12 Days of Harper: Twelve-bar Original

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. If you've missed any of the fun, you can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth,seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh months and then mosey on back for the final posting!

Happy Birthday baby!!

This month flew by!! I can't believe we've reached the little lady's first birthday! This month, Harper started really cruising on the furniture or if we're holding her hands. She still prefers crawling, but we know she'll be walking in no time. She also started doing some sign language, shaking her head and just generally trying to communicate with us more. And because I know you've been too shy to ask, she has no teeth. And no signs of any either.... I know one day I will miss her toothless grin, but for now I'm just wondering if they're even in there. (The doctor assures me they are) We traveled back to the place of her birth Waco, all had fun celebrating her daddy's 30th birthday, and she welcomed her 3rd cousin, Emily Aileen, into the world. So much action for a one year old! Here's the photo documentation:

Thanks for journeying with us this year (and the last 12 days). We have loved every minute of the these months and can't wait for the next 12!! 

Abigail

12 Days of Harper: Eleven O'Clock Tick Tock

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. If you've missed any of the fun, you can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months and then come back for the rest!

This month brought the beginning of Spring and more of our little lady's emerging personality. She's opinionated, funny, and very curious! She liked (and still does) to eat everything, including anything she could find on the floor... keeping mom on her toes and jumpstarting dad's gag reflex. Harper attended her first parade in Baton Rouge on St. Patrick's Day and was an excellent bead-winner. She, also, managed not to get hit in the head which is almost a miracle! Here's the ham:

I'm wrapping up the series tomorrow, so don't miss it! 

Abigail

12 Days of Harper: Ten Long Years

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. If you've missed any of the fun, you can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth months and then return for the rest!

 This was about the time in Harper's life that I began to think, "what happened to my baby?" She started crawling and realizing she was funny and communicating other ways than crying. It felt like forever ago when she was just a lumpy swaddled bundle sleeping on the couch. Suddenly, my days consisted of keeping said lump from crawling into the fireplace and eating the dog's food. In case you're wondering from yesterday's post, Harper gained weight... whole milk and peanut butter will do that to a person... Here's the little piglet in all her 10th month glory:

Daddy's girl! The countdown continues tomorrow.

Abigail

12 Days of Harper: Love Potion Number Nine

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. If you've missed any of the fun, you can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth months and then return for more goodness!

A new year and so many new skills to master. But before she could do that she needed to gain weight. She stayed a measly 13lbs at her 9 month check-up.  And let me tell you, it wasn't because she didn't like to eat.  The girl never stopped eating.  She enjoyed her first New Year's meal of black-eyed peas and cornbread and never looked back.  Also, huge breakthrough, she started liking baths.  Like shrieking, splashing, laughing kind of enjoyment.  If any of you are keeping up with her development, she still had not started crawling.  And I was enjoying my life with a child that stayed in one spot.  Here's the tiny 9 month old:

Check back tomorrow to see if she gained any weight...
Abigail

12 Days of Harper: Eight Days a Week

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. If you've missed any of the fun, you can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh months and then come on back here for the rest!

 Christmas time is here! We loved introducing Harper to the best holiday ever! The Christmas tree was the perfect backdrop for our many photo shoots and it was wonderful to spend time with family. We got to spend time in Houston with both of our families and it was great for everyone to see Harper and hold her (if I wasn't in the room...). We joked that Harper should follow in my footsteps and be the baby Jesus in a Christmas pageant, but alas, it's hard to have one when the church meets in your living room. Here are the other happenings of the month:

It's fun to see her hair grow over the months. Is that weird? 

Until tomorrow,

Abigail

  

12 Days of Harper: Seven Things I Like About You

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. If you've missed any of the fun, you can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth months and then come on back here for the rest.

Sitting up.  Something we used to take for granted until we saw how unbelievably hard it is to learn.  So many muscles and so much balance involved.  I never thought I would be so proud of someone just sitting there. Month 7 also marked the introduction of Mum Mums into Harper's diet.  I think they became some sort of security blanket for her. To this day, she gets so excited when she sees the package.  She also helped in her first McBrayer Baking Day.  I use the term help loosely...

Sorry if that was cuteness overload.  She pretty much doesn't take a bad picture, in my (biased, but right) opinion.

Catch you on the flip side,

Abigail

12 Days of Harper: Gettin' Our Kicks on Route Sixty-Six

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. You can catch up on the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth months and then come on back here for the rest of the fun!

This was almost too much fun for one month! Harper enjoyed her first pumpkin patch and her first bite of food. And the love affair with food began immediately! Although, you would never know it because she's so tiny. Anyway, she had some incredible pictures taken by Auntie Care and really began to love the Bumbo (probably because that's where she ate all the time...). Something I remember very clearly though is that at this point, Harper hated taking baths. And when I say hate, I mean that she screamed the whole time. So, Jake and I would give her a bath together and we got it down to about 3 minutes, which feels like 3 hours in the presence of a hysterical child. But she was cute enough to make up for it:

She (still) loves the satsumas that grow in the backyard, which is why I love that last picture.  See you tomorrow for the best 5 minutes of your day!

Abigail

12 Days of Harper: It's Five O'clock (in the morning) Somewhere

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. You can catch up on the first, second, third and fourth months and then come on back here for the next installment.

I hope my title didn't offend you. Because it's really a joke. Babies sometimes wake up early in the morning and I don't even know that song...

Anyway, this was a milestone month. Monumental! Harper went to her first LSU football game. A day she (won't) remember the rest of her life. But we'll tell her about it and show her how cute she looked. And surprisingly, we all had fun. This is also the month Harper decided that her swaddle was done-zo. I thought I might have to swaddle her in college because of how magical it was, but the transition was easy. Harper also enjoyed her first World Mandate, a missions conference hosted by Antioch in Waco. But we didn't have to drive to Waco. We got to stream it in our living room and Harper thoroughly enjoyed listening to Christine Caine. Here's the proof:

First tastes and cute pictures by the lovely Carolynn Seibert up next! See you tomorrow?

Abigail

12 Days of Harper: Four all the Joy You Brought to my Life

This is a series celebrating my babe's first year of life. One day for every month of her life leading up to her first birthday. You can catch up on the first, second, and third months and then come on back here for the next installment.

This month Harper planted a church and survived her first hurricane. It was eventful to say the least. Harper was really good at learning to share. She opened our house 3-5 times a week for the church. Well, she slept through most of it, but it was very generous of her. And then Hurricane Isaac hit. Thankfully, we only lost power for about 24 hours. And extra-thankfully, we had some friends in town who let us stay at their house for the evening. We all made it out alive and loved getting to meet some of our neighbors and help them clean up. As an aside, I think we took the most pictures and videos this month, probably because Harper finally started staying awake for longer than 45 minutes at a time...

Strike a pose:

Month 5 coming atchya tomorrow!

Abigail