10 Months

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Her First Word

Harper actually said her first word several weeks ago. It was the word "doggie." Now, of course it didn't sound like doggie, it sounded like dah-dah, (not to be confused with da-da). But she looked at the dogs multiple times and said dah-dah with meaning. More meaning than mama or dada to be sure. This little girl just loves dogs! This is her with our friends' dog. Oh yeah, and she loves giving kisses now...

Who's Hungry?

I have no idea where she got her love for food...

Vote for Harper!

Calling all Harper fans! She has just been entered into the Gap Casting Call contest, and we need your votes! There are two ways she could win. One is by the fan vote...that's you! And then there's the official Gap winners who are strictly chosen by Gap. As far as the fan vote goes, she doesn't have a chance at all, since the current winner has over 620,000 votes!!!! Harper was only entered yesterday, so she would have a whole lot of ground to make up!!! But you can still vote once a day, and it will just be fun to see how many fan votes she gets. As for the actual contest part, she is super cute and Gap loves redheads, so we figured why not try?

My friend Tara and I took her up the road a little ways to where the Aspen trees grow, and I got some really great shots of her there. She did great in front of the camera, as she always does, and we had a good time. The pictures on the gap website look really grainy for some reason, but most of them on there do, so hopefully the judges can see the actual good quality picture. I certainly hope so!

Here is the link so that you can vote for her: http://www.gapcastingcall.com/GapCastingCall/EntryDetail.html?id=877099

Some more beautiful pictures from yesterday...The rest to follow on Flickr later today...

New Tricks

This post is dedicated to Harper's Grandma (Chris' mom) who is fighting a very difficult battle with lung cancer. Wish we could be there. Hope this makes your day better. We love you and Harper sends kisses!


Harper has graduated to the hand crawl vs. the army crawl...

Now she's clicking her tongue. So cute!

A Rare Occasion

This just doesn't happen as often as it used to...

And by that I'm referring to Chris sleeping with Eeyore.

Whew!

Today was possibly the most excited I have ever been to waste my money! The podiatrist isn't concerned about Harper's foot. The size difference was actually smaller than it was two weeks ago, which tells me that it's growing. He wants to check her out in 9 months after she's been walking for a while, but it seems like she'll be just fine. Thanks for all your prayers!

4:00 Appointment

Harper has a doctor's appointment today at 4:00 with the foot doctor. Hopefully it's a waste of time and money, because that would mean that everything is okay. Stay tuned...

Harper x 2

Harper Goes to Braelyn's First Birthday Party

To all of you who don't know, Harper's best friend is Braelyn McDougall. I guess at this point in their lives it's more of an "arranged" friendship if you will. But one day we just know they'll be besties! Braelyn turned one this past Tuesday and her birthday party was yesterday, hence the reason for the visit to California. Her mom Melisa did an amazing job planning her party, and I'm sorry to say to all you readers who couldn't attend that the cake was delicious! Here are some pictures from the event...

The Birthday Girl Braelyn Joy McDougall 

The Yummy Cake

Harper's Party Dress

Harper Playing with the Big Kids

Braelyn Enjoying Her Smash Cake

Harper's Day at Disneyland

Harper's Fall Mickey Picture

Mommy, Harper, and Pumpkin Mickey

Daddy and Harper in a Teacup

Harper Finally Takes a Nap

Harper Clinging to Daddy After her Traumatizing Micky Mouse Encounter

My Favorite Picture of the Day

She Prefers her Mickey Mouse on TV

Harper had a really good time at Disneyland today. We recently discovered that Harper loves watching Mickey Mouse on TV, so naturally we wanted to get a picture of her with Mickey. However, my lovely daughter has two fears:  puppets and bald men. I think to her Mickey Mouse was a giant puppet...one she had no desire to be around. This picture is after we got her calmed down. The camera man advised Chris to put her on his other side rather than right next to Mickey which helped. When we first walked up, Harper grabbed her daddy's shirt in one hand, beard in the other, pulled towards him away from Mickey, and buried her face in her daddy's shirt! In a sad way it was really cute! We had such a great time, and we have some great new memories to cherish. Thanks McDougall's!!

Harper's Big Day

We're off to meet Mickey Mouse! We're in California this weekend hanging with the McDougall's, and Harper's Uncle Shaun gave us tickets to Disneyland! Leaving shortly...pictures to follow....

Harper's Foot

If you will please divert your attention to Harper's right foot in these pictures, you will notice what her Daddy saw in the first 5 minutes of her life. When she was born, Harper would hold her right foot all the way against her shin. The doctors looked at it and said they thought it was okay because she has full range of motion in her ankle. Chris was never convinced. Every time I took her to a doctor's appointment, he wanted me to ask the doctor to check it out. Now that she's standing and walking (with help of course), that foot has come down. And it seems like she can put the same amount of weight on both feet. So we stopped worrying. But now I'm noticing that her right foot is a good 1/2 inch shorter than her left. That wouldn't be a big deal for my huge feet, but since Harper's feet are only a few inches to begin with, it seems like a big difference to me! So I asked her pediatrician at her 9 month appointment, and she wasn't sure about it. She made a few phone calls, and is now referring Harper to a pediatrist. Now before anyone panics, and I'm really speaking to you mum, it's probably nothing. They just want to check it out and make sure everything's fine. It doesn't give her any trouble at all, and it's not holding her back in her desire to walk in any way, so I'm not too worried. But having it checked will just give us peace of mind. When I know something, so will you.

Kisses!

Harper gave us kisses for the first time today! She did the typical baby open-mouth kiss, and then got super excited every time. Except when we started the video camera of course.

By the way, we're not moved in all the way, but we're living in the new house now. There's so much more room. And with just a few days on carpeted floors, Harper has improved tremendously with her crawling and pulling herself up. Pictures will be coming next week.

Another Milestone!

Harper just pulled herself to a standing position all on her own!! She can usually pull herself up by holding onto our hands, but this is the first time that she used something else! She was sitting by the futon in her room, saw her book sitting there, and pulled herself up by grabbing the couch. I am one proud mama! I tried taking a video to add to this post, but no such luck. Apparently once was enough for her. So here's a cute standing picture of her instead...

My Favorite Home Remedy

Every now and then Harper gets cradle cap. The first time she got it, right around the time her hair started falling out in the shape of a mohawk, I went to Babies R Us and bought a special lotion. I had to rub it in her scalp, comb through all the gunk, and then wash her hair in the bath. It wasn't cheap, nor was it effective. Then I read online about using olive oil, and I must say, it does the trick! You just rub a tiny bit of olive oil into the scalp, let it sit for a few minutes, and then wash it out. Well, you kind of have to wash it out several times, and the next day her hair is still kind of oily, but the dry skin pretty much just falls out the next morning. And the best part about it...I always have plenty of olive oil in stock!

A Surprising Night

The night before last Harper slept straight through the night. It was wonderful. Last night, she went to bed at 7, woke up at 9, woke up at 11, woke up at 1, I couldn't fall asleep after that and stayed up until 2:15, then she woke up at 2:30. I was so incredibly frustrated, but by that point I figured I'd been up so long, what did it matter? So I picked her up and cuddled with her in the rocking chair. She snuggled with me for a few minutes, and then she opened her eyes and stared into mine. It was so nice and peaceful, just watching her in the dim blue glow of the clock beside us. Then she reached out her hand and grabbed my nose. Then she stuck her fingers in my nose. And then she laughed. So I laughed. And we kept giggling back and forth for a while. It was so great! After a few minutes I laid her back down and she was quiet. About 5 minutes after I got back in bed, the monsoon storm hit, and the thunder and lightning scared her. So I went and got her and brought her back to our bed until the storm passed. Then she went back to bed and slept until 7:00 this morning. I started out so tired and frustrated, but I ended up thankful that I had that special time with her. I love being a mom. I absolutely love being a mom!

9 Months

How lucky am I? My 9 month old baby is more than I could have ever asked for. She amazes me. She's so happy, so sweet, so beautiful, so smart...Chris and I are really having the time of our lives! And that's saying a lot, considering all the things we've done over the past 10 years. Here are some highlights of Harper's 9 month progress report:

• She weighs 20 pounds!!
• She crawls using a very speedy military style
• She's trying to "cruise" now, and absolutely LOVES to stand
• She's afraid of puppets on TV
• She likes sleeping with her Eeyore doll, compliments of Grandpa and Nana Holohan
• She loves to eat (not sure where she got that from!)
• She says mama and dada and baba
• She loves to drink from her sippy cup
• Cheerios are her new best friend
• She trys clapping her hands, but really she makes fists and kind of rubs them together
• She loves skype 
• Everyone who sees her falls in love...including our dogs! 

I know there's more, but now Harper has seen the computer and wants to do the typing. You can see more of her 9 month photo shoot on my Flickr page by clicking on it on the right. She didn't enjoy this one as much as the others as you will see....