1 Year!

Harper's first year has been amazing! She's the happiest, sweetest little girl and we are so thrilled with her. She makes us laugh every day and she loves the spotlight. She loves to give hugs and really loves to dance. She shakes her booty whenever she hears music all with big smiles and laughs! We look forward to her entertaining us each day and for many years to come. It's really hard to believe that an entire year has gone by so quickly! Our little 8 pound, 1 ounce baby is now 22 pounds! She's in the 95th percentile for her height at almost 31 inches. It's crazy how fast she's learning things and changing. She's still crawling, but she stands on her own and uses the couch, wall, walker toy, or closest person to get to where she needs to go. Rarely does she want to sit and relax anymore during the day. At night we read books before bed and she'll sit in our laps and turn the pages. She continues to sleep through the night in her crib. She had no problem moving into the new house or letting any of those changes effect her. She's a "go with the flow" kind of girl, that's for sure!

To round out her first year, we took a short beach trip with Derek's family. She loved the sand and played with her bucket of sand and water. The water was a little chilly, but she liked getting her toes wet and laughed when the water splashed her. She likes to splash, especially in the bathtub or pool! We moved into a new house and it's a great neighborhood where we takes lots of walks and we've got a big yard to play in too! We're still doing some unpacking and getting settled but it's our home and we are filling it with laughter and love pretty quickly.

We stay busy with trips around town, visiting family or friends and taking walks in her stroller or wagon. She loves to be outside and really likes to explore the flowers and bugs. She likes to dig in sand and dirt. Nothing bothers her and we love it! She really likes to stand in the drivers seat of the car and "drive". She's hilarious because she grips onto the wheel and it's hard to get her to let go. She likes to turn up the radio too and if music is playing, she does what comes naturally....shakes her booty! She plays well with other babies/kids and we know when she starts walking she'll be even more interactive! She can get an attitude if something gets her frustrated though. It's too funny, but we try to remind her to figure it out, or let her know she's not getting everything she wants and she moves on. This parenting stuff is hard ;)

H still loves food and will eat anything and everything. We try to give her new things all the time and she rarely will allow us to feed her. She eats oatmeal, applesauce and yogurt all by herself with her little bowl and spoon. She has started to even use a fork to eat, but it's hard for her to get things stuck onto it sometimes. We enjoy watching her learn how to feed herself and she makes herself so happy when she can do it. Some new things she's tried over the past month are cow's milk, pizza (she's a bigger fan of the crust), corn ON the cob, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese sticks. Harper still can't get enough blueberries, watermelon, mac and cheese, eggs or english muffins.

Her first birthday party was perfect and she even had a first birthday photo shoot. (pictures should be available soon.) She had cake and ice cream for the first time. She didn't go too crazy though and smash her cake like others. She actually dove in more when I gave her a fork....Miss Priss! She was showered with generous gifts from friends and family who made her party a truly memorable event. Harper is loved by so many people and we can't thank everyone enough for all the love and support over the past year. With that said, we're ready for another year of the Adventures of Harper Lynne Newton!