5 Months Old

     This has been the most fun month so far!  Harper is developing her own little personality these days and it has been amazing to interact with her as she learns new things.  She loves watching cousin Carter and I really think she is learning from things he does.  I think Carter helped her find her voice for sure since he is quite vocal.  She has been squealing a ton, and making a sound that I can only describe as her "pterodactyl noise."  It is adorable no matter how strange it is.  Harper is also starting to master the skill of sitting up, although she still needs a spotter because she tends to throw herself at toys or passing animals with no concerns of face planting.  Speaking of animals... It is already apparent that we have quite the animal lover on our hands.   She will reach out and pet the cats and dogs as soon as she can reach them.  Bobo the cat really enjoys her petting his head and eagerly sits next to her when I am holding her on the couch.  Other new things that Harper has figured out is sucking her thumb and she finally discovered her feet.
     At the end of June, we went to my family reunion in Ellisville, MS.  Harper was able to meet a lot of our extended family and they even made her an oh so tiny reunion t-shirt to wear.  On Sunday we went to our church homecoming in Ellisville as well.  She did very good throughout the service, well except for the massive poo that she decided to take during a prayer.  Luckily we were in the back and only immediate family heard the sound effects that accompanied it.  After a quick clean up in the car, she was as good as new and we returned back to the service.  Overall I think she had a great time hanging out with her great-mamaw on the farm for the weekend. 
      I don't have an exact weight on Harper right now, but last week she weighed 13.9 pounds so I estimate she is probably in the low 14 pound range.  She is starting wear 6 month size clothing already.  I feel like I am going to blink my eyes and when I open them she will already be walking.  I am trying to enjoy every second of her while she is still immobile and snugly with me because I know that will quickly change once she is on the move. 
    Will had to go out of town for business unfortunately for the next three weeks. I know being away from Harper is going to be very tough for him. So far we have skyped every night before her bedtime. It is amazing to me how she can so easily recognize his face and instantly give the biggest smile to him through the computer screen. This little girl loves her daddy just as much as I do and I know she can't wait for him to get home! 

I have a lot of photo's from the past few weeks below including the usual Tutu pictures of Harper at 5 months old.

 In Mississippi...

4 months old

Harper is growing like crazy! I can barely think back to when she was a newborn and compare the difference in where she is today.  It is simply night and day.  Although I miss the tiny newborn stage because she was so delicate and helpless, I am also really enjoying Harper where she is at now developmentally.  Things are definitely a lot easier than they were just a few short months ago.  She is very interactive with us and her toys and she is constantly investigating new things in her surroundings.  She is of course still smiling at everyone she meets which is the sweetest thing.  She really loves meeting new people.  Her biggest milestone this month was the beginning of her giggles.  We have heard a few single laughs, but just recently I was able to get a short giggle out of her.  It made my day!  She can roll over in just about anyway, front to back, back to front, and side to side.  Slowly but surely she is discovering her feet by lots of kicking and stomping.  She loves to stand up with assistance, but is still not able to sit up very well without falling over. Harper has unfortunately learned how much fun hair pulling is and believe me, it is NOT easy to pry hair out of a sticky little baby hand.  I also think she is looking more like her Daddy everyday.  The 4 month pediatric appointment went well, she received 3 vaccines and once again took them like a champ.  Her stats were:

13 pounds 4 ounces

24 inches long

Head circumference 16 inches

    (Everything was in the 40-50 percentile)

On June 10th, Heather, Blair, and Carter got home from China.  We were all at the airport waiting on them including Harper.  It was great to see the two cousins finally meet!  Carter was so sweet to her when they met.  I will have more updates and video on that later.  Below are the 4 month photos I took.

 The tutu has become a favorite chew toy of Harper's as you can see... 





Daddy Daycare

As usual, Morgan heads off to work Saturday morning leaving Harper with her awesome Daddy. I look forward to Saturday mornings all week! In my opinion, the mornings are Harper's best time. She always wants to snuggle and takes her best nap after Morgan feeds her that first ravenous meal after she wakes up from sleeping through the night. After that nap, I get to feed Harper and (now-a-days) listen to her "talk" and toot throughout the entire meal. It really is a special time... Then Harper gets some playtime and tummy time before it is sleep time again. Here are some photos of some of the mornings routines.
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What I thought was a very small old balding man sleeping in Harper's bed...

It turned out to be Harper, thankfully!

Then some above mentioned playtime.

As well as some tummy time.

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Too bad that she never smiles....
I love her and her mother more than I can try to describe in words. Without even knowing it, this child has made me the proudest Daddy in the world!

3 months old

This has been a busy month for little Miss Harper.  She has really started developing and hitting her milestones.  Her biggest accomplishment was rolling over as we mentioned previously in another post.  She has become a real pro at that and does it often.  She is very strong overall and is able to lift her head much higher which you may notice in the photos below. Harper's second big achievement has been perfecting her hand/eye coordination skills.  She has started interacting and playing with her toys on her own.  I know it may not sound like much, but she went from being a "blob" that just kind of laid there to this active little baby that is reaching for, grabbing, shaking, rattling, and chewing on all of her toys.  The first time she intentionally grabbed a toy was while we were driving. I heard her toy crinkle and I looked back to see her holding it and looking at it almost as if she was discovering how to grab the toy and cause the crinkle sound on her own at that moment.  The look of amazement on her face was priceless.  Since then she has been eagerly grabbing all of her toys and trying to figure out what all they do, then of course they go into her mouth for a healthy coating of baby slobber. Harper's third big milestone in our opinion has been how vocal she has become.  She will coo in many different ways now.  She even makes this certain sound when she is smiling that is almost like a pre-laugh.  We are hoping we get to hear her first precious giggle soon!  We had our first family beach trip when Harper was 11 weeks old and she did great. We were nervous about how this would go but she played and napped on and off for our entire 2 hour stay.  I see her becoming quite the beach bum. Another special moment was when Harper received a handmade quilt from her Grandmama that she absolutely loves. We have played on it a lot so far.  She even made sure she marked it as hers with a big pee all over it.  We also have learned that Harper absolutely loves her naked time.  She kicks and flails in excitement to be diaper free!

As always here are some photos I took for you to enjoy of Harper at 3 months old.  Here professional photo shoot with our photographer is on Tuesday so I will post those pics once I receive them.

Playing on her quilt

Tutu at 3 months

Naked time!

Look Mom, I have BOTH of them

 Such beautiful eyes

Harper eats milestones for breakfast

Breaking News!  Harper rolled over tonight! She did roll over at 5 weeks old as well but that was a one time fluke.  Tonight we could tell she was intentionally trying to so we won't be surprised if this becomes a more common occurrence.  Thankfully Will had just grabbed his phone to take a video of her cuteness if full force when she decided to pull off this stunt. 

Harper at 10 weeks old

A day with a herd of Chihuahuas....

Since bringing Harper home, the chihuahuas have come up with new ways to entertain themselves since we are sometimes too busy to play with them.  This video shows just a brief moment in the lives of our beloved chihuahuas.  Not really sure what is going on here, I guess Tanner is still confused and questioning herself.  Why Berkley just sits there and analyzes the situation without acting is somewhat baffling to us.  Oh how they make us laugh on a daily basis!    

WARNING- some of you may find this offensive... but it is funny and still worth watching.

2 months old

Harper just turned two months old!  We can't believe how much she is changing everyday.  It is scary, yet exciting!  She has continued to smile and interact with us on a daily basis.  She enjoys simple games now like peek-a-boo.  I believe her favorite toy is her burp cloth... nope, not any of the fancy toys that have been purchased for her, just a good ole rag will entertain this baby.  Her milestone this month is that she started sleeping through the night consistently at 7 weeks old.  She seems to know what she is doing when it comes to preparing for the long sleep ahead.  She usually begins power eating around 7 pm and is in bed somewhere between 8:30-9:30 pm.  Then she will sleep until 6:30 am, when we wake her up for breakfast.  She is also cooing a lot more this month.  She has a seahorse in her crib that she likes to have conversations with at bedtime.  I think they talk about life as baby, how her day went, and whether she has to poop or not.  Harper received her two month shots on April 9th.  She did pretty well over all, she screamed briefly but then quickly went back to enjoying her paci.  That night she was pretty pitiful and cranky, but by the next day she was back to herself thankfully.   Our big plans for this month are to take her to the beach for the first time, stay tuned on how that goes!

2 month stats:

 10 pounds 10 ounces

22 3/4 inches long

Sad face shortly after her shots...

      Luckily during her two month photo shoot Harper had recovered and was very smiley!

 Harper picked the pose all on her own for the rocking chair photo.  Oh so serious...

Harper's first Easter

We celebrated Easter in the traditional way filled with Easter baskets, a morning at church, and lunch with the family.  Harper seemed to enjoy all of the festivities!