Let Me Just Highlight a Few Things

So maybe it's because I'm on maternity leave or maybe I brainwashed myself (to make Kingston look better) into thinking Vancouver never has summers like this, or maybe this is just a really good summer, but I don't recall a summer where we had this many hot, sunny days in a row!  Usually I feel guilty sitting inside on a sunny day because they seem to be few and far between, but I have to admit, I feel ok right now sitting in my cool basement suite with the blinds closed - I never thought this day would come :)  Hannah has been handling the sun well and is a true beach babe!  

This picture was taken on Fathers day at White Rock Beach.  Hannah got to play in one of the tide pools and loved it!  She splashed around and dug her little fingers and toes into the sand...And then proceeded to eat the sand!

One of the highlights for our family during the past month was getting away for the long weekend!  We hopped in the car on Friday night and headed to Scotch Creek!  Hannah drove.  

Hannah slept on the way there so when she awoke early in the morning, she got herself settled and let us sleep in...

...Oh no wait, that was a dream ;)  

Then it was off to the beach!

Hannah was having so much fun that she forgot to take her afternoon nap!  This meant we had a very sleepy Hannah in the evening, so sleepy that she pretty much went to bed around 5pm and slept all night (even through a diaper change)!

The following morning we went to Uncle Brad and Aunt Irene's Lake house and took Hannah on her first boat ride!  We think she enjoyed herself!

Some other highlights from the past month were...

 ...seeing our nephew Cody who is visiting from Australia!  Hannah loves her big cousin!

...Going on a trailer ride at the Wildlife Conservatory with Grandma and Grandpa

...and watching our baby girl grow!

Hannah has just popped out her first 2 teeth and although she's not crawling yet, we think she is getting very close!  

Maybe in my next blog I'll talk about one last highlight that includes the digits 3-0!  I took some pictures this past weekend (in which I was celebrated!)...But I have to figure out how to get the photos off of my birthday present and onto the computer first!

May, June and soon July!

As summer approaches and we are getting longer stretches of nice weather, this Funk family has been trying to make more of an effort to get outside!  I'll tell you about all of our adventures starting back in the month of May.  We drove out to Mill Lake in Abbotsford to meet Carl's cousin for a photoshoot.  It was gorgeous outside so we decided to do some shots of Hannah in the grass.  As soon as we put her on the ground, she began to cry!  I picked her up and she was fine...So I put her back down and the tears started again!  After a few more rounds of this, we figured out that Hannah didn't like the feel of the grass!  Since it took us so long to discover this, by the time we figured it out Hannah had had enough.  She cried for almost the whole photoshoot so when we got the cd of photos, I was surprised to see that Christina had captured so many good shots!  Here are a few of my favourites:

One Saturday in May we drove out to Lynn Canyon to try Hannah on her first hike!  We packed a picnic lunch and headed for the trails.  I think all three of us had a great time!

A few weeks ago we popped in to Oma and Opa's on our way up to Whistler.  Opa gave Hannah her first piano lesson...

...And then when we got to Whislter, Hannah taught Papa what she had learned!

While is Whistler Hannah had a play date with her 2nd cousin Esme.  They are both entering the stage where they want each others toys and get upset when they can't have what they want.  It's pretty neat seeing them interact and watching how each of them are developing in different ways.

Speaking of developing, Hannah isn't quite crawling yet but she is getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth or much to her dismay, she pushes herself backwards.  She likes to stand (while holding onto something) and she has moved from her infant bath tub to the big tub!  If you catch Hannah on a good day, she might wave on cue or throw her hands in the air when you say "How big is Hannah? Soooo big!".   She doesn't have any teeth yet but that hasn't stopped her from enjoying food!  She's eating 3 meals a day and has tried a variety of food from avocado to chicken and mango!  I've given her whole peas and rice but she hasn't gotten the concept of putting them in her mouth yet (which I don't understand - everything else goes in her mouth?!).  Since introducing solids, Hannah's bowel movements have changed (you really wanna know this right?).  BUT she now only poops once every couple days which means I can tell when it's happening!  To much information?  Hey, at least I'm not posting the photo I took.  The reason I'm telling you this is because Hannah is already pooping on the potty!  Once I see "the face", we race to the bathroom and hey, I'll do anything for one less poopie diaper to deal with!  I'm hoping this will give us a head start to potty training, hehe :)   

I can stand

Big girl in a big tub!

Just this past weekend we took Hannah on her first camping trip!  Besides deciding that we need to get a trailer in order to fit everything, we had lot's of fun!  Since this we was kind of a trial run, we decided to stay local and go to Derby Reach in Fort Langley...But it was full.  So we drove another 5 minutes to Brae Island.  Hannah and I got there early on Friday and set up camp, and Carl met us there after work.  We were very surprised at how well Hannah did.  She slept through both nights even with about 6 trains going by (trust me, I was counting!).  On the Saturday we were there, we did a walk along the Houston Trail.

I love camping! 

8 months old! 

Reading with Daddy in the tent 

The Houston Trail 

Chillin in the sun with mommy

Since camping was a success, we are looking forward to the other trips we have planned this summer and might just have to head back to Brae Island once more!  

A Visit to Kingston!

Well, Hannah and I made it to Kingston and back and survived!  We left the house at 4:30am on May 8th and hopped on our first plane!  Hannah was a hit (not just on this plane ride, but on all of them...Except for with one person, but I'll get to that later).  She did so well on every flight (4 in total, there and back), she hardly fussed and shared her smiles with everyone.

  

Usually when I am doing something for the first time, I run through scenario's in my head to make sure I'm prepared for what may happen.  I knew I would likely have to change Hannah on the plane so I was prepared, or so I thought!  I wondered where the change table on the plane might be, as I had never seen one and there was no way there was one in those tiny bathrooms...Or so I thought!  Sure enough, the change table folds down from the wall in one of those tiny bathrooms - it was about the length of Hannah (I feel sorry for people with longer children!).  I squeezed, Hannah, myself and the diaper bag into the tiny room and was stuck!  I had to maneuver us around so we were actually facing the change table and figure out a way to hold Hannah down, balance myself through turbulence and change a diaper!  Well, we managed but I thought to myself, "we are not doing that again unless we absolutely have to!"....Half an hour later Hannah had a pooplosion and it was back to the bathroom for a change and new clothes!  I won't go into details on how I managed to go to the bathroom myself while holding Hannah (note to new mothers, get over being paranoid about strangers and germs and let the flight attendant hold your baby!)  

We arrived in Kingston at around 4:30 and my good friend Julie picked us up.  We then had about a 2.5 hour drive to Kingston.  It was a long day of traveling but well worth it to be back in Kingston!

Hannah and I stayed with my friend Jenn and her 4 month old baby, Lauren for a few nights while her husband was away with the military.  

Hannah and Lauren hit it off right away and us Mom's think they will be friends forever :)  We might make them pen pals, hehe!

On day one we met up with Holly and her 5 week old son, Caleb for a picnic.  When I left Kingston, we were all pregnant, look at us now!

After staying with Jenn for a few nights, we headed to Julie's for a couple nights!  One night we had a get together with a few gals from work and some of their kids!  It was so great to catch up with everyone and watch the kids interact!

Colleen, Michelle, Keagan, Leah, Hannah, Brooke, Callum (photographer Julie)

 When we lived in Kingston, Julie and I would often go for long walks down to Portsmouth and along the water.  Although it was chilly and super windy, we braved the elements and went on a reminiscent walk!

On Sunday we popped over to our friends the Prost's where we had a bible study reunion pot luck!  It was so great to see everyone and catch up.  We skyped Carl and he got to chat with everyone there...We were both almost in tears after that evening, missing our friends :(  Eric and Mary have made a 3 year plan for us - the house next door to theirs will be going up for sale then and they've offered to put in a 2nd bathroom for us :) 

On Monday night a we went to my friend Jose's house for dinner.  Jose and I were lunch buddies at work and Julie's mom is friends with Jose's wife.  Because Julie is a Leafs fan, we had the game on...It was a sad night, but dinner was delicious! On Tuesday, the day before our departure date, Hannah and I took one last walk downtown and bid farewell to some of our favourite things about Kingston, the waterfront, city hall and the farmers market.

We then drove off to Tweed to spend our final afternoon with Hannah's great great great Aunt Joanie!

We are missing 2 generations here

Aunt Joanie just turned 94 and still insists on making us a huge meal everytime we visit.  We enjoyed ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, salad and of course, pie for dessert!  We had a great visit with her, Fred and her daughter and son in law, Nancy and Gerald. 

Hannah, Aunt Joanie and Fred

Wednesday morning came to quickly, it was time to head home!  Our friend Keri drove us to the Ottawa airport where we boarded our first plane...Thats we then promptly unboarded as it was going to be delayed 1.5hours due to a wind storm in Toronto where we were to catch our connecting flight.  Well we missed that connecting flight by about 2 minutes and had a 1.5 hour layover in Toronto!  Finally, we boarded our last plane, we were on the home stretch.  Since we were moved to a different flight, the only seats available were middle seats.  We took our seat and waited to see who our neighbors would be, hoping they would be just as nice as every other person we had sat beside.  Two ladies approached us and before they even got to their seats beside us, they began complaining about having to sit close to a baby.  They looked at me with disgust saying "I am not sitting with that thing in between us!", referring to Hannah. Then the one lady went on about "oh, everyone thinks babies are sooo cute but not me, I am not a baby person, I am like, get them away from me!" It went on and on, I was in such shock I didn't say anything back but instead, looked out the window (I moved over) and shed a few tears.  Of course, Hannah didn't make a peep, she slept for some of the time and was so well behaved.  When she was awake she accidentally brushed the lady's leg beside us and the lady, with a disgusted sigh moved herself farther away from us. Luckily the flight attendant saw what had happened and half way through the flight was able to move us (and gave me a $250 flying voucher)! The rest of the flight was much better! 

We arrived home 2.5hours later than expected but none of that mattered once we saw our man waiting for us :)  Overall, we had a great trip!  A part of me wanted the trip to be terrible so that I could let go of Kingston...But it was great, it only reinforced what a great city Kingston is and what great friendships we have there!

A Few Firsts

Month six of Hannah's life held a lot of firsts for our little Miss. Hannah Jae!  She is growing up so quickly, sometimes I wish we could slow the days down!  Hannah started sitting up on her a few weeks ago and loves this new found freedom! 

She's especially cute when she's sitting up in the tub all by herself, splashing around.  She sits on a little bath mat and she likes to try and pull on it.  Since she can't pull it up to her mouth, she tries to get her mouth to it putting her face right into the water!  It's pretty funny, I think she's discovered that she can't breathe under water :)

Hannah also tried food for the first time this month!  We started her on a rice cereal which she is not to fond of.  She makes a sour face and sort of shakes her head, indicating that "this is no good!".  I also let her try avocado which I think she enjoyed more than the rice cereal.

On April 23rd, Hannah met her new born cousin for the first time!  Brittany and Colin are proud parents of their little girl, Avery.  We're all excited that these 2 little girls get to grow up together!

 

Carl and I took Hannah swimming for the first time this month!  The pool was very busy and quite loud which made Hannah apprehensive to go in at first.  Although she warmed up to it a little bit, we didn't quite get a smile out of her, she was just somewhat splashing around with a very serious face.

Although Hannah has been to Starbucks several times, this month she got to try her first Starbucks!

...Ok, maybe Mommy just let her hold the cup :)

Hannah is starting to make some interesting sounds.  I swear she is saying "Mom" but Carl insists it's more like "Mamamamama" and "babababa".  Either way, we think it's pretty darn cute!  What we don't think is very cute is the fact that Hannah is starting to wake up more at night!  At first I thought it might be because she is cutting her first tooth but I've read that around this age, what they call a sleep regression can occur...So now we're going into a sleep depression!  We're praying it's temporary!

Due to the beautiful weather, Hannah also had her first opportunity to wear a sun dress :)

 

So yes, six months was full of firsts and Hannah will be starting off her seventh month with her first air plane ride as Hannah and I head off to Kingston on May 8th!

Sunny Daze

I feel like since we've had Hannah, all our blogs have been about Hannah...Which I suppose is what the majority of my life is about right now...But I hope those who read the blog aren't like "ugh, another blog about Hannah?!  Don't they have anything else to write about?!"  Because, well the answer is pretty much no :)  So without further ado, here are some recent photo's of our beautiful girl :)

And what have we been up to lately, you ask...

Our family has thoroughly enjoyed each sunny day we've had in the past month!  Hannah and I do our best to get outside when it's sunny and when Daddy gets home, we either go for an evening walk or make sure we get outside on the weekends!

Enjoying White Rock

 Thanks to a friend, Hannah and I discovered Mill Lake in Abbotsford!  This is where Hannah had her first swing ride!

Hannah also had the pleasure of meeting her Uncle Ryan for the first time!  He recently arrived home from Australia after being away for a year!

Although Hannah and I try and steer clear of the mall, sometimes we just need to fulfill the crave to shop!  We decided to prep Hannah for summer weather!

Hannah celebrated her first Easter in March - she didn't quite understand the concept of the Easter Bunny. That weekend we enjoyed a visit to Aldor Acres farm with some friends where Hannah experienced her first hay ride! 

Hannah started rolling over onto her stomach at 5 months and has just recently been rolling herself back onto her back once in awhile.  She is also getting better at sitting up on her own!  Carl thinks she'll be crawling in a few weeks, but I'm praying it won't be for at least a few more months!!!  She's been making some pretty interesting noises lately and everyday, we have a little practice session on how to say "Mommy" :)

On Hannah's 7 month birthday, her and I will be heading back to Kingston for a visit!  We figured it would be a good time for a visit while Hannah is still free to fly and I'm off work.  Seeing how the majority of my pregnancy was spent in Kingston, our friends there are pretty excited to meet her!  Speaking of being off work, I've been thinking more and more about going back to work.  It's not something I like to think about, but more something I dread as each day brings me closer to it!  I still need to find a job out here as my current job is still in Kingston and we also will need to find daycare for Hannah, which makes me sad to think of.  At this point, I can't imagine a day away from our little girl :)   

Spending time with Daddy

Matching stripes!