Kauai Keiki

Yesterday, we left our favorite condo in Princeville and ventured down to the Marriott Beach Club in Lihu'e.  It's nice here too and Harper still seems very happy!  It seems like every time she wakes up from a nap, she's somewhere new.  It doesn't seem to bother her one bit, she just looks around, smiles, takes it all in and adapts.  We took her out to dinner last night and she was such a good girl... even made it 2 hours past her bedtime with a smile on her face.  This place

 has a HUGE pool and Harper played and 'swam' in it with us for a while. She especially liked the

waterfalls that splashed into the water.  She was very content and several other guests & waitresses commented on how mellow & good she was.  Makes us very proud parents to hear this!!!  Besides taking very short naps, she's pretty much kept to the same routine at home.  Except... we've gotten into the habit of bringing her into our bed at 5:30am when she wakes up, just so we can get some extra z's.  She sleeps well there, and the bed is bigger than ours back home, so it works... but we've probably started a bad ha

bit. Whoops.  We figure we're on vacation, it makes us all happy, and we'll deal with the consequences later.  

Today, we're waiting for the sun to pop through the clouds so we can ventu

re down to Poipu beach.  There is also a very nice beach here at t

he resort.  We leave tomorrow night, and we're sad to have only two more days here.  Harper could easily be a "Kauai Keiki (Kid)"!  She'll be back on the Maine beaches this summer... until then, the waves & sand will be a good memory for her to hold onto.

  

We hope the trip home will be as flawless with her as the trip out here, especially for whomever is sitting near us.  (:

Lil' Island Girl

I'm writing from the lanai off our condo in Kauai... while Daddy changes Harper's diaper.  Life doesn't get much better than this!  We flew in Sunday and have had four great days on the island so far.  We're staying in Princeville, on the north shore of Kauai.  Harper was a perfect angel on the plane (really and truly--several people commented on how good she was!)... she loved looking out the window on take offs and landings, and slept the majority of the time.  We literally did not hear a peep out of her for the entire trip.  We've dragged her all over the island--beaches, snorkeling, farmer's market, restaurants, shops, sight seeing, etc. etc. etc. and she seems to really enjoy seeing new places.  Could we have inflicted her with the travel bug so early on?!  We sure hope so!  She's sitting here now, laughing and smiling, looking out at the ocean and the big waves.  She even took her first 'dip' into the surf yesterday and did not object.  She's still sleeping through the night, even with the time change.  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful, easy-going little girl.  She's been a real treat and has made this place even more special to us.  We're still visiting our favorite places & doing our favorite things, just with an additional little person with us.  (: 

The Raspberry!

Harper's new favorite thing to do is give the 'raspberry' (especially when she's supposed to be taking a nap!). Check it out on video...

Trip to MA & 4 month check-up

On Dec 30th, we left for a 6 day trip to Massachusetts to visit my family. Everyone was so anxious & excited to meet Harper! She was great on the plane and was in good spirits the majority of the time. It was pretty hectic, so she didn't nap much and lost her ability to sleep through the night. Even with much less sleep, she was still a smiley, happy baby! The plane ride back was even better than the one there... I think we have a little traveler on our hands.

We've been back for just over a week and we finally have her sleeping through the night again... almost. She's up at 5:30am but Tom does a 'binky run' and she falls back asleep until about 6:15am. Her naps are another story... we're working on it, but my 'all star napper' is no longer taking her 2-3 hour naps. She's taking 30 minute power naps 3-4 times a day and isn't quite as cheerful during the day as she is when she naps well. We're working on it...

At her 4 month check up Harper weighed a whopping 14 lbs 5.5 oz! She didn't receive any shots because had a pretty strong reaction after her 2 month shots. She didn't want to eat and was very cranky for about five days. Her doc said another mom had the same complaint the day before we were in. Her doctor was wonderful and listened to our concerns. He'll try to give her just one shot at her 6 month so we can determine which it was that made her sick. Her body will be bigger and better able to handle it by then too.

Everything else is going well. Harper is full on laughing now and giving 'raspberries' all over the place! She might be teething, judging from the amount of drool she is producing... we'll have to wait and see. She rolls from her stomach to her back and can push herself all the way up when we roll her onto her belly. She has developed quite a personality. She is strong willed and light-hearted and absolutely lovable through and through!

I still try to walk with other moms once a week and our Mom's Play Group is still going, I'm hosting this Friday. No words can describe how nice it is to have other new moms to talk to. I still try to get to spin class twice a week and swim twice a week. Tom got us a "Mom & Baby Pilates/Yoga/Baby Massage" video that we've been doing. It's a great way to take up an hour of her good awake time. She loves it!

This Sunday, we leave for Kauai!!! We are so excited but are a little worried about disrupting Harper's schedule... again. Ah well, she's pretty been adaptable so far and the sun, humidity and sound of the waves will be good for all of us. Karen, Sal & Max will be there with us too & having extra hands is always nice. (:

Harper's First Christmas!

Harper had a great first Christmas and enjoyed "opening" all of her great gifts--by opening, I mean she watched intently as I crinkled the paper.  She got all dressed up and sat in her new Bumbo chair in front of the TV.  Heidi's two dogs were visiting for a few days so it was energetic and pleasantly chaotic.  After gifts and baking some goodies, we headed up to Karen & Sal's.  Karen prepared quite a spread, just like we remembered from when we were kids... Christmas at Granny's with enough food to feed an army!  Harper did great and even napped amongst all of the company.  

Harper has been sleeping through the night for the past THREE nights!!!  She wakes up at 5am, like she had been doing, but instead of feeding her, I give her a binky and soothe her for a minute. After this, she falls back asleep.  She basically sleeps for 12 hours, so if we put her down at 7p, she's up at 7a.  It's great!  We have a couple of hours to ourselves at night and now I don't feel like I have to rush to bed anticipating a 5am feeding.  We leave on the red eye flight to Boston tonight, so hopefully our trip doesn't ruin this good thing she's got going on.  She is SUCH a good baby!  She may have started teething, but we're not sure.  She's not quite herself, very fussy and tired, drooling all over the place, sucking her hands and anything else she can get in her mouth (my shirt, her stuffed animals, binky, etc.).  I'm hoping this is not the case, but all signs indicate we're in for it!  (;

I'll post Christmas photos later today if she takes a good nap...

Getting ready for Christmas!

Harper had fun putting her very first Christmas ornament on the tree last weekend.  We were a little behind getting everything up and ready, but we finally got to it!  Memere sent her a cute ornament which we'll keep for her over the years.  The picture on the far left is of Harper in an outfit Joe from Burma sent for her.  We wanted to be sure to show off her nice big belly!  She was very interested in watching Daddy hang her ornament in the next photo.  The last one is of her favorite new thing... kisses on the cheek from Mommy!  It's guaranteed to make her smile!  She's looking forward to tomorrow morning so she can open all of her presents!  (;  We're looking forward to it too... curious to see if we get a reaction out of her with all the crinkly paper and new toys.  

Wishing everyone a very happy, safe, fun filled holiday!

Lots of new things!

I haven't been good about updating the blog regularly, simply because the computer with software for photos is way down in the basement! But I'll try to be better in the new year! Harper has had a lot of new things going on lately. Most recently, we're working hard on getting her naps more consistent (thanks to help from Taryn!) and as a result, she is almost sleeping through the night. She's getting up between 5a-6a instead of 3a-4a for her one feeding. Hopefully, she'll go just an hour longer and make it a full night! This weekend, she started sticking out her tongue which is the cutest thing ever. We'll have to try to get it on film soon. She is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and really likes to look around. Her favorite toy is her Gymini, where a monkey, giraffe, parrot, elephant and rooster hang down for her to pull on and coo at. She LOVES it! We got her a Bumbo chair for Christmas, but she might not be quite ready for that just yet. She needs to get a little stronger first. She may be almost done with the bouncy chair Cana lent us... she'd much rather be held or under the Gymini. She used to sleep through meals at restaurants, but now, she wants to be at the table and in on all the action. Last week, we had dinner with Derek, Monica and Levi (4.5 mos old). Levi was VERY into Harper, trying to reach out and hold her. It was very cute! Unfortunately, all I had was my camera phone, so the picture didn't come out all that great. Harper has been spending Tues & Thurs mornings with Daddy so I can get back to my favorite spin class. I've also managed to get back in the pool twice a week. I used to have to drag myself to the gym, but now, it's time to myself and I look forward to it! Swimming has especially been fun, because it's easy on the joints. Tom has been wonderful about making sure I get this time! Yesterday, he got to go to the Broncos game, 15 rows up from the 50 yard line! Great seats, but it was so cold! I stayed home with Harper and drank hot cocoa and watched a movie while she napped. I enjoyed being home much more than I would have enjoyed freezing my butt off at the game! I watched the last half from the comfort of the couch!

The cold weather has kept us from going out for our daily walks. If it's under 32 degrees, it's too cold for Harper, so the poor dogs have been going stir crazy. Hopefully today will be warm enough to get out.

We're looking forward to our trip to MA next week so everyone can meet Harper! Shortly thereafter we leave for Kauai! January is a busy month, we just hope Harper can handle it!