For the Journey


Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day. ~A.A. Milne

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." ~Psalm 65:11
When Hannah Kate was born, my Bestie sent me what became my absolute most favorite card EVER. I keep it in the drawer beside my computer, and I find myself going back to it over and over again. It's one of those Hallmark cards that sings to you . . . it's Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World.

I hear babies cry.
I watch them grow.
They'll learn much more
than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself
what a wonderful world.
Now, I already thought my world was pretty wonderful as it was, but I had no idea just how much more WONDERFUL-ER it would get with that baby girl who immediately captured our hearts.

I can still remember the first words the nurse spoke when Hannah Kate was born: "She has a head full of red hair!" Well, that wasn't exactly what I expected to hear. Not that there's anything wrong with a head full of red hair . . . but . . . really?!? At this point, I still hadn't seen Hannah Kate. I had a c-section, and they always hang that curtain just below your chin so you can't see anything. I looked at Seth and asked, "Is it really red hair or just blood?" His reply: "I don't know."

Well, she hardly had any hair at all. And I didn't really think it was red. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it wasn't red at all.

I've heard many stories of and references to the terrible two's. I can honestly say I'm not exactly sure what that is. Hannah Kate is two years old . . . not for much longer though . . . and I can only say that it's terrific! This has been, by far, my favorite age with her! She is just the most fun little thing ever! And she is a girlie girl, if you know what I mean!

This morning we painted fingernails and toe nails. Presto Pink is the color of choice these days. And Hannah Kate won't wear anything but dresses! If her panties don't match her dress, she insists on changing those, too. Her hair has to be "just so," which could mean a pony tail, barette, front pulled back or front pulled to the side . . . and always with a big, fat matching bow.

And we play. And play. And play. Tea parties! Baby dolls! Dress up! Doll house! She also loves to read and color. She has a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book. The other day she went through every single page in the coloring book and gave Strawberry Shortcake and her friends blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick! This is exactly what I used to do. There's just something about blue eye shadow! This morning she was walking around in a pair of my high heels. She has to wear lipstick, which is really just tinted chapstick, to church and anywhere else outside the house we may go.

Hannah Kate loves her big brother. But I have to be honest. She also loves the fact that he is in school now because that means she has mommy all to herself. It also means she can play with whatever she wants to play with and watch whatever she wants to watch. Even though I miss Mason terribly, I have to admit that I'm enjoying this time with Hannah Kate! This is the first time I've had the opportunity to spend my days with just Hannah Kate and give myself to whatever it is she wants to do. She is so full of imagination and adventure and life! She's also full of mischief. She's quite opinionated, and that lil temper flares sometimes. Yeah, I'm not sure where she gets that from . . .

I haven't blogged about this, but I started keeping an infant in our home back in June. He was about ten weeks old at the time. Now he's six months old. Hannah Kate has had the best time taking care of him, feeding him bottles, playing with him, helping with diaper changes, reading to him. A few weeks ago, we were playing together on the floor. The conversation went like this.

Hannah Kate: Mama, I want a baby like Connor.

Me (putting careful thought into my response once I realized she meant she wanted a real, live, crying, pooping baby): Oh. Well, where do you think we are going to get this baby?

Hannah Kate (obviously putting careful thought into her response, too, since it took her a minute to respond to my question): The store.

Me (trying so hard to be serious and not laugh . . . and also realizing that Hannah Kate doesn't quite have the concept of where "real" babies come from since she hasn't been around any pregnant women lately and didn't really remember Connor's mommy being pregnant): Well, I don't think they sell babies like Connor at Wal-Mart. I've never seen them there before. Have you?

Hannah Kate (again, very thoughtful): Well, let's just buy Connor from Miss Kayla.

Me (really about to lose it at this point): Well, I'm pretty sure Miss Kayla isn't going to let us buy Connor. But he'll at least come and play with us everyday. Okay?

Anyway, it's obvious that Hannah Kate's baby dolls rather pale in comparison to Connor!

Her favorites:
Fast food - Chicken Flay (Chic-fil-A)
Color - pink (of course!)
Food - Pasta, pizza, rice and gravy and SALAD
Cartoon - Olivia (love the say she says 'livia)
Book - currently Amelia Bedelia
Movie - anything with a princess or Tinkerbell
Animal - cat
Drink - Sprite

Here are some of my favorite pics of late . . . my wonderful world with Hannah Kate . . .