Harper Pictures–Months 7 and 8

I realized when I was writing Harpers 8 month post that I had never posted her 7 month pictures!  These were mostly taken on time (except the basket/blanket 8 month pics which were taken a couple weeks late!)  Just wanted to share her pictures before she turns NINE months in another week and a half!

Quick picture collage up to this point… I don’t really know why I made myself start taking 3 different pictures each month… it’s getting more and more difficult to get decent pictures for each set up!  Rookie mistake!

Harper: 8 Months

Eight. Months. Old.  EIGHT! What an exciting, happy, exhausting, and FUN eight months we’ve had with you Harper!  You are so so loved, and always will be!  We are loving each new stage with you sweet girl. 

We are in limbo-land between 2 and 3 naps right now.  For the most part, you are good with 2 naps, but if your first nap is cut short or you wake up too early in the morning, we usually have to squeeze a third one in there or else you are falling apart by dinner time!  You usually go to bed around 7:30pm and typically have one wake up/night still (although you occasionally will make it all the way through to morning, you also occasionally wake up 2 or 3 times still; some day you’ll get the hang of this whole sleeping through the night thing!).  You wake up around 7:30/8a and nap around 10 and 2:30 for usually 1-2 hours each. 

We finally let you start sitting at the table (which you’ve been ready for for awhile) when we go out to eat and you are loving it!  You prefer table food (bananas, blueberries, avocados, green beans, puffs, cheese and chicken are some of your favorites) but you still like the fruit and veggie puree packets, too.  This month you really mastered the “pincher grasp” and love to feed yourself anything you can get your hands on!

You are still rolling everywhere, and even though you like to sit and play, you often just lean to the side so you can get on your tummy to start rolling around and get wherever you want to go.  You are oh-so-close to crawling and I find you all the time up on your hands and knees rocking back and forth, but it usually ends in a giant lunge forward and a face-plant into the ground.  One of these days I just know I’m going to turn around and you’ll be in the other room crawling away!

You have mastered waving this month and it’s just about the cutest thing ever to see you wave to daddy when he gets home from work, or waving to Hadley when she walks by where you’re playing!  You love to grab faces, are starting to get the hang of giving kisses and you smile with every ounce of your body! 

Still no teeth yet!  Hopefully you’ll start popping them out soon because I think we’re all ready to see some of the fruits of your labor!  You have a tiny little dimple on your right cheek when you smile (which mirrors your sister’s on her left cheek), light brown/dark blonde fluffy baby chick hair, big, dark blue eyes and the most adorable little baby rolls! 

No official doctor’s appointment this month, so here are our guesses at your stats:

• Height: 29 1/4 inches
• Weight: 22 1/2 lbs
• Diapers: size 4
• Clothes: 9-12mo/12-18month

We can’t wait to take you to the Texas State Fair for your first time this month, and we’re looking forward to finally getting to introduce you to your great grandma when she comes to visit in a few weeks!  We love you to the moon and back Harper Kate – never forget that!

Love,

Momma

Harper: 7 Months

Oh sweet Harper.  Seven months officially means you are closer to a year old than a newborn.  What a bittersweet thought.  I absolutely adore watching you grow and discover the world around you, but with that comes the knowledge that this sweet innocent phase is all too fleeting.  Please don’t grow up too quickly, okay?  But feel free to start sleeping like a big girl aaaaany day now. ;)

Schedule-wise… whew. This month has been a mess.  You were starting to settle in a bit with just one wake up at night and 3 naps/day until your sweet, too-good-at-sharing, big sister brought a cold home.  Let’s just say that we will never have to wonder if you are feeling okay.  You have NO trouble letting us know.  Poor thing, I know it’s no fun being sick, but if you could just realize how much sleep will help you feel better we’d all be a little happier!  You are still a pretty good napper, most days taking 3 naps, occasionally having a 2 nap day where both naps are 2+ hours.  You nurse 5-7x a day and eat solids twice a day usually.  Thankfully, you still don’t have a problem with bottles like your sister did, and let nana put you down with no problems so mommy and daddy could have a date night this month. 

You got to join in on the fun at a play date this month with our friend Avery (who will forever be ‘baby Avery’ according to Hadley).  You also discovered you’re not a huge fan of dogs, unlike your sister. 

You are loving the swing on the back patio.  Can’t wait for it to get cooler outside so we can enjoy it for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time!

This month you had lots of fun family time.  You got to tour the model home with your aunt Kelly near where Mimi and Grandpa are planning to retire.  You got to help cheer the Red Raiders to their first victory of the season and laughed as your sister yelled “Wreck’EmHook’Em” over and over as if they meant the same thing. ;) (So long as there’s not a Gig ‘Em in there, we’re good) ;) And got to check out all the “a’mals” at Cabela’s when Nana, Aunt Katie and Uncle Eric came in town.

You are a yeller.  You can cry with the best of ‘em, too, but it’s much more common to find you yelling.  And let me just say – I think I prefer crying!  You can hit a pitch that makes my ears ring!  Maybe you’ll be a cheerleader someday?

No doctor’s appointment this month, so I don’t have official stats.  Just guessing :)

• Height: 27.5 in
• Weight: 20 lbs
• Diapers: Size 4
• Clothes: 9-12month and 12-18 month (and a handful of 6 month onesies that still fit)

Still no teeth for you, despite lots of teething symptoms.  Your eyes are still a dark blue and your hair is growing ever so slowly, but is mostly still a little brownish blonde buzz cut and we are absolutely crazy about you! 

Love,

Momma

Five on Friday

I *should* be posting Harper’s 7 month post today, but I haven’t finished it yet, so I decided to join in on 5 on Friday again. 

{one}

Harper is SEVEN months old. Which means she is officially on the downhill slide to ONE.  How does it happen so quickly?  Despite the lack of sleep we still have, I will so miss this baby stage when it’s gone!

{two}

I am so happy that football season is back, but I have to say, having young kids around makes me a little less into it than usual.  Am I the only one who feels like there just isn’t room in my brain for one more thing in this stage of life?  Between feeding times, nap times, diaper changes, medicine doses, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and scheduling doctor’s appts, play dates, meetings, lunches, etc…keeping up with things for a family of 4 on top of getting no more than 3/4 hours of consecutive sleep at night is just all that my brain can handle right now!  Hopefully once the girls are a little older I’ll be able to fully get back into football season.

{three}

Hadley started preschool at a new school this year and I am loving it so far!  The director and her teachers communicate with parents constantly (I get daily and weekly updates from her teachers (with pictures!) and it is just a smaller community than her last school.  I’m glad we made the switch this year.  Hadley seems to be adjusting pretty well so far.  She’s not napping there, but her teachers said she’s staying put and lying there perfectly still/quiet until I get there, and she’ll come home and nap for a couple hours here after school, so it’s working so far.  If she starts to fall asleep at school, though, I may have to start picking her up a little early b/c 45 minutes is NOT enough for my sweet girl!  She is the youngest in the class, so I know she’ll probably be a little behind some of the other kids in sleeping/potty training type things. 

{four}

I really need to go fold laundry and start about 5 more loads.  Being sick for the past week has be SO behind. That’s all.

{five}

We’ve been in our new house for almost an entire year already!  I can’t believe how quickly this past year has gone.  And I also can’t believe that I don’t have a single room in our house yet that feels “finished” to me.  I LOVE to decorate and know that turning a house into a home is an ever changing process, but I think part of why I feel so scattered all the time is the fact that I have so many “projects” in my head for every inch of our house!  Don’t get me wrong… I absolutely love this house, and other than cosmetic things, there’s really nothing I’d change.  I love the layout, love our location, love the “bones” of the house… if only hiring a painter for trim/walls wasn’t so dang expensive!  Oh well.  I’ll keep chipping away at the trim and walls little by little.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO SHARE YOUR "FIVE ON FRIDAY"!

Dallas Zoo

In an effort to get another post up this month other than Harper’s monthly post, I’m going to share pictures from way back at the beginning of the summer when we went to the zoo! Hadley loved it, Harper did great after a diaper change that resulted in an outfit change and we all managed to make it home without melting. All in all, I’d call that a success!

Harper Six Month Pictures

Just a quick post to share Harper’s half birthday pictures! :) Sorry for 50 pictures of basically the same thing… she’s just so expressive, and I love capturing every little face she makes!

Harper: SIX Months

A whole half of a year already.  WOW.  If it’s possible, time seems to be flying by even quicker than it did with your sister.  (As evidenced by the fact that this is up a week past your half birthday.)  Even though it seems like yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital, it also is hard to picture our family without you.  I can’t imagine our family in any other way! 

As usual, you are still not a great sleeper.  I think that’s probably putting it nicely.  You do, however, nap much better than your sister did at this age (which unfortunately makes it difficult to EVER get out of the house between your 3 naps and your sister’s nap schedule.)  Of course, now that I put that in writing I’m sure you will start boycotting naps in addition to your love of being awake in the middle of the night.  I should mention that the night you turned 6 months old, you did sleep for 12 hours (!!!) straight, but that is the first and only time that you’ve done that.  Your schedule is typically wake up around 7:30, nurse, play, nap around 9:30; wake up around 10:30, nurse, play (this is our one time of day to get out and run errands, so sometimes you nap in the car and other times you’re awake until you eat again around 1:30), nap or play til 2/2:30, sleep til 4:30, eat and then awake til bedtime around 7:15. 

You are still nursing 5-7 times a day and eating solids once in the evening.  So far you’ve had: oatmeal, avocado, sweet potato, peas, squash, banana, pear, plum, and carrots.  We are not doing all purees this time around, either and have been letting you try small, soft bites of regular food (technically this is called Baby Led Weaning, but I call it easier.) ;)  You make crazy faces every time you eat, but have yet to turn down anything! 

You are: Curious, wiggly, bouncy, beautiful and bright eyed; A yeller; a new (still wobbly) sitter.

You have: your daddy’s smile and your sister’s big bright eyes; the most kissable cheeks.

You love: Rolling, rolling, and more rolling; Laughing at your big sister; smiling at your daddy; sleeping on your tummy; being in the k’tan; playing in the jumperoo or the exersaucer

You do not like growing teeth or sleeping at night. ;)

Your six month stats:

• Height: 27.3 in – 94%
• Weight: 19lbs 4oz – 95%
• Head: 17.5 in – 93%
• Diapers: Size 3
• Clothes: 9-12month and some 12-18 month (and a handful of 6 month onesies that still fit)

Your eyes are still a dark blue and your hair is growing ever so slowly, but is mostly still a little brownish blonde buzz cut. :) We love you so much sweet girl!  We thank God every day for entrusting your precious life to us!

Love,

Momma