News, News, and More News

We're moving! Due to a couple of reasons, this move came somewhat unexpectantly and definitely fast. This past Saturday, March 13, we moved the bulk of our belongings and furniture into Josh's parents' house in Somerset, KY.

This past week, Josh learned of an open temporary, full-time position on staff at Somerset Community College, applied as an internal candidate (since he's already part-time faculty), interviewed by phone and then in person, and has already done some training. As soon as the official sign-off takes place, he'll start working full-time.

This past week, I learned that FOF needs me on-site the first two full weeks of April, so Colorado here I come! I fly out Easter Sunday, and fly back the morning of April 19th. I'll be working part-time on-site Monday afternoons and Tuesday through Thursday mornings. So if you're friends who live in Colorado and would like to see Hannah and I, please let me know! Josh may come out the weekend of the 10th-11th, but it will depend on work.

Baby #2 is doing great. So far no complications, although the doctor did put me on blood pressure medicine as he was concerned by my readings. Below is the video I took on my cell phone this Thursday when Hannah and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. I hope you can view it!

Hannah's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She's been a parrot in recent weeks, repeating words I had no idea that she could say. She's still on the small size in stature and weight at 23 pounds, so I'm still able to pick her up, for now but before the pregnancy's over I may not be allowed to. Since the last post, Hannah turned 2, well unofficially since she's a leap day baby and did't really have a birthday. To celebrate, we drove up to Cincinnatti (just over an hour) to the aquarium. Family and good friends joined our celebration, and it was a nice day. I haven't taken very many pics of Hannah recently, so I'll work on that and upload some pics sooner than later.

First Picture...

Thursday was Baby #2's first ultrasound. The baby was about 1/2 inch in length with a heart rate of 168 bpm. According to the tech, the baby's gestational age is 5 weeks 4 days. We were excited to see the first picture, although it was very fuzzy, but we were able to see the heart beating. We were disappointed though as the tech didn't let us hear the baby's heartbeat. Here's the ultrasound picture, the baby is in the oval. So tiny!

Chicken, Prayer, & WiWi

First, before I tell you tales of Hannah, I need to let you know that my dear, sweet husband officially has completed his Master's degree. Woohoo! He is currently teaching two "Intro to World Religions" courses as an adjunct falculty for Somerset community college's extended campuses. He is in the process of searching for a full-time position and figuring out the details of his future doctoral program.

Now to the things that make me laugh, and hopefully you too. So the other day, I asked Hannah to go put something in her kitchen, she then looked at me and signed "chicken"! Hahaha! So we've had fun trying to explain the difference between kitchen and chicken to our 22 month old, but the use of signs has greatly helped. Hannah loves to pray. We're not sure she understands the purpose of prayer, but we're still happy that she enjoys the times. So I was offering Hannah foods for her supper, and asked her if she wanted a pear, and she immediately signed to pray. Hahaha! I love her sweet heart. She is learning so many signs that sometimes we have to think hard about what she's trying to tell us! She's also expanding her vocabulary, and her favorite words are "momma", "dada", "mimi", and "pawpaw". One of her new words is "WiWi", wasn't sure how to spell it because it's not what you're thinking. "WiWi" is her version of movie. So if you're at our house and you hear "WiWi", she is not wanting a trip to the bathroom but rather a trip to the TV.

Some of you have asked how Hannah is reacting to the news about baby #2. Well, we're not sure she quite gets it. I read that for kids her age, they probably won't get it until the baby comes home from the hospital. Regardless, we've explained that Mommy has a baby in her belly. When we ask Hannah where Mommy's baby is, she first points to Mommy's belly, then she points to Daddy's and hers. Needless to say, we're still working with her on understanding. Maybe she'll understand better when we hear the baby's heartbeat tomorrow, or maybe when the baby starts kicking and moving. We shall see.

We successfully de-plugged Hannah after the holidays. The plug is our term for a pacifier. I figured we should just call it what it is rather than a binkie or pacie or what not. I thought there'd be more of a struggle, even though we limited her plug to naptimes and bedtimes. Basically, she went cold-turkey and did great. She didn't even as for it! Next on our list of to-do's is potty-training. We think she may be ready, she's at least interested and can follow directions so since we're not going anywhere this weekend, we'll be potty-training. The adventure begins!

Oh and one last note. We, at least Hannah and I, are coming to Colorado, really. This is the same six-week trip we thought would happen early last year. There's not a firm date yet, but the estimate is mid-March. Once the estimate has been firmed up, we'll let you know. The six-week trip is basically phase three of a project, and we're in phase one, so I'm more confident this time that we'll actually be coming this year. Hahaha! Now for pictures...

"What?!?!" - It's a game we play. We say "What?!?!" for no reason but to make ourselves giddy.

"Hi!"

My chipmunk: She has a grape tucked in each cheek...

Not sure what she was thinking here, but if it were me, I'd be thinking "Whatch' you talkin' about Willis?"

Pray!!!! I know it might be considered sacrilegious but she's so cute when she prays!

Too cool! She's had a feddish about hats lately. This one is courtesy of Aunt Kristi. She also likes putting them on backwards, see the second picture for the front of this hat.