I love you Daddy!

For Daddy:

We Miss Daddy!!!

It's been a pretty eventful month in the world of Harper. She's growing like a weed and talking up a storm! She's starting to put 2 & 3 words together, which blows us away every time! She had her 18 month check up when we got back from San Diego and all was well. She is a peanut, weighing in at 20lbs 6 oz, but is 100% healthy. She's been going to daycare on Tuesdays & Thursdays which is great for all of us! I can get a lot done around the house and Harper has made a lot of new friends. She seems to really like it, but is much more clingy with me when she gets home. She's also having trouble getting herself to sleep these days. We started helping her by rocking her to sleep, but that really isn't doing anyone any favors, so we're trying to break her of that.

Tom left for India last Wednesday, and Memere arrived on Saturday. She's supposed to be here for 2 weeks, but may need to go home later this week to help take care of Granny. We'll see--but fingers crossed she stays! She is such a big help! Harper was really sick Fri & Sat, so she's been clingy with her Mommy, not letting Memere do much with her, but Memere has been helping in other ways--gardening, weeding, clearing leaves, cleaning up and a much needed extra set of hands (aka--pack mule). Yesterday we went to Pearl St Mall to shop and play and had a great dinner out with Sal & Max. Today, we met up with Pam, Lily & Lily's Grammy, and Tenica & Gracyn at the Denver Zoo. Harper still isn't 100% back to herself, but her fever is gone and compared to Friday, she's doing great!

Here is a video of Harper smelling a flower and putting on a show to send to Daddy! Hoping to post more videos soon, as Tom has the picture camera...

SAN DIEGO!!!

We had a great week long vacation in San Diego Feb 20-27. Harper was in HEAVEN, and so were we. It was warm enough to play outside, on the beach, in the sand, at the park, zoo & Sea World. We spent almost every waking moment outdoors. Aahhhh... now we all have 

spring fever!

Harper is growing like

 a weed. We have her 18 month check up later this week, but we guess she's about 22lbs? She's a little peanut, but she's healthy and strong. She is saying well over 100 words (we lost count) and knows what she wants, WHEN she wants it. We are definitely into the "terrible twos". She gets very frustrated when we don't understand what she wants, or worse, when we DO understand but the answer is NO. We're also into the picky eater phase, but I'm hopeful we're on our way out of it. We were down to only a few things she'd eat for meals: mac & cheese (I'd load it with tofu & veggies though), grilled cheese (with turkey hidden in it) and cheesy eggs. She'd eat anything bready--pancakes, waffles, toast, etc. Now we're back onto pasta & quesadilla with beans. Fingers crossed she starts expl

oring with food again! We're trying not to make a big deal of it, but it's hard to see her eat the same meals over and over again. We ju

st keep introducing new food and hope for the best!

Harper is

 RUNNING everywhere. She's got the girly squeal down and is generally pretty happy. If she's outdoors, she's always happy. I'm glad she is an outdoor girl! 

I am getting things set up so I can find a part-time job

. I would, of course, love to go back to CTRC, but we'll have to wait and see if something opens up. As of now, there isn't anything. Fingers crossed! Harper starts at Miss Jackie's Daycare this Thursday for a trial run. I like the idea of her being around other kids. I've been using the gym daycare more and she seems to actually like it now. She still cries when I leave, but I peek back in after 2 minutes and she's having a blast. I'm thinking a part time job will 

make our time together much more special. 

Tom is still plugging away at ATJ. Things are slow, but have picked up the past couple of months. Only time will tell, but we're hoping the travel industry is on the up and up again. 

Lakota is enjoying his semi-retired life... he's fat and lazy. But spring is just around the corner, so he'd better be ready to get back in shape! Rudy & Jake are ready to get back to daily walks too. They are both getting older, and get stiff at night, but they are good. Jake steals Harper's food a lot and she now calls him "sneaky". All it takes is him coming up t

o her and she looks him in the eye and says "sneaky!!!". 

I'm still battling getting back in shape. I found a great Boo

t Camp class Tues & Fri mornings, which has been great! I actually love getting up at 5:30 for it (and I am NOT a morning person!). I also run with two other ladies on Mon & Thurs, and try to do Yoga & get on the bike trainer other days. It's bound to work... soon. (:  Still hoping to do some running races this summer and maybe a tri or two... TBD. 

Here are some pics of Harper in San Diego. BEACH BABY!!!:

FETCH!

We took this video a few weeks ago and were asked to post it on the blog.  Harper finally figured out how to make Rudy happy! (:  I want to post more picture soon as well... we've been in between computers, transferring from the PC to the Mac, so things have been in limbo for a while. I think we're fully up and running now, so once I figure out how to download all the pictures I'll start posting again. Until then... 

Halloween!

Harper is full of new surprises every day! She is now full on walking here, there, everywhere. She can turn corners and just last week she figured out how to go from sitting to standing without using anything to pull herself up. It all happens so fast! She was walking around everywhere in her cute Halloween lizard costume... Auntie Karen had made it for her son, Max (who is now 14!) when he was a baby & was kind enough to lend it to us. We stuck some pink flowers on it to make it "girly". Harper does "lizard tongue" on cue, so we thought this was a perfect costume this year. She had a BLAST at the neighborhood pot luck & parade. She greeted the few early trick or treaters that we had and waved good bye when they left.

Here are a few pictures from Halloween:

It's been too long!

Wow! It's been way too long since I've updated this blog! We've been on the move and busy! Harper is changing every... single... day! She is now taking steps on her own, 4 or 5 at a time, before she lowers herself to the ground. Just this week, she started walking from toy to toy, instead of from Mommy to Daddy... any day now, she's just going to decide it's time, get up and walk away. We're ready!

One of Harper's favorite activities is still reading. You can ask where is the banana, duck, dog, frog, etc. in her picture book and she points to them--and is very proud of herself! The other day, we caught her pulling a book off of OUR shelf and leafing through it as if she were reading. Ironically, it was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee! She LOVES picking that one up and looking at the words.
She says quite a few words, some more understandable than others: dog, turtle, back, uh-oh, dada (that's pretty much everything & everyone these days), blueberry, Rudy, and a few other random words. She also signs all done, eat, milk, ball and occasionally more. She also points at everything and makes an inqusitive noise, as if she's saying, "What's that?!".
She knows what she wants when she wants it and isn't happy when she doesn't get it. Her most favorite activity these days is pushing thing... anything. She'll push her stroller, the grocery cart, chairs, toys, blocks. Anything that will glide across the floor. It's pretty funny to watch, but when it's time to end this activity, say, at the check out in the store, she is NOT happy. Like I said, she knows what she wants! Last weekend, she pushed her stroller all around the mall. She slept for a LONG time that night, she was exhausted! Harper is now napping once a day. She kind of made the transition herself, but it works out better for getting out and doing things. She sleeps roughly 7:30p-7a and then 12:30-2:30p. She eats three HUGE meals a day and two snacks. By huge, I mean 1 1/4 grilled cheese & ham sandwich, 1/2 an avocado, 1/4 of a tomato and some cheese puffs. It's insane! She isn't gaining much weight, but she's healthy! And a healthy eater!
She has four top teeth (with 2 more coming), 2 bottom teeth, and her top and bottom molars on the right side. She gets a little fussy when they are coming in, but nothing terrible. She's a trooper!
She had her 1 year check up last week (a little late because of delayed vaccinations) and she was 18lbs 8 oz, 28 1/2 inches tall and very healthy. She is completely on solid foods and cow's milk... and man, can she EAT! We are blown away at the amount of food she eats, and she's still so LITTLE. Her doc said she'll just be petite. Lucky girl!
We've been making trips to the WOW Children's Musuem, the Denver Zoo, parks, playgrounds, Sunflower Farm (where she had her very first pony ride) the mall and next week we hit the Aquarium. Harper's little buddy Silas spends Tuesdays & Wednesdays with us (which has been GREAT for all of us) and Harper spends Thursdays with Auntie Karen & her BFF Lola. All of this is just wonderful. Harper has interaction with other kids and I get a day off!
This weekend I head to the C Lazy U Ranch in Granby for a riding & yoga retreat... four days of rejuvenating, riding, good company and just aaahhhhhhhhh! I sure will miss my little peanut (and Tom too, of course!) but I NEED it!
Here are some pictures... they'll update much better than I can!

W

Walker...

Well, I guess it won't be long now... Harper got a baby walker from Mommy & Daddy for her first birthday and is all over the place with it! She gave it a try, had a few spills, and then got it down within a few days. Here, she is pushing her baby doll around--turn up the volume and you can hear her say "baby". That is one of her words she is saying pretty clearly. The others are: Daddy, Mum, dog, back, Rudy, Jake and most recently, Tom said she pointed to her turtle picture in her room and said "turtle". She understands a lot, just gets a little frustrated when she can't communicate. She speaks full sentences of "baby babble" as if she is having a conversation with you. She also does baby signs for milk, all done and more. We're working on a few more, but it's a start.