Fun with the girls

Harper is working very hard to roll over these days. If it weren't for that darn left arm, she'd have the task executed. Well, it's just the first of many hurdles she'll encounter in life. Besides, I think she'll think that left arm will come in handy someday.

The little one has also proved to be quite a chatter box these days. She likes to yell (not talk or babble) at the animals that hang from her chairs and mat. I tried to get a video of it but she stops the show once the camera is rolling.

Now that Harper seems to be on a more predictable nap schedule, we are at home a bit more which means Hadley gets a little bored. I do my best to entertain her while Harper is sleeping, however. Last week we played hopscotch on the living room floor which proved to be a little entertaining.

The little toy she has in her hand is supposed to be the "rock" that you throw on the numbers, but Hadley didn't want to play it that way. Surprised?

This morning we decorated Easter Eggs, or "Feaster Eggs" has Hadley has been calling them.

After coloring, before the stickers:

The finished product:

I gave Harper some cereal this week. Here she is after the first try. She looks like she's about to say, "Oh no you did not just feed me that, Mom."

And in case you were wondering, size 5 diapers work just fine on a baby who wears size 2 diapers but you've run out.....

Harpermania

Have you seen the advertisement for a TV show called "Harper's Island?" It's supposed to be scary. Something about a murderer running loose on an island (I say, get yourself off the island. End of story.). We have our own little Harper's Island here, but it's not so scary. It might be full of suspense (you never know if you'll sleep through the night), and there is certainly quality screaming going on (could be coming from anyone of the females that rule this home), but anyone who created the new show that will be aired could not have met our sweet baby Harper. One look at these pictures, and they would change the show's name.

How's this for neck strength?

Uh...Dad? How long do I have to stay in this position?

Seriously, Dad. How long?

OK, one smile. But then I'm done.

She seems to be pretty close to rolling over. She'll whip her legs over to one side and then just hang out there for awhile. Hadley rolled over the first time right around April, so it might not be too much longer.

As for Harper's older sister, well, she proves to be entertaining all day long. We've been looking at preschools for her, but I haven't been too impressed with any of them. I really don't want to turn into the obnoxious mom who talks about how smart her kid is, but I'd like to find something where Hadley is learning a few things here and there. Here's one conversation I had with a teacher last week:

"We like to try and introduce shapes to the kids in the 2 year old program. We usually start with the circle because it's an easy one to grasp."

"That's a good idea." I say.

"Does your daughter know her shapes?"

"Yea, I think she has a handle on most of them." I tell her.

"Which shape did she learn first?" the teacher asks.

"An octogan."

And that was the end of that conversation.

I asked Hadley if she wanted to go to preschool, and this is what she said:

"Yes I would like to go to preschool, but I can't go by myself."

"Why not?"

"I can't go by myself because I can't open the door."

Hadley is referring to our front door. She can't open it by herself (thank the Lord). This conversation cracks me up mostly because Hadley always speaks in complete sentences. I don't know where she gets it from. She must have heard me when she was in the womb screaming at my sixth graders to please write in complete sentences.

Aiden's 2nd Birthday Party

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Hadley's buddy Aiden turned 2 on March 1, and we went over to his house to celebrate on Saturday evening. Hadley always has fun with her buddies Matthew and Aiden and this was no exception. Harper also had a chance to make some friends as there were two other babies her age, although, she was the youngest.

Here are some pictures of Hadley in what I like to call "The Best Playroom Ever." It has a pool of balls (Remember the ones at Chuck E Cheese? I LOVED those things!), a trampoline, and a slide that you slide down on while riding a train.

Of course, there was birthday cake, and Hadley enjoyed that as well.

Here are a few more pictures of Hadley and co. enjoying the playroom.

Spring Break '09

We left DC last week for Florida just as a snowstorm (and from what I hear it was a legitimate snowstorm) hit the area. Jesse had a conference in Tampa, so the girls and I tagged along and met my family down there as well. We had quite a fun time.

Here's the view from our place:

Every morning Hadley woke up and after maybe 5 minutes asked, "Grandpa, can we go play in the sand?"

In the above picture, Hadley is explaining that there was a big dog on the boardwalk she is walking on.

Here are the girls in coordinating t-shirts from Uncle Geoff. Hadley's reads: "The Original H" and Harper's is "New H in town." So cute.

The Gulf was a little cold to swim in, so Hadley did a little swimming in the pool on the side of our place instead. Here she is putting on sunblock. I have to make a small side note here. Hadley's dad liked this sunblock very much. So much so, that after putting it on he was glistening from the amount that was on his face. When I saw him I asked if he'd been outside yet because he looked like he was sweating.

Here's Hadley with Geoff and my dad. I'm learning that I'm not what you'd call a "master" photographer. I just take pictures rather than look for a great action shot. This picture was taken as soon as Hadley got in the pool, so one would assume she isn't that interested in swimming. That was not the case. She loved it. I told her she must hold on to Grandpa the entire time she was in the pool, but as soon as I would walk away she told him she could do it herself. I think it's time to sign her up for swimming lessons.

Here are a couple of family shots. I'm sorry Harper isn't smiling. While she is much more serious than her sister, she does give us plenty of smiles, and she has the best little laugh. I'll try and get some pictures of that in later entries. In this first picture, Hadley is trying to make Harper feel better by sticking her finger in Harper's ear.

Jesse gave a talk on Wednesday having something to do with hurricane storm surges. I believe the title was: "Hurricanes - We don't like 'em." Anyway, he did such a good job that Hadley put on her special Elmo cheerleading outfit from Granpa Feyen to say, "Yea, Daddy!"

While we were getting ready to leave on Friday morning, Hadley asked for bear, doggie, and blanket - a sure sign the girl is exhausted. Jesse fished them out of our luggage and gave them to her. Here she is just relaxing before we headed home.

For a few minutes, Hadley and I were the only ones in the living room, although Hadley didn't know I was there. She took Bear out from underneath her blanket and began telling him all the things she did that week. A lot of it was mumbling, but at one point she said, "Grandma, and Grandpa, and Uncle Geoff, and Daddy, and Mommy, and Harper." Then she gave Bear a hug.

Odds and Ends

I don't have a theme for this entry but I'm sure that won't prevent the readers of NFN to continue reading. Take one look at this video and you will forgive me for the lack of my title creativity:

Last week when we went to the gym, Hadley said, "Mama, you can stay in the playroom, Ima go workout." I told her that she'd probably have more fun in the playroom. She's picked up on a lot of things recently. She can put DVDs in the player now by herself, and she put that headband on (which is really a pair of sunglasses) too. The funniest things I see her doing is saying things that I say in her playing. The other day she was playing with her "buddies" (the Fisher Price "Little People" - she has termed "my buddies") and she said, "You ready to go night - night buddies? Yea? OK, let's go night-night." She then put them in the pack-n-play, said good night, and added, "Tomorrow we're going to go to the park, buddies. Does that sound good?"

When Hadley plays with her airport, she gets all her buddies in the plane, helicopter, or taxi cab and wheels them around the runway for a bit before lining them up at Starbucks. Each of the buddies gets a "grande half-caf" to which I say, "Well done, child."

Hadley and Harper have been sharing a room for about two weeks now which has gone smoothly. I heard lots of warnings about making sure the older child doesn't feel like his/her room is being invaded or that their crib is being taken away by the younger kid. Hadley doesn't seem to have any of that. When we showed her the new bed (which is a toddler bed, but we still have it as a crib), she said, "Oh! That's the bed Daddy made for you.....with blocks." (She has a hard time with the difference between"you" and "me.")

Here's a video of Harper enjoying "The Wiggles." She likes watching Hadley dance around to these guys.

Harper gives us lots of smiles, especially to Hadley, but gets confused when the camera is in front of her.

Here's Hadley showing Harper how to do the "Shimmy Shake."

I need to learn a new phrase besides, "Oh, Wow! Good job!"

I read an article by a woman who is giving up blogging, Facebook, and Twitter for Lent. Don't worry, I wasn't influenced. The last time I gave up something for Lent was in college when my friend Alison and I decided we'd give up ice-cream. I believe it lasted for a day. I know I was supposed to be focusing on Jesus, but all I could think about was the ice-cream I couldn't have. Anyway, this woman was concerned about what this was going to do to her social life. Since she wouldn't be on Twitter (something I have no idea about; I'm still trying to make sense of what "flare" and "poke" are on Facebook, and why anyone cares that I've installed Facebook on my phone), she thought she'd miss out on get togethers with friends. Maybe she'd be folding laundry while her friends were watching a movie, and she would never know because she gave Twitter up for Lent. I wanted to suggest to her that perhaps her friends could call her on the phone instead.

Valentine's Day in DC

Saturday we went to the National Archives to see the original Emancipation Proclamation, and then to the National Gallery of Art for lunch. We met up with my Erika and Arie Wilgenburg and their daughter Chloe, who is about three weeks older than Harper. (Erika was my RA when I was a freshman in college.)

Here are me and the girls outside of the National Gallery of Art.

And here we are taking a look at ol' Abe's work.






In the rotunda of the museum we also saw the Declaration of Independenceand the Constitution along with other documents.

Here's Hadley quite interested in the ceiling of the museum.

And here she is explaining to us as delicately as possible that she would like to leave:

Ice-Skating

On Saturday we took Hadley ice-skating in Rockville Town Center. This is the same place where the little splash park is that Hadley enjoys in the summer time.

It took Hadley a little time to understand what was going on, but she loved it. Her reaction was much different than the first time I went ice-skating, proving once again that my oldest daughter does not have my timid personaltiy. (My first time ice-skating was spent the entire time crying because I was afraid I would fall down. I don't think I ever did fall down, but apparently worrying about falling down was enough to cause tears.)

Here are some pictures and videos:

After a taking a few pictures, Harper and I walked around the Town Center for a bit. It was such a nice day yesterday and it felt good to be outside. Now that Harper is almost 3 months old, I thought it was time to take her into Starbucks, so we walked over there while Hadley and Jesse were skating.

After the ice-skating, we got something to eat at Bobby's Crabshack, one of our favorite places to eat.