Quite a busy month!!

It has been quite a busy month! Harli and I went to Clear Lake a couple days early to have some girl time up there before Kory came up to celebrate the Fourth. We went a four hour walk one day, a bike ride (well, Kory and I) another day, and just hung out with Gene and Bobbi. It was nice to get away and enjoy the nice weather. Harli didn't get to see fireworks this year. She did however feel that 1030p was an appropriate bedtime while at Oma and Papa's.

Harli and I were in the Summerfest parade in Ankeny with the campaign. Harli napped through part of the parade but made sure she was awake for part of it...can't miss out on anything! Govenor Branstad wasn't at the Summerfest parade because he was in the Lake Mills parade. Harli did get to hang out with Kim Reynold's, though. Kim is quite the fan of Harli!! Harli has been helping me make phone calls for the campaign. Harli gets to walk around the office by a couple different people when we volunteer. She loves the attention and the staff loves her!

Harli turned nine months old yesterday. Her nine month visit came with no shots...yea!!! She is 20lbs 3.5oz and 27" long. She is also in the 70th percentile...up significantly from the 10th percentile at birth. She is a long baby. Clearly she didn't get that from me! She is such a happy baby! She has two bottom teeth and we think she is working on a top tooth. She walks if we hold onto her hands. She crawls at worp speed and everything goes in her mouth. She has started free standing. One day soon she will start walking on her own...scary!!!

On the campaign trail

Harli spent today walking (well, riding) in the Johnston Green Days parade on the Polk Co Republicans float for Govenor Branstad. Kory and Benjamin joined us. We handed out candy and Eric Hellman notepads. I'm not sure who had more fun...I think Kory might win, though. He got a pretty big kick out of handing out the notepads! I also managed to hit about 45 kids while throwing candy! Oops!! Hopefully I will have more parades to practice not hitting kids. Harli had a lot of fun trying to eat the candy before I threw it out. Many people commented "Look at that cute baby" while we were on the parade route. I think she might have taken some attention away from Govenor Branstad! The Chet Culver camp had quite the hissy fit when they found out they were behind us in the parade lineup. Oh well!!! Get over it big boy!

Harli, Benjamin, and the dogs did a great job shopping for Kory's Father's Day presents! He got Season One of 24, a miter saw, and NorthFace shirt and shorts. Since we will be out of town tomorrow, Kory got his presents early. He was very surprised by all his presents and was very happy to get them early!

Harli has mastered crawling everywhere and has decided that she is ready to move on to pulling herself up to stand on anything and everything. I see a walking baby in our near future. We thought she would be walking at 9 months, but she turns 8 months next week and is already walking when we hold on to her hands. I think she will be walking on her own well before 9 months. She is quite the independent little girl! There is no stopping her and if you try, she lets you know how she feels about that!!

Hello, Summer!

While Kory worked all weekend, Harli and I headed out to Adel for a picnic with my aunt, parents, and grandmother. Harli had fun playing with Bogey and Vivian (the dogs). They are both little dogs so they are easy to chase and pull on. I'm sure Bogey was glad once we left; Vivian on the other hand had no clue Miss Harli would be spending the next two days with her! After lunch, Aunt Caddie took Harli and I on a golf cart ride. Harli drove the cart...until she felt asleep at the wheel! She was holding on so tight that Aunt Caddie had trouble turning the wheel. After Aunt Caddie's, we went to my parents house. Since Harli and I didn't want to hang out all weekend by ourselves, we hung out with my parents, brother, and sister...and dogs. Sunday night we just hung out and watched TV. I also spent three hours reading the Guthrie Center Times. What a great paper!! I didn't realize all the fun news that was in there. My brother made the front page because he is the new pool manager, page two was dedicated to some lady's duck themed baby shower, Joe Kapaska took up page three with news of him winning cribbage the week prior, and the last page had "What to do in case of a tornado". Oh and somewhere in there you could find that the couple getting married in two weeks was registered at Dowd Drug. I found the baby shower news and the bridal registry rude because what if, like myself, you were not invited to either of these festivities and had to read about them in the paper. I felt extremely left out of the Guthrie Center fun by not being invited. Did I know these people...no...but they shouldn't advertise all the fun they are having unless they invite everyone. Its only fair! :-) I was so intrigued by all this news that I couldn't put the papers down. Monday, we went to the pool and hung around the house. I headed home Monday late afternoon so Harli could have some Nana and Papa time. I can only imagine the amount of spoiling she received while I was gone! It was a great way to start the summer!

Harli has mastered crawling and is now is determined to start the walking process. She crawls over to the couch, table, or us and pushes/pulls until she is standing. She is a very independent little girl. I'm sure by her 9 month birthday she will be walking. Watch out world!! She also knows which toys are hers and which toys are off limits. Remotes, cell phones, her brother's iPod, and the laptops are way more fun then her toys. She will lunge for toys that aren't hers and just give us a look when we present her with a toy she should be playing with.

Harli's second tooth has broken through. This teething experience wasn't near as bad as her first tooth. She has woken up in the middle of the night a couple of times and has only had one real meltdown. We haven't had to use much Tylenol (don't worry...we use the store brand) this time, either. Maybe when her third tooth comes in she won't even know! A mom can dream!

Well, that's all that is happening in the world of Harli right now. I am going sign off because someone is a little sassy that I am not giving her my undivided attention!

7 months old

7 months ago (7 months, 12 hours, and 45 minutes to be exact) Harli graced us with her arrival. I'm that mom that says "I can't believe how quickly it has gone!" All our friends and family said it would, but I didn't believe them. :-)

Today we went out and bought new bath toys since Harli uses the big girl bath tub now. She loves it!! She decided that playing with her toys was a little more fun than splashing around. I tried giving her a mo-hawk but she has so little hair that you can barely see it.

Everytime we look at Harli we realized how truly blessed we are!

On the move

I have been slacking on the blog updates lately. It has been a busy month! Harli was Baptised, we had friends in town, I've been working quite a bit, Kory and I went to Chelsea Handler for Mother's Day (totally amazing!!), and Harli is on the move.

Kory and I are quickly realizing that we NEED to babyproof sometime in the near future (as in this week)! At first she just laid on her tummy for a couple of seconds and then would fuss. We slowly worked up to scooting backwards. Now she rolls all over the place and gets on her hands and knees and rocks. I have a feeling by the end of the week she will have mastered crawling. Harli really likes to stand and hold on to the couch like a big girl. She has no fear. She falls and I freak out and she just looks at us and laughs.

Harli started fruits this week. We fed her primarily veggies before to get her used to a few different kinds. Now we incorporate fruit into meals along with veggies. So far she likes apples and bananas, but she isn't quite sure what to think of peaches. We have also tried rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, and multi-grain cereal. So far the verdict is that rice cereal is all Harli wants to eat. She is not a fan of oatmeal cereal or multi-grain. She would give me a look that said "What are you trying to feed me? Bring back the good stuff!" She is doing a great job of eating cereal and a bottle for breakfast, cereal and veggies and fruit for lunch, and the same for dinner. She does get two snack bottles in there also. No matter how much or little she eats, she will be hungry is EXACTLY three hours. Harli is doing a great job sleeping through the night...which makes for a happy mommy and daddy.

Buddy is learning quickly that Harli can pull when he goes in for a kiss. In a few months, he will have wished he ignored Harli like Samantha does. This weekend, Harli spent the weekend at my parents' house and she was all over their dogs Vivian and Bella. Vivian is a little black fluff ball (more common referred to by me as my hooker baby - only because of her name) and would go in for lots of kiss. Harli would just pull on her ears and curls. It didn't help that when laying on her tummy or sitting up, Harli is the same height as Vivian. She was in perfect reach at all times. I'm sure Vivian is happy to have Harli back at home with us so she can get some rest and have all the attention back to her.

We have a tooth!!

Harli is teething! We have been waiting for this tooth to finally come through for well over six weeks. I now know why at the simple mention of teething parents cringe! Harli has had a fever for two days and has been quite fussy...so definitely not her usual self. She is only fussy a few times a day, otherwise she is her usual happy self. The minute that tooth starts bothering her she lets us know. We have found that Tylenol is the only thing that helps. We tried Baby Orajel but she drools so much that it doesn't really help. I just want this tooth to finish coming through so Harli isn't in pain anymore.

Harli had her six month check up today. She weighed in at 16lbs 6.5oz and measured 26.5". We thought she had an ear infection, but Dr Fackrell said Harli was healthy. As always, he was very impressed with her. She had lots of stories for him. She also showed him how well she sits on her own as well as her jumping skills. Harli had to get her shots today and she was less than impressed with that.

Yes I'm that parent..."I can not believe Harli is already six months old!" I don'y know where the last six months have gone. Time is definitely flying by. Pretty soon we will be planning her first birthday party!

Yummy...feet

This has been a pretty uneventful week. Harli is feeling better and most days doesn't spit up all day long. I would say the medicine is working. Granted, I was hoping that it would magically cure her spitting up...a mom can dream! Kory spent five days in Vegas for work...yes, actual work. His company's annual conference was held there this year. Since no other spouses and children were going, Harli and I were told that we would be just fine at home. Next year the conference is in Orlando...Harli and I WILL be there! Harli and I spent the last five days having our Mommy/Daughter time. We went for walks, to the gym, shopping, and having fun in the sun. Its nice to not have to pick up after two certain boys that live here! They aren't that bad, but they do tend to make a mess. Harli has really missed her daddy, though. When he calls to talk to her, she gives the phone kisses and gets a big smile on her face. I know Kory has missed her terribly. He called when she was crying and it broke his heart.

After working diligently for a couple of days, Harli has managed to get her feet in her mouth. She is very pleased with herself. Once she gets her foot in her mouth and start chewing, she starts giggling. Its the little things in life that make her so happy! I'm not sure which she likes better, toes or green beans!!