HALLOWEEN 2015

HALLOWEEN.

Hasn't been my favorite of holidays over the past few years.. I mean, adults dressing up is (kinda) fun, BUT now Halloween with a one year old makes the holiday SO FUN!!

Last year was fun dressing up our little 3 month old as a mouse, but we didn't go trick-or-treating and she of course didn't have a clue as to what was even going on :) BUT this year! She still may not have known what was really going on, but all that mattered was that it was F U N!! And she knew it! Although her facial expression here doesn't quite show her excitement ;)

I think this will start to be a favorite holiday for me. Seeing the joy and excitement it brought to my sweet Harper - I could let her wear costumes + eat candy every day! I won't. But I could ;)

Pre-Halloween I was a little nervous as to how she would handle wearing her costume. I was feeling pretty certain that she wouldn't want the hood anywhere near her head. But boy am I glad I was wrong. So wrong! This girl absolutely LOVED wearing her costume!

Friday night the Y held a 'Harvest Fest' that we took Harper to. Numerous different booths with activities for the kids (Harper was still a bit too young to participate) but it was fun walking her around. She enjoyed some good ol' 'people watching' since there were characters of all sorts wandering the gym :)

On Halloween day we went with some friends of ours to take our girls out for some trick-or-treating to some of the local businesses downtown. Not too long before we went out it was complete down poor raining. It was still raining when we first started, but about half way though it let up and Harper was able to get down and walk the street. She got a hang of things quickly! She would walk herself over to where the other kids were so that she too could have some of what they were getting :)

Ladybug Harper + Monkey Aubrey

Once we were done gathering our treats we headed back to Jacob & Kaylani's for some food + relaxation + and of course story time!

Doesn't Brandon look good with two on his lap ;)

I made this Halloween candy bark and it was TOO good + TOO easy to eat! Like we really needed any more sweets...

The recipe is here.

...and like I said, she loves her costume. s t i l l wanting to wear it the day AFTER Halloween.
But with how cute she looks in it, I just can't resist it either :)

We had a great Halloween + now looking forward to the holidays ahead of us!

xoxo

-Brittney

Harper Monaé || 15 months

15 months. how. how. HOW??!!

To think that we've had this sweet soul in our lives now for 15 months is mind boggling!

How is it that I can feel like she was only barely born into our family like yesterday, while at the same time feeling like she's been here all along?

I continue to be amazed by all of the changes in her development and what she's learned in just one month's time.

When days get busy, and moments get stressful and at that moment all I can think about is getting through it.. I try (now it doesn't always happen), but I try to remind myself to soak it up and enjoy it. Because one day, yes really, I believe one day I will miss e v e r y bit of the stage she is in. Even the difficult moments. Like when we were on the 5 1/2 hour flight just a few short days ago and she would not. stop. crying. One day I will look back and miss that. Right?? I mean maybe not today, but one day ;)

She is just the perfect combination of sweet, loving, silly, and fiesty.

E A T

Boy does this little one eat! Since the day she was born we have not had any problem whatsoever with trying to get her to eat. She nursed like a pro and she now eats like a pro. She eats nearly everything we serve her without a complaint. The dietitian mama in me is so proud that she accepts new foods so well! She is also so good with letting us know she is finished by turning her head away. Or sometimes even knocking the food out of our hand. Once we hit that point, we know she is done and we don't continue 'force feeding' her just so she will finish the rest of what is on her tray. It is so important to listen to her and trust that she is full and finished so that we are sure to not teach her to overeat.

Favorite Foods:

-fruit (kiwi, apples, strawberries, pears)

-veggies (squash, corn, tomato, zucchini)

-cottage cheese

-lite string cheese

-whole grain goldfish

Not-so-favorite Foods:

-potatoes (ahh this one just kills me! to not like potatoes?? where is the Idaho in her?!)

She LOVED sampling the fudgesicle at Costco :) and that face is proof of it!

S L E E P

Thankfully sleep is SO easy around here! Harper is so predictable with this, doesn't put up a fight, and once she's out, she's out.

I think we are in the transition of moving from two naps to just one. As of lately, she goes down 10:30/11-1:30/2ish. Some days she would like a late afternoon/early evening nap, but it's starting to push a little too close to bedtime. So a second nap can be hit or miss depending on how tired she and what we have going on that day. 

Sleeping at night is a breeze. I almost feel guilty saying this for those mamas where night time is a struggle. Our little Harper has her bedtime routine, goes down by 8pm, and sleeps entirely through the night until she wakes aroud 7:30am. Thank you Jesus! What a struggle it would be around our house if we all weren't getting a good night's rest. I am praying that our next children will be as good of sleepers as Harper has been!

Look at those pretty after-bath locks!

P L A Y

Little miss Harper Monaé is so active these days and every second she is awake, she is on the GO!

And I love it.
This is such a fun age. She is so interactive and her little personality is shinning though more and more. I feel so blessed to get to spend my days with her and witness all of these changes.
One of her favorite things to do is 'help' me unload the dishwasher.
She is so good at entertaining herself and playing with her toys. On the daily, nearly everything form her toy chest gets pulled out and the living room on into the kitchen has toys scattered all around. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I just love that kind of a mess in my house. It brings so much joy seeing her having fun and playing. Of course the toys do get cleaned up before we go upstairs for naptime, because it's such a good feeling to come back downstairs to a clean living space :)

Being so sweet giving her baby hugs.

Reading. This girls just LOVES to read. It isn't uncommon for me to be wondering where Harper went, and this is where I find her. In her closet, with books all over the place. She loves turning the pages and pointing out all of the animals that she recognizes. It warms my heart that she loves books so much. And it isn't just tossing books around, but she actually sits there and goes through them as if she is really 'reading' them.

I've yet to actually get a good picture of it (where her leg is behind her), but here she is 'practicing' her arabesque that I taught her :) All my dancer friends, you can appreciate this one!

P H O T O  D U M P!!

Thanks for the 'massage' ;)

All that HAIR!! Makes her look so grown up! #hearteyes

15 M O N T H STATS:

Height: 32.5 inches (96th percentile)

Weight: 27 lbs 9 oz (96th percentile)

So many tears at this appointment, but then she completely turned around when I gave her the apple :)

I love you my sweet girl. I am so thankful to God for bringing you into our lives. Life is so much more with you in it and my life has felt fulfilled in places I didn't even know were missing. Happy 15 months to you and I can't wait to see what this next month will bring us!

xoxo

-Brittney