Medical update

Much of my writing from Hannah's first year blog revolved around medical updates and appointments. From day 1 she has been a champ with doctors and even wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Anyway two weeks ago at one of our regular ent checks the doctor surprised us by saying he was going to remove Hannah's tubes. She has had them since she was jacks age. He did it right there in the office. One side was 'easy peasy' as Hannah says but one side was very painful. He told us at that time that in two weeks if she passed her final hearing test with no tubes we were officially done. We were excited and felt like we were graduating. I was so proud of Hannah yesterday. The audiologist took her back to the sound proof room where she had to enter by herself. Hannah handles herself so maturely. She sat in a big chair with huge headphones on and followed directions beautifully. I'm sure that's scary for a lot of kids. They have a baby hearing test for kids who can't handle sitting still or following directions but she did a beautiful job with the adult test raising her hand when she heard the beep, repeating words etc. Hannah thought it was funny they made her say ice cream. Results came in and she passed with 100% accuracy at all tone levels. We were told to wait for the doctor so he could say bye. Doctor came in and told Hannah he was sad he didn't get to look in her ears anymore. Just as we were about to celebrate and move forward from ent he remembered she had a cleft. So very long story short Hannah's ears are perfect, no scar tissue, and hearing is great but we still have to go every two months until age 10. Bummer.

On a happy note Hannah is in the total princess stage. She loves all the disney movies, pricess books, princess dress up etc. she loves dance class and is dying to learn how to read. It's her new obsession. Jack is on the move. Crawling everywhere. He loves being outside and going on stroller walks.

On the move

Jack is crawling, we're in trouble, enough said.

6 months

When you are a kid, half a year seems like a lifetime. Hannah is already dying to have another birthday party (yes she has her theme and all) and daily reminds me she isn't going to sit on Santa's lap at Christmas. She can't wait to get a backpack for school, drive a car, and yes even said and I quote "I can' wait to be big so I can have a sparkle ring like you." It's so hard to wait for Christmas, your birthday, for school to be out, etc. You are always looking to the future, to that next fun event. I think of popular sayings such as "....as slow as Christmas." Must have been made up by a kid, because as an adult, life moves so fast. Too fast. I feel like Christmases come and go at the speed of light. I feel like daily I'm asking God for more time, to slow time, to enjoy the 'every day' not just the 'special days.' I had dinner last night with girlfriends from graduate school and one mentioned it has been five years. Honestly it is scary. And Jack's little life is no different. He is half a year old today and it feels like yesterday his smiling face brightened my life. Sweet Jack, at half a year you weigh in at 16 lbs. 6 oz which is 25% and only 1 oz more then sister was at 6 months. In the Robbins family we call that the "Collins gene." You are 26 1/2 in. tall which is exactly the same height as Hannah and on the boy chart is 50% or smack dab average. My kids have big heads, cus they have big brains :) so no surprise that Jack (like Hannah has a head size in the 85%). You are cute as can be and so mellow. Honestly you are such a breeze and privilege to raise. You have a little hair and I'm still not sure what color to call your eyes (I guess Hazel). No teeth yet, but you are so happy and smile all the time. Your favorite things are Hannah's silly noises, your Santa present, playing with toys, being with people, splashing at bath time, chewing on things, grabbing, and scooting all over the floor. You are also very interested in Bella the dog. You don't like being alone, getting your nails cut or peas. Other then peas you absolutely love food. You eat it up so fast. All of it- green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, bananas, pears, etc. Yum yum yum. You eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and get a bedtime baba. Your greatest accomplishment this month is moving. This is so different then my experience with Hannah. Hannah went from sitting to crawling across the floor and from crawling to walking across the floor. There was never any in between, Jack is so motivated by movement and getting things he wants that he can pretty much get anywhere and fast. It is crazy. He is also pretty good at sitting, but would rather be moving. Yesterday he had four shots and I kid you not made no sound. What the heck? The nurse was amazed and kept talking about it so I had to gentle quiet her astonishment down by filling her in that he cried when they read his temperature so he isn't as brave as she thought. In fact, generally speaking, I think Jack is sensitive so I don't know what was going on yesterday but the kid had no problems and with four shots couldn't believe it. Jack, you are my sensitive one, my peacemaker, my patient, happy, easy going snuggle bear. I think Nana would say that your personality is a lot like daddy's was when he was a kid. You are so loved beautiful boy and have a one of a kind place in mommy's heart. Happy 1/2/ birthday (Next week he is getting his real 6 month photos and Hannah is getting her 3 years so stay tuned).

Caveman Jack!

As promised, here is a picture of Jack sitting. He is getting better each day, in fact he is way more upright than Hannah was in the first sitting picture I posted of her. But he still is slightly cavemanish and falls over after about 10-30 seconds. Jack is also down to two naps during the day and is a great little sleeper during the day. He is also a 'scooter.' Maybe I have just forgotten over time, but I don't remember Hannah ever scooting. I just remember her sitting and then one day at nine months crawling. Jack on the other hand, scoots all over the floor. You set him on a blanket and the next thing you know he is across the room. Jack also has a weird habit of scratching his head. I think it's his equivalent of biting nails. He does it both as a soothing technique like when he is really relaxed eating his bottle and also as an anxiety reaction like if you let him cry it out in the middle of the night. If I don't cut his nails three times a week, he scratches his head so much it bleeds. Odd little habit, (we all have them) so I thought I would document his.

Here's my boy!


And one more just because he is the cutest thing in life

Sleepy Dwarf

So a joke around our house with Hannah is that she calls Jack 'Grumpy' dwarf in the middle of the night which I guess makes me 'sleepy dwarf.' I've been meaning to update my post that said Jack was sleeping through the night. Forget what I said. He basically slept through the night twice and I got WAY over zealous and spoke too soon. Jack most certainly does NOT sleep through the night and we are tired! He is the best boy during the day. Rarely cries, eats well, naps well, is very scheduled etc. He goes down at 8 pm no problems and then 2 am comes (the witching hour). Jack is literally awake every night for two hours. No joke. I'm sure you're reading this thinking you know the answer to the problem, but trust me this is just Jack. We have been working on this for months. Tim and I are so consistent. We keep the lights off, don't pick him up, don't talk, sooth in increasing increments of time, cry it out, give him more food, try a paci, white noise, rub his gums with teething medicine, just give it a week, blah blah blah. Been there, done that. My little man just needs to be awake. Crazy! Especially on days I work, wow so sleepy. Hope Hope Hope that one day he just decides to change. Please lord, let this be soon. It is particularly hard because the kids share a room and until Jack can sleep through the night we can't have him waking Hannah. So Hannah sleeps with me which she thinks is the best thing in the whole world, but I will probably never be able to get her back to her own bed. I swear Hannah is sending him secret messages to keep with the crying so she can sleep with me. She calls it sleepover and sadly I don't even feel lame going to sleep with her at 7:15. I actually look forward to it.

Also, need to update that Jack eats food now and enjoys it. So far he has had squash and carrots. Eats them both up no problems. I actually really dislike pictures of kids eating baby food so I won't be posting one. I will however really try hard to remember to post a picture of Jack sitting. He does this really sweet "ahhhh sound" and I just love him so much. He is also starting to love Bella dog. It's so cute how he puts his hand out to pet her. This past weekend we celebrated Granny's birthday. Hannah made her cake, dressed in pink (Granny's favorite color) and we had a little party. Today was Granny's real birthday and she celebrated by watching the kids while I worked. Hannah was so excited to bring her a balloon and flowers this morning. She picked out a princess balloon and couldn't wait to get there. Happy Birthday Granny! We love you so much and honestly I could not raise my kids without you. Whenever Hannah says "You're the best mommy" I always correct her and say "No, I have the best mommy." It's true Granny, we are all blessed to have you in our lives. You taught me everything I know about being a mommy and I hope Hannah thinks as highly of me someday as I think of you. Thank you for raising me so selflessly and thank you for watching over my little ones two days a week now. You are my hero, always have been and always will be.

We have also been doing lots of Valentine's crafts and each day Hannah and Jack have been waking to find a new Valentine on the door with a reason why they are loved. Mommy could probably do 365 hearts/reasons why, but our door is too small. This post was kind of all over the place, but I haven't updated in awhile so just wanted to get it all out there, or at least as much as I remember.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNY


Loves to play


My Valentines


Arts and Crafts