The Weight Issue

Over the weekend, I looked through Riley's baby book to size her up to Harper.  Riley was always a little one but I did find some interesting facts.  Little miss 4 lb 10 oz Riley was 15lb 7 oz when she was 6 1/2 months old! That's 7 ounces bigger than Harper is at 8 months.  And almost a whole pound bigger than she was at 6 1/2 months.  I guess that really put Harper's weight in perspective for me.  The more that I compare the two I think that Harper is just way busier than Riley was at this age.  But Riley was always a good eater.  By now she was eating 5 ounces every 3 hours on the dot. 

Hopefully this formula we've got her on does the trick and brings her weight up.  Before we know it she's going to be walking and then she'll never want to eat!

Harper Grace: 8 Months

Harper is 8 months old today.  She has been up to a lot this past month...

• She had her hips re-checked.  She continues to be very flexible, but just fine.
• She had another check-up with Dr. Fred.  She is 26 1/4 inches and 15 lbs even.  She only gained 4 ounces in 6 weeks!  She dropped to the 5% in weight, which is not what we want to see.  So, we have introduced her to some high calorie formula and cut back her solid foods.
• We are weening her from breast milk.  I think I will officially be done pumping this weekend.  Now that it's almost over, I'm kind of sad.  I spent that past two weeks so excited to be done, and now I'm questioning my decision to stop.  But, more freedom and no more pump breaks at work!
• She is still a picky eater.  We try to get her to eat 5 ounces about every 4 hours, but she's hit or miss. Most days she will only eat around 7-8 ounces when at day care and probably a total of 24 ounces on a good day.  She gets really distracted when eating and wants down to get in the action.
• She is army crawling everywhere.  She will also get up on her hands and knees and rock, but hasn't quite figured out how to crawl with her tummy off the ground.
• She is now pulling herself up on things and standing for a bit.  She is still very wobbly, but she can do it.
• She is so busy!!  She is hardly ever sitting still, which I believe is contributing to her weight staying low.  Even when she eats she wants to see what's going on, pull her hair, or kick her legs.
• Her hair is starting to grow back in and looks to be light brown.
• She can push herself forward and backward in her walker.  She usually only spends time in her walker when we are cooking dinner.
• She is a mommy's girl.  Big. Time.  She will stop everything and crawl over to me when she sees me.  Last night when I came home from work she was sitting on the floor with Daddy.  I said hi to everyone and went into the kitchen to set some things down.  She immediately started crying.  I went and picked her up and she quit crying and smiled.  It's kind of funny how that works.  Riley has always been a Daddy's girl.
• We introduced some Gerber baby food turkey and chicken meals to increase her calorie intake. She thinks they're ok, but not great.  She prefers fruit over veggies.  She doesn't care much for orange veggies, unless it's squash. We are still making all of her fruits and veggies baby food.
• I tried giving her a little piece of a puff.  She didn't care for it.
• She has zero teeth.
• She had her first choking experience.  Before our trip to Chicago Brett went to put her in her walker to keep a better eye on her while he packed some things up. When he picked her up she was starting to turn blue.  He did the baby Heimlich and then did a finger sweep.  Thankfully the finger sweep worked and he was able to get a piece of cardboard out of her throat.  I was upstairs through the whole thing and had no clue what was going on.  So scary, though!
• Favorite toys: Her little phone that rings, her giraffe, her rings. Anything she can chew on.
• She can get her paci in her mouth on her own now.  We just hand it to her and she figures out how to put it in.
• She is wearing size 3 diapers and wearing size 9 month clothes.
• She loves her big sister.  She will smile at her even if Riley is telling her "no, sister!  That's not yours."

Riley Nicole: Big Sister

I thought it would be fun to do a post entirely on Riley as a big sister.  It's been fun to see her grow into the big sister that she is.  I love seeing their relationship grow every day and hope that they grow into best friends.  Even though I would have loved to raise both a boy and a girl I'm thankful that Riley and Harper will have a sister and best friend in each other when they're older.  Here's the big sister I see in Riley:

• "Popper"  is now "Hoppa."  She can say her Hs now, but struggles with her Rs.  She will either call her Hoppa, Baby Hoppa, or Baby.
• She loves her little sister sooo much.  She loves to kiss her, hug her, and give her toys.  She rarely asks to hold her though.
• She now continuously tries to give her a sippy full of water.  I'm constantly reminding her that yes, she is a baby, but not her baby doll.
• She doesn't like Harper playing with her toys and will usually take them away from her. She has a few of Harper's toys that she likes to play with.  She will usually try to give Harper a different toy to play with so she can take the one that she wants.  Harper has started screaming in protest. Like, real screams.  Loud screams.  So it begins...
• She loves to make Harper laugh.  She insists that saying "Harper, Barper" makes her laugh every time. 
• She always wants to take a bath with Harper.  She gets upset if we make her wait until Harper's bath is over.
• She always wants to kiss Harper good night and will usually come into her room at bedtime.
• She likes to give toys to Harper when she's in her crib.
• She is always the first one to check to see if Harper is awake after her naps. And then always yells "Mommy, Daddy she IS awake!!"
• She loves to say "oh weelwee, Hoppa?" anytime Harper is jabbering.
• She's thinks that she needs to yell NO at Harper all of the time.  We are constantly having the talks about who Harper's boss is...not Riley, but Mommy and Daddy.
• She is slowly remembering to play with all of her toys with little pieces on the fireplace or at the kitchen table.
• When we are in the car Riley will always throw her bunny or piggy on Harper's lap. 
• If Harper is crying in the car we ask Riley to talk to her.  Harper will imediately quit crying and begin to laugh.  Riley loves doing this.

As time goes on, we are slowly noticing the sibling jealousy or competition that is evident in every family.  Luckily, Riley hasn't acted out on it yet, just some pouting here and there.  I'm sure our time is coming.  We have been stressing every day how good it feels to make others happy, expecially her little sister!  I just hope that Riley and Harper will continue to love each other when they are older as they do now.  I'm praying for their teenage years already. :)

New Harper Pictures

Here are a few pictures of Harper.  Such a sweetie!  I just want to kiss her little cheeks looking at these!

   Hi!

  So big in her sister's old booster seat.  (Check our new windows in the background!)

 Clapping

 So happy!

 Yum!

 Riley needed a close up too...from the side...just like her sister. :)

How big is Harper? "So Big!!"

New Years Eve 2011

This year we decided to meet my best friends in Chicago for New Years.  Maria and her family live in West Virginia and Sarah lives in New York so Chicago was a good middle of the road meeting spot.  We arrived late Friday night and ate pizza in the room, let the kids exchange presents, and watched the Hawks end their terrible season at their bowl game. Saturday we hung out at the hotel, went out to lunch, let the kids swim, and ordered food in. We found that Harper really doesn't enjoy swimming much.  After a few minutes she was crying to get out of the water.  It was an extremely low key New Years.  All the kids (and the Mercer's) were in bed by 10:00.  Brett and I spent the last hours of 2011 chatting with Sarah and catching up on everything we've missed while she's been in New York.  Sunday we took the kids bowling at Ten Pin and let them swim after Riley woke up from her nap.  Monday we ate breakfast at the hotel and hit the road to head home.  We found that Riley is a great passenger, although becoming a bit of a back seat driver.  Harper, well, she is not the best traveler.  She did well for the first few hours and then was not a happy camper for the rest of the trip.  Even though we only get to see each other once or twice a year it is always fun to catch up with Maria and Sarah!  Here's a few pictures from the weekend:

 Gift exchange

 Exhausted

 On the move!

 Dance Party NYE Chicago

 Maria, Maxx, Sarah, Riley

 Riley and Daddy

 Bath time

 Maxx and Riley playing

 Happy New Year!

Maxx and Riley coloring

Maria, Jenny, Sarah

Riley's Christmas Program

Before Christmas break Riley and her preschool put on a little Christmas program.  Nothing formal, just some fun songs in front of the parents, a Santa visit, and some snacks that the kids make.  It was really fun to see and I think at one point I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.  I loved seeing her up there with her friends, singing her heart away, trying to remember the moves, and having so much fun. Here are some pictures:

 Ready to sing.

 Singing away.

 Riley and Carter.

 So happy!

Yummy!