Moving Along

I have been TERRIBLE about updating the blog. Where does my time go?? I'm sure having a 16 month old, or being pregnant or working full-time has nothing to do with it! Amongst all of the chaos, I love my life and wouldn't trade it for the world. Some things will just lag behind a little bit :)

Grant and I took the plunge and moved -- again! We doubled our square footage, are closer to my mom and Harper’s MDO and both of our offices are right down the street so it has been a nice and easy transition. We aren’t quite settled but getting there.

Harper is changing every day. At her last check-up the pediatrician told me that she has the vocab of a two year old so we must be doing something right! He was impressed and so were we. We knew she was a little more advance than children her age just from observation in the church nursery or at school but it made us proud to hear it from our pedi. If you say something to her, she repeats it to her best ability. Things like the word school are “scoo” and sitcker is “sicker” but all-in-all she seems to be a pretty bright kid. She had her first visit to the dentist a month ago and received a good report. No more bottles, not a big juice drinker and we are okay with our paci timeline. The dentist agreed that it would be a challenge to wean from the paci with a new baby on the way. How could you explain to a 16 month old that the baby can have one but she can’t? I would feel bad but then again…. the parents are probably more heartbroken from the weaning than the child. I will be the first to admit that I am not ready!

Harper doesn’t quite grasp the idea of having a new baby around. She will point to my belly and say “baby” but I know that this is no indication to her of what really is to come. I think she will be a great helper as she does a pretty good job with her baby dolls. Sure she can be a bruiser at times and the words “gentle” and “easy” will be used 100 times a day but I think she will really enjoy it. We have started to introduce the potty and so far she has done a great job. She pretty much uses it every day and we praise our little souls out to her. I am not yet ready to take on the every 30 minute thing but I’m sure that will come soon enough.

My pregnancy has flown by and it has been so easy. Now, being pregnant with a toddler has not been the easiest task but we’re here and we’re doing it so…. there you go. I can’t imagine not having Grant around. He helps me out so much and I couldn’t do it without him. Having a supportive and understanding husband is such a blessing. There isn’t a task that “isn’t his job” etc. He is a man that wears many hats and I would bet not very many women can say that.

We were able to see our sweet baby yesterday on ultrasound and yes, the sex still remains a surprise. It really hasn’t been that challenging to not know the sex of the baby but I will say for the planning portion it has really put me behind. We really haven’t done much for this little one. I did go out and buy a few blue things just in case but that is about it. I plan to do the nursery after the baby gets here while I’m on my 12 week leave – woo hoo! We are schedule to deliver in 6 short weeks and can’t wait!

A day at the Beach


Hanging out at Mimi and Pawpaws


Baby Nail

Miss Chatter

Harper is changing so much lately. She has always been a chatter box and pretty outgoing but now she is starting to make sense and it is awesome! Some words that she says:

pease - please (although she thinks she can have whatever it is just because she says please- Grant and I can't resist!)
mommy or mom at times
hey!
hi
bye bye
Babu - blueberries - her absolute favorite food
Baby - this has been going on for a while. Everything used to be a baby.
Boy
Mo - more
bi - Bite

She goes to school now at JVBC a couple days a week and loves it, I'm sure. It is a great way to get her socialized after being at home with a nanny for the first year. Although that was great while it lasted it is nice to get her in with other children her age and allow her to learn and absorb it all in. Although sharing is not really on a 14 month old's agenda, she does a pretty good job at it. Harper has such a kind spirit and heart that she generally will just give what she has to the other kids. One exception is her cousin Walker, now those two can go at it. They fight for Gigi's attention, snatch toys from one another... you name it. They are just like siblings!

As for the pregnancy, we are smooth sailing. I start my progesterone shots this week and will continue those until 37 weeks. I feel wonderful and have zero complaints! Can't wait to meet this sweet little baby in 4 months.

Catching Up

Three months have flown by. Blogging is last on my agenda as you probably have noticed but I had a few minutes and thought I would write a little to our friends and family.

Harper celebrated her first birthday and we had the perfect day and weather for her party. She had LOTS of guests and more presents than you can imagine. Her favorites lately have been her baby dolls. She will carry them around saying “awwww” while she pats them on the back – it is so sweet to watch. We are also using these sweet baby dolls to teach her about her new baby brother or sister that will arrive in May. She hasn’t quite grasped the concept but she sure knows the word baby! Everything has become baby, Santa is baby, any kid is a baby…. You name it…. It’s a baby. She has a few others that she says like “bi” for fish, she knows woof woof, moo, baaa, she will also mock us when we say “I love you” one word at a time. So stinkin cute~ Before we know it she will be speaking in full sentences.

Thanksgiving came and went and can you believe that Christmas is next week?!? We surely cannot. Most of our shopping is done so that is good!

My second pregnancy has been an absolute breeze. I was tired at the beginning but have had no sickness, no food aversions…. Basically I feel awesome!! What a difference from my 18 weeks of sickness with Harper. Although I have not had inkling on what the gender might be Grant and I are leaning towards a boy since the pregnancies have been so different. And, no, we are not finding out!! What a neat surprise for us in May!!

We are still on the hunt for a new nanny that fits our family just right so if you know of anyone or maybe your maid or whatnot knows of someone, we would appreciate the referral. Bilingual, English, whatever – we are open to interview anyone who is interested in the position.

Ready for the Cool, Crisp Air!

Every year Grant and I look forward to the fall and winter seasons. The weather cools off, the leaves turn beautiful deep shades of red, oranges and browns and there is a lot family time to be had. Labor Day has come and gone so let's get the cooler weather show on the road!

Grant and I are in our busiest months at work so we have had a lot of late nights, some weekend working – you name it! Harper is growing up so fast with her first birthday approaching soon. It feels like we were cautiously driving down the highway from the hospital about a month ago with our sweet baby girl. She is almost walking, talking a ton and has a wonderful personality that really shines for the world to see. She is truly such a happy baby and that makes things a little easier on us. We did have a visit with both the dermatologist and eye doctor at TCH and things are progressing well with her hemangioma. Some days it looks better than others but the good news is that it has completely stopped growing and it should be downhill from here! Harper’s vision continues to be perfect so we are grateful for that as well. Thank you so much for the continued thoughts and prayers.

We have a lot of activities coming up in the near future so we will have lots of pictures to show. Here are some recent ones for you to enjoy….





She has 5 teeth and three more on the way!


She absolutely loves her baths!


Emptying her toy basket


She can reach everything now

So Long Summer!

Summer has come and gone so quickly for us. We had a nice vacation, enjoyed lots of pool time and have really enjoyed our time with Harper. Grant and I are entering our busy season at work so both of us will be buried probably until the New Year is here.

Our little sweet pea is growing up so much. She amazes me with her brain power and diligence to get something done. She’s very inquisitive and an absolute busy-body. Her favorite thing to do lately is empty her toy basket. She stands in front of it, tossing each item out over her shoulder without ever looking back. Definitely on a mission I’ll tell you. Harper is really into playing with her toys now. She can hold a phone to her ear, push her new stroller/walker a few steps and hit the nails on her workbench with the hammer. She talks and talks all day long – I wish I could make out what she is saying. Grant and I can’t wait to hear what her little voice is going to sound like. Harper’s newest accomplishment is waving and saying “bye”. Sometimes when she wakes up in the morning it’s the first thing she does when you get her out of the crib. You can tell that she is so proud of herself. Lately she has also begun to sing so in the car I turn the radio off and listen to her sweet, songbird voice sing away. It’s all in “German” but it’s still cute! Mom still keeps Walker and Harper each week so they get to see each other often and they are pretty funny together. Although Walker is 6 months older, Harper seems to win the battles over toys etc unless he runs off with them. She has a strong grip and a strong will! She has become kind of feisty when it comes to sharing so I guess we need to begin working on that.

That’s all for now… toodles!

Birthdays Galore

A lot has happened since I last posted. We celebrated 4th of July, Landon's 9th birthday and mama's birthday as well. For the 4th of July, we did our usual and headed up to the lake to see mimi and pawpaw. We take the boat out on the lake for the fireworks and Harper loved them. I thought for a moment she would be scared but she sat quietly and watched in my lap. Although it was a bit past her bedtime so I'm sure that played into her mood as well. Landon had a fun swim party so we got to see the entire family and just hang out in the sun. Harper loves being in the water but don't come too close to her when you're wearing goggles... She is so afraid of them! We celebrated mom's birthday this past Sunday with a nice lunch at Pappasitos - it was very relaxing.

Harper is changing so quickly. Her hair is starting to fall out yet grow in and it looks like she's going to be a full-blown brunette. Her face and legs have thinned out a bunch since she's started crawling. She is eating a lot of different foods but her all-time favorite has been blueberries. I have to wait until she's eaten a good portion of her dinner before I put the fruit down or else that is all she eats. She loves grilled cheese sandwiches, any kind of beans - like pinto beans, broccoli, peas, and carrots. You name it - she eats it! She even had some of my curry the other day since I ordered it with no spice.

Harper is officially into anything and everything she isn't supposed to playing with. Never mind the 50 toys that she has, she's playing with mom's fake plant or chewing on the piping of the couch. Grant got pretty clever the other day and took the batteries out of an unused remote and let her play with it. I'm sure she loved it as she is always wanting what we have - cell phone, remotes etc. She babbles a lot lately and screams to manipulate you into giving her what she wants. We are working on the signing so she can communicate with us when she wants more food or wants out of her high chair. She is catching on and it makes us proud.

Grant and I actually had a little time to ourselves this weekend to celebrate my friend, Sarah's, 30th birthday. Mimi and pawpaw watched after Harper sp we were able to really kick back and not have to worry about naps, eating etc. It was very nice and we agreed that we need to do it more often.

Father's Day and Florida

We celebrated Grant's first Father's Day this year, yay! Harper bought daddy a new set of golf clubs and he is excited about learning to play golf. I also took Harper out to have a surprise mini-session with the photographer I used for her newborn photos - Jennifer Knapp. He absoltuely loved that as well. I hope to have the proofs to post from that soon so you all can see what a ham she is in front of the camera.

I threw together a little slide show of our recent vacation to Florida with Mom, Todd and Landon. Harper had her first plane ride and did wonderful. It took me a little bit to get her to sleep on our night departure flight out because she's nosey and there was so much to see and hear. But eventually she caved and I won :) We spent a whole week in Florida and didn't want to come home! The beaches were beautiful, the sun was hot and we got to spend some wonderful time with the fam. We didn't see any oil or tar balls however they did have some just a few miles up the beach. It was perfect. Harper loved the water and was such a trooper throughout her schedule being out of whack and teething.

Speaking of teeth, she almost has a full tooth up. It's the bottom, second left tooth. Weird that her front teeth didn't come first but we'll take it! We can see the front ones coming through so I'm sure she'll have a mouthful soon. It's like they're all coming in at once. We have had a few cranky moments and sleepless nights but all-in-all it really hasn't been that bad. I'm probably saying that because I have such a supportive husband who gives me a break when I need it! Harper has tried all types of foods lately as we have literally skipped over the baby food. She wasn't having it and I was okay with it. She likes sour things like lemon, pickle, lime etc. I don't give her a lot of it but an occasional lick here and there doesn't hurt. So far we have had good luck with broccoli, bread - like her gigi, sweet potato, peas, carrots, apples, pears, peaches - lots of different types of foods. She even tried gnocchi and veal marsala - ha ha! She is crawling everywhere and pulls up on whatever she can whenever she can. She'll just hang out holding on with one hand like she's the star of the show. Like I said before, she's fearless! She'll go from the ottoman to her toy basket to the couch in the blink of an eye. Harper has a new found love for hearing her own voice. She screams at the top of her lungs and thinks it's so funny! or if she doesn't want to be in the jumperoo she'll let you know very quickly with a high pitch squeal. When we were flying back from Florida she kept screaming then would laugh at herself. I guess it sounded funny in such close quarters but I didn't catch any others around us thinking it was too funny. Hope you enjoy the pictures. We had so much fun on our vacation!