Life is B.U.S.Y

How is life so dang busy?  I mean really...I don't even have a "job" and I feel like I can't stop running around!!  I know I have not been the best of bloggers and I hate that.  However in 2 weeks I plan to jump back on the blogging wagon and get after it.  Why 2 weeks...um well we are BUSY!! LOL

2 weeks ago we went to my sisters house and hung out.  We had a blast!  I love letting Miss H hang out with her cousins and play.  Nothing is sweeter than watching and listening to them...that is until Miss H decided to scratch or beat on baby G's sweet head.  We are having a small issues with touching our friends and not scratching!!! I hope this phase leaves quickly!  She is an OVER LOVER!!

Then this last week my sweet mom came down and helped me out with a garage sale.  We have been unpacking and had tons of things from our college days that needed to go.  You know when both you and your hubby live on your own for 5 years after college you collect a few things.  However, many of those things needed to move on to some other home.  Plus I had tons of clothes I wanted to see leave!!  My mom is an amazing "garage saler"...both having and buying!  Thus I was beyond grateful for her help here.  Plus we cleaned up the garage so our cars can fit nicely in there.  Life in the garage is organized thanks to mom and I!  We sold a lot of stuff and then donated the rest of the clothes that didn't leave!  Then mom stuck around and extra day or two for some fun...we managed a trip to IKEA!  Neither of us had been before and man was it fun.  We enjoyed learning the ways of IKEA and got to eat with one of mom's friends.

No more than had mom left and in came Chris' family.  The Roberts' clan came to stay with us for this week.  We are happy to have them all here in our nice big home.  It is so nice that we can all stay in one place and have plenty of room!  This is Chris' dads first visit to our new house so that is fun too.  As you can imagine we have been busy partying it up over here.  Thus far we have shopped, hit a Rangers game, and enjoyed some pedicures together!!  We still have more fun to come...

heading to the game...

having a dance party

Because we are about to join my dad's side of the family in Cali!  We are headed there for a wedding and can't wait.  Of course we have big plans to enjoy every part of the trip.  Some of our fun will be at the San Diego Zoo, seeing cousins and family, oh and joining my sisters family at Disney Land!!  Whoo whoo!!  Can you see why it will be at least a 2 weeks before I am back to blogging? My goal is 2 weeks but I have a feeling it may be more like 3.  Needless to say there will be tons of pictures to post once I get back into it!

Miss H is eighteen months old!

Harper you are EIGHTEEN months old!

This month you weigh 21.4 pounds.  You are now 30 inches long. You are wearing a size 3 diaper.  You are wearing all your 12 month clothes and more 12-18 month clothes! You had to get 2 shots this month...boo but you handled it very well :-)

Monthly stats:

FOOD: My eater! You still have a very good appetite and I am thankful for that.  You are still pretty open to most foods.  You love to "dip dip" as you say, dipping any food makes it better.  

Sippy Cup: Still loving water, which is great.  You love to drink out of bottles still too..like bottled water! We just moved you to a hard spout sippy and you don't seem to mind.  I like it because now you can't make a mess in the backseat of the car. You like to take the spout and lay it on your hand and watch the water come out..makes mommy CRAZY! But no more my sweet child, plus I love the new Avent hard spout cups, less to clean which makes mommy happy.

Ice, Ice as you say is also a love! You ask for at least 2 cups of ICE ICE a day. You just love to sit and chomp on it.

Smiling: You are such a happy little one. I don't think a day goes by that you are not smiling.  You have begun to show it off it is funny.  Plus mommy is trying to teach you to say cheese when I take your pictures...you will get it soon I am sure

Talking:  You have officially become a talker! I no longer can keep up with your new words, because it seems like everyday a new one arrives.  I will have to make a long list for next month! The nice thing is you still do both talk and sign. You will say what you want as well as sign at the same time!  This is helpful for those few words that are still not 100 percent there yet.  I love how you can communicate it makes our days so much easier.  

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!), horse, donkey, frog, bunny, and music.  Your new signs this month are funny...for some reason when you ask where dada dada is and I respond with "work" you have made your own sign for work.  I have no idea why you do it but you put your sweet fist up in the air and shake it back and forth.  I love it! So you now have "work" as a sign!  You are such a creative kiddo! You also added more animals again this month but like your talking I can no longer keep up, which is a great thing! 

Obsessions: ICE!! You have moved beyond water bottles to ICE. You LOVE ice, you will do anything to get your hands on ice.  Even placing your hands in a random persons drink! Since it has been so hot it is a nice thing to like!  You are also in love with the new baby elephant at the zoo, Baby Bell!

Observer:  I love that you take EVERYTHING in!  You really enjoy watching things before going out and trying them.  I'm sure this will come in very handy soon!  Just like when we visited Queen Tia and she was nursing your cousin G..you then realized you were missing out on something wonderful! Ha, ha, and tried to figure out how to achieve that again!!

WINSTON and BOB: Cutest thing ever..you love to grab Winston's 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.  Your favorite thing to do with Bob is give her her treats..you love to spoil Bob!  

Sleep: love that you are still a 2 nap baby! I can enjoy a nice shower while you rest and still get stuff done later in the day too! You are such a good sleeper no matter the place I never really have to worry! I hope that stays around as well.

Your hands: You have really begun to use your spoon more.  You are also really good at getting those little hands on everything.  Oh and now you can open things like toothpaste, chapstick, and anything else with an easy screw top.  Yikes..we have had to add a little baby proofing to the house with this new skill.    

Mouth:  Tooth count- 12!  Thankful we have had NO NEW teeth.  I know you are happy to have no new ones also.  You do now love to click your tongue it is pretty cute.

Your legs: Let's put it this way NOTHING stops you now! You are a pro at all things that have to do with your legs running, hopping, kicking, galloping, anything really.

Bath time: Our favorite time together.  You love to sit and play in your little tub and I love watching you.  You love to have bubbles.  You also like to wash baby Sarah the same way mommy washes you.  If I wash your toes, then you have to wash her toes.  I'm very happy you enjoy bath time and splashing around. 

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

Dislikes: Not getting your way, man oh man do you have a fit to throw! Not a fan of holding hands if its not your idea...Miss Independent  

 (I decided to change this from the FIRST since we are pretty much done with FIRST  in life) 

Highlights of the month

Enjoyed a road trip to Queen Tia's and got to see your cousins
Thankful for your cousin Emery and all the toys she sent home with you
Got your FIRST black eye, by spinning around and hit the chair in your room, YIKES
Celebrated mommy and daddy's 3rd wedding anniversary
Got to visit daddy's work for his secretary's retirement party
Saw your FIRST fireworks on the Fourth of July...you call them bang bangs now
You finally said YES instead of shaking your head
Celebrated Baby Brinley's first birthday with her

Favorite toys this month are the same as last month:

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 past month has been so fun.  I have enjoyed watching as you begin to learn new words.  I love watching you develop new skills even if it means more baby proofing.   Daddy loves spending time with you playing and teaching you things. We just can't get enough of you sweet girl.  We love you to the moon and back!

Your SECOND Year!

Your FIRST year!

Mini session fun

Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family Miss H won a fun free mini session from Sweet LaRae .
I can't begin to tell you how much I adore these two ladies!! They are amazing to work with and captures some great shots.  They did Miss H's smash cake session you can see it here. I love that they a) are sisters b) have kiddos too c) both take pictures at the same time.

This session was a fun SUMMER time session.  They made the cutest back drops and provided rompers with head bands.  I adore everything about this little session!  Here you be the judge!!

Zoo, Concert, and Fireworks

Wow we were busy this past week.  The weather here was amazing!!! I mean when in July does TEXAS have 80's?? Okay really!!  Besides the busy stuff I had to do this week...car in shop, meetings for tennis, and such I knew we had to squeeze in a quick trip to the zoo.

Thus our sweet friends Kacie and her cute little girl T joined us for a quick visit to the zoo this past week.  Miss H and T were adorable looking at all the animals and having a blast.  As stated prior if the weather had not been so wonderful we would have never been able to enjoy this fun outing.  Of course I took a million pics but here are some favorites.  Miss H loves the animals so much...I love going with her!

finally H will stand next to the fake animals!!

Not only did we do the zoo this week but we also were fortunate enough to attend Concert in the Gardens.  Kacie's family invited us and man what fun it was! On top of them we also ran into our other favorite friends the Ortiz's.  The music was great...kids had a blast...and the fireworks were awesome.  Miss H loved playing with the kiddos, dancing, but most of all the fireworks.  I couldn't believe that she was not scared!  She loved them and even asked for more when it ended.  I love summer, amazing weather, and good friends!!