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!

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!

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.

harper: 11 months

 

my little models

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

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.

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!

my girls

i kind of like them.  just a titch.

Harper: 6 Months

My little lovebug is 6 (and a half) months old.  Do I even have to say it?  I will anyway.  LOVE HER.

Stats:

16.4 lbs {60%)
26 in {62%}
17 in head {72%}

Harper (pronounced HAW-puh by her sister) at six months is:

-squirmy
-squishy
-hungry
-clingy (to mommy)
-giggly
-slobbery
-grabby


She's eating solids, but still nursing a lot.  She wakes up once every night, twice if she didn't eat enough during the day.  She is very tolerant of her big sis.  She's sitting up (but still a little wobbly.)  Her eyes are bluish-greenish-grayish but NOT brown like her sister's.  She's so cute.  Love you Harper!!

5 months

I just looked at my calendar and saw I have Harper's 6 month doctor's appointment in 2 weeks.  So I thought I'd better get a 5 month photo of her up.

Harper at five months:
-is a squirmy worm, rolling over a little, but mainly just grabbing feet and toes
-is eating a few solids--rice and oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, and bananas
-has rubberband wrists (hehehe)
-has the brightest smile! especially in the mornings
-is loved on a little too much by big sister at times, but rolls with it
-wakes up usually only once at night to eat, and only for about 5 minutes.  some nights it's more, but I'm ok with it.
-if she's full, but fussy, she's tired, and will usually suck her thumb til she's out if we lay her in bed.  if she's around the action, though, forget it.  she stays awake.  and fussy.

Love this little girl so much!  I cannot believe she'll be 6 months old in two weeks.  Seriously?  Time needs to slow way down!!

Lots and lots to post about; just need to find the time to get the photos sorted from our NJ trip, brother's wedding, beach, and other random things we've done.  It's all coming soon...

To clear up some confusion:

The post below is HARPER sucking her thumb.  Not Rowan.  For those who asked.

Well, what do we have here?

I was a little wary at first...all I've ever heard about thumbsucking has been bad.  But, then some friends told me thumbsuckers are supposedly better sleepers and generally happier.  So I'm ok with it.  For now.  It's just so cute.

Hello. I'm cute.

That is all.

Easter 2010

{the loot...even mommy got some stuff from "E. Bunny"}

Well, I must say we had a nice Easter.  Justin had the day off work {hooray} and we had a nice relaxing morning, watched General Conference, and enjoyed each other's company.  I really wish every day was like that!!

{admiring some of her treats}

I know, isn't her morning hair awesome?  Wait, here's an even better one:

She sweats a lot in her sleep, so her hair is always super curly in the mornings.  And all over the place.  Rag-a-muffin Rowan.  So cute.

We got the girls some $1 bunny ears from Target.  How cute are my lil' bunnies??

We hid a few candy-filled eggs around the house for Rowan to find.  Obviously she enjoyed herself!  I had tried to talk up the Easter bunny in the days leading up to Easter, but by that morning she'd forgotten all about it and only got excited about finding eggs because we made it seem exciting.  We'll get there, along with teaching her about why Easter is really important.

While Rowan found her eggs and dug through her goodies (consisting of bubbles, books, and way too much candy) Harper just hung out like a champ,

sporting her new shades.  Look at that sassafrass.  She's totally digging them!  I love her.  So much that I want to get up right now and go munch on those cheeks.  Yum!!!

After conference and naps, we headed over to Nana's for another egg hunt and some dinner.  I was bummed that the weather wasn't great, but Rowan didn't mind.  She had a great time with this hunt as well.  I have a feeling we're going to need to tone it down with  egg hunts next year....or get her to eat hard-boiled eggs and just hide those instead.

{futile attempt at getting everyone to look at one camera at the same time. I am convinced this will never happen.}

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (two weeks ago...I know, I'm so late)!!  We sure did!

Rowan vs Harper: 4 Month comparison

This is one of my very favorite photos of baby Rowan.  Makes me sad to look back and remember her being that small.

Rowan's hair may have been a titch longer at this point, but Harper definitely has MORE hair.  Rowan's eyes were definitely changing--Harper's are still light.  We will see what happens in a month.

I love the chubby cheeks that look like jowls.  Harper usually has the same look going on when she's sitting up.

Have I mentioned that I just love these munchkins?  

Well, I do.

Harper: 4 Months

{the old me would've photoshopped those coldsores out.  but I am a changed person.  she's cute even with that nasty scab}

Oh my goodness, I can't believe she is 4 months already.  It has gone so fast---too fast, as it always does when they are babies.  Harper had her 4 month check up today, and is healthy as a horse.  Hooray!  We love hearing that from the good ol' doc. 

Stats:

14.55 lbs {72%)
24.5 in {61%}
16.5 in head {76%}

Still nice and big on the scales, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  I know I say it all the time, but I love just gnawing on her chubby cheeks.  I love it.  I love her!! 

Some things about Harper at 4 months:

She is completely sweet, smiley, and mellow. 
Hardly cries, and when she does it's only when she's hungry. 
Her sleep schedule is great.
She looks for me!  I love it.
She loves to look around--she does NOT like to be held with her face toward me,  unless of course she's eating.
She's gorgeous.
Her eyes look blue/gray still (though not in these photos).  I don't remember when Rowan's changed to brown, but it feels like Harper's are taking longer to change.  I hope they don't!!
She loves to be held (again, facing OUT).
She's starting rice cereal today. Crazy right?

Harper, I love you sis!!