Christmas 2012

Santa made a special trip to the Whittlesey house a few days before Christmas this year. He came while Harper was taking an afternoon nap. When she woke up, there was a stack of presents from Santa and Mom & Dad! The Giraffe (yet to be officially named) was by far her favorite toy. When she saw him, her jaw dropped. She quickly recovered and pointed and said "OHHHH." She likes to give the giraffe kisses and needs to stop and say "Hi" to him every time she enters the room. In addition to her giraffe, Harper also got a shopping cart, some movies and puzzles. The Elf on the Shelf must have provided a glowing review on Harper to Santa to get so many great toys!

Miss Independent

Kelly Clarkson may have written the song "Miss Independent," but Harper has claimed title has her own. Harper is determined to do some things without help. It started last week with apple sauce. Normally we feed her and she happily gobbles it up. However, that all changed - Harper demanded on having the spoon and didn't want help holding the container, getting sauce onto her spoon, or feeding herself. In fact, it was a battle to get the spoon away from her AFTER the apple sauce was all gone. In addition, she likes to have bigger pieces of food - she doesn't want her string cheese torn up; she wants the full stick. Slowly our little princess is becoming her own woman - I just hope she slows down and enjoys letting us take care of her (and let's use enjoy it for a while longer, too!)

Winter Storm Draco

We've been lucky with mild weather for the past year. Well, reality came back and slapped is in the face with Winter Storm Draco. We got around 12" of snow overnight - wet and heavy snow. We were really lucky to keep our power and spent the time bundled up inside watching movies and cuddling. We will have some cleanup to do later this winter - Draco split one of our trees in half and took down some large limbs on another three. The storm was full of firsts for Harper - it was her first big winter storm and first snow day home from school! Riley also enjoyed the snowfall and spent time racing around the yard and bounding through the piles. 2012 is definitely going to have a white Christmas!

Stairs

Harper accomplished something pretty big this week - she learned to crawl up stairs! Julie, from Heartland AEA, taught Harper to pull herself up onto the bottom stair around a month ago. Harper would often pull herself up to a standing position on the bottom stair, but wasn't interested in going up any higher. That changed this week and our little climber went all the way to the top on the first try. And then she did it again. And again. In total, I think she climbed the stairs six times that night. The look of pride on her face when she reached the top was priceless.

Out Like a Light

Every child falls asleep in their highchair. Harper finally did it for the first time - and we thought it was absolutely adorable. She zonked after devouring a plate of spaghetti. I can't blame her....who doesn't want a nap after eating pasta?

Visiting Santa in Iowa Falls

Harper and I made a special trip to see Santa Claus in Iowa Falls. Santa visits Main Street in Iowa Falls every weekend and has a special house set up to meet the local families. We went with Renee, Brody, Addison, Grandma Judy and Grandpa Dick to see Santa - it was a full house! The kids were all very polite. Addison asked for an iPad (Santa said that's a common request this year), Brody asked for a football, and Harper asked not to be touched by Santa. It was a fun trip and I hope to repeat it again in the future when Harper is a little more comfortable with large men with white beards.

No Shave November

Ross participated in "No Shave November "this year. That meant that my husband went from his typically smooth-faced handsome man to a rugged and fuzzy-faced man. Overall his appearance didn't bother us too much. The "highlight" (and I use that term ironically) was when Ross shaved his beard into a fu manchu. That is a look that should never be repeated. Ross even rocked the fu manchu at NCMIC's annual Holiday Party at Glen Oaks County Club (yes, being sarcastic again). We are happy that it's December and Ross is back to his normal self.