Let's try it again...

Well, I tried uploading the longer video from the first day, but it wouldn't take it, so this is a shorter one from her second real meal. Enjoy!!

A Cereal Experience

Well, Hannah had her first taste of cereal today..and I don't think she was too sure about it. She seemed to prefer her fingers over the cereal. I wasn't sure what time John would get home and I didn't want to give it to her to late, so I video'd dinner so he could see it when he came home. I will try to put some footage from her first rice cereal meal...the internet is being finicky today.

Captivated

Twinkle, twinkle, apple of my eye
You in my arms, how blessed am I
I didn't choose you, it was the Lord
who sent you to me to be adored.
Your fingers and toes all nicely arranged
your blue eyes so perfect for holding my gaze
I fall asleep watching your little lashes flutter
Just the thought of you melts my heart like butter
When curiosity and awe light up your face
I smile and laugh and my heart starts to race
I couldn't imagine a more perfect you
an image of God, so wonderfully new.
Love you Hannah
-Mommy


Just a couple of cute pics from yesterday...I think I am going to do theses for every month from here out...She is 4 months 12 days today. Also a pic of our "favorite martian". (Having a little fun at the flower shop today!)

Up to Speed

Well, since Hannah was born, we have gone through some of our firsts, both good and bad. Hannah has issues with acid reflux, so the beginning 3 months or so was filled with lots of sleepless nights. Hannah had her nights and days mixed up, but has since corrected that, although tonight has me feeling a little nostalgic as it is 12:30am and she is still awake talking and playing. (At least she is not crying!) Here is a list of her firsts that come to mind that have happened in the last 4 months.
First sleep through the night (and in just the amount of time it took me to write that, 12:33 and Hannah is asleep!)
First bath (glad that happened within the first 4 months!)
First snow
First Christmas, New Years, and Easter and both Mommy and Daddy's birthdays
First smile
First coo
First laugh
First Superbowl (she is definitely a Colts fan already!)
First rollover front to back and back to front
First shots
First road trip (several actually)
First allergies
First trip to the beach
First time to sit up-still slumping forward after a couple of seconds though
First job (Hannah gets to come with me to my part time job at a friend's florist shop. She is the prettiest flower there!)

Hannah has always preferred to stand rather than to sit or be cradled. She is now jumping a lot whether it be on your lap or in her excersaucer or jumperoo.
She always has her middle and her ring finger (not that I am pushing that at her age...although I have already started praying for the man that will one day place one on her finger!)
She is a very happy baby, but because she can go from happy to miserable within seconds, I have a hunch that she has already begun teething.
She is very intelligent...she knows what buttons to push and which butterfly to hit on the excersaucer to make the music play. She is very chatty and has now begun to shriek with excitement. This has brought the same reaction from me. It is so cute!!!

John's 28th surprise birthday party

First smiles

First snow (actually second, but I took pictures with this one)

First Superbowl

First trip to the beach
Sitting up unassisted for the first time
One of our first days at work
Her favorite place to put her fingers

A few recent videos

Welcome to All Things Hannahbear

Well, I finally decided to create a blog for little Hannah. Instead of blowing up my facebook page with all the cute little videos of Hannah drooling and pics of her in mass quantities, I decided to give her a blog of her own, where she can be the star 24/7...however we won't tell her that so it won't go to her head later in life! :) What a joy it has been being her mommy this short 4 months and how exciting, scary, and sad at times it is to think about the future ahead of us...ahead of her. What a blessing she is...she really has lived up to her name already. She is grace and favor in our life. Well, I guess I will start from the beginning for those of you who don't know how Hannah came about...leaving out some details of course, wink wink. John and I talked about having kids about a year ago, but didn't have any specific plans and just figured that if it was the Lord's idea, he would make it happen...little did we know, He was forming little Hannah in my tummy. (Well, actually...the only thing forming in my tummy was a happy meal box for all of the McDonalds that I had begun consuming.) Anyhow, I was having some issues and had been seeing the doctor for a couple of months. They finally decided to do a test to check for cysts on my ovaries and did a pregnancy test just to rule that out. Well, a couple of days later, the doctor called me on my way to work and told me that all of the tests came back negative, but surprisingly...we were pregnant!!!! It was a HUGE surprise and I had to hold that in for the entire day!!!! That evening on our way home from work after I picked up John, I suggested eating out since I didn't feel like cooking and when we arrived at our favorite spot, Cafe Express, our friends from the Father's House, Robert and Debby were there. We joined them for dinner and after we finished eating, I asked John if he wanted dessert. He said he wasn't sure, so I pulled out a bib that said "I Love My Daddy" and a jar of apple sauce and set it in front of him. He said, "what the ??" and I gave him the great news in front of our precious friends. He was so excited and I was too at the thought of a little burrito growing inside of me. We took a picture of my tummy on my cell phone and sent it to my mom and sisters and labeled it "coming soon to a Parson's tummy near you." My mom flipped out as did my sisters. What an exciting time! John called him moms and his brother and told them the exciting news.
For the next nine months, well we learned that our little burrito boy assumption was wrong and that a little sweet pea was on her way. Hannah went on her first plane ride at about 5 months in the womb and it was actually the Friday before we left for Hawaii, that I began to feel her practicing gymnastics in my tummy. We started decorating her room in the following months. We went with black and white and a lime green. I intended on making her bedding before we found out whether she was a boy or girl, so we went with a neutral color, but of course, I didn't start until about 2 months before her due date. We went on our last little trip together to Hot Springs Arkansas as a couple-pre-children (birthed at least). John and I enrolled in a six week child-birthing class in which we met some great couples that we would share our expectations, experiences, and eventually our bundles of goodness with. As the nine months began winding down, I went in for a routine check up at 38 weeks and because Hannah's weight was still low and my amniotic fluid level seemed low, the doctor announced that she would be inducing me by the end of the week and told me that I needed to take off the next two days to rest. That was definitely NOT what I wanted to hear as I wanted it to go naturally, no induction, no pain meds. Well the Lord heard my prayers (and those of others)...that night to be exact! I woke up at about 3:30 am dreaming that I was having contractions only to realize that I was in real labor. I woke John up an hour later and my contractions began to get closer together to about 5 minutes apart. At around 8:30am, I got tired and laid down for about an hour, and my contractions backed up to about 9 min apart. We called the doc and she told us to come to the office so they could check. Well, I was at about a 3 and so they sent me to the hospital to monitor Hannah's heartbeat and to walk to speed up my labor. They admitted me and labor was progressing. At about 3pm, they broke my water and the pain arrived in STYLE!!! I labored really hard for about 2 1/2 hours with really bad back labor since Hannah was turned toward my spine. Once the doctor turned her, I went from a 7 1/2 straight to a 10 in a matter of a half hour. We were ready to push! Within 20 minutes Hannah made her grand entrance with a lot of yelling, but without drugs!!! I had a great coach who got me into this and got me out of it with much grace and encouragement! What an amazing, painful, miraculous experience it was to do this without the assistance of an epidural! Hannah was born 6 pounds even and 18 1/2 inches long. She was perfect! She and I were alert for the next 6 hours at least! We got to leave the hospital the next day, just 24 hours later.
That was the beginning of this love story. From here on out, I will try to woo you all into to loving her as much as we do through cute pics of drool and dreams and videos of every little thing that she does that is different from the day before.