{double digit'} lovin' - 10!

ahh! We are in to the double digits with our sweet baby!! WHAT?!?!?

July 29, 2012  Harper turned 10 months old! CRAZY!

*weight/length: no idea! We don't visit the doctor (knock on wood) until 12 months.  I'd guess around 18-19 lbs.

*diapers: recently started using Pamper's 3's just because we had a box when we ran out of 2's.  Still Nighttime 3's at night.

*clothes: 6 months, 6-9 months, and some 9-12 months / she also always has to have shoes on now because she wants to walk everywhere we go! no more stroller rides - yikes!!

*nicknames: Harpie, Harps, Peazer/Peas (daddy's short name for sweet pea), baby girl, sweet girl

*sleep: YAY! No more rocking, crying it out, or singing! We just lay her down awake and she knows just what to do! She's taking 2 naps a day pretty much on schedule.  Her night sleep is 8pm-730/8am.  She sleeps with her 'Raffi (sound machine) and a bunch of paci's all in the crib.

*food: about 26 oz. of Alimentum a day, 2-4 fruits/veggies a day, we've switched to Gerber Oatmeal instead of rice cereal (long story), and she's eating a few 'real' foods - cheese, bread, beans, fruit

*Movement: GIRL IS WALKING! So crazy! She's been taking steps since her 9 month b-day, but the past 2 weeks she's really learned to walk! She walks everywhere and it is sooo funny to watch! She won't even crawl anymore. She LOVES walking! She can go very, very fast sometimes and it's a little scary, but I think she has excellent balance! She mostly walks holding a toy in her hands and still doesn't fall!

*New Things: Harper can throw a ball and pick up balls with one hand.  Harper visited the aquarium this month and loved watching the fish.  Harper is able to walk in the baby pool and just loves playing with the other kids in the pool.  Loving trying to rip out eyelashes! Ouch! Harper loves songs right now and enjoys doing motions with them - itsy bitsy spider, pat a cake, etc.  She also loves books.  Finally we are back to sitting in my lap and reading pop-up books, books with lots of color (but that are short!) and peek-a-boo books.

*Talking: Okay, Brian and I are very afraid!! haha! :)  Harper loves to babble - must be a girl thing?! She wakes up on the dot almost every night between 12am-1am and 5:30am-6:30am and babbles to herself.  I mean, loud ya'll! It is super funny! Then she will go right back to sleep! She also babbles all day long!  She is saying with meaning: MaMa (love!!), DaDa (love!!), and a few times 'ba' for ball.  She is still a good little listener and it's just crazy what a sponge she is! As I said in last month's post, when I say "go get your book" she knows and grabs her book.  Now we can say the following things and she will grab that item - baby, gator, ball, bug (her rocker).

*Toys: Harper would rather play with a dump truck or car over any baby doll! *must change that!* haha! She loves her shopping cart, her stuffed alligator, and her ball.  But, mainly she likes to put toys in something and then throw them out - over and over again!

*Teeth: 2 bottom teeth, one upper tooth is breaking through!  Everything is still going into her mouth!

Happy 10 Months sweet baby girl!!

blogging break!

I'm taking a break while I figure out what to do with this girl who is

WALKING?!?!?!?!!

Harper's New Friends...

Are coming soon!!!! I'm so excited for another baby boom that is going on around me!!!

Harper is about to get a BUNCH of new girlfriends! I'm so excited since most of my friends have boys!!

Here's a few of the little bumps I am allowed to share about... :)

 Harper, Jordan, and Baby Avery Nicole

Harper, Katharine, and Baby girl!

Harper, Mandy, and Baby Kalyn Avery


One of the best things I think is picking your baby name.  A fellow blogger the other day wrote a post on how she ended up with her kid's names.  I just love hearing baby names and think it is just so fun to see how you and your hubby came up with the name! Wouldn't that be a fun link-up?!  I've always said that I would get pregnant again just to use my other names I have stored up!!!

feeling {blessed}

Today I had this overwhelming sense of being blessed of my time with Harper.  We were sitting at the kitchen table as she was cheesing it up while we talked and ate our breakfast.

I've never posted my entries of my journey to get pregnant; however, let's just say that while I was trying to plan it in my head, I assumed that with my job I should try to have a due date in April or May as to not miss so much of the school year.  Well, obviously MY plan wasn't what GOD wanted.  I was due on Oct. 1st and had Harper on Sept. 29th.


Let me tell you how wonderful God's plan was WAY over mine.

1. I was able to take 14 weeks with my daughter because of Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, and Christmas Break verses the 12 weeks I had saved and was allotted by FMLA.

2.  I was very nervous about being at work when I came back in August because I was beginning to get sick again and I was very, very swollen.  I ended up only working for about a month and a half.

3.  I believe one of the most hectic times of the year is the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  With a new baby, I didn't feel any of that anxiety and busyness since I was on maternity leave {and I could shop for gifts during the day!}.

4.  I feel like I have gotten to be home with my daughter in one of the most developmental stages thus far this summer.  She's become so mobile, so interactive, so smart and I'm able to experience this all day long.  Just watching her as she grows on a daily basis has warmed my heart.  I've gotten to watch her learn to take steps over the past week - which is something amazing.  I see her learning to play on her own and with others.  I could just go on and on how amazing i think she is!

5.  The summer.  The summer is the best time of year!! Harper and I have been able to go outside, take walks, play at the park, go to the pool, just do all kinds of fun things outside without having to worry about too cold of weather!  We are on our own schedule and I just loooove that feeling.


Her age has been so very fun for this length of time I have off and I just feel like God {duh!} knew what He was doing to give me ample time with my baby while knowing I was going to have to be a working mother.

I feel like when you are in the moment of something and the timing isn't working like you wanted, you get very upset - as of course you would, that's a normal reaction.  But, don't you feel like looking back on your life, it was ALWAYS the right timing or situation to occur? It sure has for me.

For BIG things {i could just cringe thinking about how i almost messed up my life! ha!} and little things.

agh! i just love her soooooo much!

Happy Birthday!

Hubs' birthday was on 7-07. He was SO sweet to offer to take Harper to the Aquarium on his day and we had the best time! {read about it here} I've done big parties for him in the past, but we agreed to just go more low-key this year and we both enjoyed it.

We also enjoyed dinner with a few close friends that night, too!

I let B open his presents from Harper and I a little early since we were meeting my family on the 4th for his breakfast birthday and my parent's present went along with mine! :)  He was quite surprised and I was so excited to get him an iPad.  We are sooo not those cool in the know people who have Apple products, but I knew he'd be able to use it a lot with his job and that eventually Harper would be able to do some learning games on it...and he's gotten me a lot of gifts this year {haha, push present, fancy camera, etc.} that I saved and got an amazing deal online.  Anyways, I can pretty much say it was a hit!

Happy 31 Years Hubby! Harper and I love you!!

Turtle Caramel Brownies and Cheesecake Brownies with 31 in strawberries:)

One Fishy, Two Fishy

We took Harper to the Newport Aquarium on Saturday! It was SO MUCH FUN! I knew she was going to just love it...and our sweet girl far exceeded our expectations! The aquarium is pretty large and it took around 2 1/2 to go through it, in which Harper was amazing {especially with NO NAP in the car like we had so meticulously planned...}.  Although my pics do not do it justice, Harper kicked, squealed, babbled to the fish, and tried to touch every glass possible! It was wonderful!  Her favorites were the fish tanks with all the brightly colored fish. She didn't totally get the whole shark tunnel or the big Mighty Mike alligator, but she still was intrigued!

{pics are out of order...not sure why?!}

And like any good money-maker does, they dumped us out in the gift shop before you could leave! We held up every.single.stuffed.animal there was and Harper kept going back to a specific one, rubbing it, and giggling! So, we just knew we must get it for her! :)

This was truly one of the best days as a family I can remember. Pure Joy!!!!!