A year in pictures...

I am going to start blogging again, now that I think I might actually have time to catch up!  I can't believe that it has been a whole year.  I wanted to catch up month by month since Hannah changes so much, but if I do that, I'll never be current.  So a quick update over the past year...

I was supposed to be starting nursing school last August.  Instead, I decided to stay on at the medical practice that I do billing for.  I worked out a great deal with my bosses, got a raise, and only work 30 hours a week now.  So I get to be home with Hannah 2 weekdays, and go in to the office the other 3 days.  I don't know how I would have ever managed school and a baby, and I am happy with the decision that I made.  That decision also allowed Steve to quit his job with Xerox this past April.  He didn't like the path he was on.  So he went back to work for an old employer, as IT Director, which is what he really has always wanted to do.  He is much happier day to day, and really looks forward to this new venture!

We had a wonderful Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas with family.  It was neat that it was Hannah' first, but I think I am actually looking forward to THIS holiday season even more, since she is older and will be so excited now!  Although Christmas was pretty exciting, since Hannah walked for the first time ON Christmas Day!  Also, in December, I took Steve on a surprise trip to SB for a short overnight.  We left Hannah for the first time.  She did great, we did great, and it was so nice to know that she was home with family safe and sound.  Gave us a glimpse of what our old life was like!

Our little fairy in her costume

First trip to Underwood Farm and a pumpkin patch - standing almost by herself at 7 months!

So excited for Thanksgiving!

Our little family

First trip to see Santa

Our Christmas card photo :)

Practicing walking on Christmas Eve

First Christmas morning, surrounded by gifts

Her very own chair!

Opening gifts with her cousin Cooper on Christmas day

In January we celebrated my birthday.  I also started a "preschool" with Hannah one day a week.  I go with her on Thursdays, for 3 hours.  She loves it.  Lots of playing and exploring and singing and dancing and learning.  It's a great program.  I also took a sewing class and learned the basics, which was something that I have always wanted to do.  My friend Kristen goes to the preschool and took the sewing class with me.  She has a son who is one month older than Hannah, and we have become great friends.  Hannah loves hanging with them!

First day of school

Petting a chinchilla at a school animal show

Playing in her house at school

February was pretty mellow.  We had Rylan's (Kristen's son) first birthday party.  I had minor surgery on my hand to remove a cyst.  That was an interesting week, trying to take care of Hannah with a huge splint on my hand.  But Steve stepped it up and made it very manageable!  I think this is the month we found out that Sarah and Kevin were expecting another baby!

Snow day at school

What is this stuff?!

In March we had Hannah's first birthday party.  We did an owl theme, and everything turned out soooo cute.  I was very pleased with everything.  And so many friends and family came out! Later that month Hannah had her first plane ride, to go see Vanessa and her family in NorCal.  I was terrified but survived.  We got to meet Vanessa's baby, Caleb, who is only a few months young than Hannah.  All the kids had a blast together, and Vanessa and I even got out for a nice dinner alone.  Also, in March, Sarah and Joel welcomed baby Zane!  And Steve took a trip to Vegas with his friend Clint for a boys get away.

Birthday girl

Playing with Caleb

First bath with a boy!  Haha

Jumping on the bed is fun!

In April Steve jetted off to Vegas again with the guys.  Later in the month we went to Chicago for the first time.  We went with Sarah and Kevin and their daughter Kami.  We packed a ton of stuff into 4 days, and even though we hit some bad weather, we managed to have a great time.  We stayed in a home there that had an indoor jacuzzi, so every night we put the girls to bed and stayed up drinking and sitting in the jacuzzi, which was a great plus!  We went to the aquarium, planetarium, a White Sox game, Natural History Museum, ate great food and walked all over the city.  I really liked it there and would love to visit again!

Easter

Visiting Tricia and baby Beck in SB.  Hannah loves babies!

Rylan at the strawberry patch (Hannah's boyfriend)

So much fun to pick and eat strawberries!

On the subway, this is how Hannah travelled around most of Chicago

First baseball game!  White sox

Ready for a (cold!) day of sightseeing

The Bean!

In May we went to Orange County with my parents and brother and stayed in a beach house that belongs to a friend of my dad's.  It was so much fun to relax and hang out.  Hannah had the run of the house and enjoyed herself.

Hanging with daddy on the beach

In June, preschool ended for the summer.   Sad.  But we managed to see a lot of the moms and kids all throughout the summer.  We also went away for a whole weekend, to Palm Springs to see Lindsey, one of my oldest friends, get married.  We had a wonderful time.  I was finally free of nursing (having stopped in March) and didn't have to worry about pumping and limiting drinking and all.  Steve and I had a great time and Lindsey and Matt's wedding was beautiful!  That month we also celebrated Melanie's baby shower, cousin Evan's first birthday, and Father's Day.  And Hannah went to her first Dodgers game.  Oh, and our 4th wedding anniversary.  We snuck out for a nice dinner at our fave spot, but didn't do anything extravagant.

The bride and groom

Evan and Hannah

Happy Anniversary to us

First Dodgers game

In July we went to the Aguirre's for the fourth, like we always do.  It's always a great time.  I went to a Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert, which was so much fun.  I wish I could do that more!  This month I did a lot of playdates with Hannah and our other friends.  Splash pad, Underwood farms, the beach, the farmer's market, and playdates at each other's houses.  It was nice to have some days off during the summer for things like this!  At the end of July, about 30 Anschultz family members and friends went on a cruise to Alaska.  Steve and I skipped it, since we knew we'd miss a lot of hit bringing Hannah along.  But they all had a great time!

First popsicle

At the beach with Rylan

At the beach with Kami and Beth 

Underwood farm with Rylan

Splashpad

They both wanted in...

August was filled with parties on the weekends, and a couple of trips.  Also, my cousin Keith got married, so a bunch of us cousins had a really great time celebrating with him.  The next weekend, Hannah and I flew to Sacramento to hang out with the Gatewood's again.  We stayed with Vanessa's parents, and all the kids got to hang out and play together all weekend.  It was awesome to see everyone.  Two weeks later, Steve and I went to Vegas alone for 3 full days.  We stayed at the Red Rock, which we had wanted to do for a year since finding out about it.  The hotel is so nice, the pool is fantastic, and the table limits are lower, so gambling is "easier."  It was a MUCH needed getaway.  Hannah did great at home with my parents, as usual.  I hope we can get away like this more often now that she is older!

Keith's wedding

Bathing with Caleb again

Hannah LOVES Emma

College friends, 10 years later with babies - Kelly, me and Vanessa

In September we went to SD to see the Burgwalds for Labor day.  We hadn't spent a weekend with them since the previous year.  So it was wonderful to catch up and watch the kids hang out and play together.  Then the next weekend, we went back to the OC beach house with my parents and Mark.  Then the next weekend Vanessa was in SB for a conference, so she made it down for a night to have dinner and catch up a bit.  The rest of the month was filled with fun weekend activities as well.  Hannah went on her first boat cruise with the Reznicks.  Also, school started up for Hannah again, which she just adores.

With daddy at the beach in SD

Hanging on the beach with "Gama" 

Hanging with Uncle "Mawk"

First harbor cruise

Just chilling at the farmer's market

Now it's mid October, and things are slowing down again.  I will post a Hannah update sometime this week!

I can't keep up!

This is a blog entry that I wrote last October and never posted.  I am just gonna post it, but then skip a whole year.  GASP!  It's the only way I'll ever get blogging again!

Hannah - 4 months
In July, we celebrated Sarah Reznick's birthday, and found out that she and Joel were expecting!  Very excited for Baby Reznick's arrival in March.  I also went to Nicole's baby shower, and Melanie's bridal shower.  Lots to celebrate!

The biggest thing that happened that month is that I decided not to go to nursing school, and instead stay at my job.  My bosses made me an offer that I couldn't refuse, and the psychopath at my work quit, so I stayed!  I now get to work part time, I make more money, and I have more responsibility.  I only work 3 days a week in the office, and I am home with Hannah the other two.  I just have to work 3 hours on the days that I am home, which isn't too bad!  It has been great being home, and I am enjoying work much more now.

Towards the end of July, Hannah slept thru the night on her tummy for the first time.  That's when she started sleeping thru the night consistently.  Happy mommy!  She also started rolling from back to front.  Here's a video!

At the beginning of August, we went to Vegas with the family.  It was fun, but I spent a lot of time in the room with Hannah.  Next trip will definitely be sans baby!  Our parents were all great about watching her, but I still had to feed her or pump, so I was with her a lot!  The highlight of the trip was Hannah finally meeting her Uncle Clint!

When we got back from Vegas, Hannah started sleeping thru the night, from about 10p to 6a.  Never thought it would happen!  Amazing!

Hannah  - 5 months

When we got back from Vegas, we decided to start giving Hannah some solid foods.  We started with rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, peas, bananas, apples and took off from there.  There really isn't anything that Hannah won't eat.  She is pretty much a garbage disposal!  She isn't terribly fond of squash, but she will eat it if I mix it with something.

We went and visited the Browns (Steve's cousins) and had a pool party.  Hannah loves the water.  We can't wait for next summer when she can really enjoy it.

Also, this month Hannah went to her first birthday party!  Kami Aguirre turned one, and she had a super fun Hello Kitty party.  Hannah wore a pretty dress and had a lot of fun!

The next day, Hannah crawled for the first time.  That seems like a lifetime ago!  She still couldn't even sit at that point, but she crawled!

For Labor Day we went to visit the Burgwalds in San Diego.  Hannah and her boyfriend Oliver had so much fun together.  She just loves him.  Then we found out that Morgan was pregnant too.  Lots of babies on the way!

Hannah  - 6 months
In early September Hannah and I began a Baby N Me class at the local park.  We met quite a few nice moms and babies.  It was on Fridays for 8 weeks, for 45 minutes.  We learned new songs and made new friends.

Big Changes - Hannah is 3 months old

I originally wrote this post on 6/11/11.

I was confusing myself with my previous posts.  I was going by months, counting the month after her birth as her "1st month" but really she was 0 months old.  Now that she is getting older, it was too confusing to keep that up.  So this is an update about her as a 3 month old, starting from June 5th-July 5th.

So my last post ended with Marlene's baby shower on June 5th.  Well, she went into labor just a week later, and had baby Evan 5 weeks early!  They were not prepared for that, obviously!  But everyone was healthy and happy and just fine.  He was actually over 5 lbs!  So Hannah has a new cousin, and is no longer the "baby."

I went back to work right after Memorial Day weekend, and it wasn't all that bad.  I missed Hannah of course, but it was nice to get back to work and start getting caught up.  I have to pump twice a day at work, so that is boring and time consuming.  But so far so good!  Still able to exclusively breast feed, so that is great.

Hannah is really changing a lot these days. She is smiling and laughing all of the time which is super fun. We have some games we play with her that make her giggle, but sometimes she just sees me and laughs and smiles too.

Yesterday she started leaning forward in her swing. Her abs are getting much stronger! She would lean forward and grab her blanket, or a toy, or a burp rag and then shove them in her mouth. She is constantly reaching for something now! And if you put a toy in her hand, she can grasp it now, and immediately chews on it.

Also, last night she slept for 9 hours straight! She's never slept more than 7 hours, and that was only once. Lately she's been sleeping only about 3-4 hours at a time. Steve is in Laughlin on a boys trip and I fed Hannah and put her to bed around 8 last night. Then at about midnight she fussed and I left her alone and prayed she'd go back to sleep. Well next thing I knew it was 5 am and I couldn't believe it! I actually panicked because I couldn't see her chest rising on the monitor, so I was terrified that she wasn't breathing, and I went into her room and she startled awake. She was fine. I am curious to see what happens tonight!

This morning she also rolled over again. I was brushing my teeth and had her on her play mat on her belly in our bathroom. Well I leaned over the sink to spit out my toothpaste, and 2 seconds later looked down and she was on her back smiling up at me. I missed it! She is sneaky. She hasn't rolled over in about 2-3 weeks, so this was another big milestone!

Finally, she is outgrowing her 0-3 month clothes and moving into her 3-6 month ones. Tonight I put her in a brand new pair of PJs, and I really didn't think they'd fit yet, but they do! She is so long, she needs the extra room for her legs now!

Today we went to my cousin Brent's birthday party. Hannah has pretty much met the whole family now. She gets passed around from person to person and doesn't mind one bit. Hopefully she will stay that way.

The rest of this post I wrote after the fact.

We got to celebrate Steve's first Father's Day this month.  I got him a cool hiking carrier for Hannah.  We can't wait to use it.  She just needs to grow a bit first.

Also, Vanessa had her baby this month.  His name is Caleb, and he is a big boy!  Total opposite of their daughter Emma, who has been a skinny minnie her whole life.  So congrats to the Riggs'!

Hannah is also able to sit in her Bumbo chair now without slumping over!

Here she is in my favorite PJs, that my friend Craig's parents gave her.  They are so soft and snuggly.  She is sitting propped up by a pillow without me holding her!

And she can finally sit in her cool jungle safari jumper!  We have a pillow and towel under her because she can't reach the ground, but she LOVES this thing!

Hannah went swimming this month for the first time.  She seemed to like it.  We just waded around Steve's parents' pool.  We got her a float with a shade on it, but she is too little for it right now.  I even dunked her, and she didn't seem too upset about it!  Here she is in her swing after swimming.

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on June 28th.  We went to King's for some oysters and beers, and had a really nice time.  Here's a pic.

Last big thing from this month was celebrating the 4th of July at our usual party at the Aguirre house.  It is always a great time, with yummy food and great people.  Here is an adorable picture of Hannah, and one of the three of us.

Here's a few more pics from the month.

3 month update (Hannah is 2 months old)

Okay, I am catching up.  Lots happened during Hannah's 3rd month.  I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day.  We all went to Paradise Cove for brunch.  Here are a couple of pics from the morning.

Everyone but Mark, who was on vacation

Happy family

Hannah slept thru brunch

We also made it out to our favorite restaurant, Cafe 14, for a date night that month.  Also went back down to Hermosa to hang with the South Bay family and celebrate Candie's birthday.  Then I spent Memorial Day weekend loving on Hannah as much as possible, before I went back to work.  On Hannah's 3 month birthday, on June 5th, we went to my cousin Marlene's baby shower.  Tonya took some amazing photos of Hannah that day.

Here are some other pictures from Hannah's 3rd month.

And a video of her rolling over.