Just for fun...

I saw this cute idea on pintrest of course and have been wanting to try it.  I finally got my self motivated and did it.  Really it was a matter of getting a cute mirror and such.  However, I pretty much love how it turned out.  I just wish she would have given me a few more smiles..but she was way to busy checking things out!

Miss H is 8 months old!

Harper you are EIGHT months old!  

This month you weigh around 15- 15.5 lbs (this is not a dr. month!)  You are now about 26 inches long! You are a growing girl and we couldn't be happier.   You still wear size 2 diapers.  Some of your 3-6 month clothes are too short, but you fit nicely in the 6-12 and 6-9 months.   Mommy has enjoyed your on track size, it makes shopping ahead so easy.

Monthly stats:

Nursing: You are nursing 4 times a day now.  You are still a very busy distracted eater.  You sometimes make your mommy crazy because of this.     

Eating Solids: You mean BUSINESS when it comes to your food.  You are such a great eater too.  You have only really disliked one thing...the nasty meat that comes in the baby food jar.  However, I have found that you don't mind the stuff mommy makes you.  

Sippy Cup: You really enjoy your sippy cup of water.  We have tried to put some milk in there, but not a fan really.  Water it is for now I guess. 

Smiling: You now know how to make silly faces and can go back and forth between you sweet smile and you cheesy one.  We love it and you are a ham. 

Talking: You love to hear your voice.  You still are really good at screaming with joy all the time.  However, this month you have begun the da da da's and putting more into your vocabulary.  

Sign language: You are becoming a pro at this.  We have been signing for about 2 months now and finally you have begun to sign back.  You recognize the signs for:  cat, milk, eat, more, dog, bird, ball, hot, apple.  You can sign back to us dog, ball, and more.  You randomly do milk too.

Awareness:  You always know what is going on around you.  You are still not 100% happy when mommy leaves you, some days are better than others.  But man do you love your daddy!!  You are very excited when daddy comes home...I think you have him wrapped around your finger already.

Observer:  My little observer!!  You love to sit and watch the people and things around us.  Most recently at restaurants and other busy places.  You are very funny because you will yell at the people around us and see if you can get their attention.   When you can't then you just move on to the next person...it's so funny to watch.

WINSTON and BOB: Man does Winston have a lot to learn...You love, love, love to chase him around the house these days.  He is getting a little smarter and will move to higher grounds when you head that way.  You love to pull on his tail, he not so much.  Bob Bob she is your roomie for sure.  She always comes to your bed when you are sad and crying.  She is probably the best guard kitty around!  You love to yell at her too. 

Sleep:Your sleep has not been as good this month which makes mommy very sad.  However, I know the reason you fuss is only because those pesky teeth are breaking through.  On a good night we are all happy, but we have had a rough few lately.  I hope we soon get back to our normal routine.

Your hands: You are a pro and nothing can stop you here.  You love balls these days and can pretty much palm them all.  You also love to roll and throw.  When the ball is rolled to you, you grab it right up.  You also are a great banger.  You love to bang your hands on anything that makes noise.  Plus we are working on saying bye bye by waving! 

Mouth: 2 1/2's of teeth...okay so you have 1/2 of both your bottom teeth.  You and I both wish they would hurry on in.  Then we might get good sleep agin...key words might.  But you look cute with your teeth.  I can't wait till they show up in pictures.  You love to put your fingers in your mouth and feel your teeth too.

Your legs:  DO NOT STOP MOVING.  You are pretty much on the go from the moment you wake up.  You have some very strong legs, but we have known that all along.  You love to stand and pull up on anything around.  You just realized you could crawl on things too....a shoe box on the floor.  The proud look once you were on top was priceless.  

TOES: You have finally realized what we have known all along...your toes are like extra fingers.  You can pretty much use them to pick things up.  If you drop a toy in your car seat you can push it back up with your long toes.  I love to watch you do this. 

Bath time: You will always love your bath time I think. No matter what kind of day you are having your bath can make you so happy.  Some days that makes mommy happy too.  You love to splash and play. Soon you may get to take a bath in the big tub too since we are moving. 

Giggles: I love your sweet giggles.  Not a day goes by that you are not giggling like crazy.  I also love it when you giggle on your own at something you did or saw.  

Sitting up: You are a pro at sitting up and love to do that instead of take naps.  Some days this makes mommy a little crazy! You also love to sit in the high chair and watch others at restaurants.     

Things you are almost doing:

WALKING!!! Yikes I am hoping this is something you slow down on and don't start anytime soon.  But I am sure you will be doing this by the end of next month.

You had a few FIRST this month! 

You visited a new state this month, Arizona.  

You took your first trip to The Four Seasons.

You meet your uncle Z.

You learned about ice.

You began Mother's Day Out.

Favorite toys this month are anything that moves or makes noise.

You love, love, love balls and love to sign ball.  You are loving your dino friend.

You love to see your cute little face and the things around you.  You even love that you can push this mirror all over the house.

Your BB gave you this great Leap Frog table.  This toy does all your favorites...let's you stand and plays music

Wow, I just realized there are very few months left in your first year calendar today.  Your daddy and I are amazed each day at how much you change.  Your determination is amazing and you rarely give up.  Please stop growing so fast!!  We love you all the way to the moon and back!

And for the monthly comparison....

Sold.....

My friends it has finally happened, our house has SOLD!  Wheew whew!!  We made it through the option period and will close on Oct 10th.  Yikes guess it looks like we will be very busy over here packing up our world.  Where are we off to???  Who knows but we plan to just rent for a bit before deciding to buy or build.  Chris and I are both super excited about the next step for our family.  However, we will be a little sad to leave our sweet home...more Chris than me since he has been here over 6 years.  Bitter sweet the way change is.

Mother's Day Out

Today was a HUGE day in our house as Miss H packed up and headed off to her first day of MDO.  She was so brave leaving mommy from 9:15-2:15.  I was worried things wouldn't go so well because she has begun having some separation anxiety.  However, at 11:45 her super sweet teacher sent me a text reassuring me things were going great.  It said she was warming up to them and taking her morning nap.  I am glad things went well.  Miss H needs to see new faces and meet some friends.  She will be heading there ever Tuesday for a while.  Hope next Tuesday goes just as good if not better.

Oh and for me....what did I do with my kid free time.  I went and worked out and took a new class I had wanted to try.  Then met a friend for a KID FREE lunch...she left hers too! Then it was time to see my sweet girl again.  I missed her terribly but know this will be great for us both.

BUSTED

Miss H has been busted on a few things in the past few weeks....

1) No longer wanting to Nap because she can SIT up!!

2) Crawling to her puppy (who hasn't learned to run from her)

3) Pulling up on anything

please ignore the naked baby...

I can not believe how big she has gotten!  I feel like everyday she does something major.  I have learned that sleepers (jammies with feet) are not good for crawling babies.  Thus Miss H tends to be naked most mornings like the picture above.  We tend to lose the jammies and just chill naked for an hour or so each morning, it makes crawling so much eaiser.  Plus I am not having to help her get her feet back in the holes all morning!

Labor Day Traditions

On the plane ready to go!

As you know from my past post...our Labor Day tradition is to head down to the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, Az.  Well, this year was a first in our tradition....adding a baby!  The guys weekend has officially been changed I think.  I know that grandpa Steve and Z both enjoyed having Miss H there.  Of course her daddy did too.  Honestly, we had the best time.

The guys got to enjoy some much needed golf time.  Plus they also played on a few new courses.  It's funny because everyday they loved that course more than the one from the day before.  Z was really loving life because he was kicking everyones butt at first. So you may wonder what Miss H and I did the whole time....

We enjoyed a little R&R and some major POOL time!  Pre-Miss H I would wake up head down to the pool and then when the guys got home around 1 hang with them at the pool.  Now with Miss H I don't get to enjoy as much pool time. Since Texas time and Arizona time are so different (2 hours) Miss H didn't make the switch...she was on Texas time the whole trip.  There were pros and cons to that....pro she slept through all our "fancy" dinners so I didn't have to worry about bothering others.  Con she was up at 6 am AZ time (8 tx).  Thus it allowed for many early morning walks and enjoyment.  We took many walks in the morning and watched as the sun came up.  Plus after her morning nap is was the perfect time to hit the pool.  She like LOVED the pool.  Basically we had a blast hanging pool side each day.

In fun other news Miss H had a few FIRST on our trip!

• new state
• tooth
• ice
• smoothie
• Uncle Z and Grandpa time

She has gotten her FIRST TEETH!!!  Yes, on Friday when we arrived she was fussy (which is not like her).  Chris blamed it on traveling and I really wasn't sure.  Later that afternoon I found the reason....bottom right tooth poking up.  You could only feel it really.  By the time we arrived home on Tuesday night the bottom left was poking up too.  They are still just poking up, you really have to look but they are there.  Thus we have had many a sleepless nights around her.

Since it is so HOT there, we had to find some way to cool off.  Thank heavens I took her cooling teether because it was useful.  However, she also learned that ICE was pretty cool.  She didn't eat the ice don't worry.  She did play with it like crazy.  While we were taking a break from the pool she sat and played with a cup of ice.  I think she wondered why it would get smaller and disappear, ha.

Another fun treat was the smoothie.  I always enjoy some beverages at the pool and they make the best smoothies.  When I ordered my first one H just sat there and asked to have some (signing more...) Thankfully her mommy was thinking ahead and ordered the non yogurt one so she could enjoy it.  Strawberry raspberry smoothy heaven for Miss H!  Of course we had to have one everyday!!

Uncle Z and Miss H

Uncle Z and Grandpa got to enjoy an hour of babysitting, or should I say I got to enjoy an hour of baby free relaxation.  While we are they we all normally get a massage.  This year we had to do a little coordinating but it worked out perfect.  Steve and Z went first, I put H down for her afternoon nap then they took over.  I think she slept for at least 30 minutes of their hour...and was playing when we got home.  We are so thankful Z and Steve love our sweet baby enough to watch her.

All in all this years trip was the best ever.  Of course it always goes WAY to FAST for us.  But I am really looking forward to next year already :-)  Yep, boys you are going to have a hard time kicking us out.  We are hear for good!!!  Here are a few of the PICTURES from the trip!!

Enjoying a little time playing around!

Miss H always gets hooked up...look at her goodies!

The view from our room! 

Pool time!

Hanging with daddy and grandpa

Where she loved to be the whole trip

trying out the little bench

Dinner at the restaurant where Chris and I went after he pooped the question!
The flash woke Miss H up, whoops

being silly

The area where Chris asked me to marry him

Chris and Z

The boys!!

Miss H and I, look I did go on the trip!

Acting silly

Miss H looking right at the spot where Chris got down on one knee.

Happy to be in AZ!