We're expecting!

Well... it's official, Baby #2 (aka Poppyseed) is due December 2nd! Harper is so excited and keeps patting my belly saying, "Hi baby baby!" and asking when it's going to come out. Not only that, but when we visit friends with babies, she plays with their hands, feet and tickles their chins. She then says, "Mommy you hold the baby." whereas before, if I held another baby, she would scream, "NO MOMMY!!! PUT IT DOWN! HOLD ME!" There are 2 babies at her daycare now, so I think the exposure has helped.

Harper has been absolutely amazing lately! She has her occasional meltdowns, but it's almost as if she grew up overnight. We've been having so much fun as a family... going to fairs, parks, restaurants, the Zoo, pool, play places, etc. She's off and on for naps, but we're not convinced she's done with them yet so we still try every day. Some days she just babbles happily in her crib, others she sleeps for a couple of hours.

Her new favorite questions are "What happened?" and "What did you say?", usually both out of context, leaving no real way to answer either question. But she's persistent, not giving up till she gets an answer she understands and accepts. She's just too smart... (;

We're heading into Mother's Day weekend. Alice and her family are coming for a couple of days so we'll meet them in Denver for dinner and Marge & Crow will be here for a night or two as well.

I finish up work next week (I'm ready for a break!) then 3 weeks off... then I'll go back and teach 1 day a week for 10 weeks this summer. One day sounds a lot better than three right now. I'm feeling queasy most days and so so so tired. I'm in bed around 8:30/9 and just absolutely exhausted by the end of the day. Tom has been picking up a lot of the slack by putting Harper to bed most nights and bringing her to daycare in the morning so I can rest before going to work. That has helped so much, not sure what I'd do w/ out him!

You are My Sunshine!

Harper is anxiously awaiting Memere's visit tomorrow and wanted to sing her favorite song to get ready! (:

"You are my sunshine!"

A little of this...

A little of that... we're just going about life, having fun and enjoying new adventures! Harper just turned 2 1/2, but sometimes I think she is going on 4... she has begun to ask the question "

why" all the time! Sometimes she accepts your explanation of things, sometimes she follows up with another "why", but we think she's learning a lot by asking. I can tolerate about 50 why's before I cave and say that's enough for now.She is big into dress up shoes, purses, nail polish

and dressed (Oh-oh!!!!)... looks like I've got a

princess on my hands! She loves to help me bake, cook, clean and do laundry. She will actually ask to help with laundry ("londee") on non-laundry days! Such a nice little helper! We take her everywhere... she loves the grocery store and will ride the horse after if she is good (which is every time!) and says she is riding

Lakota! Too cute!

Harper's pretty nails.

If the answer is no for something, she responds, "But I NEED to!" Oh my... she's clever. She is counting to 10, but will sometimes count 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1. She loves to paint and will do it for hours a day if we let her. Now that the weather is warming up we'll be taking loads of trips to the Zoo, parks and hiking trails.

Harper just started her first swim lessons without us in the water with her. There is 1 instructor and 4 kids. They all stand on a platform in the water and one at a time they work on kicking, paddling, back floats and jumping in the water. She's getting really good at it and is very comfortable with the instructor. Tom or I watch from the edge of the pool... at first we were nervous, thinking she was not advanced enough but she is learning so quickly!

She is at Jackie's daycare two days a week and loves it! I went back to work at CTRC a few weeks ago filling in teaching this session. I am loving it and enjoying the break from "house stuff". It's definitely a change, but Tom has been really supportive and has picked up the slack at home and with Harper.

Vacation!

Tom, Jo Jo, Bambi & Harper watching the Mobula Rays

Well, not only did we survive our Nicaragua/Costa Rica trip, we had a blast and saw, and did, some pretty amazing things includi

ng: thousands of Mobula Rays jumping out of the water, monkeys, butterflies, jelly fish, horse drawn carriages, zip lines, sea kayak rides, puffer fish, hermit crabs, crossing the border on foot, beautiful beaches, active volcanoes, a trail ride, free grazing horses & cattle, amazing restaurants, great pools at every house we stayed in, cool cities and great cultures.

Harper had so much fun in the pool, ocean and cities we visited. She went on her first sea kayak rides (two of them!) to watch thousands of Mobula Rays jumping and flipping out of the water. Most people never get to see that in a lifetime but she got to see it at the ripe old age of two! It was like a fireworks display, just when you thought it was over they would start jumping and going nuts again.

Harper had so much fun in the pool, ocean and cities we visited. She went on her first sea kayak rides (two of them!) to watch thousands of Mobula Rays jumping and flipping out of the water. Most people never get to see that in a lifetime but she got to see it at the ripe old age of two! It was like a fireworks display, just when you thought it was over they would start jumping and going nuts again.

Nicaragua was so nice--the people are kind, but go about their business and don't really care that you are there. If you need help, they will give it, they work hard and care most about family and Jesus. We stayed in Granada for 4 nights and enjoyed the benefits of walking out our front door right onto the street, so we could venture into town quite easily. We had some amazing

food (gallo pinto--rice and beans--being one of our favorite local dishes) and great weather. There are horse drawn carriages you can ride around town in and it was almost like a different era all together. Very simple, laid back and slow pace.

We then moved onto the "fishy little sleepy town" of San Juan Del Sur. At first glance, it wasn't so great, but we ventured down dirt roads to find beautiful beaches and again, some amazing restaurants with fabulous food. We ate out a lot, and Harper was very goo

d for most of the meals. However, we will not be going out to dinner with her for quite sometime--we've had enough. Ha!

Harper enjoying a mango smoothie in Granada

Our rental house in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

After San Juan Del sure we crossed the border into Costa Rica (what an experience!) and stay

ed in Playa Del Coco in a great condo near the beach, with amazing ocean views. We hung out by the pool and putzed around the tiny town, but didn't do much beyond that. Three nights there, a 4 hour drive to San Jose where we spent one night at a hotel and then drove home.

Harper has more stamps in her passport at the age of two than I did at 25! She is still talking about the rays jumping out of the water and the jelly fish we saw on the beach. I think we have a world traveler on our hands. (:

Holidays 2010

Wow, does time fly!!! Harper is so much fun right now, I just don't want to take the time to blog because we're too busy playing. She is fully verbal now, having full on conversations and it is truly amazing to witness her development. I'm so lucky to still be home with her, it's been a tough transition for me but I wouldn't want to miss a second of this! Just yesterday, we went to the grocery store and she was so good, I gave her some Veggie Booty on the drive home. When I passed it back to her in the car she said, "OH! Pirate Booty! hee hee, ha ha, oooohhh! I so lucky! Oh, it's so delicious Mommy!" I was blown away--the things she says now! She had a bit of a runny nose this weekend and when she got up from her nap yesterday she said, "I feel a lot better." She's so aware and can tell us when her tummy, teeth or head hurts. That sure takes a lot of guess work out of things! She's super helpful too. Anytime you say, "Harper can you help me with..." she's on it! She loves to help me cook (and is much more likely to eat what she helps prepare), clean, etc.

What have we been up to over the past 2 months? Hmmm.... Harper and I flew to Boston to visit family and the two newborns of two of my best girlfriends. Colleen & Scott

welcomed Baby Kellan October 17th, and Becky & David welcomed baby Evie September 10th. We got to visit them bunches, but when I held a baby, Harper screamed, "NO MOMMY! PUT IT DOWN!" Something to work on... we got her a baby doll for Christmas to see if that can help? We also went Trick or Treating in the neighborhood I grew up in (my mom still lives in the same house) and hit all the houses I used to visit when I was little. The same people still live there! It was surreal and it brought back so many great memories. We visited Granny, Gramps, Memere, Pepere, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Lindsey & the kids and we got to go to the Bouncy House with Cousin Jen and Merrick. It was a busy trip but we got to see a lot of people!

Thanksgiving was great! We were expecting Auntie Karen and Cousin Max to be here while Uncle Sal had knee surgery, but he ended up not doing the surgery so we all got to visit and hang out for three days. It was SO nice to have family here! We cooked a big dinner and had a blast, relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. Harper was in heaven--she adores Max and had a blast jumping on him. (:

I started volunteering at the Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center again once a week. They have a lot of new horses that need to get ready for the program so I'm working with a little Morgan mare named Ruby. She's sweet and I just love being back up there! I reconnected with all of the "lifer" volunteers I have missed so much. It feels right to give some of my time.

Lakota is doing great--he is so happy at his new home! We're riding 2-3 days a week and taking lessons at the barn next door. Life is good for us!

Rudy went through a lot of testing, medications and tons of trips to the vet with an awful skin condition. She was literally wasting away in front of us. She was finally prescribed a steroid and diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder after three weeks of awfulness.

She's on the mend but still has a ways to go. She lost 10 lbs. in under 3 weeks. It was very scary, but we think this medication is working and she's mostly back to herself.

So now, we're gearing up for Christmas, and then we leave for Nicaragua/Costa Rica on

Dec.

28th. It will be Harper's first International trip--we have her adorable passport and she is ready to go!

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Fall is here!

Well... it has been way too long since I've updated this blog! I didn't think anyone was reading it, but I guess some people still are! Which is great, thank you for checking in! Harper is growing like a weed, but is still a little peanut. She celebrated her 2nd birthday on September 3rd and rang in the new year with 10 of her little 2 year old friends. I guess we're lucky that so many of our existing friends had babies at the same time as we did. We set up the pool, play sand, toys and ordered pizza. I made cup cake cones to top it all off. It was a blast!

Harper weighed in at 23.5 lbs at her two year check up and 32 inches tall. She's a peanut compared to most of her friends, but she's on the growth chart and healthy as can be. She had another bad reaction to the two shots she got at her check up, so no more till she's three, and we'll only do one at a time from now on. For some reason, she reacts strongly to any more than one at a time. We're still holding off on a few (MMR, chicken pox, etc.) and will only do them if we have to. I'm leery at this point... ):

We've been busy... that is to say, Harper has been keeping ME busy! Always on the go go go and talking up a storm. She is speaking full sentences now and can communicate exactly what she wants, when she wants it. She's keeping me on my toes and testing limits, as a 2 year old should! We've been to the pumpkin patch twice with Lily, the Zoo, pool, park, indoor play place... anything to get out and enjoy this beautiful fall weather! Got to get it all in before the snow hits... but temps in the 70's the rest of the week, so looking good!

Pictures update better than my words can, so here are some pics of Harper with her friends Gracyn & Lily and a few others from the past couple of months. Enjoy and thanks for checking in! If you still read the posts, would you comment below so I know if I should keep going with this? Thanks!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Things in the Lastick household are going great! We just got back from a trip to S. Lake Tahoe and Wine Country California. We all flew in together last Wednesday (Harper was an angel on the plane!) and then Harper spent Fri-Sun with Auntie Alice, Uncle David, Forrest (5) & Spencer (3). She. Had. A. Blast! Tom and I ventured up to Sonoma for a beautiful wedding at a vineyard and had a relaxing weekend with friends while Harper played with her cousins in Tahoe. We all flew back to Denver on Monday and again, Harper was wonderful on the plane.

She is talking up a storm, putting 2, 3 & 4 words together. She can pretty much relay her needs verbally all of the time now. The trouble beings when the answer to her request is "no". Then, she turns into a 2 year old. Most

of the time she is fun, energetic and on the move! She LOVES water--we hit our neighborhood "beach" at the lake almost every day. She loves to have Mommy catch tadpoles for her and squeals with glee when they squirm in her hand. I am already teaching her to let them go quickly and not to catch the same one twice. Harper spends Tuesdays & Thursdays at daycare with Jackie and her two boys Brody & Wyatt and another little girl Ava. She is in love with all of them and talks about them constantly. Silas is still with us on Wednesdays. On the other days, we spend almost all day outdoors and going on adventures to the beach, pool, hiking trails, Zoo, etc. Harper is so content when she is outside!

We finally broke down and bought a used pop-up camper! I think Harper will love sleeping outside in her camper bed... hiking, exploring & just being with Mommy & Daddy. She is so fun, and we are enjoying every second we have all together. Camping will make us get out and have fun instead of sticking around to do house projects...

Harper has been singing a lot lately. As soon as we get in the car she says, "Singing. Beep beep bus." so we sing the wheels on the bus... over and over. (: Sometimes she'll sing but we can't really understand the words, but it sounds so sweet!

She still sleeps great! Mostly 7:30p-7:30a with a 1 1/2-2 hour nap in the afternoon. We're having so much fun at night, we don't want to put her to bed. We have dinner & go for a walk in the wagon while Harper has her after dinner treat--yogurt & fruit pop, watermelon or ice cream. This is a favorite part of the day for all of us, especially the dogs.

Here is a video of Harper singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from her book, and then singing about other random (undecipherable) things. Enjoy & thanks for reading!