Happy New Year!

2010 has been good to us, and we are hoping for an even better 2011.  Best wishes to all of our family and friends for a fantastic New Year!  We love you all!

Now, I'd better get to writing down my goals :)

Christmas 2010

 

 

I did a poor job of documenting Christmas morning.  I was torn between taking video, taking photos, and soaking in the experience with the girls.  The latter won, thus the limited number of quite terrible photos.  But, it was a fantastic, albeit tiring, day.

Rowan and Harper scored a sweet kitchen, plus play dishes and food.  They are loving it.

Harper was quite content playing with her stocking toys--couldn't have cared less about opening anything else.

With every present she opened, Rowan exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!" or "Look at this _______ Mama! It's so beautiful!"  It was quite funny, and Justin and I had to hold in our laughs.  There is nothing like a kid on Christmas, really, there isn't.

And for those of you who did not get our card:

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 

 we tried to get a photo of the girls together by the tree, but alas, neither would sit still long enough.  justin had Christmas Eve off, so we had a nice, relaxing day. Just the four of us. It was awesome.

a dance recital

ro-ro had a little recital for her dance class in december.  i must admit, i was surprised that she participated for most of the time!  normally, when i watch her in class, she just watches her teacher when they do the actual dance routines.  and, almost every week, about 3/4 of the way through class, she starts to run around the room.  which provokes all of the other 2 year olds to do the same.  yes, my kid is the trouble maker.

however, she participated! and had fun with it!!  it was very cute, and i'm hoping, wishing, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed that as the next few months go by, her attention span will lengthen and she'll enjoy dance more.  if not, maybe we'll try out gymnastics :)

harper turns one!!

on december 1st, my baby turned one.  i can hardly believe how quickly harper's first year FLEW by.  i said that about rowan, but that year felt like an eternity compared to how fast this one went.  i love this little stinker.

 

her day was quite uneventful, as I was swamped processing orders.  i did spend time with her, and we made a birthday cake.

 ...which she rather enjoyed :)

at one, harper is:

walking!  just a little, she took her first steps on november 14th, gradually progessing to walking more and more.  but she still likes to crawl--it's much faster for her.

climbing up and down the stairs.  she loves it, and loves that she's not supposed to.  she likes when i chase her up the stairs too.

clapping, grabbing everything, screeching, whining, dancing, fake-laughing (and real laughing)

loves looking at books, but likes to turn the pages herself.  and if the book is too long, she gets restless and wants to move on.

loves attention.

loves playing with her sister, despite getting pounced on a little here and there.  i'm excited for these two to grow up together.

not much of a cuddler :(  she likes her space.

transitioning from 2 naps to one, and it's kind of hard to deal with, especially on Sundays.

screams for everything: when she wants something, when she's hungry, when she's tired.  she's a screecher.

and for her stats:

weight: 22.5 lbs (74%)

length: 29.7 inches (71%)

head circ: 18.5 inches (93%)

she's a chunker (seriously, she's a TANK compared to Ro), but we just love every little bit of her.  happy birthday my little nugget!  i love you to bits!

cousin buddies

These two.  They're fun to watch, and they love each other.  I love having cousins close to us, it makes having kids that much more fun.

From Thanksgiving 2010:

Just about the only photo I took that day (lame) but this has been Harper's cheesy smile for the past few months.  She's fun.

Lima Bean Kids- A Christmas Affair

I would be remiss if I didn't mention what kept me extremely busy this fall.  We did our first show at the Austin Junior League's A Christmas Affair in November.  Basically, it is a big shopping show.  It was a LOT of work, but we learned a lot and I'm glad we got to do it.  It was the first time I had left my kids for more than a night (first time leaving Harper, period) and I have to say, Justin did a great job (with my sister's help) while I was gone.  And the house was spotless when I got home.  I'll have to go away more often.  HAHA!!

All of us Lima Bean Kids ladies-- my cousin Dacia, who started it all, Jen, me, and Susanna.  Love these ladies, and I had so much fun spending the week with them. 

harper: 11 months

 

Yo Gabba Gabba

Yo Gabba Gabba came to town in November, and while we didn't get to see their show, we did hear that they would be at a cute little local toy store for a small meet and greet.  My mom and sister were in town, so we thought it would be fun to go.  After about a 30 minute wait, the characters finally arrived.

Rowan was so excited, I loved her reaction.

And she got to give hugs:

Needless to say, she did not want her turn to be over, and threw a little fit when we had to leave.  But, I'm glad we went.  It was exciting for Ro, and fun for us to watch her excitement.  Isn't that what we do it all for?

my little models

Obviously I am biased, but I have the cutest models to use whenever I need product photos.  Love them.

Catching up

My goal is to get caught up with all of my pictures by January 1st.  We'll see how it goes, for now, I've only gotten my Halloween pics up below.  Enjoy Mom :) 

Halloween 2010

The cast of characters:

Not pictured: the mom.

Halloween was super rainy and cold, which was kind of a bummer.  Rowan said she wanted to go home after we'd only done about half of our little neighborhood.  She had fun walking around with friends though, and we made it through all of the houses.  Justin stayed at the house with Harper and handed out candy, and then when Rowan and I got back:

Harper ate everything.

Just kidding, she had a couple things, as did Rowan, and then...the next day it was forgotten about! I threw the candy out, and never heard another word about it.  I have to enjoy it now, because I really don't think we'll be so lucky next year!!

October 2010

October was filled with fun Halloween activities:  pumpkin carving, Hee Haw Farms, a ward Halloween party, and of course, trick or treating.

Dad did most of the work...

Ro helped..kind of.  She mainly loved playing with the lids. 

And the nugget stayed out of the way.

and the final result!!

 

We didn't choose a great time to go this year--by the time we got there it was dark, all of the animals were pretty much put away.  That's Ro's favorite part.  She did enjoy going down the slide by herself though.  The kid loves a rush, I think, and just kept going and going.

Harper was pretty bored--she couldn't see the animals, the poor thing just had to sit in the stroller while we walked Ro through the different activities.  We plopped her in the corn pit for a few minutes, and she enjoyed it, but since she puts everything in her mouth, we didn't leave her in there long.

Dance!

Rowan started her little dance class last week.  It's just a little combo class for 2 year olds, but she's excited about it, and I'm excited for her.  I think her favorite part might just be her little dance clothes, but I think it will be really fun for her.

The first class went well, but when asked to show you what she learned, she just talks about her clothes.  Hopefully she'll learn more next time :)    She does looks so cute in her clothes though!

{poor picture quality due to shooting through a window}

get out of my face!!

that is all.

harper: 9 months

The baby had her 9 month well child check up today.  Already.

Stats:

Weight: 19.5 lbs (64.5%)
Length:  27.7 in (56%)
Head: 17.8 in (83%)

The doctor told me that if I wanted, I could probably put her in a forward facing seat anytime I want now.  Um, no thanks.  Trying not to rush this one into toddler-hood.  Seriously, I just moved her from bassinet to crib a couple of months ago.  I'm definitely not ready to face her forward in the car.

Oh, Harper.  She is such a sweet little love.  But, she is THE biggest mama's girl.  How I will ever wean this child from nursing is beyond me.  At nine months, Harper is:

babbling "dada" and "baba"
crawling!  (we're happy about this b/c Rowan never did crawl)
eating 3 good meals a day (plus nursing.  have you seen her leg rolls? yum.)
naps twice a day (for the most part)
still wakes up once a night to make sure I haven't given her away
plays with any toy in sight
picks up any grain, fiber, sliver of paper, etc that has fallen on the floor...I'm preparing for more of this.
is ticklish as can be--try it sometime, her laugh is super adorable
is starting to wave
can do a downward facing dog (yoga pose) (just kidding, but that's what it looks like when she's moving all over the place, trying to stand up)

To be honest, this past month has been a little rough with her.  Her tooth coming in had a lot to do with it, but she was super fussy and clingy.  I've been working on sleep training her, so hopefully that will help with MY exhaustion/patience.  But I think we are definitely on the other side of a grumpy month.  Hooray!

And now, for a 9 month comparison of my children:

TOTALLY different looks now, no?  That picture of Rowan makes me miss her at that age.  She was THE BEST!! (Harper, you are too.)  And it reminds me...I definitely need to do pumpkin pictures in Halloween shirts this year...that was cute.

one tooth wonder

That's right. Harper sprouted her first tooth at 8 months, and the little guy is still all alone in there.  Hopefully the other 3 that I see moving their way in won't cut at the same time.  Eeks, this one was bad enough.  Cute nonetheless.

pretty girls

I just love this photo of Rowan.  She looks old, but she looks so pretty!  It's times like this--when she's sitting still for one second and being super sweet--that I have to force myself to (sort of) look past the fact that a few days prior she's saying "CHILLAX MOM..."  and "NO! I don't WANT to do (insert whatever I asked her to do)."

And yes, I straightened her hair.  Don't judge me.

And then there's Harper.  I think directly after her bath is about the only time during the day that her face is clean.  No really, no matter how well I think I've cleaned her up after eating, she somehow manages to find food somewhere and get it all over herself.  The fact that she's now crawling should really help.  But anyway, she's pretty too.

harper: 7 months

let's forget about the fact that she's a week away from 8 months, and talk about harper this past few weeks.  currently, harper:

-rolls all over the place.  she's SO close to crawling.  in fact, she can scoot backwards, but can't quite figure out how to pull herself forward yet.
-loves her mama, more than anyone else.  if justin is holding her, harper is constantly scanning the room to check if i'm near.
-eats like a champ. she's in love with biter biscuits.  and bananas.
-still toothless.  i can't feel anything coming in.  it's ok though, i want her to be a cute, chubby baby forever.
-laughs at her sister.  she thinks rowan is hilarious.  she's very good at putting up with rowan clobbering her too.
-is super smiley.  she has this big grin face, where her eyes squish to squints and she gives you her best toothless smile.  it's funny and adorable.
-unfortunately is having a rough time sleeping lately.  it's time for sleep training, i'm afraid.  i can't handle waking up twice a night, when she had been sleeping through the night the past couple of months.
-if she's full and dry, she's content to just hang out.  she's completely mellow.  i love it.

ok harper, no more growing.  i love every little bit of you!