:a pool wit da slllide:

So my parents bought HattieJo a little pool like we used to have when we were kids. She has had so much fun playing in her "pool wit da slllide." We went out last Thursday for her to play and AP and I just watched then decided we would step in! She was THRILLED when her daddy got in to play with her!

.praise the Lord.

HattieJo was singing the other morning with her carrot.. Then she started praising the Lord... Then decided that AP needed to have a turn to sing too..

:1 week old(yesterday):

Little AP was a week old yesterday! Crazy how time is flying. He isn't looking like a newborn anymore, he looks like a baby! We are loving life as a family of 4.

.what we have been up to.

.snuggles.changing lots of diapers.feedings.sleeping.playing.enjoying each other.kisses.family.friends.

:home again, home again:

We were able to come home on Wednesday morning! It is amazing how ready we were to get home this time versus when we were bringing HattieJo home. HattieJo and my mom and sister were at the house awaiting our arrival... When I got out I asked HJ who I was getting out of the carseat and she said, "Webi" translated, Levi! haha.. She loves Levi! HattieJo did so well with him all day, if he would squeak or cry she would go over and say, "its otay brudder"... or "he sad mommy" She was a big help with throwing his diapers away and so proud to help too! AP is doing great here at home. We are loving life as a family of 4!

.room220.

That was our home for 2 days after AP was born. We were so blessed with great nurses while we were there! We are so thankful for our friends and family who came to see us while we were there. Here are a few shots of our time in room220. The first ones are when HJ and AP met for the first time. They got to the hospital when I was still in the labor and delivery room, so HJ was a bit unsure of things, but quickly warmed up to "baby budder" once we moved to room220. She loved sitting in the bed with me while I held him. She would color, run wild, and take off everyone's stickers and stick them on the wall! By the 2nd time they came up to see us, she was wanting to give him kisses and all.

:APH:

Andrew Patten Hopper Jr. "A.P."
June 20, 2011 4:05pm
6 lbs. 9 oz. 19.5inches
PERFECT!

Yesterday was awesome! We got the call to come to hospital around 5:45 and they asked us to be there at 7:30, so we got up and got moving! When we arrived they got me prepped to be induced. They started the pitocin around 8:45am...They were able to break my water right away and boy did the contractions come! Around noon I was 4cm and requested the epidural...PURE BLISS! Then we just rested and waited! The nurse checked me at 3:15 and I was 10cm and she told me to get ready that we were going to start pushing in about 20mins. So at about 3:45 I pushed once and she said, "whoa, wait, wait, let me get the dr. he is about to come out!" So in came Dr. Anya.. 3 pushes later our sweet little AP arrived! Putting his lungs to the test, he was fighting mad. We are so blessed. The gift of life is such a miracle. We are so thankful for the Lord's blessing. HattieJo came up to the hospital about an hour after he was born and LOVED him.. She was calling him, "baby AP".. she wanted to hold him, rock him, and kiss him. It was so sweet!
More pics to come later but here a few for now:
Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!

:golfing:

I bought HJ a little golfing set the other day at Target.. it was in the $2.50 section, so its not the best, but she has a BLAST playing with it. Each time a ball goes under the couch she will yell for her daddy to go and get it because she knows mommy and big belly can't get it! The other night when Bobby (who is a great golfer) and Allison came over Andrew got Bobby to show HattieJo how to golf. It was so funny to watch HattieJo.. especially when Bobby got on the floor to retrieve a ball that had gone under the couch!

.hattiejo comes to school.

One day last week the sitter needed to drop off HattieJo early to me... HattieJo was thrilled to be there with my kids and had so much fun playing with them, making messes, and telling them to "sit down."

:JD eyes:

Why do we call this "JD eyes?"....We went out to dinner with our pastor JD and a visiting pastor and his wife....JD was playing with HattieJo and kept making faces at her and ever since that dinner HattieJo has been making this face to which we call her "JD eyes!"

.snake.

We had an interesting event (to say the least) out here the other day. One of our dogs Haus found himself in a duel with this snake! Andrew said to make sure everyone knew that the snale was harmless…although Haus wasn’t so sure haha. HattieJo was right in the middle of it all. Here is here interpretation of the events!

.book worm.

HattieJo LOVES to read and now she reads all the time in the car... she will read a page and then turn the book to show me the picture as she says, "see mommy, see" I love to hear her read to herself. You can pick up about every few words that she says.

.sunglasses.

Last night we were headed to Target and the sun was in HattieJo's eyes and she kept asking for her glasses, so then once she got them she put on a show!

"CHEESE":

"WHAT'S UP!" Kisses:

.water fun.

Gigi and Poppa thank you so much for this fun water park in my backyard!!! I LOVE it. Now you need to come back and see me so you can play in it too! Love, HattieJo

:TOMS:

TOMS... they are so stinkin' cute! I LOVE THEM on HattieJo and can't wait to get her another pair. When we are the store for her to try them on she put them on and went running, so that was a good indicator that she liked them! Not to mention they are adorable!!! Her next pair are going to be the pink sparkle ones. What better way to spend money than buying her a pair of shoes that will in turn put a pair of shoes on a child in another country that couldn't have them otherwise.

.visitors.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Andrew's two best friends, Patrick and Eric came up along with their wives. Eric and Erica have a 4month old little boy named Hank that HattieJo LOVED! We had a great time hanging out with them. I wasn't a good photographer over the weekend though... Please notice the homemade chessboard (a KrispyKreme box!).

:draw, draw, draw:

The girl LOVES to draw as a matter of fact, she likes to use her bathtub crayons to color on the OUTSIDE of the tub! Her control and the way she holds the crayons amaze me! She does such a great job. She likes for you to tell her things to draw and then when she finishes, she will repeat whatever it was that you told her as she points to what she drew!

:mirror, mirror, on the wall:

HattieJo has discovered that she really enjoys looking at herself in the mirror. She will twist and turn, play peek a boo, make faces, pretend to put on "maketup", and just crack herself up! It is hilarious to watch her.

"push"

The other day I was doing laundry and HJ asked to ride in the basket, so I put her in it and attached Andrews belt so that I could pull her! She had the best time. After the got out, this is what she was doing, "push baby, push baby." Don't worry I told her she could only do that with baby dolls not with her baby brother :) *warning the next two posts she is in the same attire! they were all taken on the same day!*

.bed.

HattieJo loves the bed, she likes to get on our bed and wrestle with Andrew all the time! So when Andrew's parents brought us a crib mattress, she had a ball playing on it. She would roll all around and her favorite thing was to get a ball and sit on the bed and throw it off to me or Andrew. It's the simple things in life that entertain :)

.baby boy's room.

Here are some quick shots of baby boy's room... yes it looks small because his room is the combined baby boy room, office, and guest room! Crazy to think that he will be here in 3 short weeks! YAY! We can't wait to meet him and squeeze him!!!

.donuts.

Last Sunday we went and had Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast! YUMMY!!! We let HattieJo pick out the donut that she wanted and of course she picked the chocolate iced with sprinkles... she LOVED and savored every bite that is for sure.