Our biggest event this past month was Christmas, of course! In the weeks prior, we had a few Christmas parties to attend. The first was a Breakfast with Santa at Keeneland. Andy and I were feeling brave so we invited Claire to come with us since Dave and Carrie were working. We made it in safely and literally within 2 minutes of decorating cookies, Claire busted her lip. Fortunately it was not bad and her parents likely would not have known if I hadn't felt compelled to tell the truth ;) It was Emma Kate's first run in with Santa which she took like a champ. No smiles, of course, but just looking at him like 'what is going on here and why do you have so much hair on your face?' The girls ran into Santa at two subsequent parties and their reactions stayed the same. EK was stoic and calm of course, while Harper was obviously pumped and requested chapstick for Christmas every time :)
I was fortunate enough to have the week of Christmas as a vacation but we were on the go nonstop going to many, many Christmas festivities. Harper had the best time and literally every single day she would wake up asking for another Christmas party or christmas cookies. EK was pretty much attached to my hip throughout all the visiting with extended family. Stranger danger is out in full force but as long as she's with mama she is happy as a clam. When a new face would show interest she would just lay her little head down on my shoulder, squeeze me with her legs and give them a little smile :) Ha, pretty darn sweet. She enjoyed chewing on boxes, wrapping paper and bows for the most part. :)
Harper got way too much stuff but I think her ultimate favorites are her new boots, chapstick and purses. She is a fashionable lady!
Emma Kate's trick repertoire is quickly expanding - Andy taught her to give high fives around Christmas time which she loooves to do. She also has the sweetest wave and will give hugs and kisses (to mom, dad and Harper, ha). I've been on nights the first two weeks of January and one of the highlights of my day is coming up in the morning to my crew snuggled in bed watching cartoons and EK gets soo excited, starts yapping and flapping her arms and doing a little double wave at me. Andy said she was waving at all the Mickey mouse characters the other day. She literally may never crawl... the kid will not lay on her stomach for more than 2 seconds before flopping right over. When she reaches for toys from a sitting position, if they're out of reach she just moves on to something else or lays down on her back to roll around and get it. That's okay though, she's my snuggle bug for now and I know we are in for it when she finally gets on the move!
She's eating a lot more solids - we've had a horrible time with her being constipated which is the most pitiful thing ever so we're doing our best to feed her foods that can help with that. She absolutely loooves to eat though. When the food is gone she definitely lets you know that she is unhappy about it! Current foods that she's eating a lot of are peas, broccoli, pears and blueberries. We just steam the veggies and cut it all into small pieces and she does a great job feeding herself. We also give her some fruit/veggie purees from the squeeze packets which are super convenient if we're out and about.
She's in mostly 9 month clothes, some 12 month. I almost forget how chunky her little legs are since she's always in pants but she definitely still has some rolls on her :) No teeth so far but I think she is so, so close. She is still not sleeping through the night and it seems the girls have just been passing around colds lately which have not helped that situation at all. After night float is over, we are praying we can get her to sleep through the night more consistently!!
Harper has come up with some funny little sayings lately. She's all about calling everything kitty cat - 'kitty cat mama, can kitty cat harper and have some kitty cat milk please?' or at church during passing peace, 'peace to you kitty cat'. lol People probably think she is the weirdest thing ever but it cracks us up. We were watching cartoons the other day and a commercial comes on and she says, 'Umm, guuuys, we havin a widdle problem'. She's all about questions these days, particularly, 'what u doin mama?' Oftentimes it's in the context of her asking for a snack, I'm fixing the snack, and she wonders what I'm doing... or I'm helping her wash her hands and she asks... you get the picture ;) She pretty much has on boots 24/7 and typically is carrying a purse with her as well that is loaded with chapstick.
I've not taken EK's 8 month photo yet but will update that once I've taken it! :)
Christmas Eve
Christmas morning
At Harper's school Christmas party
At Granddad bobby's farm
Harper's first nutcracker experience - obviously the snow was awesome!!
