Hana's first play date

Hana had her very first play date with a little girl named Tessa. Tessa and Hana were both born in Feb. They played on the swings and then in the sandbox and at the park that we were at there were animals to look at. There were sheep, turkeys, ducks and bunnies. The girls played next to each other but not really together. Maybe next time they will be able to play more together...Tessa can't walk yet, so Hana was wanting to run around, but she couldn't. Oh and Hana tried to take away Tessa's shovel, but when she wouldn't give it up, Hana started squeezing her arm!! I had to move them arms length away from each other, but after she got that out of her system, they were great!!

Here are a few pics of the girls!

Just a quick update.....

I know it's been awhile since I updated, but not too much has been going on until this past Monday.

On Monday, Thaer had the temporary neurostimulator placed in his back. He only has it in there for a week to see if he likes it. But they did have to make small incisions in his back to place two leads in his back. He has a remote that controls the intensity of the stimulation. So far, he likes it and it is working, but he is just uncomfortable from the incisions. He will go back this next Monday and have it removed. He'll wait a week to make sure that there is no infection and then he'll have the permanent one put in after that. We are hoping to get the permenant one placed in before I have the baby.

He also started his second week of his Six Sigma Blackbelt Training. All is going well with that, but it is a lot of work for him. But he will benefit greatly when he finishes these classes. I'm still so proud of him for working so hard to make our lives better.

As for me, I went and had my 36 week 1 day checkup yesterday. My cervix is starting to soften and he is head down. All looks wonderfully. One thing that Thaer and I didn't want to hear was when the dr. said, "It could be any day now!"....We weren't prepared to hear her say that. I am ready to not be pregnant anymore, but I am so worried about bringing a new little one home. It's so scary not knowing how things will change.

Hana is doing well. Rotten as ever. I can't believe how big she is getting. I often sit and watch her play and it still seems so sereal that she is really mine. She's changed our lives for the better and I can't imagine our life without her.

Okay, enough of my mushiness. Here is what everyone really wants, a few pics of Hana...

First time visiting the zoo....




Hana on the phone with Grandma.



The light was shining through the window and she was trying to pick it up off the floor.

My smiley little monkey!

She got stuck sitting in her Bumbo seat that she is way too big for....

Went to the zoo.....

On Sunday, Thaer, Hana and I went to the Detroit Zoo for the first time as a family. Hana and I had never been. It was a nice day out, finally. It was about 55 degrees out and sunny! There were hardly any people there, which made it extra nice!! We spent about 3 hours there and Hana liked to see the animals, well, actually I think that Thaer and I enjoyed it more than she did. It was a ton of walking, which was really good. I think that next year we will be buying a family membership! I will post a few pics when I get them uploaded from my camera!

Quick Update...

Not too much going on around the Yousef household.

Hana has finally gotten back on her sleeping routine...she wakes a few times at night but is able to soothe herself back to sleep, except when Daddy hears her and then he likes to go in there and comfort her. She is just growing so fast, it's amazing. She loves it when Daddy gets home because then she gets to REALLY play...I'm just getting so big that it's getting really hard for me to even move!

I have an appt. a week from today. Now we will start to see if my body is getting ready!! These are the exciting appts. The past few days it seems like my morning sickness has made it's way back....yuck. But I've been throwing up at night, well around midnight and staying nauseous after I eat anything...and heartburn is no fun either...I've never had it before until about a couple months ago. So fun fun stuff for me.

Thaer will be having his temporary neurostimulator put in on Monday. He will have it in for a week and then decide whether or not he likes it. It will probably help so much that he'll get the permanent one put in soon after. Let's just hope that they can get him in before I deliver. He also went back to the dr. about his knee and he had fluid build up so they drained it and gave him another shot. His dr. says that he has more torn ligaments in it and will need surgery....poor guy. He had knee surgery in Feb. 2007 and needs it again on the same knee. And after his seizure last year, he needs to have shoulder surgery soon and then is getting this neurostimulator put in...and to think that he is only 30 years old...he's falling apart on me!!

That's about it for us. I will update if something exciting happens.

No more need for a pacifier....

The only good thing to come out of the last week of misery and teething is that Hana no longer wants her pacifier. Her mouth was hurting so bad from being swollen that she couldn't suck on it. Thankfully, she hasn't wanted it since. She only used it to sleep with, and now I don't have to worry about it falling out of her mouth and her waking up wanting it!!!! I thought that we were going to have a rough time taking it away from her, so I am so glad that she did it on her own!!!!

Hana is finally feeling better

I thought that she was never going to get back to her normal happy self, but she is well on her way now. Last night she finally slept. She slept for 7 hours straight!!! After having to get up with her every hour for 7 days, it was about time. So let's hope that this continues.

2 of her molars have finally pushed through the skin and that has given her much relief, enough so that I didn't have to give her anymore Tylenol/Motrin.

On Sunday though we woke up and decided that she might have an infection in her mouth, so I took her to our dr. and low and behold she has thrush. But at least it is fairly easy to fix. She has to be given an antibiotic 4 times a day for 14 days.

I have an OB appt. on Thursday....As of today, I only have 41 days til my due date. Hopefully I make it that far, because we are so not ready for this little guy to make his appearance. We still do not have a name picked out, but I guess it's not too bad because we didn't with Hana either until she made her appearance.

Oh, one more thing...I really really really dislike Michigan weather....On Friday it was so pretty out that Hana and I went outside and played with rocks for an hour and then of course yesterday morning we got about 6 inches of snow and it is snowing out now!!!!!!!!!! This is when I really miss that Texas heat!

Finally starting to feel better....

Since Monday my poor Hana has been running a temperature from her teething. It's been a roller coaster of a ride these past few days...I was having to giver her Tylenol every 4 hours and she was very cranky and tired and wouldn't sleep well at all...Since Monday, Thaer and I probably have gotten 12 hours of sleep. Yeah, not so fun. But luckily this morning she woke up without a fever!!!

This is the first time in her life that she's had a fever. Luckily it wasn't because she was ill...we were extremely blessed with a very healthy child. I can only hope for this next one to be as healthy as her.

She is still not herself today, but hopefully by this evening she'll be better and hopefully she'll sleep tonight. I can tell that she might have lost a little weight from her mouth hurting and just not feeling good, so my goal now is to get that weight put back on her....she's eating well today though...she's already had pancakes and Cheerios and now having a few graham crackers!!! So I know she's feeling better!!!

A few pics of Hana

Hana enjoying her spaghetti!! YUMMY!!!

She found a new playing spot under the side table!


If you ask her where her nose is, this is the face you get :)


Her hair has been getting long in the front, so we had to find her a new hairstyle!

My 32 1/2 week OB appt.

I had my appt. yesterday and all is well. Baby boy Yousef is growing as he is supposed to. His hearbeat is great! I gained another 3 pounds in 2 weeks....gosh, I had better let up on all those Little Debbie Snacks and fudge! :) But it's all so yummy. So nothing fun and exciting happened. Another appt. in 2 weeks!

So many teeth & other updates

Oh man!! Hana has 3 bottom teeth coming in at the same time and she's so moody.....it's driving me insane. She's normally not a cranky girl, but for the past couple of days when she's not getting what she wants, she cries and goes and sits in the floor. Hopefully it's just the teeth and not a sign of things to come in the future!!!!

Today Thaer started his class for his Six Sigma Blackbelt...so it's a good day for him. We are all so very proud of him!! It's extremely hard to be chosen for these classes. I was so excited, that I went to Target yesterday and got him a new notebook and highlighters!! hehehe..

As for me, I'm exhausted. I think I have like 54 days left til my due date! Last night I got about 4 hours of broken sleep because Hana kept waking with her mouth hurting. I've been attempting to really clean the kitchen (like scrubbing down all the appliances) and it took its toll on my back...I think I pulled something! I also hurt my knee a few days ago, don't know how it happened, but everytime I bend it a sharp pain radiates....So it makes it hard for when I put Hana to sleep because I sit in the floor indian style with her and rock her.....picture me trying to get up out of the floor with a sleeping baby and no hands to help myself up! It's kind of like a camel trying to stand up!!!!!

Tomorrow I have my 32 1/2 week OB appt. I will update about baby boy when I get done there!!!

Big things for Thaer!!

I have great news...we found out yesterday that Thaer is one of very few people to start a Six Sigma Blackbelt class. What this means is that he goes to this class for 4 weeks...well it's in 1 week increments and once he has completed it he will have a prestigious certification almost as if he had gotten a second degree!!! This is awesome news for our family and it means that he will at least have his job guaranteed through the next round of cuts soon to come. But it is an extremely hard class, almost like College AP Statistics. Gosh, glad it's him and not me!! Statistics was a really hard course for me. But we are so excited and so proud of him!!!!

A few pictures

We went on Saturday the 14th to have some pictures taken since we hadn't had any "professionally" taken before. Hana loved having her picture taken.

First blog EVER!!!

I've been trying for so long to get this blog started as for we have family and friends all over the country and it just seems like an easier way to keep in touch with everyone. So for the very first one I'll just get out a little history on our growing family:

Thaer and I were married on 1/9/2007. We got pregnant with Hana in May of 2007 and she arrived in our lives, 9 days late on 2/17/2008. Low and behold we got pregnant with this little guy in August of 2008, which was a HUGE shock! His due date is 5/18/2009. My little munchkins will be a whole 15 months apart.

Hana is a joy. She's so funny and is growing so quickly and learning so much. She's got 10 teeth now, well 2 of her molars are currently pushing their way through. She has been walking very well for about a month now and is LOVING it! At her 1 year checkup she weighed in at 20 pounds and 13 oz and is 30.5 inches long...which yes, she is a tall and skinny one!

Thaer has been doing well. Just a busy bee at work. They've been having a lot of layoffs, so he is receiving all the work of the guys that lost their jobs. Then he comes home and helps me out. What a guy! He will be having a neurostimulator put in his back at the end of this month for pain. The pain comes from 3 broken vertebrae in his back from his seizure last July. He also has to have shoulder surgery from the same accident, but we have yet to schedule that. But other than that, he's great.

I am doing pretty well also. Just staying tired. For the past few weeks I've been "teaching" Hana how to sleep on her own. For the past year, she'd wake up whenever and we would rush into her room, pick her up and rock her back to sleep. But since we've got a new one coming and for our own sanity, we decided that it was time....and she's been doing wonderfully. From the first night she took to it really well. Now since then though, she's been having teeth come in, so of course on those days she doesn't sleep as well, but still better than her waking up 9 times a night. Now if only I could learn how to sleep. :) And being a stay at home mom is awesome. I get to see all of her milestones and watch her change. I absolutely love it and wouldn't trade it for the world.

I can't wait until this little man gets here and to see how Hana and he will get along. It's going to be fun, hard work, but fun.

Well, I will finally end my very first post!! Look often, there will be plenty more to come!