Harper gets her Ears Pierced!

Last Friday Stevie got to play Mr. Mom.  He took Harper to her 9 month well-baby-check and took Shyla to the dentist.  He did an awesome job but you will notice there won't be blog posts about either because he didn't take any pictures.  Epic fail, Stevie, epic fail.

Anyway, he also needed to get his new watch sized when led him to the mall.  To hear him tell the story it sounds like he was there for his watch and, oops, accidently ended up getting Harper's ears pierced.  Yep, without me!  Yep, with no pictures!

She, of course, looks beautiful and it saved me from hearing her cry.  Good job, Daddy.

My Platypus and Flouder

Both girls are currently in swim lessons.  Harper is a Platypus and Shyla is a Flounder.  We go two times each week.

For Harper, the major goals are to make her comfortable with the water and a happy swimmer.  We also work on kicking, attempt to have her hold onto the edge, backfloats, and she watches us blow a lot of bubbles.

With Shyla's, we are seeing a lot of improvement and it's really very exciting!  She is a happy swimmer and is good at following instructions.  She can Monkey Walk, do a Starfish Backfloat, Froggie Dive, and she can pull herself out of the pool with apparent ease.

I've also be incredibly proud of Shyla because due to the times of the classes, she has to sit and watch Harper swim with me before her class.  I was INCREDIBLY nervous about this but she has done great.  She has a book, some snacks, and a milk to keep her occupied but mostly she has been engaged watching the older classes and/or dancing to the songs we sing in the Platypus group.

These 2 pictures are from the last session.

Harper is 9 Months!

Nine months ago I got to snuggle this little darling for the first time and my life was changed forever. Our little family of four (+ Pancake) became complete.

At nine months, my sweet Harper is:

• pulling up on everything ... and learning that some things support her better than others
• still nursing well
• loving puffs and getting better with pureed fruits and vegetables
• smiling and laughing often
• often awake for playtime around 2 AM for over an hour
• pulling hair, whosever she can wrap her little fingers around
• crawling army-style more often, and occasionally on all fours
• really squirmy on the changing table
• fighting off a double ear-infection

My Girls...

As I mentioned, we were in Scottsdale this past weekend. The girls and I spent much time in the hotel room. They are so silly and they love each other so much. These are just a couple of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Shyla liked to go into the shower and dance while Harper sat outside and laughed, longing to get in and do it with her. Then they decided they should give kisses through the glass!

Harper enjoys crawling under things these days. She spent a lot of time under this coffee table.

Fortunately our room had this lovely balcony.

This girl loves to smile!

And possibly my favorite picture from the weekend: Shyla striking a pose with her applesauce.

Happy Easter 2012!

Happy Easter!

Whew! What a day! Easter is my favorite holiday and we were determined to make this year just as special as any other, even though we knew we'd be finishing up a quick vacation in Scottsdale for a friend's wedding (there will be a post about the wedding once I collect pictures from people who are more organized than me).

Anyway, we colored eggs on Wednesday evening. This was fun because it was the first year that Shyla was actually involved in it.

She mostly wanted to put every egg into every color, but I managed to keep this egg to myself for my creation:
As I said, we were in Scottsdale but luckily the Easter Bunny knew where to find us! He hid eggs in our hotel room and left Easter baskets for Shyla and Harper. Shyla woke up first!
But then Harper finally decided to get up to see what was in her basket too!
Both girls got these silly glasses!
After breakfast we went to the Egg Hunt that was hosted by the Phoenician. There were probably about 100 kids there and lots of eggs but when the announcer said, "go" somehow all the eggs were snatched up in (literally) less than 30 seconds. Thankfully a kind gentleman gave Harper an egg and a mother made her son give Shyla an egg. Shyla met, and didn't physically assault, the Easter Bunny! And, she didn't even care too much about the Egg Hunt because there was also a jumping castle!

Then we drove back to Tucson and headed over to my parent's house for our traditional family Easter celebration complete with lots of extended family, yummy food, and another Egg Hunt.

Finally, as always, we tried to take some family pictures.

It was a bit of a whirlwind and we are exhausted, but it was another fun day with our family so we couldn't ask for anything more!

Visit from Grandpa Steve

This afternoon Grandpa Steve came over for a visit.

He, of course, brought cookies for Shyla and Pancake and it was nice because he got to hang out with us for a while.

We had outside playtime, a nice dinner, a walk around the neighborhood, and a sweet dessert.