- The motherload of MONTH-BY-MONTHS... -

To the beautiful baby whose month-by-month posts I've neglected on the blog for WELL over a half a year now,

I mean...

Dear sweet, sweeeeet Harper Bear, 

As you're napping so peacefully this morning, I could think of nothing better to do than sit down and write in your baby book and start your first birthday party crafts [what what!?!?]... ...Which quickly led to brewing some coffee and popping open the MacBook and scribbling a little more of your ever-changing and always-exciting life onto da' world wide web.  Mommy and Daddy [and all your grandparents and relatives and everyone else, too!] love you deeply! truly! wholeheartedly! immensely! and soooooo so much! You are growing SO FAST; I literally am in shock to see my tiny little baby eating big girl food and crawling all over the house and pulling up to stand... <--- and doing all of those things like a BOSS!  You love pancakes and Pappy's pork and you just started feeding yourself with a fork.  Dinnertime is your favorite time, but you are also pretty thrilled when it's playtime and bathtime and every-other-time in between.  Waving is your new favorite trick, and you get lots of smiles and smirks from strangers you wave at [especially in church as you wave at people behind Mommy's shoulder AND at Schnucks as you ride in the top of the cart and wave at every shopper we pass].  You go to daycare two days a week and love your teachers and all your buddies at school; Daddy drops you off in the mornings and he says you're always rearing up to bust out of your carseat and you hit the ground running [you don't even look back to blow a kiss or wave bye-bye].  Two naps and two poops per day is how you roll!  You are suuuuuch a good girl, and I get a teeny tiny lump in my throat just thinking about how much I love you and how lucky we are that God made you just for us!  You have the BIGGEST heart for such a little person! 

Please stay sweet and small forever!...

...But also keep growing; 'cause kid, you're gonna move mountains!  

And with the sappiness behind us, here's my super sorry attempt to catch up..... 

*FIVE*

*SIX*

[This is the month you started noticing your bows and pulling them right off!]

And also this month?  Harper's the name...sitting up's the GAME! 

You loved to sit up [almost as much as you hated to wear socks].  Life improved 200% for you with life on a new plane.  I have to admit: I love a limp little newborn and some good ole' infant snuggles, but 6-ish months was terrific.  You started to become so interactive and responsive and FUN this month! 

*SEVEN*

Hey-o, tiniest fan of Cardinal Nation! We cheered rulllll hard for the STL Cardinals this year in the playoffs, but they didn't make it to the World Series. Boo. [Your Cards shirt was from Marty and Gena and the super cute bow from Austin, Emily, and Owen!]

Still no bows, please, Mom!

Your best buddy is your little cousin, Kate! We hang out about once a week and you two also go to daycare together; you guys are finally starting to notice/recognize each other when we're together [even though you're completely engrossed in your toys in this pic].  :)

*EIGHT*

Helping Mommy with the laundry is your favorite chore [and has been for a couple months by now]! You can unfold juuuust about as fast as I can fold; we're a great team! ;)  

You also love sitting up in shopping carts and highchairs now when we're out. Such a big girl! 

*NINE*

Sassy pants on the loooooooose. Your pediatrician said you were just perfect at your 9-month well baby visit! 75th percentile for  weight and height [18 pounds, 8 ounces.......and my mom brain forgot how long you were but I'm sure that's on a report sheet stuffed somewhere in your mess of a diaper bag!].

You have grown to love shopping [not your Momma's daughter one little bit!] and you delicately peruse any rack of clothes you can get your paws on...

*TEN*

Ten months: an arm-waving, belly-laughing good time! These month-by-month chalkboard pics are getting challening [even with my fast camera!]...you're a mover and a shaker fo' sho.  You are [almost] always happy and just beyond thrilled with your new-found mobility...  

...you also haven't learned to stifle your 7am-on-the-literal-dot internal alarm clock [even on this weekends, which is real depressing for Daddy!]... 

We celebrated Grandma Resa's and Great-Grandma Penny's birthdays this month!  Happy happy birthday x 2! 

*ELEVEN*

 .....And I thought last month's photoshoot was challenging.....

Two of my favorite things about you this month are your crazyyyyy post-nap hairs and your mischievous little smirk when you KNOW you're getting into things you're supposed to stay out of!  Life from here on out will be interesting for sure; we're finally to the point of no return ;) ...a mobile little minion with a bold personality has hit the ground running!

Momma and Daddy love you so, so much, pretty baby!!! *sigh*...Let's just do it, full speed ahead:  bring on ONE YEAR!!! 

- Love is in the AIR! -

Step aside, Cupid; no one up in hurrr needs help falling in love when this little heartthrob comes to town...

Dude had looks and love and everything in between to celebrate her first Valentine's Day in style!  She was thrilled to make her first batch of valentinos and mail them out to all her cousins/cuties/crushes... 

[A few happy recipients!]

We had breakfast at home with cards and chocolate and then celebrated the actual Valentine's Day DAY with a festive, hearty [see what I did there?] dinner at my parents'!  A lot of the family was home for the weekend [including my cousin and her 8-month old who we haven't seen since July!], so it was the perfect holiday for everyone to get together and spread some Valentine love. All smiles up in here, because life is fair when love is in the air! :)

And a little "photobooth" action... ;)

So lucky to have all these awesome cousins! <3 

Exxes and ohhs!  :-*  :-*

- Hot Cocoa-ed Cousins -

Another [sort of] throwback...

Brian's sisters planned this super cute mini-session photo-shoot for their parents' Christmas gift, and I love the pics!!  I didn't want to post them in November when they were taken in case Brian's mom would possibly see them on the blog, but now that Christmas is monthsss past, I suppose they're fair game... ;)  Better late than never; justttt my style.  

Harper is so lucky to have all these fun cousins! I am beyond thrilled for her to grow up in this awesome family full of little playmates! :) 

- Baby's FIRST snow day! -

#throwbackthursday on a Saturday be like: hello, VERY large 35w6d pregnant whale-woman...

But now, hey-o, Harper's very first snow day: January 21, 2016! [I'm only like 3.5 weeks late with this post, nbd.]  It has been a very mild winter precipitation-wise, so I'm thrilled we finally got a little dusting for the Bear to play in. And it's sooo crazy to think that on the "baby's first snow day" in 2015, we still didn't know she was a "she!" So much has changed in one short year, and I literally cannot even remember what our lives were like before this beautiful little blessing became a very loved and adored being of our family! Hearts hearts heartsssss all around. <3 

[Thanks to Grandma Resa for the pics!]

Inappropriate side note that I decided is juuuust appropriate enough to discuss:  my brother [a new native of Colorado but also an expert of street slang and all things Urban Dictionary] recently enlightened me of what a "snow bunny" is as he was instructing me to stop sending text messages to the extent of: "ISN'T HARPER THE CUTEST SNOW BUNNY THERE EVER WAS?!?!?"  ...Just do one quick little Google Image search of "snow bunny" and you'll get the hint. :O

...Snow bunny or not, she's damn cute.

- Sick and stay-cating and then sick some more -

Oh, hall-oooo.  

It's been a bit! 

We've been just barely staying afloat ova' here; basically our entire winter season has consisted of groggily going through the motions...punily pushing through day by day...persistently praying that we can just keep our heads above water high enough for our pupils to see the light of the next weekend dawning so we can rest up and recoup a teeny bit before diving in to a new week full speed ahead.  Phew!  Mannnnn. I don't know if Harper goes to daycare and licks the damn floor or WHAT, but the poor child has [more or less] been ailed with some degree of disease since October, and the continual sickness swirling through this house is no joke.  NO. JOKE.  

Anyway!  Sickness aside, January still produced a few archive-worthy things [something! There's always something!] and I would love nothing more than to subject you to a play-by-play that is sure to lull you right into a peaceful post-dinner nap. *zzz emoji* 

Brian has been tirelessly working on Harper's playroom in the basement, and it's really starting to look nice! He has the chalkboard wall finished and the playhouse is 78% of the way done; we just set up the kitchen from Great Aunt Stephanie and Great Uncle Mark, and turns out that Harper is quite the chef! ;)  She really enjoys boiling hot plastic pots of water and also nosing in to help her Dad lay the rubber floor mats.  She is crawling everywhere and into everything and I just can't get enough of how FUN and interactive she is these days!  More posts [many, many more, muahahah] of the finished playroom and all Brian's handicraft to come! 

In much less exciting news, Harper Cecilia is the owner of TWO new big girl car seats...  For like 3.7 seconds, we thought we would just buy one seat and transfer it back and forth between our cars, then HAHAH no.  We had our picks narrowed down to Britax Marathon and Graco 4ever and [thanks to a few friends' genius recommendations] decided it would be best to try Harper in them and see which one was the best fit for her.  And Target baby sale for the win!!!

Dude lovesss to shop! She daintily browsed the clearance clothes rack while Brian and I furiously finished our decision-making process by iPhoning a few last car seat reviews...  Britax Marathon got the blue ribbon! 

Wow this post is horrible.  I'll turn it up a notch, because I'm totally realizing that playroom construction and car seat shopping might've just set a new record for lowest of low posts [my blogging game is soooo rusty]...

...so drifting into a much more exhilarating topic...

...THE BACHELOR!!! Please tell me I'm not the only one who lives vicariously through trashy TV? Oh, good. So... Oh hey, Ben. Can we just talk about how sweet, genuine, charming, sensitive, funny, attractive, caring, and all-around-wonderful Ben is?!? Seriously, he is a legit dude. I've been a VERY loyal member of Bachelor Nation since Jill's season [showing my age, I know], and...not to jump the gun...but we're pretty far into Ben's journey to find love and I'm pretty confidently thinking that this might be the greatest season of all.  And these episodes have me on edge more than ever, because there's this Bachelor Bracket that a bunch of nurses have going at work [and $$$ is on the line!]...and I'm falling behind and I just don't understand because...#bachelorfanatic and I thought I was right inside Ben's brain and had things all figured out... 

My pick for "The One" is Joelle, though I think Lauren B. is also a strong contender and Becca will probs be second runner-up... Caila is like a little vixen that just strikes a weird chord in me [goodbye, you won't be missed] and who else is left??? Oooo yeah, Amanda and Emily...they're the next two goners fo sho.  

[If you think I'm crazy, well, maybe you're right...but let me halfway redeem myself by blabbing that Brian is just as cray. He was eager to fill out his own Bachelor Bracket, and when asked if he wanted to be part of the nurse pool, his response?  "Oh no, this is a husband/wife bracket... There's MUCH MORE at stake than a $5 entry fee."  Whaaaatever that means, I don't even know...but I just hope I pull ahead and don't have to find out! ;) I'm currently winning the husband/wife pool by 3 points so! Pray for me, friends. Pray rull hard.  And speaking of Brian... When I was hopelessly-romantically gushing about Ben's personality and charm during the very first episode, Brian piped right in and [very seriously] said, "I know, he actually reminds me a lot of myself!"  Ok, baby. Ok. :) ;) :-*]

Harper loves Bachelor Ben, too, but sometimes she just can't hang..........until there are like ten minutes left of the Bachelor Live talkshow and she's like, "PSYCHHH, it's 10:30pm and I'm full speed ahead!" ...We're having some bedtime issues up in this place. *sigh*

I think I'm jumping right back into my rambling rut, what do you think?  Feels like I never even took a hiatus. ;) 

Brian and my Dad both took a skiing/snowboarding vacation the last week of January [not together! Brian in Colorado, Dad in Canada], so naturallyyyy the baby and I packed up for a little 4 day stay-cation at Grandma's! Dude wasn't spoiled or anything... Sleeping in til late hours of the morning on flannel sheets and taking luxurious baths with new bath toys in the kitchen sink.... 

...learning to play the piano like Mommy and Grammy!...

...and hanging out with her favorite person 24/7... [I'm surprised she even came home with me at the end of all this!]  My mom went to a funeral that afternoon and I had to remind her to take Harper's pink bow out of her hair before she left the house... :) 

On the night Dad came home, we invited Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner and had a little fiesta! Love these memories we're making of Harper with her grandparents and great-grandparents!  What a lucky little lady. <3

Andddd before we knew it, Brian's vacation was over, too, and he was back home to play! Harper had a few new tricks to show her daddy when he got home: standing up by the railing (!!) and she alsoooo discovered her closet and the hours of fun that lie inside those sealed doors............... Hey-o, Daddy-o, come see what's inside here!

Alright, fo rizzle, this post is getting out of control even for the heartiest of hearty readers.  If you find it in the kindness of your hearts, please pray for us and our sickly selves!  Harper accompanied me to my first ever Urgent Care visit last week [double ear infections! Amoxicillin horse pills x 10 days, rawr.] 

...and I took her to the pediatrician yesterday [also has double ear infections! Yummy strawberry Amoxicillin liquid x 10 days + more antibiotic eye drops for her green boogery eyes, double rawr.]  But negative RSV swab, praise the sweet Lord for that. And Brian's on the verge of flu slash sinusitis too, but he hasn't been to the doctor in 20 years and also claims he's "never had a prescription in his entire life," so why start now?  Hashtag: men.  With your prayers and a little binge of warm weather, I am trusting we'll be back on the mend soon and also be able to open some doors and windows and air all germs right out of this house.  

Winter 2015-16: 1  .......  Fleming fam: 0

A plethora of green snotty coughs and kisses from us to you! :-* :-* 

Xoxo, bye now.