My sweet baby girl, how can you be ONE already?! This year has flown by.  Although we definitely had our ups and downs the first few months, you have been such a blessing to our family.  You are a sweet, funny, lovable and curious little girl. Girl, you are a ham! You keep us laughing, that’s for sure.

You love your brothers! You will walk around the house yelling “EE-AN” and then constantly try to get into your brothers room during their nap and wake up Hayden. There are two sure fire ways to get a smile on your face…heir names are Hayden and Ian.

You are on the move these days.  You walk around this house like you own, it and there really isn’t a whole lot of wobble to your step anymore 😉  You really, REALLY enjoy climbing.  I have caught you, more times than I’d like, climbing on your chair or anything else you can climb up on.

Your favorite thing to do these days, other than climbing, is playing peek-a-boo. You LOVE it! You also like to play chase.  You will try to run from me or your brothers and make a game of it.  You squeal with delight when we catch you.

You are still a good sleeper, but will go in cycles of wanting to wake up once around 300 to drink a bottle.  Luckily you have stopped that for the last week.  Let’s continue with that, okay? Although your dad is usually the one who gets up with you, but I sympathize with him having to get up 🙂

You may not have wanted solid food at the beginning and fought us pretty hard to keep anything other than formula going into your mouth.  But missy, that didn’t last long.  You are such a good eater now.  You eat pasta, chicken, avocado, oatmeal, waffles, some green beans and corn, baked beans, you name it.

I took your 1 year photos last week and you were more interested in trying to escape than sitting in the chair. I think in between each photo we got we had to go chase you and put you back in the chair.

Some of the things you love (other than your brothers) are dogs, sunglasses, hats and my keys.  Anytime you see a dog, you squeal and get all excited. You will stop what you are doing if you see a dog on TV or in a movie.  I can’t tell you how many pictures I have of you in sunglasses, either mine or your brothers.  But you won’t wear yours!

You are such a sweet girl, you love to snuggle (when you want to) and the other when Hayden was crying, you leaned over and tried to give him a kiss.  It was the sweetest thing! My favorite time of day is giving you your last bottle because afterwards, you snuggle against my chest and its the most wonderful feeling in the world.  Tonight as I was holding you, it brought me back to the day you were born and the very first time I held you agains my chest.  We had to do “kangaroo care” or skin to skin because you were having some breathing trouble and studies have shown that skin to skin works.  we did it and it worked! within 24 hours your breathing was normal.  Back to tonight 😉  I was thinking of the first time I held you and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world having you so close.  It was such a bonding experience and one that I will never forget.

You may be as sweet as pie, but girl, you are a diva! You know what you want and you will make it known that you want it.  I don’t know where you get that…we’ll just say its from daddy (It’ll be our little secret, shhhh) You have this high pitch screech thing that you do. We call it the Pterodactyl screech, and let me tell you, it will pierce some ears!

I could go on and on, but I’ll let your dad fill in the gaps, as he’s writing something too.

You have brought so much joy and laughter (and pink) into our lives and I cant imagine life without you, Harper Beth!

Happy Birthday baby girl!   love you to the moon and back ~ Momma

Harper girl is 10 months and it is simply amazing the things she is doing compared to 9 months! For starters, she’s everywhere…it was pretty hard to get a photo this month.  She would much rather climb in the chair than sit still for a photo.  These photos were all taken in about a 2 minute time frame!

This girl is a ball of energy! She loves to be on the move, but most of all, she loves to dance!  Anytime there is music on she starts bouncing up and down and dancing.  She’s been doing this since she was about 4 months old.  She would sit there and rock back and forth to the music.  She is crawling all over the place and trying to walk.  She walks all along the couch and around our ottoman and does great walking with just holding onto our fingers.

She may be full of energy, but she isn’t crazy…she will also just sit on the floor and play quietly with her toys for 20 minutes at a time.  The other day she sat in the corner of the living room with her toys for like 30 minutes.

Harper’s hair is getting thicker and longer and I have this fear of cutting it.  I have trimmed it once, just because after her DocBand came off, there were a few patches that had grown long while the other part broke off and was shorter.  Her bangs are getting long and are always in her face that I have started to put bows in her hair to keep it out of her face. And, her hair is finally thick enough to hold the bows.

She is a very content baby, we were a little worried her first 4 months of life…she was the complete opposite and very high maintenance. She’s also not in any pain or discomfort anymore, she gets what she needs and is a very happy baby.  She loves to laugh and squeal, and I love to hear her laugh and squeal!

She loves to be where the boys are and watch them play.  She is a girl who loves cars, but who can blame her…they are everywhere! She will take a car and push it back and forth on the floor like her brothers do.

We still haven’t made huge progress in the food department.  Unless its a cracker or rice cake, she doesn’t want it.  She won’t even let me put baby food in her mouth, she takes the spoon and pushes it out of the way.  She has put a few small pieces of peach in her mouth…she didn’t like them much, but she tried it! She still loves her milk and gets drinks 4-5 bottles a day, still 7 ounces in a bottle.

She still takes Prevacid twice a day and the Bethanechol 4 times a day 30 minutes before each bottle.  She does a really great job taking her medicine and actually loves it.

Harper is a great sleeper!  I can finally start to enjoy my nights again before going to bed myself.  The boys usually stayed awake until after their 800 bottle, but Harper is ready for bed around 600, 700 at the latest. It really just depends on her nap schedule, but typically she will be out by 700 and then we will give her another bottle around 900-1000 and she goes right back to sleep.  Then she will sleep until morning…although that can vary some too.  She will wake up at 530 am some mornings, but usually its 700-800 am, then she’ll eat and play about 2 hours before her first nap.  I try to get her down for her 2nd nap about 2.5 hours after she wakes up from her first nap and then she’ll go to bed 3.5-4 hours after she wakes up from the 2nd nap. Her naps are usually about an hour long, a few days a week she will sleep 2 hours in the morning.  Very rarely do her naps work out to be the same time as the boys nap…she usually wakes up right when the boys go down for their nap.  The only day that they will line up is on Sundays after church.  That’s when momma tries to take a nap too!

Harper has started to say “Hi” and we can officially say that is her first word.  We will walk in a room and say “Hi Harper” and she will look at us and say “Hiiiiii”, its sooo cute and her voice is adorable.  She “talks” all the time and knows exactly what she is saying!

My sweet little girl is such a blessing to our family and I can’t believe how much I am in love with her! I love watching her with her brothers and when they are all sitting together in a circle playing, my heart just melts!

Wow….ok, so she’s 1 day away from being 10 months but here is her 9 month post 😉

Its getting harder and harder to take your monthly photos because you are wanting to go everywhere but sit still for a photo.

Harper is a very active little girl, she loves to be up and see what everyone is doing.  She is still army crawling on her belly and loves to be in her walker so she can go all over place.

She is starting to eat more solid foods, but only crackers, puffs, breads and stuff like that.  She refuses to eat bay food or anything that is mushy or wet.  Her pediatrician gave us some tips to use to get her used to that type of food, so we’ll try those and see what happens.  She did eat a few cooked carrots and peas the other day, but not much. We’re working on it…

She still eats 7 ounces 4-5 times a day and is not waking up to eat at night.  Every now and then she will wake up at 430 or so to eat but usually its 600 or later.  She sleeps great! She usually goes to bed around 600-700 and sleeps until 700 or so, sometimes later.  She takes 2 naps now and they are anywhere from 45 mins to 2 hours in length.

This girl loves to dance and move to music…sometimes just the music in her head! 😉  She has graduated to a big girl seat in the grocery cart.  She thinks she’s big stuff!

Harper is very curious, just like her brother, Hayden, was (and still is).  She will try to crawl over to something she wants to take a peek inside…like boxes! She loves to climb inside boxes, its a good thing we get a big box of diapers in the mail every month.

We celebrated her first Easter this month and she was soo cute in her little Easter dress. Don’t let the picture fool you, the bow in her hair lasted about 5 minutes and she took it out. She was finally able to wear the bracelet my mom got her when she was born.  It has a jewel charm on it with the letter H engraved on it.

This little girl looooves to be outside.  She likes to swing in her swing and just watch her brothers.

Harper is such a sweet girl and has a fun little personality, its been so fun watching her grow and learn new things.  She still loves to be around her big brothers and see what all they are doing. Hayden loves being around her and “take care of her”.

Harper and Hayden

Late as usual…..

Harper is growing up so fast, its crazy! She has such a fun little personality, she keeps us laughing.  Harper loves to smile and laugh. She get so excited when she sees her brothers and just starts squealing and smiling from ear to ear.  She is such a curious baby too.  She is always trying to peak around us or whatever is in her way to see things. She examines every little thing like her brother Hayden.

This girl moves non-stop! She kicks her legs more than any baby I have ever seen.  When she’s excited, they go crazy.  She loves to stand up and try to walk, that’s when she’s the happiest. She thinks she is such a big girl when she stands up.  She is doing pretty good at standing by herself while holding on to something.

VIDEO

Harper has TWO teeth now.  They came in within about 3 days of each other.  She did great with them, just like the boys.  She was a little fussy for a few days and not sleeping as well, but still good, and she went to laugh one morning and I saw a tooth!

I think Harper is going to love the outdoors just like her brothers and mama does.  She loves to sit outside and watch her brothers play, but her most favorite thing to do outside is swing!  She just giggles and squeals and gets those legs going.

She has started to “crawl” and is moving all over the place.  She doesn’t really crawl on her hands and knees, but she does an army crawl and it gets her where she wants to go! I like it because since she’s not on her hands and knees, it slows her down and she can’t move as fast ;).  I am in no hurry for her to crawl or walk.

Harper still doesn’t like baby food – but really, who can blame her?! Every time I try to give it to her, she spits it out and acts like its the worst thing ever. I keep trying in hopes that one day she’ll just realize that she likes it.  She does love the puffs though!  Maybe she’ll be one that just skips baby food and goes straight to table food.

Harper is such a sweet little girl, and I love her sweet little touch and the way she lays her head down on my shoulder right as I turn off the lights and about to put her in her crib at night.  My favorite time of day is giving her last bottle to her because she’s still half asleep and such a cuddle bug.  After she finishes her bottle, she’ll just lay her head on my shoulder and go to sleep. Its so hard to put her down after that!

My sweet girl is slowly growing out of the baby stage and it makes me sad.  She is the last baby in our house and I just want to savor it all.  I am in no hurry for her to get to that next stage…or the next.  She can take as long as she wants to crawl, walk, etc.  I am just soaking up all these last baby moments and loving them all!

And now I’ll leave you with my absolute favorite photo from our 8 month photo shoot

Seriously Mom, no more photos!!

Woah, this is way past due.  In a few weeks, she’ll be 8 months!  I say this every month, but I can’t believe she is 7 months old already…

7 Months

Harper is an absolute joy to be around.  She is such a sweet and happy baby.  Now that her reflux is doing well and her tummy is all settled, she really only fusses when she is hungry or sleepy.

She has gotten on a semi predictable routine as of the last few weeks.  She will go to sleep around 600-700 and then we’ll wake her up to eat around 900-1000pm.  She’ll sleep until 400am or 500am to eat and then go back to sleep until 700 or 800. Although lately she has stretched her sleeping to about 600am.  Then she’ll take about 3 naps during the day (anywhere between 30 mins to 1.5 hours each).  She is still a tummy sleeper…you lay her on her back and within 5 seconds she is rolling over onto her stomach.

Harps is eating about 7 ounces four times a day, sometimes 5.  We have tried baby food, oatmeal and rice cereal and she wants nothing to do with any of it! This girl would rather drink her food…

This girl is a busy body.  She is constantly moving and wants to crawl more than anything.  When we hold her, she just kicks her legs like crazy.  Harper loves her toys and will just sit there and play with them on her play mat for an hour at a time.  Of course she has her two brothers to sit and watch also…those 2 could have their own variety show!

always doing something with her hands

Harper loves her brothers.  If anyone can put a smile on her face, it will be those two boys! They love to come in her room and talk to her in the morning when she wakes up.  They come in her room saying “happpy”, which is what Hayden started calling her a while back, and she just gets a huge grin on her face.

Harper has such a funny personality already.  She is so curious and loves to find out how things work.  She is such an observant little girl, just like Hayden was/is.  She loves to look over her crib bumper when she’s laying in her crib on her stomach and it is the funniest thing.  One day I thought she had fallen asleep because she was quiet for about 5 minutes and when I looked up (I was laying down right beside her crib) she was peeking over her crib at me like “I see you”.  I just started laughing out loud and then she started laughing…needless to say, she did not go to sleep any time soon.

She graduated from her Doc Band a few weeks ago and now has a lovely round head that I can kiss any time without the obstacle of a band.

Doc Band graduation

Harper is just a crazy girl and I love it! She is a sweet, sweet girl and she continues to amaze me every day.