Harper: 18 Months

My last Harper update was TEN MONTHS AGO. Now if someone can come mop up this puddle of mom guilt, I'd really appreciate it. Because honestly I can't keep up with the housework as it is, and my baby is 18 months old today and I need to document it lest I fulfill the neglected third child stereotype any longer.

So. Where does one start when it's been almost a year since she posted?

Well, first of all, Harper is a JOY. She totally wasn't during her first year, let's be honest. She was the cutest and for good reason. She was high maintenance to the core, and we're not just talking about typical baby maintenance. She was a tricky one, that girl. But time has done wonders, and she brings so much fun and laughter to our family!

At 18 months, Harper's vocabulary has just exploded! She puts words together and just sounds so big when she talks. The girl has opinions, too. She loves to read books, especially Sesame Street ones (for "ELMO!"), and she loves to tell us what sounds each animal makes.

She loves her brother and sister ("Avey" and "Lannon"), but I think she loves her doggie most of all (she called Meggie "Memmie" for the longest time, and I'm kinda sad that she says it correctly now!).

Harper can EAT. As long as it's what she wants to eat anyway. She used to eat basically everything we put in front of her, but now she's getting a little pickier. She'd eat blueberries and bananas all day if you let her! (We ended up doing Baby Led Weaning with her, kinda by accident, so she never ate baby food. The only thing she's eaten pureed on a regular basis is applesauce! It sure made things easier for us anyway.) And she LOVES the smell of coffee! The second she hears the Keurig brewing she yells, "Coffee! Coffee!" until she lets her smell ours. The she says, "Mmmmm!" and goes on with her life.

Our baby girl still wears 18 month clothes, although we'll move her into 2T soon, size 4 shoes, and a size 4 diaper. She's so much smaller than Avery and Landon were at this age! I feel like I have a tiny baby, but she always measures in right at 50% on the doctor's growth charts.

This photo is brought to you by a diaper blowout and an unprepared mom.

Harper's favorite place to be is "ouside!!" and she's crazy about the neighborhood playground where we pick Avery up from school every day. She's so adventurous now that I get super nervous when she climbs up, but she seems to have a really good awareness of her limitations. I may just have a heart attack before she turns 2.

After spending almost a year of keeping us up all night, Harper's finally a wonderful sleeper! (So there's hope for you yet, new parents!) She goes down for the night around 7PM and wakes up when Avery does at 7AM. She takes a 2 hour nap around noon every day. It's glorious.

She has the best giggle and knows how to melt our hearts. Harper is mischievous and sweet and we love her like crazy!