Harper at nine months

Last week it was time for Harper's nine month check-up.  Keeping in mind that we are inching ever closer to her first birthday (I can't believe how fast this year is going) I was really anxious to see how much she weighs.  She has only been gaining about 2lbs between each of her check-ups but since we had three months since her last one I was thinking that maybe she had gained more.  I was right, but not by much.  She weighed in at a whopping 16lbs 2oz (10th percentile) which was up about 3lbs...at least she's staying consistent at about 1lb per month.  And she is only 25 1/2 inches tall (4th percentile).  To say she's still a peanut would be more than accurate.  No concerns from her doctor though since she is staying right on the exact same curve on the growth chart and is super active.

For being such a little girl, Harper is an amazing eater.  She, like her big brother, decided about a month ago that she would no longer eat any of the mushy crap (meaning baby cereal and pureed foods) but that she wanted to eat whatever we were eating.  I have even gotten her to eat some veggies by giving them to her whole (cut-up obviously) and steamed so they are soft.  I have not found a single think that she has not wanted to eat and most nights, she will out-eat Cayden.

Now, I need to really brag about my baby girl.  She has been crawling, fast, and pulling herself up on anything that she can reach for months now.  We got her a walker (that looks like a pink convertible car) so that she could really move while being upright and she has gotten good enough to move it forward, not just backwards.  She has started to take a few steps holding on to the couch and now she is standing up completely on her own.  It took all of my self control not to scream with excitement the first night I saw her crawl out to the middle of the floor and carefully stand up all on her own.  I did, however, start crying because with every amazing milestone I know that she is becoming less and less of a baby and more of a toddler.  

Cayden has even started to like his sister even more.  He hugs and kisses her good-night and has even been letting her play in his room with him more and more.  If she starts to cry or fuss, he always looks right at her and says "Harper, I'm right here" because, obviously the only reason she would ever be upset is because she can't see him.  It really is amazing watching their relationship grow and develop.  This coming weekend we are going to take our first spring trip to the zoo and I am really excited to see her reactions now that she is old enough to really see the animals and to see what Cayden says to her while we are walking around.  he is truly my son, making sure he is teaching her and telling her everything he knows about any subject or experience (I guess I used to do this with Adam, but I am sure he needed me to tell him)!

I will leave you with our last weekend in review:

sorry Menards

For the first weekend in a long time Jake was actually home all day on Saturday (well, almost all day) and was up for a fmily trip to Menards.  Having a nearly potty trained three year old makes every outing feel a little like playing Russion roulet.  Will he pee in the car, will he pee in the store, will he hold it until we get back home, who knows!  Cayden has been a total rockstar and has even gotten comfortable (a major thing for guys when they need to use a bathroom) with using public restrooms.  Having such a good track record made Mommy slightly over-confident on this sunny Saturday morning and I did not bring extra pants, a pull-up or anything for in the car in case he peed in his car seat.  We just got him dressed, boxers and all, and went to Menards.  After spending about 15 minutes in the paint aisle waiting for one of the 7 people that they supposedly had working in that area to come help us with our deck stain I heard Jake, a little frantically, calling my name.  When I turned around I saw, to my complete shock and embarrassment, Cayden had peed in his pants.  Now, when I say he peed in his pants I don't mean that there was a small (or even medium) size went spot on the front of his jeans.  I mean we had a serious waterfall running through his pants, down his legs, through the cart and all over the floor. 


What did we do, you ask?  We did what any parent would do, we took our cart and walked as fast as we could out of the store leaving behind one good sized puddle and, I am pretty sure, a trail of dribbles as we made our escape.  I did take the time to wipe out the inside of the cart as Jake carried our mad, screaming 3 year old out of the store.  That's right, I said mad, screaming 3 year old.  He was mad that we were making him leave this fun store and he got even more mad when we went to the car and took off his soaking wet pants and boxers.  I guess I can't blame him for that since we didn't have anything for him to change into and he had to ride the whole way home in jsut his t-shirt and a bare bottom.  I thought it was funny but of course Mommy laughing just makes the situation worse so I had to try my best to keep a straight face. 


After the waterfall and subsequent meltdown, you'd think that we were done for the day and just decided to admit defeat and stay home.  If you really think that, well you'd be wrong.  When we got home, Cayden and I ran into the house to get new pants on and got right back in the car to head back to Menards.  Yup, we were that determined to have our family outing.  And, being the over-confident idiot that I can sometimes be when it comes to my kids and their abilities, I didn't put a pull-up on Cayden the second time either.  Thankfully, we didn't have a repeat performance of the waterfall creation and by the time we got back to the paint aisle again someone had cleaned up what we left behind on our first trip. 


So, thank you to the mysterious Menards employee who got stuck cleaning up after us and my sincerest apologies although I am fairly certain that my kid was not the first to pee in your store and I know he won't be the last!


P.S. This all happened on St. Patrick's Day so to make sure that we were easily recognizable, I had the kids in matching green outfits.

The lady at the Menards check-out asked him if he was getting lots of kisses and she figured he had.  Guess she hadn't heard about the waterfall!

These are the cupcakes I made to make us all feel better and boy were they yummy!

so happy to be home

Yesterday was travel day.  That dreaded day at the end of your vacation when you wake up knowing that your vacation has ended, that you are going to spend the whole day moving (gag) on buses, in cars, on planes, etc. and you just want to be home NOW.  Coming home from a foreign country where nothing you ate, even plain meat and potatoes and diet coke, do not taste the same you get (well, I get anyway) crabbier about not being there yet and more and more anxious to be home.  Add to that the fact that I had been away from my kiddos for 9 whole days and I was more than a little excited when we finally pulled into the driveway.  I could not be more grateful for this digital age that we live in with iPads, iPhones and wireless internet because I was able to see my kids (thank you FaceTime!) almost every night and I am pretty sure that's the only reason I didn't cry myself to sleep every night in sunny Mexico (feel sorry for me yet...no, didn't think so). 

It was really late when I got home last night, though, so all I was able to do was sneak into the kids' rooms and quietly watch them sleep for a few minutes using all of my remaining energy and self control not to touch them or wake them up.  I am not gonna lie...this momma started to cry.  I was so excited to see them that I hardly slept last night and was all but jumping up and down with excitement when they woke up this morning and I got to see them face-to-face and smother them with hugs and kisses. 

Although Mexico was warm, sunny (for the most part), relaxing and a lot of fun I am blissfully happy to have my sunburnt nose and peeling skin back at home with my babies and their super-dad (a.k.a. Jacob) who I absolutely, without-a-doubt, know that I cannot live without!