Hannah is 10 Months old!!

Hannah turned 10 months old on Wednesday.  Here are some pictures of my little peanut. 

You can see her two little teeth growing in on the bottom gum.  She also has a third growing in on the top left that I just noticed yesterday. 

She loves pulling up on everything, and as of last week she can now walk behind toys.  In the past week she has mastered that trick and is now practically running!

She loves the toy room in our house.  Her favorite thing is to dump out all of the toys from every single bin.  The play room is constantly a mess of toys. 

Story with this picture - I gave her the marker to try and distract her and keep her still for more than one second.  By the time I turned my camera on and went to shoot the picture she had somehow managed to take off the cap and started drawing!!  I didn't even know she knew that the marker had a use besides to chew on!  Such a smart girl. 

As of 10 months Hannah is still not sleeping through the night...sigh.... She is down to only getting up once, usually right around 1am.  We have made some progress and do not feed her anymore.  I cuddle her back to sleep and then she sleeps in her crib until I have to wake her up at 6:45 (or her loud brother wakes her up). 

We had her tube post check today and everything looks good with her ears.  She is still fussy though, which could be the three teeth she has coming in, or the cold that she has.  I am ready for the nice weather to stick around to kill all the germs in the house! 

My fussy little girl... How can you not just want to cuddle this baby all day long??  And no, she isn't like this all day long, it comes and goes.  It is pretty amazing how fast babies can go from crying and sad, to happy and giggling.  

A few things that Hannah has been doing lately:

• She has really started to show affection.  She loves giving hugs and kisses and it just melts my heart (no matter how slobbery they are). 
• She loves to clap.
• She hates getting her diaper changed.  It has been a struggle for me to get her changed lately since she does not stay on her back for more than a second!!
• She loves banging objects together.
• She loves being outside.  She especially loves swinging.
• She still loves her brother and wants to play with everything he plays with.

She still doesn't eat as much as I would like her to.  She will only take five ounces at the most.  She definitely loves finger foods.  Her favorites are cooked pasta, bananas, avocados, muffin, and yogurt.  I wouldn't guess she has gained much weight, still probably hovering around 17 pounds.  A perfect little peanut.    

Central Park

After Regis and Kelly was over we walked around the Upper West side.  Past the Lincoln Center stood Hotel Empire.  A famous Hotel in a show I may or may not watch, called Gossip Girl. 

The weather was perfect.  We headed back downtown to our hotel and grabbed some sushi at a place called Taki. 

After lunch Andy went back to the hotel for a nap while I walked a block east to 5th Ave to do some shopping.  I scored a very trendy pair of shoes.  Maybe a little too trendy for me, but I couldn't resist. 

We then rented some bicycles and biked around Central Park.  The weather was in the low 80's, but the breeze from the reservoir cooled it down making it the perfect day. 

The trees were in full bloom and were just beautiful. 

After our bike ride along Central Park we headed back over to 5th Ave to check out the Trump Hotel.  We watch 'Celebrity Apprentice' and wanted to get a picture of Andy in front of the famous hotspot.

We headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner and Wicked.  Our last night in NYC...

We had dinner at a place called Mia Maria.  Their food was delicious!! 

After dinner we walked a block east to the Gershwin Theatre and took our seats for the much awaited performance of Wicked.  It was our second time seeing it, and I think it was better than the first!!

We got to sleep in on Wednesday morning, grabbed breakfast at Astro's, and then caught our taxi cab back to reality. 

GOODBYE New York City!!!

LIVE with Regis and Kelly!

This post is going to be dedicated to 'Live! with Regis and Kelly'.  What an awesome experience!!  We lined up at their studio on the Upper West side at 7:30am, got our tickets, got seated about 10 rows up in the middle and it started within a few minutes.  They allow you to take pictures (flash off), so I will let them tell most of the story.  

 

Here they are - Regis and Kelly!

The excited fan.

During commercials they come out and talk to the audience.  They actually come up into the rows and take pictures and sign autographs and stuff.  This shot was after their interview with Kara Dioguardi (old American Idol judge). 

Here is Kelly, she is just the same when not on air. 

Then Gilman (the producer) took the mic and asked everyone if they had an extra thirty minutes because there were a few more celebrity interviews they had to do.  He wouldn't tell us who until they announced them, so we were sitting on the edge of our seats (well - maybe just I was) guessing.  Regis and Kelly went and changed, and out came John Krasinski (Jim from the Office).  We got to see him twice!!  Super cool.

They went and changed again, and then out came....wait for it...wait for it...Orlando Bloom!!  How cool is that??!!  So we got to see three celebrities while we were there!

Out in the crowd after the show. 

Goes to show it always isn't 'Live' with Regis and Kelly. 

Late Show with David Letterman

Monday morning we started our day off with the NBC Studio Tour.  We got to see the studios of SNL, Dr. Oz and Nightly News with Brian Williams.  I volunteered to sit at the news desk and read from a teleprompter.  It was pretty humorous to watch me on a TV set. 

We also got to see the Today show being taped through the window.  The Today show has the only real window on set.  All other studio's have fake windows and set ups.  It is pretty amazing to see how everything works behind the scenes.

After the tour we headed 'Uptown' to the Upper East side.  We took a taxi cab through Central Park, and found the place that reviews led us to for the best lobster roll in town.  And they were right, it was amazing. 

After lunch we headed back downtown to the Empire State Building.  The views from the top were spectacular.  Below shows the Chrysler Building.  You don't realize how tall the Empire State Building is until you are on top of it and all other buildings around you are much, much smaller. 

We then walked back Uptown on the famous 5th Ave, past all the luxury shops.  We stopped for an hour at the Museum of Modern Art and saw several Van Gogh and Picasso pieces.  We took the audio tour to learn all we could in the short time we had. 

 

Then, the highlight of the day - Late Show with David Letterman!!

Andy received some good advice before we headed to the show.  Supposedly, if you were extra friendly to the staff members in line, you got the chance at better seats.  So I put on my charm, and sure enough we got a 'special' yellow sticker on the back of our tickets!  We didn't know how good it was until we got seated - in the very front row right in the middle!!  David Letterman was literally like five feet away from us.  It was pretty surreal.  Jim from the office was the guest speaker, who was just as funny as Dave.  What a great experience. 

We ended the night eating in Times Square at Rosie O'Grady's.  We had the best sweet potato fries we have ever tasted.  Words can't describe...those were the exact words out of Andy's mouth. 

Tomorrow is our last day here and we start it out bright and early with Regis and Kelly on the Upper West side.  I may or may not get Andy to stop past the Empire Hotel - famous site from Gossip Girl.

NYC Day 2

Today we hit the ground running.  We started out the day on a three hour boat cruise that took us all the way around the island of Manhattan.  We saw the Statue of Liberty up close, crossed under 20 bridges, saw the new Yankee Stadium, and the beautiful skyline from all angles.  New York is so impressive.  It is amazing how many tall, tall buildings there are, and people every where. 

On the boat cruise with Lady Liberty in the background.

After the cruise we walked to the subway, which Andy continues to try and master.  Atlanta's subway system is easy peasy compared to this!  We managed to find our way, get our tickets, and head 'downtown' to the World Trade Center and Financial District.  We grabbed a quick sandwich at a deli, and headed to our Uncle Sam's Hero's of 911 walking tour.  The tour was amazing.  The stories of that day are just heart wrenching.  The new World Trade Center Memorial Site is going to be amazing.  The first part will open this 9/11 on the 10 year anniversary. 

It is crazy to think that 10 years ago there were two 110 story towers standing tall, right where that big hole in the sky stands.  It was pretty surreal standing in the streets, right where the 50,000+ people that work in World Trade Center complex were running for their lives, covered in soot that day.  Seeing the WTC site was our favorite part of the trip so far.

After the WTC tour we headed to Wall Street.  Saw the New York Stock Exchange, and took a picture by the Bull. 

Here is Andy, on Wall Street, right in front of the New York Stock Exchange. 

Andy in Chinatown.  We had the best Sesame Chicken we've ever tasted.  It seriously just melted on our mouths!!  Great dinner stop.  It really did feel like we were in China.

We ended the night on top of Rockefeller Plaza to view the bright night lights of the NYC skyline, followed by a delicious piece of NY Cheesecake at the famous Carnegie Deli.

Our backs and feet are pretty sore after this long day.  The weather was perfect, and the sites were amazing!

NYC!

We landed in NYC at 2pm this afternoon after two short, easy flights.  It was a quick twenty minute cab ride from LGA to our Hotel Warwick.  We wasted no time hitting the busy streets immediately.  Our hotel is great, and the location is even better on W 54th and Ave of Americas.

Our hotel is within walking distance to pretty much everything, Times Square, Broadway, 5th Ave, etc. 

Ironically the two musicals we will see while in town - billboards right next to each other.  We saw Phantom tonight and it was amazing. 

Before Phantom we enjoyed one of our favorites - Hawaiian pizza - at Johnny's Pizzeria on W 44th and Broadway. 

Times Square is quite the popular place.  People everywhere!!  Even on our walk back tonight the crowds had not died down at all.

We accomplished a lot for only being here for a few hours today.  Our feet are sore, but a good nights sleep tonight will get us ready for more tomorrow!!

Live with Regis and Kelly

During my six months of combined maternity leave there was hardly a day that I missed watching 'Live with Regis and Kelly'.  It was how we started our day.  I absolutely love Regis.  He makes me laugh out loud - which if you ask Andy, I rarely do while watching TV (which he thinks is so weird, I guess I just keep the laughs inside??). 

Andy and I booked a fun getaway trip to New York City back in January.  It is a place we have on our list of places to visit.  We leave next Saturday and are super excited.  It will be nice to leave the kids for a few days and have some time for the two of us. 

As soon as we booked the trip I wrote into the show, as per the procedures, and gave them the dates we were going to be there in hopes I would get two tickets in return.  Months went by, and I never got anything in the mail.  I had really lost all hopes of going.  Then last night I went to get the mail - and sure enough there was a letter from the show!  I had Andy open it - and it was our tickets! 

Get your DVR's ready to tape the show on Tuesday, April 26th.  You may see us in the audience!! 

Stair Climber

Caught on camera for the first time.  Little miss Hannah crawling the stairs.  Her brother is very helpful on the first step, but then as you can see she does the next few steps all on her own!  She was so proud of herself and had so much fun.  I took her off of the steps and into the playroom, and it wasn't 20 seconds before she crawled right back to the steps to test out her new skill again and again. 

Looks like we will be getting a gate for the steps sooner than we thought...

HANNAH DAVID!!

We rarely call Henry by his first and middle name.  I really can't remember a single time that we have.  So when I heard him shout out "Henry David" a few months ago, I was shocked.  I then learned that the sitter would call the kids by their first and middle names often.  So then it made sense.  It was pretty cute to hear him say 'Henry David' a loud. 

Well tonight I heard him yell at Hannah.  I knew she was probably doing something she shouldn't, as Henry is pretty good at telling on his sister.  When I went in the room, I heard Henry yell "Hannah David!!"  It was pretty stinkin cute.  I then asked him what her real name is and he said,  "Hannah Schmidt", which I was pretty impressed with too.  Such a smart boy!!  He did at one point call me "Mommy David", which was pretty funny.  Wait until I try to explain to him that his Papa's name is David....

I had him say it on camera for me tonight for all to hear.

Tubes Tuesday

Tuesday morning we showed up to the Lakeview Surgery Center at 6:30am.  We could not feed Hannah anything after midnight, so she was a little cranky with her tummy grumbling.  We got registered and settled into the waiting room.  It wasn't long before the anesthesiologist came in, described the procedure, and then asked if she could take her.  I was a little caught off guard, not expecting her to just take her so quickly.  I guess I expected them to wheel her away in a hospital bed.  But now that I think back, that really doesn't make much sense since she would just try and climb over the edge....silly me. 

Big Brother Henry had to come along.  So he distracted me out in the play area while Hannah got her tubes placed in her ears.  It was literally less than five mintues later when the Dr. came out and told us everything went great.  He said she really needed the tubes.  He found very thick mucus built up in her ears that needed removed.  So he sucked out all the mucus, placed the tubes in, and told us she was still sleeping.  He said it would be another 20 minutes before she woke up, but while we were sitting there the nurse came in and said she was ready for us. 

I then heard her screaming.  It was awful.  She was being held by a nurse, and she was so groggy and confused.  I grabbed my screaming baby and held her close.  We got to leave right after feeding her a bottle.  She cried off and on the entire five minute ride home.  I got her out of the carseat and in bed with me, lying on my chest.  She finally fell fast asleep, and slept for four hours.  She woke up happy and content, like nothing ever happened.

She has slept ok the past two nights.  Both nights she has woken up around 1am.  I guess I was hoping for sleeping through the night right off the bat - but that was a little ambitious.  We feed her and she goes right back to sleep.  I have a good feeling about these tubes though.  I think they will make everyone's lives a lot better. 

A Tooth - Finally!

Yesterday while sitting in church I caught a glimpse of what I thought to be a teeny, tiny little tooth peeking through Hannah's bottom gum line.  Sure enough, after rubbing my finger along her gums I felt it!  Finally - a tooth!!  After five months of teething, a tooth has finally made its appearance at 9 1/2 months old. 

Everyone says that the longer it takes the teeth to come in the better.  Not sure exactly what that means.  I'm not so sure that isn't just one of the things people say that try to make moms not worry as much. 

Henry had four teeth by his first birthday.  His first tooth appeared at 8 months 1 week. 

I will try to get her little tooth on camera over the next few weeks.  It seems to be coming in a little crooked, which  is going to be adorable. 

Zoo Pass

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  It started out a little chilly, so we bundled up the kids and took them to the zoo first thing in the morning.  We purchased a zoo pass this year, so plan to make several trips with the kids.  This was the first trip of the year.

They loved watching all the different animals.  It is so fun to watch Henry.  He is getting so brave.  He fed the goats, climbed on everything and anything, and put his hand in the water and tried to touch the goldfish.  Such a big boy!

We couldn't get over the cute little baby goats.

Henry reaching over the side to touch the fish.  Made this mommy very nervous.  I was definitely grabbing his sweatshirt the entire time. 

Crossing the bridge with Daddy.  He did not think he even needed him to hold his hand.  'ME DO IT' is a familiar phrase we hear again and again.

Hannah hanging out while Henry played on the big playset. 

We got home, took long naps, and then spent more time outside.  What a great day!

Look Who is Standing!

Hannah can now pull herself up to a standing position.  She isn't walking along anything quite yet - but as of tonight she pulls herself up to her feet. 

Look at how proud she is of her new skills.

It won't be long before this girl is running!