9 months old!

Well, 9 months old 12 days ago.  Better late than never, right?  I have not felt like blogging lately.  To be honest, I haven't felt like doing much of anything.  I think a combination of Jason working late every night last week + Harper resisting naps for a few days + it being SO HOT outside just did me in.  My breaking point came on Saturday morning when I managed to knock an almost full bottle of olive oil onto the pantry floor.  And Jason was out of town.  Thankfully, Harper was in her high chair eating her cheerios at the time and not at my feet like she usually is while I'm in the kitchen.  Jason returned home Saturday night and I left the house yesterday by myself for two hours to get the car washed and to get a much needed manicure & pedicure.  And Harper went down for both of her naps today without a single tear.  So I'm feeling much, much, MUCH better :)

So ANYWAY, onto Harper's 9 month post...  I'll keep it short and sweet {and hopefully honest.  Some things have already changed in the past 12 days.}

Growth: Weight- 17# 6 oz {30th percentile} {{and the exact same amount that Jason weighed at 9 months according to his baby book.  She weighed within an ounce of what Jason did at birth, too.}}  Height- 27.5 inches {50th percentile}.  

Teething:  Those 2 bottom teeth are still coming in but she hasn't cut any other teeth yet.  

Sleeping: 10-10.5 hours at night + 2 naps during the day lasting 1.5-2 hours each {mostly}

Eating:  I still can't feed her anything with a spoon {so no cereal or yogurt}, but she is getting better about trying foods that she can feed herself.  And she still nurses 5 times a day.  

Milestones:  She started crawling when she was 8 months and 1 week old and she became a pro immediately, crawling everywhere- and fast!!  She also started putting toys into containers {like her blocks into their bucket or her rings into the basket of toys in the living room... she'd put anything into anything really}.  She also started waving- although it was a backwards wave and never on command in public.

Other:  She had her first cold.  She never had a fever, but she had a really runny nose the first day and then was congested for a few days.  The worst part was trying to suction her nose.  She screamed so loud that I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbors heard her.  We used a cool mist humidifier while she slept and I think it helped a lot.  And I know I've mentioned it before, but Harper is going through a stranger anxiety phase.  It's awful.  I'm so ready for her to be over it.  So, so, so ready.

Sweet blessings

Our sweet little girl was baptized a couple of Sundays ago.  I was really nervous about the baptism since Harper isn't too keen on strangers right now, but she did great {only crying a little instead of a lot}.   

We were so thankful to have family and friends join us for this special day.  It would have been nice if we were able to take pictures of Harper with our family and friends, but the combination of Harper not having a nap that morning and having a lot of people at our house for lunch after church made picture taking kind of out of the question.  

The first three pictures below were actually taken a couple days ago but the rest were taken on the day she was baptized.

cousins :)

Father's Day

I'm a little behind in blogging...  Since the last post, Harper was baptized, turned 9 months old, went on her first plane ride and out-of-state trip, and we got to go see baby Beck {Jason's best friend's little boy} in the hospital!  All in one week!  I promise plan to post about all of that soon, but first I'm going to go out of order and show you pictures from yesterday :)

Harper giving Jason his Father's Day card...

 How cute is that!?

So we've had this Little Tikes toy in our back yard for quite awhile, thanks to our neighbors {they were just going to throw it away!}, but we didn't have a seat belt for the swing until now.  Had I known that you could order just a seat belt from the Little Tikes website for $2 with free shipping we would have done it long ago!  Anyway, Harper really enjoyed herself on the swing.  I got her out after only a few minutes {because I was bored}; however, Harper started throwing a fit so I let her swing some more.  After we did come inside she crawled to the window and started fussing again.  Uh oh.  Our backyard is not shaded in the afternoon so let's hope she forgets about it until this evening...

Harper and her "da da".  I just love these two :)

Harper

Just thought I'd share a few {okay, more than a few} pictures of Harper from the past several days :)

I have to admit, I love that she can crawl.  We have to be more careful to keep things out of reach and keep her away from certain things, but it is so fun when she follows me around and comes to find me when I leave the room.  She can also entertain herself much better {which really helps when I'm trying to cook dinner}.

{you can really see her teeth here}

I'm trying to remember to offer Harper a little water in a sippy cup so that she can learn to drink from them.  She seems to like it.  She doesn't drink much though.  Maybe if there was milk in it...

{sadly, she did not inherit those eyelashes from me}

Have I mentioned how much Harper loves Cheerios?  I took my box of cereal out of the pantry the other day and she started "crying".  Whoever had the idea to make the Cheerios box bright yellow is a genius.  {Oh, and she is wearing a bib because I *try* to give her banana, too.}

She now pulls these baskets off of the entry table shelf and plays with the balls inside.  She actually took all {but one} of the balls out of one basket and one-by-one put them in the other basket.  I'm going to have to replace them with plastic balls though.  These made a mess with little wood pieces everywhere.

:)

A few happenings this past week

Jason and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on Thursday.  I can't believe how fast nine years goes by!  Since we had Harper with us, we just went to dinner in Pearland to celebrate.  For our tenth anniversary, I'd love to be here or here.  But there is a good chance that we'll spend it here {for Skylar's graduation}.  Although I do fully intend to go to one of those resorts, or a similar one, in the spring!


We've been pretty busy lately.  I'm not going to rehash it all, but I will tell you that we hosted the May dinner club at our house on Memorial Day and I think it was a success :)  But between comforting Harper {her "stranger" anxiety has been in full force lately} and getting all of the food prepared, I didn't take a single picture.  I thought I'd still share my menu and recipes in case you are interested.

Beverages

Sarasota Lemonade

Beer {Saint Arnold's Lawn Mower and Shiner Bock Blonde}

Appetizers 

Watermelon Caprese Skewers

Tostitos Creamy Spinach Dip with Fritos

Dinner

Honey, Lemon and Rosemary Grilled Chicken

Oven Baked Beans

Corn on the Cob {in the microwave!}

Roasted Zucchini {we meant to grill this but didn't have room}

Dessert

Peach Crunch Cake with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream

And today I said farewell to my dear friend Allison.  We have been friends for... 20 years!?!?  {Wow, we really are getting old.}  She is about to live her dream by moving to Australia for a few years.  And now I'm tearing up.  I'll miss you Allison.  And I'll start saving now to come visit you :)