One of my cousins last year had a brand new baby around Christmas time and a busy little toddler running around as well. Everyone was (not so) patiently waiting their turn to cuddle that brand new baby and she said something along the lines of how everyone loves the new babies so much but they really get fun when they're a little bit older. Now I loved, loved the newborn stage where they want to be cuddled all day long but really Harper makes every day so FUN now! She is hilarious and constantly is surprising us and keeping us so entertained!
We've had a great, although busy last month! Our most exciting part was definitely Halloween with a close second being Mom finishing her worst rotations of residency :) Well I guess we've had a couple other exciting things but we'll get to that soon enough :) Harper went as a sheep and somehow we coerced her into wearing the whole outfit on the big day. I was so bummed because I was scheduled to work Halloween night at 5:30PM but fortunately I begged another intern to cover for me for 3 hours so I could do trick or treat with my girl! Then Lexington was forecasted to have horrible storms so it got rescheduled for Friday, Nov 1st. Even better! That week at school Harper had 2 halloween parties - the first day I sent her in her UK cheerleader outfit cause it's comfy and I knew she wouldn't be upset in it. The second day I put her just in the sheep body but left off the hat and hooves. Surprisingly, she wore it all day. Andy had been bribing her by telling her the outfit was a coat that she had to wear if she wanted to go outside... and she loves going outside so she was okay with it ;) So for Halloween itself somehow Andy got the whole outfit on her and she wore it the whole time we were outside! We just sat out in the driveway letting her run around and see all the neighborhood trick or treaters. She had a blast and developed a serious love for candy. So much that she threw a serious tantrum the next morning when she wasn't allowed to have any for breakfast ;)
We also made a trip to the orchard which is always fun :) Harper loves balls and pumpkins resemble balls so she was in heaven. We had fun tailgating at the UK games and usually make it til about halftime before either Harper has had enough or we've had enough ;) The one good thing about UK being so horrible this year is the seats are basically empty and we can spread out and give H plenty of room to run around. And eat. The child probably eats more calories during UK games than she does throughout the rest of the weekend.
She is as busy as ever and getting so smart! Her favorite toys right now include a singing bear that moves its mouth so she always pretends it's biting her, purses (which she fills with as much junk as she can find and then drags them around with her), books, her horse stuffed animal, her bunny she sleeps with and then normal 16 month old things like bracelets and chapstick ;) She is saying a few more words though they are not easy to decipher by the untrained ears... please, thank you, again, all done (the grammer police would be proud ;)), claire/kate/cam (they all kind of sound the same) and grace. Goodness... the girl asks to say grace probably ten times per meal. If you ever accidentally fold your hands during a meal she will immediately ask you to say grace.
A funny thing happened to us at church the other day. Andy was out of town so it was just the girls. Harper had been pretty good throughout mass but by the time communion rolled around she was finished. It had already been an hour and she was about to lose it. I asked her to put her jacket on so we could go home after communion so then she proceeded to yell bye bye bye bye bye to everyone while blowing kisses as we walked down the aisle. So much for sneaking out.
Of course she is still verrrry into animals. Her new favorite animal noise is a lion... roooooooar! haha Horses are probably still the favorite though. We took a trip to Keeneland one morning where we had breakfast at the track kitchen and then watched the horses warm up. Harper loved seeing the horses and we had such a fun time!
We had her 15 month doctor appt which was not the best... She started screaming from the minute the weighed her until we walked out the door. They were calling her Harper the Howler!! I think she weighed around 20 lbs and was 30.5 inches. She got a bunch of shots which of course she was not happy about. We talked to the doctor about getting rid of the paci and then basically decided to just go cold turkey. She had been using it only for naps and bed but we just got rid of it after Claire moved out and took her pacis with her ;) She has done well although has only been taking 1 nap for me on the days I've been able to be home with her. There are times when I really want to cave and give it to her but we've held strong so far ;)
And our other little snippet of news that everyone knows by now... Harper is going to be a big sister in May!! We are super excited and thankful that everything is going smoothly so far with this pregnancy :) I really think there's nothing better in the world than siblings and though I know Harper will eventually agree the poor girl has no idea how her little world is going to change in a few short months ;) It might be Andy's opportunity to replace me as the one Harper loves the most! haha :)
Here's a few pics
