visit from Beth.

Beth came to visit us this weekend. Lorelei was so excited!

Because Lorelei had enjoyed a pig puppet at Margo's house in December, Beth was nice enough to bring Lorelei her very own.

Play with your camera? Don't mind if I do...

We all took a walk -- it was a brisk but beautiful day. (Lorelei's hat and glasses were shower presents from Beth!)

Before she left, Beth read to Lorelei from a current favorite book -- three times in a row. Lucky girl!

Lorelei was sad to see Beth go, so Jason had to cheer her up with some crazy antics. It seems to have worked!

finally -- the videos!

I finally had time to get some videos ready for you to see -- these go all the way back to Christmas Eve! (Sorry, guys.)

While we were in MN, Lorelei accomplished two firsts: laughing out loud and drinking from a sippy cup. Okay, trying to drink from a sippy cup.




When we got back home to IL, Lorelei got to open one last Christmas present: her jumperoo!




On January 10th while Grandma Sara was in town, Lorelei took her first two halting hand-over-hand crawls. You can see a video from that visit here. Since then, Lorelei has been a fast learner when it comes to crawling. After getting motivated by a mountain of pacifiers, she did her first long crawl halfway across the living room following my cell phone. Now she'll crawl from room to room looking for toys, aka my purse, the computer cord, my camera, and sometimes something that actually belongs to her. Here's a compilation of crawling videos:

8 months old.

(warning: waaaaaaay too many photos included below!)

Lorelei says --

Today I am 8 months old.

I have been crawling for a few weeks now and am really getting good at it.

I like it when my parents build me a tower out of my stacking cups so I can charge at it and knock it down!

I laugh a lot more now -- especially when mom and dad tickle me.

Though I still love trying to eat all of my toys, I also have started experimenting with banging them together, turning them over and over to inspect them, and sometimes other things too (though my parents can be a little pushy with trying to get me to do stuff before I'm ready!).

I think reading books is fun, and I really like it when the book has something for me to do, like stroke the bunny's fur or pull on the elephant's ears.

I am becoming an expert at my jumperoo and my activity table -- though I'm still using it on the floor.

When my parents dress me, I put my arms into my sleeves all by myself!

Some of my favorite songs are "Skid-a-ma-rink," "Open, Shut Them," "Where is Thumbkin" and the silly "good morning" song from one of my toys.

I am getting to be a pretty good napper -- sometimes!

I love butternut squash. I can pick food up with my thumb and index finger now instead of just in my fist, and I like to go out to eat with mom and dad when they remember to bring me a treat to eat (veggie Mum-Mum crackers are my favorite).

I still don't have much to say -- but just wait!

staying warm.

After all of our company left and the dust settled, Lorelei and I had a pretty quiet end to our week -- we mostly tried to stay indoors to stay warm, because it's been cold and blustery.

Fair warning: if you wear glasses, Lorelei is going to want to take them off of your face. She's been practicing with these.

On Friday morning we braved the snow to have a playdate with Evan and Mia (and their mom Amy). As you know, Lorelei loves meeting new people, especially ones close to her size.

But she also loves the camera -- even more than new people. Notice Evan's look of concern. And poor little Mia is getting lost in the shuffle.

Evan asked if he could take some pictures. Not a bad portrait for a 3 year old, right?

more visitors.

After Grandma Sara's visit, we had a one day break and then Gramma B came to town. Ross and Meredith came out to play, too. Lorelei loves having company!

I do not always love watching Uncle Ross play with Lorelei. But she thinks he is amazing.

Now that she can crawl (I *promise* a video is coming), Lorelei is getting a big kick out of crawling around and knocking things over, King Kong style.

Does this face make you want to put down the camera and kiss those cheeks? Yes, yes it does.

 I'm just too cute.

Sunday, January 15th: not a super happy day at the Hanna house. But we survived it and will live to watch another season.

Seriously, defense? Come on, now.

Like father, like daughter.

I was able to get a bunch of cleaning done with the extra hands around the house -- Lorelei "helped" too.

first snow.

grandma sara!

A visit from Grandma Sara this week. So much fun -- going out for coffee and lunch, learning to crawl (more on that later!), and even a walk by the river in some balmy January weather.