Minnesota Livin'

Sunset pontoon ride with wine. Stand-up paddle boarding at dusk - on a lake in the middle of a city. Dinner out on the porch with cousins. Margarita's on the dock with friends. 80th birthday party for Great Grandpa. Baby pool in the front yard - across the street from a corn field. Perfect gin and tonics made by my dad. Grilling on the deck at Grandma's and Grandpa's - surrounded by forest and the sound of a river. Watching a movie in bed with my mom. Sleeping in. Sunday lunch and and yard games after church. Fresh lemonade on a farm after playing with horses.

Ahhhh...heaven, you ask? No no, Minnesota livin'.

Minnesota is a wonderful place. I don't know why everyone doesn't want to live there. The winters are awful, yes. But the summers, as short as they are, make up for it. If you ask me.
We were there for two full weeks. It was so nice but almost too long because it was such a tease. Long enough to feel pretty settled. I almost forgot we live in Philadelphia.
We spent the first four and last four days of the trip up north at my grandparents' home. I had forgotten that so much green existed. I forgot how many lakes there are there. I forgot how many stars you can see at night. I forgot how quiet it is at night. I forgot how nice Minnesotans are. Perfect...
 Except for maybe that Harper decided to choose that time to develop an extreme "mommy preference". I spent much time hididng from my daughter because if she couldn't see me she would allow other people to play with her. For a little bit. Traveling is a whole different experience with a baby. I'm thankful for my family for having grace when she was so very fussy (serious teething) and love enough to change stinky diapers to give us a break!

Grandma and Grandpa's home in the country

First time in a pool

Cousin Joe and Sadie's wedding

Just a fraction of the girl cousins

Mowing the acres of green grass at Fish Lake

Harper getting a tour of Fish Lake with Grandma

Open land for miles

Harper loved play time when Grandpa got home from work - bed time was definitley later in MN

We met my college roomie and Maitron of Honor at the zoo with her husband and daughter, Hazel. Harper wanted to eat her

This is another Hazel. Harper's Godsister, if you will

We had a wonderful play date with the Fitch's

My dad took Harper outside for walks around the yard pretty much every night. I think she was in awe of the space and green and trees.

Hanging' out with Grandma

My brother-in-law's family's farm

Very interested in the horses

Play time with Auntie Dana

Harper LOVES Minnesota :)

Wild Child

I started this entry awhile ago. It began with "Harper is 6 months old now". Well, now that I am returning to finish the entry...

Harper is 7 months old now :) She is amazing. She makes me laugh every day. She has so much personality. So much energy. She has a sense of humor. She is wild. She has favorite books. She has favorite foods. She is oh so loud. She is my daughter and I love her more each morning I get to lift her giggling wiggling body out of her crib. We make eye contact and hold it. She looks at me and smiles and kicks when I come in the door. When I hold her in the rocking chair I thank God for giving her to us and ask Him to help me take good care of her for Him. I never knew a 7 month old could be this wonderful.

She eats solid food. She eats lots and lots of solid food. She loves it and is good at eating. No surprise there :) Fruits, veggies, cereal, yogurt - we haven't found anything she doesn't like yet.

She crawls! Fast. She crawls fast all day long. I am not joking when I tell people she does not sit still all day. She rolls, sits, crawls, does planks, sticks her booty in the air (downward dog if you will), crawls, sits, scooches and crawls. If she is sitting in one spot she is surely "playing the drums" with kitchen utensils and tupperware or waving blankies wildly in the air until their seams rip open (yup). She is a wild child. I don't know where she gets her energy but I think we can expect one hyper kiddo! The best part is the joyful, sometimes ear piercing, squeals she lets out. Can't get enough of them. The full on belly-laughs are my favorite though. Love her.

Chewing everything. She has TWO TEETH. If you ask me, they're the cutest little teeth any baby ever had.

Sticking out her tongue, she blows raspberries all day.

Not so easy to change diapers anymore!

She gets a toy in her sights and she is there in a flash!

Morning kisses. Mornings are the best.

Babies don't need sunglasses you say? Oh yes, they do! She used to keep them on her head too...

She rocks those shades for like 7 seconds before she promptly pulls them off to chew on them.

Yesterday Harper emptied the games corner. Her first shelf clearing. Had to capture the moment.

Just for the picture, they were put away right after!

Loves being upside down!

The only way to get her to "cuddle"

Ear piercing scream of joy

"What are you looking at?"

Always sticking that tongue out

Cold ring to soothe those gums

Playing with her friend Charlotte (4 months) at Bible study - it was a hot diaper only kind of night

Some books are good for reading, some for chewing

The most exciting happening in her life as of late...she was baptized on May 12th!

My Grandma Jane made her baptism dress out of my mother's wedding dress!!!

Bored, Harper?

Really not happy about this

Still not happy but everyone seems to think this is a big deal so I'll go along with it

This is our "Philly Family". Our small group from church. We have been meeting with them almost every single Tuesday night since we moved here! They truly keep us going here.

Harper's Godparents are Jordan and Christie Fitch in Minneapolis. This is Christie and their daughter, Hazel, who is 9 days older than Harper! So special!

It was such a special day for us. We had a celebration after the service with lots of Philly friends. Harper slept most of the time but we ate and drank in her honor :)

A brief update on life for us:
Sam is in summer mode so no classes but he has a dissertation workshop so is doing lots of writing to start really thinking about the dissertation process. He is also studying for the LSAT to see if he can beat his previous score when he re-takes it this Fall. He also has Harper all to himself for two full days per week because...

I now nanny 5 full days per week! Divided between three families and seven kids, I am in diapers over my head! It is only through July. The extra income is nice but we are excited to go back to me working just 3 days per week in August!

The next post will likely not be until after our TWO WEEK trip to MINNESOTA at the end of June! Can. Not. Wait. Harper will really get to know all the people and places we love there :)

Babies, babies and more babies!!!

Time for an update! I'll make this easy...bullet points :)

• I quit my job (end of January)
• I nanny 3 1/2 days a week and LOVE it
• Harper's incredible rate of growth has slowed slightly. She is now 70th percentile, 16 pounds at almost 5 months
• She got her first cough/cold which was so sad but was quickly followed with her first ear infection which was even more sad. Poor baby is still fighting to get healthy but is very cuddly in the meantime

MONDAY

On Mondays Jubilee comes to play at our house. She is the most joyful baby I have ever met. She is 10 months and good training for what it will be like to have a mobile baby in our apartment!

TUESDAY

This is Jane. She was born the same day as Harper in the same hospital in the same room just 10 hours earlier! We met her parents in our birth class and then saw them at the hospital when the girls were born. We kept in touch and now I watch Jane on Tuesdays. It is so fun to watch them grow together!

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY

Leah is 20 months and Kit is7 months. Such sweet girls. Harper loves going to their house. So many more fun toys and a dog! She loves the entertainment and sleeps better there. These are busy days for me but they go so fast. Their parents are awesome and Sam and I have become good friends with them.

Leah LOVES going outside so whenever all three are awake at the same time - which is rare - we rush to get everyone bundled up and go out for a walk or a swing.

Four month photo shoot

Daddy tells me not to lift my dress - it's not proper - but it's so much fun!

The only way we can really clean those neck rolls is if I hop in the  tub with her.  I hold her so her head tilts back over my arm in order to get in there!

She loves her family

Her grandma loves her 

Grandma Terry bought this outfit for me. Duh :)

Costco trip

I love taking sleeping pictures. Just so sweet.

Big girl high chair!

Sam says she looks like Winston Churchill. You can google it.

I love to suck on my finger. Or my thumb. Or anyone's finger or thumb. Or anything that gets in the vicinity of my mouth.

I HATE bed time!!!

I try to suck on my thumb through the towel! I also try to suck my thumb WHILE eating which makes a mess and gets me frustrated.

Precious sleep.

Love that smile :)

2 1/2 weeks until MINNESOTA!!! Four nights of uninterrupted sleep, right Grandma Terry??? Sam and I are DREAMING of a full night's sleep. 

We finally got Harper to sleep from 7pm-7am with just two feedings but she still wakes up a couple times in between and gets rocked to sleep by daddy IF she doesn't put herself back to sleep after a few minutes. We're making progress!