Let the Tour Begin… Let’s see, you actually started out upstairs with the tour of the guest room and our bedroom. So, I will actually welcome you into our house…

First of all, the door. Some of the flowers are smashed because of our glass door. There is no room, and I refuse to take some of the flowers out.

The view from the doorway…

This is the opposite wall with the view of our “office” … where all the bloggin’ takes place…

Looking out our front door is one of the most magnificent fall trees…

Here it is if you are sitting on the floor with Harper.

And here it is if you are standing on our little porch.

I am on a role!!!!!! You are going to have some catch up reading to do! 🙂

Slowly, I am getting pictures taken of the house. I must put up all the toys before I can take a picture of course! 🙂

Here is the debut of Harper’s room! This room means a lot to me because I didn’t get to do a nursery before Harper was born. We knew we might move when I was about 6 1/2 months pregnant, and then DID move when I was almost 8 months. So, all of my dreams for a nursery had to be put on hold.

While I would have loved doing a room before Harper arrived (see my “perfect Pottery Barn room” here), I have loved working on it now that I know Harp’s personality. I wanted a “shabby chic” feel (but not Target shabby chic). So, here is what we’ve done…

Welcome to Harper’s room

The Door (with a wreath from Nancy’s wedding)

View of her room from the door

View of doorway (excuse the mess out in the hallway :-))

Ballet shoes from Heather Whitestone (Miss America)

Harper’s Memory Box (we had to lay the wubbanub to rest after the paci was chewed to pieces by my brother’s dog – hahaha! At least the frog didn’t get destroyed. Oh, she is still hooked on paci’s… just not that one)

Diaper Changing area. She will soon out grow this!!

Her crib (notice I do have the bedding from the pottery barn nursery – on sale!!)

So I really wanted a picket fence in Harper’s room, but I’m going to have to come up with a better idea than this one because she keeps pulling this one over. The ivy is fascinating to her 🙂 Behind it though, is a shelf with several of her toys on it. When I need to get a shower, I will sometimes put her in her crib with lots of toys for her to play. The frog is a humidifier we got at Target. When I first used it, I thought it was kind of freaky because the steam shoots out of his eyes. Haha!

My favorite piece of furniture!!! This is Harper’s wardrobe. I love it so much.

The inside (because I’m always wanting to know what the inside looks like :-))

And, I had to add this in here because Harper loves these stuffed animals so much. Every morning, Chris usually goes to get her when she wakes up. (I’m not exactly the most coherent person when I wake up) Anyway, he takes her over to them so that she can tell them good morning. She squeaks and makes all sorts of baby noises when she sees them. It makes me think that they are alive. Anyway, it is just so sweet, and I didn’t want to forget that.

So here is the book shelf, with the main point, being the little galley closet off to the right. I love that this is out of sight. We use it for extra storage. Babies build up a lot of stuff to be stored very fast!!!

little clothes. BIG CLOTHES.

And last but not least, my favorite part… the rocking chair. This was given to us by a friend in GA who rocked her 3 (now teenage) babies in it. This is where Harper and I have spent many nights and days. It is sweet because this is the one piece of furniture that I have really been able to use from the day she was born, and can still use today.

Thanks for stopping by! Well, actually keep on reading! 🙂

Thursday Harper turned 9 months old! She has now officially been in the world longer than she was in my tummy! We celebrated by going to the Doctor, eating a banana without mama smooshing it up, and adding pureed turkey/chicken/beef to her diet. And all I can say is G-A-G!!! But she seemed to like it. Oh, and how could I forget yogurt!!! Oh my, she adores yogurt!!!

The Stats…

Weight : 18.3 lbs (40th percentile)
Height: 28.8 in. (90th percentile)

She also got her 2nd dose of flu shot, and had to get her toe pricked to check her iron. I remember when I was a little girl HATING to go to the doctor because I had to get my finger pricked. I would worry so much. I wonder how Harper will do at the doctor’s office as she gets older. I can already see the change beginning to happen. She used to love the crinkle paper on the examining table. It now freaks her out. Ha ha!

Lately, Harper has been making the greatest faces in the world! They are so funny; however, they are about impossible to capture on film. She will always start smiling. Tonight, I out smarted her, and got one of her faces.

This is the “I want to get out of my high chair NOW” Face (Before and After style)

Before (quick change from the whine she was doing before I got the camera out…)

To this (I out smarted her with my quick camera skills)…

She is so much fun! I love my little growing 9 month old!!!

Pounds lost… This week: + .5
Total: -5.5

Well, I must say, I am actually quite pleased with this number considering I ate like a H-O-R-S-E this weekend! I do not even want to recount all that I ate. So, when I stepped on the scale this morning, I expected to see +6… But, my HARD work is paying off! So, I’m back on the wagon this week. Eating Ezekial bread, Sunbutter, Tea for breakfast. Then, veggies, (good) carbs, protein for lunch and dinner. I usually have one cheat meal a week where I get anything I want. Oh and one “bad” dessert a week. I will do something sweet like frozen fruit or applesauce or pudding for dessert most nights… I have a BIG sweet tooth, and if I cut out all sweets, I go crazy and want to eat something like the entire Krispy Kreme building. 🙂

Oh, and if you haven’t seen Harp’s pics at KK… here is a little snap. There are more a facebook.

(OH, and I did pretty well at KK… I only at 1 doughnut.. it was the next day, and the dozen we brought home that did me in… ha!)

So, hopefully I will be back next week to report a loss of 2 more pounds!

Weigh-In Wednesday…

2 more pounds lost!!!!

Grand Total : 6 pounds

Slowly but surely they are trickling away 🙂

Harper at 8 3/4 Months

PLEASE SLOW DOWN!!!!!! I am worn out because this child is one little busy body (and I know she is only going to get busier!) She went from crawling one day, to pulling up the next (literally), and is now learning to move herself along furniture. Also, she has gotten really fast at crawling! It is so amazing to watch her change and develop at such a quick pace. She is talking all the time. And loves us to pieces.

Some of my favorite things she does…
– When she says Mama
– When she cuddles with me on the couch in the morning after she has had breakfast
– When I am doing housework, she usually plays in whatever room I’m in. I love it when she stops playing, looks up at me and just grins.
– She loves being with me in the kitchen when I’m doing dishes. I love feeling her tiny hands on the back of my legs as she tries to pull herself up.
– How she squeals and kicks with delight in the bathtub. I think she could stay in there for hours if I let her.
– Watching her crawl… she prances, it’s hilarious
– When I get really close to her face, she will put her forehead against mine and whisper or do really high pitched squeaks. It melts my heart.
– When she’s had a good night sleep, and she wakes up happy.
– Taking her to the grocery store… she loves it. She especially loves the milk/dairy section. I think the coldness gives her a thrill. She just kicks her feet and squeals with delight!

Some 8-9 month old challenges…
– getting more teeth in… this time her top two teeth are coming in with a vengeance, together! Her poor nose is sooooo runny. I can’t wait for them to break through!
– She started waking up again once a night. I think she is going through a growth spurt. We get to start proteins next week. I think this will help her push through.
– Naptime rebellion. She will go down for a nap, but then will wake up 20 or 40 minutes into it. (She usually takes 1 – 1 1/2 hour naps – one in the am, one in pm)
– Due to naptime rebellion, she becomes super fussy and clingy to me… nothing gets done around the house.

Harper is such a delight, though! So many people compliment me on what a good baby she is. She loves people, and is very happy (most of the time.) I am thankful to be her mama – even on the hard days.

Next week she will be 9 months. Time is FLYYYYYING!!!

Here is her *usual* schedule
8 – wake up
8:30 – Breakfast/Bottle
9:45- Rice or Oatmeal Cereal & Fruit
10:30/11 – Naptime
12:30- Bottle
1:45 – Fruit & Veggie & Finger food
2:!5- Playtime
3:15 – Naptime
4:30 – Bottle
6:00 – Family Dinner
6:45 – Playtime wtih Daddy
7:30 – Bathtime
8:00 – Story time/ Bottle
8:30 – Night Night Harpie

(Weather Report – because I love the weather… I inherited this love from my mother – As I sit here typing, my front door is open to a beautiful and sunny fall day. There is a pretty strong wind, and all the COLORFUL fall leaves are swirling all about and hitting up again the storm door. I love fall! Hope we can go for a walk today.)