Catching up... 4 Blogs in one

Yes, it's been a long time.  But I've finally caught up with her blog and pictures.  Now to get onto the 200 pictures we took over Easter!

9 Months and Counting

Learning to Self Feed = Messy Face and Happy Doggie

Windowsills are a girls' best friend

Happy Birthday Avinley Katharine!

Happy Birthday Avinley Katharine!

April 1st was our friend Avinley's 1 year birthday.  Avi and Harper have been friends since before they were even born, so it was a lot of fun to see her turn 1.  She is just starting to walk on her own and is definitely a big shot.  Her party was pink and black like her room and was a 50's music theme.  It was super cute and Harper even got some 50's diner dishes as a party favor.  Harper had a good time playing with Avi but wanted to eat a cupcake too.  Soon Harper!

The birthday girl in her 50's outfit

"Let's play tea, Harper!"

Her 1st Birthday Cupcake

Wondering what in the world the icing was...

she wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

But big brother Quinlan came over and showed her it was 

good to eat.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  We love you!

Windowsills are a girls' best friend!

Right now, all Harper wants to do is stand and play at the windowsill.  It's her absolute favorite place.  She stands and watches the world outside.  She bangs on the sill.  She bangs on the window.  She plays with her sweet dog.  She side steps around the bay window in her room and practices walking.  She waves at her daddy out mowing the yard.  She yells at the people passing by.  She yells at nothing.  She just loves it.  And for some reason, it's so stinking cute.  Here is our life lately, by the window.

Watching Dad Mow on Saturday morning in our PJ's

 Staring at the pouring rain and getting licked in the face by Mags of course

 Yelling at nobody in particular

Saying hi to mama 

Who wouldn't want to come home to this sweet face?

Learning to self feed = Messy face and happy dog

Harper is now fully into solid foods.  She gets fruits, veggies, and a protein or carb for every meal.  She loves to eat but has definitely learned a thing or two.  She knows that green foods aren't as good as yellow foods (veggies vs. fruits).  She also has her mama's love of carbohydrates.  But all in all, she's a great eater.   Maggie also likes that she feeds herself as she gets way more snacks.  They even work together to get more food for Maggie.  Harper actually grabs food and leans over and lets Maggie eat out of her hand.  Such a toot!  Here are my favorite shots of her first few tries at eating on her own.

First self fed meal with black beans

 First meal wanting to use silverware - The spots all over her face are avocado.

 Learning that she needs to eat naked or change clothes after every meal

Here we learned a big lesson in teething biscuits.  We had heard they were messy, but could never have imagined.  I will say, it kept her happy for quite a while.  But we definitely picked her up out of her highchair and went straight into the bath - clothes and all!  What a fun story these pictures tell of how is gets exponentially worse as she keeps eating!

All in all, it's a fun new world we are living in!

9 Months and Counting

Harper is 9 months old - boy how time flies.  She isn't so much a baby anymore but more like a little toddler.  She is right about 19 lbs and 27 inches long.  Oddly enough, she started in the 75% for her height and weight, but is down around the 40% for both now.  She is just a petite little thing! 

Harper is crawling like speed racer.  She doesn't really like to be picked up and held much anymore.  She just loves to scoot around and play with everything in her path.  Her new favorite activity is watching the world outside her window.  She loves to pull up on the window sill and stare at the outside world.  She bangs around on the window and yells at the birds and people as they walk by.  She has started to walk around while holding on to furniture.  She loves to start at one end of her room and walk to the other, holding on to her window, chair, kitchen, etc.  She's definitely fearless - which is great and scary at the same time.  We have had a ton of falls and head bumps along the way, but she is getting a much better handle on getting around. 

Visiting her daddy at Marcus HS 

Since she's crawling, she is of course getting in to everything.  She knows the word, "No", but thinks it's more of a suggestion than a command.  Our only two places that we can't seem to keep her out of is the dog's water bowl and the carbon monoxide monitor.  When I see her heading in that direction and say, "Harper, No No" she gives me the sweetest laugh, and keeps going.  What a cute little turkey! 

She is still jabbering away in her own language.  She is saying dada more often, but that's still the only real word she says.  She loves to just start talking and yelling at nothing in particular.  Somehow I'm thinking she's gonna be an extreme talker like me. 

Hanging with Daddy and Auntie Tay

She is eating solid foods and learning to feed herself.  It's pretty funny to watch these days.  She grabs a big handful of food and shoves it in her mouth and is lucky to get one or two pieces actually in there.  It's pretty funny watching her grab slippery pieces of fruit and dropping them before reaching her mouth.  She just looks at her hand wondering where the fruit went! 

Wanting to use silverware

First meal included black beans, mango, and avocado

Other than growing up, Harper's the same as ever.  She's as happy as can be and loves everything.  She loves being outside and feeling the wind blow.  She loves to be tickeled and loves to laugh.  And she loves her mama, daddy, and Mags.

Going to School and Meeting some Cows

We had a busy week last week for spring break.  It's so much fun to have Cody home from school.  I wish we could just retire now and hang out all day.  However, that isn't going to happen, so we make the best of it.  The Wednesday before spring break we went up to DeLay (my old school) to visit some friends.  It's fun to visit because they love Harper and we get to talk, catch up, and gossip.  I miss seeing them every day, talking between classes, during classes, not going to classes, etc.  So much fun.  Even though teaching was hard at DeLay, having those friends made it all so much more bearable.  

Harper showing Jessica that she learned to crawl

Playing with Jessica's iPhone and eyeing the laptop

Cory let Harper crawl all over Jessica's desk, destroying most of 

the stuff in her path.  Thanks Largie!

Cory and Harper playing with Super Stickies - which are way better than boring, regular sticky notes.  Only DeLay would understand the seriousness of stickies.  Of course Harper destroyed most of Jessica's super stickies, which might be a sin at DeLay.  

Stickies!

Then, at the end of spring break, we went to Denison to visit Cody's parents and grandma.  This was Harper's first time getting to meet the cows, which was so fun!  She actually had a staring contest with the huge bull in the first picture.  After a few minutes, I got a little nervous...  But she obviously liked them and had fun meeting such funny creatures.  

The bull was not impressed with us but Harper was definitely impressed by him!

Hanging with Big Daddy - Cody's Dad

Riding on BD's shoulders

Her awesomely long hair looked so funny getting blown in the wind.  She absolutely 

loves the wind, but has no idea what it is or where it comes from.

Good spring break.  Wish it had lasted longer.  But only a few months till summer!