9 Months

9 Months old and another busy month. Harper now has 6 teeth! All 4 top teeth came in within the same week. She struggled a little more with these teeth than the bottom ones. Her gums were pretty red and there was a LOT of drool and chewing. Thank goodness for frozen washcloths and motrin!

Last month was H's first Easter. She got some Blu-Ray movies to start her movie collection, books, and Itty Bittys from Hallmark. Thanks to her Aunties, Erin and Alissa, for starting her collection. They are the cutest little stuffed animals, just the perfect size for her little hands. She "reads" her books and likes to have small board books to hold onto, not always right side up....Every car ride, she has 2 books that we hear her "reading" to us. She points to things and is very animated with her story telling :)

Still not crawling, but getting close. She gets up on her knees and attempts to start, maybe moving one hand and lifting her knee, but she either decides at that point to let her belly hit the ground and get mad, or just go back to a sitting position. She really gets aggravated at us when the item she wants is far from her and we are trying to get her to go get it. We try to help her and she sometimes goes with it, but sometimes, just gets red in the face like she wants to tell us off! The baby's got attitude and patience is NOT her strong suit!

She does like to climb and pull up on everything. She has a table that has lights and sounds, which she will stand at for 15-20 minutes and laugh, yell, smile and "dance". She may walk and not crawl, we'll just have to wait and see what she decides to do. Either way, we want her to have more independence and move around but then again....we can't imagine how crazy it's going to be when we have to chase her everywhere!

Eating is still her best ability. This child loves food and cant get enough. Her food has been made a little more chunky and she's getting the hang of chewing. She really likes bananas, blueberries, avocado, mango, chicken, peas and corn. Harper seems to really like feeding herself too, sometimes not wanting us to feed her with the spoon. She tries taking the spoon from us and grabbing the food off the spoon. Again, she's got attitude! She L.O.V.E.s to snack on puffs! We call her the Puff Monster. They kind of turn to mush when they're in her mouth and they come in all sorts of flavors. We mix them all up, but she's not picky about any flavor! H will have just been given a meal and milk, but if she sees puffs....she's still hungry :)

Harper can wave bye bye and clap. She still likes to suck on her toes. She says Mama and Dada a lot. Talking and yelling are now an everyday thing. She babbles and we have conversations. Wish we knew what she was really telling us.... We watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she gets so excited when Mickey comes on TV. She likes to dance when the Hot Dog song plays at the end (with our help). You'll know when H is excited about anything because she breaks out the Lion Face! It's hilarious and funny very time she does it, which is a million and one times a day. This child just continues to be loved by o many people and always seems to make everyday an exciting, new adventure!

8 Months

Every month, we're thinking, where has the time gone? 8 months is here and Harper keeps on growing, eating and moving. She's not crawling, but she'll pull up on things and stand supported. She'll get on her knees from a sitting position; just to rock a few times, then decide she doesn't want to go anywhere. She makes us laugh. She really likes when we hold her up and she moves her legs. Maybe she will walk before she crawls...only time will tell.

Harper weighs 19 pounds 6 ounces and is about 28 inches long. She still loves to eat. This month we started giving her finger foods. She loves these little puff things that "melt" in her mouth. She even knows what the container looks like now and when we get it out, she gets all sorts of excited :) She eats banana, mango, blueberries, peas and carrots cut up into bit size pieces. I've even made her buttered noodles with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on them. She really thinks she's hot stuff when she feeds herself. A few times she hasn't eaten what we try to spoon feed her but if we give her something for her to pick up with her hands, she'll clear her tray!

She has gotten so big that she's been wearing size 12-18 month clothes! She continues to love walks outside and going out and about. We are all so happy that the weather is getting nice so we can be out more! We all got down to Florida again to visit Nonnie. Harper went to her first baseball game. We saw 2 spring training games for the Orioles and the Rays. It was pretty hot but she stayed cool in her little straw sun hat. She matched all the old people in Florida :)

Her first cold happened just a couple days ago. We hate that she feels bad and there's nothing we can do. Thank goodness for the NoseFreida. It sucks the snot right out of her nose without going in her nose. The baby on the box seems to love it, but Harper gets mad when we get anywhere close to wiping her nose. She's got attitude, that's obvious! She definitely lets us know what she wants or does and doesn't like. She's not saying any words yet, but she can make plenty of baby talk and some Baa Baas and Maa Maas.

7 Months

 Harper is sitting up very well and rolling over so much that she can get across the room. She so badly wants to be crawling or walking. She's a little wiggle worm, that's for sure. She's really going to keep us busy as she gets older! With still only two teeth, we're certain that the top teeth will be here sooner, rather than later. She's constantly chewing on things, and there are little teeth marks on her spoons and on all of her toys. Harper rarely gets fussy though, thankfully. If she does, there are some frozen washcloths in the freezer that make her super happy again!

We got our biggest snow of the year a couple weeks ago. Harper wasn't that impressed! We took her out all bundled up. She could barely move, hahaha! We propped her in the snow pile and didn't really know what to do. She had the most fun watching the neighborhood children playing and sledding. Hopefully it's only going to get warmer and all this cold weather is over! Harper absolutely loves being outside. Typical Virginia weather.... it snowed one week, then it's 65 and sunny for a couple days. We took her to the park the day we celebrated Mommom's (her great grandmother) birthday this month. She laughed on the swings and bobbled on the hobby horse. She'll have to wait for the slides or at least until we can go down with her!

Harper continues to eat anything and everything! We love that she's such a good eater. We'll keep fattening her up for now with lots of yummy fruit and veggies. Last month she tried brown rice, peaches, plums, broccoli, white potatoes and yogurt. She didn't like the broccoli. She gotten quite fond of the Nuby Mesh Feeders. We give her bananas, oranges and mangos in them. She chews and sucks until she got juices running down her arms!

Derek's father lost his battle with Alzheimer's the last weekend of February. He was an amazing man and will truly be missed. What saddens us the most is that Harper will never know him. He didn't get to take her to see the beach or the fire trucks. He didn't get to drive her around in the golf cart and teach her the game of golf. She'll never hear him say the words, "totally", like we all did. Such a sweet, caring, laid back guy that we will tell her stories about and teach her to love the way he would have loved her.

Harper is such an angel and makes us smile every day. Even if she is mad that we aren't feeding her fast enough, or she's not sleeping through the night and we go to her room 4 times a night to rock her; we can't help but smile and kiss her fat, chubby cheeks. She weights just over 19 pounds and is 27 inches long. Her favorite things are her bouncer that hangs in the doorway, her exersaucer, her blocks and books. We read every night and sometimes during the day, if she'll sit in our laps long enough. We stack her blocks up and she likes knocking them down. She also loves baths and playing with the squirty animals. She laughs when the water comes out of their mouths :) It's been a fun month or new and exciting things; we look forward to what she'll learn next month!

6 Months

Half a year old! What an awesome 6 months it's been. We love this little girl more than anything in the whole world. We can't imagine her not being a part of our lives! She has two teeth now and the pediatrician said that her upper gums seem a little swollen; so those little top teeth could be coming in within the next month. Harper loves to smile and she's really starting to laugh at everything. We play Peek A Boo and she gets so excited and laughs when you scare her.

Harper sits up very well now. She doesn't really like to lay on her back or tummy. She immediately tries to roll over. She is so squirmy and wiggly. We can't imagine when she starts to crawl, she'll be all over the place! She really likes her exersaucer and her bouncy seat that hangs from the doorway. She jumps and kicks her legs like crazy!

Her height and weight are the same as last month; 27 inches long and 17.5 pounds. The doctor said she will start to even out with all the movement she's going to be doing. Harper is eating really well and is loving solids. She's had carrots, sweet potatoes (her favorite), pears, apples, avocado, bananas, peas and squash. The pediatrician said that she can start eating meats, beans and yogurt now. We got her a sippy cup so she can drink water with her food. I'm still breastfeeding, so she gets most of her nutrition through that. I am still having fun making her food and using the Baby Bullet. I look forward to finding a new fruit or vegetable each week to mix up and give her. I've even gotten some recipes for different combinations of foods to try.

Last month Nicole, Tiffany and Harmony all came to visit and play with Harper. We took her to NatsFest at the National Harbor one Saturday. She also got to go to her first hockey game. So much excitement in one month! It's been an exciting 6 months and we've got many more things planned for the next 6 months!

5 Months

Harper's got a tooth! 1 week ago, her first little tooth made it's appearance. The drooling has gone down but her fingers are in her mouth even more. She never got fussy or anything! She truly is such a happy baby. We can't get a good picture of it yet. It's still so small and when we try to open her mouth to look at it, she tries to eat our fingers!

This month we also got some solid foods going, and Harper loves it! The pediatrician said that we could start her on some veggies at 5 months, so last week I got out the Baby Bullet (Thank you Sam and Donnie) and started blending. We started with carrots. The Bullet is awesome and super easy. I made three days worth. I'd read that you have to begin with one veggie at a time, to make sure the baby doesn't have a reaction or anything. Well, she gobbled those carrots up. Her little mouth was open for more before we can get another spoon full! The last few days, she's eaten sweet potatoes. Of course, she loves them too! Next on the list to try are avocados, pears and bananas.

Her laugh is still infectious and her smiles are amazing. Now, whenever Derek comes home from work, or i pick her up from a nap, she gets the biggest grin on her face. We just love it! Harper weighs 17 pounds, 4 ounces and is 27 inches long. I bet these veggies, in addition to milk, should really start to fatten her up. Like she needs it! :)

Our little girl can get her toes in her mouth. She's so flexible... She can also roll all the way over; from her belly to her back and from her back onto her belly. She wants to move more than anything, so she stays busy in the exersauser and her jumping thing that attaches to the door frame. She thinks she's hot stuff when she gets to stand. Rarely does she want to simply lay in the floor and play any more. She got so much for Christmas! Spoiled already.  She got more clothes, more toys and fun things like wipes and diapers too. We are lucky to have such generous people around us! New Year's Eve was uneventful in the Newton house. It was a regular Tuesday for Harper... Derek and I made it up to midnight (surprisingly). Harper has been a wonderful sleeper, now that she's 5 months old. She still doesn't sleep much during the day, but she's sleeping through the night and that's more than we can ask for!

4 Months

Harper had an amazing month! She had a lot of firsts! The best one is her laugh. Sometimes she laughs when you scare her, other times when you tickle her. Either way, we LOVE it! Another first is that she found her feet. Now she won't leave them alone. If she has socks on, she pulls them off a million times a day. She actually got her toes in her mouth just the other day! Her first taste of yummy rice cereal was just as exciting for her as it was for Derek and I. She had cereal all over the place. It took her a while to get used to the spoon and swallowing. The first few feedings she just spit it all back out. Needless to say, she needed a bath right afterwards. I can only imagine what it will be like at 5 months when we can start giving her solid foods. She'll have sweet potatoes in places unimaginable....

Harper remains in the 95th percentile for her height and weight. She weighs just under 16 pounds and is 26 inches long. As much as she eats, no wonder she's getting so big! When she sees us eat, she watches us like a hawk. She's drinking out of the bottle exclusively now. Since I was in the hospital for 2 days when I had to have my appendix removed, luckily I'd began pumping breast milk for reserve. Then I couldn't nurse her for the next week because of my incisions. Harper is one smart lady because it took her no time to get used to the bottle. I continue to pump for her bottles and when she sees that bottle, she gets super excited. Reaching for it and kicking her little legs!

She's cooing and "talking" a lot more too. Her head control is great and she doesn't really like laying back anymore and relaxing. Tummy time has turned into roll-over time for Harper. She still gets aggravated when on her tummy too long, but she's learned to roll over to her back. When she's on her back, she can get onto her side, but still hasn't perfected the art of rolling onto her tummy. I'm sure she'll be sitting up like a champ in another month or two!

Everything, and I mean everything, goes into her mouth! The doctor said today that she sees little bumps in her gums where her teeth are starting to appear. The drool is uncontrollable and we need to keep a bib on her all the time. She really likes chewing on her fingers and there are times that she sticks them in too much and gags herself. It doesn't stop her from doing it over and over again though... With all the drool in her mouth, she spits all over the place and loves blowing bubbles and making fart noises all day long. What a sense of humor! Who does she get that from?

3 Months

Harper had a very exciting month! Derek and I took her on her first beach trip to the Outer Banks. It was such a beautiful fall day and sunny. She didn't seem to mind the wind and we got some great pictures of her toes in the sand. After that long Columbus Day weekend in North Carolina, we visited Harper's Aunt Alissa and Aunt Erin for an annual birthday celebratory dinner at Sweetwater. Our chocolate waffles are always the best part.

After that, we stayed a night in Philly while Derek and Donnie went to a Pearl Jam concert. The next day, we flew to Florida to visit Nonnie. Harper did really well on all the long car rides, sleeping the whole time.The plane ride and entire airport experience was pretty good too. Harper tends to get fussy right before she falls asleep, so about 30 minutes into the flight to Florida she fought me and started crying. It only lasted a minute or two, but felt like an eternity knowing that people on the plane were probably cursing her and I under their breath. She slept the rest of the flight and woke up as we were deboarding.

Florida was nice and HOT! It was such a perfect week staying with my Mom and having Harper spend so much time with her Nonnie. She hadn't seen her since the week she was born. Everyday, we stayed busy visiting Siesta Key Beach, Venice Beach, shopping and just relaxing in the pool. We will be going back for Thanksgiving and can't wait! Harper was a pumpkin for her first Halloween, just like her cousin Regan was for her first Halloween. She was a little cutie in her costume, but her hat was a little too small :)

On top of that busy month, Harper continues to learn new things and amaze Derek and I everyday. She's sitting up a lot more and really doesn't like to lay down. She is getting heavy at 15 pounds and 25 inches long! She has gotten great at grabbing things and holding onto them. Her focus is improving and she will follow your movements flawlessly. Her new trick the past week is blowing spit bubbles. It's constant fart sounds out of her cute little lips. I think she gets a kick out of it too, because we laugh and encourage it, of course! What will be the new thing next month?