Hannah's 2-year-old photos

Here's our cutie little 2-year-old...

 

 

 This was our best family shot. Kinda sad. :)

 

What a cutie pie! My cousin Saundra always does such a great job!

weekend o' projects

I just had to take advantage of the long holiday weekend to "get something done" for once. I warned Scott going into the weekend that his job would be to entertain/take care of Hannah while I got a few things done. Like most moms (I'm sure), I feel like I never get anything done. Of course I'm not counting the incredibly important things I do every day, like keeping a toddler fed, groomed, healthy, entertained, and generally happy. I'm talking about the seemingly millions of little projects that never get done because anytime I have a spare moment, I usually spend the time doing some much-needed cleaning that directly affects my mental well-being. I vaguely remember a time when I used to be able to work on projects basically any time I wanted to. Now I have to plan ahead and lean heavily on Scott's ability to keep Hannah alive and happy on his own.

Anyway, I spent most of Saturday cleaning so that I would be in the right state of mind to work on projects. Sunday I worked on my never-ending organizing-pictures project. And on Monday, I spent most of the day bringing great relief and peace into my life by completing several projects--from getting caught up on business paperwork that has been hanging over my head for months to finally hanging some shelves in Hannah's room that have been sitting on her dresser since before she was born. I know, I know. I'm totally lame. But I'm especially leery of any and all home improvement projects. Amazingly, I proudly used our drill for the first time and finally got those shelves up. Phew!

The shelves aren't perfectly straight, but I'm letting go of my perfectionism and feeling ok with them.

And now we can display more cute pics of Hannah.

Here's proof that we did do a few fun things over the weekend, for Hannah's sake...

We attended Hannah's cousins' basketball game. Cute Cole.

Cool Clay.

 Hannah sure loves her cousins.

We also spent an evening with my grandma and took Hannah to Trafalga twice. She can't get enough of her "pink ball," "golf club," "pretty stamp" (on her hand), and "driving" (boring video game). It's nice that she's so easily pleased.

And I'm very pleased with all that I was able to accomplish last weekend. And incredibly relieved. Only about 4 more months until I never seem to get another project finished again. Except for keeping a second human being alive and happy. :)

simple love

We had a nice, simple Valentine's Day. I love our tradition of making this holiday all about family love and not romantic love...

Hannah and I hung out all day, and Hannah played with her new Valentine's doggie.

Awww, puppy  love. :)

 After my work, we exchanged homemade cards and treats. And Scott got flowers for me and Hannah.

 

 Hannah happily read her cards with her daddy.

 Hannah LOVED her flower.

 She just kept smelling it. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bonus Hannah pics...

 Hannah in her awesome ladybug hat (this is for Shannon).

Cheese!!!

I love my family!

Fame & Five years

This past weekend we almost missed out on a road trip for the 2nd weekend in a row, this time due to the weather (last time was due to Hannah being sick and not wanting her to get Scott's new nephew sick). We ended up leaving Saturday afternoon instead of Friday afternoon. But we made the most of our Friday night home--ordering pizza, taking Hannah miniature golfing & video game driving (Hannah's obsessed) at Trafalga, eating a cazookie at The Chocolate, and then watching good ol' Dateline. We took my niece Faith down to St. George with us, and she had the magic touch for keeping Hannah perfectly content. Fortunately, the weather wasn't bad at all, and we made it there safely and in plenty of time to have dinner with my sis and her fam before attending my niece's play. It was a very fun but short trip, as we headed home soon after morning church was over. The weather on the way home was a bit worse, but we made it home safely. And we're very glad we went.

 Saturday was also mine and Scott's 5th wedding anniversary. Since we had already celebrated a few weeks ago, we just gave each other cards and treats. I love my pickled ginger--yum!

 Scott sure loves those lemon heads.

 Half of the gang waiting for the play to start.

 And the other half. Hannah was totally mesmerized by the play.

Mikayla was a musician (singer and dancer) in the play Fame, and she did a fabulous job!

 The awesome Nielsen fam.

The Carters with Faith and Mikalyla.

Hannah and Katelyn wore their matching Christmas jammies. Super cute!

Rylan gave us his room and made an amazing bed for himself in the living room.

Hannah LOVED spending time with all her cousins.

Crazy kiddos!

Good, good times. Oh, and have I mentioned how glad I am that I married Scott 5 years ago? Well, I am. :)

Hannah's going to have a little...

...SISTER!

Our baby girl's cute little profile. :)

 She was super wiggly during the entire ultrasound, so the tech had a hard time getting good pics. At least you can see one of her feet pretty well in this one.

 It's a girl!!!

Her healthy heartbeat.

To be totally honest, I was a bit of a basket case for a few days before the ultrasound. I was feeling super emotional, and I was really anxious that they were going to find something wrong with our baby. Apparently, it's hard for me to believe that my body is capable of making a healthy baby on its own. Anyway, I finally told Scott about my worries the night before the ultrasound. And that got him worrying, which made me worry even more. Thank goodness our worries were completely unfounded.

Scott and I are very happy to be expecting another baby girl (Hannah seems quite happy too). And we are relieved and extremely grateful that this baby girl is growing and developing normally. We're so excited to meet her!

embracing the belly :)

Last week, it seemed like my belly just popped right out overnight. (A couple of people thought I was showing sooner--that was just fat, not baby belly.)  At this point in my pregnancy with Hannah, I wasn't showing at all. Now, at about 4 1/2 months, I look like I did at 6 1/2 months with her. Oh, well. I hear that's pretty normal. So instead of trying to conceal it, I decided to embrace my large, pregnant belly and start wearing my maternity clothes. They're way more comfortable (and actually even cuter) than most of my normal clothes. Plus, I couldn't handle having my belt push against my belly anymore, and my regular pants won't stay up without one. And for some reason I just don't want to mess with the bella band this time around.

So, without further ado, my pregnant belly...

Scott was overjoyed to be the photographer. :)

Call me crazy, but I actually like the way my body looks more when I'm pregnant. Maybe it's because I finally have a good excuse to have a belly. :)

Tomorrow afternoon we will find out what we are having. Lately, Scott and I are thinking more and more that we are having a boy. I'm not sure if I'm only thinking that because I want a girl more. It's strange to me that I don't have a strong feeling either way this time. With Hannah, I could only imagine her as a girl, and I had 2 dreams that she was a girl. This time--nothing. Oh well. Surprises are usually fun. If you haven't voted yet, be sure to go to the side bar of my blog and vote whether you  think we're having a boy or a girl. And then please leave a comment about what you voted for (also if you've already voted) because I think it would be fun to see who's thinking what.

I'll keep you all posted...

mini golfer

Last night, we finally used our Passes of All Passes for the first time (after having them for several months). We took Hannah to Trafalga to miniature golf for her first time. She liked it a lot more than we thought she would...

We were afraid that she wouldn't like how dark it was inside, but she didn't mind at all.

She insisted on using my long, pink golf club to try to hit all of our balls.

And she spent a lot of time throwing the balls into the holes. All day today she has been asking for her "pink ball."

A few bonus pics...

Last weekend we went to The Chocolate for Hannah's and Scott's first time. We shared a cazookie for their first time (I've been many times with friends), and we are all in love. Yum!

I love this pic of sleepy Scott reading to sleepy Hannah.

This is Hannah's serious, concentrating face. Love it!

And a couple of Hannah-isms...

**Lately she likes to refer to herself as Hannah Carter. And whenever we ask her what our names are, she says Mommy Carter and Daddy Carter. Way funny!
**We try to get Hannah to say words that start with S as much as possible because she almost always replaces the S with an L. Soup is loop. Super Bowl is looper bowl. Silly is lilly. Sheep is leep. You get the idea. We thinks it's super cute and funny and will be a little sad when she starts saying S words correctly.
**The other day, I said to Hannah, "I love you." And she responded, "I love Brinton." (For those who don't know, Brinton is her baby cousin.)
**Hannah is very good at announcing to the world when she or her parents burp or fart. Good times. :)
**Hannah still sings all the time and can now sing a lot of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" on her own. Her mommy is so proud. :)  I especially love when she sings that if the Cubbies don't win it's a "lame." Awesome!