Pumpkin Patch

We went to a huge pumpkin patch with the cousins while we were in California. So much fun, though we got there on the second day and it was well picked over. No worries - we were there mostly to take pictures, and take pictures we did! Trying to get 3 kiddos to sit still for anything is impossible, let alone all at the same time. So here's a few of the best ones from the day.

Harper's First Halloween

I'm not a dress-upper and can't really think of a time I really loved to get dressed up for Halloween. Maybe it was because we had a huge dress up box growing up and we played in it whenever we wanted - Halloween was just like any other day! In any event, I realize I will have to change my ways and get involved in the fun stuff Harper wants to participate in.
But I had at least one more year to do it my way!

We didn't have any real plans today, and our neighborhood is extremely quiet for trick-or-treating, so I couldn't justify getting Harper a $20(+) costume that she'd wear just for a cute pic. I know, I know - I should probably just get over it. But I'm much too practical and cheap, so I plan on going and buying a costume this weekend at 1/2 price for next year. And I already have one in mind.
I did get her a little Halloween outfit that she's worn a few times. Though I think I should've tied a pink bow on to the stem of her pumpkin hat because last weekend she got called "he" more times than I was comfortable with. Oh well.

Tonight we got home and sat in the garage for a while, hoping to hand out candy to a bunch of cute kids. I love seeing THEM in THEIR costumes. :) But we had 2 - count 'em 2 groups of kids. So pathetic. (and we thought last year was slow!) So we called it a night pretty quickly and said goodnight to this year's Halloween. Looking forward to next year and maybe paying a visit to a carnival or Grapevine's Main Street. Not going to plan on being home to hand out candy if this is how it's gonna be.

"Teeth?? Yikes!"

Harper is finally cutting her bottom two teeth. It's taken a long time to get to this point, and she's not a happy camper. Jane and I first felt a tiny sliver on Tuesday, and when I gave her my glass to get a sip out of that night, Jon and I heard the "dink dink" on the glass. Now the ridges are more pronounced and the teeth are just barely able to be seen below the surface.

She won't let us get a good look into her mouth and she seems to be in a lot of pain, but I'll post a picture when they pop up.



When I asked her what she thought about getting teeth, this was her reaction:

Swimming

Harper loved her first swimming experience. She did sooo well. We put her in the floater for a while to test it out and see how'd she do. Mimi was so excited to have someone sit in her lily pad floater with the flower side up. (In the past they've turned it over for the boys so it's all green - no flowers for them!) We turned on the bubbles for her and I thought she'd be so scared, but she actually loved it- squealed and kicked all around. It was pretty cute to watch.

After a while I took her out of the floater to see how she'd do just letting me hold her. I tested it a bit further when I thought she'd be okay to dunk her. And she did great!! I counted to three the way I always do when I lift her up or put her into the bath, etc... then blew really hard in her face so she'd hold her breath. Then came right up and she just blinked away all the water and then smiled again.

I was really hoping she'd love the water since so much of my childhood involves the water. I've been swimming since before I could walk. I was the first mascot - Glenbrook Guppy! - of our competitive swim team that my brother and sister (and eventually I) swam on. I loved going to swim practice and loved competing in the meets and everything it entailed. Living in Southern California, trips to the beach were a very regular event during the summers. ahhh.. I could go on and on. I really love the water. It's a hard thing to come by where we live now but I really hope I can pass along a thing or two as she grows up.

That's What a Hamburger's All About

I'm gonna have to document the trip by events, since there's way too many pictures from all the stuff we did.

Total geek confession here: But I actually tried to send this pic to someone at In-N-Out. But my guess at a general email address I tried didn't work. So if anyone on this blog works at or knows of someone who wants to hire the cutest baby for their ads - let me know!! I may have exactly what you're looking for.

Most, if not all, of you have seen this pic already. But I love it. We took Harper to her first In-N-Out while we were in Vegas. Got her a paper hat and set her up in the high chair while we enjoyed our first burgers from there in almost a year! Side note: Can I just say how much more pleasurable it is to go into a restaurant with her now that she can sit in a high chair and entertain herself????? What a huge difference in my anxiety! I'm sure she was jonesin' for some tasty goodness herself, but she had to be happy with chewing on my cup while I took pictures. Maybe next time!

Jon had the double-double animal style, and I had a grilled cheese animal style WITH animal style fries. Ohhh my gosh, so yummy, even though the fries totally gross Jon out. I knew mine would be so rich and filling so I opted out of the shake, promising myself I'd get it the next opportunity (because we all knew we'd be eating there at least one more time while on our trip!)... but I never did. So sad. Their shakes are hands down the best around. Darn. Next time.

Here's a few more from the adventure.

A Little Tease

We had a blast in Vegas and California. I probably won't have time to really post about it until this weekend, but here's a few photos of how it all went:

Catchin' Up Before We Head Out

Expect the next couple posts after this one to be full of pics from our trip to fabulous Las Vegas and beautiful California!



This past weekend we went to the 3rd birthday party of Lauren, the youngest daughter of the woman who watches Harper 2 days a week. It was great fun despite the outfit change needed about 10 minutes after we arrived. ahhh.. the joys. Thank goodness I had the cute pink dress on standby in the diaper bag.

Here we are, pre-outfit change, playing on the floor. (I didn't ask permission from the other parents to put their kids pics up, so this is the only one I've got. Jack is unidentifiable so I thought it was okay). :)

My daughter the ant. Or whatever it was supposed to be.

Larissa's stepmom Linda was more than happy to take Harper from me and carry her around, talk to her and read to her. Here's Harper with Linda and Lauren, the birthday girl. (oh, and I did get permission from Lauren's dad to post her pic.)

Harper still loves her sling, and takes great naps in it, which is perfect for events like this when it's noisy and busy. I just lay her in it and can go about my business while she sleeps soundly against me. Here's her after just waking up - crease on her face and all.

Bathtime with Daddy! We like to call this one "Harper of the Opera". Taken after a tasty dinner of carrots.

Bags are not yet packed, but we'd consider ourselves ready. I don't work on Wednesday and our flight is in the late afternoon so I've got all day to do stuff. This will not be a relaxing vacation by any means as we're scheduled to see about 100 people - not really an exaggeration. But we don't care. A change of pace and getting to visit with dear family and friends. Can't wait!!

6 months old

Harper had her 6 month appointment on 10/7. And, just like before, her Pediatrician is so happy with her growth and development. Here's her stats:

16lbs 8oz (75th percentile)
25 1/2 inches (50th percentile)
And her little noggin finally caught up to the 50th percentile at 16 7/8.

Everything went extremely well. She got her 6 month shots and we also got her the flu shot. She's got to go back in 4 weeks for the second round of the flu shot, but that should be an easy appointment. The Pediatrician also talked to me about trying to continue to nurse her through winter in order to give her the best chance at a healthy first year. I've made it 6 months and never thought it would get here, so I'm going to shoot for a year now - can't believe I'm saying that! It's very tough being a nursing mommy working a full-time job outside of the house. I'm gonna give it my best shot!

We're to introduce a morning solid food meal within the next few weeks which means Grandma and Larissa get the messy experience of feeding her. Should be fun!

She got a little sick from the shots this time, but recovered quite well and it only lasted that day. She'll get more shots at 9 months, then again at 12, then I think there's a break.

So proud of our little girl!

Here's a few pics from her 6-month birthday. We called her Scarface all weekend because she got herself good in her sleep the night before. She's such a happy little baby and such a joy for us.

A Couple Cute Videos

I couldn't post them through Blogger because the files are too big. So here's a couple YouTube links. Check 'em out!

Harper and Her Puppy

Harper Says Hi

Think She Likes It?

The squash was a big success today. I wasn't planning on giving it to her for a few more days, but she ate the cereal with such verocity and was done in a flash, so I pulled out a few cubes and voila! She loved it!!

Martha Stewart

I don't cook very well. At all. I enjoy the process, but being married to someone like Jon who can whip something up with the most random ingredients - and have it taste AMAZING, kind of makes it less fun. In other words, I'd rather leave the process to him. :)

I also enjoy baking and have since I was very small. The organized, practical part of me (which is like, 90%) loves the measuring and preciseness of baking. However it doesn't make me feel very adventurous when I simply follow directions from a book or a box.

This being said, I'm happy to realize I think I've found a happy medium by making my own baby food! It's something I really wanted to do since I found out I was pregnant. I'm always looking for ways to save us money, and the idea of something so simple as bananas coming from a jar just never seemed right to me. Last year in the family Christmas exchange, I wound up with a mini food processor - PERFECT! That sealed the deal, and tonight was the first time I got to use it. I started out easy the other night by mashing a bunch of organic bananas and freezing them. - aha! Another use for the covered ice cube trays I used to freeze all that breast milk (which we still have a plentiful stock of, by the way! Harper still hasn't ever had a bottle of formula). Tonight I branched out and cooked two sweet potatoes and a butternut squash, pureed them in the food processor and they're now taking their turn freezing before getting popped into labeled freezer bags in the morning.

The bunch of bananas made 2 full ice cube trays last night. The 2 sweet potatoes filled 1 and a 1/2. Since I only have 3, I filled up one tray with the squash and had to put the rest of it into tupperware for freezing tomorrow. Tons of baby food!! For super cheap!! I tossed around the idea of making applesauce too but I really hate peeling apples, so I think I might spring for a big jar of regular all-natural store bought applesauce.

Not everything has gone perfectly. There was one casualty that I must mention. I bought mangos in the hopes of pureeing some of that as well. I love mangos but have never actually bought one and sliced it. Being a busy working mother with way too much to do, it proved much too time consuming to try to tackle on a regular basis. Heck, even trying to slice it open was like trying to break into pandora's box! Once I (Jon) got it open, I tried peeling the skin off and it was just coming off in little shreds. I think I spent all of about 4.5 seconds doing this before it all went into the trash.

Still on the list of things Stage 1 foods to try: organic carrots, which are sitting in the crisper drawer waiting to be cooked. Peas, peaches, pears, apricots, pumpkin and, yes, avocado. So excited to see how she's going to like (or not like) them all.

Fun stuff.

Harper and Wylee - A story of pictures (and video)

Pictures tell this story. A little background: The dogs have not really been allowed to be near Harper since she was born. We've been following Ceasar Milan (Dog Whisperer)'s tactic which is to teach the dogs to respect their new Pack Leader. Give her distance, don't allow them to feel like she is one of "them". Lately she's been showing a lot of interest in them, so we've loosened the barriers a bit. But after almost 6 months of not being allowed to interact with her, they're not quite sure what to think of these relaxed rules. Sarge really isn't too interested in her - according to him, she's still the one stealing all of Dad's attention, so she isn't worth really acknowledging. Wylee however, is absolutely dying to get near her and see what she's all about. It's hilarious to watch him push the boundaries to see how far he can go.

Here's a few pics from the other day:

They're still not allowed free reign, and really can only interact when one of us is around. Wylee still isn't sure he's not going to get into trouble when we tell him it's okay. These are some videos of Wylee and Harper trying to figure each other out.

..... AND, here's where I get into trouble. Pretty sure Ceasar wouldn't agree with this. Jon wouldn't either. Does it sound like I care?