Harper: 5 months

Since we had a pretty busy day yesterday I didn't get a chance to take Harper's 5-month picture. I did it today instead, and it wasn't until I uploaded the picture that I noticed she was wearing the same outfit as in her 4-month picture. She even has the same big grin on her face, making the two pictures look almost identical. Oh well, she's still adorable. :)

Harper's likes and dislikes really haven't changed, so here are a few new developments:

• She now enjoys sitting upright in the jumper, bumbo, or walker. Ryder enjoys pushing her around the house in the walker, and since her feet don't yet touch the ground I let him take her for these little rides. She just holds on and grins, probably enjoying the change of scenery.
• Harper loves raspberries. Not the sweet little fruit, of course, but the noises made when she purses her lips together and blows. Since she's still sleeping in our room, this is usually the sound I wake up to at random times, which makes me laugh. It's like she's just discovered this hidden talent and wants to practice it as much as possible.
• She's getting more and more ticklish! Around her neck, down her sides, and the top of her thighs are the best places to get a good belly laugh out of her.
• We've tried introducing some oatmeal to her diet, but even though she seems to like the flavor of it, she hasn't quite figured out the concept of a spoon. She may not be quite ready, so I try every week or so. One of these days she'll get it!
• She is STUBBORN.  When fighting a nap, there's no such thing as the cry-it-out method with this little girl. While most babies would give in after 10 minutes or so and just pass out, Harper will continue to cry louder and harder for 30 minutes. (Probably longer, actually, but 30 minutes is our breaking point!) As soon as you pick her up, she looks at you and grins through the tears and sniffling sounds. Yep, she wins.

Double Double-Date Day

Saturday morning we watched my friend Jessica's two little ones for a couple of hours while she ran an errand. Not only are her kids the same ages as ours (within 6 weeks of each other), but Harper and Jason also know each other from the babysitter's house. Andrew and I had fun chaperoning this "double date"!

Emily and Ryder took turns having "dinosaur time"

Ryder and Emily wanted to join me and the babies on the couch.

Jason, looking oh-so-serious

After nap time we headed over to Mike and Jen's for the second double-date of the day. It was beautiful outside, so Mike filled up water balloons for Kendall and Ryder to play with. It was a hit!

"Hmmm, who should I soak first?"

winding up for the hit!

Zach watched from a distance

Kendall was determined to get me!

getting more ammo :)

Ryder, look out behind you!

pretending to be captain of the neighbor's fishing boat

Silly faces

Ryder has a love-hate relationship with the camera. Sometimes he wants to have his picture taken and will say, "Take a picture of my car (or some other toy)," or "Take a picture of my food." Other times he tells us "No pictures!" and will run away from the camera. He was in a goofy mood yesterday afternoon and was all about making faces for the camera, so Andrew took advantage of it. :)

"Take a picture of my goldfish!"

trying to look tough like his shirt?

fun in her jumparoo!

Nothing much to say, but here are some cute pictures from this week!

showing Daddy his favorite car (at the moment!)

enjoying some "quilt time"

She now rolls from her back to her tummy and vice versa!

(I think she sees her bottle coming).

Ryder insisted on feeding his baby

We have a picture of Ryder wearing a white burp rag on his head at about this age, so we had to get a similar picture of Harper. 

DROOL!

a Mommy-Ryder tickle session

another photographer in the family :)

Hello, summer?

When we get back from spring break in Florida each year, we usually don't come home to warmer temperatures. Last week was more like summer than spring, so it gave us plenty of opportunities to play outside with the kiddos.

hunting for pine cones at the park

enjoying the shade

making music :)

taking a break to eat an orange

Although the temperature outside was in the 80's, the hose water was still like ice! This didn't stop Ryder from playing in it, though. He had fun filling up his little pool, and at one point his car was IN the pool so that he could wash it. (The wagon would have been too, but it didn't fit!)