8 Year Well Check

I took Hannah to see our Pediatrician today after school for her 8 year old well check up. The nurse took all her vitals, then tested her vision, which was 20/20, and did a simple hearing test, which was good. And then the doctor checked her over and said her weight, 68.9 lbs was just under the 90th percentile. And her height, which was 52 1/2 inches, is also just below the 90th percentile. Which also translates that she now meets all the height requirements for rides at Disneyland and California Adventure! LOL. Our pediatrician said she was just right proportionately. Everything else checked out great and she was only in need of one vaccination. When Hannah learned she indeed needed a shot, her happy face changed.But she was a real trooper, never even budged and later said it just felt like Rachel had pinched her!

500th Post!

Whoo Hooo! This is my 500th post for Hannah's Happenings! And to mark this special post, I'll list fifty things about Hannah.

1. We were told several times through my pregnancy "If I had to guess, I'd guess a girl"
2. Was a Y2K baby
3. Born April 15, 2000
4. She was two weeks late
5. Born at 7:49pm
6. Was 9lbs 15oz at birth, but what's an ounce, I usually tell people she was 10lbs
7. She is the first Grandchild for my side of the family
8. The second grandchild for Steven's side
9. The first great-grandchild for my side
10. Born tongue tied, like her father
11. Began sleeping in her own room the first night home from the hospital
12. Her first trip to Disneyland was when she was just 5 weeks old
13. Was hospitalized August 1, 2000, at four months of age for aspiration pneumonia
14. Hospitalized August 31, 2000, because an Upper GI suggested she had pyloric stenosis
15. Had her first and only surgery (thus far) at the age of four months. A pyloromyotomy, and had her tongue tied clipped as well. A week later we were told the pyloromyotomy was unnecessary, she had been misdiagnosed.
16. Hospitalized for the 3rd time in 2 months in October 2000 for aspiration penumonia
17. Had many tests and saw many specialists in regards to her swallowing problem. All told us she would outgrow it. She eventually outgrew the problem when she was 18 months old.
18. At 16 1/2 months of age, she came in second place for a crawling contest sponsored by Sears. We got to pick $50 worth of clothes as her prize
19. Was a late walker and began walking at 17 months old
20. First night away from home, besides hospitalizations, was spending the night with Gramma and Papa in March 2001, when we went away overnight for our 5th anniversary
21. First big trip was a car trip to Sacramento to visit Steven's brother and family
22. Potty trained at 3 years old, she wanted to go to 'school'
23. Started preschool in September 2003, she was in the Pooh Bear class
24. Wore a "I'm the Big Sister" t-shirt to share the expecting news with her Gramma and Papa. Gramma thought the shirt was a hand me down from our friends next door. LOL.
25. Was 4 1/2 years old when she became a big sister
26. Favorite foods are Pizza and Macaroni and Cheese
27. Has one cousin older than her and four younger than her
28. Is a blue senior belt in Tae Kwon Do/Karate
29. Favorite color is purple
30. Loves animals
31. Loves to hum, sing, and makes noises
32. Is tall for her age
33. Never been to another major theme park besides Disneyland
34. Has been to Disneyland more in her life than the park around the corner from our house
35. Favorite Princess is Snow White
36. Is a great big sister, most of the time
37. Is quite the little planner
38. "Grew Up" with my parents dog, she was close to Wendy, and thinks of her often
39. Her first pet of her own was a beta fish, that she named "Waggy"
40. Has impeccable school attendance. Having only missed four days in the last three years.
41. Loves to do crafts, to draw, to bead
42. Likes to write in little journal books and make up stories
43. First and only plane ride thus far was to Northern California for a tea birthday party for her cousin
44. Loves to fall asleep listening to music, on her very own iPod shuffle
45. Has a room all to her self
46. Is very much a Daddy's girl
47. Can be very silly and funny
48. Recently developed a strong like for horses
49. Still sleeps with the blanket that her Gramma made for her 1st Christmas
50. Sleeps with stuffed animal of some sort every night

School Days are Coming to an End...

It's so hard to believe that this time, four weeks from now, Hannah will have her 2nd grade school year behind her. Her last day of school is May 22. And then because her schools schedule is changing from a Four Track Year Round School to a Single Track School Schedule, Hannah will have nine weeks of summer vacation before beginning her third grade (gasp!) school year on July 30th.

While the new adventures lay ahead for Hannah in the coming school year are exciting, the teacher she has had this year has been absolutely amazing! All of us parents when we're together are so sad to see the school year coming to an end because our time with Miss Barrett will soon be over.

The Lord really blessed us this year with a wonderful teacher who not only loves her students, but has a real heart for the Lord. She's everything that we as Christian parents could have asked and prayed for. I've already been praying for the teacher Hannah will have in the coming school year, and while I know nothing is impossible for the Lord, I think getting a teacher as good as the one we've had this year could be a stretch.

Belt Ceremony

The usual routine that follows a tournament is a belt ceremony. Hannah tested for her new belt a couple of weeks ago, however, so that the kids could compete in their current belt color, they weren't awarded their new belt color until tonight.

Hannah did awesome at her belt test, and we thought perhaps she would move up to a Red Belt. But because kicks and block and the form is getting tougher and she's only a few belts away from a black belt, the instructor is starting to move up belts a little more slowly, which is a good thing. Tonight, Hannah progressed to a Senior Blue Belt! Which is very exciting!

Karate Tournament

The end of the karate quarter recently came to an end which means it's tournament time! Hannah competed in two areas, forms and sparring. In the forms competition, she just barely missed a 4th place spot. She did such a great job and had even been called to repeat her form twice. Because she's continuing with Karate, we bought her her own head gear and chest protector today. She was pretty jazzed about that. After the forms competition, the sparring competition was next. She patiently waited through all of the lower colored belts to compete and finally she was sent to the mat in which she would compete. There were four girls in her age group, so it was a for sure thing that she'd get a placing of some sort. The first match it was a quick 3-0 win for Hannah. She sparred again, and I think lost. But the exciting thing was that she placed 2nd!!!The stinky part, was because it was at the end of the tournament, trophies had run out! She came home with no trophy in her hand. But for picture taking purposes, a friend within her karate class who had placed 2nd in her competition lent Hannah her trophy! LOL. We'll have to keep on top of our instructor and she'll eventually get her trophy, but it stinks she didn't come home with one today.Her instructor was very pleased with how Hannah did today. I think with all the practicing and hard work she's poured into her classroom performance, and along with getting older, gave her the confidence to get out there and do well today. She didn't exhibit her normal nervousness self and got out there and acted like she was having fun! And look what it got her, that and all the practicing she's been doing got her! As always following a tournament, Hannah got to choose where we ate dinner. And she chose The Old Spaghetti Factory, where she has recently become attached to favorite. Today she got an adult size meal and ate it all!!!! We had a nice dinner celebrating Hannah's achievement with Gramma and Papa and Gramie, who all came to the tournament to cheer her on!

Class Performance

Hannah goes to a magnet school that specializes in the visual and performing arts. And as part of their yearly curriculum, every class must put on a performance at some point in the school year. In Kindegarten, Hannah's class did a Christmas performance, and in first grade, they did a A Walk Through Nursery Rhymes.

For the past two days, Hannah's class has done their performance, titled "Animal Research Reports". The setting for the performance is in a classroom, whereas a new student is greeted by his fellow students who guide him along as to how to get started on his Animal Research Report. And then through conversations and comparisons, the students talk about the animals they've researched. And as previously mentioned in prior posts, Hannah's animal was the lion.

The performance was very cute and the students did a wonderful job and put a lot of time not only into learning their lines and practicing and perfecting, but they also designed the covers of their programs. Each student drew and colored one of the animals mentioned in the performance. It was pretty funny, all of us parents traded programs back and forth and with the greeters until we got programs that had been drawn and colored by our own children. Dedicated parents I tell you! Hannah's programs already have been put into my special memory box for such special papers.Almost all the parents came yesterday, along with grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc. There were parents that came again today and some grandparents, but today's performance was the day Hannah's family and extended family came to show their love and support. We took up quite a bit of the chairs too!! LOL. Thank you to all of you who came and showed your support, I know Hannah really appreciated the attention. :)

This is the opening to their performance.

Convincing her fellow classmates why lions don't have an easy life.


And here is the entire class, and their hard working teacher, giving the paparazzi, I mean parents and grandparents, one last group shot.At dinner tonight, we asked Hannah if she was glad to have her performance behind her, and surprisingly she said no, she was a little sad it was all over because it had been so much fun! Hopefully the confidence she built up with these performances in the last two days will help boost her confidence tomorrow when she competes in her Karate Tournament!

And The Birthday Festivities Continue...

A couple of weeks ago, I had thought I'd make Hannah's birthday lunch a special one by bringing her lunch. Parents are allowed to come to school and have lunch with their kids, but it's something that I seldom do. So I joined Hannah for lunch today, bringing her her choice of McDonalds. And I sat at the table with her and the nineteen other 2nd graders in her class. Ahhh, what joy, what bliss, what commotion!! LOL. After we'd finished our lunch and we'd been excused by the lunch lady, we went to the playground where she showed me the area of the field where they've been collecting tons of ladybugs at recess and then I sat on a bench and watched her frolic and play with her friends and fellow classmates. She checked in with me a couple of times, but I mostly sat on the bench and observed. She's such a different person when she's at school. She noticed that on the tether ball courts, there was a competition going on between the 1st graders and the 2nd graders and said that was "so tight". Huh?? What'd she say?? Apparently 'tight' is a new word in kids' vocabulary. As if bringing her lunch wasn't enough, I came back to school just a little bit before school was dismissed and brought her class brownies. They were all thankful for the special treat and cheerfully sang "Happy Birthday" to Hannah.This evening, Gramma and Papa, Uncle Robbie and Auntie and the cousins came over for pizza and pizzookies. Hannah opened her birthday presents from us, and presents from Gramma and Papa. For some unknown reason, Hannah is fascinated with horses. She wants one, she talks about them all the time, she pretends she has one. And tonight, she got a set of horses for her very own!Ever since the first time we went to the home of one of her classmates, Hannah has wanted a white board, because her friend had one and together they played school. She must have told everyone who asked her what she wanted for Christmas and her birthday that she wanted a white board. She was most excited to open this and find that she got lots of pretty markers to go with it.I was really at a loss as to what to get Hannah this year for her birthday. Nothing jumped out at us when we went toy aisle looking. Knowing how much she loves crafts and to do crafty things, my mom suggested I fill a bag with all kinds of new things for her. I took my old caboodle, that had previously been given to her but was empty and filled it with colored pencils, a stapler, erasers, glue sticks, scotch tape, index cards, post it notes, scribble paper, an address book, just to name a few. All the little packages were individually wrapped which made it more fun to open everything. And just like Gramma said she would, Hannah LOVES the box!!After demonstrating her Tae Kwon Doe form that she will perform at her tournament on Saturday (thus the costume change), it was time for pizzookies!! And boy were they yummy!!The marathon days of celebrating have come to an end and the birthday celebrations for 2008 are now behind us!

Eight Years Ago...

Eight years ago, in the very wee hours of the morning, I checked into the hospital. They were expecting me as I was scheduled to be induced. I was quickly approaching week 42 of being pregnant and my body showed no signs of being ready anytime soon.

We arrived to the hospital shortly before 4:30, and by 5:30, I was hooked up to Pitocin and the dosage was increased every half an hour. It wasn't until around 9:00 that it started to kick in.

Over the course of the next three house, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and some lasting as long as 2 minutes. Somewhere in the midst of this chaos, it was strongly suggested that perhaps Hannah would be an only child.

Shortly after noon, my OB came in and broke my water and announced that my dilation had progressed to 5 cm, I was finally far enough along for my OB to grant me my request of an epidural. Once the epidural was in place, I was much more bearable and there was perhaps hope for one more child after Hannah.

Around 3:00, my nurse returned to check on me and I was making progress.

Forty five minutes later, the monitors showed a decrease in the baby's heartbeat which alarmed my nurse which caused her to return to exam me. In just 45 minutes I had dilated from a 6 to 10 cm, however, the baby was still too high to start pushing.

Three hours later and no progress in bringing the baby down on its own, my OB had to use suction to get the baby to come. An hour later, and after several pushes, Hannah Rose made her grand entrance into the world, at 7:49 pm. And our lives have never been the same. She's a gift from the Lord, one that is greatly treasured in our family.

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah Rose!!!

Birthday Tea Party

This year for Hannah's birthday, I did a tea party. The invitations read to wear your favorite princess dress or your Sunday Best, and all the girls came dressed so perfectly and girly for tea, some even wore gloves, and one a hat. They all looked so cute. Emma arrived early and helped keep Hannah and Rachel occupied for a while before the rest of the party guests arrived. A lot of preparation and work went into this party and I am so happy with how it turned out. Thanks to Gramie who found and bought the cute polka dot tea cups (they were really espresso cups, but worked just perfectly), and with a few added pieces from Gramma, everything pulled together and the tables looked just beautiful. Upon arriving, the girls decorated a foam crown with stickers. Some wore theirs to the party table, others saved theirs for taking home. But I think they all enjoyed it and it was fun to see how differently each girl decorated their crown.Once the majority of the girls were here, and the crowns had been made, it was time to make their way out to the patio to the long tea party table. Every girl had a place setting set for them and even had fancy little place settings with their name. On the menu: chocolate chip scones, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, grapes, and veggie kabobs with little Ranch dressing cups. And for dessert, birthday cupcakes and chocolate chip ice cream. Although it was a tea party, the teapots held pink lemonade and fruit punch, although tea was available upon request. But seeing how it was 95 here today, not many were longing for a hot drink.The girls ate and giggled and talked and giggled and talked. Singing silly songs and sayings they say at school. After they were done eating, each girl got a bag of beads and a string to make a necklace that allowed them to sit at the table and talk and giggle some more. After beading, the girls remained at the table and Hannah opened presents. Having the girls remain at their seats worked out really nice and it allowed everyone to be able to see what was being opened, etc. Hannah got some really cool things and can't wait to play with them.Following the presents, I was going to bring out the cupcakes, but the girls asked for 'recess'. Steven said perhaps they needed a chance to get up and run around a bit and work off from having sat at a table for over an hour. So 'recess' it was and off they went to play on the swingset, played some handball against the house until the ball went over the fence, and even did bubbles. Finally, when they were all hot and wanted something cool to drink, I was able to regroup them to the table and bring out the cupcakes and we were able to sing to the birthday girl. Towards the end of the party, I asked Hannah if she was having a good time, she said yes, but then got quiet, when I asked her what was wrong, she said she hated that the time was coming that everyone would leave. She loved having all her friends and her cousins over for a tea party.

Conversations with Hannah

On the way home from school, Hannah usually asks what's for dinner. This way she can determine then if she's going to be hungry or not come the time dinner is done. Today, she asked her usual question, and most days I have an answer for her, but with getting things done and ready for her tea party on Saturday, I hadn't given dinner a thought as of yet. This is how our conversation went today:

H: "What's for dinner"

Mom: "I don't know yet"

H: "Can we have macaroni and cheese?"

Mom: "Probably not"

H: "You always get to choose what we eat for dinner!"

Mom: "I do the cooking, I get to decide what's for dinner."

H: "Nuh, uh."

Mom: "I make the menus (and once in a while I'll ask if there's anything anyone would like me to make), I do the grocery shopping, who do you think should get to decide what to cook?"

H: "Me"



She wasn't going to let this subject go, and there was no point in continuing to argue who decides what we eat for dinner.

California State Testing

Today, at Hannah's school begins the 2 week course of California State Testing, aka "The Big Test" to the kids.

Despite it not affecting Hannah's grades on her report card next month, she is pretty nervous. I'm so thankful she has a teacher who is in tune to her kids and is aware of how much stress this test can cause for the kids. They have no homework for the next couple of weeks so their afternoons can be free and relaxing. She also is having parents bring in healthy snacks to give the kids just prior to taking the test. Today we are bringing sliced apples. She also told the kids they'd take a walk around the playground for fresh air when they need it.

Please be praying for Hannah and her classmates as they take this big test over the next few weeks that ultimately tells the state of California how our school is doing.

Skool Districk Speling

Every year, I must go to the school district in which we live and get permission to leave the school district. I then have to take that form to the school district in which her school belongs to and get the inter district transfer approved.

We got our approval letter in the mail today stating that the following conditions must be kept in order for our transfer to be valid:

* Satisfactory attendance as determined by the Site Administrator
* Satisfactory academic progress
* Satisfactory citizenship
* No falsification of information
* Furnish your own transpiration

Hannah has no problem in following the first four conditions. But that fourth one, "Furnish your own transpiration", might be a tough one as the definition of transpiration is 'the evaporation of water from the aerial parts of plants'.

Obviously it should have read we were to furnish our own transportation, but reading the letter, from the school district with such a spelling error really made me laugh. Someone obviously wasn't paying attention, or wasn't using spell check.

April Fool's Day

This morning I was explaining to Hannah that today is the start of a new month, only 15 days til her birthday, 12 days until her tea party, etc, etc. I told her that today is also April's Fool Day. Not knowing what that means, I explained to her that people might try and play silly jokes on her all day long. You could tell she was trying to process that information.

So I went about getting breakfast around, getting into the refrigerator, when Hannah tells me I have a hole in my pants.My first thought was NO! That's not possible, I just bought these pants and I didn't remember snagging them on anything, etc.

I turned around to find Hannah with this huge ear to ear smile and her response, "April Fools".

The girl catches on fast!