Harper: 6 months

One year ago I was newly pregnant and still not telling many people. Now my baby girl is 6 months old, and I can't figure out where the time went!

Harper likes...

• rolling and scooting across the floor
• blowing raspberries and making throaty "kkkkkk" sounds
• being outside
• playing in Ryder's room; if she's fussy in the living room, I just move her to Ryder's room and she's instantly content
• eating real food (sweet potatoes, peas, squash, apples, and bananas) and getting it EVERYWHERE
• chewing on washcloths (still no teeth though)
• bath time and being rocked to sleep
• doing things her way and on her schedule (Yep, she's high-maintenance!)

Harper dislikes...

• waiting for her food or bottle to be ready
• not being the center of attention (Did I mention she's high-maintenance?) 

Next well-visit: June 11th

A monster under the bed

Harper is so close to crawling!  She gets into the crawling position and rocks back and forth, but she has truly mastered the ability to scoot backwards while on her tummy. If I place her in the middle of a room and look away for a minute, this is how I find her every time...

Hmmm, where did Harper go?

"I'm right here, Mommy!"

Sittin' in the sun

Some pics of Harper and Ryder enjoying the summer-like temperatures one day this week...

Notice how far away Harper is sitting so Ryder won't accidentally spray her with the hose!

"What are you lookin' at?"

"Where'd that come from?"

This has been Ryder's favorite question for the past few weeks, but I just hadn't gotten around to write about it. This is basically his version of "Why?", and he asks it about everything.
"Where'd that truck come from?"
"Where'd that cheese come from?"
"Where'd that toy come from?"

You get the picture. Andrew and I do our best to answer him in a way that he will understand, so our answer usually involves some kind of store. (The truck store, the grocery store, etc.) This has worked for most things, but this week Ryder has started asking where people come from. He knows Harper was in my tummy, so when he asks where a person comes from, we tell him that person's mommy.

Where did Pops come from?  Mammy's tummy.
Where did Daddy-o come from? Grann's tummy.

He has accepted this explanation, and I'm hoping this will satisfy him for many, many more years. I love my sweet, innocent little boy!

ma ma ma

Harper's been cooing and babbling for weeks, but her newest sound came just in time for Mother's Day. :) While lying on her blanket Friday afternoon, she was making "m" sounds that sounded like "mamama". I told her I would love the sound even more if she wasn't doing it in a whiny voice on the verge of crying. Ha!

This is what happens around dinner time when a certain someone doesn't nap during the day.

eating real food!

Sweet potatoes are finger-lickin' good!

Another afternoon at Mike and Jen's:

on a mission

more water balloons!

Visiting Mammy

This weekend we took advantage of an already scheduled trip to Richmond to make a long-overdue visit to Mammy. Andrew and Ryder were there in March, but Harper and I hadn't been since she was just two weeks old. (How can that be??) We didn't tell Mammy we were coming, and it was great to see the smile on her face when we showed up at her door.

"Wait, where did my mommy go?"

I love Harper's pouty lip and Mammy's look of concern!

all smiles now!

Ryder was excited to play with Mammy's "pushing toy".

-making himself at home-

Since we surprised Mammy, she didn't have any candies in her candy jar. Ryder put a snack we brought from home into the dish instead.

taking apart a little music box toy to see how it works

He plays with the puppy dog statue each time he goes to Mammy's. It usually gets to ride on the walker too. :)

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.