1st Birthday Giraffe Party

Well, Hannah and I have made it back to Birmingham for the next three weeks.  We were so happy to be reunited with Weston!  I am long overdue sharing pictures from Hannah's birthday party, and boy do I have pictures to share.  As I mentioned before, we had a giraffe themed party because Hannah loves all things giraffe since she was very little.

We ordered her giraffe invites off of Tiny Prints.

I made the banner from scrapbooking paper that said "Happy 1st Birthday Hannah".

The party was held at my parent's neighborhood picnic pavilion.

I was so happy to have so many adorable girls at Hannah's party.  My sister-in-law, Lindsey, is to the left with my sweet niece, Caroline (9mo).  Andrea, my high school friend and college roommate, is in the center with her daughter, Collin (9 mo).  Jenny is expecting her daughter, Avery, late July.  I've been close friends with Jenny since 5th grade and went to college together as well!  And far right is Lindsay and her daughter, Etta (8mo).  Lindsay and I grew up in the same neighborhood and spent much of our childhood together at the pool and park where we had Hannah's party.

We also had Weston's Aunt Cindy, Uncle David, and cousin, Laura, there to celebrate with us.

Hannah and her Nonna.

 

I pulled the colors: yellow, deep pink, and green for the party from Hannah's dress.

I made her a special little party hat with a giraffe 1 for Hannah and several party hats for the guests too.

Weston and I made her cake out of the number 1 pan to look like a giraffe.

Hannah's tiny smash cake and her 1 candle.

 We went simple on the food.  We had deli wraps brought in from Publix with chip and fruit kabobs.

We made sure to have snacks for Hannah's friends.

My mom and I made sugar cookies: Giraffes and hearts, for our Hannah "Hart".

Weston and Hannah with his best friend Jakob, the soon-to-be-dad.

Hannah had so many wonderful gifts to open.  She loves her books and musical toys.  She received some adorable additions to her wardrobe thanks to some very fashionable friends.

 Grandma and Granddad went all out with a giraffe themed presents to go along with Hannah's love of giraffes.  Her new stuffed giraffe gets carried around by the neck everywhere with her, and she absolutely loves it.  Hannah also enjoys to push her little giraffe tricycle around and give it kisses.

Nonna and Pops gave Hannah the fanciest water table that I have ever seen, and we can't wait to break it out this summer at our new house.  She already loves it, and we haven't even added the water.  She has no idea what fun is in store for her with this toy!

 

Hannah got a fancy wagon from Mommy and Daddy.  She really loves it.  We have taken it on several walks and trips to the pool at my parent's house.  Again, it's another toy that we can't wait to use in the new house.

 

After presents, we had cake!  Hannah did pretty good diving into her cake and having her first taste of sugar!

I still can't believe we pulled off the party less than 48 hours after moving out of our house.  I love that so many of our close friends and family were there to celebrate the first year of Hannah's life.  Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us near and far!  Thank you also to my picture takers, Hannah's Uncle Joe and Pops, who are missing from these photos!

Happy Birthday, my Hannah Hart!

12 Months

Well tomorrow was my due date one year ago, and Hannah celebrated her birthday a couple weeks ago.  In the weeks leading up to her birthday, I couldn't believe that the year had passed.  She didn't seem old enough or big enough to me.  And almost like she received a memo that she was a big girl at 12 months, she started doing things that make me realize I have a toddler now.

For example, we went to the zoo yesterday, and she walked all by herself through the primate house stepping up to each display glass and peering through.  She would spot each monkey and excitedly grunt and point at the animal.  It was too cute, and as her mother, I would dare to claim that she is advanced for a 12 month old.  :)

We have added a 7th tooth to the list.  Her lower left came in just weeks before her birthday.

Hannah continues to stay on the low end of the growth chart at 10th percentile for both height and weight.  She is 18 lb 5 oz and 28 inches.  When I took her in for her well baby visit, both the pediatrician and nurse said separately they couldn't believe how strong she was.  Her doctor called her small but mighty.  It really is no surprise to me because she was is constantly moving and grunting and picking up things as big as she is to carry around the house.  Things I didn't think would be possible for a little one to lift like the laundry detergent or her plastic whale baby tub.  She loves to transport these items all over the house.  I try to be careful what she will try to lift because I don't want her to hurt herself.

 

Up until learning to walk, her little push walker has been her trusty stead.  The week before her birthday went from a few steps here and there to completely walking all over.  It is so rare now to find her crawling.  Once she learned to walk she loved the new freedom (aka mischief) it provided her.

 

 

Feeding Hannah can be hard.  She can be picky at times.  With all the traveling and moving, we have yet to get rid of the bottles, and we still give her the occasional baby food.  I hope to introduce the new eating routine and sippy cups of milk when we return to Birmingham next week.  She is doing great with whole milk which is great because she did at one time have transient lactose deficiency.  She loves yogurt melts, puffs, deli meat, and bananas.  Weston gave her one of his cheese puffs from his lunch yesterday which she loved too.

In many ways, life is so much easier with a 12 month old.  Sure she can destroy the house within 15 minutes of getting up, and you chase after her all day long.  But she is so much happier these days.  Reflux really did a number on her the good part of her first year.  Now she loves to interact and tells us jokes without saying a word.  She sleeps like a champion from 8pm-6:30/7am and takes two decent naps a day.  Hannah loves to dance.  Once she hears music, she stands up to clap and bounce around.  Her absolute favorite song right now is Pharrell Williams "Happy".  If she is fussy in the car, that song will always get her clapping and happy!



Happy First Birthday Hannah Hart Hobgood!

Life Update

These past few weeks have been some of the busiest of my entire life.  The only busier time would be spring 7 years ago as I had a thesis to complete and defend, wedding to plan, job to find, and secure a home to rent in a town I had never lived before.  This May comes in at a close second.  We successfully moved ourselves out of our house with a baby completely on our own.  We closed on our house May 15, one day after Hannah's first birthday.  It is a good thing they don't remember birthdays at this age because hers was spent going to the doctor in the morning for her shots and followed by walking around an empty house (oh yes, we are walking now!) while Weston and I spent every last minute getting everything into our storage unit.  Our last moments spent as a family of three in our first house was by eating leftovers for dinner sitting on the floor of our empty house.  It was an emotional day to say the least.

Last runs around her first nursery!

Cutie pie at the pediatrician's office.  You have views of UAB to the top right of Hannah's head.

Our last family shot in our home post picnic dinner.  It had been a rainy day moving.  So please excuse our appearance and focus on the sweet baby.

Exhausted and tired after dinner, we made it to the hotel just in time for bath and bed.  I looked down at my precious baby asleep, and I was sad I couldn't absorb her special day the way I had wanted.  The next morning before closing Weston headed to work and came back in time to head to the attorney's office.  We signed the papers, and Hannah was as quiet and as still as I have ever seen her before in my life.  The attorney said she wins the award for best baby in the office in quite awhile.  An award that I thought was previously unattainable for our highly energetic and very mobile baby, but we were very proud of her!

So closing was on a Thursday, and we drove immediately to Franklin to stay with my parents through the following week.  Friday was spent scrambling to get all the details finished for Hannah's birthday party on Saturday.  Weston had stayed up with me until midnight the night before helping me finish icing her cakes.  Saturday was an unusually chilly day for May, but the weather held up long enough for us to celebrate our big 1 year old at my parent's neighborhood park.  It was a giraffe theme party in honor of Hannah's two favorite toys which happen to both be giraffes.  I will do a separate post on her party when I can get to my camera.  For now here's an Iphone picture.

 
After Saturday's party was over, we had to turn our focus back on the house hunt.  I had mentioned that we had a house that we had loved and pending inspection it would be ours.  Well, the inspection did not go well at all, and we decided to walk away from it.

Here it was.  It had a gorgeous entry way and beautiful molding and bay windows in both the living room/office and dining room.  The dining room was my favorite.  I probably had the most vision for this room.

So unfortunately, we were back to square one.  After the first house fell through, we had even drove back spur of the moment the weekend before moving out to look at a house that we thought was "the one".  Houses are going extremely quick in this market, but we had decided to wait and think about it before putting in an offer due to pet smells in the house and Weston's allergies.  The "smelly" house (as Weston and I call it) was under contract one week later when we returned.  Ugh!

So long story short, we have found another house, and we're currently under contract again.  We have done the initial inspection, and we're needing one more inspection before we can have resolution with the seller on the repairs.  It has a really neat layout that I have never seen before, and it is more updated than the first house we put an offer on.  We so hope this is the house for us, and I can't wait to share the pictures with you. 

Currently, we are back in Birmingham, and unpacked a few things from our storage unit into our temporary apartment.  Hannah and I are headed back to Franklin this Friday again to help cohost a baby shower for a close friend of mine.  Then I have some Birmingham friends headed up for a last girls getaway in Nashville the following week.  And next Friday is Weston's graduation.  I'm just trying to take it one day at a time.

1 month left

Really, now we're talking about 2 weeks left before Hannah turns ONE!  It is so hard to believe, but it's true.  This sweet little girl is no longer an infant.

She is yet to be really walking.  She takes a few steps, and then she will plop down.  Her balance is amazing, and she can stand for really long periods.  She loves using her little push walker.  She steers and moves all over the house.  It is by far her most used toy right now.

Hannah is happiest when she is free to explore.  She is an expert at finding the tiniest of specs of dirt or crumbs on the floor.  They are so tiny they are barely visible to the human eye, but she finds them.  They will stick to her little pointer finger, and she hands them to me with such satisfaction.  She still isn't a fan of the car or being strapped in the car seat.  Sippy cups and snacks have allowed short 5-10 minute trips to have little or no crying which is a huge improvement.

As of a few weeks ago, we are completely on all formula.  We had to switch to soy based formula after discovering that Hannah developed secondary lactose deficiency after having diarrhea for two solid weeks.  This should go away with time, and we're hoping when she turns 1 that whole milk agrees with her.

We are trying all kinds of new foods this month.  Hannah loves to feed herself, and she's starting to get the hang of swallowing rather than storing the food in her cheeks like a chipmunk.  Her new favorite food is deli meat, but she has tried pickles too and liked them too.

In the midst of all the chaos between two moves and selling our house (we close the day after Hannah's birthday), I'm going to try and enjoy the last weeks of her first year.

So this is happening...

 

And actually that sign is a bit deceiving, it should say "Under Contract".  A little over a week ago, we got an offer on the house!  After being on the market for 6 weeks, I was starting to get a little nervous (Would it ever sell?!) and exhausted with cleaning the house then leaving with the baby for every showing.  We would get so many showings with the exact same feedback:  "Shows like a dream/cute house.  Buyers can't get past busy road and traffic noise."  It was completely out of our control.  There was nothing we could do to fix the location other than plant some very mature trees which I considered.  In the end, our realtor told us to be patient, and she was right!  

We have a quick close date three weeks from now!   We went to Franklin to house hunt this past weekend.  Weston and I decided after looking at the rental market that buying may be the best financial decision for us.  Pending inspection and everyone signing on the dotted line, we have a house!  Once I know everything is official, I will share our future home!  The close date on the "new to us" house is June 9.  In the meantime, we are moving all of our belongings into storage right by our house, and we're living in a furnished temporary apartment until the end of June here in Birmingham while Weston finishes residency.

As we spend our last months here in Birmingham, it is bittersweet.  In some ways, we are really ready to leave and start this new chapter, but in other ways, we'll miss the city and our friends.  For a little fun, here's our top five lists for what we'll miss the most and what we'll miss the least.

Top 5 Reasons We'll Miss Birmingham

5) The weather is amazing!  I know some folks would complain about the humidity.  But I love the heat and the sunshine!  My little girl can go out in a sleeveless bubble outfit in April.  You just can't beat that.

4) The food is more amazing than the weather!  Renowned chef, Frank Stitt, and the chefs who have trained under him have started a burgeoning culinary scene in Birmingham is top notch and nationally recognized.

3) Spring!  Clearly I don't suffer from allergies.  I know this could technically go along with the weather, but I tell you spring in Birmingham is beautiful!  Weston and I say there is nothing prettier than East Tennessee in the fall, but Birmingham in the spring gives it a run for its money.  The azaleas flourish pops of bright pink, red, and white all over the city.  Here are our azaleas in the front of our house which is nothing compared to the giant azaleas around town.  It's just beautiful!

2) Our dearest friends that we've made while living here will be one of the hardest to say goodbye.  Some of them will be moving on themselves heading on to new jobs and fellowships, but some will be staying here.  We'll miss them all!

We can clean up nice like we did for Elyse's baby shower last month in the picture above, but we're not afraid to put on our best redneck attire to go float the Cahaba river too for Blake's birthday.  That day is quite possibly my favorite day spent with these friends.  I mean look at the facial hair on some of these doctors.  And to make the day even better, Sarah was in the hospital that day giving birth to our adorable Liam.

1) And of course the number one reason we'll miss Birmingham is our first home and the memories of the birth of Hannah.  It all happened here.  The moment we became a family of three and parents for the first time by bringing Hannah home.  It's also where we experienced the pride and hard work in becoming home owners.  I think I will be sad while still living in Birmingham in temporary housing and drive by our home with someone else living there.  It will always be special to me.




And now we'll juxtapose that sweet and wonderful list with the reasons we are ready to move!

Top 5 Reasons the Hobgoods need to get the heck out of here

5)  We are all ready to be done with residency and the hours Weston works.  It has been a very positive experience at UAB, but we are excited to have Weston take a little less call.

4)  No family!  Enough said.

3) The crime is something we won't be missing in the least.  While many of the very dangerous areas are concentrated farther away from our home, we still don't have the sense of safety that we want for our family.  A couple of our neighbors have had their homes broken into over the years.  One neighbor has had both cars stolen months apart from each other!  And I will never forget driving to our house immediately after closing to find graffiti on our brand new privacy fence.  Talk about worrying about making the right decision on our house within an hour of owning it.  Regardless of these experiences, it has been a good house in a great neighborhood with wonderful neighbors.  And I feel safe with our security system at night while Weston is on call which is most important.

2) This may sound silly to some as a reason, and I am aware that this issue is more of an issue with me than it is with Birmingham.  But we are so tired of being surrounded by Alabama fans.  I just need more orange and less crimson in my life.

1)  What is more abundant in Birmingham than Alabama fans you ask??  Roaches.  Locals call them palmetto bugs, but don't be fooled.  They are giant, fast, disgusting roaches that come out during the warm season.  But in addition to the palmetto bugs, there are ants here like nowhere I have ever lived.  The anthills are massive, and I will drive down the road and see ant hill mounds two feet high.  I kid you not. 

I can't wait to share on the blog our new house!  It is a little bit of a fixer with really good bones which was exactly what I wanted to customize it to how I like over the years.  I hope I can share the changes on the blog too!  That's all for now!