Hannah Update

Chris called his parents last night to see how they were doing. He learned that Hannah has been calling everyone "Jane." She was doing this before I left (she called Chris "Jane" numerous times), but apparently she still remembers me. For some reason this gives me a great amount of pleasure. I'm planning on going back very soon so that she will continue to do this.

Hannah and I Both Survived!

Exhausted and recovering from a cold that Hannah decided to share with me, I am back at home with just hubby and dog. I have a new found respect for mother's of toddlers. They must power nap, which unfortunately, still eludes me.

I loved Hannah from the moment I saw her Labor Day weekend, but I grew really attached to her in the 10 days I was with her 24/7. She has more personality than any child I've been around. She loves to dance, to sing Jesus Loves Me (she hasn't got the words down quite yet as she usually ends up singing how much the Bible loves her), to ride her battery operated 4 wheeler, to watch t.v., etc. What she doesn't like to do is play by herself or for anyone's attention not to be on her. She would help me wash dishes with a little pink apron tied around her waist and do the laundry. I told Chris if we ever have a child, doing the dishes together will be a must. She was so cute washing all the bubbles off each plate and cup and handing it to me.

My favorite time of day was bedtime, and not just because I needed a break, but because after we read our 2 stories (she usually took the book from me and read or if she did allow me to read, she talked the whole time, so I ended up making up a quick story), she would pray. Hannah would close her eyes which immediately produced wiggles in her legs like I've never seen. Usually she ended up upside down in her bed. I wouldn't understand a word she said between "Jesus" and "Amen." But, one night, shortly after I gave her a ballerina necklace I'd bought for her, she included Chris and I in her prayer, and then she included her necklace.

After she prayed, she wanted to sing Jesus Loves Me. Sometimes I could sing with her and sometimes I couldn't. I had to wait for instructions. Then I would kiss her and tell her I loved her, and she'd tell me the same. For the first few nights I would get woken up with strange requests. One of them was for a band aid at 4 in the morning. She was obsessed with band aids, which my husband and mother said was fitting since I loved band aids when I was a kid.

On Saturday, a friend told us about a church that was having a fall festival with lots of games for the kids, so Chris (he was finally in town) and I took Hannah with us, dressed as a ballerina, of course, and introduced her to Halloween candy. At first she was timid, but after playing the fishing pole game and "catching" a bag full of candy, she decided the "party" was OK after all. We played that game over and over. I'll be putting pictures of her on our photo website you can click here to see them: http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee281/janemckean/Hannah%20October%202007/ Most of the pictures are at the fall festival.

Hannah Hours

Since I just put Hannah to bed I thought I'd give a brief update. I haven't slept as much as usual and since she loves t.v. I've eaten way too much as well, but getting to know her has been so much fun. She makes me laugh and cry. Especially when she asks me to please bring her Mommy back to her. She dances constantly, puts her hands on her hips and bosses constantly, but she is such a joy to be around. Such a cute little person. Anyway, I've been so busy that I haven't had time to think about Chris or Trudy which is good since it's still way too many days before I see them. I have not learned to love the town of Pampa any better. In fact, I think I may dislike this dusty little town ever more than usual. Right now the wind is blowing loudly and it may snow tonight. But, regardless of that, I've enjoyed my time here. And, I can't wait to see my husband.

Luna

This is a picture of Luna, Trudy's best-friend. Luna belongs to our wonderful neighbors, Steve and Monika, who'se backyard is connected to ours. Before we went to Lake City in September, Monika came over to tell me that Luna had kidney disease. She could take Luna to the vet hospital so they could do surgery, but she was told that the surgery might not work, and Luna would have to spend a week in the hospital. Monika chose to keep Luna at home rather than go through that. I just got off the phone with Monika, and she informed that Luna hadn't eaten in 3 days and had started to sleep out in the garage. Luna is such a sweet dog, and I am so sad that she won't be over in our yard anymore barking at all the dogs with Trudy.

An Opportunity to Enhance Your Prayer Life

I will be spending my weekend and all of next week babysitting my little sister-in-law Hannah in Pampa. If you are reading this and you pray, please start a novena for me immediately! : ) I'm not sure what to expect, but I've already been given a stern talking to about being too lenient and letting a three year old boss me around. Based on my treatment of Trudy, I tend to appear a bit too lax when it comes to discipline. However, I contend that you can't ruin a dog with spoiling. A child is a different story. Although Miss Hannah is undoubtedly bossy, she's also well behaved so I'm hoping that the one will cancel the other out. This will be the first time that she's been without her mother for any length of time, so I might be in for a real treat, but the optimist in me is looking forward to the opportunity to get to know her better. The only drawback will be not seeing my husband for a week, but at least I'll have an edge when it comes to who Hannah likes more. My competitive nature will always win out. I'm sure I'll be blogging in two weeks about all the experiences I've had with Hannah. I haven't babysat since high school so perhaps you should start a novena for Hannah too.

Football's Biggest Fan

It's getting really chilly outdoors which means warm clothes and good football weather. Chris has been playing flag football with the Sandians every Saturday that we're in town. On Friday Trudy and I made the trip to my parents--Chris would come later when he got off work. Chris plays football in a park very close to their house so we planned on spending the night. It had been cold Friday morning, so I put Trudy's pink sweater on her since she loves spending the morning outside barking at who knows what. She arrived at Grammy and Granpa's (I can see Carrie rolling her eyes at their names) with the sweater on when a brilliant thought struck me. Chris would so appreciate Trudy wearing that pink sweater to his football game. But, even more than that, he would love having his jersey number on the back of her sweater. My parents very much approved of this idea, and we immediately set forth in finding black tape to make the number on the back of the sweater. My mom taped it up perfectly, and we set it aside for its grand entrance the next morning.

As Chris was getting ready for his game the next morning, I snuck Trudy in the bedroom and put her little jersey on. We let her walk around and stayed in another room until Chris spied her. We heard the "oh no!" immediately. The sweater, needless to say, did not stay on. It is so much fun to brighten the day of the person you most love. : )

Sticks & Stones

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a boy when Chris and I have children. That is until I met Hannah and realized how much fun a girl was. However, this past weekend in Cuchara, Leah and Jeff Chisum brought their 3 kids, and I find their youngest son, Isaiah, to be absolutely irresistible. Isaiah was adopted last year from China and is now 4 years old. As I was trying to read my book, Isaiah came over and asked me to fix his lego toy. After a moment, the book forgotten, we played cars, and then he wanted me to take him outside. We went down the stairs with his hand in mine, and he led me to the stream in front of the Harnley's house where he decided we should throw sticks and stones into the river. After a while, I suggested we throw a stick to Trudy, so we headed up the bank. That's when Isaiah dropped his drawers and started peeing. There was no warning, just a swift pulling down of the pants and there you go. I looked back to see what he was doing and tried not to burst out laughing. I called Chris over to come see. Unfortunately, Isaiah didn't unbutton his pants, so he couldn't get them back up. I helped him with that and then we went inside. I decided I would eat an apple; I guess when you are 4 you want to do whatever the grownups are doing. So, Isaiah decided he'd eat one too. Leah (his mother) said she usually has to peel them for him, but since I was eating mine unpeeled, Isaiah had to be like me. So, we ate our apples and then I reminded him to remove the sticker from the apple before he swallowed it. He asked me what had happened to mine. I guess mine didn't have one, but I told him I must've eaten it accidentally. Isaiah pulled his sticker off and put it in his mouth. I took it away from him. Since I finished my apple quickly, I went to the trash can to throw mine away, and didn't realize I had a shadow. I threw my apple away and started talking to Chris and Sheridan about something before I realized that Isaiah threw his half eaten apple away too. I just laughed. Sheridan asked me what I was giggling about, but I didn't have the heart to tell on him. After being around both Hannah and Isaiah, it's pretty easy to see why people adopt.

Katherine, Cuchara, and 8 Hours in the Car

This weekend was another busy one making it the 6th weekend in a row we've not spent at home. My parents were headed to Cuchara, and both Chris and I decided that we should try and stay around here. Especially since our pet babysitters were taking off. So Friday Chris and I made our 4th and last attempt to hike to Lake Katherine from the Holy Ghost Trail in Pecos. This has been the most frustrating, elusive hike we've ever done. Our first attempt was in June of this year. We made it about 4 miles before we had to turn around because of the snow. The next time, a few weeks later, we brought along snow shoes. We were forced to turn back when there was so much snow we lost the trail. At the time, we figured we were within 100 feet of reaching Katherine. Not so! The 3rd time we came up from Winsor Trail, but it began lightening and Chris made the decision to turn us around. This time we had no expectations about reaching the lake. We just ambled along, enjoyed all the fall colors, and FINALLY, we made it! Eight miles later, we sat down beside the lake (which isn't as pretty as the ones in Carson National Forest, by the way) to eat our lunch. And, wouldn't you know it: it began to hail. It was very cold up there, so we packed up and headed back down the mountain. We couldn't figure out why it was so dark outside when we got back to the car. Neither of us owns a watch, so when the car clock read 6 p.m. we were more than a little surprised. We'd been hiking for 8 hours. We drove back to Santa Fe where we ate Curry Soup (so yummy) at a Vietnamese restaurant, and made our way to my parent's house where Sidney the Cat was eagerly awaiting Trudy's arrival. He loves to pounce on her.

I don't know how he did it after our loooong hike, but Chris woke up on Sat. to play flag football. Trudy and I (his biggest fans) went to the park to watch. He's such a stud...at least Trudy and I think so.

After the game, Chris and I talked about what we could possibly do with this long weekend at home when he decided that Colorado was still calling to him. We left the poor cat to fend for himself at my parents, headed home to pack, and left around 2 for Stonewall, Colorado. We were very kindly offered bunk beds in the same room my parents were staying in Cuchara, but we respectfully turned down that offer for a cute inn across the street from the Cabot Ranch. The wind blew horribly that night, but Chris and I slept like babies. The next morning (Sunday) we made our way to the Harnley's, where everyone was preparing to drive back home. Chris took Monday off, so we waved goodbye and went on a very short hike by Blue and Bear Lakes. Somehow we worked up a fierce appetite and drove to the Dog Bar where Trudy is always welcome.

Our trip home on Monday was a long 8 hours as we decided to take the scenic route through Cimarron, Eagle's Nest, and Angel Fire. It was beautiful up there, but we were very ready to be home.

This weekend is the Greek Festival at the Greek Orthodox Church in Albuquerque, and as much as I like to travel, I think we're going to enjoy the food and dancing in town.