3 Years ago...

Three years ago we were standing in front of 50 of our closest family and friends saying I DO!!  I can not believe it has been 3 years already! It is amazing what things can change and how quickly time can fly.
 

The past three years we have grown in many ways...learning new things about each other and adding our sweet baby girl to the mix.  

We didn't do to much for this years anniversary just a nice little dinner out with the family!  Making memories along the way and learning how to love each other more is what we do best!!  Can't wait to see what this next year will bring us.

 and of course she puts out her sweet little lip for daddy...

Miss H is 17 months old

Harper you are SEVENTEEN months old!

This month you weigh (guessing) almost 22 lbs.  You are now 29  1/2 inches long or so! You are wearing a size 3 diaper.  You have begun wearing almost all your 12 months and more 12-18 month clothes...I just upsized your pj's! 

Monthly stats:

FOOD: Oh the food, I wish I knew where you put it all!  I think you have had a little growth spurt lately because the past week you have been hungry.  I mean for lunch last week you had 2 hotdogs, 1/2 a block of cheese, a cup of peaches, and wanted more!! I wish I could do that miss!  

Sippy Cup: My sweet baby and her sippy. You love your water still which is great but mostly it's because I just don't offer you anything else.  I mean sure every now and then you will randomly sneak a drink of mommy's sweet tea (when I am carrying you and have a cup in my hand...grr) but water is best for our baby. I know some of our friends can't believe you don't do juice, but I just haven't felt the need to go down that road!  Milk..well we all know how you feel about that...its the only thing I wish you did love!

Oh but did I mention your bottled water!! You are still obsessed and now that it is hot you love ICE!  You could hold a cup of ice for hours if mommy would let you. When we play outside it is a nice treat :-)

Smiling: I love your smile...even your sneaky smile! You know the one you give me before you yank Winston tail or take off with something!  Mommy has also been trying to get you to smile at the camera when I say cheese!! Somedays you love it, others you just look else where.  Stinker

Talking:  You say momma, dada, uh-oh, hi, more, mum mum (your favorite snack), hot, papa, bob bob, dog, and the sound for a cow, lion, lama, dog, cat, and elephant..  Your new words this month are: cracker, bug, hop hop, and new animal sounds are hop hop for bunny or frog! Lately you have been stringing along a lot of jibber jabber and adding real words.  It is like you have a whole story in there just waiting to get out :-) I can't wait to hear it. 

Sign language:  You still can sign back to us wait, dog, ball, water, milk, more, eat, all done, please, baby, banana, thank you, cat, hot, cheese, bread, play, gentle, elephant, bird, paci (you made your own sign for this one), music, cracker, bread, apple, help train, truck, bus, flower, bubble, airplane, monkey, bug (you made up!), and music.  Your new signs this month are kind of old ones but you have perfected them.  You can now do more the proper way, as well as cracker and airplane.  You have begun doing more animal signs as we read and talk about them more....horse, donkey, frog, bunny.    

Obsessions: STILL  Water bottles and moving vehicals.  You are really obsessed with motorcycles too.  You see one and want to sit on it!  Also you have recently changed your favorite book.  "Moo, Ba, La, La, La" has been the running book for um about 3 months now...but now you love "Goodnight Baby Jesus" Recently this is your number one pick every night...so that you can talk about the donkey and the baby!

Observer:  You still want everyone to stay together.  But recently have really become more aware of things like bugs and spiders and such.  Welcome to the country sweet baby! You see mommy or daddy kill a bug with a shoe and have to go right over and do the same.  I love it.  You are so smart it is crazy! 

WINSTON and BOB: The love is still there. Thankfully I think we have ended the picking Bob up phase...for now I am sure! You still love to go in their and sit in her bed with her.  She isn't so sure.  Winston you have learned to tease.  Cutest thing ever..you love to grab his toy and take off running with him behind you.  You also have learned that sharing your snack all the time may not be what you want.  Teaching him to sit back when you want to eat without him trying to steal from you.  

Sleep: I love that you still sleep so grand.  This past month your naps have been a bit off, but I think we are getting back on track.  There for about a week I thought we may be turning into a ONE nap baby...mommy was sad! However, you are back on track with your 2 naps..I may be able to milk this a little longer.  You sleep great at night too! I love when you wake up a little early some days and come snuggle back to sleep with mommy.    

Your hands: You are mastering the spoon...well at least you think you are.  You have figured out that using a spoon and fork is pretty neat.  However, if you want to get the job done quickly...the hands are best!  I mean really it is way faster.    

Mouth:  Tooth count- 12!  Thankful we have had NO NEW teeth besides those dang molars that were pushing through last month.  I really am happy to be off the teething bandwagon...it sucked.  You were so fussy and mommy hated that. 

Your legs:  Galup and climbing are two new things!  You now run with a little gallup it is so dang cute.  I'm not sure you realize you are doing it, but its funny!  Climbing guess who has mastered the couch climb!! Mommy is so nervous about this because you don't really sit once up there.  This is a work in process.  You are getting so quick too that sometimes I don't realize where you have run of too!

Bath time: Ha ha..still in your baby bath! I mean it is so easy there and you can play safely.  You got a new baby for bath time, thanks to Nana and Grandpa Steve...you love her.  Baby Sarah now has to be washed just like you.  You also love to have the water on like a waterfall still.  I love that you enjoy your baths so much, it is a happy place every night no matter how long of a day you had.

Giggles:  I can not get enough of your little giggle.  You make everyone smile with that sweet sound!!

Dislikes: Not being able to have something you think you need. Having to get out of the tub at night. Not getting to play outside all day long. 

You had a few FIRST this month! 

Your FIRST NIGHT in your NEW HOME!!
Your swim in your baby pool outback
Your THIRD MOVE!
Your first time at a jumpy (Jump and Jive)
Your first major head injury (hit your head on a door at PaPa's work)
Your first time to meet your cousin Kyndal
Your first pair of Crocs for the yard!!

Favorite toys this month are pretty much the same:

Baby Claire...oh sweet baby Claire
You take her everywhere with us..in the car, outside, on walks!

OUTSIDE, you are loving our new backyard

Playing in the water and eating ice.  You could play in the water for days, and lucky you it is HOT here so we do that most days. 

This month I feel like you have changed more than any other.  You have really become more of a toddler and less of my sweet baby.  I looked at you just a week ago and wondered where this sweet little girl came from.  You are so big and independent these days.  This makes mommy's heart happy and sad all together.  I am so thankful to have a beautiful daughter like you.  We love you to the moon and back!

Your SECOND Year!

Your FIRST year!

Parties parties parties!

This past week was a pretty busy one here!  2 of my favorite teacher friends retired, whoo whoo!!! I am always excited to welcome anyone to the NON-TEACHING club! I mean now we can have lunch anytime and not worry about school or 30 minutes to scarf down our food...ah a teacher's life.

Congrats to two AMAZING women... FWISD has no idea what next year will be like without you!  You have shaped and touched more lives than you even know about.  Thank you for caring about all children no matter what!!

Our first party was for Donna, she is a hoot! I love that woman because she is the teacher you will never forget.  She loves helping kids out, but will tell you the truth..my kind of lady.  Donna is a true teacher...I mean she taught 5th graders for gosh the past 7 years that I have know here.  I would never and yes I said never teach a HORMONAL age like that.  I love my sweet babies who still cry when they get in trouble.  Really she was wonderful with them.  They knew exactly what where and how things were to be done..pretty sure they would eat me alive.  I admire her for the crap she has put up with over her years!  There were about 5 of us who hosted the party and it was surprise!  We had it at our local happy hour location to keep things under wraps!  I was so excited to see everyone who turned out to show her just what a wonderful teacher she was.

waiting for Donna to get there...

The shock...ha ha got ya 

 Just some of the lovely ladies that have all taught with Donna...we may not all still be teachers or at the same school but friends always!

The host

and one sleepy baby girl! 

The second party was for Carey! Oh sweet Carey she will always be a great role model to me.  She was one of the sweet teachers who took me in when I was just a new little teacher.  You know I had no idea about real teaching...well Carey was a PRO! She is the most organized and perfect teacher I have ever seen.  Rarely have I heard her voice raise above a sweet talking voice.  She is the one who can control sweet kinder students by the look of an eye..you know the teacher you always want to be like!! I love her for helping make my teaching career such a success.  She will always be a dear friend to me! Her party was actually held here at the house...there were about 8 people who helped host it.  I was in charge of the house, YIKES!!  But let me tell you those other ladies were amazing..they came right in and made our pretty blank slate of a house (I still haven't hung stuff up..ahh) look amazing.  The party was such a great success!  Also I now know that my house works pretty good for large groups, which I'm super pumped about (watch out Chris many more parties to come)  I am so thankful that the gang trusted in our "just moved in" style to be looking good enough to host such a special event.

Thankfully one of Carey's family members was in charge of pictures..because between greeting, chasing Miss H, and such I FAILED at that!!  I have a pic of the cake and well that is about it! BOO!

Sweet daddy..

Happy Father's day to all the dads out there! Mostly to my sweet daddy!!  He will always be my daddy till the day I'm dead.  I have always been the biggest daddy's girl.   I love you daddy and thanks for helping mold me! I also love how much Miss H adores her sweet Papa!

Miss H also is a huge daddy's girl!  I mean the second he walks in the door she could pretty much careless about me.  I don't mind it a bit, okay some days I'm sad but really it is so cute.  I know that she adores him for all that he is.  She loves to play with him and that he lets her get away with WAY to MUCH!  She is a daddy girl from top to bottom.  I am thankful she has a wonderful daddy you adores her as much.  He thinks she does no wrong in life....wait till the teenage years ;-)  Thanks Chris for being a great father to our sweet baby girl!

Elephants, Bears, and more

H ready to see the animals...asking where they are??

This past week Miss H and I met up with our friends LK and Carrie for a long OVER DUE Zoo trip!   We have tried to take the girls to the zoo for almost 2 months now.  You know how life gets crazy!! The girls had a blast and so did the mommy's.

Thankfully it was the last day of school for FWISD, thus the zoo was pretty calm.  Also we had amazing weather which made life much better.  The girls were so dang cute looking at the animals and hugging on each other.  Miss H loves to hug, can't say her friends enjoy it as much!  She's a lover!!

Here are some pictures from our trip.  We will have to go back soon....or when LK and Carrie return from their month vacation :-(

The elephants are one of H's favorite animals!  

Here they are checking them out... 

LK would actually touch the figures, Miss H was scared to death of them! So ODD! 

Enjoying the white tiger 

oh and BEARS!! 

Miss H with her money to feed the birds...she loves them so much! 

She wanted to pet this guy so bad!! 

LK liked them from a distance!  

 I love this pic of LK its like she is dancing with the Kangaroo

Instead of touching the "FAKE" kangaroo Miss H was checking out this ugly bird. 

 Good bye zoo see ya next time!!