Harper: 6 Months

Harper is six months old already! I can't even keep up anymore; time is flying way too quickly with this one.

She had a great report at her checkup last week, and she weighs 16 lbs 4 oz (70%) and is 26" tall (75%). I've still been squeezing her into some 3-6 month clothes just because they're cute and I can't bear to get rid of them! But really she's in 6-9 month sizes. She wears a size 3 diaper in disposable diapers (but wears cloth the majority of the time).

Harper is a roller and a scooter and can sit up very well on her own (although we usually stay nearby or put the Boppy around her for the times she decides to just flop backward). I probably don't give her enough floor time, but when she does play on the floor, she loves to scoot around and roll like crazy!

It's been a very hard month in the sleep department. She moved into her bedroom with Avery, and she goes to sleep initially and does well in there...until about 1:00 or 2:00 AM. I'm usually in such a zombie-like state that I just bring her into our bed and she nurses and sleeps the rest of the night with us (which means that we don't sleep well). We're working on getting her to sleep all night in her room, but it's going to take a lot more discipline on my part, and some nights I'm just so desperate that I do whatever it takes to just keep my eyes closed.

Naps are hit or miss. We're not always home in the mornings for her to get a good nap in, so she catnaps in the car most days. Basically, I consider it a good day if she gets a two-hour nap and shorter one at some point. Third child problems.

Harper babbles a lot! We have no idea what she's trying to tell us, but I'm sure she'll fit right in with her talkative big siblings.

She's a pro at nursing. I'm super thankful for that because starting solids has been very low on the priority list. We tried bananas and avocado a few weeks ago, but she wasn't super interested, and the bananas were upsetting her stomach, so we stopped. I did cave and get some brown rice cereal to maybe start soon. She still has no teeth, despite the months of apparent teething pain and frustration. Oh, and I've had to give up caffeine because she was having major reflux, and this change seems to help a lot.

Harper loves to play with her toys, and she rolls all over the place. She loves to interact with people, and making silly faces and noises is a sure way to make her smile.

When she's rested, Harper is a very happy baby! And okay, she's mostly happy when she's in her mommy's arms. I'll take it though because once she starts crawling and moving, I'll have to chase her down to get these snuggles!

We love our sweet Harper girl and are having so much fun watching her grow!

Harper: 5 Months

It's been two months since I last posted. TWO MONTHS. Poor baby Harper is definitely getting third child treatment when it comes to her blog updates! She's definitely not loved any less, but finding time to sit and write all this stuff down is proving to be quite a challenge.

Let's see if I even remember how to do this. I'm picking it up again though, I promise hope!

If you've lost track, our baby girl is now five months old! I'll throw in her four month picture for good measure, haha.

Harper Kate is SO much fun these days! And she is just the cutest. Eek, I can't get over how gorgeous she is (although I've said that about all of my precious babies)!

Loving the doorway jumper!

She weighed 14 lbs 8 oz (70%) and was 25" tall (80%) at her four month check up. She's in size 3-6 month clothes but sometimes wears 6-9 month, especially in sleepers. She wears size 2 diapers when she's not in cloth (i.e. when I'm backed up on laundry!).

She smiles and laughs a LOT. Avery makes her the happiest, but I think Landon will catch up once he figures out how to stop scaring her. We'll just say that he loves her a little too much!

Harper is a little wiggler. She kicks her legs all the time and rolls over the second we put her down. Out little ambi-roller can go from back to tummy and back again. She can scoot her little self around quite a bit, too!

She's a thumb sucker like her big brother. You know? I'm all for whatever works. Also, her tag blanket is magical. I'm not even kidding, it's what gets and keeps her asleep most days.

She sleeps okay. Harper JUST NOW moved into her room with Avery, so we're still figuring out the logistics of a baby and a preschooler sleeping next to each other without waking each other up. Harper's sleep is backtracking a little at night because she was sleeping all night until these pesky little teeth started giving her problems. Naps are iffy too, mostly because our schedule is so erratic that we just try to let her nap when and wherever possible. She IS a happy baby though, so I'm not too worried about it.

We just figured out that, in addition to her teething pain (with still no teeth to show for it), Harper is not a fan of dairy products. She's okay if I have it in small amounts, but bowls of ice cream and cereal are out of the question for awhile. Sad day!

We're starting to think about adding in some solids in the next month or so. She's been grabbing at our plates every time we're eating (although she grabs at everything these days), plus it may help her sleep better since she's waking up hungry. I'm fascinated by the Baby Led Weaning movement and am seriously considering skipping purees altogether!

The third baby seems to grow up WAY faster, and we really can't believe that she's already five months old. She brings so much joy and laughter to our family, and we can't imagine our lives without her!

We love you, Harper Kate!

Harper: 3 Months

This girl turned three months old on Thursday! Have I mentioned yet how much time flies? Because it totally does. We love our sweet Harper SO MUCH!

Harper is wearing 3-6 month clothes and size 1-2 diapers (when she's not in cloth). I have no idea how much she weighs!

She sleeps through the night, and we love her even more for that. She usually goes to bed around 8 (earlier if she didn't nap well that day) and wakes up around 7. She goes down for her first nap around 9 (for about an hour) but naps for 3-5 hours in the early afternoon. We haven't moved her to Avery's room yet because I just can't bring myself to kick her out of ours!

Harper is usually a very happy baby. Sometimes she gets fussy in her car seat, but if we keep her moving she's usually okay.

Her big brother and sister really love her, and she loves them! They can make her smile just by talking to her.

She eats about every 2-3 hours when she's awake.

Harper is especially smiley in the mornings! She's even started "talking" in really high pitched coos.

She's just SO. PRETTY. I can't even get over it. I think she looks almost identical to Avery when she was a baby, but lots of people tell me that they only see Landon in her. Either way, she's a cutie!

Harper: 2 Months

Harper Kate is two months old today! She's our super smiley sweetheart, and we think she's pretty great.

(Well she usually smiles. She had her 2 month shots today and took a 5.5 hour nap. She hasn't been happy since.)

She weighs 12 lbs 5 oz (90%), is 23.5" long (90%), and has a head circumference of 15.75" (75%).

Harper wears size 0-3 month clothes, but I'm about to put away her sleepers and get out the 3-6s. She's getting too long for those! She's in cloth diapers most of the time, but she sometimes wears size 1 disposables.  

I know we're totally spoiled, but she sleeps through the night already and has for a couple weeks. She usually goes down for the night around 8 or 9 and wakes up at 7 when her siblings come in the room a little too loudly. She's still sleeping in our room at night (in the pack 'n play bassinet), but I've been putting her in her crib for naps on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Avery and Landon are at Mother's Day Out. She naps really well when it's quiet! Otherwise, we try to let her nap whenever she can; it's hard being the third baby and not getting much of a schedule!

Harper gives us lots of smiles and coos when she's awake. She really loves her big brother and sister. She's usually being held when she's awake, so she doesn't get much floor time yet (oops).

She's still exclusively breastfed (she eats every 2-3 hours) but takes a bottle like a champ when she needs to. She's only had about five bottles in her life, but it's nice that she'll take one if I need to go out.

Harper hates her car seat most of the time. She screams if she's awake in it. That makes car rides lots of fun, but it doesn't seem to bother her siblings.

Baby girl found her thumb! Sometimes I hear her wake up and start moving around, and when I check on her, she's just sucking away. I've given up on trying to get her to like the pacifier, so whatever works. 

We're so in love with this precious girl, especially now that everyone seems to have adjusted and come through the tumultuous new-baby phase. We can't wait to watch her grow up, but I hope she stays little for as long as possible. At least long enough for me to soak up every ounce of her baby-ness.

We love you, Harper!

Harper's First Ranger Game + Our Weekend

Since Avery and Landon's first Ranger games were when they were 6 weeks and 4 weeks old respectively, we decided that Harper needed to get to a game as a newborn, and we were running out of time!

On Wednesday we packed up the kids (and lots of snacks) and headed to our first game as a family of five.

We saw Jon Daniels as we were walking through the parking lot!

The boy was already tired, as evidenced by the thumb in his mouth.

It was an exciting week to be at the Ballpark since we were in a tight wild card race, and aside from the terrible hot dogs, we had a great time!

We only made it to the 8th inning, but Harper was hungry and the big kids were exhausted. Landon actually asked to go home, so we knew he was serious if he wanted to leave the Rangers!

Friday was Homecoming in our little town, so I took the kids to the afternoon parade. Matt was on the choir float, so we made sure to wave wildly at him! Avery and Landon really weren't into it at first, but once the candy start coming their way, they were sold.  Harper slept the whole time because she's still a little boring.

I took off after bed time and went to craft night at church. I somehow managed to be productive and not spend the whole time talking, so I consider that a success. I'm trying to work on inventory for my Etsy shop so I can do some craft fairs this season, so I'm on a deadline!  Also, I'm completely caught up on orders for the first time in months. That is a very big deal. YAY!

Matt spent all day on Saturday at district choir auditions. And by all day I mean that he left at 6:50 AM and didn't get home until 9:30 PM. It sucked to be him.

Because of some game time changes, I was going to be on my own for Avery's soccer game, so my parents took Landon to the Ranger game with them. They had really great seats, and he had a blast! Avery's game did not go so well, so I guess in this case I'm glad they don't keep score, haha.

Since Landon got to do something special, I let Avery choose where she wanted to eat lunch. I was sure she'd pick Branded Burger, but she picked Chick-fil-a. Sigh. So the girls and I stopped and ate there on the way to my aunt and uncle's house about 45 minutes away. 

Harper was a pretty quiet date!

Since she didn't want a picture at the table, I caught one while she was hiding under it.

Why were we going there? Because by some miracle, a large amount of my extended family were able to get together just because. It wasn't a holiday or anything! My cousin Zach even made it up from Houston; we haven't seen him in almost four years (he's been off at the Citadel and deployed and minor things like that, gosh).

My dad found the blocks!

Amy and baby Margaret sandwiched between Nana and Pop

Brittany, Chelsea, Zach, and Aunt Cristi

Aunt Kay with an extra chunky looking Harper

Um, it was WAY too cold to be swimming.

Staring at Aunt Teresa

The boys! Nick, Aaron, Landon, and Zach

Well, we started a game of Ticket to Ride anyway. We'll have to actually finish one next time. (Also, I'm pretty sure I make the same face as Avery all the time.)

The kids' favorite game: Throw the balls in the pool and scoop them out with a net. They were heavily supervised, haha.

Cousins! And only a week apart!

My kids didn't nap at all on Saturday, so I was sure they'd sleep the whole way home that night. Of course they were awake the entire time. And Harper was screaming. During the whole drive. Fun times.

Sunday brought the promise of a completely unrelaxing day. Matt had to be at church early, so I flew solo again and got the kids dressed and ready and out the door on time. It's the little things.

After church we had a celebratory birthday lunch at Macaroni Grill with my family. My dad and Aaron both have birthdays next week, so we combined them.

Matt and my dad took the kids to my parents' so they could "rest" (ha!) while my mom went grocery shopping with me and Harper. Except that at Sprouts it turned into my mom doing the shopping for me while I took Harper to the car to nurse her. I don't know why she always wants to eat at the most inconvenient times, haha. We made it through Aldi in just enough time to race back to my house to drop off the cold stuff and pick up Avery's AWANA bag while Matt and the kids met us at church, where I got to work with my little Sparkies for the first time this year. I missed them!

After two days in a row of no naps, we shoved some food into the kids and got them in bed tonight early enough for us to catch the season premiere of Revenge. This season looks as intense as the first two! And now I just need to catch the Nashville episode I missed on Wednesday.

Also, I need to find my camera so I can get some decent pictures, and the Rangers need to win tomorrow.

The end.