So today Hannah is 18. It's been a wonderful almost 2 decades and boy do I love that girl! What a blessing she is to me.
After I got divorced I figured that I would be the mother to 3 beautiful daughters and that was it. Then Rob and I met and fell in love and got married and the door opened up for a big family. Rob could hardly wait. He wanted to make babies right away. I wanted to wait a little while, I thought maybe a year, but we were only married a couple months when I joined the "right away" train. We found out we were expecting her at mom and dad's house. It was a whirlwind time. I was teaching and R was working and the kids were in school and out of the blue we learned that we were moving to Texas. In December we closed the sale of our house. We were staying with my parents for a few weeks until it was time for us to move and I thought maybe we had a wonderful Christmas surprise for everyone. One afternoon I took a pregnancy test and left it with R then went to the living room to visit with the family. He stayed to watch the lines. When he came walking into the room where we were I could tell it was positive! He was beaming and SO excited!! He told my parents and then called his and everyone was delighted. The girls were VERY excited. They had wanted a baby too.
Being pregnant with Hannah was great. Her birth day was great. And being her mom has been great!
As a baby Hannah spent a lot of time crying. That was a tough time for everyone. She was always in pain and while we all did everything we could to help her really there was little that could be done. It was exhausting and heart breaking to have a little baby that was constantly suffering. Thankfully as she grew her hemangioma, which was huge, did start to get smaller and the ulcers and painful lesions went away.
Then we had some really fun years. Hannah was the cutest little girl and sweet and spunky. She was also super willful and stubborn so while we had some great times we also had some tough times. She didn't like to be obedient and was prone to tantrums. Raising kids is a JOY and also it's hard. Luckily Hannah's hard times were all when she was young (which is WAY better than hard times with a teenager!)
Slowly Hannah grew (I say slowly because while the days were slow, the years were too fast!) and by the time she was 11 she was just a complete delight. Cheerful, obedient, bright and kind are all words that totally describe our Han. We moved to MD right about then and that was an awesome move for Hannah.
Middle school and the first years of high school were great for Hannah. She loved to be in plays, had A LOT of great, fun, friends. Her love of cooking really became apparent to us and she is a fun kitchen companion. She was/is a good student. She enjoyed many neat trips and experiences during those years. She took horse back riding and sailing and piano and voice lessons. Her testimony has always been solid and she loves to go to church. She is a great example to those around her. Hannah is a great aunt and great with little kids. She loves adventures and watching movies and is always up for fun! She is a girl of many many talents!
Moving to CA the summer before her junior year was a challenge and trial but she was up to the task and grew a lot. Hannah made friends again, continued to do well in school, was a comfort and delight to her mom and a great example to her siblings and friends. That once stubborn little girl now is resolute in her convictions and is empathetic and goal oriented and obedient. I could not be happier with the woman she grew up to be.
I am so excited to see what the future holds for our Hannakin. She is LOVING BYU-I and so excited about life. I love that. Heavenly Father has really blessed her and blessed me. I am ever grateful for the opportunity to be a mother and that our family relationships will continue to be a joy and blessing to us forever.
Happy Happy Birthday Hannah!!! Hope it's a good one!
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