More pictures from February…..

Here are some pictures of the rest of us from this past month…..

Ava's preschool is near the beach so our new routine is to go on a run after we pick her up.  She is very tired after preschool and this almost always ensures a nap. Harper will either nap as well or scream most of the run. 

Another favorite of ours....picnics in the park. 

She was so excited to bring her Valentines to school. We decorated cards and gave stickers to her friends at preschool. 

Happy Valentine's Day

Hanging at the pool on this sunny Valentine's Day. 

Someone was a bit tired after swimming

Water baby 

Our attempt at a heart shaped pizza...

Story time with daddy

Mimi came to visit us for a few weeks in February. We love it when Mimi is here! 

Watching the sunset at the beach 

Snuggles with Mimi

More snuggles

Baby wearing is the way to go. I love it when she baby wears so I can shop! 

Happy baby 

Bath time with your buddy Asher

Steve is a pro with two babies! Ben and Harper enjoying story time. 

Neighborhood BBQ. Harper wouldn't stop staring up at me and a neighbor snapped this picture to capture the moment. 

Snuggles before bedtime. 

Silly girl. <3

6 month update and stats

In some ways I can't imagine what life was like before Harper came along, but in other ways I feel like the past 6 months have gone by in the blink of an eye. I will just continue to try and slow down time and enjoy every moment (even the sleepless, toddler meltdown ones).

This past month has been Harper's biggest growth spurt thus far. Hopefully that is the reason for her sleeping challenges this past month. She has never been a great sleeper, but this past month she really tried to keep me up as much as she could. That's ok baby girl, this time around I know there are restful nights ahead so I am more equipped to handle it……for now.

6 month stats:

16.1 pounds
26 inches tall
She just started wearing 9 month clothes and some 12 month.

Rolling like crazy all over the place.

Sleeps on her belly now and loves it.  It was a rough few weeks when the rolling would wake her up in hysterics, but we powered through and now she's discovered she loves sleeping on her belly (just like her mama and sister).

LOVES food!! Will eat anything and everything! We are doing things a little different this time around and it seems to be working really well for Harper. Our two rules: Harper feeds herself and she eats what we eat. No purees or special meals for her. I avoid choking hazards and make sure to give her things that she can hold since her pincer grasp hasn't been perfected yet. If something is mashed or hard for her to pick up I load a spoon for her and she feeds herself. She gags occasionally on some things, but for the most part she has taken down more foods than I thought a 6 month old could eat. This is not only helping Harper develop good eating habits, but its helping her older sister with eating as well. Ava is becoming more adventurous with food as she sees her sister try so many things. She is also finally (for the most part) eating what we eat. I started some bad habits with Ava, mainly because I was always so concerned with her weight I just wanted her to eat and didn't care what I had to make to get that to happen. No more special meals in this house, we all eat together and we all eat the same thing!


Talking up a storm! She still does the dinosaur language often (high pitch screeching) and some consonant sounds like na-na, ba, ya-ya, and dddddd (not yet dada, but getting there).

She is getting her first tooth! And I think number 2 will be here shortly as well. The pocket has formed for the tooth to come in. Now we are just waiting for it to pop through.

Favorite things…..
-Watching her sister. She is mesmorized be everything Ava does.
- Rolling around on the floor.
- Playing "peek a boo"
- Loves to watch people make funny faces
- Grabbing and ripping out mom's hair


Here are some pictures of our sweet and funny Harper……

Smiley girl

My little helper. Nobody can get Harper to laugh and smile like Ava can. 

Sophie tastes good

This makes my heart burst

Hanging with her friends

First taste of food…avocado! 

Although it doesn't look like it here, she does love avocado. 

Bananas are a favorite. She can hold onto it well when we leave it on the peel and she loves that. 

It was nice to have Mimi in town for Harper's first week with food. I had to get comfortable giving her real food verses purees and the first few times I was a nervous reck. I am a lot calmer with it now. I have seen that she is very capable of controlling the amount the goes in and she knows what to do if the food is too much or too big. 

Toast with almond butter is one of her fav breakfasts

She sleeps on her tummy now in the comfy Zipadee Zip.  It took her a few weeks to figure out she liked this position and those were a rough few weeks with many wake ups. She then started sleeping great since she could move around as she pleased, but now that we have a tooth coming in we are back to sleepless nights. 

Our expensive habit right now are green smoothies from whole foods. I get the 24 ounce one and share it with Ava. If I'm lucky I get about 8 ounces. Now that Harper likes them too I am lucky to get an ounce or two. 

This is her satisfied face

And the "Give me more" face

And if I'm not quick enough with the seconds she will find a way to get more food. 

Growing up too fast….5 months old.

I am trying so hard to just enjoy every moment this time around. I feel like I was so anxious for the next stage or the next milestone with Ava. With Harper I am just trying to enjoy it, the good, the bad, and the tired. This month has been an exhausting one. The 4 month regression is a beast, an evil beast, that takes away your sleep and leaves you with a crabby baby (and mommy) who does not sleep! The phrases I kept repeating to myself this past month were, " This to shall pass."I will sleep again." "This is only a phase."

5 month stats:
- 15.3 pounds!!
- Finally nursing about every 3 hours during the day and only one night wake up to nurse usually around 3 or 4 am. The fact that I get to sleep until 3 am is amazing compared to where we were a week ago.
- Talking up a storm! She babbles, coos, screeches (sounds like a dinosaur), and loves to giggle.
- Follows her sister wherever she goes. It. is. adorable. Ava is the only one that can make Harper giggle like crazy.
- Trying so hard to roll from back to tummy. She can get everything over except her shoulders.
- Getting better at sitting up. She can do it unassisted for a few seconds before she falls to the side or forward.
- Loves her activity mat, jumparoo, toys, and spinning in circles on the floor.
- Strongly dislikes the car. It has been this way since day 1, but I thought she would grow out of it. No such luck. She can be completely happy and content and as soon as we put her in the car she starts screaming. Still trying to figure out how to solve this problem, but in the meantime we aren't taking very long car rides.




Here are some pictures from this past month and Ava updates!! She is becoming such a big girl these days and continues to be such a wonderful big sister to Harper.

Ava started preschool at the beginning of January. She LOVES it!! She has a very sweet class.  She goes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I was very worried about how she would do skipping her nap on those days, but so far so good. 

This is how we survived the 4 month regression. Lots of baby wearing…….

And cuddles…. I embraced it instead of fight it. She did a lot of sleeping on me this month and to be honest, although I was exhausted, I LOVED it! 

These two just melt my heart. 

Swinging with her sis

First time on the swings….she didn't hate it, but didn't love it. We will try again in a few weeks when she is more sturdy 

Happy Birthday to this beautiful, spunky, kind, loving, little girl. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating her birthday. And in true kid birthday fashion it ended with a fever. 

Just had to throw this in there because it's adorable. 

We didn't do a party this year. Instead she had her buddy Asher over the night before her birthday. 

I bought the fixings for pizza and these two made their own little pizzas. It was so much fun! 

Cookie cake for the birthday girl 

Yum yum!!

Ava requested to go to the Aquarium on her actual birthday so that is exactly what we did. 

She still loves the pretend penguins more than the real ones. 

She will always be the one who made me a mommy. And I will forever get emotional and nostalgic on her birthday. 

Stories with daddy. Their favorite part of bedtime. 

Steve and I FINALLY had a date night this month. First one since Harper was born. 

This is what she sleeps in now. It is called the "Baby Merlin Magic Sleep Suit"

Finally I can take both girls to the park. Harper loves laying on her blanket and watching her sister play. 

5 month photo shoot 

Love that adorable face

The smiles melts my heart. 

Ava got her first hair cut this month too! We weren't going to do it since we have decided we are going to grow it out until we can donate at least 7 inches to locks of love, but it was getting unmanageable so we stopped in for a quick trim so it would be a little bit easier to take care of while we grow it out. 

She did so well! The hairdresser was very impressed with her stillness and patience. It had a lot to do with the fact that they had Mickey Mouse on the TV right in front of her. 

All done and happy to have that crazy hair out of her face. 

Anna came to visit us. We celebrate a belated birthday for Ava and an early birthday for Anna. 

Ran my first 10K on Superbowl Sunday. 6.2 miles in 51 minutes, not too bad!! Running with the double stroller has helped make me faster when I get to run alone. My friend ran the race with her jogging stroller, but I opted to do it alone. 

Ava at My Gym. She is now in the advanced class where I stay in the waiting area. Harper and I have fun watching her from the sidelines. I am amazed at how good of a listener she is! 

Hanging with her buddy Ben.