Tummy Time

The pediatrician recommends starting tummy time from the very day you bring your baby home, but I don't find that realistic because a baby that young sleeps so much. But Hannah has been having more awake time lately so we decided now is a good time to start tummy time, especially because I feel like she doesn't yet have good head control. So far, like most of life, she seems to be unimpressed with it, yet doesn't have much of a problem with it either. Here she is being her typical mellow self on her tummy.

Rocking the Vote

Today is election day, the day when our country will determine if Obama and Biden or Romney and Ryan will lead our country for the next four years.  Although I could have done advance voting, there's something fun about going to the polls on the day of the actual election.  It's mostly ceremonial, though, as the electoral college system means that my vote will have no bearing on the presidential election, as Romney will easily win Kansas regardless.  There are a couple local races that might be close though, but mostly my vote consisted of confirming judges and voting for people who were destined to win because they were running unopposed or who were heavy favorites anyway.  I worked from home in the morning today and then went to vote around lunchtime, taking Joshua with me.  It's not something he'll remember, but it'll be fun for him to know in the future that he cast a ballot in the first presidential election of his life.  And he did actually cast the ballot.  After I entered all my choices on the digital screen (no hanging chads in this election), I let him push the Cast Ballot button.  Afterward, we each got one of the coveted "I Voted" stickers, showing that we did our part, even if it was largely inconsequential.

Hats!

Winter is coming, and since we're not terrible parents, we're aware that our children need warm clothes, since it's probably safe to assume this winter won't be like last winter, which pretty much involved fall never leaving but just changing its name to "winter" and hoping no one noticed it not getting cold out. Our most recent focus is on hats. We didn't really have a good hat for Joshua, so Meghan bought him this hat with cute little ear covers.  Last year our friend Christa gave Clara an adorable sock monkey hat that she made herself.  It's too small for Clara now, but we really love the hat, so now it's Hannah's.  And our friends Mike and Jenny gave a purple cat hat to Hannah, but it's too big for her, so it's Clara's hat for this season.  Here are all the kids modeling their hats.

Posing By Pumpkins

Joshua's been learning about pumpkins this fall season, so he gets excited when he sees them.  Our church has a whole pile of them right outside the front door.  I'm not sure if they're supposed to just be decoration, or if they're being saved for something, or what.  On the way out of church today, Joshua saw the pumpkins and wanted to stop and examine them.  But then he saw this bench, and he decided sitting on the bench was much more important than pondering pumpkins.  I was able to quickly grab this impromptu fall-themed picture.

An Empty Space

Today one of my big tasks was to take down the Halloween decorations. Luckily for me, Jason was willing to help and actually ended up doing most of the work. I hate manual labor, so this was a delightful turn of events. Here he is with one of the last decorations to go back in the box. I always think our mantle looks so empty and lonely (not as lonely as the picture indicates. We have other things up there when there are no seasonal decorations) after a holiday and this time it made me a little extra sad because I put the Halloween decorations up when I was in labor (at that time I didn't know it) with Hannah so it just makes me realize how fast time is going by.

Happy One Month Birthday

Today Hannah turned one month old. It really doesn't seem like it's been a month already. She is doing really well and weighs 8 lbs, 11 oz. She is having more times of wakefulness and is lifting her head more, though she doesn't have good control yet. We are planning on starting tummy time soon since she seems more able to stay awake for it now.

A Happy Reunion

Today we, along with Ron and Peg, went to to see the firefighters and paramedics who helped with Hannah's birth. They were really sweet and answered all our questions on what it is like to be an emergency responder and also showed us their vehicles and gear. Here is Clara sitting in the fire truck and Joshua "driving" the ambulance.

Here is our family with the firefighter crew who was working that night. Also pictured in the white shirt is the paramedic who drove the ambulance. The other paramedic was not available today so he isn't in the photo.

Besides the two paramedics, Kevin the firefighter is the main person I remember from that night because, since he is the only firefighter who is cross-trained as a paramedic, he was more heavily involved in our care and he rode in the back of the ambulance with me. He also is super nice and facilitated our visit tonight. Here he is with Hannah.