Harper turns 7!

My sweet (and sometimes spicy!) baby girl hasn't been a baby for a while, but something about her turning "7" really made me realize how much she has grown up. She is reading and writing like a champ, still loves to do anything art-related, and is the most loving big sister to Shepherd. She wears her heart on her sleeve, so you always know where you stand with Miss Harper; and her moods can still swing from one extreme to the other in about three seconds flat. I love her sense of humor and ability to just be silly, and although I get frustrated with her tendency to dilly-dally at the most inopportune times, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world! She is smart, beautiful, kind, loving, playful, creative, and becoming more independent every day.

We kicked off Harper's birthday week with a playdate last Sunday with one of my best friends and her two kiddos. :) Katie and her family were in Connecticut to visit her husband's family for the week, and once we realized we were only a couple of hours apart, we made plans to meet halfway to see each other. We ended up choosing the same Children's Museum we've been to before, and it was the perfect activity on a cold rainy day. Katie and I have texted almost daily since we moved up here, so I couldn't wait to see her again in person! I took Harper and Shepherd with me because Harper is good buddies with Lilly, and Katie couldn't wait to meet Shepherd. Our two hour visit flew by, but we made the most of it and talked as much as we could.

Lilly and Harper

Shepherd makes strange to new people, so Katie talked softly to him from a safe distance so she wouldn't scare him. 😂

Lucas, Harper, and Lilly stayed busy!

Our group, minus Lucas. It was time to leave and he kept running from us because he didn't want to put on his coat. 

On Monday we celebrated Harper's birthday at school with Thanksgiving-themed cupcakes. Her class sang to her, enjoyed their cupcakes, and told Harper how cute her little brother is. :)

I should have snapped more than one picture...I captured her at the beginning of a blink!

Shep just sat off to the side of the classroom and watched the party. 

The kids' Thanksgiving break started on Wednesday, so Harper didn't have school on her birthday. We spent the day at home, mostly getting things ready for our Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Once Andrew got home from work we let Harper open her presents, and after dinner we had the apple cake she requested.

Thank you Steve, Ali, and Maisie!

Andrew and I got her some soccer earrings...

a hat-making kit...

and a balance beam! 

I totally forgot to check my candle supply ahead of time, so of course we didn't have a "7". We decided to create a math problem with the help of toothpicks.

Harper wanted to light her own candles this year!

her finished hat!

We also gave Harper a pair of earmuffs, and she has been wearing them constantly. I hope they're comfortable outside too!

We love you, Harper Lynn!!!

Shepherd: 7 months

I was going to start this post by saying that Shepherd hasn't changed too much since the 6 month update. But then as I looked at the pictures and started thinking about what he does throughout the day, I realized how much growing he has been doing!

He can't sit up all by himself yet, but he's soooo close. I'll sit him between my legs to give him a little support, but for the most part he is using his core to keep from tipping over. Even when he leans forward to reach something, it's a "controlled" lean instead of a face-plant. :) 

Shepherd now rolls around constantly. He will roll and turn and pivot right off of his quilt, so gone are the days of leaving the room for more than 30 seconds and finding him in the exact same spot when I return. Time to start baby-proofing EVERYTHING!

Shepherd has been exercising his voice as well. He loves to laugh and coo when we play peek-a-boo or act silly in front of him. He has mastered the vocal fry sound and can do it both high and low. It's the cutest sound because he does it when he wants to "talk" to you or when he's happy to see you; I hear it a lot when he spots Ryder and Harper getting off of the bus. It's his little squeal of delight! In the past week he has discovered he can move his jaw while making noises, so I'm hearing "yayaya" sounds too. 

Still no sign of any teeth, but I keep checking for them! Just when I think maybe he's not teething he will have a day or two where he chews constantly, gets rosy cheeks, and drools a lot. Who knows? Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The angry red diaper rash he had last month has totally cleared up. The culprit? Bananas! At least I think so. That is the one food I gave him almost every day because he really liked it. Everything else I have done in rotation--every third day or so. I decided to eliminate the bananas because I honestly couldn't think of what else to do, and within a week the rash had faded tremendously. I might eventually try adding them back into his diet, but for now we're just steering clear. So weird!

Mama, I don't have time for pictures. Cant you see I'm working here?

Sometimes these two are so much alike! 😂

We've had a few super cold mornings, so Shepherd has gotten to try out one of his snowsuits to stay warm while waiting for the bus to pick up the big kids.

Napping by the warm fire. 

Mama, how did I end up over here?

Mmmm...this floor tastes good!
Ewww! I think he's been watching Garcia more closely than I thought.

Look at me!
Apparently all three of my kiddos like hanging out under the furniture.  (See below)

Harper and Ryder, May 2013

This boy loves his toy avocado!

Any Given Sunday

Since August 1st when Ryder's football season began, he and Andrew have been fully immersed in the sport. Not only did Ryder have practice a few nights a week and games every weekend, but he really got into watching games on TV too. Saturday is college football, and then Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights are for NFL games. Ryder has taken it upon himself to know which teams play when, what the teams' records are, and who is favored to win. As he talks about an upcoming game, he is usually very confident about who will win based on a team's standing. That's when I hear Andrew say, "Any given Sunday," reminding Ryder that games are unpredictable and anything can happen. Needless to say, that phrase has been repeated probably 138462653278 times over the past few months. 😂 Ryder's team made it to playoffs but then lost the first playoff game, so his season is officially over now. He learned so much and absolutely loved it! The team had an end of season party last weekend and turned in their equipment. Each of the boys received a Shutterfly photo book with a collection of pictures from throughout the season--such a great gift! Ryder has now moved on to wrestling for the winter, and his first practice was last night. For his age group there are no weekend tournaments, so he will only practice two times a week. Andrew said the wrestling team is pretty much the football team; a bunch of boys just trying to stay busy and in shape during the long cold winter. Ryder really enjoyed it last night, and I'm glad he's willing to get out of his comfort zone and try new things.

This is the front cover of the photo book. Ryder is in the standing row, 4th from the right, #23.

Miss Harper had a pretty laid back soccer season. She only had practice once a week and then a game every Sunday. Unfortunately the weather didn't always cooperate--for some reason it would get cold and rainy on Sunday afternoons, so a few of her games were canceled. She had an end of season party at the park the last weekend in October and then one final makeup game the first weekend in November. She had a lot of fun but wished her league was as "intense" as Ryder's. (Her word!) She is competitive by nature, so she enjoys a challenge; this league was more of a fun get-together where they tried to play a little soccer too. She chose to do gymnastics this session, so she has that once a week with no commitments on the weekend. :) She has had three classes now and loves it. One of her friends from school (who was also a soccer teammate) is in the class, so I enjoy visiting with her mom or dad during practice. I'm happy for the kids to stay busy but also appreciate that our weekends won't be planned out for us now. I hope that doesn't sound too selfish! 😬

Halloween 2019

I'm not quite sure where the month of October went! It seems like we were just talking about costume ideas, and now Halloween is behind us and there are Christmas decorations in every store. Let's enjoy November first, please!

One thing the PTA does for our school is to bring in a truckload of pumpkins and create a "pumpkin patch" on the school grounds about a week before Halloween. Then on the Friday of that week every child gets to pick out a pumpkin to bring home. Such a cute idea! Ryder and Harper were eager to carve their pumpkins as soon as they brought them home, so after I helped them cut the tops off, Shepherd and I sat back and watched them. I thought I took a picture of the finished products, but apparently not. The kids did traditional jack-o-lantern faces, and they turned out really cute!

I love Harper's face in this one!

Busy scooping and scraping!

After some deliberation, Harper decided she wanted to be a butterfly and Ryder wanted to be a vampire. Ryder wanted something super scary with a mask, but Mama put her foot down. Andrew convinced Ryder he could still look scary with some face paint and it would be more comfortable than a mask--good job, Dad!

Ready to trick-or-treat! (You can see their little pumpkins on the counter!)

I found Shepherd this one-piece skeleton outfit, and it was perfect! Super comfy, and it wasn't cold so he didn't need anything heavier.

I loved her wings! And there was just enough of a breeze that they kind of floated behind her. 

It drizzled on us a little, but thankfully we dodged any heavy rain showers; those hit later that night. I wore Shepherd in the Baby Bjorn, and he "helped" me hold the umbrella when I didn't have it open.

Cutest skeleton ever!

Shepherd: 6 months

Another monthly update!

sporting his new winter hat while waiting for the bus

snoozing through Ryder's football game

When I feed Shepherd real food, I've been putting his sippy cup of water on his tray so he can experiment with it. He's doing a good job and is actually getting some water out of it!

What is this toy??

Hmmmm...there's something inside of it.

Wait, this isn't my milk!

He loves to grab onto his toes. :)

Those long legs!

I took Shepherd to his 6 month checkup yesterday, and the doctor said our big boy is doing great! He has had a diaper rash over the past couple of weeks, so I asked the doctor about it. It's new territory for me because we have used cloth diapers with all three kiddos, and R and H never had any issues. The doctor said it could be a combination of teething and eating new foods, and maybe Shepherd just has more sensitive skin. I'm going to sprinkle a little baking soda into his bath every night and try to give him more "naked time" during the day so he can air out his little tush. Hopefully this will make a difference. With the exception of one night when it was really red, he doesn't seem bothered by it. But it hurts me!

height: 28 inches (90th percentile) This is the length they wrote down at his 4 month visit, so I think it must have been a misprint. Shep has definitely grown in length over the past two months. Maybe he was 26" last time??
weight: 18 pounds 8 ounces (70th percentile)

Shepherd got 4 shots yesterday. 😢 He's old enough now for a version of the flu shot, so he got part 1 yesterday and I take him back next month for part 2. I also made appointments to take Ryder and Harper in for their flu shots in a few weeks, which they aren't thrilled about, but we don't want to take any chances!

Sizes:
diapers- 3
clothing separates- 9 months
one piece outfits- 12 months

Foods:
Shepherd has now tried bananas, pears, apples, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and green beans. He loves the sweet potatoes, and the only things he doesn't really care for are the peas and green beans. I think it's a texture thing because our food processor doesn't puree them as smoothly as the potatoes and fruits. I'll keep them in the rotation, and hopefully as he gets teeth he will like them more.

Playtime:
Shepherd rolls from back to front and front to back, but he'd much rather play in a seated position. He likes to sit in his walker (and he will even scoot it across the room!) or on my lap to play with his toys. He loves books and will try to chew on them or turn the pages while I read. Watching Ryder and Harper act silly or dance around is one of his favorite things to do!