say hello....

....to my new wheels!!!

leave it to my dad to take a casual "we eventually want to get a mazda 5, we just can't find a good deal" conversation and find deal. and not just a good deal...an AMAZING deal!

i absolutely love it!

2012 mazda 5 grand touring

fully loaded

3rd row seats (that are easy to get in and out of!)

sliding passenger doors on both sides (perfect for the kiddos!)

this is going to be the perfect road trip vehicle

oh...and good gas mileage too for a 6 seater!

hinge texas

my coworkers finally decided to show up for work!

father's day fun

happy father's day (and happy belated anniversary to tim and andrea)!!!

the gang will be heading back home later this afternoon, so i thought why not try to wear the kids out for them.  so off to the splashpad we go!  oh my gosh, perfect weather!!  the kids had a blast, and we enjoyed relaxing and taking in the cool breeze.

to top things off, we wanted to take everyone to three stacks to get filled up to the brim with bbq! oh...and we did!!  it was delicious as usual.  

after lunch we said see you soon!!

selfies

can't get enough of these two.....and those toes!!!

snuggle

this is what i'm going to miss when i start back at work.

happy mothers day

we're getting there with unpacking things.  but we took a moment to enjoy my first mother's day as a mother of two!  and with this face looking at you all the time, how can you not stop and just kiss her all over!

i'm so lucky to have both hannah and graham in my life.  i really can't imagine not having them around.  sure there are some difficult days, but they're all worth it when out of the blue i get a hug from graham, an 'i love you' from graham, or just smiles and funny faces from this little miss.

love all of you!

chillin

yup, we're just hanging out!

happy birthday to me! 33!

the day started when grandpa and graham took mojo for a walk and graham came back with blue bonnets for me!  then we decided to head down to the zoo.  we got up close and personal with a hippos behind, and saw some other really cool animals.  on the way back, while the kiddos snoozed, grana took me to the boot store for my very first pair of real cowboy boots!  love them!!  then it was back home for dinner and a dip in the pool!

and what birthday wouldn't be complete without cake!  a carrot cake nonetheless!  yummy!

snugglebug

one of her favorite times of the day....and mine too!

my little helper

wowie wow wow!  i have a little babysitter on my hands already!

cousin olivia is GREAT with babies!!  she held hannah so gently and secure that hannah sat there for a good 30 minutes i think!  she has a great big cousin to look up to that loves her very much!

miss olivia is also a GREAT helper at bath time!  she helped get the towels ready for hannah's bath, helped dry her off when it was time to wrap her up, picked out her jammers, and even helped lay them out on the counter for hannah so she wasn't left in the cold air for too long.  it was such a big help for me.  thank you olivia!!! 

i tell ya, i'm ready to sign this girl up for a mom's night out!  she's got everything covered!  ;)

the great adventure begins

just shy of three weeks old and we things are getting packed at the house and i am heading on an adventure with both kids...SOLO...on an airplane to TEXAS!!!  the new chapter of our lives is about to begin.  i am super excited, but also super scared, sad and anxious.  

we planned for me and the kids to fly to san antonio as the packers were packing everything so that we didn't have to sleep on air mattresses and whatnot.  thank you miss colleen for dropping us off.  it really didn't sink in that we were leaving our house until colleen said "i'll put the kids in the car, you say goodbye to your house."  yup, waterworks began.  

this was the house we bought right after we were married.  the house we brought both kids home to.  the house we first laughed in, cried in, argued in and made up in.  so many good memories, it was hard to hug grady, tell him i'll see him in texas and get in the car.  but we did.  we will be making plenty of new memories in this new chapter ahead of us.

this picture of colleen and graham will forever be imprinted in my brain.  as well as the crying and hugging we did at the security gate entrance.  it was bittersweet, but i know i'll be seeing this face again soon!  we're already looking into cheap flights!  :)

luckily there were not a lot of people there on a thursday morning.  so we walked to our gate to burn some energy and when we got there it was time for hannah to eat.  graham kind of walked on the seats like a madman, but he stayed relatively in one place, so i didn't care.  i had plenty of bribes, so he didn't go too far!

of course our plan was late, so this only prolonged this scary part of adventure.  graham was getting tired and ended up falling asleep on one of the chairs RIGHT before we were about to board.  GREAT!  woke him up to walk with me since i couldn't carry him.  of  course it wasn't a plane that you walk on from the gate ramp...no, we had to walk down stairs, put our luggage on a cart and then walk up super narrow stairs to get into the plane.  a nice man asked if i needed help...i actually responded YES!  although i was putting the stroller down and he didn't know how to help.  he stood there until i got it down.  i kindly said 'thank you.'  he replied, 'no need to thank me, i didn't actually do anything.'  my response, 'yes, you did.  i just needed the support.'  we both smiled and then got on the plane.

wasn't sure how hannah would do on the plane since this was the first flight for her...yes, at 20 days old!  i knew graham would probably be fine with his ipad and snacks.  hannah fell asleep pretty instantly on the plane and graham was content during take off and into the flight.  about halfway through i had to nurse hannah (that was fun!) and then graham fell asleep.  YEAH!  and by some grace of god, they both stayed asleep the rest of the flight!  i was so thankful as i didn't want to be the mother with two screaming kids on an airplane. 

LANDED (after somewhat of a bumpy ride there in the middle...i was actually happy the kids were asleep.  i got a little nervous, so i can only imagine how scared they would have been)!!!!  our 8 hour flying adventure we were finally in texas!!!  grana and grampa were waiting for us with signs, flowers and toys.  we were so happy to see them.

so for now, we will be broadcasting live from TEXAS!

yee haw!

miss jen

today, little miss hannah made it into the hinge office.  she was passed around probably to no less than 8 people and she slept the entire time!  i was glad everyone was able to meet her before we head off to texas.  miss jen stopped by after work for some special one-on-one time with miss hannah.

i'm definitely going to miss this lady!  i was the first AAD at hinge, and jen was the second.  we instantly clicked during her interview and have been great friends since.  we joke that we are long lost sisters since we're so alike.  it's going to stink not being able to walk over to her desk and have our little chats.  guess that's what google chat is for, right!

cascades park crew

the germans are in town, so we had to get the cascades park crew back together.  it was so good to see everyone, enjoy some food...and some homemade caramel schnapps brought all the way from germany!  ;)

say cheese

today grana heads back to texas.  it has been so great having her here to help us with the transition of having one child in the house, to two!  THANK YOU GRANA!!!

someone was being a ham today...can you guess who?!

and even though we are sad to see her go....it's not as sad a goodbye as it usually is.  and that's because in less than two weeks we will all be partial texans (we need to get a house to be official)!

a tiny hinge

love this picture of hannah and i just so happen to be wearing my hinge fleece.  welcome to the world our newest little hinge!

first bath at home

after a blustery trip out, we decided to give hannah her first warm bath at home.  she's not too keen on the washing her body part, but man o man...she LOVES getting her hair washed.  she must take after her mom!  ;)

first outing

i knew while i still had grana at our house i was going to use her help to motivate me to get out of the house with hannah.  so out we went!  had to bundle up as it was pretty darn cold!

heading home

3 nights and 4 days in the hospital, and as much as i loved my doctor and all my nurses, i am so glad to be heading home.  it will feel good to sleep in my own bed and eat some good home cooked food (thanks grana!).  

we were greeted with an exuberant welcome from mojo who rushed our car, and graham helped daddy carry baby hannah into the house.  

to say graham was excited to have his baby home is an understatement.  he was also happy that her homecoming also meant he would be able to eat cake with dinner!!  well and i would be lying if i said i wasn't a little worried about the jealousy that's about to come, but so far he has nothing but love for her and hasn't acted out.

the sanner 4, home at last!

day 2

there is no denying that this little boy is IN LOVE with his new baby sister.  he is so sweet with her and just wants to cover her with kisses.  i will never forget when he said "she's so beautiful" in his little graham voice.

such a sweet big brother.

i'm feeling much better than yesterday and am happy not to be hooked up to anything anymore.  i am back on my feet even a little sooner than when i was with graham.  and since i had a visitor, i thought he might like to help me walk baby hannah through the halls with me.  he was very proud.

i know i said graham is definitely in love with this little lady, but i think that goes for all of us.  i can't give her enough love right now (or ever!).

welcome to the world baby hannah!

introducing our new little wee one....hannah!!

it was a very early morning for all.  we had to be at the hospital by 5:30 (yes that's AM) as i would be going back to the OR at 7:30.  as i was in triage getting ready for our little one's arrival i found it odd that both the nurses and my doctor were asking me if i was in pain.  i knew i was having contractions, but they didn't hurt, so no...no pain.  then my doctor said "this is just what i would have liked to have happen!"  so i'm guessing that means our little hannah was making plans to make an appearance on her own in the near future.  

7:30 and i walk back to the OR.  i get prepped and get the epidural and am ready for go time.  i felt like it took an eternity for grady to get back to the room, but i was so glad when he got there.  my stomach didn't do well with the anesthesia at first, but once they got the dosage right everything felt much better.  

but man o man...this little girl DID NOT want to come out!  they were pushing and pulling her out for what felt like 10 minutes!  again, something tells me she was engaged and ready to come out on her own.  we had other plans for her!  then at 8:07 am our little miss was born!!

we love you more than words can describe!