A very WEEZER birthday

Sweetest birthday celebration.
ever.

I got completely spoiled this year. Well, last year too. But this year, Shiloh gave me something I've been wanting since I was 12 years old: tickets to a Weezer concert. Luckily, the stars aligned and Weezer was playing at UMD only one week after my birthday. On top of this - Ben Folds was the opening act! To say I was excited is a complete understatement.

If there was any downside, it would be the other attendees. The performance was part of the UMD "Art Attack" festival, so students got into the show for $5. To our surprise, we heard many people say, "Ben who?" Most days it seems like we just left college, and aren't too far removed from that generation. The fact that it felt like we were at a concert with a bunch of pre-teens made us wonder.

excitement.

excitement x 2

We had an amazing time. Ben Folds was hilarious and showed his piano skillz like mad yo. Seriously though, he is so talented. Weezer definitely did not disappoint. They played 5 songs from the Blue Album - my favorite - and almost all of their more recent hits. We danced, sang, screamed, jumped, almost fell over (several times) and loved every minute.

On the train ride home I think Shiloh got sick of me saying, "Dude, that was so fun." Thanks again Shi, this is one for the books. :)

Here are some shots from the show:

birth announcements

I know... she's 5 MONTHS OLD. Better late than never, I say. So here they are. They aren't perfect, but I really like how they turned out. The front photo is one from our 12 day old photo shoot by our amazingly talented friends, Jon and Melissa Smith. Thanks again guys!

Anyway, I finally got them printed and the address labels will be printed and stuck tomorrow. I NEED to check this item off of my list!

In the meantime, enjoy:

Train

On my birthday, Harper and I rode the Amtrak (another first for her) up to visit my sister who had just returned from a semester in London. She was going to travel to D.C. to visit us earlier in the week, but was held up in London because of the volcano. It was a quick trip, but was great to see Arrin (and the rest of the family), and give her a chance to play with Harper, who is much more fun to play with now, than she was when Arrin left. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Train Ride:

Visiting with Grandma Manning:

River Water

Today, Harper was introduced to river water. I thought her reaction was great:

The feet go in...

O Cold!

Adi, on the other hand, loved the cold water. Black dogs on hot days have it rough.

While we were at the river, Adi made friends with this guy:

He had just finished eating a fish and wasn't in the mood to play. Sorry Adi, maybe next time.

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.