Hello

Has it really been two weeks since I last blogged?  Sorry about that.  My computer time is really limited to when Harper is napping.  Otherwise she will be crawling under the desk and playing with the wires.  


And there is a lot to be done during her naptime, such as:


1. Weekly cleaning chores
2. Laundry and ironing
3. Watching the Olympics {most recently}
4. Cleaning out my closet
5. Searching the web for cute fabric for Harper {finally found one for her birthday dress!}
6. Searching the web for homemade birthday invitation ideas
7. Planning out our dinners
8 Trying to get Harper to go to sleep {she has gotten to where she talks and plays in her crib instead of sleeping.  She can entertain herself for well over an hour.  And yes, I can get stuff done during that time, but it really makes for a cranky baby come evening!}
9. Resting
10. Blogging


Another excuse for not blogging is that I have not been taking many pictures lately.  And who is interested in a blog post without a picture?  


I do have a cute video of Harper getting really excited when there were puppies on GMA.  However, I still do not know how to get the videos from the camcorder to my computer.  And the instruction booklet was no help to me.  


So, for today, I will post a picture of the avocado grilled cheese sandwich that I have been eating almost every day this summer.  I highly recommend them.  But do yourself a favor and use real butter and good {not American} cheese.

I will *try* to have a real post soon.

10 months old!

The months just keep passing us by, and now our little Harper is 10 months old.  It is so much fun to watch her learn and grow. She definitely keeps Jason and me entertained :)

Growth: She weighs around 18 1/2 pounds.  She's definitely made up for the slow weight gain between 4 and 6 months!  

Teething:  She cut one top middle tooth on July 1st and the other top middle tooth cut through a couple days later.  Thank goodness!!  I think the top teeth bothered her a lot more than the bottom two.  

Sleeping:  She still sleeps 10-10.5 hours at night and takes two naps a day.  There were a couple weeks in which she really resisted going to sleep for naps.  I thought I was going to lose my mind.  But then she cut the top teeth, and I started putting her down for naps a little sooner than I had been, and it got much, much better.  I can not even begin to tell you what a relief that is.

Eating:  Remember how I was worried about Harper not eating solids?  Yeah, Jason and I laugh about that now.  This girl can eat!  There was even one day last week that she crawled to her high chair and started whining before I had gone into the kitchen to make lunch.

There are some things that she doesn't want to try {like oranges in particular}, but the majority of the time she will eat what I give her, and I mostly give her what we eat.  Her favorite foods include grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken, meatballs, ground beef, cantaloupe, watermelon, bananas, corn, peas, Cheerios of course... I'm sure I'm missing a few here.  She's even eaten salmon.  

As for nursing, she's down to 4 times a day now that she's eating 3 solid meals a day.  She nurses when she wakes in the morning, when she wakes up from each nap, and at bedtime.  And I've started giving her a sippy cup of water after each meal.  She loves the sippy cup, but she doesn't drink that much.

Milestones:  Oh goodness, where do I begin...  Harper started carrying toys with her when she crawls; she can climb in and out of the little chair in her room; she can pull up on her feet {but doesn't do it all the time.  I guess she can get to most things by just getting on her knees, like in the photo above.}; she claps-- all you have to do usually is say "yay"; she mimics things we do, like shaking our head "no"; she can stack her rings on the stacker; she pushes herself backwards on the little riding toy; and I have heard her say "bye bye" twice {while waving!}.  


I can't wait to see what she has in store for us this month :)

more from our trip to Longview

The rest of our trip to Longview was nice as well.  It was pretty relaxing and, as usual, filled with more delicious food... Pizza King, homemade donuts, and even my favorite meal at Grandmama's house- chicken spaghetti, homemade rolls and homemade chocolate pie.  Sigh. 

As promised {Mom}, here are more pictures from our trip to Longview last week.  Harper had a lot of fun playing with her cousins and letting her grandparents hold her.  I didn't get a picture of Nani and her on my camera this time... sorry.

Harper with Allen, Pa & Kayla

 Harper and me with Grandaddy, Grandmama and PaPaw

Harper and Grammy and their matching clothes :)

 even Unkie got to hold her!

Stay tuned.... Harper will be 10 MONTHS OLD tomorrow!  Seriously!?

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July last week.  Jason was off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so we decided to spend the holiday in Longview with our families.  We celebrated the 4th at my sister and brother-in-law's house with chopped beef sandwiches from Bodacious, baked beans, potato casserole, watermelon and ice cream cake.  Yuuuuuum!  Harper also went swimming for the first time and, as we expected, she loved being in the water!

Here are some pictures from the 4th.  I have more pictures from the rest of the week that I'll post on another day.

Harper's 4th of July outfit.  Thanks Aunt Debbie!

{clapping}

 Harper enjoyed some chopped beef, baked beans, and watermelon, too :)  She loves watermelon.

 beautiful Harper

{more clapping}

 Slade, "Little" Cayman, and Skylar

 Campbell

 Ashley and "Big" Cayman

 my grandmother and my parents

 four generations

{and clapping again}

and one tired little girl

Trip to Illinois

I think I'll be pretty caught up after this post {which is good since I hope to have some 4th of July pictures to post next week}.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Harper went on her first plane ride and out-of-state trip in June when we flew to Illinois to visit Jason's grandmother and other relatives.  

Harper did great flying.  I really wasn't worried about it.  Both of the flights were in the morning so I just let Harper nurse herself to sleep.  She actually slept almost the entire flight coming home.  {I'll add that to my long list of reasons to nurse :)}  And I have to say, Hobby airport is very family-friendly.  I love that there is a special line at security for those traveling with children {and apparently, anyone traveling with a baby is harmless because they didn't even ask to see our boarding passes when we went through security}.

After being held {or sitting in the car seat or stroller or high chair} for several hours, Harper was so excited to crawl around once we got to the hotel {I had to quickly get over my germaphobeness}.  She was doing laps back and forth across the hotel room and ended up with carpet burn on her knees and feet.  She started crawling with a limp after that and fussed if she had to crawl too far.  Poor thing.

Harper did pretty good while we were in Illinois, but she could have done a little better... Let's just say that she was a little overwhelmed by all of the family.  I think Chad and Jill were able to hold her some, but she mainly just wanted me, Jason or her Nani to hold her.  Oh, and she loved it when her cousin Allen was around.  She squealed with delight every time she saw him, and his silliness definitely helped calm her down a few times :)  

I wish I had taken more pictures of the trip, but this is basically all that I have...

 Harper and Nani

 on the step at Jason's grandparent's house on the farm

{Chad, Kayla, Allen & Jill; me, Harper & Jason; cousins Lauren, Allison & Lisa; and Bryan & Tori}

 playing with Allen

Jason, Harper and me with Grandma Moody

 Chad comforting Harper after a little meltdown

And on a really sad note, Grandma passed away unexpectedly two days after we flew back home.  We're so glad that she was able to see everyone one last time- all of her children and their spouses, her grandchildren and spouses, and her three great-grandchildren.  You really can't question God's timing.