I Knew You Were Trouble, Hannah Style

 I knew you were trouble when I walked in

So shame on me now

Let you go places you'd never been

Now I'm sweeping up the cold hard floor

Oh

Oh

Trouble trouble trouble

Hannah Stats: 8 Months

• You love to stand up to everything!  Especially your crib.  This has made bedtime a whole new adventure.

• You're favorite thing to say is "Mamama."  I love this, even though you don't associate it with me at all.
• You crawl anywhere and everywhere.  When you first learned to crawl, you would pretty much stay in one area, but now you adventure into every room.
• You want to be wherever Dad and I are.  If we're at the table eating, that's where you want to be too.  If we're sitting on the couch, you are right there with us.
• You like crawling into tight places - under the coffee table, into the little shelves of our entertainment, etc.  The other day I had to drag you out from behind the couch.  Sometimes you try to go into places you can't fit (but don't realize it) and keep banging your head against it, trying to get in.
• You still don't like eating solids.  Yesterday I was ecstatic when I got you to eat two whole puffs!  
• Your hair is getting so long.  Sometimes I style it because I need to know what you would look like as a boy.

Don't worry, I don't want you to be a boy either.

• You love, love, LOVE the bath!  You like to watch the water as it fills up and you really like to splash.  When it's not bath time and you think I'm not looking, you make a break for it and crawl as fast as you can into the bathroom to the tub.  You like to stand up to it and knock the shampoo, soap and everything else into the bathtub.
• You are a little daredevil.  You're not afraid of anything - barking dogs, the vacuum, etc. and would go diving off of the couch headfirst if we let you.  You also like us to spin you around or pretend to almost drop you.
• You love to give "cuddles," where you lay your head down on my shoulder, Dad's knee, or even the furniture.

• You are such a friendly baby.  You have such a fun personality and smile at complete strangers.  I literally never leave a store without at least one person commenting on how happy and cute you are (or telling me that I need to give you a sibling).

Valentine's Date

Aaron and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday.  Thursday just didn't work for us - my sister was in town and Aaron had a  nasty test the next day, so he basically had a pity date with his Heat Transfer book.

This year it was my turn to plan our Valentine's date and it was awesome, if I do say so myself.  As a stay at home mom, I have a lot of time to think and plan, so I went all out.  I knew I wanted to stay in, but make it special.  I love going out, but I don't love crowds or waiters or having to get a baby-sitter.  I decided on cheese and chocolate fondue (see recipes below).  I got some fancy goblets for sparkling cider at the dollar store, along with some candlesticks.  I asked Aaron to wear a suit and I wore a little black dress and red heels.  I put on a little mood music.  I kept the whole thing a secret.

The end result....

It was fabulous.  Really, with the candles and everything, it felt like we were sitting in a high-end restaurant instead of our dinky little apartment.  Aaron was super surprised and we had such a good time just talking and being together.  The fondue was delicious, so I'm sharing the recipes so you can try it too.  Thanks Heidi, for the great recipes!

Cheese Valais Style Fondue

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound Emmentaler cheese (imported Swiss cheese), grated
• 1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, grated
• 3 Tbsp. white flour
• 2 cups milk
• Dash sweet paprika
• French bread, meat (ham or chicken), vegetables for dipping (I did broccoli, cauliflower, and petite red potatoes)

Place both of the grated cheeses in a bowl and sprinkle them with flour.  Mix it lightly with your hands to coat the cheeses with flour.  Turn the fondue pot to "simmer."  Pour in the milk and allow it to warm.  Add the paprika and then add the cheese a handful at a time, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  When the cheese it melted, turn heat setting to low and you're ready to go.

Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:

• 6 oz. good quality milk chocolate, grated (I used Lindt)
• 3 oz. solid bittersweet chocolate, grated
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• Pound cake, cut into 1 inch cubes
• Assorted fruit, cut up - strawberries, bananas, pineapple, pears, whatever you want

Turn fondue pot to "low" setting.  Add the half and half, honey, and almond extract, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is warm.  Add the grated chocolate a little at a time, stirring well until all of the chocolate is melted.

Happy dipping!

Then and Now

Five years ago when Aaron and I were dating as little baby freshmen.

And now...

Sometimes I wish I could go back to that little 18 year old girl and tell her not to worry so much.  That it will all work out.  I wish I could tell her that she will marry the man of her dreams.  That she will have the sweetest little girl.  That if she can just be a little patient, she will be happier than she can imagine.  But then again, if that little freshman hadn't worried or struggled, she would have missed out on a lot of learning and growing.  I probably wouldn't realize how grateful I am for these two people that I love the very most.

So now, when I'm worried or struggling with something else...finances, sickness, moving to a new place, leaving my friends and family...I try to think about a 28 year old me.  What would she say if she could talk to me?  I'm guessing it would be something like "Be patient." or "Appreciate how simple life is right now."  or maybe even "Just wait until you have two more kids and then we'll talk about sleep deprivation!"

Life is full of hard, scary things.  But it is also full of oh so many good things.  I'm realizing I can either worry about the hard, scary things or I can embrace them and deal with them and relish the blessings.  I think I'll go with the latter.

California Bucket List

Three months and counting until the Bytheway family begins our California Summer Adventure!  Aaron was offered a chemical engineering internship with Valero so we'll be out in Benicia (near San Francisco) for four months.  I'm not sure if it's the cold, smoggy weather or my obsessive compulsive need to plan everything out three months in advance, but I keep day dreaming about California today and all the things I want to do while we're out there so I made a bucket list.

• Go to the beach.  All the time.
• Take a tour of Alcatraz.  I did when I went to San Francisco in high school and it was one of my favorite things.
• Go to a Giants game.
• Visit Ghirardelli Square.  Free chocolate?  Umm, yes please.
• Take Hannah to the San Francisco Zoo.
• Attend the Oakland Temple.
• Go for a walk/hike in Muir Woods.
• Go to Six Flags.  We'll be living about five minutes away, so I think we'll get season passes.
• Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Spend as much time as possible with Ben and Alicia.
• Visit China Town.
• Eat some chowder at Pier 49.

Any other ideas?