Haven't Blogged Lately...

Things have been busy in the Carr household, hence my lack of blogging in such a long time (and hence my past "catch-up" blog posts).

STEVE ~

In the heat of tax season now. Enjoying keeping busy, working Monday - Friday and every other Saturday. He's also enjoying teaching Sunday School at our church in Farmington.

STEVEN ~

He's talking more and more. Tonight her came out of the room carrying one of his number books - full of the number 8. He was pointing to all the eights and saying "eight, eight". He says Hannah often, but rarely Daddy or Mommy. He can answer the first three questions of the Children's Catechism - the first answer is "God" (Q: Who made you?). The second he answers with his hands "All things" (Q: What else did God make?). The third he answers with his hands and trying to repeat what I say "For his own glory" (Q: Why did God make you and all things?).

He's walking up and down stairs more and more on his feet instead of on his knees.

He loves Hannah; loves to hold her, talk to her, climb on her, push her face into the floor, make her cry by screaming piercing screams at bedtime, tickle her, help hold her bottle when she's eating, pat her head, point out her ears and eyes and nose and mouth, play with her, share his sippy cup with her, try to share his food with her.

HANNAH ~

She's a week shy of turning 8 months old. She's standing up more and more. She's crawling like crazy. She climbed up one stair today all by herself (look out!). She's eating some solids. She loves to sit and play in the tub during bath time. She loves watching Steven and loves his attentions... most of the time. She's very smiley and laughs to laugh and be tickled.

CRYSTAL ~

I'm 12 1/2 weeks pregnant. So far I've only suffered about 2 weeks of nausea which is now long gone. I'm getting a little baby bump.

I'm enjoying my little ones, loving to see them play together.

I'm sewing more and more. Recently I've sewn 8 diapers for Hannah and 4 for Steven, with 4 more to finish. I'll have to take pictures when those ones are done. I've got a couple diaper orders to work on, as well as some outfits for Scarlet Stitch. I've got about a month's worth of sewing lined up and am loving it.

Some of what I've been doing the past couple months...

Back side of a dress for Hannah

Matching shirts for Steven and his boy cousins on Steve's side

(I forgot to photograph the hats)

Pot holders - gift

Boy's outfit - gift.

Small pocket diaper - gift.

Medium/Small Pocket Diaper (on small setting) - order

Another boy's outfit - gift

Medium/Small Diaper Cover (on small setting) - order

Same as the previous picture, set to the large setting

4 Medium/Small Pocket Diapers - order

1 Medium/Small Pocket Diaper and 1 Medium/Small Diaper Cover (same as above) - order

2 Dresses (made a third one for Hannah) - gifts

Small Diaper Cover - order

Small Diaper Cover - order

Dress - gift

Catching up on pictures...

Quality Daddy Time

She liked the wrapping...

I made all the boys (on Steve's side of the family) matching shirts and hats.

Here, they're piling onto Grandpa.

Sweet Hannah, asleep in Mommy's sling.

Steven with Grandpa.

Mommy & her kiddos.

Hannah's first solids (while visiting in Grand Rapids, MI)

Steven hugging his friend Hadassah with her daddy watching.

(During our visit to GR, MI)

First time Hannah gets a bottle from Grandma.

Getting bundled to go outside.

Made his first snowman with Grandma C. while visiting friends in MI.

Steven & Adam & his pet bird.

Grace and the kids.

Grace's sister, Theresa, and the kids.

He loves to "help" Hannah eat.

"I can stand!"

He loves to share his sippy.

She loves her daddy!

"Yes, I'm cute!"

Reading together.

He loves to play with Hannah, especially climbing all over her

(she doesn't seem to mind - most of the time).

Sibling Love

Hannah Grace

While in Michigan for 2 weeks, Hannah started to ...

... pull herself up to standing,

... sit,

... and turned 7 months old!
(all in that order)

Michigan!!

I'm so very excited to be leaving TOMORROW to go to Michigan to visit friends! I pray I'll travel well (have been dealing with some queeziness).

Also, last night, Steven decided to master the art of getting out of the pack 'n' play when he should be asleep. Should be a *fun* time away! Oh well! The joys of parenting! :)

Another Blessing!

I'm pregnant! Due August 26, 2010. I've been feeling queezy this time around, something new for me. I also caught the 12 hour flu a couple days back - so thankful it was the flu and not my pregnancy - it was awful!

Official First Crawling - TODAY!

Hannah's been scooting around on her tummy, slowly getting to where she wants to go (the army crawl). She's been getting up on her hands and knees more and more. Tonight, she officially crawled (moving forward on the hands and knees, as opposed to just scooting with hands and feet and on tummy).

I've noticed a few times today that her legs keep wanting to turn under her as if she's going to sit down. Sitting will be soon I suppose. :)

Alphabet Book

Busy! Updates on the Kids...

It feels so busy around here! It feels like it's been awhile since I've written. We've been enjoying deer season at my folk's place - one more weekend to get our deer! Steve's been doing the hunting, I'm having fun visiting and tending to the kiddos. It's so fun to see Steven interact with his cousins!

HANNAH ~
On Night Sleeping:
I had hoped the sleeping-through-the-night was the new trend, unfortunately, it was the exception. She's back to waking often. I did find out the most likely culprit, however - teething. I'll have to look back at Steven's baby calendar, but if I recall correctly, I think he was closer to 6 months old when he popped his first teeth, not 4 months old! Hannah's a petite gal, too, smaller than he was, so I've contented myself with accepting the night nursing for awhile yet before trying again to back off. I'm just making sure to not nurse her more frequently than I do during the day.

On Naps:
Hannah takes her naps like clockwork and goes down fairly easy when we're at home and there's a fan nearby. She tends to fight her last nap of the day, sometimes not taking it altogether. When we're out, she'll go to sleep contendedly in my sling or carrier, but my back can only handle carrying her for a short while before I'm in pain, so I use this only when it's most convenient to do so. Either putting her in the sling, or snuggling her in my arms is our favorite way to get her nap in while at church. Once she's asleep, I'll often lay her down next to me, in order to spare my arms and back. Last Sunday, I did indulge in the church nursery and let the gals in there hold her and put her to sleep. They enjoyed that and Hannah slept beautifully.

STEVEN ~
On Obedience:
There's a few things that I can think of that Steven will do almost everytime I ask him to: throw something in the garbage (he particularly likes to throw away kleenex, as well as wipe his nose with it), empty the dryer, get into his high chair & go upstairs for a bath (although he has been slacking in his enthusiasm for this the past couple nights). He does fairly well with cleaning up his toys, with a major factor being how tired he is. He will play nicely with Hannah when he knows I'm watching; when I'm not watching, sometimes he likes to experiment with hitting or sitting on her. He went through this head-butting/hitting stage that lasted a few weeks. He's at the tail-end of it, it seems. He's rarely head-butting, although there's still some issues with pushing and hitting. The head-butting was the most frusterating, as he got us good a few times.

On Going to Bed:
He's doing fairly well with bedtime. He will cry if he's wet or poopy or just not tired. He loves to snuggle and give hugs and kisses.

On Naps:
He's taking shorter naps now, or sometimes none at all. He typically takes one nap a day, if that, after lunch time. Even if he doesn't sleep, he stays in his crib until naptime is over. As my kids get older, I hope to maintain a quiet time in the middle of the day.

On Talking:
Steven still doesn't say very many audible words on a consistent basis; however, lately I have noticed him talking more. One new word that comes to mind is "eat".

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I'm so very much enjoying our kids, seeing their smiles and hearing their laughs are such blessings. I enjoy seeing them both learning and growing. The thought of them makes me want so much to be a good and Godly mother to them. Children are such wonderful blessings from the Lord; I'm so grateful for his goodness to us!

Hannah

Hannah managed to wiggle herself right under the bassinet.

Two bottom front teeth! Already at 4 months you could see and feel them!
(it's harder to see in the picture, versus real life)

Diaper Covers - with velcro

These get mailed out tomorrow to a customer.

(2 Medium & 2 Small Diaper Covers, with Velcro)

Emptying the Dryer...

Today, I asked Steven to empty the dryer, as I had to tend to Hannah. I left him in the laundry room with the dryer door open and a laundry basket. When I was done tending to Hannah, I was very pleased to find Steven emptying the last contents of the dryer into the laundry basket. Here's a recording of the next load - it was a large load and at the end, Steven got a little surprise - enjoy!

A Favorite Game...

Steven loves piling the stuffed animals up and then moving the pile, one animal at a time, to another spot. Today he wanted to be put in his chair, with the tray on. I piled him high with animals. He loved it.