It's September

Yes, I do realize it's September.  No, I did not realize that it's been TWO MONTHS since my last update :(  Way to go, mom!  Sheesh.

Since my last post we have traveled to:
Vermont
Arizona
Nevada
California

We have now seen Las Vegas, Yosmite National Park, and met A LOT of relatives in California.  It was really a memorable and exciting vacation.  Three weeks of traveling and sight-seeing was a lot, though.  I think we are still recuperating. 

When we returned, I was offered a part-time job so I am officially back in the work force.  It's nice to be social again and meet new people.  I only work 8-noon so I still have plenty of time with Harper.  And housework.  And yard work. But not a lot of time for homework.  People, I am THISCLOSE to finishing my Master's paper and yet I can't seem to just get it done already!  It's a very irritating monkey that I've got clinging to my back.  Soon enough I guess.

So, how's Harper, you might ask.  This kid is AH-MAZING.  She's smart and funny and above and beyond adorable.  She has just had a growth spurt, though, so NONE of her 2T clothes fit and we're into 3Ts!  This growth spurt has been a bit difficult for her emotionally and possibly physically.  Add to that the fact that Mommy isn't home 24/7 and she's been out-of-sorts for the past few weeks.  She had a couple of weeks where she was waking up once or twice crying in the middle of the night.  She's also waking up between 6:30 and 7:30 on most days, which means Daddy isn't getting much sleep (she stays home with him since he works nights).  But since he wanted me to get a job, he's dealing with it, I guess.  Harper has also hit a road block in the potty department.  She was telling us when she needed to go or she was going in there on her own, but she is doing none of that now.  She's hiding more often and going in her diaper and THEN says she needs to go on the potty.  I'm at a loss for what to do?!  Her vocabulary has taken off once again and I can pretty much understand everything she's saying.  She's into gymnastics (after seeing the Olympics), reading chapter books (which we do every night.  We just finished The Boxcar Children and now we're reading The Little House in the Big Woods), watching Rugrats, and anything and everything to do with babies.  She's interested in everything and still loves to play outside (it's still where she's most content).  Bubbles are a must in the bath tub.  She would live on chocolate milk, string cheese, and pickles if we let her.  She's become a much more picker eater, but she still will try just about anything.  She's longing to go to school, which she isn't old enough for yet, but I'm trying to use it to get her to go to the potty (we are looking into a Montessori school near-by for preschool next year).  We are still going to Kindermusic once a week which she is always so excited about.  She really loves trains, cars, planes, and matching games.  She's still sleeping with us, which is still working out for all of us.  Our bedtime routine is bath, jammies, three books, lights out, and then I sing to her for a bit.  Usually she passes out before I'm finished singing.  

Now that I've written a novel, how about some pictures?

In utero, newborn, two years-old: her favorite way to fall asleep.

So pretty :)

I made her make this face.  It's her, "Hey! Don't say that!" face.  A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E.

Eating eggies from our own chickens!

Okay, so I promise on my next post to put up pictures from our trip!  

My Girl.

Just starting off the week sharing some adorableness.  Hope you have a great week!

She wanted a big girl cup at Starbucks.

Reading with Daddy.  Be still my heart.

Showing off Daddy's glasses.

Quiet Mornings

There's nothing quite like a smiling face, bed-head, and a darling (almost) two year-old on a quiet morning.

Pinterest-ing

Yes, I am one of those people who is addicted to Pinterest.  I just can't help myself.  I've pinned and liked so many things I hardly think I'll be able to go through them all.  But every once in a while I'm able to remember some really cool thing I pinned and do it in real life!  (Must be all that DHA from my multi-vitamin kicking in, finally).  Anyway, the other morning I was all excited because I was going to be a cool mom!  And let my kid paint with colored shaving cream!  In the bathtub!  And perhaps help her to learn along the way!  Go me!

Then I realized that my husband uses a shaving cream warmer (thanks to his wonderful (at the time girlfriend) wife who bought it for his birthday one year) (I told you I'm awesome!) and you have to take the top off the shaving cream to put it into the warmer.  Problem #1.  I had to put the shaving cream back into the warmer, without plugging it in, and firmly push the button down while the cream slithered out ever.so.slowly.  Meanwhile, I have to distract Harper with something else to do because, hello?  Didn't I just say we were taking a bath where we get to do something incredibly fun?  And now we're not?  C'mon mommy!
Then, I couldn't find the food color.  In my quest for making our lives free of processed food, I hid it from myself.  Why?  I don't know.  The only reason I kept it was to be used for crafts anyway.  (Perhaps the DHA isn't working as well as I thought...?)

I next realized we don't have any paint brushed.  Oops.  So I dug around my kitchen until I found a cooking brush (for basting?  for what exactly?).  Problem #3 solved.
I finally got Harper into the tub and showed her what she could do with the brush and "paint" when I then thought, "Uh oh! What if this stains the tile?  Or the tub?"  and in a very not-so-great parenting moment I washed off part of Harper's "painting" just to make sure.  Thankfully, no damage was done.

And finally, Harper starting freaking out when a blob of the blue shaving cream landed in the water and started floating towards her.  I hadn't even bathed her at this point (obviously, since I was trying to be so cool and let her have some fun firth), so I had to quickly let the water drain out and re-fill the tub so I could clean her up.


So there you have it folks.  The idea was good in theory, but, as my husband says, proper planning prevents poor performance!  And I definitely was ill-prepared.  I also scarred my child for life a little bit more, thus deflating my awesome ego for the day.


Onto the next Pinterest challenge!

From My Phone

Just a few pictures and a video from the past two weeks.  I've several other videos that I will be posting soon!  Enjoy...

Curling up with Daddy

Harper has a new love of coloring

Her mornings

Fall = comfy pants and boots.

Organization.  And finally finishing a project.

Colts game (and the obnoxious meatheads in front of us)

Winter Storm

We're in the midst of a pretty serious storm right now.  Monday and Tuesday left us with a good amount of ice, making travel near impossible.  All the universities, colleges, schools, business, etc. were closed.  

We lost power around 11:30 pm on Monday evening (we're still without as I write this at 3:30 pm on Tuesday) and are told there's no certain time for it to be remedied. 

My parents, Wade, Harper, and I made our way to my brother and his girlfriend's place where they still had power.  More ice and snow are in our forcast.  

Our plans are to snuggle in, eat some comfort foods, watch movies/read books/play, and wait out the storm.

Hoping the weather is treating you well wherever you are!

Mellow Day

Our Sundays have been pretty mellow around here lately.  We snuggle in bed for quite awhile in the moments after waking up, taking it slow.  I've found myself looking for the sun throughout the house.  Cabin fever has hit me hard, my friends!  I try to treasure each moment of every day, but I find that I want winter to be over, like, now.  But on days such as these I try to remind myself to slow down, relish the time we spend together, and find the beauty in the now. 

Corners from my home

(My post from earlier was supposed to be yesterday's post.  We had such a lazy, relaxing day that I just didn't get around to publishing it.  Oops!)

This is my new (old) favorite piece of furniture in our home:

(For the life of me I couldn't get a good shot of this.  It's very cloudy out, yet bright because of the snow.  I took pictures with lights on, off, flash, no flash.  This is, sadly, the best picture I got.  It'll have to do, though it doesn't do it justice!)

Ah, my Barrister Bookcase (and yes, it does need to be capitalized!  It's THAT important).  I have been dreaming about one for quite some time now, but have never been lucky enough to find one at a decent price (and they are pricey to say the least!)  Lo and behold, this was my Christmas/birthday gift from Wade.  Can I admit that I burst into tears when I "opened" it?  I say "opened" because the only way of concealing this massive bookcase was to cover it in sheets secured with heavy books.  A dream come true, I tell you.  Slowly it's being filled with books (I have 16 on their way here, 14 of which are for ONE of my classes.  Yikes) with the bottom shelve dedicated to children's books.  I love love love this bookcase.  It was such a present from his heart (seriously, he was going to MAKE one of these for me.  Alas, the tools he needed far exceeded the price for an antique one) and it was definitely a surprise!  Thanks again, my love :0)

Breastfeeding

::Then

::Now

I've been nursing Harper now for almost 10 months.  It's been more than I ever thought it would or could be.  It's wonderful to look back on her just a few short months ago and remember.  (And yes, looking back at my 2 month-old baby brought tears to my eyes.  SO TINY).  I remember the "shark attacks" as I called them when she'd lunge at my breast or helping her to latch on over and over again.  I worried then about smothering her during feeding because her nose was always pressed RIGHTUP against me (see above picture for proof).  She was so little that I only needed one arm to hold her while nursing.  Now Harper's all about finding different positions to nurse in (upside down, standing or sitting).  Sometimes I have to offer up the milk because she's too busy playing to remember to eat.  It's sad to think that these nursing days will eventually end, though at times I selfishly wish it was over some days so I could get more than a couple of hours sleep at night.  But this time is fleeting and I have to remind myself of this often.  She won't always nurse, she won't always sleep nestled up next to me in bed, rooting for milk.  She won't need me in this way for comfort.  Eventually she'll only need a hug or a kiss or words to comfort her.  Frequently I remind myself how precious this time is; how special it all is.  I cherish these nursing moments so much.  They're special moments between just the two of us.  And as she grows I hope we continue to carry on moments like these and forever and always have some kind of a special bond like we have now. 

Recent Development

Let me start off by saying that Harper is, 99% of the time, a really good, really happy baby.  But lately I feel like the only thing I say to her is "NO" or I'm taking things away from her or pulling her off of things.  In essence, I have been feeling like a horrible momma.  She's into pinching (hard, tiny pinches), biting, pulling hair, throwing tantrums (rocking her whole body and throwing herself around), laughing and looking at me when she's touching something she's not supposed to (i.e., chords, dog bowls, laptop keys), and yelling at me ( she goes into a string of "eye, eee, eye, eee, eye, yi, yi, eye....!").   And if you don't pick her up Right when she wants you to, she gets angry REALQUICK.  She is also very difficult to photograph.  This is the meat of my post, dear readers.  Here is where I post the not-so-great-but-the-only-photos-I-get pictures.

Pretty blue eyes

As she usually is...attached to Momma (that's my knee by the way)

And so, for everyone who keeps asking where new pictures of Harper are, there's your answer.  No more smiles for the camera.  No more sitting still for pictures.  I swear I take pictures of her quite often.  But the pictures I get are more for me (I like blurry ones!).  I figure these are the type of pictures only a momma could love!  Oh, and I promise I didn't just let her stand there and cry while I took a bunch of pictures of her.  That's just Harper getting mad because she couldn't have the camera.  All she wanted to do was eat the lens cap.

What do you get...

when you have an eight-month old and a Christmas tree?

What a cheeser!

Trouble.

A Crazy Week!

I had grand plans for posting this week.  You can see that I didn't get very far since my last post was Monday.  Ahem.

Anywho, Monday night was spent not only admiring Harper for standing alone, but also finishing up a 15 page manuscript for my poetry class (along with another 5 pages of self-evaluation.  Bummer.). 

Grandpa Eddie arrived early Tuesday morning and we were all awake, including Miss Harper, around 6 am to greet him.  Tuesday was also a Christmas lunch with some of my mom's friends followed by cleaning, finishing up homework, and class. 

Wednesday we travelled north to be with my aunt who was having gallbladder surgery.  She's doing well now, but it was a rough day followed by a rough night for her so we ended up spending the night at a hotel next to the hospital (along with a trip to Target to get pjs, diapers, toothpaste, etc. since we didn't know we'd be staying overnight!)

Thursday we spent half of the day at the hospital, got home around 3 or 330 and it was about time for me to start getting ready for class once again.  (Thankfully there are only two classes left this semester!)

And today is a low-key kind of day.  I've been catching up on some cleaning, playing with Harper, planning some Christmas gifts, and thinking about what to make for dinner.

I wasn't able to take many pictures this week since I didn't have my camera with me for most of it (and my phone died not long after getting to the hospital) so I apologize for the cruddy quality of the ones I'm about to post.  We got some snow (yay!) and it does wonky thing to the lighting when taking pictures.

Charlie's new friend

All dressed up for lunch at Shirley's

Everyone looks sleepy in this picture

Harper was ENTHRALLED with Grandpa Eddie