The Hannig Home

Little Benjer, Last night (after pottying on the froggy toilet all day long) I walked into the bathroom and smelled poop.  I looked down and there was poop in the froggy toilet.  You were nowhere in sight.  I came to find you, asking Grandma and Grandpa and your dad and Luke if they knew you went poop in the toilet.  No one seemed to know if you had.  You came in from outside, charging through the front door in your undies, and when I asked if you went poop you said "nope."  But then I brought you to see the froggy toilet and asked you again and you casually said, "Yep.  Went poop, mom."  What?!  You hadn't told me you had to go.  You hadn't asked for a diaper.  You hadn't told me you WERE going.  You just went in and got the job done.  I can't believe it...well, actually I CAN believe it b/c you are a cool little guy, but I can't get over it.  So, naturally, I was wondering if you'd do it again.  Well, tonight ...

Benjer, You are just 2 years and 4 months old, but last Sunday (today is Friday, so 5 days ago) you went potty outside.  You went in the woods with me and went on a pile of dirt.  I was SO proud of you.  Every day since you have gone - most often multiple times a day and sometimes you don't even tell me you have to go, you just walk outside and go.  Yesterday I was in the basement and you yelled down to me that you went potty in the the 'froggy' (our little potty chair is a frog).  I came upstairs, and sure enough, you had gone potty in the froggy for the first time.  SO PROUD once again.  Now today you have gone outside and on the froggy multiple times.  You have such a positive attitude and if I ask you if you want to go potty you exclaim, "Yeah!  Gonna go potty on the froggy, mommy!" and you take off running for the bathroom.  I get such a kick out of you.  We all do.  You have an amazingly positive attitude about everythin...

My little girl is 7 weeks old today.  She slept from 11:30pm until 8am on Saturday night/Sunday morning!  Last night (Monday) she slept from 10:45 until 6am!  Then she nursed and went right back to bed and is still sleeping at 9am (which is why I can jump online and give a morning update).  What a good little sleeper (like her brother Luke, who is also still sleeping.  Benny, on the other hand, is up at 7am regardless of when he goes to bed the night before). Meri is still a peanut.  She probably weighs the same as my boys did at birth (9 lbs?  We don't have a working scale to confirm her weight).  She started to give us some sweet smiles in the past week or so and is clearly following us with her eyes.  She stops fussing instantly if I sing to her. She will stop sucking her pacifier and it will fall half-way out, just hanging on her bottom lip, as she gazes up at me to hear her lullaby with her big, wide eyes. Some other Meri facts: ...

Meet Meredith Nicole Hannig.  Our precious baby girl was born on 7.2.13 at 5:57pm.  We thought it would be a third boy, but God gave us a girl to love.  The past few weeks have been a blessing and a blur as we all transition to a family of 5.  As life begins to settle down going forward, I hope to have more time to reflect on how I've felt the past 4 1/2 weeks - the amazement, the challenge, the heartache, and the joy.  Until then, feast your eyes on this beautiful girl.

Dear Baby, You are going to be here before we know it.  The boys are excited to meet you, and both of them think you will be a brother.  Your dad and I also think you are a boy.  Even though my pregnancy has been quite different than it was with Luke and Benjamin, I still think you are a boy in there!  My doctor wants to induce me a week early, on Tuesday, July 2nd.  I have something called Strep B, a bacteria that many pregnant women have.  It isn't harmful to me, but it can be harmful to YOU.  The way to ensure you don't get the bacteria passed to you during labor and delivery is to get an antibiotic into me -via an IV- at least four hours prior to you being delivered.  My labors/deliveries are fast, and with both Luke and Ben I didn't get the antibiotic in time.  Thankfully they were okay and did not contract Strep B.  Our doctor told us that 1 in 2000 babies who get Strep B will die, and another 10-15% can have severe neurological d...

This 3rd little babe is due in just 4 weeks and 1 day.  Today is June 10th and the baby is due July 9th.  This entire pregnancy has been awesome, easy, enjoyable, and comfortable.  But for some reason, a few days ago, I became extremely uncomfortable.  It may have just been the day.  I think my belly doubled in size overnight.  I felt the baby's hard little butt and feet and shoulders jamming into my ribs all day.  My lower back ached.  I was exhausted. Since then I have felt a little better, but I don't think these last few weeks will go back to the easy bliss I felt the first 36 weeks. The boys are getting excited to meet their new little brother or sister.  Luke insists that he gets to sit next to the baby in the car and that Ben be the one to move to the very back.  Luke also insists that he gets to ride in the middle seat of the triple jogger that I bought (I found it at a garage sale for a steal!) so that he can take care of both...

I am relaxing in my bed at 9pm on a Monday night.  I open my bedroom window and the sounds of frogs and crickets rush in.  It's amazing - the sound, the volume .  There must be thousands out there in our woods and pond.  As I take in the sweet sounds of Spring, I watch my belly bounce with the kicks of the baby growing inside.  Tomorrow I am 30 weeks pregnant, just 10 more to go.  Newborns are hard.  Hard.  But I think of Luke and Benny and can't believe I will have another baby to love so deeply. My sweet baby boys are snuggled in their bed together, fast asleep, Lukey in the clothes he wore with his daddy to the golf course tonight (he won't take them off) and Benny in a PJ top and only his diaper because he refuses to wear pants.  At times you can hear them snore a little, but always the sweet sound of their steady breathing.  Ben might have his 2 fingers in his mouth, sucking.  Or maybe they've fallen out.  His blankie i...