Hannah is 16 Months!

It might have made more sense to do a 15th month post, it being in the middle of 12 and 18 months, but  here we are at 16 months and it's a miracle I'm blogging again. Not because any major life-changing event, but because I have been away from my blog for so long. In an attempt to become more consistent, I am here, blogging on Sunday. It seems like the best (and maybe the only) day I will get to it! We just had a talk in Stake Conference on the importance of family history - keeping our OWN family histories - and I felt strongly I needed to blog and do my "end of year" blog book again.

Now my Hannah. First off, 15 months is my favorite age. They are walking, trying to talk, following around the big kids, and still adoring mom. They're like mini people. Almost everything they do fascinates and amazes me. My baby is a genius for her size AND she doesn't talk back yet.

Those little legs hardly seem stable enough to allow her to stay upright as she toddles around after Kelsey and Aiden, and yet, there she is practically running! She is a little parrot, and can say most simple words (if SHE wants to). Her repartee includes but is not limited to:

Hannah (or Anna)
Mama
Dada
Aiden
Kelsey (Kelke)
Oma (meaning Opa or Oma)
Grampy (gampy)
Mimi
ball
car
eye
hair
hand
blankie (dankie or gigi)
thank you
uh-oh
I want... (Iwana)
ouch
chocolate
shoes
socks
hi
bye bye
up
no
hot (so cute when she says this)
cold (also so cute, she hugs herself like she's cold)
water (wa-er)
Cheerio (at least mostly sounds like that)
banana (can you say it while flapping your tongue up and down?)

She'll jabber to you for a good minute or two if you'll let her, but you'll have no idea what she's said. Her intonations are hilarious.

Babies and cars are what she plays with most, and she's just now starting to love her ladybug. Someone has to push her. She loves pushing around the baby stroller and sometimes she wanders out to the street with the kids if they've been naughty and opened the gate.

Her ring and middle fingers and her beloved two blankies are her source of comfort. She's very good at going to bed as long as she has these. Even better if you read to her first. She's very insistent on being read to and will keep asking for more if you let her.

She's pretty tough, which she has to be, having two older siblings.

She loves to do "noses" (an eskimo kiss, where you rub each others nose with your own nose).

She loves her DADDY. She hears his car come up the driveway and runs to the door and yells, "DADA" when he comes in. She hugs him. Ever been hugged by a mini person? It's about the most adorable thing on the planet. So are her kisses.

Diaper changes used to make me feel like I wished I'd grown up in Arkansas (where some of my family is from) and learned to tie a hog. I'd have to wrestle her kicking and screaming the entire time. I've never had a baby like that. NOW that she understands a bit better, I tell her to lay down to get her diaper changed and she circles around the spot and awkwardly lies down. She still doesn't stay for long but at least I don't have to get my lasso.

Her squishy cheeks, toes and thighs and her little personality fill my soul to the brim with joy. There is so much GOOD in the world, and she is part of that. I am so thankful for this little spirit who joined our family 16 months ago. I can't imagine my life without her now!

This is my friend's son, Hugh. If I could arrange her marriage, it would be to him! What a cutie, and I love his parents!

Should I tell her she has toilet paper stuck to her foot?

Too ironic, had to snap a pic. 

At first she wasn't so sure she wanted to take pictures

Then she warmed up. Go Cougars!

Watering the flowers

Watching the flowers grow

Where'd the water go?

The little stinker came in and stepped right in my pile while I was sweeping. Good thing she's so cute.

Hannah is SIX months

Our baby is 6 months already, and has stolen our hearts with her good temperament and smiles. She can sit up for a little while, but we had Kelsey stay right by her when we took the pics of her sitting in case she started to get wobbly. She likes to say, "yeah, yeah, yeah.." We're working on "dada" and "mama." She sleeps through the night still, goes to bed around 8 or 9pm, I feed her before I go to bed, she wakes up around 5 or 6, I feed her, she goes back to bed until 8 or 9am. Not bad.

She is really growing! She is a maniac when she's at the table with us, always trying to get her little hands on whatever we're eating. We feed her rice cereal with some veggie baby food and sweet potato puffs. She loves those, but can't figure out how to get them to her mouth yet. Here are her stats after her 6 month old check up:

15 lbs.

25 inches tall

30th %ile for height and weight

77th % for head circumference (go figure) 

Hannah LOVES her big brother and sister. She lights up when they walk in the room and loves to watch them play. She immediately gives mom "the don't you dare leave me" look if I start to walk away and she's alone with Aiden. He loves her, but can be rough. Kelsey is a really good helper with her. She holds her when I need her to or gets a tissue, a diaper - whatever. I think they'll be good buddies. Kelsey LOVED helping me today with the pictures of Hannah.



Here she is at 6 months in the same red dress that I took pics of Kels at 6 months.

Don't you think they look pretty different!? I thought they looked more similar, but this really shows the differences. Hannah's hair is so blonde, but there is not very much of it. Her eyes seem to be a lighter shade of blue. Her face is more oval and she looks even MORE like Tally than Kelsey! I didn't know that was possible.

Here's Aiden when he was 6 months. I guess none of them look THAT much alike.

Here are a few other cute pics of her:

 Cute baby, love her eyes and her smile! Melts my heart, makes me want to snuggle her right now

Whatever mom, I'm SO done with this! 

Look mom, no hands!

All three this August

I thought all my pics were going to look something like this:

So imagine my surprise when I found one where they are all actually looking, not freaking out, not making completely silly faces...that's what I call a miracle. I turned this B&W and cropped it to a square, going to hang it - love these little guys. 

Happy 31st Tal!

Tal worked on his birthday (blah) but then we got to have dinner (Pawitts - a great Thai place) with Lee & Brent and a DQ cake (his fav).

The kids decorated moving boxes for his presents. Kelsey gave him a football and Aiden gave him running shorts (they were actually basketball shorts so we returned them). Hannah got him a car wash pass and I got him clothes (none of which fit right or worked out - never again).

It was a nice, relaxing evening which is what he claims to prefer over fanfare and parties, which is alright with me.

Cousins Trip to the Cabin

My 3 cousins and I took a girls/kids trip up to my uncle's cabin in Eden. We laid out by the pool, ate junk food, talked about life and the Bachelorette, went to bed way too late, made a mediocre breakfast, cleaned up and went home! It was short and sweet. Best of all, our kids LOVED it. They played well together and we hardly saw them. Can't wait to do it again! Here's a pic of all the kids involved. Three babies three months apart...what were we thinking!?

Goodbye Wilmington!

Today we say goodbye to our house on Wilmington. We fell in love with that house, even more so as we left. I should have never done the board and baton in Kelsey's room. I'll miss that a lot. We put a ton of time and money into it and I love the way it turned out. What's worse, is Kelsey saying, "I'm really going to miss my room!" and then crying. Poor thing, change is hard. I think she'll get over it fast. Our new house has a swingset in back and the kids will have a playroom (slash office, but oh well).

We will miss being so close to our fun neighbors, lots of small kids, great families. We will still visit, we're not moving far.

Goodbye Wilmington! Thanks for the memories!! You've been so good to us. Xoxo, the Prices

Kelsey's Spring Sing

Kelsey's school had a singing performance. She was a little shy at first and then came out of her shell and sang great! She also had a lot of fun. It was very cute to watch.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Wont let anyone (blow) it out..."

This is her cute friend Lucy that is in our neighborhood. She is such a great little girl to have over!

This is Kelsey's "friend" Jackson that she talks about all the time. She wanted a picture with him. He seems to like her just as much! He gave her a big bear hug on the last day of school. Her teacher told me they were so glad to see each other when we came back from our trip. I think she made a great choice - he's a little cutie!

BYU Roomie Reunion

Yesterday we had a little roomie reunion at our house. It was a BLAST to see everyone and to catch-up on where we are in life! I couldn't believe how much we'd multiplied. 

We started out as five (well 6 but Ashley couldn't make it...and there were others like Mary & Carrie that were also a huge part of our BYU lives). April is holding a picture of Ashley. 

Elisa, Shayla, April, Jessie & Nata 

Then we got hitched and doubled

 Quinn, Shayla, Elisa, Scott, Nata, Paul, Elliott, April, Jessie, Tally

Then we MULTIPLIED! On average, we have 3 kids per family. Elisa is about to have number FIVE!! Well on her way to 10, which is how many she told us she wanted to have when we were roommates. Time will tell if that's still the goal.

Shayla, Quinn, Eleanor, William, Amelia, Ammon (who belongs to Nata), Elisa, Scott, Elisabeth, Charlie, Annabelle, Jane, Paul, Nata, Anna, Alaina, Alexis, April, Elliot, Tate, Lillian, Jessie, Tally, Kelsey, Aiden & Hannah. PHEW! 

The kids played really well together, it was SO fun to see them interact. Except when Aiden didn't want to share any of his cars. Luckily he got over that. 

We got a chance to sit down with just the roomies and look at pictures, reminisce, and laugh about old times. Our B104 apartment is where I learned *somewhat* how to cook, how to have regular family (roomie) prayer, how to work together, how to date properly, etc. I learned good habits and how to have fun. I learned compassion, sacrifice and LOVE. This was the last place most of us lived as single women. It's where Tal and I had our first kiss (in the doorway). It's where we hosted good, wholesome fun nights filled with food and laughter. I will always cherish this time in my life because these amazing women helped me be my best self while I was finding my other half. Love you roomies, missed you Ashley!!