Saturday, June 30, 2012

Harper girl is 12 months!

1 year!  I just can't believe it.  She is 12 months old and such a cute little stinkpot.  She is 28 inches tall, weighs 21 1/2 pounds and is always smiling.  She is in 9 month tops and 12 month bottoms and somewhere between a size 3 shoe in length and a size 5 shoe in width (such chubby feet!).  She is such a happy little girl.  Always laughing, playing, and making everyone else fall in love with her.   Her Mimi always calls her a "self esteem booster" to everyone that meets her because she makes you feel like the most amazing person on earth.





I have been saying for months that I was hoping she would be walking by our beach vacation.  She was taking steps a few weeks ago, but was not officially walking.  On day 2 of our vacation, she just took off and became an official walker.  She wanders the house now, just toddling along.  She's happiest when she can carry something in her hands.  I think she feels all grown up and important.

First picture of her walking

Our car battery died at the store and we had to wait for Cody to come get us.  
She had a blast playing in the front seat.

She still says mama, dada, dog but has now added the ability to tell us no.  Not in words, but in a sweet, smiley shake of the head.  It mostly has to do with food.  Telling us that she doesn't want more or that she doesn't want to eat her peas.  It's pretty cute right now.  She also got two more teeth (her top front teeth) while we were on vacation.  Poor kiddo woke up screaming two nights in a row and had a new tooth each morning.  She seems to be doing better but is still gnawing on everything in reach.

Playing golf with the dog in her kiddy pool

Her first bikini (I can't believe I let her out of the house like this!)

She loves the water table and she can play with it while we eat dinner on the patio.

She doesn't watch much TV, maybe 10 minutes at a time if she's grumpy or tired or I need a few minutes to do something.  But if there is anything that she likes, it's definitely Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  When the intro song comes on, she starts bouncing up and down and smiling real big.  She watched it with her cousin Grayson a few times and they were so cute sitting together enjoying the great Mickey Mouse.

(Not) Helping me pack for our vacation

First night wearing big girl pj's

She has suddenly become very attached to her pacifier.  She wants one all the time.  We give her a few at night in her crib because she sometimes loses them in the middle of the night.  She will also sit in bed and switch them out.  Put one in, find another, switch it out, repeat.  And she's pretty skilled at turning it around in her mouth if she puts it in upside down.

AC on full blast

Doing her indian war cry

She loves almost all foods but definitely wants to be eating what Cody cooks us for dinner.  She stares at us, mouth open, and holds out her hand begging for a bite.  She now gets to eat a morning and an afternoon snack.  She LOVES cheerios and nutri grain bars.  I subbed in the church nursery last week and witnessed her crawl on top of another child to get to the cheerios first.  We are stopping the bottle so we are still up in the air with the milk situation.  We will see if she is still lactose intolerant or if she has outgrown it.

Her favorite cabinet has the cereal boxes so all morning she likes to walk 
around carrying one while Maggie follows her, eating the dropped Cheerios

Snack time

The first time she tried one of these fruit puree pouches, she didn't care for 
it much and squeezed it all over herself and me.  I handed it to Grayson, 
because he was the closest, and the next thing I knew he had drank the whole thing.  

She is on a pretty good schedule right now.  She wakes up at 6:30 and we get her at 7.  Sadly, she doesn't know the meaning of sleeping in, but it all works in the end.  Breakfast at 7:30, then we clean up the kitchen together and pick up the house.  We usually play in her room for an hour or run errands.  Snack at 10, lunch at 11:30 and nap at 12:30.  She goes to sleep all on her own, no crying, and sleeps for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Have a snack, play outside, take a walk, or play around the house.  Dinner at 5:30 and bath at 7:00.  She loves bath so I let her play for awhile.  Put on her big girl PJ's and spends time drinking her bottle with her Dad.  Then it's off to bed at 7:30.  We sing a song, pray for Harper and any of her friends that we think of, and then she cuddles up and falls asleep.  We enjoy some time to ourselves and go to bed a happy little family.

Pooped in the tub, picked it up like it was a toy, had to get out real quick.  
Finished bathing in the sink.  Glad Dad was home to help this time.

On Cody's last day of school, they worked until 8pm.  This was sent to Cody 
with a text that said, "Night Daddy. Pooped in tub.  Be glad you weren't here."


Riding the "tractor"

She is definitely in the phase of throwing temper tantrums but it really doesn't last long.  She usually gets upset because we won't let her play in the dog's water bowl, the trashcan, the toilet, the cleaning cabinet, electrical plugs, all the fun stuff.  We say "No no."  I use my deep, scary voice, which of course doesn't phase her.  But the minute you take her away from what she wants, she starts to cry, scream, fuss, whine, etc.  Usually falling to the ground, looking up at you with sad little eyes and that bottom lip out. It's sad and cute all at the same time.  Hopefully this phase won't last too long.

She keeps finding pens and paper and wants to write like Mommy.

Loves to help clean, sweep, and do laundry.  Still hates the vacuum. 

Helping Dad put in the new baseboards

Here's to surviving 1 year as new parents and coming out the other side with a happy, 
healthy, little girl.  Hopefully the next year is just as fun!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Birthday Photo Shoot

Happy Birthday Harper Elizabeth!









We took pictures of Harper for her first birthday invites.  We took them at the pond in the park behind our house.  She's such a cutie and Cody took amazing pictures.  This was the start of the party planning madness.  More on that later. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Beach Vacation? I think I will.

The McCools (my sister and her in-laws) go to S. Padre every summer because their family owns a condo down there.  I was in desperate need of a vacation this summer since we hadn't been anywhere since the year before Harper.  Plus, I had been redoing the interior of our house for 3 months and was ready to relax.  So we decided to meet my sister down there and spend the week hanging out at the beach and doing nothing.

Harper hates driving in the car if it's any distance over 20 miles, so she and I flew down to Padre Thursday morning.  Of course our plane was delayed, but Harper had fun meeting lots of new friends.  She even charmed the pilot, who was waiting there with us.  Cody was driving down with my parents and sisters, so they didn't get in until later that day.  They found us hanging at the pool.




Friday we all got up and played around the condo.  Carleigh and Taylor came over at 5:30 to take care of Grayson because that kid gets up at the crack of dawn.  So we watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (the first of hundreds of times), had breakfast, and played.  Then, we went down to the beach midmorning and Harper got to experience the beach for the first time.  She was kind of iffy, and then a big wave scared her pretty good and she was done with the water.  We sat on the shore and she enjoyed being outside and watching everyone play.  Everyone played frisbee and the girls went boogie boarding.  Grayson loves the beach.  He played in the sand, ran in the water, and hit his golfball up and down the beach.














Grayson is my favorite little boy ever.  I don't get to see him as much as I'd like, but I try to find ways to win him over when I get to visit.  This time, I brought him a nerf super soaker and he loved it!  Of course, Kristen and Brian didn't, but that's what aunts are for.  And Brian reminded me many times that I will get paid back in full from them when Harper grows up.

At lunch, we came in, ate and all the kiddos took naps (that includes Kristen and Baby Reese).  We played cards and hung out.  In the afternoon, we went to the baby pool and Harper got to walk around and play with Grayson in the water.  We had dinner and relaxed in the condo.  Eric also came that night with his girlfriend, Erin.  It was good to see him because he and Dane are always busy on the busses now.  But, Carleigh and Taylor were sunburned pretty bad so they went home early.  Sometimes it's better to listen to your older sisters when they tell you to put on more sunscreen.






Harper finally started really walking at the condo.  She's a speed racer now.

Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday.  Wake, eat, beach, nap, pool.  This time I joined Cody in the ocean and we went boogie boarding.  After about 30 minutes of trying to figure it out, I asked him "Is this it?"  Spending 5 minutes chocking down water for a 10 second ride didn't do it for me.  So we went back to relaxing on the beach.  



Grayson bored in the condo.


That evening we all got ready so we could take a family picture and go out to dinner.  We spent about 30 minutes standing on the beach while we set up the camera and took tons of pics.  Sadly, not one has everyone looking at the camera.  I guess we should have expected that with two kids.  Eric was the camera man so every time he set the timer and ran back to his spot, Harper would turn completely around to see where he was going.  Thus, no good pictures.  But I think that's just the way it goes.








Dinner was about the same story as the picture taking process.  It was a nice, outdoor patio with the beach in the background.  Harper was exhausted and fell asleep in the car and slept for half of dinner.  But then she woke up with a vengeance and dinner became chaotic.  Grayson doesn't really like to have to sit still for an hour in a chair and do nothing so he was up and down every five minutes.  He got to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the ipad for awhile until he kept touching the screen so his parents put it away.  I tried to tell him that if he touched the screen Mickey would die, but I don't think Kristen liked that very much. 

Grayson helping push Harper to the restaurant.  
He's gonna be a great big brother soon!

The kids were bored and the adults were tired.  

 

After dinner, we celebrated Father's Day with my dad, Cody's 31st birthday, and Taylor's 16th birthday.  Besides the cake and presents, we got visited by a huge cockroach that supposedly almost dive bombed Kristi.  All in all, a fun evening but I was definitely ready for bed.

Sunday morning, Kristen, Brian, and Grayson were flying home so we just relaxed at the condo.  Taylor and Carleigh were too sunburned to go outside and Eric and Erin went back to sleep at 10am.  But it ended up being a nice quiet day.  That afternoon Eric, Erin, Dad, and Carleigh went fishing off the pier and Cody, Taylor, Kristi, and I went shopping.  Dinner, a walk on the beach, and it was bedtime again.  

Harper eyeing Brian's sandwich. 

Grayson and Harper watching (very focused) Mickey Mouse 
Clubhouse while we packed/cleaned.

On our way to shop.

Sunday morning, Grayson ran out of diapers so he used one of Harper's.  
I guess they weren't big enough because his little cheek was hanging out all morning.

Monday morning was Cody and Taylor's birthday so it was a good day.  Kristi always makes the girls pancakes in the shape of their age, so Cody got to enjoy that too this year.  Then, we went to the beach again and this time we tried to convince Harper how fun the beach was.  The water wasn't as frigid and the waves weren't as big and she actually seemed to enjoy herself.  At lunchtime, Kristi and I took Harper up and fed her and put her down for a nap.  Then, we went out on the patio to read and a book and relax in the sun.  About 2 hours later and some nap time somewhere in there, I realized I was burnt on the left 1/2 of my body.  Sweet.  


Taylor hanging out of the port hole.

The Birthday Buddies


After dinner, we went out for a scenic tour and birthday ice cream. We saw jumping fish, drove on the ocean floor (where the tide had gone out for the night), picked out some nice real estate to buy, and shopped for souvenirs (always with cashiers following us around like we were shoplifters).  When we got to the ice cream parlor, Dad said to get the large cup, which came with 4 flavor options.  The cup looked to fit about 1-2 scoops of ice cream.  Well, when they say 4 flavors, they mean 4 flavors.  After I ordered, Dad busted out laughing because after they filled the bowl with the first scoop, they proceeded to shove the other three scoops on top until it was overflowing and almost falling off.  So, obviously I shared with Dad and the others got smaller cups.  

The small cup

Tuesday morning was all about packing up and cleaning the condo, a last walk on the beach and one last trip to get a coffee mug souvenir for Carleigh.  They drove Harper and I to the airport and then they headed home.  Harper and I landed in Dallas and were at our house by 2pm.  Sadly, Cody's drive lasted until about 9:30 due to traffic and rain.  All the luggage in the back of the truck means you have to deal with rain a bit differently.  It was a great vacation, a MUCH needed vacation.  I might go back later this summer, but maybe by myself.