Craziness

That's the best word I have to describe our lives right now. I will attempt to catch you up... We put our house up for sale by owner on April 14, had a contract on it April 23 (with a closing date on or before May 31), Payton finished her preschool year, I have done my best to survive and finish the end of school, starting last Friday we began moving our house and are now officially out along with completing a mile long to do list full of inspections, paperwork, etc., I have also moved my entire classroom (with help from sweet students and friends), Jonathan has been working like crazy around the house to get things done, and we head to Disney Saturday. The craziness will continue as soon as we return as we attempt to no longer be homeless and living out of laundry baskets. It's such a bittersweet time. I am thrilled about the opportunity to teach 2nd grade next year and of course we are thrilled about having more space for our growing family, but it's a lot of change all at once. I couldn't help but get teary eyed when I saw the sweet handprint on the wall while cleaning the other night. Jonathan even admitted that it was weird to see the girls' rooms empty. Our home has been such a great place to grow our family. Right now we're just doing the best we can to survive! Here's to lots of changes...

Sweet Girls

After much attempt of trying to get a picture of them together, I finally gave up.

Someone decided that having her picture taken maybe wasn't that bad after all. Call it jealousy (from taking Harper's pictures) but I'm just happy to have a picture of our big girl.

This girl loves to twirl!

10 Months

I told someone the other day that I love this stage. Yes, it's busy, but I feel like I still have a little baby and a sweet girl full of personality all at the same time. We have had so much fun getting to know her little disposition.

Size: No doctor's appointment this month so no official stats. She is wearing 9 months clothes and size 3 diapers.

Eating: We have tried several "real" foods this month. She has had green beans, peas, macaroni and cheese, broccoli, strawberries, biscuit, bananas...just to name a few. She seems to take more to these foods than her stage 3 baby foods so we are going with it. Tonight at dinner I feel confident to say that Harper ate more than Payton. She still only has two bottom teeth.

 Tricks: She is at the stage where I feel like she does something new every day. She loves to play with books, has learned to patty cake, and babbles. I was wondering when she was ever going to start making sounds and it's like one week she wasn't saying anything, and the next she was saying dada, ba,  and nana. I swear she said Payton the other day. We were playing in the living room, she looked up and pointed at her, and said "pa-tn" with a clear two syllables. She is still crawling at rapid speeds, standing for longer periods of time unassisted.

She is getting into everything, putting everything (that's not supposed to go in her mouth) in her mouth, and wanting to do everything big sister is doing.She has also all of a sudden started with I guess what is separation anxiety. After a trip to the gym and the nursery at church, it's fair to say that she doesn't like new places. 

The past few weeks she has been ready for bedtime earlier and earlier. We have always pretty much put them down around 8, but there have been some nights where she couldn't make it much past 7. She's not really one for catnaps and wants a good solid nap in her bed in order to be in the best mood possible.

Sweet hands clapping! 

Finish on the 50

If you've been reading the blog for a while, you may remember that back in 2010 I made a commitment to start running. I met my goal, ran in a 5K, continued running for a few more months and got pregnant again. Well, I was determined to do it again. Thanks to my faithful running buddy, we somehow endured and got back to running after each having a baby (slowly but surely). When we saw the Finish on the 50 scheduled, we thought it sounded like a great goal. The race started at Toomer's Corner and ended on the 50 yeard line of the stadium. What could be a more encouraging finish? Our goal was just to run without walking the entire time, even if that meant that we were slow. We actually surprised ourselves and beat our time from 2 years ago at 33:39! Now, it's still slow, but better nonetheless. 

The course was a little more challenging than I originally thought. However we made it through and were thrilled to see the finish line.

We had some sweet fans cheering us on. At the finish line, Aubie was there to take pictures. Up until this point, Payton has loved Aubie from a distance but when she got close she would freeze up. She actually gave him a high five and a smile this time! We were thrilled!

Payton chilling with Bo!

I still won't say that I enjoy running, but it is nice to reach a goal. We'll see if any more running is in our future. 

9 Month Picture

These pictures just make me laugh. Payton is always so sweet to share toys with her sister. This one night Payton was reading a book (a sharing book at that), when Harper reached over to look at it with her this was her response. Like I said, this isn't normally her reaction, I just thought it was hilarious especially since she was reading a book on sharing. HA!

I officially decided that I am giving up the paper in the monthly pictures from here on out. I will just have to make sure that I document it.

9 Months

Yes, again I am late with the post. But I"m doing it and that's all that counts. At 9 months:

Size: We went to the dr. several weeks ago. Back when she was actually 9 months, she weighed in at 18 lbs. and 28.1 inches long. We saw a different doctor this time and she didn't give me the percentages. I went back to Payton's blog entry at 9 months and it confirmed what I/everyone has been saying. At 9 months Payton weighed 19 lbs. 5 oz. and was 27 7/8 inches. Harper definitely looks longer and thinner than I remember Payton at this age. Plus her little face seems to be less round and chubby to me.  

Eating: Harper is still on her same bottle and solid feeding schedule that she has been for the past two months or so. She has had some little bites of table food here and there. The doctor told us to try to give her whatever we are having (within reason). I have tried to do that in an attempt to have her eating more "normal" food sooner than Payton. Who am I kidding? Payton still won't really eat what we eat! She loves mum mums, Gerber snacks, etc. She also tried Cheerios for the first time, green beans, small pieces of bread, etc. She still hasn't really gotten the hang of a sippy cup. Although I'm sure she would improve if we would give it to her more often. Whoops! 

Tricks: She can now walk with a walker (like the one pictured above) without much trouble at all. She also has a walker at Bamama's house that she actually sits in, and she can cruise all over the house in that thing. She is letting go and standing without assistance for a few seconds, but still hasn't gotten brave enough to take a step. However she can definitely cruise and reach to get what she wants. Her crawling speed has really picked up this month. She still enjoys waving but still hasn't made any attempt to say any words. She thinks she's big enough to do anything Payton is doing, loves Mollie's food bowl, and has even mastered pulling toilet paper off the roll. She's a quick little thing! She's at the age where she hates to have her diaper change and it's near impossible to change her without full restraint. She is still taking a paci (which I'm not crazy about) and only has two bottom teeth. Our little Harper bug has the sweetest disposition and we try to eat it up every day! 

Easter Chapel at Preschool

Payton's class goes to chapel each Tuesday. They invited parents and families for a special Easter service the Thursday before Easter. It was so sweet to watch Payton sing her songs and participate. She did a great job, and I think we were all amazed at how still she sat!