Partyin' Hard

We went to beautiful Kayla's first birthday party on Saturday. It was at The Little Gym, which was the first we'd ever played there. They do a great job of tiring all the kids out for a while before they sit down for food and cake. Harper was a little unsure of all the kids running around to begin with, but she soon warmed up and had fun playing with the kids and testing out all the equipment.

Not too sure about this.

Well, this is kinda fun!
Oh yeah, this is definitely fun!

I'm gonna get you Mommy!

Bubbles are fun!

They liked to stick to Mommy's hair.

Kayla's big feet!! Or maybe Harper's small ones?

Well, the rings looked more fun before we got here.

Don't let go, Daddy!

Pink frosting - yum!

Granda

This past Monday was Grandpa's birthday. Though he may have been officially renamed "Granda" by Harper. We'll wait and see if it sticks.

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a yummy take-out breakfast from Mimi's. It was a great morning and Harper certainly enjoyed the singing and playing afterwards. But she always has fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa.... er, Granda.

She was less than thrilled about having to wear the tissue paper hat daddy made for her.

pasgetti

Last weekend Harper had her first experience with spaghetti. We purposely chose it for dinner so that we could plop her in the bath right after, and we were looking forward to watching her get it everywhere.. We stripped her down to just her diaper and let her have at it. It was quite funny to watch, though she was much neater than we anticipated her being. Daddy insisted her upper half was not a good indicator of how clean she was as it seems a good majority of the meal wound up on her legs and chair.

Just starting out. MmmMm.. this is pretty good!Yeah. I think I like this spaghetti stuff.
Whaaa? My plate is almost empty???

I think I'll kick my legs up and savor what's left.

'til Next Time

We'd been putting together a pile of items to be stowed away in the attic that we were no longer using. These were all Harper's things of course and it's so weird to see items we've used countless times being put away because we no longer have use for them. It's a big reality check with how quickly she's growing! Included in the pile were her 2 walkers, 2 car seat bases, her infant carrier, and 3 boxes of clothes.

One of the last items to be added to the pile is my trusty breast pump. Over the past year, I felt like that pump and I had become 1 and that it was literally an extension of myself. Carried countless times with me to and from work, I'd been complimented more than once and asked where I'd gotten my "purse". Thinking it was just too funny to pass up, I had to tell them they could go to Babies R Us and pick one up themselves - though they might be disappointed with the actual storage space available.

Attached to my breast pump, I left the safety pin I'd first attached back when Harper was in the NICU. When we'd scrub in to visit her, we were to remove all hand jewelry, and the hospital provided safety pins to help you not lose your items. Once, while arriving back at the car and realizing I still had my safety pin on my shirt, I removed it and stuck it to the closest thing, which at that time was my pump. I left it there as a small reminder of why I had chosen to pump. Occasionally the pin would come undone and stick my in the arm as I was walking - usually dreading having to go to the glorified closet which is the Mother's Room at work. It was those times being pricked that I had to just laugh and be reminded that I needed to look at this duty as an honor and not some sort of burden.

So I bid adieu to my old pal. I plan on it being a little while until we are reunited, giving me some time off after a year of being attached at the hip.... er... well, whatever.

'til then!

We Wore Orange

I have been following MckMama's blog for a long time now, following Stellan's journey, and laughing along with her as she goes through the experiences of raising 4 little ones. She's a great writer and I really enjoy reading her entries, especially being the strong woman of faith she is.

As a small gesture of thoughts and prayers for Stellan's surgery today, one of her blog readers suggest everyone wear orange, as we prayed for a successful surgery and outcome. Harper and I joined in the orange-y goodness.

Stellan is currently in recovery and it will be several days before we know if the surgery was successful for the sweet little guy. We're praying for you Stellan!

Renew and Reuse

I've had this silly storage shelf for a while now. I can't even remember where it came from, it's just one of those pieces that is always hanging around. I can't explain why, but I've always loved it but never knew what I was going to do with it. Since we moved here, it's been in the garage being used to pile Jon's tools on. Once Jon installed his new shelves in the garage, the tools had a new home and the funny shelf now needed a new purpose. I had an idea to transform it into a bookshelf for Harper's room. It definitely needed some TLC and I had planned on making it my next project to work on.

Well, as time went on and Harper's birthday approached, I still hadn't touched the shelf and Jon was really wanting to get his hands on it. We decided he would refurbish it as a gift to Harper for her birthday. She's had a bunch of books on a storage unit in her closet so I've been anxious to get them out and more accessible to her.

Jon did such a great job making it more sturdy, sanding and painting several coats and he had it done by the morning of her birthday. I got her a new book of animals to go with it and she hasn't been able to stop looking at the pictures since. I'd say Harper is quite pleased with her presents! The shelves really turned out great.

Harper's 1-year appointment

I forgot to post about Harper's 1-year appointment.

She did a great job and was flirting and laughing with her doctor. Here's how she stacks up:

20lbs 14 oz - 50%

30 inches - 75%

Her doctor was, as always, very happy with how she's doing. She was glad to hear that Harper is now switched over to cow's milk 100% and that she's done very well on it. Also happy to know that Harper feeds herself very successfully 99% of the time with finger foods. Really, she was pleased with how everything is going for Harper....

.....with the exception of her bottles.

hmph!

Up until that point, we still had Harper on bottles 3 times a day: morning, afternoon and nap. She'd done fine on sippy cups at mealtimes, but I just couldn't wrap my brain around having Harper sit and drink from a sippy when she would normally take a bottle. Harper likes to chew on and play with her cups and usually bottles are all business. The Doc said we really should try to get her switched over now because as she got older it would just become a worse habit and harder to break. She also said that she doesn't need as many ounces of milk as she once did, so she can get her dairy more from other sources like yogurt and cheese. Well, fine... I said I would and that we'd see how it went.

Turns out I didn't have anything to worry about. Harper is doing fine!! The only bottle she's not ready to give up is her very first bottle in the morning. Grandma and I are both disappointed that she's traded in her other bottles so effortlessly - we both ate that cuddle time up. She now enjoys baby yogurt (and the sugar!) and Cheerios and a sippy of milk for snack, and she slurps on her sippy cup at bed time while cuddling and reading a story. As always, she never ceases to amaze us with what she's capable of.

Such a big girl!!

Happy 1st Easter!

First, a brain teaser.
It was sometime in early January that I realized Harper would already be 1 before she had experienced her first Easter. This obviously goes against the tradition of a baby having all of her "firsts" in the first year. I realize it all just has to do with the fact that we had an early Easter last year, and Harper just happened to be born shortly after that. I also realize she is not alone and that thousands upon thousands of babies also had the same situation this Easter. But please... let me just wonder in amazement at how that can really trip my brain out.

....



Okay. Thank you. I'm done now.

Harper had a great FIRST Easter (at 1 year and 1 week old). We spent Saturday afternoon having an early Easter dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Harper got to wear her new dress Grandma got her for her birthday. Such a beautiful and fun spring pink. And she already had a stupendous bonnet to go along with it. Though Harper didn't ever really think the bonnet was stupendous. She hated it in fact. The only reason she ever wore it was because I was able to distract her attention somewhere else long enough to snap a picture.

Giving her bunny(ies) a squeeze

Easter dinner Saturday night - yum!

I'm too cute in my outfit! Now can I take the hat off?

Pondering at Grandma and Grandpa's front window.

Happy Easter everyone! We hope yours was great!

Harper's 1-year Video

Got 13 1/2 or so minutes to spare? Enjoy!!!

Birthday Food

Pink Rice Krispies treats

You Are Special Today

One of my special memories as a kid is our "You are special today" plate. When one of us had a special occasion such as a birthday or accomplishing something good at school, my mom would bring out the You are special today plate. To be honest, it didn't get used all that often because it was put away - out of site, out of mind.

A few years ago my mom gave my sister and I each one to use in our homes with our families and I thought it was one of the nicest gifts I'd ever gotten. Still do!

Sadly, ours has been put away - out of site, out of mind. And I've forgotten to use it on some of those special occasions. While looking for bowls to set out on Harper's birthday, I saw the plate in the box and got so excited - what a perfect occasion to use the plate for the first time! The plate comes with a pen to commemorate each occasion, and it's so fun to see "4/4/09 - Harper's First Birthday" written as the first entry on the back.

I vow to use the plate more often, even if for no occasion at all - which seem to be the best occasions!!

Birthday Fun

What a fun day!!! Jon and I are exhausted but it was such a fun and memorable day as we celebrated Harper's sweet life. Here's a few pics to commemorate the occasion.

After not being too excited for her cupcake at the photo shoot, I wasn't sure how Harper would do with a whole cake to herself. But she loved it!! Once she tested the waters a bit, she understood how tasty it was so she dug right in. Oh, and the cake wasn't supposed to be so thin. I was trying to make Harper her own little pint-sized cake, but apparently the dish I used to cook it in didn't allow it to rise. ahhh, the things we learn, right? Oh well, it served its purpose well enough. Harper didn't seem to have any complaints. :)

She was even kind enough to offer me some!

Here is Harper with 10-week old Mia. Such a sweet baby - and I finally got to hold her! Harper loooves babies, but in this picture she was much more interested in Jessica's ring.

This is my good friend (and former coworker) Ebonie and her daughter Kayla. Ebonie and I had due dates 2 days apart, so we really did experience our entire pregnancies together at work. It was such a memorable time and I've been so blessed to have gone through it all with Ebonie. Kayla is exactly 3 weeks younger than Harper, so we'll be going to her birthday party in a few weeks. We've not yet been able to work out a playdate together so this was the first time they'd gotten to hang out and it was so much fun to see the two of them check each other out.

More pictures to come soon!!!

Good Morning, Birthday Girl!

Jon and I attempted to clear the frogs out of our throats this morning well enough to attempt Happy Birthday for Harper.

This is one of the outfits Auntie Wendy got her for Christmas. I thought it would be ages until she was able to wear it, but as we found out yesterday, it fits pretty good already!!!

"Lost" and Found