Sweet face - first smile on camera

Hannah was almost six weeks old when I took these pictures. . . reminiscent of a shot of Abigail pushing up on the Boppy at about five weeks. The spontaneous grin was a great surprise!

Former neighbors surprise us!

Later the same afternoon, a surprise knock at the door announced the arrival of our former neighbors Stephanie and three of her four children. Gretchen and Lindsey used to spend lots of time in our home and often went to church with us. Timaria was a baby, but now she's four or five! They were all happy to meet our new daughter.

Playdate with Eva and Jude

Wednesday, March 11, friends from church invited us to come spend time in their big backyard and have lunch together. Eva and Jude are a year apart in age and Abigail's in between them and loves them both! The three of them kept busy with the red car, the little playhouse, and the wagon. . . having a blast together (except when poor Jude was nominated the "bad guy" and run off). In the meantime, the mommies chatted and held Hannah (to her great satisfaction). I was refreshed and encouraged by the fresh air, change of pace, and conversation with Kerri who's also an adoptive mom. And Jude and Eva enjoyed holding their tiny new friend Hannah.

Friends come to visit!

The next Sunday and Monday several friends visited in our home. We'd taken lunch to Jennie Lue's and eaten there, but this was our first Sunday lunch back at our place since Hannah joined the family. Jennie Lue loves our new baby (doesn't even seem to mind that she's a girl after all =)!
And on Monday Keren and her one-year-old daughter Hana Kate came to visit and brought us a diaper cake! It was fun to have our girls together again after several months.
That night, Bing (a real doctor now!) and Andy came to meet their new "niece" and brought pizza for supper. Stories of their backyard goats, chickens, and rabbits entertained us all.

Sweet sisters - Hannah five weeks old

These pictures are from March 6 - a beautiful spring day in our back "yard."

Visitors from Illinois!

The first Friday in March, we had a very special lunch visit from our dear friends who moved to Illinois last August. Seeing "Uncle Andy," "Tante Erika," Emmalein and Celia was great fun - just wish Nathan could've been with us and that they could've stayed longer! Four little girls between us so far (plus Lai and Brian's three little girls)! =)

Back in Georgia and Alabama

Granddaddy Lane left earth February 24 and we headed back to Georgia and Alabama that weekend for the visitation and funeral. We are grateful that we'd been able to visit with him in January and then that Nathan got to see him again while we were in Alabama for Hannah's adoption. And we are more grateful that our hope is in not in this life, but in Jesus, the source of true life!
While "down south," we enjoyed time with Nathan's parents, Grandmother Lane and other family members. Many of them were delighted to meet Hannah for the first time (or to see her a second time). Mommy thought she'd never get a turn holding her baby!
After the meal for family following the funeral on Saturday, Nathan and Abigail skipped acorns into a new pond on the church property (lots of new bodies of water after four days of pouring rain) while Julia fed Hannah. The afternoon was beautiful, fresh, windy and soggy. =)
During the night, the one afternoon's reprieve from rain gave way to a Sunday snow storm! But snow doesn't stick in Georgia - especially on wet ground when it was 65 degrees the day before. Wrong. After four hours of heavy snowfall, even the ground and roads were covered and it kept coming. We were snowed in. . . in Georgia (no snow removal equipment there, plus the slush underneath had turned to ice!) with a good six inches on the ground! So, we built our snowman of the winter and had a quiet day with family. By late morning on Monday, the then ice had melted enough for us to return home.

GramMee's visit

Julia's mom came for several days - to help out and to get better acquainted with her newest granddaughter (number four!). We had fun together and the help with laundry, dishes, and baby-holding was nice.

Three weeks old

Back in the middle of February (boy, some catching up to do!) Abigail was delighted to introduce her new baby sister to her favorite uncle (Caleb), who was, in turn, happy to meet the youngest of his four nieces. One morning later that week (the same day Hannah reached the three week milestone), I got some sweet pictures of Hannah sitting up (supported only by one hand). And while I was feeding Hannah that morning, Abigail made her own milestone - she chose every article of clothing she needed from her dresser and dressed herself completely! Mommy was pretty excited about this accomplishment too! And before naptime, Big Sister asked to hold Hannah just one more time before sleeping and we got some cute sister pictures.

February 18, Hannah had her first check-up with our doctor! She weighed in at a full 9 pounds and 3 ounces and measured 19 3/4 inches long (she might be tall like me!) and was pronounced very healthy. We thank the Lord!

Hannah's first bath

On 2/17, Hannah's umbilical site was finally healed well enough. . . and she got to take her first tub bath. She'd been protesting sponge baths as torture sessions and was actually quite content in the warm water. Still not too happy about the lotion rub afterwards though. =) I love the towel picture - Isn't she beautiful? And big sister was busy washing her baby too - with great delight. (Funny - I actually remember doing the same thing at the counter while my mom washed my baby brother some 27 years ago!)

First weekend at home!

We got in Friday night and all enjoyed sleeping in our own beds. =) The next afternoon, Mom and Dad Mee and Nathan, Andrew and Karen came in to meet Hannah. After visiting awhile, we enjoyed supper out together with Luke and Charlotte. Sunday we all went to Heritage together and then ate lunch back at our house - for Charlotte's 23rd birthday! Lydia came for the afternoon with her girls (Tom had to work) and we had quite the double celebration - with lots of ice cream! The fourteen of us (including four little girls!) filled our condo. =)