation for the arrival of the new baby, we have begun to make a few changes. for the past many months that i have been back to work, hana has been going to daycare at the center in jon's office. we have decided to move her to daycare closer to the house - a family based daycare - that will be more affordable for us and more convenient to share daycare transportation repsonsibilities. i think her adjustment to the new daycare will be smooth since hana is generally pretty easy going. and when she visited, she seemed to hit it off with the other kids and didn't want to leave so i think that's a good sign.

(this red hat was my grandmother's. i remember her wearing it to church often. hana enjoys wearing this hat too. she thinks it goes with a variety of wardrobe choices...)

so now that hana is officially a toddler, things that i didn't expect to be dealing with until the "terrible twos" appear to be prematurely in full force and effect. for example, she is starting to say "no". and then she will look directly at us while defiantly touching one of the "no touch" items in the house. (fun.) when she manages to obscond with a piece of contraband, she gets a look on her face like "hot diggity, i've GOT it!" and takes off running. and then, when caught and stripped of the article, she'll flop into the "fussy noodle" on the floor, as if we have pathetically deprived her of some element of her life force. (super fun.)

(in this picture, she looks so much like jon it's freaky... i mean we've all gottten that face!)

i didn't really think any of that stuff would happen until she was approaching her 2nd birthday... or at least until the new baby came, when she might feel like she needs to compete for attention. but clearly, i was wrong. and i'm not the only one. i fear that the terrible two's got their name because you get all this limit testing, along with some added language skills. right now, she only says a few words, but when there are more words, we're in trouble... especially, when you consider my somewhat loquacious nature...

there are so many super cute things she's doing now... she says "mooooore" and makes the sign for it, anytime she wants more of something (especially cute when she wants more cuddles) but also when you have some snack and she wants some of it. she's also to taken to asking a bunch of questions we don't understand: "eeh, mbijorshededede?" many of her contributions to dinner conversation are pretty hilarious actually. she enjoys talking on the phone and has been known to call back telemarkers (from the caller ID log) and chat them up a bit. she's also doing the "hulk thing" where she will ball up her fists and go "eunnnnngh" and her head shakes and everything. it was pretty freaky at first but now it's funny now that we know she's not having a kiniption fit or something.

she's been dancing more lately... she has three discernable steps. there's the baby bounce, the side to side rock and the "maniac" a la flashdance. i guess it's time for another trip to baby loves disco...

(jon got this shot at story time... unlike bailey, maceo will only interact with hana under certain conditions...)

she's had her 2nd flu shot and weighed in at 26lbs and 1 oz. i'm not sure how long she is still but she seems to have slowed down a tiny bit. she's been wearing size 2T the longest that she's be wearing any size (since november). they seem to fit her for the most part so she'll be in them for a little while longer we suspect.

hana's appetite continues to amaze. we have recently discovered her love of citrus. grapefruit is one her particular favorites. she will eat an entire grapefruit in one sitting, in addition to whatever else you are serving. she will also eat her weight in roasted beets. i haven't really found anything recently that she doesn't like. just foods that she gets a little burnt out on and will return to the them if you give her a break from them for a little while.

hana's hair is finally long enough for a little pony tail which looks pretty darn cute if i do say so myself...

... and by the end of the day, it's looks more like this...