Here come the cheeks!

Hana is becoming a chubby baby. The round cheeks are making her look more like Mommy and Mieko. Hana weighs around 10 and a half pounds now. She's also smiling more and making new cooing sounds. Her head control is pretty good, but she's not holding it up on her own yet. She also seems to really enjoy books and focuses a lot on the pictures.

We've been going to the New Parent Connection group at United Hospital in St. Paul for the past couple of weeks. It's been fun meeting other parents and all their cute babies. We get to ask a lot of questions about all those newborn issues like feeding and sleeping. We've also heard about some other interesting classes we might try, like baby yoga and infant massage. I'd like to take Hana to Baby Ballroom dancing. Mieko really enjoyed it.




The grief support groups through Children's Hospital are wrapping up. We've made some good friends there and plan on keeping in touch. We've even started our own facebook group called "Remembering Our Children". Though none of us wanted to be in this situation, we're glad we've found each other.



Mieko's Music Bus has been decorated and it looks fabulous. Bev did a wonderful job drawing the children riding the bus. We hear the children at Rondo are enjoying the instruments and we plan on donating more for Christmas and Mieko's birthday. This is such a fitting tribute to our happy little girl.













We had a quiet Thanksgiving over at Uncle Shane and Auntie Jodi's.
We also spent some time with our friends the Nelsons and the Hammonds. We're thankful for such good friends and family to share these times.
For the Christmas season, we'll be on the road. We'll be having an early celebration in Fargo with the Johnsons and then we're driving to L.A. We'll be bringing our cat Bailey with us since she needs medication and fluids for her kidney condition.



We're excited to see family and friends there and enjoy some warm weather for a while. It's in the single digits in St. Paul right now. Hopefully, Hana and Bailey will enjoy the ride.

You might have noticed Hana's little swirl (cowlick).
Here's a little verse a friend showed me:

There was a little girl ,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
(uh oh!)

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow