Presents!

We had presents under our tree for a few weeks and Hana didn't touch them.

Yet on Christmas morning, she walked right to the tree and tore the wrapping off of a gift. Luckily the gift was for her! We waited a couple of hours before getting to the other gifts. Once we resumed, Hana had a really good time unwrapping all her presents.
One of Auntie Cherith's gifts to Hana was a DVD of Mary Poppins-maybe this will be the movie that replaces Happy Feet! (In this pic, Hana is doing is her 'quietly pooping in my pants' pose. She tries to hide it but it's so obvious to us!) We bought this Hello Kitty tricycle back in early November and truly intended it to be Hana's only gift because we don't want to spoil her. I guess we forgot we had it and proceeded to buy her way more presents than she ever needed. We couldn't help ourselves!
Hello Kitty seemed to be the common theme in Hana's presents this year.

In addition to the tricycle, she received many more Hello Kitty items from others including 4 books, 3 washcloths, 2 'purses' (one containing a stuffed Hello Kitty and the other containing a blanket) and 1 toaster which imprints Hello Kitty's face on the bread.

I hope Hana loves Hello Kitty as much as I do!

In addition to all the Hello Kitty gifts, Hana also received tons of cute clothes. What a fortunate little girl she is :)

That's My Girl!

Contrary to popular belief, our loud, energetic little girl does have a girlie side. She loves trying on clothes and says "Oooh, nice" whenever we put something new and cute on her. Kevin bought her an ugly brown hoodie this week and she refused to let us put it on her. Her response was "No, yuck!!" She loves to rummage through my closet and play with my shoes. The pair in the picture are her favorite and today she managed to put them on and trot around.

Don't Touch!

We put our tree up on December 1st. Of course, little ornaments hanging from a tree would be tempting for any child to grab and that's exactly what Hana did. We did not want to spend the month of December scolding Hana for taking ornaments off of the tree. Our strategy was to designate 2 ornaments she was allowed to play with and from the second the tree went up, we explained to her that she wasn't allowed to touch anything else. Of course, this involved many scoldings and a handful of spankings in those first few hours.

The next morning she went to the tree and said "Tree. Don't touch!" while shaking her head. Since then, she has not touched the tree. Victory!!

I told my mother that Hana doesn't touch anything on the tree but she didn't believe me. Today, Hana, my parents and I were in the car, riding home from dinner. She saw a Christmas tree in a window and said "Tree!! Don't touch!!" and then she started spanking her leg and saying "Bad, bad, bad". We could not stop laughing-it was so funny!!

Hi Dada!

I started this blog as a way for friends and family to watch Hana grow. It also serves as a nice diary to our life as a family. Most of all, Kevin and I visit the blog daily while we are at work missing Hana. Kevin is out of town this week so this blog is just for him. I know he'll be missing Hana and will love these pictures. Kevin adores these close-up pictures of Hana but I find them kind of goofy!!

Dada helping Hana climb up the hill. She conquered the hill easily and didn't need much help!

Hands full of food = Happy Hana!!

Christmas Party Time!

For the past two years, my work 'Christmas party' has actually been a luncheon during the workday and we didn't bring guests. Kevin was so surprised this year when I told him that he could be my 'Plus One'. Of course, since I work in HR, I had to work the party and my role was to take the Polaroid 'prom-style' pictures of all the attendees. And in true bebe fashion, no day is drama free! We ended up with defective rolls of Polaroid film and people were complaining when their pics turned up black. Polaroid cameras have evolved a lot since I last used them (circa 1998?) so I was quite thankful for Kevin's help. We were able to install new film cartridges and recreate the precious moments for almost everyone. Finally, I was able to quit 'working' and enjoy the party. Kevin and I rarely get nights out alone without Hana so we try to make the most of it.

Call us cheesy but we will pull out the super cool dance moves when the situation calls for it!!
My parents generously watched Hana and were completely fine with her spending the night. Kevin & I could have extended our night out but we decided that we'd rather put Hana to bed and order pizza than go the whole evening out without seeing her.

We're so in love with her!! We picked her up and let her sit on the couch to 'bounce' (rock back and forth against the sofa). We were almost concerned about 'bouncing' but Hana's doctor told us it was a way of self-soothing. Strange as it looks, we have come to love Hana's 'bouncing' time!
Before we left for the party, my mom put Hana on the phone.

This is how the conversation went:

Me:Hi Hana!

Hana: Hi! Bye Bye!

Harmony: Say 'Hi Mama'

Hana: Hi Mama!

Me: I Love You!

Hana: I luw u!

Me: Be a good girl today!

Hana: Good Girl!!

Me: Bye Hana

Hana: Bye Bye!!

It felt so weird to talk to Hana on the phone because she has never had a conversation like that on the phone before. I guess I am sad that she seems to be growing quicker than I ever imagined. Where's my baby?!!