A Big Day!! Hannah’s 1st Haircut!

I’ve always known that I wanted Hannah to have bangs but because her hair naturally grows in a way that the front is shorter than the rest, she hasn’t needed a haircut.  Even in the updated care package pics that I received in September 2009 (2 months before we met) you can see that the hair on top of her head was shorter/less full then on the sides.  This pattern has continued which as been part of the reason why we’ve been able to wait so long before her first cut.  Here is my little love at 5 1/2 months old.  So sweet!!!

Originally I was going to take Hannah to the lady who cuts my hair but then Norma told me about Melonhead and I knew that was where we’d go for sure!  I’ve seen friends in the US who go to places like this so I was super excited when a children’s hair centre was located so close to home!  What a great place to have your child’s hair cut.

Hannah was excited to go even though I’m not sure she really understood what she meant when she kept saying, ‘Hannah.  Haircut!’  We walked in the door and she was sold!

When her name was called we chose the pink car and Hannah had fun ‘driving’ it during much of her haircut.

I was so proud of Hannah!!  She didn’t have one single second of hesitation, was not upset and truly enjoyed the whole thing!  I have a feeling that with the cool car to ride plus ‘Nemo’ playing on a TV above, she was just having a great time and not really paying any attention to what was happening.  (Hopefully that will bode well for her not finding scissors and copying, deciding to cut her own hair.  I moved all the scissors out of reach a long time ago but have a feeling with Hannah’s personality this is just a matter of time.  We’ll see!)

Bangs created.  I was happier with the length before they were textured but I know they’ll grow so I’m not concerned in the least.

My biggest desires for her bangs were that they be light and wispy and not too wide and the young gal captured this perfectly!  I was convinced Hannah would age before my eyes when I got her hair cut but in this particular pic I think it’s the opposite and it reminds me of many of her baby pics.

This pic makes me giggle as she was so relaxed during the whole thing and spent much of the time driving the car with her feet!

Finishing touches – a barrette and sparkles!

Since this was Hannah’s first haircut the store creates a special package for the parents.  This was the girls working hard to get a good picture for Hannah’s memory package.

After Hannah was all finished she was in no hurry to leave.  It was close to the end of the day so the car was not needed so they handed Hannah the bubbles and we were invited to stay.  (They’re really cool bubbles too in that they don’t spill.  They sold them there and since she had done so well having her hair cut it was easy to decide to purchase one for her as a treat!)  Here she is just hanging out after her cut.

Chillaxin with bubbles VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

I was hoping Hannah would just get a small trim and tidy up the ends of her hair and that’s exactly what she did!  I am so happy with her cute new look and I really don’t think it changed her look much at all.  Yay!

Before

After

Another first behind us.  Way to go Hannah!!

Mommy’s First Night Out!

Hannah had been home for 16 months and with the exception of going to work we were together 24/7…and I wouldn’t have it any other way!!  That being said, a wonderful opportunity came up and I knew it was time for Mommy to leave Hannah in the great care of Grandma and Grandpa and enjoy a night out.  Steven Curtis Chapman was coming to town and I was excited to attend his concert!

After spending a fun Saturday together I took Hannah to my parent’s place around 3 in the afternoon. I was surprised by my emotions as I teared up after saying goodbye to her. I leave her Monday to Friday each week and haven’t cried since the 2nd week of daycare so the emotions I was feeling surprised me a bit.  I guess the change had to do partially because I was going to miss her; I would be travelling more than an hour away from her and also because someone else was going to be putting her to bed for the night which had never happened since we’d been together.

I knew Hannah was going to have a great time with Grandma and Grandpa so as quickly as the tears came, they left again.  I picked up my friend Liz and together we headed to the other side of the city where we met up with Karen and Mike.  It was a treat to spend time with these friends and getting caught up on one another’s lives.

After supper we went to the concert and it was absolutely wonderful!!  Steven Curtis Chapman is a Christian singer who is blessed to have adopted 3 little girls from China. 

The concert was an evening of praise, worship, surrender as well as a few tears.  You may remember that this dear man and his family lost their youngest daughter in a terrible accident at their family home in 2008.  Their story is one of sadness and yet forgiveness, celebration, love, acceptance and praise!  It was such a blessing to spend time praising and worshiping God through the amazing music of this very talented singer. (Thanks for the pictures Daniel.)

After the concert I was anxious to get home to Hannah.  I had a great time but now that the concert was over I wanted to be with my baby!  It was midnight when I reached my parents home so I unlocked the front door and quietly let myself in. I quickly realized that there was no need to be too quiet as I heard the pitter patter of sleeper clad feet and my sweet Shaoey called out ‘Mommy!!!’ as she ran into my arms!  She’d gone to sleep well with Grandma by her side and slept soundly for 2 hours but when she woke and realized Mommy wasn’t there she decided to wait up for me.   She was happily watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while Grandma sat in the rocking chair and Grandpa dozed on the couch.  After saying thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting we slipped into the car and my sweet baby girl was softly snoring before we reached the town limits.  Once home we snuggled into bed and she slept peacefully with visions of fun times with G&G dancing in her head while songs of praise to our Saviour and King filled my heart and prayers. 

Such a Blessing!!

A year ago I was able to spend 24/7 with Hannah while on maternity leave and I couldn’t imagine leaving her for an hour, let alone 8+ hours each day. How could I do that? How could we be apart? Who would care for her, love her, teach her and be there for her when I was at work? It was a place I just couldn’t let myself go and I spent months avoiding it in my head. The daycare I thought was arranged while I was waiting for Hannah didn’t work out but I am so thankful for how God used that friend to give my heart peace about daycare during the wait.

In turn, God provided Ange to care for Hannah and I am SO thankful that Hannah is in her home each day! Hannah absolutely loves it there and each morning is excited to go. She talks about her friends there all the time and when she finishes her breakfast many mornings she excitedly says, ‘Mommy! Ange’s house!!’

Ange is amazing with the kids and has such fun with them. Checkout my cute little bunny enjoying her Easter lunch last week.

Not only do the kids have an opportunity to go for walks each day and play outside, Ange takes them to many exciting places. Often 2 (or more) different days each week she buckles them into their car seats and off they go.

Playing a drum at a local children’s museum.

Monday Ange just had her boys and Hannah so she dared to take them to a local ceramics place to paint a special little friend. Hannah chose a little cat and painted it blue. What fun!

Thank you Ange! Truly I don’t have to words to say how thankful I am for you and the beautiful way you care for the treasure of my life while I’m at work!

We’re Ice Cream Lovin’ Gals!

I’ve always been an ice cream fan and Hannah learned early on that it’s a fun treat.  Sunday evening she and I met Grandma for dessert. 

When I picked Hannah up at daycare today Ange mentioned that Baskin Robbins was having a special fund raiser and a single cup of ice cream was only 31 cents!  Now that’s something that’s got my name written all over it!

On our way home from swimming lessons I swung by BR to see how long the line-up was and it wasn’t bad at all so we turned in.  What a fun surprise it was to see Ange and her family there.  Hannah didn’t see them until we walked up to the fire truck that was there for the kids to check out.  The fund raiser was to support families of fallen fire fighters.

Here are the kids checking out the inside of the fire truck. Notice Hannah is being her normal climbing self and trying to climb further into the truck.  That’s my girl!

Mmmm…cotton candy ice cream.  Good to the last pink and purple drop!

Adorable Easter Gifts for Grandparents!

Last week Hannah and I had a ton of fun preparing a few treats for her grandparents and they were thrilled to receive each of the things that she lovingly made for them!

I found the greatest website featuring many crafts that a toddler can make with a little help from Mom.  If you like to do crafts with your children please check out www.kiboomu.com.

The first craft she did was super simple yet so fun too!  I printed egg shapes on white paper, filled them with glue and then let her stick colourful paper Easter grass on them. 

After they were dry I cut them out and Hannah glued them on a piece of coloured paper.

This video makes me howl!  Can you tell she’s just doing this to appease Mommy?

Our second craft required more help from Mom but there was still lots for Hannah to do too.  We made these fun, colourful Easter Basket Cupcakes on Saturday. 

Hannah wants to be so helpful these days so I did my best to incorporate her in each step.  Thankfully just by touching the eggs while I cracked them gave her the feeling of accomplishment.  Here she’s helping mix the cake.  Don’t worry…the mixer was unplugged when I took this pic. 

Preparing the waffle bowls.  The original recipe called for the bowls to be wrapped in foil but I chose to omit this step.  I think next time I might do this as many of the bowls flattened out a little bit and also split.  They were all still usable but could have been better.  Also, I found it necessary to lightly cover the top of the entire tray with tinfoil soon after the cupcakes hit the oven as the waffle bowls were beginning to burn.

Hannah shook up little baggies of coconut with a few drops of food colouring in them while carefully perched atop the back of the couch.

After recording this video I made sure that Nana and I got the pink baskets.

Licking the icing spoon.  One of the benefits of cooking with Mommy.

Yes, she’s sitting on the counter.  This was one of the rare exceptions to our ‘no going on the counter’ rule as the learning tower takes up so much room in our little kitchen that there’s barely room for mom to move around and results in more stubbed toes than I care to count.  There was enough to keep Hannah busy that I didn’t mind her on the counter this day.

A close up of the iced baskets with the coloured coconut atop.  Aren’t these adorable?

One jellybean for the cupcake, one jellybean for Hannah….

Getting ready to take the Easter Baskets to Nana and Papa, GG & GG on Easter Sunday.  Look how proud my sweetie/ham is!

Our final gift to the grandparents was a homemade Easter card.  Oh so a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e and fun to make too!!

I was a little busy during the first part of the card making - ensuring little yellow painted footprints did not decorate my floor so didn’t have an opportunity to take any pics.  Once her footprints were dry it was time to turn them into baby chicks.

Adding the googly eye.

I love any craft that incorporates Hannah’s beautiful little hands or feet and this one was perfect for Easter.

We went to visit my parents Saturday night and took their Easter treats to them then.  Sunday after church we went to Nana and Papa’s and took treats for them as well as GG & GG.  Hannah and I were super excited to share these special gifts of love with them.  Sadly I was so excited that I didn’t even think to take any pics.  Oops!  Next time!

Hope you all had a wonerful Easter!  It’s been fun to read blogs and see what others did in the way of Easter crafts with their children.  I already have some bookmarked for next year!

Now….off to find some fun Mother’s Day crafts that we can make for the Grandmas!