3 Years

Our sweet Harper Leigh Reynolds turned 3 on July 2nd!  It's hard to describe our vivacious, bright, energetic loving girl but we are so, so thankful for her and all the joy she brings to our life.  She has turned into her own little person who loves to make everyone around her laugh.  At night after the girls go to bed, we often rehash the funny things she did/said that day.

We celebrated her bday in a big way - with a pony!! Harper loves, loves horses so when we came up with a cowgirl theme she was pumped.  We invited a bunch of her little friends and family over and had a blast with Snowball (the pony).  Besides the pony, the other hit of the party was a baby pool filled with shelled corn and a bunch of tiny toys for the kids to dig for.  And as a bonus, about a week after the party was over, we had a ring of corn growing in our backyard! ;)

Her bday present was a big girl room makeover!  We said goodbye to the crib and put together her twin bed and wallpaper all in one night while she slept in the playroom.  Wallpaper was quite the adventure and we likely would've stopped after one piece was up except Harper snuck out of bed and surprised us all by standing in the doorway saying 'wow, i love it!'  The transition was not perfect though... for a few days after she continued to ask for her crib back and is still sleeping with the blanket and pillow from her crib ;)

Harper is one active little girl and literally does not slow down until forced to go to bed.  She loves being outside, riding her bike, helping Andy in the garden, running laps around the kitchen.  She also is a little artist and is doing some type of craft nonstop.  She loves to color, paint, use glitter glue, stickers, stamps, etc!  She's my big helper in the kitchen and will pull up her chair almost every night to help as much as she can or at least watch.  She loves to set the table for us and is getting so independent.  Last night we asked her to go out and pick basil from the garden for caprese salads which she successfully did!

She took dance over the past year which she loved - I'm not sure exactly how much dance she learned but she had a blast hanging out with her little buddies and being silly.  We also attempted swim lessons again which were not the most successful and Harper now avoids the inside pool like the plague but eventually she'll learn :)  For now she is still rocking the shark (puddle jumper) like a champ and is fearless at the pool.  She will spend an hour straight jumping off the diving board until she decides she's too cold.  She also recently started gymnastics which has been great for her.  We've taken up soccer this  summer as well.  At her first practice she immediately declared it was too hot and she needed a snack (true) but the second practice went much better and she had a great time with one of her little buddies, Emerson.  Andy has also really encouraged golf but their first time out with her new clubs was a disaster so we may revisit that next year if she decides she wants to try again :)  It's so neat to see what she actually likes doing and her personality is exactly that - her own!

She again went to mother's day out this past year and, of course, loved it.  Especially because she got to hang out with her bff, Clairebear.  Parts of the year were rougher than others with some issues with pushing, being bossy towards Claire but by the end they seemed to be doing just fine.  Harper is going to miss Claire so much when she starts 'big girl school' (prek3) in August.

Harper loves to give kisses - big girl kisses, lick kisses, pig kisses, etc.  She loves dressing up and playing pretend - she will often ask me to be Harper so she can be Mom.

We had a couple trips to the beach this year and one to Disney World - Harper remembers them all very well and asks very often when we can go to back to the 'bacation house'.  We always remind her that the beach is very far away though she doesn't quite get that because it seems to her she goes to sleep and 2 minutes later, is awake at the beach! :)  She loves the sand and ocean and would never tire of playing in the waves.

We're excited for her to start PreK3 this year - it's amazing to see how quickly she learns things and what memories she holds onto.  Though at times she clearly seems like she is not listening, later she will repeat parts of the conversation - always must be careful what is said around those little ears! ;)

We love our sweet Harper girl!!

13 and 14 Months

Where have I been?!  The only excuse I have is that I love summer and being outside with my kids so we play nonstop when I'm home.  And with the sun going to bed later, Harper is going to bed later and that leaves little free time for mama without someone else attempting to type on the computer with me ;)

Emma Kate has changed so much since turning 1!  She has finally gotten brave enough to walk all over the place on her own.  After taking those first few steps after she turned one she basically refused to walk anywhere without my index finger in her right hand.  She was so particular, if I offered my thumb to her left hand she would do her best to switch her hands and my fingers so that she had just the right one to support her ;)  She would immediately plop down and cry if we let go, often laying down completely flat in a very dramatic fashion.  It was actually on July 4th, just shy of 14 months, that she decided she didn't need us anymore and took off on her own.  I think she was finally tired of just watching Claire and Harper run around and wanted to chase after them while we were picnicking :)

She understands basically everything we say which is such a cool thing because even though she can't communicate everything verbally she definitely lets us know her opinion.  She will point and grunt for things and all you have to do is pick it up and ask if that's what she wants and she will either shake her head very aggressively no or yes haha :)  She does have quite a few more words now - of course mama, dada, harper, papa, ball, balloon, water, milk, bite, please (da), hat.  We have a second little animal lover on our hands and she loves to demonstrate her animal noises, of course a horse being her favorite.  One of our neighbors has a horse weather vane on top of their house and the moment we step out of our front door she starts yelling neigh neigh and pointing.

We have spent many, many afternoons at the pool and she loves it.  She is fearless and will do everything in her power to drown herself so you basically have to have a hand on her at all times.  The baby pool is great and is zero entry with some little fountains at the shallow side... but of course she just wants to take off to the 2 foot side where Harper plays and attempt to faceplant.  She enjoys drinking the pool water at her leisure but does not so much like getting splashed if not on her own terms ;)

Something else she has also loved this summer is playing in the garden with Andy.  Between her and Harper they eat at least half of the cherry tomatoes before we are even able to get them into the house but they love them.  She just likes to sit in the dirt and play while chowing down making the most gigantic mess with tomato seeds everywhere.

She is still Mama's girl to the max and does not usually venture far away from me.  She will get brave and wonder off for a minute but basically turns right around once she's about 10 feet away ;)  She does love hanging out with Dad and will be content with him but that's basically the extent of her friendliness.  She's happy to give kisses, hugs, hi fives or waves to others if she's being held by one of us but lord help the person who tries to pick her up. ha.  She acts like she's been kidnapped every time!

She continues to be a pretty good eater but has definitely gotten a little pickier.  Andy says she is self-dieting though her little thighs do not demonstrate that ;)  She's wearing 12M stuff but is just barely squeezing in a lot of them.  I'm trying to hold out on buying more 12M summer clothes but I might have to break down in a couple weeks!

Still only has 4 teeth, two on top and two on bottom though has been drooling up a storm lately so maybe more are coming?  We have experienced a new phenomenon with biting though it has gotten a bit better over the last few weeks.  Whenever she would get really frustrated about something she would just lean over and bite you, the chair, etc and when we tell her no, she would look even more frustrated and bite her own hand :(  Or sometimes she would just be playing around and giving kisses then all the sudden try to take a chunk out of your leg! ha.  I'm hoping this continues to improve because she starts mother's day out very soon and I'm not looking forward to her getting expelled!

Her best buddy is Harper and she lets us know how much she misses Harper when she's away.  Our sweet nanny took Harper out for her bday one night and Emma Kate just walked around saying 'harper harper and looking for her everywhere'.  I'm sure they will go through times when they can't stand each other but I do hope that eventually they will be the best of friends!

Lots of trouble uploading pics so hopefully they are visible! :)