Harper 3 1/2 Months +

Alright.  I've decided that I don't  want to take the time to organize this blog post in a way that flows.  So, I'm just going to dump all my photos and videos in the order they were taken and it's going to be a bit of a mess and that's ok.

But first, a few notes on the babe:

- She seems to be becoming more aware of the world around her, which I LOVE.  The other day I held her in front of the window to watch for Daddy coming home a she was watching each car that went by like a little kitty.  Her head would turn as she followed it, then would whip back so she could follow another.

- She is still a finicky feeder and refuses to give up using the shield even though she no longer needs it.  Boo.  This makes breastfeeding anywhere but home quite difficult.

- She went through a short nap phase and there were about 3 days when she woke up once in the night or woke up early (very unusual for her), but she seems to be done with both of those.

The rest I think I'll just explain through pictures and videos.

Playing on her playmat: http://youtu.be/kSrw1PIjghE

Being adored by cousin Ellie: http://youtu.be/-fPcTShnLk8

Ready to walk to the store.  Every time I go out with her in the carrier I get so many comments, stares, people wanting to touch her.

Showing her grasping skills (she has definitely gotten better at this, but still isn't THAT interested in toys): http://youtu.be/m7EtK-stx9k

On a walk.  Yeah, it's freezing here.

Met up with a couple of my good friends from Romania and their kids.  Hadn't seen Marina in years!

Cheeks

Asleep on Daddy at church.

She likes to clutch anything you put in her hands.  Here she is holding onto some candy wrappers.

Our attempt at a family pic.  Not my fave.

My mom came up for my cousin's wedding.  Sadly she was sick and it was freezing but it was still nice to have her and i hope she still enjoyed herself.

My mom made this cute hat while she was here.

Staring at the Christmas tree light in a sleepy stupor: http://youtu.be/kKDlOqfBZEQ

She really loves playing with her blankets these days.

Harper's 1st Christmas was pretty great. The night before we went to Tom's parents' house for dinner.  Then, after we put the baby to bed, Tom made me cookies and milk (because, he says, I'm Santa now), read "The Night Before Christmas" to me and rubbed my feet.  Yeah, I like him.  It was part of our advent calendar.  Last year I made an advent calendar for him and every day he would open an envelope and there would either be a complement, something I was going to do for him that day or a date or something.  This year, we both did it for each other.  The first 12 days I did stuff for him and the second 12 he did stuff for me.

Then, on Christmas morning, we had a nice leisurely morning opening presents together.  Then, we headed back over to Tom's parents' house for the day.

Here is a series of pics I took of Harper opening one of her presents.  It is by far her best toy right now.  It's the easiest for her to grab when it's sitting next to her and she's lying on her back, so she is far more likely to end up grabbing it than any other toy.  She is, in fact, playing with it right now.  The company is Manhattan Toy and you should go buy it if you have or are going to have a baby!

A content Harper after opening all the presents: http://youtu.be/XIppgi123jQ

Trying to sit up when she's supposed to be napping (especially toward the end): http://youtu.be/O0eDsSOMwy0

Playing with her new car toy, which we got especially for our looming California road trip: http://youtu.be/dy40mkPAyTU

Tom's parents got Harper some Duke onesies & both of us Duke pajama pants.  Tom just happened to be wearing his Duke shirt already.  Tom is a big Duke fan.

 And that was Christmas!

Here are some more random pics of the little one:

Onesie courtesy of Tom's parents.  Also, that toy I was talking about is there on the top right.

Both the babies (Harper and Ellie) wanted to snuggle with Tom: http://youtu.be/PYk21iJl9Ec

The Sunday after Christmas, we were getting ready for church and we were late and not paying much attention to Harper.  I happened to glance at her and noticed she was rolling over!  She was already half way there by the time I saw her and I was only able to catch the last millisecond or so on video, but I was SO exciting!  I am more excited for her to roll than for any other developmental milestone: http://youtu.be/9ryk-APFd8w

The rest of the day she would immediately turn on her side when I laid her down (which she hadn't ever done before), but then would just lie there all content.  Ever since that day she hasn't even rolled to her side!  She really just doesn't care.  Here she is during Relief Society, at church: http://youtu.be/ILJ0ThyM8hQ

Sometimes when I lay her down she just smiles up at the ceiling.

Just being cute on the floor:  http://youtu.be/2GMHHmpAxQQ

Playing with Mr. Panda: http://youtu.be/hsc9PLWYlx4

Playing with the toy I keep talking about: http://youtu.be/N5kDGZJY6Mk

On New Year's Eve, we went over to Tom's parents' house.  His parents were in Hawaii, but his sister's family was still there and we hung out with them.  Usually Harper goes to bed around 9 or 9:30, but she never woke up from her last nap of the day and by the time we realized she'd been napping so long, her bedtime would have been super late anyway.  So, we just let her sleep and figured it would be an experiment.  I predicted she'd wake up right before the New Year and she did!  She woke up at 11:45.  We kept joking that she just didn't want to be left out of the party and that she knew what was happening.  Well, I started nursing her, then RIGHT before midnight she just randomly popped off and immediately craned her neck around to stare at the TV (ball dropping in NY).  It was especially strange because these days she almost never pops off unless I take her off.  We got her last few moments in 2013 on video: http://youtu.be/fihOsg-9bcc

Her little foot escaping her snowsuit.

Outfit courtesy of my friend Diane.

Tummy time: http://youtu.be/p8GGt5L6DDU

Sometimes Harper will just sit there and squeal for minutes at a time in all these different pitches.  It's absolutely adorable and I always want to get it on video, but she always stops and stares at my phoen when I try.  Finally I decided to just put the phone on the carpet next to her and catch the audio.  It worked pretty well.  Toward the end I also was able to get a little video as well: http://youtu.be/mRdkEJbVMIg

Jacket, courtesy of my friend Heather.

With Bagge (pronounced Boggy), my childhood stuffed animal.

With Mr. Panda.

Her first sledding trip: http://youtu.be/-rgUuHANl6M

Outfit courtesy of my friend Shealee.

With Mr. Panda: http://youtu.be/b8dwL0QlIw8

Outfit courtesy of my Aunt Karen.  I think she looks like a little Buddha when she wears it :) .

Whenever she wakes up she immediately just stares at the monitor.  It's like she knows I'm watching her.  So funny.  http://youtu.be/JRAubvbZPzk

Laughing during tummy time: http://youtu.be/ue9FNQbPasg

She has become quite the finger sucker / muncher and sometimes it's really loud: http://youtu.be/F5edFCEnIYs

Experiencing the outdoors on a particularly snowy day: http://youtu.be/zKsHW8EXgEY

We have gone swimming a couple of times lately.  It is SUCH an ordeal, but totally worth it.  I am a water lover and Harper seems to really like it too.  She always seems really content and likes to move her hands around in the water and stand up in it and so forth.  Plus, she looks really cute in a swimsuit.

Swimsuit and swim cover courtesy of my sister, Emily.

Probably the cutest video of her thus far!  I've noticed that she is super slap happy when she's tired.  After swimming one day I was putting her in her carseat and she was very tired.  All I did was say hello to her and she busted up laughing.  I whipped out the camera and got this video.  The quality is horrible (esp. the first few seconds), as I'm in a car when it's starting to get dark and I'm trying not to let her see the camera and trying not to look at it myself, but it's SO cute: http://youtu.be/ScIwQHTlxug

Outfit courtesy of Baba and Papa Armstrong.

She just looked so sweet this one night when I'd wrapped her and was about to put her to bed but she'd fallen asleep on the floor: http://youtu.be/ABxldfq5uZI

Trying to suck on one of her wubbanubba binkies.  She's struggles a little with them, but I SO want her to take them: http://youtu.be/pgNVilDa2GU

Outfit courtesy of my friend Kelli.

At the end of this week we are leaving on a 2 week trip where we will drive all down the coast of California, visit Tom's sister Jen's family and visit my family and friends.  I am SO looking forward to it.  Yay!