barely afloat.

TODAY is a good day!

i say that with great pride (and exhaustion!)

ada was on time for school. almost.

elias has not destroyed my mojo even though he did dump 2 lb. of dry navy beans on the floor of my kitchen and proceed to kick them every where. argh.

i slept four hours last night! i say that with enthusiasm because it is better than two. much better!

i vacuumed my car out during hanna's nap this am and cleaned the downstairs playroom. and the kitchen. progress.

i even took elias and hanna on a bus ride today. granted it was only to our little village. but it was elias' top choice of morning activities. success.

most days i sink. or barely stay afloat. but today we are swimming like little minnows in warm murky water. happy.

enjoy the few new pictures of our sparkley hanna-pants. she is so special and wonderful. and sleeps almost better than our other kids. i'll take it!

best friends forever.

this is what i stare at while i nurse hanna. hmm.

three weeks!

me and my baby.

oh dear!

is it really already january 20th? somehow i have missed nearly the entire month of january! could it be the sleep deprivation? the two and a half week old that has taken up residence in our house? the incredible case of the terrible two's that my sweet son has come down with? or maybe it is my four year old who thinks she is thirteen... whatever it is, i have been so consumed with life that haven't taken a moment to check the time. and it sure is flying!

here are a few pictures from our week. little miss hanna is creeping out of the newborn stage and becoming so much more awake and aware! after a rocky start, she is finally gaining weight and is about 7 oz shy of her birth weight (thats better than being over a pound less!) i find myself camera-less most days, but hope to get more shots in the near future. i can just see the competition in a few years when ada is looking at the numerous albums of herself and hanna is sorting through her ten pictures!

auntie m with sleepy hanna

this is what my kids do while i sit on the floor and nurse the baby.

this kid

need i say more?

her first ten days

no time to write! i am currently getting schooled at the game of trouble, but i thought i would share pictures of little hanna's first week at home. the kids are still enamored with our little gem. she is a little loud (like ada was), but looks a little more like elias i think (we wouldn't dare tell ada this. she is praying that the baby looks just like her!)

it is my first day without extra hands around. so far, so good!

but BUSY!

i had to include this picture. elias got ahold of the camera and snapped this of his nande. i think he is a future photographer!

li said "go mama, get your camera. take my picture. please take my picture!"

hanna tait is finally here!

and we are LOVING her! she may not sleep much at night, but during the day she is a dream! (we think she just wants to block out the chaos around her that the kids create and is so happy to have quality "quiet" time at night!) i will spare you all the not-so-fun details and tell you that miss hanna arrived at 4:13pm on january 2, 2011. she was 8lb. 12oz. and 19.5in long! a perfect, squishy, lovable baby and a perfect combination of ada and elias.

WELCOME TO OUR WORLD HANNA TAIT!

there's no turning back now!

our new family!

we took some time to celebrate miss ada's half birthday! 4 1/2, oh my!

chaos!

happy january 1!

here is a glimpse of the end of our 2010! christmas was amazing, the kids were absolutely thrilled to have family around and be so spoiled with gifts! to make it all even better, santa delivered a beautiful snowfall late christmas night. what could be better than playing in the snow, drinking marshmallow milk, and enjoying all of our christmas goodies!

the past week has been a little more challenging with 3 days of unprogressive labor (read: PAINFUL!) but the kids and i still managed to have great fun, visiting the children's museum, museum of life and science, the tumble gym, and then having nande come back up to stay with us. aside from not having the baby, this week has been wonderful- we've gotten so much done, undecorated, cleaned, and ready.

the big day is tomorrow (assuming they have my hospital bed is available! with elias all the beds were taken the day i was supposed to be induced and we had to wait a whole week!) wish us luck!