Family...Wish You Were Closer

I just love this picture of Harper and her Great-Grandparents in Illinois! It makes me wish our families were closer so that we could have moments like this one more often. I just wish her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins could be here to watch her grow. I know her Nana is coming here for her first Christmas and Birthday which will be great! Her other Nana and Grandpa Holohan have talked about coming out here in the spring...here's hoping! Aunt Kelly and Uncle Bri Bri are still figuring out their visit. And now her Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Kellie live in Yuma, which is super close compared to the rest of the family, so hopefully we'll see them very soon! At least there's one thing I know for sure...my precious little baby is loved by so many people in so many different places.

Pool Time

da-da

That's right, she said it! Harper said da-da for the first time tonight! She said it a few times, and then when Chris walked in she looked up at him and said it again! It was so cute...and Chris was so happy!! Even when she doesn't know what ma-ma or da-da means, just hearing her pretty little voice say those sounds just makes us melt. It's a pretty big day for Chris and Harper!

Mmmmm....Peaches

It took me months to get her to suck on a bottle, but peaches...

Harper's New Favorite Toy

Harper's First Camping Trip

Saturday night we drove up the road a few miles to Thumb Butte Park and went camping for the first time with Harper. We got this really cool roof top tent to put on our jeep back in July, and we've never had a chance to use it until now, so we were pretty excited. It was kind of a last minute decision to go, so we got to the camp site right at Harper's bedtime. I climbed up into the tent while Chris made a fire, got Harper into her pj's, fed her, and put her down.
Then we enjoyed our favorite BLTA's from the Liquor Deli by the fire. It was such a beautiful night! There were so many stars, which isn't unusual for Prescott. And Harper was completely sound asleep. Chris and I kept hearing this dog barking, and the sound kept getting closer (or so we thought), which made us very grateful that our tent was on top of our vehicle rather than on the ground! Being the crazy late-night
people that we are, we crawled into the tent around 8:30. That of course woke up Harper who was not at all impressed. She screamed! We just kept thinking about the poor guy across the road at the next campsite and what he must have thought about us! Harper's sleeping has improved tremendously, but she is definitely not used to sleeping with anyone else nearby. Needless to say we didn't sleep very well, but all in all I would call it a successful first camping trip. She probably woke up about 3 or 4 times, which is better than I thought it would be. She woke up super happy the next morning as you can see in the pictures to follow. Notice her cute new "scrunchy face."  So funny!

NIPPLES

Well, now that I have your attention...

For several months now, Harper has been rejecting the bottle. She's a breast-fed baby, but of course on occasion it's nice to be able to leave a bottle with a sitter so that Chris and I can go out. The very first bottle we ever gave her didn't go well. I can't remember if it was filled with formula or breast milk, but we eventually discovered that the reason she didn't want it was because it had a fast-flow nipple. She wasn't used to drinking so much milk in one gulp. This is something that no one tells you, including the baby books. Who knew nipples had speeds, let alone 3 different speeds??? I just happened to notice the faintly etched word on the base of the nipple:  fast. So off to target I went, and sure enough I found not only slow but medium as well. The slow nipple worked, and I was occasionally able to let others feed her. And for those of you who have nursed for any period of time, you know how nice this freedom can be!

I plan to nurse Harper for the entire first year, but lately it's been pretty troublesome. Chris and I had a meeting in Phoenix about two months ago, and Harper ended up going without milk. I left some, and my friend who was watching her tried to give her milk from a bottle, a sippy cup, a straw (which is her favorite way to drink water), and even a regular cup, but she was having none of it. (And for those people who say, "well let her go without and she'll learn" are also not the ones staying up at night with a hungry baby). Formula or breastmilk, it didn't matter...Harper was not taking a bottle.

That is until I finally used my brain. Now nursing takes about 5-7 minutes total, whereas in the beginning it took 40! Ahhh, could it be time for the fast-flow nipple? Not only is she taking a bottle now, but she's taking formula, too. I still plan on nursing for another three months, but I feel better knowing that I have an alternative for when I need to be away. So many things to learn being a parent. And I thought Harper had a lot to learn!

And for those of you who didn't know, pacifiers have different sizes. Not that I would ever give my newborn an 18 month pacifier!! But in case you would...

Daddy's Girl

The other day we were up at our new house working. When Harper got tired and it was time to go, we headed out to the car. Chris was holding her, and she did something that she rarely does with anyone but me...she laid her head on his shoulder. It's one of the nicest feelings having your baby snuggle with you. So when we went to get in the car, Chris said, "I'll walk." As I drove past them, Harper was happily nestled into her father's chest, and her father was wearing a huge smile. It's one of the best things I've ever seen!

On to Finger Foods

Harper has now officially moved into the world of self-feeding. Not completely, she's still on cereal for the iron since she's still nursing and other baby foods, but she has added finger foods to her repertoire. Just last weekend when we were in Laughlin, she tried eating some of Braelyn's soft carrots, and couldn't do it. Now she's eating whole wheat bread or bagels, scrambled egg yolks, pieces of soft pear, mashed potatoes (so easy to clean up!), yogurt melts, baby mum-mums, and as of yesterday cheerios and cheddar cheese!! When did she get so big? It seriously happens so fast! And if you'll notice in the picture, she's not the only one enjoying her new ventures...Guinness now loves Harper's meal times. But the rule is she has to stay out of the kitchen until Harper drops something. Then she swoops in, eats it real fast off the floor, and then back out of the kitchen to patiently wait. It's actually pretty hilarious. We're just wondering how long it's going to take Harper to realize she can feed the doggies. Guinness has never had so much people food in her life.

The Voice of an Angel

Since this past weekend spent with Harper's best friend Braelyn, Harps has been talking...a lot! I love it! First it was Babababa, as you can hear at the end of this video. But yesterday....she said MAMA!!! Of course, it wasn't directed to me in any way, but I have now heard it, and the sound is absolutely beautiful!

I must apologize for not posting much lately, but we're moving! Not out of town, just up the hill into a new camp house. (For those of you who don't know, although I doubt I have any readers other than family and friends, my husband and I work and live at a summer camp for kids) The house we're getting is probably close to double the size we're in now, which we desperately need! But before we move in, we're fixing it up. We have a to-do list a mile long, but luckily we have some amazing friends here who have been helping us get things done. So I have been very busy. A poor excuse, I know, but there it is nonetheless. You can see our before pictures of the house on Flickr.