Harper's First Birthday

For Harper's first birthday, I really just kept things small and simple.  It is two days after Christmas, so we just had my family over for some lunch and cake and ice cream.  I got some balloons and made a slideshow of Harper's first year, but that was pretty much the extent of it all.  We ate Port of Subs sandwiches, watched the slideshow while Harper opened presents, and then sang to her and let her dig into her cake!  She didn't really care about it.  She liked it, but didn't get too crazy or messy and didn't even care to finish it.  She did love the sandwiches though and totally ate a whole one by herself.  Then for her birthday dinner we went to Cafe Rio and she loved that too.

Happy Birthday sweet Harper girl!

Harper - Twelve Months

The last of my monthly posts for my Harper girl.  Her life has literally flown by.  There is no way I feel like she has been with us for that long.  She is just so calm and happy and well behaved that I don't even notice the time slipping by!  But at the same time, I can't remember our life and family without her.  She has changed the dynamics so much and we love her to pieces!

I can't believe she is not walking yet.  The little stinker stands up from the floor on her own, dances, does squats, picks up toys and everything...but won't walk!  She has plenty of balance and has taken a few steps, but she will not walk for anything.  Oh well, hopefully soon.

She is starting to talk more and more.  She says, "Momma, Dadda, uh-oh, bye bye, and ba-boo" when she is holding a wand (meaning bibbidy-bobbidy-boo...that's what happens when you have a big sister that loves Cinderella).

She loves to eat whatever we are eating.  I can't think of anything I haven't given her (besides peanut butter and honey and those types of things) and she pretty much loves it all.  Her favorites are probably pancakes, pasta, oatmeal, and breads.  We finally found a sippy cup that works for her!  She prefers a straw and once we found one, she started downing her whole milk.  She drinks at least two cups a day, plus a cup of juice.  A few weeks ago she was exclusively nursing, and now she's totally done with me.  So crazy how fast she switched once we found a cup that she liked.  It was a little sad for me to stop nursing her, but it's been about a week now and she is totally fine.

She still sleeps great.  From about 7:30pm-7:30am every night.  Then she naps from 9:30-11:00 and 1:00-4:00ish.  She has started saying "nigh-night" to me lately when she is tired so I just bring her up to bed and lay her down, she puts her thumb in her mouth, grabs her blanket, and goes right to sleep.  She is such a good girl.

She still loves Quinn to pieces and they are always laughing and busting up together (especially at night in their room).  But she is definitely starting to fight back.  For whatever reason, Quinn is pretty rough on Harper, but Harper has started pulling her hair or grabbing things back and I think it is hilarious that Quinn is getting a taste of her own medicine.  We'll see how it goes in the future.

Harper - Eleven Months

Harper turned 11 months on Thanksgiving Day.

She is such a fun little girl!  I feel like I just posted and not too much has changed, but she is just more and more active and independent as the days go by.  She is standing for longer periods of time and starting to push toys around while walking behind them.
She's pretty finicky and picky with foods.  One day she loves something and the next wants nothing to do with it and then continues to go back and forth with it.  She does love pancakes every morning though still.

She knows who "Dadda" and "Momma" are now and will go to us when we say "Where's Dadda/Momma?" and she will repeat it herself.  She learned how to blow kisses and almost play peek a boo.  It's so cute to see her learning new actions.

She watches everything Quinn does and tries her best to be just like her and do everything just like her big sister.  They love to play together and make each other laugh, but they are both starting to get pretty territorial and they don't like to share.  Quinn hit Harper the other day and I asked why and she said, "Harper pulled my hair!" Haha, I couldn't help but laugh to know that Harper is starting to fight back when she wants something.  I feel like we have a lot of years of girls fights ahead of us.

We love our sweet girls so much!

Harper - Ten Months

Harper turned ten months old a few weeks ago.  She is totally getting jipped out of her monthly posts because life is crazy with two little ones.  But better late than never.  Here is my sweet girl at ten months.

She is so calm and such a sweetheart.

This month she has learned how to clap, wave, and dance all the time.  She gets so excited and loves doing it.  Whenever someone says hi or bye, she immediately starts waving.  And if she ever hears any music, she will start shaking her head and dancing without hesitation.  She also started standing for a few seconds at a time, and recently up to about 30 seconds on her own.  She is crawling on top of lots of things and loving exploring everything within her reach.

She loves to eat!  She is only nursing two times a day and then before bed and when she wakes up.  But she loves to eat whatever is on our plates!  She loves Gerber snacks, pureed food, as well as pancakes, macaroni, toast, crackers, and again..whatever little bites we will give her from out plates.  I have also given her a few bites of cake and ice cream the past few weeks and she LOVES it (of course).  It is hilarious how excited she gets for it though.

She naps twice a day, about an hour in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.  Then she sleeps from about 8:00-7:00 at night.

She gets so excited to see Nate when he gets home from work at night.  She starts zooming and crawling for him the second she hears his voice.  She only snuggles when she is really tired, and she will suck her thumb when she gets sleepy.

She is such a sweetie.  We all love her to pieces and can't imagine our family without her.  I went somewhere with Quinn the other day while Harper was with my mom and the whole time Quinn kept asking for Harper and looking over at her seat in the car saying she missed her.  It was so sweet.  And Quinn LOVES when Harper wakes up from her naps so that they can play again (until Harper steals a toy or something and then Quinn gets territorial).