3 whole months old!

My oh my, where has this time gone? I knew getting to 3 months would be a big one.  I was told the baby changes so dramatically at this age and I also knew it meant my maternity leave would be over.  I just cannot believe it's here!

My little newborn is now considered an infant! Instead of being a little sad, I'm going to try and think about how grateful I am Harper is growing so well! 

We are so lucky that Harper is such a sweet and happy baby.  We just pinch ourselves wondering how we got so lucky!

Harper turned 3 Months Old on December 29th, 2011.

Nicknames: Harpie, Sweet Peaser {B}, baby girl, Harps, Pretty Girl

Weight: We don't get a monthly visit this month, so here's our guess... 12lbs

Eye/Hair: her eyes are still dark blue, her hair has gotten very light! a light brown and it's falling out!

Diapers: Size 1, Pampers Swaddlers and Pampers Nighttime diapers at night

Clothes: wearing 0-3mon. and some 3-6 mon. clothes, totally outgrown NB! It was a sad day putting those away!

Bath: She takes a bath every other night unless she's had a spit-up or blow-out :)

Eating: formula (colic symptoms are pretty much gone, knock on wood), 5 oz. every 3 hours, except night.We feed her before bed and when she awakes in the morning. She'll let you know right when it's time to eat! 

Sleep: We still swaddle her and she sleeps about 9-10 hours in her Rock and Play Sleeper bassinet in her room. She does so well, we don't really want to change it up with putting her in her crib yet, ha!  She still won't nap for long unless being held.  She'll nap in her vibrating chair for about 30-45 min. then wake up. She doesn't always stay asleep for her naps because she just likes to be awake more!

Schedule: We follow eat, play, sleep.  For the most part, I don't ever 'make' her fall asleep.  I can tell when she's tired and when she's not. Harper has never ever been one to require a lot of sleep. So, she doesn't always take 2 hour naps all day long like most babies her age. She'll sleep some each rotation but not always the same amount. But as long as she continues to be content and happy, I'm ok with it! So, after she eats, we play for about 1-2 hours, and then she'll sleep until the next bottle.

Playtime: Man oh man is it fun now! She just LOVES smiling and watching me wherever I go! She keeps her little eyes glued to me! She loves to reach and grab her toys on her playgym. She also likes to grab at little taggie blankets as well as this little blinking worm toy she got for Christmas.  Harper also likes the Bumbo! She also loves to listen and look at books! She coos, gurgles, and 'talks back' a lot now! She's totally got Brian and I wrapped around her cute little finger! :)  It is just incredible how alert and aware she became overnight!

New Things: Besides some of the stuff I added in playtime, she super strong! She is always wanting to push off and stand on you. Her head basically needs no more support and she kicks non-stop!  She's found her feet and loves them as well as sucking on her hands constantly!
We actually celebrated this month by just snuggling up with our little family of 3 and pizza! We've been with lots of family, so it was nice to just snuggle her!

Christmas with Grammy & Pops

Last post about Christmas :)

Harper's Grammy & Pops came in from HHI this year to celebrate Christmas with us! We usually go there, but decided it was best to not travel just yet with Harper.

We had a great week with them here! They spoiled Harper with gifts and lots of attention! They also let me use them for many pictures with my new camera!

Here's our week in pictures...

Christmas Day and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Precious baby was overwhelmed by fun on Christmas Eve, so she slept until 8:30 am! Mommy was up way earlier with anticipation of the fun to be had! So, I went ahead and put in the Breakfast Souffle and Tator Tot Casserole, staged Santa, and got the new camera and video camera ready! Brian fed her and then we videotaped her coming down the stairs! It was so fun. I know she doesn't really have a clue about what's going on this year, but it was still so much fun opening her gifts with her and talking about Santa and the reindeer! :) Can you imagine next year?! Oh man, because this year was just so amazingly fun.

So, Santa brought Harper this awesome Ladybug Rockabye Rocker. LOVE IT. She does too. And although it's a little old for her, she smiles when on it and loves the songs it plays.  She can even sit on it on her own {with is right there of course}. He also got her a Leapfrog learning table to be used in a few months!

Then we enjoyed opening the rest of her gifts.  It's so fun to spoil!

Once we were done, it was time for her nap, so we ate breakfast and opened some of our gifts and our stockings to one another. So much fun! Once she awoke, she got her stocking! I love each special thing in there!
{custom bottle/etc. labels for the sitter, book labels, bottle bib, tights}

Then we 3 hung out while people came to us! Oh, it was nice to relax! GG and Gdaddy stopped by to see what Santa had gotten Harper, then Brian's Dad and step-Mom came over, and then his Mom and step-Dad came and are staying in from HHI with us this week! So, once again Harper got way spoiled!! :)

Later Christmas night we held our {newly} annual Happy Birthday Jesus party! I have 2 books we'll read first and then we ate Butterfinger Pie! Oh man, it was delish!! I'm hoping to find the Little People Nativity set at an after Christmas sale! :)

Merry Christmas! Hope you had a wonderful day with family.  The best present this season has been our precious little Harper and having Daddy home for a few days with us.

Pure Bliss.

PS- favorite gifts - these recordable books from Hallmark. Mom and Dad gave her one and it is SO cute. and they recorded the Baby Blessings book we gave them to tell them we were preggers and I teared up. so sweet and special!!

Harper's First Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is the big night with my immediate family {parents, Granddaddy, Sister's family}.  Our family has hit a baby boom in the past three years.  We've had a baby born each year since 2009! So, this year, Christmas Eve was even more fun than it usually is.  Per usual, sister's boys were amazing.  Colby was super excited to open presents and understands more about getting to open toys, etc.  But, we had a big yummy lunch thanks to Mom AND we cleaned up BEFORE we opened presents! So, basically Colby waited for about 2-3 hours before we began. That's a lot to ask an almost 3 year old.  But he's the bomb.  No complaining or whining. Seriously. Who can say that?!

ok, the vest was totally a joke! B had borrowed it from my Dad a couple years ago from an ugly sweater party, so we thought it would be funny to come in and wear!

my sister and I's old diaper cover...now on Harper!

 

love my little Christmas baby!

Anyways, we did gifts a little differently.  We usually pass out the gifts to everyone first, but to save time, we just searched under the tree and whoever it was to, they opened it, with of course starting with Colby, Cameron, and Harper first.  Then, we took turns opening gifts! Can you believe it? The littles were so good and patient. Colby helped us all rip open our paper, Harper slept most of the time, and Cameron just wanted to stand or climb on the boxes! It was way better than I expected!

We had a great time and of course got wonderful and thoughtful gifts, but the best part was just seeing the excitement on Colby and Cameron's faces and listening to Colby's funny words!

We also tried really really hard to stage some pics of the littles, but as I'm sure you know, it's very hard to get 3 under 3 to ALL be looking and ALL be smiling in the same picture! So, below are the ones that were the best! Oh, and if you notice...my pics will be looking way more amazing because Hubby I mean Harper got Mommy a Nikon D3000, much to my surprise! I told B not to get me anything because of my push present and I wanted to spend my amount on Harper's Santa gift, so he didn't, and said Harper wanted me to take better pictures of her. HAHA :)

littles and great-granddaddy

sister's family

littles with GG and Gdaddy {thanks for the matching PJs!}

Colby and Harper have a serious cousin love going on.

is there room for any more stockings?!?!?

Merry Christmas Eve!