A Year in Review: 2011

This year FLEW by and I seriously have no idea how it happened? I'm sure adding a new baby (a losing a lot of sleep) had something to do with it, but I'm pretty sure we skipped a few months somewhere! Ha! I made a little collage of pictures from this past year going month by month! I'm going to do a month by month summary starting tomorrow!Row #1:

• January: We found out that our baby was a GIRL and went to lunch to celebrate, even though at this time, Griffin wanted a brother ... to be named Chuckie!
• February: We had a few snow days this month and Griffin and I spent one at Chik-fil-A to get out of the house.
• March: We went out to dinner for Grandpa Dean's birthday!
• April: We were spending lots of time enjoying our first-born!
• May: Harper was here and Griffin became a very proud big brother!
• June: We had a newborn photo shoot here in our house and Griffin couldn't wait to get in on the action!
• July: We spent a lot of time at home and Mommy took A LOT of pictures!
• August: Griffin started pre-school and we went to Meet the Teacher night together!
• September: Griffin and Harper spent lots of time together and sometimes they were even both in the pack-and-play! Ha!
• October: The cute kiddos one Sunday before church!
• November: Getting our family pictures taken for our Christmas card!
• December: Hanging out on Christmas Day in our holiday outfits!

I'm sure 2012 will be filled with many more memories and I am ready to get them started! Happy New Year everyone!!!!

The Most Memorable Part ...

The most memorable part of 2011 was going from this ...... to this ...Happy New Year everyone! I hope your 2012 is filled with laughter, love, and health!!!!

Harper: 7 months old!

This was by far the HARDEST set of pictures to take! Little girl was everywhere!!!

Harper Elizabeth, you are now SEVEN months old!!! You are getting so big too quickly! This month has definitely gone by the fastest as it started right after Thanksgiving and ended today!

• You weigh about 22 pounds and I'm guessing you are close to 29 inches tall (I know the weight is right due to a trip to Stat Care).
• You wear mostly 12 month tops and leggings, but you can still wear your 9 month sleepers.

• You wear a size 4 shoe. Your little feet are so chubby!
• You wear size 3 diapers.
• You eat about every 5-6 hours during the day. You start to get really fussy when you are hungry, so we know it's time. Also, you can now hold your own bottle, which is pretty helpful!
• You do really well with food. As far as babyfood, you pretty much eat everything. When we are eating, you REALLY notice and you do whatever you can to make us share with you. You still love the puffed cereal bites and yogurt melts! We've also given you some people food, applesauce, banana, whipped cream, etc, and you LOVE IT ALL!
• You like to roll all over the floor and try to knock things over, be held and talked to, and sit and play with your toys. You also like to watch your brother; he still, sometimes, shares his toys with you!
• You LOVE pattycake!!! You have been known to do this in the middle of the night, which is both cute and a little annoying. Ha!
• You are a good daytime sleeper. You take a nap (@2 hours) about a little after you wake up, and then you take another 1.5-2 hour nap after lunch.
• Your are still not sleeping through the night :(. You usually go to bed around 7:30 and I put you in your crib. Then, you wake up around 1am and I bring you in Mommy and Daddy's room to sleep in the pack and play. A few nights this month, we slept in the rocker because you were so stuffed up and needed to sleep upright!
• You have a self-soothing ritual of hitting yourself in the head with one hand and playing with your ear with the other. Also, right before you go to sleep, you turn your head from side to side 5 times!
• You are the sweetest (spoiled) little girl who LOVES to be held! Your favorite spot to sleep is in someone's arms. You were LOVING all the attention you got on Christmas; so many people wanted to hold you!
• Your big brother ADORES you!!! He is always happy to help when you are upset! You have been playing pretty rough with him; you like to grab onto his hair or face and pull really hard. He just says, "Harper, that hurts!," but he never gets made at you. He truly is the best big brother!!!
• You really are such a happy baby! Even on little sleep, you still flash your big smile to everyone! You love to be around people and the only time you cry is when people leave you alone in a room, you are hungry, or you poop!
• You love reaching for whatever is in front of you ... the computer keyboard, my food, my drinks ... the list goes on and on! You are SO curious/nosy and you love to know what is going on around you.
• You sit all by yourself and you love to sit there and play with some of your toys. When you are done sitting, you can roll onto your belly, and then push yourself back onto your butt!
• You have rolling mastered and we find you in very different places from where we left you.
• You are SOOOOO ready to crawl. If something (or someone) is in front of you, you grab it to pull yourself forward. You can get on "all fours," rock forward, and take one step. You are pretty good at crawling backwards!!!
• You are a blondie! We have a tough time keeping up your faux-hawk because your hair is growing in more and doesn't want to stand up on top!
• Your eyes are so pretty and I think they will stay the mostly blue, but with a little green/grey tint!
• You get baths in the kitchen sink because you like sitting up and seeing the water and grabbing everything around you. You make a huge mess splashing, but you have so much fun!
• You are now in the big rear-facing car seat. I couldn't carry that infant seat and you enjoy sitting up a little higher and closer to your brother!
• You are a smiler and "talker" (aka a yeller). It is so funny to just talk to you and get that response! You have the cutest gummy smile! When we are out, people just gravitate towards you and you smile at them!
• You are a LOUD BABY!!!! When you are left alone in a room, you want people to come back, so you get loud!!!
• You like to blow bubbles/raspberries with your lips and spit usually flies everywhere!
• You love petting and then grabbing onto Brutus and he tolerates that pretty well. He always sits right by you like he's protecting you.
• You are doing really well going to the babysitter's house during the week. However, you light up when I come to get you and want me to hold you immediately! It makes me so happy to know you missed me!

Harper-girl, we love you SO, SO, SO much! Every single day, you make us smile and laugh and I know that will continue because you are such a sweet, little girl!

Christmas 2011 Recap

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! It was busy, but so much fun! The kids were SUPER spoiled and I'm sure we will be opening new toys until birthdays! I decided to do collages to get all my pictures in without going overboard! Ha!

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CHRISTMAS EVE:

Starting in the top, left corner and going clockwise:

• My reindeer helping me make cookies
• Our super, sugary cookies (who do you think put all that sugar on?)
• Christmas tree
• Stockings
• My lovebugs
• My Dad and Harper
• Griffin and his pajamas (and new Pokemon underwear). We open new pajamas on Christmas Eve.
• Harper chilling in all the wrapping paper
• Griffin's new Pokemon playset (which he played with most of today)
• Our sweet niece, Aylah
• Harper eating mashed potatoes
• Uncle Nate and Harper
• Center: Griffin and Harper opening pajamas together

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CHRISTMAS DAY:

• Santa ate our milk and cookies and left us a note
• Griffin got his Batman train! (When Griffin came downstairs on Christmas morning, I asked him if Santa came and he looked at the tree and said, "No," with a really sad look on his face. Then, we told him to look on the table and the train was there all set up! He was so happy!
• My beautiful girl
• Harper opening her first present
• Griffin and his Pokemon tin
• Opening stockings: he got candy, she got babyfood!
• Cuties before going to Grandma's
• Grandma and the kids
• Maw Maw and the kids
• Two smiling kiddos
• Christmas jammies
• I love Griffin's smile; he had the best day! He kept saying things like, "this is awesome," and "this is what I always wanted!" It was precious!
• Center: Me and my babies; the only Christmas presents I'll ever need!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! I'm so excited to spend the next few days with our families! We have a pretty busy Christmas weekend lined up, but it should be fun and I know the kids, Griffin especially, will really enjoy the next few days! There is nothing like seeing Christmas through the eyes of your kids!!!! Enjoy your holidays!!!!!

Harper: 6 months old

*Post written on 11/28/11, pictures taken on 12/17/11*

Harper Elizabeth, you are now SIX months old!!! I cannot believe that you are so close to being one year old ! I feel like you just got here sometimes and other times it feels like you've been with us forever (in a good way, of course ;)!

• You weigh 20.13 pounds and are 28 1/4 inches tall (Griffin was 21.12 lbs and 28 5/8" tall).
• You wear mostly 9-12 month tops and 9-12 month leggings. You also wear 9 month sleepers.

• You wear a size 3-4 shoe. Your little feet are so chubby!
• You wear size 3 diapers.
• You eat about every 3-4 hours during the day. You rarely make that little fake cry/cough to let us know that you are hungry, but sometimes you do it and I still love it!
• You are doing pretty well with baby food. You have your times when you really don't want it and other times, you devour it. You REALLY notice when we are eating/drinking and you do whatever you can to make us share with you. We started giving you the puffed cereal bites and you LOVE them!
• You like to roll all over the floor, play in your activity bouncer, be held and talked to, and sit and play with your toys. You also like to watch your brother; he will (sometimes) share his toys with you!
• You are a decent daytime sleeper. You take 1 longer nap (@2 hours) about 2 hours after you wake up, then you take a 2 other cat-naps throughout the day.
• Your nighttime sleep took a bit of a hit this month. You only slept through the night 3 times ... this did not make Mommy happy! You usually go to bed around 8 and wake up about 12 and again about 4. You have been sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's room in the pack and play this month as you were too big for the co-sleeper and needed more room.
• You have a self-soothing ritual of pulling your hair with one hand and playing with your ear with the other ... it's a little strange, but you seem to like it.
• You are the sweetest (spoiled) little girl who LOVES to be held! Your favorite spot to sleep is in Mommy or Daddy's arms. You've been better about not waking up if we put you down, but you are definitely a light napper.
• Your big brother ADORES you!!! He is always happy to help when you are upset! He talks to you and tries to soothe you; it makes me smile to hear him talk to you! He likes to tell you, "it's okay, I'm here now!" He truly is the best big brother!!!
• You love reaching for whatever is in front of you ... the computer keyboard, my food, my drinks ... the list goes on and on! You are SO curious and you love to know what is going on around you.
• You sit all by yourself and you love to sit there and play with some of your toys. Wen you are done sitting, you "gracefully" fall over (usually towards your face) and lay on your belly.
• You have rolling mastered and we find you in very different places from where we left you.
• You seem like you are ready to crawl. If something (or someone) is in front of you, you grab it to pull yourself forward. Also, you've been getting close to being on "all fours" like you are just going to take off.
• Your hair is now almost all blonde. There are a few darker pieces towards the back, but you're going to be a blondie! We try to do the faux-hawk, but your hair is growing in more and doesn't want to stand up on top!
• Your eyes are so pretty and I think they will stay the mostly blue, but with a little green/grey tint!
• You are now getting baths in the kitchen sink! You really like sitting up and seeing the water and grabbing everything around you. You love getting a bath; it calms you down when you are crabby!
• You are now in the big rear-facing car seat. I couldn't carry that infant seat and you enjoy sitting up a little higher and closer to your brother!
• You are a smiler and "talker" (aka a yeller). It is so funny to just talk to you and get that response! You have the cutest gummy smile! When we are out, people just gravitate towards you and you smile at them!
• You are a LOUD BABY!!!! When you are left alone in a room, you want people to come back, so you get loud!!!
• You like to blow bubbles/raspberries with your lips and spit usually flies everywhere!
• You love petting and then grabbing onto Brutus and he tolerates that pretty well. He always sits right by you like he's protecting you.
• You adjusted much better than Mommy did to your new schedule at the sitter's. She tells me everyday that you do well and that makes me so happy! Mommy misses you like crazy, but I know that you are well taken care of and your brother is there to help out too.

Harper-girl, we love you SO, SO, SO much! Every single day, you make us smile and laugh and I know that will continue because you are such a sweet, little girl!

Santa Visit 2011

We saw Santa!!!! Griffin really wanted to go see Santa this year, so I braved the mall on a Saturday morning to take both kids to sit on his lap! Our last trip to sit on the lap of a holiday figure was the Easter Bunny from 2009 and it.was.terrible! Griffin saw Santa earlier this week at his school Christmas and he was so excited and he told us that Santa's lap was really comfy!!!!

Griffin has been VERY consistent with the gift he wants Santa to bring him ... a Batman train. When we met Santa (at the mall), he walked right up to him and told him he wanted the train! Ha! I have a feeling that Santa has heard this request and will try to get that item for our nice, little boy!

Harper wasn't sure what to think of Santa at first, she just kept looking at Griffin, then at Santa. She finally looked forward and smiled, so I know she loved Santa too! I'm just happy she didn;t cry!!!

I'm Still Alive ...

Hello blogging world! I am still here, but I've been pretty busy. I was off of work for 5 months for an extended maternity leave and when I went back to work, I got REALLY behind!

I have a lot to catch up on, but for now, I'll leave you with some pictures from our family session from the beginning of November.

Our favorite local photographer took these pictures and they were just so ... real. There isn't a "picture-perfect" one, but they all show the kids' personalities and that makes them perfect pictures to us!