Harper: 7 months

Harper has been very busy over the past two weeks. In the short time we've been staying at Pops and Grann's house, she has perfected how to sit independently, learned to crawl, cut two bottom teeth, (yep,  her first pair!) and started pulling herself up. Now that she is more independent and can entertain herself, she is a much happier baby. :) She has even settled into a pretty predictable sleep schedule, which has been wonderful for the sanity of all of us! She wakes up around 7am, naps from 8:30-9:30, takes another 2-3 hour afternoon nap, and goes to bed around 7:30pm. She is eating three meals a day and has enjoyed everything so far. I gave her some avocado the other night, and once she got used to the texture she seemed to like it. Her two favorite foods at this point are green peas and applesauce.

Harper's newest trick: pulling up on EVERYTHING. And she doesn't stop when she gets to her knees; this girl gets into a full-blown standing position. She seriously looks like she could just walk across the room, but hopefully we have months before this really happens!

"Hmmm...I wonder if Grann has any good magazines to read."

Enjoying the view

Today for lunch we went to a local hot dog stand. The hot dogs are great, but it's all about the location!

Proof that Harper is mobile now! And I love how she stops and just smiles at the camera as if she's posing between stunts.

After dinner Grann and I loaded the kids up in the stroller and took a walk to a playground at the other end of her neighborhood. Ryder enjoyed climbing on the equipment and running off some energy, and Harper enjoyed her first swing ride. We had to call Pops to come pick us up because a storm was moving in; we could hear the thunder in the distance and didn't want to get caught in the middle of it on our walk back home. The skies opened up and the wind started whipping as we were walking through the garage to go inside the house. Gotta love the tropical weather down here!

An evening at the beach

I plopped Harper in an empty wading pool on the beach as a way to contain her and keep her from getting completely covered in sand. Within minutes, of course, she was crawling out of it and ended up with sand all over her face and hands. This little beach baby didn't seem to mind!

"What is all over my hands?"

"Hmm, this sand stuff feels pretty cool."

While Harper played on the beach, Ryder enjoyed getting his feet wet and tossing shells into the water.

New developments

Harper's first tooth finally broke through this week! It's barely visible, but I can finally feel the sharp little edge poking through her bottom gum. Now I'm wondering if it's just one or if she will teethe in pairs like her big brother did. She is also crawling ALL over the place. It's more of an inchworm movement, but she gets where she wants to go. 

Harper's new favorite place!

"tea for two"

Ryder wanted me to take his picture, and when I told him to smile he decided to do his surprised face. :)

giggling with Grann

A new chapter

Well, we did it. We have officially moved to Florida, even though I'm sure it will just feel like a vacation for a while. Andrew is on week 2 of his new job and is really enjoying it. We are temporarily living with his parents until we find a place of our own, and we have a couple of options that look promising. It's nice to have a little down time (and extra helping hands with the kids!) before we have to unload and unpack all of our stuff.

I think the change in routine and stress of moving finally caught up with Ryder. He woke up early this morning whining, clinging to me, and running a low fever. Once he started tugging at his left ear and saying that it hurt, I knew there was a trip to the urgent care on our agenda. Fortunately Grann didn't have to work today; she kept Harper while I took Ryder to get checked out. He whined and whimpered in the waiting room and then cried and screamed in the exam room. The poor kid looked pitiful; I felt so bad for him and was glad it was just the two of us so I could hold him and try to comfort him without worrying about juggling Harper too. The doctor looked in his right ear first and said it was definitely infected. At that point I knew we were talking double-ear infection because Ryder hadn't even complained about that ear. Sure enough, his left ear looked even worse. We got our prescription for antibiotics and headed back home to start the medicine regimen. I gave Ryder some Tylenol first to help with the fever, and within 20 minutes he was starting to act like his normal self again. It is amazing how crummy a fever can make you feel! I know he will heal quickly once the antibiotics are in his system. We are just fortunate he made it to age 2 1/2 before getting his first ear infection. He could at least tell me what hurt instead of screaming and leaving me guessing.

No happy pictures of Ryder today, but Harper is enjoying the toy kitchen at Grann's house.

Harper's 6 month stats

A couple of updates before I get to the stats:

In the past week little Miss Harper has been changing before our eyes. Not only is she "sitting pretty", but she's starting to crawl (a.k.a. "inch") along the floor towards her toys. And those raspberries she has been blowing are now her favorite thing to do when eating food; needless to say I have been showered in sweet potatoes, squash, and peas more this week than I care to admit. Oh, and now when she sits in her walker, her toes touch the floor just enough that she can scoot herself backwards. Where is her pause button??? She's growing up way too fast!

Harper was all smiles at the doctor's office until it was time to get shots again. :( After the first shot, she cried mostly because it startled her; after the second one her cry turned into more of a high-pitch scream. She's great at exaggerating those high notes when she wants you to know how upset she is!

height: 28 inches (98th percentile)
weight: 17 lbs. 10 oz. (75th percentile)

Sittin' Pretty

As I was dishing up Ryder's dinner last night, I casually glanced into the living room to see how Harper was doing playing on the floor. I screamed, "Harper Lynn!" and went running across the room because she was sitting up on her own and looking around the room wide-eyed. How did I get up here? She managed to get from a crawling stance to a seated position all by herself, but I knew it was just a matter of moments before she would fall or throw herself backwards because she hasn't mastered the whole balance thing quite yet. Harper's head plus our hardwood floor would not be a good combination! Once she figured out that she had gotten into this position all by herself, she did it over and over and over again. Since I can't exactly just sit behind her at all times, I placed some couch pillows around her just in case I'm not quick enough to catch her!

"Look at my new trick! I did it!"

"This requires extreme concentration; please don't distract me."