I'm so HAPPY!!!

We live for this! Turn up your volume and check out Harper's full on laugh! She is such a happy baby (except when she is tired, bored, confused or annoyed.)

Lots of new things!

Harper continues to amaze us every day and she is developing such a great personality! Because of daylight savings, we got to have our "first family dinner" on Sunday night. Usually, Harper's bedtime routine starts around 5:30p and she's sound asleep by 6:30p. But becasue of the extra hour, we had her eat with us! She enjoyed some yummy rice cereal while Tom and I ate our regular dinner. We found a "generic Stokke Tripp Trapp" that allows us to push her right up to the table so she can eat with us. We love it! Definitely a great find so we can enjoy her company (and vice versa, we hope!).

One of Harper's new favorite things to do is sit up in her crib after her naps and play with her aquarium (see photo). She's gotten really good at sitting up on her own, and she'll push the big blue button to turn the aquarium on and off. She is quite smitten with it lately.

She also loves to be in the Moby wrap, facing out, while we do our grocery shopping. Much more fun and interesting than sitting in her car seat looking up at the ceiling! She's quite a treat these days and loves going anywhere. So long as she has her naps, she's a pretty happy baby!

Today, we're heading to the gym to try out the child care while I take a spin class. Hopefully she will do okay with out me. Who am I kidding, she'll probably LOVE showing off for the child care staff... I'm the one who will miss being with HER! Harper at 6 months with Squirt... check out those legs!

Time Flies!

Harper wearing he new shoes from Elaine!

WOW! Harper is SIX months old today! She had her check-up yesterday and is now 15lbs. 12oz and 25 inches long. She is about average for height and weight. She had one shot yesterday and was such a trooper through the whole ordeal. As of today, Harper is: sitting up on her own for a little while, almost rolling from back to stomach but doesn't seem very interestd in doing so, eating carrots, peas (ick!) and sweet potatoes, taking two long naps a day in her crib and sleeping about 12 hours at night, rolling up from laying down to sitting with just a little help, but is getting much stronger. She LOVES: her nightly baths, kisses on her cheeks & belly, doing "sit ups", music, rides in the car, going for walks, walking around the yard to play fetch with Rudy or pet the horses at the back fence, having her diaper changed, her Glow Worm, "Piggy", her Gymini, her bouncy horse and just about anything else we can throw at her. I put her in the carrier to run into the grocery store and she just loved looking around at everything. She is so curious about her surroundings and just eyes everything calmly while taking it all in.

Happy "6 month birthday" Harper!! We are so lucky to have you in our lives and have enjoyed every second of the past six months!

Harper & Squirt

Here are the pictures we have so far of Harper with Squirt...
(I have the 3 month somewhere.... will post when I find it!)

2 weeks...

2 months...

4 months...











5 months...

Yummy in My Tummy!

Harper is growing every day... physically and mentally. It seems as though there is something new to her every time we turn around. She can sit up on her own, for a little while, and loves to stand up. She can almost roll from her back to stomach, but doesn't seem very interested in doing this just yet. She "talks" constantly and has the cutest laugh. We cracked down on her naps this week so she's taking 2 long naps instead of 4 short ones and she is much, much happier as a result. Her awake time is so much fun and she is so content. She LOVES being outside. I put her in the Moby wrap on me, facing out, and she babbles and giggles the entire time. She also loves to vacuum in the Moby... hoping this love of the vacuum continues! Her hair is starting to grow back in and sticks up on top--very cute. She loves the bath and gets one every night before bed. She is still sleeping through the night, roughly 6:30p-6:30a, which gives Tom and I some much needed quiet time in the evening. She is also starting to notice her other baby friends and will try to converse with them. It's too cute for words!

Harper and her pals, Levi & Lily.

(They held hands all on their own--really!)

We started feeding her solid foods a few weeks ago. We did rice cereal for a while but couldn't get her to swallow more than one bite--she really didn't like it. So we moved onto sweet potatoes... once she realized it was NOT rice cereal, her face lit up and she was begging for more. Open, bite, chew, swallow, grab for spoon... open... on and on. We have to shut her off after a couple of table spoons so she doesn't get a sore tummy. It's so fun to watch her eat, we're excited to do it more and try new things. Tomorrow, moving on to peas!

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated the blog! It's been a crazy month in the Lastick household! Poor Jake had surgery last week and his recovery has been quite slow. He's on the mend, but needs constant monitoring to make sure he doesn't lick a the incision (hence the underwear). He had a lump the size of an orange removed from the inside of his back leg. Poor guy! But he'll be back to normal chasing squirrels soon enough.

We're home after a great trip!

We're back!  Our last few days were spent in Lihue and there was a gigantic pool at the resort.  Harper really loved toswim and was kicking her feet, laughing and enjoying the water.  She also got to play at Poipu beach and saw a monk seal swim up to play on the beach.  We are missing the humidity and warm weather already.  Everything in CO is so BROWN... no green to speak of.But spring isn't too far away, so we'll survive!  Harper was a perfect angel on the plane (really!).  Not a peep out of her.  The airline attendants and fellow passengers were very complimentary and appreciative.  She really is a good baby!

It seems as if she is doing something new every day.  She is grabbing and holding things & her awareness of her surroundings is increasing daily.  Today, we gave her a little bit of rice cereal for the first time.  I can't say she loved it, but she did eat a little.  I'm not sure if we're

 quite ready to get into that yet, but we wanted to give it a shot.  She may need a little more time.  We also noticed her first tooth is just starting to pop through on the top.  That may be why she hasn't been napping as much?  She's also eating a ton.  Who knows... she is no longer the rock-star napper she once was.  30-45 minutes is all she's willing to give me these days.  It's wearing... I feel like I spend 1/2 the day trying to get her to sleep.  She wakes up SO tired instead of nice and refreshed.  We're working on it, but just have to let her figure out her schedule I guess!  

So, we're homebound for a while.  Looking forward to heading back to MA for Jeremy & Lindsey's wedding in June... but other than that, no trips in the near future.  We

 think Harper has the travel bug--or at least we hope she does!

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.  (: