We had some friends visit from Virginia and stay the night with their kids. They’d previously gifted Nathan and Hannah some cute matching monkey footies and we got all the kids in them for pictures. How cute are they??

Nathan and Penelope ran in circles following each other and laughing hysterically…

Until they finally decided to sit still for some pre-bedtime TV.

Noah and Hannah were a little more low key.

I had no hope of getting all four kids in one picture…maybe another time!

Got a cute picture of the kids together on Valentine’s Day.

Also got some cute shots of Hannah.

And Nathan loved the big chocolate that Oma gave him.

This is Nathan helping feed Hannah her bottle in mid-January.

He intermittently wants to help out, mostly he likes to put the diapers in the Diaper Genie or open and close the shade in Hannah’s room. I think he’s still getting a feel for how he feels about her. Sometimes he seems a little competitive, sometimes he wants to try to interact with her a little. Thankfully he hasn’t expressed any major resentment of her, except once when he told me it was “funner before Hannah came.” We’re working to find balance, something I’m sure we’ll be working towards for a long time. For now, I’ll take the little moments of loving big brother wherever I can get them

At two months, Hannah is still a laid back baby and sleeps pretty well. She doesnt mind being on her tummy for short periods, especially if it’s on the mini-boppy pillow. The big “excitement” is that at her last pediatrician appointment the doctor her a heart murmur, so we had an Echocardiogram done to make sure everything is okay. Thankfully it is! She has a small hole, which is common and does not seem to be of any concern, and also something called Mild Pulmonary Valve Stenosis, which means the valve from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery is obstructed or thickened. It’s something we’ll get checked annually, but both Cardiologists we met with assured us that it will not impact anything that Hannah wants to do as she grows up, and it’s possible it will get better or even go away. The biggest indication that she’s just fine is that she’s eating well and gaining weight well, and is overall a very content and happy little baby.

At her two month appointment, Hannah was 11 lbs 6 oz and 22 3/4 inches in length.

Here are her two month photos.

We got together with Gary’s family for one of the Raven’s Playoff Games in mid-January (their last one since they lost, if I remember correctly). Everyone wore their purple, even Hannah!

I attempted Hannah’s first bow, mostly so she’d look like a girl in the gender-neutral outfit she had on. Cute stuff!

Hannah got lots of love from the family and I adored seeing her spend time with everyone.

Hannah started smiling about mid-way through January…around 6-7 weeks. It’s such a moment of absolute joy for me to see her smiles.

It was hard to capture the smile in the beginning, but here are the first few I was able to get on film.

The biggest! (with camera phone)

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

Hannah got her first bottle on New Years Day and took it like a champ. It was a very different experience than we had with Nathan, who we had to give a bottle to early on to make sure he was eating enough.

Gary gave her the bottle to make sure there was no confusion since I was breastfeeding.

And of course Nathan joined in the fun!

Took this with my cell phone on New Years Eve when Nathan was watching TV in our bed. He did a good job holding on to her so she wouldn’t fall off the bed, and kept laughing every time she fell over on him.