Harper 10 & 11 Month Update

Stats: Wears size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes

Firsts: Christmas- This was Harper's first Christmas and we had the most amazing time with her. Our family showered our little lady with wonderful presents. From baby dolls, musical instruments, bath toys, and clothes. She is definitely one loved little girl!
           "Steps"- Still pulling yourself up on furniture but will let go and stand by yourself! You don't have the confidence to try to take any steps yet (when we try to get you to walk, you will quickly go on your bottom and crawl to what you want).... although you are not quite walking yet, you have started to let go of the table and chairs you walk around and take a few uneasy steps to Mom and Dad!
       
         Big Sister- We found out in December we are welcoming another baby to our beautiful family! Harper can't wait to be a big sister!!!!

         Walking!!!!! By the end of January you became a full blown walker. It seemed to literally happen in a day. One day I came home from work and you just walked a few steps towards me like it was nothing! Since then your confidence has grown daily and you already seem like you are wanting to run!


Teeth: Your mouth seemed to erupt with teeth one day! You now have 8 chompers (4 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth)!!! You have the cutest toothy grin.

Sleep: Bedtime is routinely at 8:30pm and you wake up at 6:30am. You take about 2 30-45 minute naps a day.

Foods: Really starting enjoying feeding yourself including Eggo Waffles, lunch meat, Kraft singles, and any fruit are among your current favorites.

Favorites: Peek-a-Boo, Pat-a-Cake, and your puppies!

Illness: Unfortunately you seem to have a knack for getting ear infections :( You handle them like a lil trooper though. After a dose or two of your antibiotic you are back to your silly, goofy self. I only wish you weren't getting so good at taking medicine!

Harper: 9 Month Update

Stats: Height = 29 inches      Weight = 19.5 lbs.

Foods: Love to eat pancakes with Mom and Dad on Saturday mornings! Another new favorite is peach yogurt!

Favorites: Reading books! At the end of the night you can always find Harper on the floor with a few of her favorite book surrounding her flipping through the pages and laughing!
Singing - especially Jingle Bells, ABC song, and Twinkle Twinkle. You smile and clap when anyone sings for you!

Firsts: Cut your 4th and 5th tooth. Finally have your first tooth on top! Maybe you will have your two front teeth just in time for Christmas!

Had your first Christmas concert at Daycare! You loved all the music and watching the big kids sing. You had the biggest smile during the applause for each song (I think you thought they were clapping for you)

Christmas!!!! You loved ripping the Christmas paper and playing with all of your new toys!

You are getting quite the little personality these days! Dad and I love seeing the amazing little girl you are becoming! Everyday you fill our life with your wonderful laugh and your infectious smile. I hope you never stop being my goofy, smiley girl!

8 Month Update

Stats: NA

Food: Love to feed yourself and are constantly eyeing Mom and Dad's food! If only you had more teeth for chewing :) Your favorites are still fruit especially pears and bananas.

Firsts:
Illness: Had your first double ear infection :( You spiked a temperature of 102.8! Momma took you to see Nurse MaryAnn and got you on an antibiotic which you hated to take. Luckily within a few days you were back to your happy smiley self!

Tooth: Got your third tooth and more are on the way!

Holidays:
Had your first Thanksgiving - you ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, and turkey.

New Places:
Met Santa at Bronner's- you loved playing with Santa's snow white beard and smiled when he let you play with his jingle bells
Night Lights at Jackson County Fairgrounds - your eyes lit up as bright as the lights driving thru the light display

Milestones:
Starting crawling up the stairs
Pull youself onto anthing and "walk" around
Started learning sign language

Harper 7 Month Update

Height/Weight: NA - next checkup is at 9 months

Food: Loves to eat and is really starting to enjoy feeding herself small finger foods! This month she even had her first pumpkin donut and LOVED it!

Sleep: Doing much better with napping during the day. Right now she is taking 2-3 naps during the day. Bedtime is still about 9:30pm.

Milestones

- Crawling!!!! - this is a very new development. I had bet she was going to crawl this month and I was getting a little nervous that I was going to lose, but she figured things out and now is cruising around like crazy. A weekend of baby-proofing is in our very near furture :)

- Standing- Harper is pulling herself up on anything and everything!!! We are definately needing to babyproof the house asap! She even had her first "boo-boo" report at daycare this month because of this!

- Babbling- talk, talk, talk! Favorite things to say are "da-da", "ba-ba", "ga-ga". We haven't gotten you to say "ma-ma" yet, but I try everyday. Each time I think she is close to saying mama, she says "da-da-da"....not cool!



  Places: October weather hasn't been nice so far. We have had alot of rainy, cold weekends. But we did manage to make a trip to Indian Brook Farms to see the sights, get pumpkins, and eat some delicious donuts!


What's Next: teething, hopefully crawling and First Halloween fun!

6 Month Update

Stats: Weight 17 lbs 13oz ( 72% ) and Height 28 1/2 inches. ( 99% - She grew 2 inches in 2 months!!!!)

Food: Still breastfeeding and getting bottles every 2 1/2 - 3 hours. New solids are: bananas, peaches, prunes, pears, sweet potatoes, and peas!!!  You love fruit and sweet potatoes, and you would perfectly happy if you never ate green beans or peas ever again!

Milestones:

- You got your first 2 teeth this month and you love chewing on everything!

- Sit up by yourself

- Crawling???? - not quite, but Daddy and Momma have a bet on when you will.
Other Highlights:

- Wearing 6-9 months clothes and size 3 diapers

- Loves all music and to make faces in the mirror

5 Month Update

Stats: Weight 16.0 lbs and Height 26 1/2 inches. (these are really her 4 month stats that I forgot to post)

New Places:  Jackson County Fair, Relay for Life, South Haven.

First Illness: Momma is very sad to report that you had Hand-Foot-and Mouth Virus :( Thank God you had a very mild case only a few small sores in your mouth. You never got the high fever and rash that is typically seen with this virus and you recovered very quickly!!!!

Food: Still breastfeeding and getting bottles every 2- 2 1/2 hours. We have started solids!!! So far Harper has tried: rice cereal, carrots, and green beans.

Sleep: Napping every 2-3 hours for 30-45 minutes at a time. You wake up every morning around 7am like clockwork (no need for an alarm clock!) and go to bed at 9pm. Unfortunately for momma and daddy you aren't sleeping through the night anymore. You will typically wake up around 2-3am for a quick snuggle and then  its back to sleepy town for our little one.

Milestones:
       - Sitting Up: You are soooo close to being able to sit up on your own. I think by the end of this month you will have this mastered.
       - Rolling Over: we may have a future tumbler on our hands!
       - "Inchworm": not exactly crawling, but every time your on your belly you scootch your little but underneath you then will pull yourself forward with your arms. You haven't quite figured out how to get your legs and arms working together yet!
       - You started blowing raspberries all the time!

Harper,

I am amazed everyday how much better you have made our lives! I can't believe all the changes we have seen in you in just 5 short wonderful months. You light up my day with your beautiful smile and my heart with your laughter. We love you more than anything Honey Bee!!!

Love,
Mom & Dad

Weekend of Fun

Last weekend was a weekend full of first for Harper. We started off the with Harper making her first appearance at Relay of Life! This was a very exciting day for our family. With Evan being a cancer survivor himself, him being able to walk this years Survivor Lap with his daughter in his arms was something we have been dreaming of for a very long time. We didn't stay long as we normally do. Mainly because of the extreme heat, but it was still fun to finally participate in Relay with our little family. We even got our very first family picture at Relay with Harper smiling!!!

On Sunday we ventured out once again to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the Jackson County Fair. For those of you who don't know, it is a best kept secret to go to the fair on opening day Sunday. All the animals are already in the barns, the Midway rides and games aren't running yet, and most vendors have discounts on food!! Harper was less than amused with the fair. We kept trying to get her to be interested in the cows and horses, but she was more interested in staring at the dirt floor and watching the 4-H banners sway in the breeze! My favorite part was the birthing barn where we saw baby sheep only 1 1/2 hours old and I'm pretty sure Ev's favorite part was his bacon covered corn dog!

Harper did amazing with her first real outing, which was a huge confidence booster for me. I know alot of my hesitation to take her out and about is due to my own nerves. I just don't want to be that "that parent" with the screaming baby. However, Harper always rises to the occasion and never has a meltdown. So be sure to watch out for us about town as we slowly start leaving our bubble more and more and start exploring again!