March

This month has been good but has also felt like purgatory.  On the one hand, Harper is in such a fun, cute stage where she's starting to be a little smarty-pants and she's learning all these news things and getting to be so big!  Plus, I'm to the point in the pregnancy where the end is in sight, and that's exciting.  On the other hand, we are on the verge of a lot of big things and I want to get going on them, but we've had to wait for one reason or another.  I'm not good at waiting.  I hate this stage.  Right now, we are on the verge of getting a bigger car, a bigger apartment and, of course, a bigger family.  I'd like them all now, please.  The car isn't THAT big of a deal to wait on, but the other two are killing me.  See, I have this whole list of things I want to do before the baby comes, like freezing meals, getting the house in order (putting everything in it's place, decorating both kids' rooms, etc. etc.), and putting together a bunch of independent play-at-home activities for Harp and I feel like I can't start on any of them until we move.  I don't want to make freezer meals and then transport them. Not to mention our current freezer is tiny.  I obviously can't put the house in order until...we have the house.  And I don't want to compile and organize activities for Harp just to move them all.  So, on the one hand, I feel like I'm not going to have enough time in-between moving and having the baby to get everything done.  On the other hand, I'm impatient to meet him!

The other thing about this month has been the busyness!  Even though I haven't really been able to work on a lot of things, there have still been so many things on my list of things to get done.  Each week has been stressful and hectic.  I know it'll still be quite hectic in April, but I'm hoping we move in April so that by sometime in May we can relax a little before baby.  That's the hope.

One good thing that happened this month, though, is that I started a babysitting co-op with some friends who also have small children.  Basically, we each sign up for a time in the week to babysit the other kids and in exchange we can have our kid babysat during the times that the other mom's have signed up.  So, in exchange for watching 3 other kids from 9-12 on Friday mornings, I get free babysitting for Harp during 3 other 3 hour chunks during the week.  It's a win-win because I get stuff done (or eat breakfast alone, etc.) and Harp has fun playing with her friends.

First co-op day!

Only Emorie came, so I took the girls to the Children's Museum

 

 

Now the part where I tell you all the cute/awesome/other things about Harp this month:

- She has been learning all about numbers and the ABCs this month.  She has a bunch of books with numbers and the ABCs in them and so we just point them out to her and we count things with her.  She has especially picked up on numbers.  She always tells me when there's two of something (twoooo binkies!!), she pretends to count when we're reading books (basically hitting the page all over with a couple fingers), and she has counted along with us, out loud several times.  For example, she'll say, "1, 2."  I'll say, "3."  She'll say, "4," and so on.  Finally, she even pointed to the number "9" the other day and said, "number 9!"  So fun to see her figure it out.  

- She also learned how to use crayons this month.  I've been eagerly anticipating this, as it's such a nice, quiet, low-maintenance activity!

Harper sitting so sweetly and playing with crayons at the pediatrician's.

Her very first drawing.  Full disclosure: the part in the upper-left was her friend Emorie.

Coloring with Emorie during the co-op

- She's still a stinker about naps.  I tried my last idea on how to get her to nap longer in her crib without napping on the bed too and it failed.  Oh well.  We'll just take what we can get for now and whatever happens when the baby comes, happens.

  

 

I tried sleeping next to her while she was in her crib instead of while she was on the bed.  It worked for 1 day.  The end.

-  She's really started saying phrases a lot.  She repeats them when we say them then starts saying them on her own at appropriate times.  My favorite was this last Sunday.  Tom and Harper didn't come to church at the beginning because we thought she might be sick.  I was leaving so I said, "come give Mommy a hug!"  She ran over and started giving me a hug, then pulled away, looked in my face and, at the top of her lungs yelled, "have fuuuuun!"

- She has also gotten really into songs this month.  Tom always sings her a few songs when he's putting her to bed and she hears them at random other times.  One day we were eating lunch and she heard the bus go by.  She said, "bus!'  Then she started rolling her arms around each other and saying, "round and round!"  She was requesting the "Wheels on the Bus" song!  When I finished the first verse she requested the second by saying, "swish! swish! swish!"  Since then she has requested, "ABCs," "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam (Beam!)," "5 Little Monkeys (Monkeys!)," and probably some others.

- I don't remember exactly when, but sometime this month she started coughing a lot.  She mostly does it when she's sleeping in a crib (as in her crib, or a pack n' play somewhere, but not the bed for some reason) and it often wakes her up.  She has also been congested.  It kind of seems like allergies, but we can't figure it out.  We asked our pediatrician about it, but he was totally unhelpful.  As a result she's been sleeping worse during naptime and bedtime and extra tired other times.  She keeps falling asleep at unusual times.

  

  

  

 

- She knew all about flowers from books but is just starting to see them in person now that it's Spring.  She points them out ANY time we see them, but is a little afraid of them.  She loves to look and talk about them but won't touch them.  Scary flowers!

- We went back to the Ophthalmologist and found that the glasses have improved her crossing, but haven't completely fixed it.  As a result she gets to wear a patch over her right eye for 1-2 hours a day.  Joy.  If that doesn't work, she needs surgery :( .

I like these 2 pictures because she looks CRAZY.  She wanted to try on my robe:

  

Pregnancy

Things are still going well.  I have an ultrasound later this week because at 20 weeks I had marginal placenta previa.  In other words, my placenta was bordering my cervix.  If it's still there when I have my ultrasound this week I'll probably have to have a c-section at 38 weeks or so.  The good news is that it almost always moves farther from the cervix during that period of time, so I'm not too worried.  I finally feel big and cumbersome.  Moving around is a pain and I feel like a whale.  My rib pain has come back to some extent too.  But, all in all, I'm not complaining at all!  This pregnancy has been very easy, comparatively.  Even now, it's not as hard as last time and I'm just feeling great about it.

27 weeks

29 weeks

31 weeks

Projects

The main project I did this month was that I made a blanket for Harper.  If you remember, last month (or the one before?) I made a dinosaur blanket for Kid #2 out of some strips of minky I got from a friend's mom for free.  I had also gotten some fabric for a girl blanket and made it this month.  It's super cute and Harp loves it.  Right now it's underneath her in her crib.

Plants

The plants were doing reeeeally well.  They got big enough that I had to prune them and even started growing mini tomatoes and peppers.  Unfortunately, tomato plant started getting brown spots on it's leaves and started withering.  Then, pepper plant, who was looking great, just up and lost almost all it's leaves one day!  It was totally random.  So sad!  Now they're just sitting there because sad.  Oh well.

Back when it was still doing well, just after pruning tomato.  I won't show you an updated picture :( .

Random other photos and videos:

She seriously enjoyed this lemon.

One day it actually snowed (a rarity for us this Winter).  I had intended to take Harper somewhere (can't remember where) but couldn't find the window scraper.  So, I went with plan B and bundled us both up to go play in the snow.

She was terrified of it.  She refused to walk on it, even while holding my hand.

So, instead I carried her over to the front porch and we sat next to each other on the steps and watched the cars go by and the snow fall.  It was really quiet and peaceful and nice.  

Eventually, she started falling over though, haha!  What the heck?  Maybe her clothes were too heavy to hold up?

At that point I decided it was time to go inside for some hot cocoa:

One evening Tom and I were trying to come up with a name for Kid 2 (still yet to be determined, btw).  So, he was just reading off random names from a name generator.  Every name he called off, Harp would repeat.  We might just choose whatever name sounds cutest when Harp says it:

Made this little cardboard box contraption for Harp.  You stick balls in the holes and they come down a ramp (out of cardboard) and come back out.

She'd be wandering around the living room say, "oh!  Daddy!" but found a reflection of light on the floor instead:

She does this funny thing where she pretends something is a slide, then pretends to go down it and says, "wheeee!"  This day she was doing it with the wipes box, then running over to me saying either, "fun!" or "run!"

Just randomly laying down instead of watching her show.

Parfait at McDonald's

Children's Museum:

My grocery store buddy.  Always smashes the bread for me.

Hate when they put the snacks super low.  Made waiting for our oil changes a much bigger challenge.

Went to a place with a bunch of blow up toys:

She loooooved running on this big bubble thing.  She'd fall over constantly and didn't care.  All the other mom's would see her fall and be like, "oh no!" and then she'd just crazy-laugh and get back up.

Decided we might as well chase some ducks on the way to the pool:

She just reeeeally wanted to eat the carrots.

Our awesome neighbor Jill left this St. Patty's day gift for Harp by our mailbox:

Nothing like a big grassy hill to explore.

Post-nap snuggles.

One of Tom's friends got married and had her reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square.  It was a great opportunity for a photo shoot.  Harp + fancy dress + Spring flowers + Temple Square.

Papa (Tom's Dad) going on a walk with the 3 other grandkids - all holding hands.

Harper loooved the dance floor and dancing with her best-buddy-cousin Ellie.  At one point she started cuddling with this random lady's legs and then grabbed her hand and started pulling her with her on the dance floor.  The lady was very surprised but loving it. 

After we got back from the reception, we watched March Madness.  Here's Harp saying, "Basketball."  It's one of my favorite things that she says:

Went to the zoo, after quite a hiatus.  Harp looooved it, especially because it was a bit crowded (go figure).  Anytime some hoard of people would walk past her she'd turn around and start following them with this huge grin on her face.  What can I say, kid like people and wants to be where the action is!  She didn't get in the stroller the whole time we were there.  Not until it was time to go back to the car.  She just walked and walked and walked.  To top off the fun, we took an ice cream break. She was in heaven.

Photo Shoot

This last Sunday we decided to do a little Harper photo shoot.  We were going to do it at Liberty Park, but it was super crowded.  Instead we decided to do it at this little park down by Tom's parents' house, since we were headed down there anyway.  Unfortunately, that park wasn't as green as Liberty is, so Harp's light colored outfit made the pictures look a little washed out.  She's still cute though. We might do another one next weekend to make up for it.

A little blurry, but love the personality in it.

 Then, since the park is right by Tom's parents' house, we let Harp sit on Tom's lap while we drove.  Rebels, I know.

She pretends like she's going to touch them, but no, they're too scary.

Smelling them (from afar)

More smelling

All the family (that was around) at Baba & Papa's house for an early Easter celebration.

So, then, Tom and I decided to try to recreate this cute picture we saw on Pinterest.  Always a recipe for disaster.  Here's the original:

From http://meggielynne.tumblr.com/post/28715624643

A couple of our attempts:

We had a hard time lining the heights up correctly.  I guess Tom should have gone UP on his knees.

Sometimes we got the height right but Tom was being a punk and laughing too hard to actually kiss my belly.  Plus, I thin belly-kissing weirds him out...

 Then Stacey took a couple impromptu pics of Harp and I.  I wish I ever liked my face in pictures.  Harp always has a great face though!

And that's the end of the March post!