five months

Yesterday, Harper turned 5 months old. Shi and I had big plans last night (details to come), so we postponed celebrating until today.

Harper is getting so big. At her 4 month appointment, they let us know she was 50th percentile for weight and 70th percentile for height. She doesn't seem to be letting those numbers slip. She is already in 6 month clothes, and eats like a champ. When she was born, my brother, Chris, challenged her to a contest to see who could gain the most weight in a year. He's currently beating her, and will likely win, but she's putting up a good fight - and she has the chins to prove it.

Harper really loves her dad. She saves all of her laughs for him and seems to love the time they get to spend together.

Other milestones:

• Rolling over: On my birthday (April 24), Harper's gift was to master rolling from back to front. It was so exciting to watch her do it over and over. (ahhh the little things...)
• Teeth: She is currently getting her first tooth. To be expected, this means lots of drooling, a not entirely pleasant baby, and chewing on everything. Her favorite item to chew on: faces.
  
• Sleep: Up until 2 days ago, Harper has been sleeping a solid 10-11 hours a night! The new tooth has brought a new frame of mind: she thinks 2 a.m. is a great time to get up. We hope she'll decide it's not so great soon.
  
• Food: Rice cereal has gotten a little old, so we've branched out to sweet potatoes and carrots. She is great at eating off of a spoon. She loves "real" food so much that eating around her has become difficult - she wants everything that we are eating.
• Adi: Harper looooves Adi. She reaches out to pet her whenever Adi gets close enough. The other day Harper got a handful of Adi's ear and pulled. Adi isn't thrilled about this new development, but puts up with it perfectly.
• Hair: It's starting to come back!!
• Feet: She's recently discovered them. I love this stage.
  
• Bathtime: Her favorite. She would stay in the bathtub for hours - splashing and squealing - if we let her.
  
• Talking: Shiloh tells me she said her first word - prestidigitation. Her favorite time to talk is while we're riding in the car. It's hilarious to listen to her chatter away.
  

P.S. Happy Birthday (Grandpa) Lyle!

After these messages

So, I took a little break from the blog. This doesn't mean I haven't had things to blog about. In fact, I have several blog posts in process. For some reason I just haven't been able to find time to put them up. So now, a month later, I feel I need a post between "four months" and "five months". So here it is. Now back to your regular programming.

four months

Harper turned 4 months old today. For a celebration, we headed into the District to one of my new favorite shops. I have a bunch of friends who have all fallen in love with a frozen yogurt place in town -- I think this one is better. It's called Fro-Zen-Yo. I love it.

To get there we had to walk by Ford's Theatre. Here's Harper as we're passing in front of the home where President Lincoln died. I love that she is growing up in an area where there is so much history all around us.

Tourists and student groups have arrived in the District, so it took a bit of time to get our turn at the self-serve stations. We chose our flavor of frozen yogurt (macadamia nut for both of us) ... then our mix-ins:

and here are the finished products:

yum.

Harper was a little concerned that the celebration was for her, but we failed to get her some... in a few months little lady, just you wait. (I love how she is holding on to her blanket in this one)

After a while, Harper had had enough and was ready for bed, so we ate the rest of our yogurt as we walked to the car in the rain. It was a fun new version of date night for us, but we loved every minute.

As we were putting Harper to bed I remembered a picture that Shi took the first night she came home with us, and so I had him take another similar picture tonight for comparison.

She has grown so much. I'll update you with the stats on Friday (after her Drs. appointment). I really miss some aspects of the brand new stage, but the four month stage is proving to be so fun in a completely different way.

Road Trippin' (part 1)

I don’t remember my first road trip… it was probably driving with my parents to see their parents or on our way out to live in Chicago. Since then I’ve become quite used to them, but 2 weeks ago I added a new element to the road trip: the little lady.

I had to be in NY on Thursday night for an industry awards banquet – at which a project I worked on was up for an award. Shiloh had to work late on Thursday night, so I decided to bring Harper with me. My mom loved this idea because it meant she got to spend the evening with her while I was in the city.

Taking Harper (and all her stuff) on a plane or train didn’t sound like much fun, so we packed up the dog and the car and headed up the road. My awesome neighbor helped me out big time and fed Harper while I wrapped up a few things for work – allowing us to get on the road on time and right after she had eaten. This proved to be the perfect combination.

Harper's View

We only stopped once along the way so Harper could eat and be changed, and Adi could go to the bathroom. We got to my parents house with enough time to get dressed and catch the train to the city. My dad, who had just had knee surgery, had fun interacting with Harper, who is a lot more responsive and playful than she was the last time he saw her.

The evening was great; we ended up taking home the award (!!), and having a really good time catching up with our colleagues from the NY and Chicago offices. Here’s our award:

The next day I had a great time following my mom around to all of her activities so that Harper could meet all of my mom’s friends. We went to the school she teaches at (got to sneak a peak at her teaching – she is SO great with the kids), and to a fabulous quilting retreat that a bunch of her quilting friends were having. They are such a fun group of ladies.

All the running around wore both of us out, so the second leg of our road trip was postponed until the next morning.

firsts (part 1)

Disclosure: I realize over the next few years I will have plenty of posts titled "Firsts"... I apologize for the lack of creativity.

Last Friday Harper experienced three firsts: 1st metro ride, 1st outing in the District, 1st NBA basketball game. Here's a recap:

METRO RIDE

I couldn't believe this was the first time we'd taken Harper on the metro. It is such an everyday part of my life that it was funny to see what she thought of it. We are in agreement: it's not very fun. In fact, on the ride home she would scream unless I was standing up. As Noa would call that: Metro surfing. (Noa, Harper can't wait to go metro surfing with you)

When we first got on the train there weren't that many people, but as we got closer to the arena the car became quite crowded. Harper loved looking around at all the new faces. If she had not been so tired I think she would have enjoyed it a bit more.

DISTRICT

No pictures here... As we shuffled through the crowded streets, Harper hung out, enjoying the ride and peering over my shoulder at all of the people. I think she's going to be a people watcher.

BASKETBALL GAME

The game was great. We weren't expecting a very competitive game... we figured the Wizards would get stomped... Luckily, we were wrong. It was a fairly close game throughout and the Wizards ended up with a win!

Harper enjoyed watching all of the movement, and didn't mind the noise at first. However, when she got really tired the sudden moments of cheering weren't letting her sleep, which she wasn't too pleased about.

Harper's "date" was such a champ. He's definitely more accustomed to the noisy arena. Don't worry Camden, she'll get there.

At some point, she gave in, sleeping through a good chunk of the game and some pretty loud moments. Then the Wizards started making a comeback and the crowd got really loud. At least she got a bit of sleep.
It was so great to get out and see a game. The win was totally an extra bonus. L&J, thanks so much for the great evening!

Bolwing

A couple weeks ago we went out bowling with some friends. It was really great to get out of the house. Life definitely feels like it's getting back to normal.

A highlight of the evening was this awesome sign. I think I need to send it to Jay Leno.

Blessing Day {February 7, 2010}

In our church, instead of baptism, we give new babies a blessing. Both of our families were kind enough to make the long trip to be a part of this special day. Unfortunately, because of the massive snowstorm, church was canceled. So, we decided to have the blessing in our home.

It turned out to be a really nice, intimate setting. The sun was shining, the snow was beautiful and Shiloh did an incredible job.

We started the day out with a bath. Harper loved the warm water, so we let her lounge a while.


After a little nap we got her dressed, enjoying every little button and the adorable little white shoes that were almost too small. I found a sweet little headband that offered just the right amount of frill to the outfit.



Grandma Jan helped fill Harper so she would be nice and happy for the blessing.


A few group shots:


As usual, my brother, Ben, was our photographer. I took a few pictures, but the best ones came from him -- here are some of our favorites. Others can be found here.







We're so grateful for this little girl.