21 Months...So Busy!

Where do I start?  Little Miss Hannah isn't so little anymore...she's a full-fledged toddler!!  She is amazingly active and doesn't sit still for any amount of time.  She loves to rough-house with daddy and squeals in delight when they get real rowdy.  She still loves playing with Ike and has gotten really good at throwing his ball for him and feeding him each night.  She's done amazing in her new big girl bed and although she thinks the nursery is her room, too, I know she'll be a wonderful big sister.  She knows her colors and her shapes (most of the time) and she's learning to count and say her alphabet.  She skips around with her numbers, but it is so amazing to see what she has picked up on.  There are books that she can pretty much read by herself and she understands the 'plot'.  Her vocabulary grows everyday and she'll say words we didn't even know she's heard  before.  Hannah loves bike rides and going to the park to swing and slide.  She loves her friends at school and is such a great little girl when she is there.  We love our little girl so very much and enjoy every moment we have to share together.

One of her favorite things--her thumb!

We almost got a good shot...mommy was just a little too slow.  She would still say this picture is tute (cute).  

Our self portrait...in the midst of yumping (jumping) on mommy's lap.  

An exciting last day of work...

Friday was my last day of work before my maternity leave started.  I went to lunch with some great friends and then headed off to my 37 week check up at the doctor's office.  On my way there, I was involved in a car accident with a woman in her mini-van who said she was in a big hurry to get home and thought she had a green turn arrow...turns out she didn't...I honked, jammed on my breaks, but nothing was going to stop the impact.  Thanks be to God for it not being any worse than it was.  The airbags did not deploy due to the point of impact and no other scratches, bruises, or pain have been evident since the accident.  My main concern was my precious cargo I've been nurturing for the past 37 weeks!  The fire engines, first responders and three police officers responded to the accident as well as my wonderful husband who left work early to meet me at my doctor's appointment.  I was informed by my OBGYN to head directly to the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital...which we did.  We were in the triage unit for several hours as they are required to do fetal monitoring for four hours.  During that time they also ran blood work and we had another ultrasound to make sure that the baby was not impacted during the accident.  Everything turned out to be just fine...the baby scored an 8/8 during the ultrasound, the heart rate was excellent during the fetal monitoring and the blood work came back negative.  We were released around 5:30 and headed home...with beautiful pictures of our precious baby...and as Hannah greeted us at the door with such great excitement, I was overwhelmed with how blessed our family is!

As I think back on yesterday afternoon, it just reminds me of how much God is in control...and even though we may think we have everything situated and planned and organized...we don't.  How amazing it was that neither of the airbags went off, that Craig was just minutes away from me, that the baby and I were protected before during and after the crash, that we had wonderful nurses at the hospital who helped ease our minds and that we were able to once again peek in on that amazing miracle.  God is SO good, even in times of great stress and emotional turmoil, he is with us--his precious sons and daughters.   

So, here's Baby TuTu Terpstra, at 36 weeks and 6 days...happy and healthy and taking up most of the available room in there :).  We cannot wait to hold the baby when that time comes and to treasure every moment we have to share together.

Summer fun!

Hannah's first picnic after a swim in her kiddie pool...

A few weeks ago we had some friends over with their three kiddos.  We had a delicious dinner and the kids enjoyed playing on the swing set and eating ice cream sundaes outside on the picnic table.

Hannah and Ruby

Charis, Judah, Ruby and Hannah

Helping daddy wash the big truck...

Baby's Nursery...

The nursery is coming along...as far as it will be until we know if we're blessed with a boy or a girl.  We're not going to paint until after the baby is born, but I don't think the baby will mind.  Here's our progress so far...there's a place to sleep, to eat, to get a diaper change and plenty of books to read.  I think we're all set!

A blast from the past...

So one of mommy's favorite things when she was growing up was playing with her Cabbage Patch dolls.  Mimi was nice enough to save them all of these years and I thought it would be fun today to get them our for Hannah to play with and (hopefully) follow in her momma's footsteps.  Seeing those dolls again brought back so many memories and I don't know how I'd ever part with them :).

When she first opened the tub, Hannah said "WOW" and then promptly removed them all...she liked the babies with the pacifiers the best and even tried one of them out herself.  A baby bomb went off and they were all over the living room in minutes.

The next day...

Here's how little Miss Hannah woke up on Friday morning...

By the wild hair-do, I think she slept pretty well...on top of the covers.

Friday night was a little less traumatic, and we were able to get a few pictures of her going to bed.

It's become quite the novelty and tonight she didn't even want to read books, she just wanted to go to bed!  Saturday afternoon when she went down for her nap she decided to be adventurous and sneak out of bed.  Luckily mommy was in the hallway and promptly corrected her.  Today when she woke up from her nap she hollered for Daddy instead.  We're so proud of our little girl!

Big girl bed, night one...

With the impending arrival of baby # 2, it was time to move the crib and let Hannah graduate into her new big girl bed.  She was SO excited when we got home and the rooms were all in disarray.  She did her best to help as the furniture was moved and her new bed was being put together.  Going to bed was a different story...the routine was a little different as we read books in her bed instead of in the chair and all of her 'friends' around her room had been put away so we couldn't say nighty-night to them all.  When I was going to leave, she started crying...Mommy, mommy, mommy.  Of course I sat by her bed for a few minutes until she asked for Daddy.  Daddy came in and was able to help get her a little more comfortable with her baby and her thumb.  She cried for a few more minutes (as did mommy) and then turned around and quieted down.  It is just SO hard to believe she is ready to sleep in a big girl bed.  How is that possible?  Then, going to the room next door, there's the crib with the mattress at it's highest point which in just a few short weeks will be occupied by Hannah's brother or sister.  Time certainly flies by...I try my best to capture all the important parts of Hannah growing up--it just seems like it's all gone by so fast.  I told her last night she had to stay this age forever and I put a freeze frame on her--that didn't help, tonight is her first night in her big bed all by herself.  Prayerfully she'll sleep like a baby :).