Too smart ...

I never wanted to be the parent that let my child take over my phone. However, Harper isn't a year old yet, and she still dives for our phones whenever she sees them. She has even figured out how to scroll with her finger on the screen. What a smart little turd!

Soccer

We went to watch Sydney play soccer this weekend. It was a GORGEOUS morning - the sun was shining, no wind and the trees were starting to turn beautiful shades of orange. We had a great time cheering on Sydney and Dave (who is coaching) and chatting with Stephanie and Reid. Although the group doesn't officially keep score, Sydney's team won by around 5 goals! She did a great job running up and down the field and had a few awesome kicks.

Cinnamon Toast Muncher

Breakfast is Harper's favorite meal of the day - probably because we give her cinnamon toast in addition to fruit and Cheerios. I'd be pretty happy too if my day started off with sugar! 

11 Months

Harper is getting so close to turning one! Our little angle turned 11 months recently. It's amazing to see how she has changed in the past few weeks - Harper is turning from a baby into a little girl. A few highlights ....

• Harper is becoming a great eater. She is eating more and more table food and less formula. Her favorite foods are Cheerios, toast (with cinnamon & sugar or jelly), bananas, turkey lunch meat, pork and string cheese. She has yet to figure out the benefits of using a sippy cup.
• Gross motor skills remain a challenge for Harper. She see's no real reason to move, pull herself up or stand. In fact, she is so content just watching the action that she has STOPPED rolling over. She also hasn't learned how to fall down from a standing position yet, so instead of plopping onto her bottom, she will stand and cry and cry and cry. We aren't too worried about her lack of motivation - we know she will eventually walk and it's a great excuse for some extra cuddles. Although we are happy with her development, we continue to work on standing and crawling. In the meantime, she will continue just to scoot across the floor on her bottom if she really wants something.
• Harper LOVES to play with leaves. She is like Houdini pulling leaves out from between the floor boards on the deck. We are trying to convince her that leaves belong in her hands and not in her mouth still.Lately we've been trying to teach her that they go on top of her head instead of in the mouth. (better than nothing)  Which leads me to...
• Harper understands the term "no no" and will shake her head back and forth when you say it. She knows she is supposed to put the leaves in her mouth and will sometimes start shaking her head back and forth (like no no no) as she puts it up to her mouth - what a stinker!

Cuddles

One of my favorite things is cuddling Harper before bed. Sometimes she is silly and will play with my face and chatter at me. Other times she is sweet and will give me kisses. No matter what her mood, I'm definitely in love with my little girl! You will have to excuse my lack of make up in the photos...but I needed to post a photo of Harper and me having a  little love fest!

Party Girl

We just sent the invites for Harper's 1st Birthday Party! We can't believe our little angel is almost a year old. So, if you are family, keep an eye out for the invite - Harper is excited to celebrate with you!

Just Like Dad....

This weekend we got some burgers from Wendy's for a quick dinner. Harper had already eaten a normal (and much more nutritious) dinner but got fussy when left to entertain herself while we ate. So, I picked her up and sat her on my lap while I ate my burger. Harper was instantly curious about the burger so I offered it to her - and much to my surprise, she grabbed with with both hands and began mowing down. She hungrily ate about 10 bites of the sandwich - I needed to pull it away from her sometimes to make sure she was actually chewing and swallowing what was already in her mouth. She obviously liked it a lot. Ross later said, "It's like my dream - a burger the size of my head. I guess she really is my daughter."

Harper's First Word

Dada!

Harper has been babbling for a long time. Frequently she say "dadadadadadada." However, on Friday, September 14th, Harper officially said Dada to Ross. Ross will frequently point to himself and say "Dada" and then point to her and say "Harper". During breakfast one morning Harper repeated it back to him. In total she said Dada 6 times that morning. She's said it a few times since but she is very shy about using the word. We caught one of the Friday morning Dada's on tape. Ross is super excited that she knows, and can finally say, his name!

Tough Mudder 2012

Ross completed the Tough Mudder Challenge in Cascade Wisconsin on September 8th. Tough Mudder is a 11 miles obstacle course designed by the British Special Forces that is designed to test strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie. Ross was part of a 9 man & woman team mainly composed of coworkers and a few friends. It was a chilly morning for the race. We arrived at the course to register by  around 7 and the team was excited for their 9 AM start time. Every 20 minutes a new group of around 200 people would be released into the course. Although the spectators were only able to watch a few events, it was a lot of fun for us too.

Ross's least favorite event was the Arctic Enama ...which was pretty much giant tubs of ice and water (but mainly ice). The runners had to jump into the tank, and go under the water to pass underneath a wall before climbing out on the other side. The final challenge was the Electric Shock Therapy which involved running through a field of wires - some were not active and others packed a 10K volt charge that brought every runner to their knees. Their team, the Mississippi Mud Militia finished the challenge in 3.5 hours. They celebrated with an energy bar and a beer right outside the finish line. It was a great event and Ross hopes to do another challenge in the future.

Since Tough Mudder is an adult event, Harper spent the weekend with Grandma Judy and Buppa in Iowa Falls. She quickly decided that Grandma was her best friend and insisted on being by her side (or rather on her lap or in her arms) the entire weekend. She had a blast playing with her cousins (Addison, Brody and Abby) and riding the golf cart. Thanks grandma and grandpa for taking care of Harper!

Playing with Riley

Harper's affection for Riley continues to grow. Although Riley is overly friendly and rambunctious with adults, she is very sweet, gentle and considerate with Harper. In return, Harper adores Riley. Every meal ends with Harper handing over a few bites of her meal to the puppy. Harper doesn't realized what she's doing yet - she is just reaching out to pet Riley and Riley is slyly licking out out food from the palm of Harper's hand. Harper is deliriously happy to get some kisses from Riley who is always very gentle when stealing her treats.

Harper also loves to watch the puppy play. She is infatuated with her bones and rope toys. When Ross plays tug of war with Riley, Harper will squeal in excitement. When it's Harper's turn to play, Riley will very respectfully take the rope from her when she lets go. Or, other times, will refuse to take the rope until Harper has become bored with the game and sets it on the ground. Ross and I are so happy that Riley is great with Harper -  she is better than we ever expected!

More Fun in the Water

It's still summer and Harper is still playing outside in the water! Another water/pool/bath post, I know, I know. But she's so cute without clothes and she loves the water!

She's pretty much outgrown using her water table as a tub, but we let her play in it one last time. She enjoyed watching her dad pour water out of the cup - Harper is still mystified by why she can't grab it. She also discovered a new game - throwing things over the edge. We played a long a few times and would return her toys to her, but eventually we stopped her game. She would peer over the edge looking for her toy (much to our discomfort). Eventually she ended up with no toys and it was time to get out! It will be neat to see her playing next to her water table next summer instead of IN it!

Fun in the Tub

 We finally moved Harper into the bathtub. She loves having all the space to splash - no restrictions on making waves in the real bathtub like she did in the sink! She also thinks it's really neat to check out her reflection in the overflow drain, play with the faucet and hang over the edge. Our little water baby continues to be a fan of bath time!

Spaghetti

Ross and I take a lot of pleasure it watching Harper eat. As a youngster, she is obviously a slow eater, but we will sit and watch the entire meal if we can. Last week she had spaghetti for the first time. I was imaging spaghetti thrown everywhere and her head covered in it. Luckily Harper isn't as messy as I had imagined. She did enjoy the meal and thought it was a delicious treat.

ISU Game

We attended the first Iowa State Football game of the 2012 season this weekend. We met the Harrison and Langfalds at the stadium before the game for some family friend tailgating. The Harrison's are seasoned tailgaters and bring an amazing set up so we were happy to crash their party. Even more impressive than their awesome setup, was the fact that Amber's due date was only 2 days away! She is a hardcore ISU fan! The Harrison's had to make an early departure from the pre-game festivities when Amber's water broke! It was an exciting element to the day and that night their daughter, Genevieve Adelyn, was born. 

This was Harper's first sporting event and we were nervous about how she would react to the crowds, the noise and being outside all day. Not only was Harper a trooper for the entire day, she LOVED every minute of it! She thought the tailgate party was a blast and enjoyed watching Bryker play and tasted a few tailgating treats. She rode over to the game on Ross's shoulders - she smiled the entire way over. During the game we sat on the hillside which allowed her to sit on the blanket and stretch out a little. She munched on some cheerios and drank water and continued to people watch. She would frequently get excited when the fans around us would cheer. To top off a great day, Iowa State won! I think Harper had a great start as an ISU fan and we will definitely be attending more games as a family in the future.