This month I had to bribe Harper with a toy, then quick take it away and shake it over my head (hence the looking up picture). Then we had to practice our “How big is Harper??” trick to keep her from diving head first off the chair… made for a funny photo shoot that’s for sure!
Oh sweet Harper. Ten months old today. How are you growing so quickly? I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with you, but sister you have been exhausting this month!
You are pulling up to standing on ev.ry.thing, ev.ry.where, all.day.long. I have found myself wishing that we lived in a giant padded room lately so I could just let you crawl around and explore without having to constantly watch you or stop you from pulling a table over on your head. Hadley really never did this. She didn’t crawl until almost 14 months old and walked a month later and even then was very cautious. You, on the other hand, are adventurous! Crawling into every nook & cranny and pulling up on anything that will support your weight! Busy, busy, busy is the best way to describe you right now!
While you are thrilled with your new skill…big sister is not quite as impressed with your ability to get to ALL the toys now.
You are still taking two naps/day around 10:30 and 3 that usually last about 2 hours each. Bedtime is around 7:30 and you’re up for the day between 7:30 and 8. More often than not you wake up once, but you are still occasionally giving me full 12 hour stretches. One of these days… ;)
You’ve eaten pretty much everything that we eat by now. You loved your first Thanksgiving dinner and chowed down on some turkey, green beans, green chile corn, mac and cheese, stuffing and sweet potatoes. And of course we couldn’t leave out your beloved blueberries. They are a must-have for every meal! You’re eating 3 meals a day with occasional snacks in between and drinking pretty well out of straw sippy cups. Good thing, because you no longer like bottles and mommy and daddy have a holiday party to go to this month, so here’s hoping you like milk out of a straw! :)
This month we started a class at The Little Gym and sister, you are in your element there. No adjustment period needed for you, you crawled right on in and made yourself at home clapping to the songs, crawling on the mats and waving/climbing all over the other little ones in there. You are babbling da-da now (!) and some ‘G’ and ‘L’ sounds in addition to the ‘B’ and ‘M’s you were doing before and love playing with the pitch of your voice. Most days you sound like a donkey with the high-low variations. :)
You love to wave hello to everyone you see these days, you’ll smack your lips together when we ask you to blow a kiss, and you laugh in the face of danger. Literally. If I tell you “no, no” or “danger” when you are attempting to stick your fingers in an electrical outlet you will either laugh at me and keep trying or laugh and then scream and throw yourself backwards in a fit. The teenage years should be fun. ;) Another sweet thing you’ve started doing is tucking your arms under you when I’m snuggling you or rocking you before bedtime. You’ll do it if you’re upset, too and I pick you up to console you – you just put your head on my shoulder and tuck your arms under and it melts my heart!
No doctor’s appointment, so I don’t have your official stats, but here are our guesses:
Oh, and still no teeth! Big sister had SEVEN by this point so you’ve got some catching up to do! We cannot WAIT to watch you experience your first Christmas in a couple weeks! Love you to the moon sweet girl!
love,
Momma
This month sort of felt like running a marathon trying to get any salvageable pictures with a wiggly, crawling, curious little baby! I never realized how lucky I was that Hadley was such a late crawler when it came to monthly pictures. ;)
This was right before I saved her from diving head first off the chair.
Once again, a huge thanks to The Hairbow Company for Harper’s monthly onesies and most of her bows and headbands! They have the most adorable things at a great price if you need accessories for a sweet little girl in your life!
Dear sweet Harper,
Happy nine months (+ a day)! You’ve officially been outside in the world longer than you were inside. :) It is such a joy to get to be home with you each day as you discover new things and show us more of your personality.
Everyone that meets you comments on what a happy baby you are. Although you definitely have more of a temper than your sister had at this age, you also smile a lot more than she did, too. I was looking back at her 9 month letter and had commented on how outgoing she was – that she always wanted all attention on her. Sister, you are NOT like that. While you are generally pretty easy going and generous with the smiles, if a stranger stops to talk to you when you didn’t want them to, you let us ALL know. It’s not uncommon for me to have to console a sobbing, screaming baby while apologizing to some sweet stranger who just wanted to say hi at the same time! I think you may be a little more introverted than your sister. :)
Schedule-wise you are officially down to 2 naps now; usually around 10:30 and 2:30 for an hour and a half to two hours each. Bedtime is around 7:30 and you wake up for the day around 7:30. Anything is fair game between the hours of 7p and 7a though! You occasionally sleep all night (thank you!) but more often wake at least once to nurse or rock (with ONLY me…daddy will not do for those wake ups!). It’s okay, though. I know these days and nights will pass all too quickly, so I will take all the snuggles you’ll give me! There is nothing sweeter than rocking you to sleep and hearing your sweet snores in my arms.
Sister, you are OB-SESSED with blueberries! Not the cheapest obsession, but I supposed it could be worse. :) You would eat an entire container in one sitting if I let you! You usually eat 3 “meals” a day and nurse 5-6x a day. In addition to blueberries, you’ll eat pretty much anything we give you. Your favorites right now are blueberries, bananas, peas, green beans, avocado, grilled chicken, cheese, puffs, and blueberry waffles. You can also (mostly) drink out of a straw already! You love to play with my water bottle (which has a straw) and will sip on my water all day – half the time the water just pours back out of your mouth though.
This month you officially started crawling! You’re crawling, waving, clapping, giving kisses and giggling at your big sister all day long! Big sister isn’t as excited about the crawling as we are, though…apparently you’re not quite as fun to be around when you can steal her toys. ;) You love to blow raspberries still (mainly to try to make people laugh), babble the “b” sound all day long (the “M” is the only other consonant you say right now, and it usually only comes out as ma-ma-ma when you’re sad, tired or upset), and fake laugh/fake cough to get a giggle out of your sister. You’ve also started throwing your paci back in your crib when I get you up from nap or in the morning and you always wave bye-bye to it.
You have a cute little freckle on your left knee, a dimple on your right cheek and still no teeth! Your doctor’s appointment isn’t for a couple days, so I’ll have to come back and update with your stats…
We had a fun month with you going to the Texas State Fair, trick or treating with friends and visiting the Pumpkin Village at the Arboretum with nana and great grandma! I’ll share those pictures soon! Such a fun month – can’t wait to see what the next month brings! Love you so little one!
love,
momma
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!
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:
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
