All I want for Christmas. . .

Two front teeth!! That's right, Harper got them. Sure, it was a couple days after Christmas and they're on the bottom rather than the top, but this has introduced a whole new world of food to her. She now LOVES bananas, carrots, peas, and other sorts of mashable goodness that does not come pre-chewed. We're certainly moving up in the world!

As for Christmas, it was great! We spent Christmas Eve and day here (due to some bad weather), and then spent a week plus a few extra days (again the weather) in WV. We went skiing, played in the snow, opened presents, and really just spent time together. Harper loved all of her gifts and we did take some pictures. Here are a few, but they are all on my picasa site if you're interested!

Harper is in awe of her magical cookie jar from Grandi.

Her first teddy from my grandparents.

Playing in her Grandad's boots.

Lounging with Bailey during the Gator Bowl. You can tell this is near the end of the week because Bailey is calmly sleeping on a dogbed. One benefit of having 3 other labs around is that she gets VERY tired and manageable!

Harper is (as usual) growing like crazy and doing new things daily. She is almost crawling and finding other ways to get around until she gets the hang of it. Most days you can set her in one place and by the time you turn around sit down, she's in a completely different location, so I'm not sure how she's getting there, but she's managing to roll around and sit back up all on her own.

Blogging takes a backseat

I'm struggling finding time to do much of anything, especially write on this blog, and I figure, who is reading this that doesn't already know what's happening? On the chance that I'm wrong, and the fact that Harper has taken two 5 hour naps in the past two days, I will keep this up when I get a moment.

Harper is doing great. She's sleeping like a champ, sitting up by herself, playing with everything and reaching for everything she isn't supposed to play with. Kevin told me the other day, "I was playing with Harper yesterday and realized after she had been crinkling a plastic bag for a few minutes that babies probably shouldn't play with plastic bags"--at least she wasn't playing with it unsupervised, right?? She's getting close to crawling, but doesn't seem real motivated, she'll get herself up on all fours, look around, look down and see her hand, then just fall over and start sucking her thumb and smiling. I have to admit, I'm ok with it. She's so interested in EVERYTHING within reach right now that I know when she does crawl we will have some MAJOR childproofing to do.

At her six month doctors appointment she weighed a little over 17 pounds and was about 27 inches long. I would guess now she's around 18.5 and who knows how long. She's such a great little girl. She LOVES our dog Bailey and just squeals anytime she comes into the room. She is starting to realize who strangers are and she will cry a little when she's in arms she doesn't recognize, but quickly warms up to them and gives them the same smiles and giggles she gives to Kevin and me. Bath time is one of her favorite parts of the day (or week depending on how busy we are), and she loves to splash and play with her duck and letters.

Since my last post, we've been to way too many places to talk about, Harper had her first mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving, a dedication ceremony at the church, and picked out her first Christmas Tree.

She also got to spend an evening with quite a few friends. Willis and Amy were in town with Henry (he and Harper share a birthday). So, Woody and Justine invited us and the Bradshaws over for pizza. We piled all the kids on the couch for a picture, and it actually didn't turn out as poorly as we all envisioned.

From the left: Emerson (6.5 months), Zoe (2 years), Lily (4 months), Luke (5 years), Harper, and Henry (both 7.5 months)

Then the all the babies had a little "double date" time.

Harper has also discovered her "Jumperoo" and is slowly figuring out all the fun it holds. She doesn't quite jump yet, but laughs and laughs as she wiggles around and swings back and forth in it. We put her cowboy hat (from Halloween) on her one evening and she learned how to take it off and on - which proved to be more fun than the actual Jumperoo. Oh the simple joys of life!!

A Fantastic Five Months

Harper is 5 months old! She is growing like crazy (15 pounds, 26 inches already!) and making us laugh daily. Her new favorite thing is to stick her tongue out and blow bubbles (aka spit) all over you. She will do that a few times and hear the noise and then laugh and laugh. She really cracks herself up. She also continues to love admiring herself in the mirror above her carseat, squealing to anyone that will listen, and she LOVES the song the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Maybe someday we'll upload a video of her reaction to it.

Our good friend Taylor-Mary bought this onesie from Calvin College where she just started, and Harper looks adorable in it (I think anyway).

Harper has also graduated out of the carseat while she is in her stroller. I know she looks less than thrilled here, but she seems to really like this new perspective once we start moving--probably because she can now see something other than my double chin. :)

This was one evening at the park. She wasn't to crazy about the swing with me, but LOVED the one on her own!

It seems like she is starting to get a tooth. She typically sleeps all night without a peep, but a few times in the past couple weeks has woken up screaming 4 or 5 times a night, and I'm starting to see a little something on her bottom gumline. Hopefully that is the extent of her "fussiness" during teething, and we'll see one soon!

Capes on Skates

The kickoff for student ministry this year was a super-hero themed skating party at Haygood Skate Center. The Magee family showed up as "The Incredibles" and Harper was quite a hit. I didn't trust myself to hold her while in skates, so she didn't take a trip around the rink. She did however get to do 4 things she loves: 1 - eat 2 - sleep 3 - look at shiny things (capes) and 4 - attract all kinds of attention. We were there for a pretty late night, but Harper was fantastic and just smiled and laughed the whole time!

Some superhero skaters

"The Great Dane" (Spring Branch's current intern - from Denmark)

"Physics Man" - he had all kinds of physics equations written on his shirt, very clever

"Quailman" - a flashback to a 90s cartoon

"The Incredibles"

A very sleepy Jack-Jack

First Family Vacation

Harper (and Kevin and I) got to spend the week in the Outer Banks with my family at the end of August. We had a fabulous time!! We had a small house for 8 people, but it was on the beach and that made the close quarters very much worth it. A typical day involved a sunrise breakfast (for Harper) on the rooftop deck followed by a little playtime inside while the water in the baby pool warmed up. Then, she usually spent 30-45 minutes each morning on the deck or beach in her pool, and then it was time to eat again and take a long afternoon nap.

Her great-grandparents were better than great and stayed at the house with her each afternoon while she took a nap so Kevin and I could both enjoy the beach. Then we either went out to eat or cooked a great meal in, took a walk on the beach, and it was time for bed! Sounds pretty uneventful now that I'm writing it, but it's just what all three of us needed after a busy couple of weeks.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Harper wasn't entertained that we were making her pose for photos on a bright pink, oversized adirondack chair. Harper, when you read this someday, please know it was your Grandma's idea.

One of our evening walks on the beach

This was one of Bailey's many evening swims. She got so much exercise this week she slept for almost the entire next week at home.

Harper in her bumbo in the pool

Bailey: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

Harper: Mitts Off puppy

Bailey's probably lookin' for some spit-up in this shot. Oh how beautiful a family we have :)

Both faces are priceless in this one

Watch out Tyra, Harper has quite a portfolio

Harper's set-up on the beach. By the time the camera defogged from the humidity, she decided she was done in the pool, so this is all ya get.