A moment with Harps

Just hanging out!

Model pose...

Morning yoga session

What happens during 85% of our photo sessions

I think I want to crawl...

Almost there!

Family time!

Over the past few weeks we enjoyed a visit from Ginger, Rich and Jack! They flew all the way from England to spend time with family and friends. We had a great time as always. We had a sleep over, made sausage rolls (thanks Ginger! They never disappoint!) Played a super hero game (Jack, thanks for letting me be the Joker) Jack tried his first smore. He shot Dutch with his water gun which amused all of us! Man, Dutch can move fast when he wants to. We grilled out on the deck , played catch up and enjoyed a few beverages. We ended the visit with a trip to the botanical gardens. Here are a few pictures! Enjoy! 

9 months!

Date : July 9th 2013

Stats: Harper weighed 18lbs even at her 9 month appointment July 10th. She is 28.5" long. That means she has put on almost 10lbs since birth and grown 7". She is now in the 50% for weight and still 82% for height. She is still our tall skinny girl but her weight is becoming more average.

Clothes: I will put her into some 9 months clothes... mostly dresses since the size doesn't matter as much. She is still fine in her 6 months shorts/pants and shirts. We are moving to size 3 diapers at the end of the month.

Sleep: She sleeps like a champ. The days where she woke at night seem like years ago... however Its only been 2.5 months since she finally got back to sleeping through the night. Feels great!

Food: We are ending our nursing journey. She went on a nursing strike a few weeks ago and it took me almost 5 days to get her to nurse again. We have had issues with keeping up my supply and I've exhausted my efforts pumping around the clock. I am ready to move forward. The past month I was sending 1 bottle of formula a day and she was doing great with that. Between the nursing strike, teething, my low supply and now a new diagnosis of thrush I couldn't expect any more signs that it is the right time to end nursing.
Its tough emotionally but its important for us nursing mothers to remember that "any breastfeeding is successful breastfeeding" The 9 months of nursing has been a great accomplishment for me and a great gift to my daughter. My head is held high and I look forward to nursing Harper's future brother or sister... a long time from now : ) She is continuing to eat lots of yummy homemade and store bought fruits and veggies. We like to mix them up such as mango/pear/apple or sweet potato/apple. Her favorite Gerber foods are anything with bananas and the gross dark green mixed veggie one. It looks nasty but she like it! Her iron levels were down at this 9 month appointment so I am hoping that the iron in her cereal and now formula can help get them back up. We practice with "puffs" which are little dissoluble cereal pieces. She is learning how to pick up small things with her thumb and index finger.
 
This past month was great. We spent lots of time on the deck as always. She loves splashing in her baby pool. She can sit there forever just playing with her water toys. We celebrated fathers day and even got to see Grandy and Papa. She started waving and clapping which are too cute. We got washed out on 4th of July but still got to wear our pretty patriotic dress. We took our first trip to east cobb park and played in the creek. Crawling is almost there... but I am in no rush. She likes to scoot on her butt and crawl all over you when you hold her. We are still working on it. Hopefully we will have success to report next month. She even got to met her birthday twin Aunt Ginger as well as Uncle Rich and cousin Jack. Time is going too fast. You are getting to be a big girl now! 

Only one more row of photos to add!... yikes!

Father's day dress

What.. you want to take my picture again?!?!

Leaving her mark on Dutch's fathers day card

selfies

Mom you are embarrassing me... already..

Pool time!.... and we are getting hair!

Pretty girl

Birthday twins!

Cousin Jack

8 Months!

Date: June 9th 2013

Stats: I would guess around 17lbs? We go to the Dr. next month...

Clothes: Still in 6 months clothes. We are really getting our money out of these clothes! She still wears size 2 diapers. We wear a lot of shirts and shorts or dresses now. Not as many onsies.

Sleep : She sleeps all night. She will wake up around 630 to eat, then Dutch will wake her up around 715 to go to Mrs. Sherri's. (on the weekend she will sleep till about 830) We then take a mid morning nap (around 45 minutes) a longer afternoon nap (1.5 hours) and an early evening nap at 530. She then goes to bed by 830. Occasionally she will skip that 530 nap but I let her take it if she needs it. I really think if she is tired , let her sleep. I don't wake her up just because its our "schedule". Even though our daily schedule is "parent led" it is because we have developed a routine based on her patterns. We like to get her to bed before she is over tired. This usually means she drifts off to dreamland without a fight... most of the time.

Food: She eats breakfast at day care which is cereal, milk and fruit. She eats dinner at home with me which is a mix of gerber foods and homemade foods. I try to make as much as I can but some fruits/veggies are just to dang hard to peal. If I made her home made plums I would need 3-5 plums at least (since they are small) and pealing and then steaming and blending those is not always ideal. For veggies I tend to roast sweet potatoes, then steam and blend frozen peas and green beans. For fruits, apples and pears are easy to peel and steam. I use frozen peaches and mangos which are pre-peeled and cut up.

This month Harper went to the beach for the first time! We had our first road trip. Our first time in the pool. We got a little blow up pool that we sit in on the deck. Her first tooth came in! It wasn't too bad... We celebrated Mothers Day and great grandmas 92nd birthday. We grilled out on the deck every weekend and took long walks at the river park. You sit up great and enjoy having fun with us. Your personality is starting to really shine through!