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!  

Family Photos

The other day we got our pictures taken at a park in Highland Park.  We needed a new family picture for a canvas project I was doing.  Harper had gone to the doctor earlier that morning with an ear infection, so she wasn't super smiley.  But she did pretty good for a sick baby with the sun shining in her eyes.   Our favorite was the first picture.  

 

My sister Kristen took the pictures.  Didn't she do a good job?  She is pregnant and has been throwing up all during her 1st trimester.  She threw up when she first got there and right after too.  She later realized that is was the stomach flu on top of morning sickness.  Poor girl!  

But since Kristen took the pictures, Brian and Grayson came along to play.  Grayson loves his "Baby Parper" but wasn't too fond of her invading his personal space.  

Such sweet cousins!

We are MOBILE!

Harper is finally crawling in the forward motion!  It is so cute watching her finally scoot around and get to where she wants to go.  And we were so thankful that she decided to do when we were both home and had the video going.  Such a smart girl!  Forgive my narration, I got a little excited!

Here is another one of Harper and her BFF MagMag.

Here is one of Harper in her exersaucer.  It's cute she knows what we mean when we tell her to "Jump." This may be the last of the videos where she's in a seat and not free to roam around.  

8 month Chunky Monkey

Harper is 8 months old and so fun.  So many things are new and exciting.  I just can't believe how stinking big my sweet little baby is getting!  She might have been long and skinny when she was younger, but she has definitely made up for that.  She has a bit of a belly and some pretty chunky thighs. But she's still only about 18 pounds and about 28 inches. 

Sitting in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time

She is always moving and shaking.  She NEVER sits still.  When you are holding her, she rotates round and round and round, wanting to see everything that's going on.  She now knows what we want when we tell her to "jump" and proceeds to jump and jump and jump.  She isn't crawling yet, but is rocking back and forth and rolling everywhere.  It's so funny to watch her figure out how to turn, roll, and scoot to where she wants to go.  

 

Rolling on the floor, kicking the door, playing with Sofie

She loves to talk.  She is constantly babbling and screeching and making the best noises.  About 1 day a week, she spends the whole day saying "dada" and then doesn't do it again for awhile.  Crazy girl.  She is also mimicking a lot of things we do.  She loves to smack her lips, fake laugh, and fake cough because she knows we will totally do it back.  

Wearing jeans and shoes - she looks like such a big girl!

If you can only scoot backwards, eventually you get stuck

Her favorite toys are...not really toys.  She loves to suck on her wash cloth, during bath and after eating.  She loves her baby spoon and even gnaws on her medicine droppers (sans medication).  Because she's teething, she loves her Sofie giraffe - which makes Maggie crazy because it squeaks.  And we finally broke down and found a remote for her to have all to herself.  

Ignoring all her toys and playing with her spoon and washcloth 

While I wasn't paying attention, she got ahold of the spoon and got a handful of sweet potato.  She thought it was more to play with at first and then finally figured out she could eat it too.

The big news is that we have teeth!  And she is such a stud that she got two at once.  One came in last Wednesday and the second came in two days later.  We didn't even notice much extra fussiness and suddenly it had popped up.  But, it definitely hurts her now.  She holds her tongue over her teeth and has this sad, pitiful cry.  And she still wants to suck on everything, which isn't as easy now because she bites!

She is still one of the cutest, funniest, happiest babies ever.  Everywhere we go, people comment on how happy she is.  She is such a people person.  The grocery store cashier, Susan, knows us by name and walks around the store to say hi to us.  Now that it's nicer weather, we take walks and play outside with our neighbors, the Graham's.  They have a 4 year old girl, Taylor, and 2 year old boy, Kipton.  They are all gonna be such good friends growing up.  And I can't wait for the day when she's being testy and I can send her over to Jeanie's house to play with Taylor and Kipton! 

At the park, she decided she wanted to walk Maggie for me

The other day we went over to my friend, Jill's, to play and hang out.  Alyssa is a very good helper and likes to hand Harper tons of toys.  At one point, Harper was sitting up playing with something.  Alyssa decided she wanted to sit in her lap.  Like always, Alyssa backed up until she felt Harper behind her and sat down.  Of course Harper was totally confused and fell on the ground with this little girl sitting on top of her.  I laughed so hard that I forgot to get a picture before she started crying.  

No worries - kids always make up

Happy 8 Months, Missy Prissy!