Another Month Come & Gone–May

I’m going to attempt to get the blog updated with what we’ve been up to lately.  I haven’t even mentioned the fact that I turned 30 three months ago and Matt turned 30 one month ago.  We’ve been to the zoo, spent lots of time with family and friends, Hadley had her first sleep-over at nana & poppy’s, I got some projects “done” around the house, and on and on!  I think I’ll do some quick photo recaps by month to try to get caught up.

MAY

The very beginning of May, my mom was in town to help with the girls while Matt traveled for work.  He had a golf tournament to play in Austin the day after my mom was planning to leave and she offered to take Hadley for the night to give me a break since Matt could bring her back with him the next day.  It was a last minute plan, which was probably for the best so I didn’t have time to think about it and change my mind.  Hadley didn’t get much sleep (bed around 8:30 and awake at 5:30am!) and was EXHAUSTED when she got home the next day, but I know she had a great time – and when Katie & Eric found out she was in town they rearranged their schedules to head down to see her, which I know she loved, too!

I took this next picture at 9:45am the next morning!  She has NEVER slept that late in her life!  Sweet girl was OUT!

While she was gone, it was AMAZING how much I got done!  Harper was happy as could be that she didn’t have to share the spotlight with big sister.

In addition to the cleaning and organizing I did, I also decided to paint our foyer table and the door to our garage, as well as start working on some trim painting!  This table used to be black… you can see it here, in the tour of our old house. I used the same color to do our back door, too.

You might remember me mentioning that I want to repaint the trim throughout our whole house.  We had painters come and do the kitchen back around Christmas, which you can see here, and I decided to try my hand at it with the free time I had with Hadley gone.  I hadn’t done the baseboards or the crown when I took the “after” because I was just excited I’d finished the door.  One of these days I’ll get around to taking a better “after” picture.

Before:

After: (Still needs the baseboards painted, another coat around the door, and the plan is to put up wainscoting along that wall where the picture is and do hooks all along the wall for backpacks, keys, etc…)

We had some fun play dates at the mall with our friends Morgan, Brynn & Ellie…

 

Hadley had fun with her million bath toys and worked on writing the first letter of her name!

Hadley also had her last day of preschool!  The picture below is her first & last days – in the same outfit!  I can’t believe how much she changed in just 9 months!

And the end of the month, Matt turned 30!  We celebrated with 30 mini cupcakes (or “pupcakes” as Hadley calls them) and a family dinner at home.  That weekend we continued the celebration with golf and dinner with friends. 

There’s the highlights from May… I’ll be back with June!

Harper: 4 Month Pictures

And an outtake… photobombed yet again by big sister. ;)

Harper: 4 Months

Sweet Harper, you are FOUR months old (plus a week or so…thanks to your lack of sleeping lately, momma is a little behind). Sister, you are giving me a run for my money this month.  I remember 4 months being rough with your sister, and you have not broken that mold.  Our nice little schedule we had going last month has gone out the window and neither one of us is getting much sleep lately.  You’ve been showing “growth spurt” symptoms for weeks now, so either we’re just in a fussy stretch or you are about to start walking and talking right before our eyes. ;) I won’t even attempt to write out your “schedule” right now – just suffice it to say the longest sleeping stretch you’ve given me in a week or so has been about 3 hours and other than that, you are either waking up just b/c after 45 minutes or wanting to eat every 2 hours.  Thankfully, despite this being one of the roughest patches we’ve had with you, you are still fairly happy and somewhat easily distracted. 

You LOVE the k’tan and Moby wraps – and daddy has even worn the baby bjorn with you once or twice.  As long as you are upright and being worn/moving around you’re happy. 

You’re still not a big fan of your car seat, so it’s very possible we’ll move you to a big girl seat (still rear-facing) sooner than we did Hadley.  Usually, as long as you can see me and we’re moving you’re ok, though.  You are so curious about the world around you that falling asleep outside of the house is getting harder for you (though thankfully a noisy restaurant can usually still do the trick), which ultimately makes getting out of the house at all harder for all of us!

Your big sister ADORES you and you are warming up to her, too.  If you are fussy, she’ll come running up to you with a paci saying “it’s otay bebe Harper! We’re right here! Don’t cry!” When you’re happy, Hadley will say “aww… bebe Harper sure is happy!”  Just this morning you were cooing on the playmat downstairs and when Hadley came down she said “Oh! Bebe Harper is telling us a story!!”  I know there will be lots of fighting in the future, but I pray that you two will be the best of friends through it all.  There really is no love like sisters!

You love: bathtime, eating, being awake when you should be asleep, hearing Twinkle, Twinkle and Itsy Bitsy Spider, being worn in a carrier.  You are rolling both directions already – you started rolling front to back just over 3 months old and back to front just shy of 4 months old.  You aren’t doing either super consistently yet – as in, to get from one place to another – but you are definitely capable!

Your four month stats:

• Height: 25.8 in – 94%
• Weight: 16lbs 6oz – 88%
• Head: 17 in – 98%
• Diapers: Size 2 and 3 (just finishing up our last pack of size 2s and we’ll officially be in 3s)
• Clothes: 6-9 months and even a few 12 month things

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

Harper Laughs :)

I’m not sure if there is anything sweeter than baby laughs.  I cried the first time Hadley laughed (which you can see here), and was so excited when Harper started doing a little giggle during our walk the other day!

I couldn’t decide which video was better, so you get two of basically the same thing. ;)

Hadley at 28 Months

I have been meaning to get this posted for awhile now (obviously, since Hadley is almost 29 months old), but I did a little summary of Hadley at this age along with some fun pictures in the backyard. She wouldn’t look at me no matter what I offered to bribe her with.  She must have gotten that stubborn streak from her daddy. ;)

Harper: 3 Month Pictures

We’ll start with the outtakes this month.  Harper has most definitely found her hands and feet and wants to look at them all day long!  This is what most of my pictures looked like from our photo session…

And we can’t forget that big sister is running around during our photo shoots and demands her moment in the spotlight as well…

And here were our winners for the month…

Ha! Harper was not feeling the laundry basket pictures this month.  You’d think I had just dropped her in there from her expression!

Harper: 3 Months

Sweet Harper, you are THREE months (and 3 days) old! And what a sweet sweet 3 month old you are.  I can remember hearing people say “don’t you just love the smiles and coos, especially when you’re nursing?” when your older sister was this age and I would think “Umm… what smiles and coos? Hadley just eats and eats and grunts a lot.”  You, on the other hand, are such a little sweetheart and smile and coo all day long!  I’m sure some of it is personality differences, but a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that your parents are a little more laid back this time around. ;)

As I write this, you are napping peacefully in your swing.  Probably a bad habit, but it’s working for us, so until you outgrow the weight limit on that thing (or stop napping so peacefully in there), I have no plans to change it!  You are falling into a bit more of a schedule now.  Still nursing every 3 hours during the day, and up once during the night, so you eat 6-7x a day.  {Your growth spurts tend to last about a week, though, so when we hit one of those, it definitely throws our schedule off.}  I usually give you a bath (and your medicine – you’re still taking Zantac twice a day) around 8pm, then nurse and hold you until you fall asleep (usually by 8:30 or 9p) and lately you’ve been sleeping until about 4 or 5a, waking up to nurse and then about half the time you want to start you day and will lie there cooing while I try to go back to sleep. 

You are still not a big fan of the car.  Some days, it’s hard to decide if it’s even worth it for us to get out of the house, because it usually means we’ll have a screaming baby at some point.  You can throw a fit with the best of ‘em sister.  While you may be happier overall than your sister was at this age, I’m pretty sure your screaming fits rival that of a banshee.  There’s usually a reason for them, though – typically it’s food related; occasionally if you’re overtired.

You love: the swing, bathtime (minus the getting out part), and talking to people.  You tolerate tummy time, but would much prefer to practice sitting up.  You are the squirmiest little baby I’ve ever held.  Constantly trying to sit up, kick, swat, and roll.  Yesterday, you actually rolled from your tummy to your side during tummy time!

You can grab the rings on your playmat already – although it’s hit or miss – but you don’t mind hanging out on there while momma’s tending to big sister. 

No doctor’s appointment this month, so we don’t have your height/weight, but I think it’s safe to say you are growing just fine little chunker. ;)

• Diapers: size 2
• Clothes: 3-6 month/6-9 month depending on the brand

Your eyes are still blue/gray and your hair is dark blonde/light brown and just looks like a buzz cut still. :)  And we love everything about you sweetie pie!