where did my baby go?

OK, so I know my last post asked who is this creature referring to Harper who we now affectionately and frustratingly call Hurricane Harper but this week I now have to ask where did my baby go?  I had this horrible realization right around her first birthday that our house no longer had any babies and that we really don't even have two toddlers.  We now have a toddler and a preschooler.  I swear that at the exact moment I had this thought, Harper grew up.  It was like overnight she decided that she was a big girl and she even looked the part.  They say that your younger kids always do things a little sooner and seem to grow up a little bit faster because they are trying to keep up with their older siblings but I wasn't sure I really believed it.  I believe it now!  Maybe it's just the hair or mommy's crazy emotions (the Olympics are making me cry multiple times a day) or maybe she is just growing up too fast.

who is this creature?

This little creature has recently invaded our house.  It is approximately 2 1/2 feet tall, close to 20 lbs, has strawberry-blonde hair and answers to the name Harper.  Don't let the sweet smile and big blue eyes fool you, she is CRAZY!  It happened about 2 weeks ago and I was hoping it was a fluke but overnight my good, sweet baby girl became this loud, screaming, tantrum throwing, toddler who doesn't want to go to sleep at night and who has decided to shoot Mommy these wicked little looks that say "I know what you want me to do and I am NOT going to listen."  Daddy compares her to a tornado the way she rips through every room in the house grabbing whatever toy or object is within her reach (especially if it belongs to her big brother) and getting Cayden to chase her around.  Our house was never really all that quiet with dogs and babies but now that we have a preschooler and a toddler both running around it truly is a circus.  Now that Harper has entered the wonderful world of toddler-hood, it's time to start the countdown to the magial age of 4 when, as I hear it from other parents, the terrible twos and horrific threes become a distant memory.

This pic was taken right before Hurricane Harper ripped through the living room and spilled Cayden's chocolate DQ shake all over the floor, the couch and her pretty pink outfit!

This is a more accurate reflection of the way she moves around the house.

what happened to july?

Sitting at work this morning, I looked at my calendar and realized that August is just around the corner...like next week around the corner.  I have no idea what happened to July but boy did that month disappear fast.  I know we had nice weather, played lots, worked hard and visited Great Grandma and Grandpa and made one very hot and sweaty trip to the zoo.  I was really hoping that July would slow down a little because with August comes a whole bunch of stuff I am not quite ready for...swimming lessons that make for busier evenings, work deadlines, weddings with lots of travel and Cayden's first day of preschool.  I know that most of these things are good (with the exception of the work stuff) but crazy days and busy nights mean time racing by even faster and winter weather inching closer and just the thought of having to drop Cayden off at school for the first time makes me breakdown into tears.  Even though he has been going to daycare since he was about 6 weeks old preschool is a whole other story.  School is where big kids go, not my baby.  He has already grown up too fast, gotten too big (he only has about 2 feet to go before he is just as tall as I am), gotten too smart and even developed a littl bit of an attitude that comes out when he thinks Mom is being stupid.  Going to school means he is one giant step closer to leaving home and leaving me, my little sidekick who has done everything and gone almost every where with me since the day he was born.  Nope, I am not ready!

Here is what we've done so far in July:

Mr. Smarty Pants

For those of you who don't know about big boy toys, the newest thing that is all the rage is bay blades.  Basically they are a fancy top that spins and if you have someone else with you, your bay blades can battle by spinning them on the same surface and hoping they bump in to each other and one can knock the other one over or interrupt its spin.  Cayden has learned all about them from the big kids at daycare and is currently obsessed.  He convinced me (which isn't all that hard to do) to buy him one while we were out shopping the other day.  One would think that something that is basically a top wouldn't require much assembly but that would be WRONG!  It took me a while to figure out how to put the bay blade together and actually needed Cayden's assistance.  That's right, my 3 year old had to show me how to start putting this stupid thing together.  Once it was together it was time to spin.  In order to spin the bay blade, you put it on this little piece of plastic and pull the little rip cord.  However, you first have put the little rip cord into the plastic thing.  Again, Mommy was having some trouble figuring out how and where the rip cord goes in so Cayden stepped in to give me some direction.  His exact words..."Mommy, turn it over like this.  See this little picture?  It tells you how to put the string in.  That's how you do it."  Jake and I really messed up having kids that were smarter than us!

oh how i wish...

For the month of July, our daycare schedule changed a little bit and thanks to my awesome job I am now able to stay at home on Monday mornings with my kiddos.  I can't even begin to tell you how nice it was to not have to get up early and rush out the door first thing in the morning after a very busy weekend of traveling and fun with Great-G&G.  Both kids got to sleep in and wake up on their own, I got to ejnoy my coffee in my pjs while getting to actually watch the Today show (as opposed to just listening to it for about 20 minutes while I get ready) and Live with Kelly and nothing was rushed.  It was an amazing morning and it made me wish so badly that I didn't have to work, or at least not work full time.  I swear I just about started crying when I had to leave for work because we had had such a great start to our week.  To keep myself from crying, however, I did flash back to last fall when I wasn't working and was at home all day, everyday and remembered that not all mornings were that great.  Funny how we have to really try hard to remember the bad days because, I swear, 98% of what I remember is always great! 

Cayden brought all his blankets out to the couch and told me he wanted Harper to snuggle with him...so of course, she did (bringing her baby and her own "fuzzies" with her).

finally a nice weekend

I swear that I am completely cursed when it comes to the weather.  It seems like the days are always nice, sunny and not very windy when I am at work and then the weekend comes and instead of staying nice so that I get to play outside with the kids, it gets crappy.  This weekend, I got lucky!  We had two awesome days of sunshine, little wind and it only rained once in the middle of the night (and not even enough to create a swamp out of our lovely dirt yard).  It was fantastic and the kiddos and I took full advantage of our beautiful weather and shady patio.

Coolest kids on the block!