hangin' around the house.

A variety of pictures from around the Hanna house -- Lorelei scampered around and explored so much that her knees started hurting and she switched to bear-crawling on hands and feet!

Lorelei was fascinated by the sliding glass doors -- I think it was funny for her to be able to see herself and whatever was on the other side (she liked licking her own image!).

Kirby, of course, was an endless source of fascination -- at first Lorelei was a little nervous and would crawl backwards when he came close, but eventually she warmed up to him. He even let her stick her fingers between his toes (something that is definitely off limits for the adults in his life -- he has to be held down by multiple people when he gets his toenails clipped at the groomer!) It was hard to get any good pictures of them because they are both so squirmy...

And a few "posed" shots with Grandma Sara and Grandpa Sam -- Lorelei is sitting in a beautiful little rocking chair that was once Sam's and then Jason's and will eventually be her very own!

(What is she looking at? Either Jason or a ceiling fan...)

on the Venice jetty.

A beautiful day for a stroll down the jetty after lunch and coffee at perennial favorite Bella Luna!

(somebody was looking a little sleepy by the end!)

trip to Florida: girls' day.

Just got back from our week of gorgeous weather and loads of fun with Grandma Sara and Grandpa Sam (and, of course, Kirby!). There are about a million pictures to sort through, so I'm going to upload them in pieces.

First, our girls' day: Sam and Jason headed out to a Twins/Rays spring training game so Lorelei, Sara, and I spent the day together! We had a leisurely stroll downtown and then went out to lunch at Cafe Venice where the waitress comped us a plate of fried spinach -- which Lorelei ended up devouring (which helped with getting her digestive system back up and running after a long flight!).

Lots of people (especially old men?!) stopped by our table to comment on how cute Lorelei was -- she was oblivious, though, because she was too focused on wanting to drink from a straw!

Afterwards, we strolled home for an afternoon of splashing around in the pool and playing with Kirby -- and the boys once they got back.

sunny afternoon.

A recent afternoon in an old outfit of Mom's -- please pardon the avocado and blueberry stains, but lunch was quite a disaster! (p.s. can you see a tooth in the first picture?)

growing up and hearing things.

Lorelei is growing before our very eyes. In the past week, she has started pulling up to stand, taking steps while holding onto furniture, transferring from once piece of furniture to another, looking underneath the couch to find objects that have rolled under there (or just to find out what's there in general), getting her own toys out of the toy bin, insisting on eating whatever we are eating (even if what is on her tray IS what we're eating -- she wants it from our plates and from a spoon just like we're having, thankyouverymuch), pounding on the piano keys instead of just watching while one of us plays, and in general growing up faster than we can believe it.

Here are a few slightly old photos that haven't made a blog post yet.

Lorelei also went to a hearing appointment yesterday. She hasn't started babbling yet at all (she makes vowel sounds, cooing noises, squeals and giggles, and of course plenty of whiny complaints, but no "consonant babbling" which should have started a few months ago) so our pediatrician recommended we get her hearing tested "just to be sure" that wasn't the reason for the delay. He said that, if it seemed normal, we shouldn't be at all concerned for several more months, but that if she had a hearing deficit we would be better knowing sooner rather than later.

Here's a description of our appointment at the NIU audiology clinic taken from a recent email I sent to family:

Lorelei and I sat in a small room with multiple TV screens and speakers all around it, and a viewing window so the audiologists (who were in another "control booth" type room) could see us. They spoke into a microphone in their room ("Lorelei! Bop bop bop!") and played various tones and turned on different speakers so it sounded like they were in different parts of the room. They would also flash images up on the screen for Lorelei to see (not sure if it was for reinforcement?). Lorelei was VERY good for a long time, turning to look for the sounds. After a while, she got bored and started trying to grab the chair where we were sitting, so then one of the audiologists came and sat in the room and spun a sparkly pinwheel for her. That worked for a long time, too, and then Lorelei got bored with that, so we stopped the testing (probably 20 minutes?). They then came in and put little headphone like probes into her ears to test her middle ear function. She was pretty patient for that (they gave me a spinning, light-up toy to show her and she was fascinated enough that she mostly ignored the poking in her ears).

After all that, they said that everything looked normal to them. They said she responded well to the various noises/tones, was obviously responding to her name, and the middle ear function was "perfect." So the reason for her delayed speaking does not seem to be anything hearing related, which is somewhat reassuring -- just hard for this overly talkative mama to relate to!

what does a doggy say?

Lorelei and I had a delicious lunch and lovely playdate with our doula, Kim, and her daughter Lucy today. (Remember them from last summer?) I haven't seen Kim in ages, and she's 12 weeks pregnant with their second baby, so it was wonderful to catch up. Their dog, Milo, was so excited to see Lorelei and was jumping and barking like crazy when we got there, which made Lorelei burst into tears. But after he calmed down and Lorelei could see how loving and gentle he is (sitting so patiently by her highchair waiting for some food!), she got very curious! Patting his nose, grabbing at his wagging tail, and staring at him wherever he went.

Of course, once I got out the camera to take pictures of the two of them, Lorelei remembered that the camera is a lot more fun than a dog. But I did manage to get a few shots of her playing (you can see Lucy in the background -- she was not too happy that Lorelei had taken her stretchy bracelet!)

the meanness of moms.

I may or may not have taken this picture of Lorelei standing in her crib for the first time, knowing that she was about to start wailing her head off because she was sliding down the bars and couldn't figure out how to get out of this position.