9 Months

Well, Harper is officially 3/4 of a year old!  Time has definitely started to go faster.  Just one of many reasons why this post is so late!  And this month was such a BIG month for her!  She had so many firsts and really started being a big girl all of a sudden.  It was great!  Maybe some moms are sad when their babies start to grow up, but I'm actually really happy.  It's not that I don't love her babyness, but I just love seeing all the new things she does.  Plus, I'm kind of an impatient-puss (as Tom would say).  A good friend of mine once said that each of your kids will be tailor made to be challenging for you in some way (or something like that) and I think Harper is challenging my patience because she has been relatively slow to do certain things.  She's not slow to the point of concern or anything, just taking her sweet time.  So, here are some of the new things she has started doing this month:

- MOVING.  Until this month she pretty much could not do anything but stay exactly where she was.  If she was on her back, she raaaarely rolled.  On her tummy, she rarely rolled.  If sitting she sat right there and didn't even pivot ("Piiiiivoooooot!!!" Anyone?  Amber?).  Literally, a day or so after she turned 8 months old she started moving in circle after circle while sitting.  Then, later in the month she started scooting forward a bit (still not across the room or anything).  She also started rolling around a lot more (especially from back to tummy).  She has also started going up on all...threes.  She'll be basically parallel to the ground, up on both arms and she'll have one leg up in kneeling position (like when you crawl) and one leg still down in sitting position.  This makes me thing she may end up crawling after all!  She still doesn't go up on her knees at all while laying down though.  Sometimes she launches forward and falls on her belly.  Anyway, all very exciting!!!

The new "moving" phase results in cute poses.

Since she learned how to go in a circle, I put toys in all these boxes and surrounded her.  Kept her busy for a little while.  She is wearing a dress I wore as a baby.

Video of her playing with her boxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1RxAg8VCwE

She started off just to the side of that colorful necklace and kept scooting forward to try to get my book.  I started off over there too but had to keep scooting with her to keep it out of her reach!

Started off over by the green box, but discovered the recycling.

I decided to reward her by letting her explore it.  She reeeeeally enjoyed it :) .  Good thing it wasn't the regular trash!

We were reeeeally bored one day and I took her to Barnes & Noble and plopped her in the middle of the stage in the kids' section.

She scooted to, and then off, the edge.

Then fell backward.  Don't worry, I caught her and we laughed :) .

Here she is completing a roll (she is already waaaaay better at this!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6qTZ1C4bX4

- SLEEPING.  Also a day or so after she turned 8 months we started putting her down for naps without swaddling her.  Our main reason for swaddling at this point was that when we didn't swaddle her she'd knock or take out her binkie then lose it and cry.  We'd put it back in and it would happen all over again.  But, by then she had gotten pretty good at putting her binkie back in her mouth except for when it would fall right next to her face (as it usually did while she was sleeping).  So, we got her a little sock monkey that attaches to her binkie so that she'd be able to find and grab it more easily.  We tried it out and it worked great!  No issues whatsoever!  And she just looked sooo much cuter while sleeping too.

Playing after her nap, in the bassinet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY_U2rwoO7k

 Then, she started trying to escape from the bassinet since she had free movement of her limbs.

Harper trying to escape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qXHrpsvnZ0

So, we decided to go ahead and start putting her in the crib.  We'd tried this before and found that she didn't sleep as well in the crib.  So, we were a bit hesitant, but it worked out great!  And she was an ever cuter sleeper, since she could move all around the crib.

Harper being cute, moving around in the crib: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNJKNGDA-Q

Then, on top of that, she started pretty much sleeping through the night again!  After quite a bit of back and forth we've been at the point (for about two weeks) where she sleeps from around 9pm - 6am, eats, then sleeps til 8ish!  I call that sleeping through the night.  In fact, I like it better than when she used to sleep from 8/8:30pm - 7/7:30am.  I like to start my day later!

The early unswaddled but still in bassinet phase:

Unswaddled and in the crib.  I found it so cute I couldn't help but take a billion pictures:

Found we had to move the monitor...

Video of the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX80SI3le_o

Fell asleep on the floor, foot in diaper bag strap, hand on toy, mid-roll.

She still sleeps swaddled, in the bassinet at night, but judging by this picture, that might need to change soon too.

We decided to get her a legit sock monkey to complement her binkie monkey.  She loves him.

Those are the big ways that she "grew up" this month.  Now onto what we spent all of our time doing:

We started harboring her cuteness to make people feel better:

Made friends with the kitty next door:

Eyeing the poor kitty's tail

Played with water a whole bunch:

Local pool.

Seven Peaks

7 Canyons pay area at Liberty Park

Blackhurst Reservoir

Playing with sand at the reservoir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjP_6766CP8

My mom came for a visit!!!  Is this really the only picture I took?

Playing with Grandma in the wave pool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZLndM-aOSw

We spent some good quality time with the Armstrong clan:

At Stace's high school graduation:

She was such a good girl and kept the families around us entertained :) .

Isn't Stace purty?

Family swingalong!

Video of swingalong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItwzGEvyrI

She is a daredevil and loves to go super high in the swing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtQOLhUiACA

Spent lots of time at the park:

Mmmmm.....stiiiiick.

Shaking her head at the park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Z1uXhI3vM

She was just so excited by all the action at the park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orJBCZhDJHM

She started picking up the stray wood chips and trying to eat them.  I, of course, would grab them and throw them away and say (nicely), "no no no!"  She thought it was pretty entertaining so after a while she'd grab one then look at me expectantly with a cute little smile on her face.  Here I am grabbing one.

Swinging at the park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avmv2UCPp9M

Got a little travel hungry:

Thanks to this book:

Spent many afternoons on the front lawn:

In her kiddie pool

Splashing in the kiddie pool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjMxwLLORsQ

Enjoyed the Armstrong's fort:

More adorable head shakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzO3uHcCEs8

Enjoyed some cuddles:

Read some good books:

Had one particularly miserable week when the weather was like this:

And we were soooo bored that we:

hung out at the mall play area, even though harper can't really play on anything

Made pastries that looked unimpressive but tasted wonderful

Went to the children's museum even though Harper isn't really old enough:

And just generally mailed it in when we could think of absolutely nothing else to do:

Mailing it in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzdAnXaoo0

And just plain practiced being adorable:

Sometimes she just raises one leg the whole time she's sitting down.

Mohawk

Tom says she looks like me here.  What do you think?

Being adorable while playing in the kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8VCUow8ahA

Being adorable while escaping from the kiddie pool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPKQno-S5eU

Being adorable while staring at one book for like 10 min.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ANcSbidchs

Being adorable while playing with my aprons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jwT8e6zSaA

Being an adorable spaz while eating chocolate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CnrTWxZh4

Being adorable while eating Daddy's food: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHW2dey4WS8

Being adorable while dancing at the Scottish Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH99SZHZLRs

Being adorable while playing with the bath curtains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL7kcLgawXs

Being adorably loud while playing in the kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6DznaeqajU

Being an adorable Native American: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQws0xqf9Ko

Being adorable while playing (she gives me this look every time something makes a noise): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5UrM-FwfAA

Being adorable while babbling, "dada": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aIafwhK7QE

Being adorable while in an amazing mood (she was just rolling around, looking at books and cracking up at the ceiling): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT2gQ_dcY28