Test, test...

...is this thing on?

Cup o' Joe

Harper's vocabulary expands by leaps and bounds on nearly a daily basis.  Some of the words she uses stop me in my tracks, some of her sentence structures amaze me, most of her pronunciation is impressive and yet still some of her babble is incoherent.  We've got it all, folks!  ;)

This morning, for example, I trekked upstairs when I heard Harper rustling about via the baby monitor.  I walked in to find her jumping on her bed and laughing.  Twelve straight hours of sleep must really do a body good.  She bounced down to greet me before walking over to her play kitchen.  She began opening and closing cabinets with a concerned look on her face.

"Where's Harper's coffee?," she asked.

I replied that I was not sure, and then made an attempt to locate a pink or blue metal coffee cup in her cupboard.  I didn't see any of them, so I told her that we would have to look downstairs.

She then grabbed a small bucket from the top of her kitchen and began tossing its contents out left and right.  She looked up at me and said, "I can't find my milk either!"

I about lost it when she added "either" at the end of that sentence.  Such a little girl, yet such a little grown up. Either/or.

Baby, can I take yo' picture?

My favorite sister-in-law, Mikelle, (forget the fact that I only have one) and her boyfriend, Taylor, recently expanded their interest in photography into a full-fledged business, Heart of Texas Photography.  They were kind enough to donate their skills this past weekend to take photos of our family -- myself, Jeff, this ever-expanding belly of mine, a somewhat cantankerous 21-month old and a picture-crashing weenie dog.  Let's just say we were a handful!

Mikelle posted some of the pics on her blog today.  I can't wait to see the rest of them.  Check 'em out if you have a minute!  If you catch yourself wondering why Harper is upside down in all of the shots, it's because we started way too close to nap time to catch her interest.  We'll know better next time!

Oh, and Wrigley is seriously considering making a late entry into the world of canine modeling.  She has already booked Mikelle to do a series of head shots for her portfolio...I smell bacon!

Are you there, Blog? It's me - not Margaret.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I said I would finally blog again and still weeks have passed without nary a new post.  Sorry, Charlie!  As much as I'd like to write more often, "real life" takes precedence, and let's just say that "real life" has laid it on thick lately!  Good intentions can only get take you so far... Alrighty, let's get down to biz-nass.  That's why you're here, isn't it?  ;)

* First things first.  We moved.  I have never moved quite like that before.  I've only ever been responsible for moving my own individual belongings from one location to the next - never a family move!  Can we say "stuff?"  I don't collect anything.  I don't like a lot of things around.  I purged as I packed, and I purged as I unpacked.  And still, we have stuff.  Despite unpacking all of the boxes within the first days, we're still not quite done, but most of what remains are the things that we will slowly accomplish over time.  (Except for hanging the mirror in our bedroom and the candle/art piece in the living room -- how many weeks should that take, Jeff, really?)  Oh, and replacing the dishwasher, STAT!  I may have to get back into the business of slangin' plasma with a dear friend (you know who you are) to fund my kitchen appliance replacement dreams.  Double wall oven - somedaaaaaaaay!  :)  

The best part of the new house?  Everything.  It feels likes home.  Our family will enjoy living here over many, many years to come.  I'm excited about the prospect of adding our personal touches to the place as time goes on, too.  I'm so thankful to my husband for making this a reality for our family.  He works very hard to provide for the three of us (soon to be four!), and I'll be forever grateful for his love and effort.  

* Harper la-la-loves her big girl room.  Her room is upstairs aka "Harper's stairs."  Hey, if you want to lay a claim to something, let it be known!  Her room is near completion minus a few finishing touches.  If you can call painting the entire room a finishing touch, then you're one of my kind!  I'm thinking chartreuse....thoughts?  A horizontal magnetic stripe across one wall is a must.  Who doesn't love magnets?!

* Cooper's room - it's coming along even more slowly.  The colors being used are white, brown and orange.  Think Texas-themed, but not over the top.  I need to pick a paint color.  I hope Sherwin Williams is ready for this girl!  My plan is to work on his room this week...I'm feeling inspired (slash pressured) by the baby shower on Saturday celebrating his upcoming arrival.  Let's strike from history the fact that Harper's nursery was literally done within days of learning her gender.  Ah well...we'll get 'er done!  Or "him" done, rather.

* Speaking of Coop, we're now at 33 weeks (and 3 days if you're counting, like me!).  He is movin' and groovin' more than ever.  According to Babycenter.com, he probably weighs around four pounds by now, and is growing like a weed -- as evidenced by my protruding belly.  I have gained sixteen pounds myself, and I'm thankful that none of it has settled in random places like my earlobes or ankles.

I'm excited AND nervous to meet him.  What will he be like?  How similar or different will he be from his big sister?  Maybe he will be a July baby instead of August?  While he is officially due on August 6th, Jeff and I both think he'll arrive between mid- to late-July.  I've talked to my doctor about inducing on August 2nd if he hasn't already arrived by then, but I'm sure we'll talk more about that as the weeks progress.  One can only hope!

* Current Harper-isms:
     -"No, Jeff!"

     -"I know, Mommy!" (Her tone adds extra flair to that one.)

     -"Shake your body" (While dancing.)

     -"Go, Harper!  Harper did it!"  (When she is proud of completing a task.)

     -"Harper is drawing. Harper is coloring with crayons."  (Sentences are coming on strong to quite strong.)

     -"Harper is sad, sick, happy or _____." (She is really starting to communicate her feelings to us, though at 

       a basic level.  What a difference that makes in our lives!  She also loves speaking in third person.) 

     -"This is 'licious.  Harper-licious!"  (Her version of delicious.  I laugh every time.)

* "I love you."  I've been waiting a long, long time for that one.  Seriously, I've prompted her at every possible occasion and got nothing.  Nix. Nada.  She uses it sparingly, but I've gotta respect her for it.  Oh, and I can't forget the other day when I told her I love her, and she smiled and replied, "I know, Mommy."  When I repeated the story to Jeff, he reminded me of how eerily similar of a response I gave when he first told me those same three words.  :)  What is that old saying about the apple and the tree?  Yeah....

Well, that about covers it for now.  I've purposely left out details about Harper's most recent teething experiences, our Memorial Day trip to Abilene, swim lessons, her recent lack of sleep (and our own) and volunteering for four days straight for the Starburst Junior Golf Classic among other things.  I didn't want to risk inducing complete and utter exhaustion by mentally reliving any of those particular moments!  We are already knee-deep into a busy, busy summer.  June is rapidly coming to a close - how is that?  

If you've made it this far without developing a headache, then I am impressed.  Until next time... later gators!

I'll scream if you touch my ice cream

Like her Mommy, Harper does not care to share her ice cream, especially when her Daddy tries to steal bites in a less than stealth-like manner.  

After an untold number of kids' meals, I finally remembered to pick up the complimentary ice cream cup after she finished her sammy.  Apparently, it piqued Jeff's interest, too!

Frantically waving him off... 

On the lookout...

"No, Jeff!"  

Seriously.  He was "Daddy" until he started messin' with her ice cream!

Hug it out

Dear Blog,

I miss you.  I miss us.  I miss who I am and how I feel when we're together.  We can't keep going on the way we have been.  I know this is no way to treat someone (er, something) you care about, and I promise to make it up to you.  How about we meet for coffee tomorrow morning and get things back on track?

Please accept my humble apology, and let us work past our current troubles.  Together we can make it work!  Until tomorrow...

Your ever so sleepy contributor,
Jennybean

Moving on up...

NOT to the East Side, but rather, four streets over.

This is our new house.  I've tried to not talk about it very much, because I'm the kind of person that doesn't believe something until it is actually happening.  I didn't want to get too excited about it in case something in the wild world out there kept it from coming to fruition.  But this is it.  This is going to be our house.  This week.  (I'm still not sure if we'll close tomorrow afternoon or Thursday or Friday, but that is neither here nor there.)

We're moving!  The house is in the same neighborhood, so that should make the actual move just a tad bit easier.  Our current house is a good house, but we've outgrown it.  We're moving from a 3/2.5 to a 4/3 - having a guest room/office is a big deal to me, especially when you half of your family lives in another town and you enjoy having friends visit, too.  This house is going to be our forever house - after all of the hassle we've been through to buy it, I'm not ever planning on moving again!

Plus, I love it.  I'm excited at the thought of our kids growing up in this house.  As a former Army brat, I've always been fascinated by people who grew up in the same town accumulating memories with, give or take, the same group of friends until they left for college.  I thoroughly enjoyed moving and constantly meeting new people, but I'm ready to give my kids a go at a different way of life.  Ahh, that could make for an entirely new blog post, or book, really, but we'll leave it at that...for now! ;)

If you have any interest in viewing the collection of pictures I took today, click here. Look to the captions for explanations.  (I have since added the backyard pics to the collection since I published this post last night.  Don't know how I left 'em out as those were the only pictures I was able to take weeks ago!)

A warning - these were taken mainly for my reference, so they are not very pretty shots.  I regret not taking "before" pictures of our current house prior to any of the changes we made to it, and I don't want to make that mistake again.  Plus, I was able to find the answer of one of my most pertinent question following today's tour...just how many cabinet handles will I need to replace in various rooms?  Kitchen cabinets - 50.  Yikes.  Kitchen desk - 4. Living room cabinets - 12.  Bathrooms - double yikes.  Yeah, we'll start with the desk and living room cabinets...

The Great Pacifier Purge of 2010

Well, we're finally here.  I finally decided to make a go of Harper giving up her pacifier, or "pass" as she so lovingly refers to it.  Ditching the pass has been on my to-do list for the past several weeks, but I hadn't come to the right moment until last night.  Jeff wasn't going to be home, and I thought it might be easier if only one of us had to listen to her protests.  Plus, we were down to one last pacifier, and I had no idea where in the hell it ended up after her nap.

So, I put her down to bed last night without her pacifier.  She seemed confused at first, wondering why her silly mommy had forgotten that most important bedtime fixture.  Then she became upset.  She cried.  I tried to comfort her and explain that the pacifiers were gone because she had thrown them in the trash (true story).  She even asked to look in her bucket for proof, as if I had mistakenly overlooked one last silicon savior.

"No pass?," she asked?    I tried to give her the old "you're a big girl" pep talk, but that didn't go far.  After about 45 minutes of crying off and on, she feel asleep.  All in all, it didn't seem too bad from my end.

She made it through her first night, but lemme tell ya, the pacifier was on the front of her mind all day long.  It was the first thing she asked me about this morning.  She pointed out every single baby and pacifier as we were out running errands this evening.  She seemed particularly suspicious of a little boy sweetly slumbering in his stroller, sucking ever so softly on his pacifier.  He was bigger than Harper, so maybe that was what threw her off.  Either that or she didn't care for his romper outfit.  Who knows?!

Her afternoon nap went off without a hitch sans pacifier.  I was really getting excited at that point.  Maybe I got a little ahead of myself as I thought how well Harper seemed to be transitioning.  Yeah, I definitely got ahead of myself on that one!

Tonight has been a nightmare.  We put Harper to bed nearly two hours ago.  She is still vehemently crying in front of her bedroom door.  If she was upset about the pacifier last night, then she is downright pissed off about it tonight.  Even so, I am sticking to my guns.  No pacifier.  We will make it - well, I hope we will!  Jeff and I may kill each other in the process, and leave Harper to live a happy parent- and pacifier-free life for the rest of her years.

I have heard of a three-day rule for breaking habits such as this one, and I'm really hoping for a clean break after tomorrow.  Harper is strong-willed, to say the least, so there is really no telling how long this will take!  At least I know if I can't sleep, I can pack.  Looks like we're moving at the end of this week!

See, there is a method to my madness.  Ditch the pacifiers now, and that's one less thing we have to move!

Oh, and I did find the last remaining pacifier.  I instinctively put it on the butter shelf in the refrigerator.  (I have no idea what led me to that decision, so don't ask.)  Kinda reminds me of a fire alarm behind a glass case!  I think I'm going to toss it in the trash now, too.  Seems like the right thing to do - and that is only easy to say at this moment because it sounds like Harper has finally given up her fight for the night.

Sleep tight, all, and don't let the pacifier bite you in the ass! ;)

Weeks & Months

I never know the answer when someone asks me how far along I am into this pregnancy.  Oh, I can tell you the number of weeks, but months?  Forget about it!  It usually ends up in a conversation about how "they" tell you pregnancies last for nine months, but it really seems more like ten.  Regardless, it's a looooooong time!  So, anyhoo, if you want weeks, you got 'em!  We're fast approaching 24 weeks on Friday, which looks a little something like this:

I couldn't remember what my pregnancy with Harper looked like, so I had to dig through the ol' blog archive to find the following photo.  Looks like I'm about par for the course...

And just for kicks - here is the finished product! This is me (and HP!) at 39 weeks and 5 days - the night before I was induced.  Little did we know then what we were getting ourselves into! ;)

We've got waaaaays to go!  Whew!

XY

The XY chromosome, that is.  You probably didn't hear it here first, but we are expecting a baby boy to round out our family in August!  We are over the moon.  It is all we can do to contain our enthusiasm.  Really.  In just a few more months, Harper will have a baby brother to beat up and terrorize love unconditionally.

I think Harper will make a terrific big sister.  She's already practicing.  She likes to kiss my belly to say "hi" to her brother, and then she pulls my shirt back down when she is tired of talking to him.  Too bad that shirt trick won't work once he exits the womb!

Jeff and I are in the process of finalizing our name selections.  If you can recall, Harper was going to be "Campbell" for quite some time until we abruptly switched to HP.  It's a good thing, too, because one of Harp's good friends is "Cambell."  Since their house is just a stone's throw away, that could have gotten confusing down the road!  So, hold on to your monogramming horses, and we'll let you in on the little man's name as soon as we are sure that we've got it right.

On an unrelated note, Harper had her 18-month check-up this morning.  She has obviously been eating her Wheaties (or her Fruit Loops, perhaps?), because she is still sprouting.  95% on height, really?  She must have her grandparents and great-grandparents to thank, because that certainly doesn't come from her parents.    Her doctor joked that Harper could be our star basketball player - the next Brittney Griner, perhaps?  (Minus the punching, I would hope!)

That's all for now, folks!  I hope to have house news to share this week.  There is actually a chance we could be moving next weekend!  Just the thought of that makes me feel the need to nap...and so I shall.