- 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.