It’s Been Awhile

Apparently I fell off the blogging bandwagon again so I’m going to attempt to get caught back up!  I know there’s a certain grandparent in Russia right now who would probably appreciate the photos and I know I will appreciate it when I’m trying to fill in baby books! 

I have yet to blog about Hadley’s big girl room, all my car seat research, Hadley’s birthday party and Harper’s birthday party… let alone Easter and everything in between so I’m going to let this post serve as a big picture catch-up and go from there! 

We went to a Superbowl party with friends. I watched zero football.  I did watch my kids. And eat some queso. :)

Hadley got some iPad time while Nana & Poppy were in town for Harper’s birthday.

Hadley and I had a fun time at her class Valentine’s party – also known as the only times she’s allowed to eat candy, cookies AND drink juice at the same time.  AKA: tummy ache and sugar crash 30 minutes later.

At 12.5 months old, Harper FINALLY popped two teeth! 

We’ve done a lot of swinging and playing outside enjoying some warmer weather finally!

We found out there’s going to be a little BOY in the family soon!  My sister & brother-in-law will be welcoming a sweet little mister come July! 

Hadley & her friend Russell from school were enjoying the photo booth set up at their school’s lemonade stand fundraiser.

We’ve had lots of fun play dates with friends!

We visited daddy at work and little miss made herself at home in the office!

I designed the invitations for my sister’s baby shower  and I really like how they turned out! She’s planning to do all different neutrals in the nursery – cream, white, grey – along with pops of orange, so I tried to design them with that in mind (and I had to throw in a little blue )

Harper started walking at 13 months old and hasn’t slowed down since!  She pushes this little stroller around the house NON.STOP.

 

I celebrated my 31st birthday on April 2nd.  The girls and I went to lunch with a good friend and her daughter (who treated me to a starbucks g/c – hence the pic below) and then we got to spend the next couple days with my college roommate and her family!  I couldn’t have asked for more. :)

The girls and I have enjoyed plenty of chick-fil-a lunch dates – which is slightly more expensive these days given Harper’s appetite!

I’ve always rocked Harper to sleep, but lately she has been goofy and giggly at bedtime while we’re rocking and then asks to go into her crib.  While I’m a little sad that she rarely lets me rock her to sleep now, I am loving the sweet smiles and giggles!

I went back blonde! (Sorry for the lame selfie).

We enjoyed some family time with mimi & grandpa last weekend (April 12/13).  Lots of good food and playtime!

Hadley LOVES to bake with me, so we’ve spent lots of time in the kitchen baking sweet treats!

Oh yeah. And a tree fell on my car.  Well, fell may not be the right word.  More like a tree was hit by a car and knocked over on top of my car.  Kind of cancelled out the relaxing pedicure I was enjoying with a friend.

Of course we had to go have a margarita on the patio with friends to compensate for the tree incident.

Whew. Ok – now to work on a few more updates to get us all caught up! 

Dallas Zoo: Valentine’s Edition

We took a trip to the zoo with our friends the Demaseses on Valentine’s this year.  Just wanted to share our pictures!

Daddies with their daughters!

Because it was February, we practically had the zoo to ourselves! And it was half price admission!  The beauty of living in Texas is gorgeous winter days like this!

Harper’s First Birthday!

We celebrated Harper’s first birthday and kept it pretty low-key with family and a couple close friends.  The beauty of Hadley choosing a non-character party was that I could re-use her decorations for Harper’s party! (Poor second child!)  Following in her sister’s footsteps, she was less than interested in her smash cake, but loved the pizza we got for dinner and all of the attention!

Happy First Birthday Harper!

Harper Kate. 365 days have come and gone since you joined our family. How is that possible?  All day long I’ve just been in disbelief that it’s been a year already. On one hand, it’s nearly impossible to imagine our family without you, yet on the other hand, it seems like yesterday that I was holding you, just hours old, in a sweet little swaddle.

And now, unless you are sick or tired, you are typically squirming to get out of my arms and explore your world!

Harper, you are fire and ice.  The happiest of babies and the crankiest of babies.  When you smile, you smile with your whole face and can light up a room.  When you are mad, there is NO question; you can throw a fit with the most terrible of a terrible two year old (WHAT do the twos hold for us??).  I am so excited to see what the Lord does with this personality of yours.  He can do GREAT things and I pray, more than anything, that you would do His will.  What a joy it is to be able to stay home and watch you become who He created you to be!

You love to explore, but like to do it on your terms.  You will race out of sight to check out something new, but as soon as I come around the corner I’ll find you just sitting there waiting for me to come “catch” you.  You prefer to study something from all angles before deciding if it’s okay. 

You ADORE your big sister.  Although you’d prefer to play with whatever she’s playing with (and she would prefer whatever YOU are playing with), you just think she hung the moon.  No one can make you laugh like she can, and just the mention of her name can make you smile.  I know that there will be plenty of arguments and drama through the years, but I pray that the Lord would bond you two together forever and that you would always be the best of friends.  Having a sister is truly one of God’s GREATEST blessings (I should know!). 

Watching the snow fall on your birthday :)

Your schedule is pretty similar to last month :

7:30a – wake up/nurse

8a – eat breakfast (usually some fruit and half of a blueberry waffle) and play

10/10:30a – Nap (sometimes you demand – and I do mean DEMAND – to nurse again before this nap, too)

11:30a/12p – wake up and eat lunch (cheese, crackers, peas – you love them frozen! – fruit and a fruit/veggie packet)

2:30p – nurse and down for nap

4:30p – wake up/snack and play until dinnertime

6p – dinner (some of whatever we are eating, a fruit/veggie packet, etc)

7p – bath and bedtime routine

8p – nurse/sleep

You occasionally wake up once in the night but are finally starting to sleep through the night more than you wake up! (*knock on wood*)

Your doctor’s appointment went great this month!  You were not short on drama and screamed from the second I set you on the table, but you recovered quickly after your shots and were happy as a clam when we were checking out; even blowing kisses to the ladies at the front desk!  Here are your stats:

• Height:  31.5” – 99% (tall girl!)
• Weight: 23 lbs 10oz – 93%
• Clothes: 18m-24m (I’m packing away all your 12m pjs this weekend because the sleeves are too short!)
• Diapers: size 5

You love your Little Gym class; are babbling dada (you LOVE when he gets home from work and start squealing Dada!!! over and over), “ba” for ball/balloon and “mama” when you’re mad; still crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything in sight, and cruising around holding onto anything you can;

You won’t sit still for a story; love to play with balls and baby dolls; blow kisses all the time, but are not quite as social as your sister was at this age; HATE being strapped in anywhere (high chair, car seat, stroller); LOVE to throw food off your high chair (the only time I’ve wished we had a dog!) and a ride in your swing can cure just about any bad mood.

Harper you are a JOY and I just can’t believe how lucky we are that God entrusted your sweet little life to US! It’s unreal to me to think that He loves you even more than we do…I just can’t fathom anyone loving you more!  I pray that you come to know that at a young age – God has big plans for you little one!  We love you more than you could ever imagine and always will!

love,

momma