We started swim lessons for Nathan in late March and he loves it.

He hasn’t expressed any fear about being in the water or doing the things that the teachers asks…things like putting his face in the water, jumping in and floating on his back.

I did Mommy & Me lessons with Hannah at the same time…figured it couldn’t hurt. She didn’t really care much about being in the pool until the last couple sessions, but it was still fun to do.

We had one good scare when Nathan’s class (only 4 kids) was at the deep end of the pool taking turns jumping in with the teacher right there. One of the kids thought it was their turn and jumped in, and for some reason Nathan thought he was supposed to go too. Since the teacher wasn’t ready for him, Nathan sunk to the bottom and my heart jumped out of my chest for a second as I stood helplessly on the other end of the pool. But all was fine…the teacher pulled him right up and he wasn’t the least bit phased. I had anxiety about it the rest of the night of course!

As we’ve progressed through lessons Nathan has gotten better and better. He can float on his back without trying to pull his head up like he used to do. He jumps in to the shallow end all by himself, without anyone catching him. And he puts his face under for several seconds. All this, and he still loves it too. Can’t wait to get to the pool this summer!

Just a few photos from March…

Lately whenever I take out the video camera, Nathan wants to take video.

Hannah lots her Rainforest Bouncy seat right now.

She’s getting good at her Bumbo seat too. Nathan was putting toys on the little table for her, but I think Hannah was more interested in him.

We went on a great walk at Oregon Ridge with the whole fam.

Hannah got into the spirit for St. Patty’s Day.

And she’s rolling to her side pretty well.

Especially when her brother is there!

A few cute pictures to round out the month

We had a couple big snowstorms in January. We only managed to get out and play in them in the evenings, but we have a little hill in the backyard which was fun for sledding, and Gary and Nathan managed to make a cute little snowman.

Fen was in heaven of course

When Hannah was 6 weeks old (early January) we had a Baby Naming, or Simchat Bat, for her. Our dear friend Matt agreed to lead the service and did an amazing job, and our house was filled with friends and family. It turned out to be a great day (exhausting, but great!).

My brother and his girlfriend, Heather, came to visit for the weekend. It was wonderful to have them here to celebrate with us and to meet Hannah.

A friend of mine took pictures during the the naming, but I haven’t loaded them into Flickr yet. Here are some that were taken with my camera:

My Aunt flew in for a night just for the naming. We were so happy to have her there!

I love this picture! Six of the kids here (the exception being one younger sibling in the striped sweater), were all born within a few months of each other. I hope that we can continue to get them together like this for years to come.

Family picture with a squiggly 3 1/2 year old

More pictures here

Christmas morning was at Gary’s sister’s house with this family. It’s always a relaxed and fun time.

Nathan got a Toy Story Snuggie (his request).

Oma had a run-in with a remote controlled helicopter.

Usually we get the cousins in a picture together, but Nathan wasn’t going for it this year.

The holiday was pretty exhausting this year since Hannah was just a month old, and Nathan was on an extended high from several days of presents and junk food. But even so, it’s still always a holiday I love.

More pictures here

Holidays aside, December was pretty much just spent starting to find our new rhythm (and we’re, um, still working on that).

Nathan checked out his new sister. He was mildly interested in her and didn’t seem too phased by her at first.

Fen was also interested in the new arrival. He still comes and sniffs her head from time to time, but he’s always generally very careful around her if he’s paying attention.

Nathan liked to lay toys in the bassinet with Hannah. It was very cute.

Hannah had her first bath. She wasn’t a fan at first, but we got it figured out eventually and she is fine with them now…it’s the getting dressed afterward she doesnt like!

Surprisingly Hannah did very little of this. From the beginning she’s been a pretty laid back content baby. Hopefully she’ll stay that way!

Hannah experienced her first snow fall.

I love her long skinny legs in this one.

Thankfully loving her swing and check out the hair! She came out with all that and has gradually lost some, but still has a lot up top.

Beginning to look a little bigger toward the end of the month!

More pictures from December here

Hannah Rebecca Stegman was born on Thursday, November 24 at 11p. She weighed 7 lbs 5.8 oz and was 19 inches long.

Here’s the story of how our day went….

I was 38 weeks 3 days pregnant and went to my OB for a regular weekly check-up around 10am, at which time the doctor told me I was 5 cm dilated and needed go to Labor & Delivery to have the baby that day! I think it was how far I was dilated combined with a lot of swelling in my feet and legs, and a few instances where my blood pressure went up and then back down. I was still shocked though, since I’d been having some contractions, but nothing regular or strong. Since I was feeling fine and kind of in denial about the whole thing, I decided to go home, take a shower, pack and make arrangements for Nathan. Then Gary and I picked up lunch and dropped the dog off at the kennel. On our way to the kennel, about three hours after leaving my OB’s office, we got a call from them asking where we were because the OB on call had been notified I was coming in and was waiting for me. Oops! I was in no rush to go to the hospital, but we got there around 2p.

Still being in denial about it all, I wouldn’t let the OB break my water (I kind of didn’t want to have the baby until the weekend, after Thanksgiving and a date with Gary to see the new Harry Potter movie), but around 5 or 6p, I got hooked up to Pitocin to try to make my contractions stronger. There was some drama with Hannah’s heart rate getting to high a few times, so it delayed me getting Pitocin initially and then they had to stop it around 7:30p when her heart rate went up again. It was a little scary the second time because I had no idea anything was wrong until half a dozen nurses and my OB rushed into the room to check on things. Gary had gone to the cafeteria with Nathan and his parents, so I was frantically telling my mom to call him while trying to listen to the doctor telling me to roll to my side. Unfortunately it was my left side, which was the side my broken rib was on, so it was a little uncomfortable.

Eventually they determined the baby was fine and my contractions began to be one on top of the next. Even though they weren’t super strong, it was beginning to be hard to deal with so I asked for an epidural, and that was when the OB broke my water.

My water breaking seemed to be exactly what my body was waiting for (guess I should have listened to the doctor in the beginning), and my contractions immediately got incredibly strong. I was VERY thankful the epidural was already on it’s way because I needed it. By about 10:30p I was fully dilated and we started pushing. I was brave enough to watch what was going on in a mirror, which was pretty amazing once I got over the weirdness of it.

Thirty minutes and three good contractions later, Hannah made her appearance!

I was feeling pretty emotional right afterward.

Lots more pictures here

Fall and Halloween galore! Pumpkins farms, Halloween celebrations, costumes…October was full of all that.

Nathan’s school went on a field trip to a pumpkin farm. Here he is with two best buds, Phoenix and Caitlin. (Gary and I didn’t go, but one of the other parents snapped this for us)

Then we took our annual trip to Webers Farm.

He was mining for gemstones here

Hayride!

On the front steps of our new house

Nathan trying on his Woody Halloween costume for the first time. He was SO excited about it. We ended up with Woody two costumes and he actually wore a different one for trick-or-treating.

Here we are at a different pumpkin farm, on their hayride. If I’m remembering correctly, Nathan took this photo, and I love it!

This pumpkin farm had a couple corn mazes and a big pumpkin patch that you could walk through.

We painted pumpkins for Halloween. The paint pretty much all peeled off once it dried, but it was a fun project anyway!

Here’s me at 33 weeks pregnant. By this point I was getting lots of comments from people I didnt know about how big I was. and amazement that I wasn’t due for another 7 weeks. Gotta love random stranger comments like that…

Toward the end of October a friend of mine gave us tickets she had won to see Toy Story on Ice. We took Nathan’s friend Phoenix, another hard core Toy Story fan, and they had a blast.

We also did our annual trip to Zoo Boo which we’ve been doing since Nathan’s first Halloween, but that will be a separate post because there are already too many pictures in this one!

And what October is really about…Halloween! We loved walking through our new neighborhood with all the other families and young kids. Nathan was a little shy about going door to door, but was doing well until about 3/4 through when one of the houses had dry ice at the door and he got a little scared. We did a few more houses after that, but he was telling us he had enough candy and was ready to go home

Checking out the loot.

More pictures from October here

September was a big month for us. Besides a trip to the State Fair, Rosh Hashanah, and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Bob, we MOVED! Here’s another month in pictures…

We spent a day at the Maryland State Fair checking out farm animals, riding rides and playing games.

Nathan played a bunch of carnival games and did really well! His first win was busting a balloon with a dart. They give all the kids prizes, whether they break the balloon or not, but Nathan actually broke one!

The first prize

He did two different fishing games. The first time he needed Gary’s help, but this time he did it all by himself.

All his loot- a panda, a lion and a bright orange dog.

We did quite a few different rides…cars, merry-go-round, bananas, trains, tea cups with random strangers…whatever seemed age appropriate.

Grandma and Grandpa Bob came to visit around Rosh Hashanah.

The goofball really liked apples and honey

Moving Day!!

Random pictures of plants I’ll miss this summer.

Nathan in his bed, in his new room, in the new house. He slept in the 3rd bedroom for a couple nights so Gary could quickly paint his room, then we moved him in.

Random cuteness that Nathan made at school. It hung on the door to the room that would eventually be Hannah’s, and now resides on her photo board.

This was the month were we also took Nathan to a Sibling Class at GBMC, where Hannah would be born. He got to tour the recovery rooms, learn about babies and how to hold them and get a little extra “big brother” attention. Here he is peering into the baby nursery.

He let me take some good pictures of him in his Big Bro To Be shirt too. I was so happy he finally let me do this! I think he was a little more cooperative than usual because we played a game where I asked him to show me different faces.

His sad face

His silly face

Eventually we got to some nice faces

And then back to silly faces of course

I got Nathan to take a few pictures with me and my growing belly at 30 weeks pregnant. My stomach is not as big as the shadow on the wall implies….

….though it’s definitely getting there (self portrait without flash)

More pictures from September here!

Lots of fun with friends in August…

We went to on a Pirate Ship adventure in downtown Baltimore. It was lots of fun, and we hope to do it again this summer.

Enjoyed a birthday party at Clark’s Elioak Farm

(on a hayride)

And met a friend and her daughter at the beautiful Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

(Caterpillar in the treehouse)

(Show me if you can curl your tongues!)

(Same fountain, same friend, almost two years later. Other picture is from November 2008)

(Same fountain, almost two years later. Other picture is from November 2008)

This photo of Nathan from August makes me think of my Dad. We were on the little playground near our house.

I had to get this picture since I knew we’d be moving soon and it’s Nathan’s first house!

And I was finally able to get Nathan to let me take pictures of him in his “Big Bro to be” shirt. Yay!

For some reason he insisted on holding up this (totally awesome) book that Uncle Ethan gave him.

We also took some of the first belly pictures of this pregnancy. I was 26 weeks.

More pictures from August here