A Few Favs over the last 2 months

 

Harper 8 month Milestones

So Harper just turned 8 months old:

Time continues to fly by but I have learned to stop and enjoy each precious moment and I try not to go a million miles a minute. As she continues to grow more curious about the world I relish in her desire to cuddle with me at the end of the day while I sing worship songs to her like my mom did for me as a child. She loves my voice (she may be the only one) and I love singing to her. When I lay her down in bed she gets a sad face and starts to cry and everything in me has to keep from crying too. It is hard to believe that one day she will outgrow my cradling arms and I will no longer be able to hold her like a baby so I will enjoy these special moments while I can.

* She laughs like a real person now
* She loves playing peek-a-boo and loves it when people chase after her down or up the stairs and shrieks with enjoyment
*She is feeding herself bananas and loves it when I give her the spoon
* She constantly says dada and mama
*She loves to blow bubbles and sit up in her bath and play with her bath toys
* She is a cuddler and people person and loves the attention from all her family and friends
* She rocks on her tummy and looks like she wants to crawl but enjoys being held so who knows when she will learn to crawl.
*Her eyes are really expressive and a window to her sweet little heart. She raises her eyebrows it is so sweet
*She still loves putting everything in her mouth, loves anything that makes noise, and loves playing in her exersaucer
*She loves books
*She pouts out her lower lip
*She got her bottom two teeth on April 30th
*She is very social
* We are trying to teach her sign language to help her communicate but haven't seen any fruit yet. We will continue to keep trying and see if she picks up on it
*She is somewhat of a picky eater. She loves sweet pottatoes, apples, bananas, pears, peaches (no surprise cause I am a fruit lover)
*She has a cute way of crossing her ankles while in her car seat or sitting in a high chair


It is really amazing to see how much she has changed in the last few months. I can't wait to see how she changes in the next few

Harper Pics Our Little Pretty

Click on the link to see the slideshow:

http://www.photobiz.com/slideshowbiz/slideshow.cfm?slideshowID=61591&photographerID=2683

LIFE AS A MOM IS

We are not as close to the river as it appears =)
Crazy
Fun
Sweet
Special
Amazing
Emotional
Adventurous
Tiring
Joyful

WORTH EVERY SECOND! I love you sweet Harper. I am so blessed to be your mother! You have such a sweet spirit and have a joy and love for others. I love watching you grow.

Family Pics

So we took some family pictures a few weeks ago in the park by our house. Our next door neighbor who is an AMAZING photographer got some really great pics of the 3 of us. It was so much fun. Thanks Leah! They are so sweet!

http://www.photobiz.com/slideshowbiz/slideshow.cfm?slideshowID=60777&photographerID=2683

Harper in her Exersaucer

Harper loves books and especially loves when Adam reads to her. Right now she is really into the touch and feel books and trys to chew on the corner of the book.
At 6 months we took Harper to the eye doctor tbecause we were a little worried that she might have a lazy eye. Sometimes her right eye seems to turn inward when she is focussing on something. They had to dialate her eyes and gave her these little glasses to wear. She didn't like them very much as you can tell. The doctors visit went well and it looks like she has pseudostrabismis (fake lazy eye) and the doctor does not have any concerns at this point. We were glad that we took her in to have them checked out.

A Few of my favorites 7.5 months

Grayson is going to kill me for putting this picture of her on here but this is the face/laugh that Harper was making the whole week. She would snort and then squench her little eyes and laugh. It was so cute. I think she picked this up from Grayson cause she had never done this before.
We bought Harper a highchair right before I left for Atlanta. She loves it and enjoys pounding her little hands on the table. I have been giving her chunks of bananna and she is learning to pick them up and put them in her mouth. This is a difficult skill to master.

This is one of Harper's favorite toys. I have been putting her on her stomach and putting the toy out of her reach so that she has to skoot her way over to it. So far she has flipped herself over, kicked her legs and figured out a way to get that toy. Soon she will be crawling.

One more video

One more Video at Gorilla Haven

Oliver Bartering for Harper

Oliver and Harper Touch

Oliver and Harper touching

More Pics at Gorilla Haven

Harper and Oliver having a stair off competition. He was in love with her
Oliver wanting to get in our picture
Oliver decided to do a run by and hit his hands on the window to intimidate us. I will admit it was a little bit scarey. I think I was more afraid than Harper
Isn' t he AMAZING

Harper and Gorilla Haven

We got to feed Oliver and Joe fruit (watermelon, mango, strawberries and blueberries) Joe loved the strawberries, and Oliver loved the blueberries and the watermelon)
Harper sitting on the life size stuffed gorilla at Jane's house. Her entire house was covered wall to wall with pictures of gorilla's. She also had gorilla figurines everywhere. It was amazing.
We had to cover our mouths when we were around Oliver and Joe to make sure they do not get sick. We also were instructed to not look them directly in the eye and to divert our eyes from them.

Here is a picture of Oliver just hanging out.

While in Atlanta we got to experience something that I never in a million years would have imagined. We got to come face to face, litterally within touching pinkie distance of two silverback male gorilla's (Oliver 21, and Joe, 46) . It was a really breathtakingly beautiful experience. One that I will never forget.

Okay I know you may be wondering how in the world we had this opportunity. My mom has an old friend who has been an animal rights activist her whole life. She has a passion and love for gorilla's and has devoted her life to learning about and championing causes for gorilla's well being.

After a lot of education, dreaming and planning her and her husband started work on what is now Gorilla Haven, a world class, temporary or permanant holding facility for zoo gorilla's that are in need, usually because they have become "non-display" gorillas due to health or personality issues. Non-display gorillas are typically kept in small cages at zoos, Gorilla Haven provides a large natural environment for them to live out the rest of their lives.

Gorilla Haven is located in the North Georgia mountains and is set on 324 seculted, wooded acres complete with a fully outfitted verterinary hospital, administration area, food preparation area, individual vilas to house the gorillas, and a 6,000 sq foot group building designed for family groups of gorillias. Gorilla Haven partners with zoo's around the world. The facility truely is amazing and I was overwhelmed when I saw it.

Joe and Oliver were facinated with Harper and tried to barter food, a card board box, and a stick for her. We didn't think that was a fair trade. I got some great video footage which I will put on our next blog.

Trip to Atlanta Harper 7.5 months

Our trip to Atlanta was so much fun and a little nostalgic. It is hard to believe that it has been almost 17 years since I lived there. It is even harder to believe that I kept in touch with a friend that I met in 4th grade (I only lived in Marietta, GA for 2.5 years). My friendship with Grayson is a rarity, so unique and so very special. I am blessed by her friendship and it is always so amazing to me how we can just pick up right where we left off as if nothing has changed. I only pray that Harper is able to find the kind of lifelong best friend that I have found in Grayson.

We had a great visit with Grayson and her family and it was definitely a walk down memory lane.

* Grayson's parents haved lived in the same house for the last 24 years. It is always fun to go back there because I am reminded of all of our fun childhood memories. Not much has changed except Grayson's old pink bedroom is now more sophisticated looking. She did still have the same stuffed animal that she slept with as a girl on the bed, the basement that we played endless hours of Nintendo in has now been converted to a man room for her dad, and the stairs that she once cried on when she had to come home from my house because her tummy hurt had new carpet. Other than that not much had changed. We are still little girls at heart but are now all grown up.

My mom is the best. We got along great and I was so thankful for her help with Harper. We got to see some of her old friends too. We hope this is the first of many mother daughter trips together.


Me, Grayson, Harper, Scott and Paula. Harper loved imitating Grayson and squinted her eyes when she laughed just like Grayson. I think she must have picked up on it.

Harper on the plane ride out. She did great and took a little nap on my shoulder for about 30 minutes. The ride back was not as fun =)