We are eating Mommy's homemade food, yummy!

My girl is loving the squash, sweet taters (as they say in the South), and carrots. I made a ton of it this weekend and had a blast. It's sooo easy and love the money I am saving so you know, to buy more cute clothes.

I love this shot of her, it's like the new and improved Gerber baby, right?!

Her 6 month check up went well, she weighs 17# and in the 80% for weight....sooo healthy:) Her height is above the 50%, the doc thought we (the shorties, Bob and I) would be so glad to see that. We were.

Her babbling is right on track with Dada and Momma coming out more and more.....of course we do a great job encouraging it oh about 20-30 times a day. She is sitting up by herself, starting to take her sip cup, and laughs all the time.

It's good it's good to be Harper's Mommy, that's my new name you know. In case no one every told you, once you have kids.....your identity takes on a whole new role of non-existence. The good thing is, you could care less:) Bob and I absolutely love it and really can't imagine life without our little chicken head.

Can you see my teeth?

More Valentine Baby

Harper Elle made another shirt at school and exchanged little valentine cards with her friends. I'm loving her little school/daycare program.

Nana sent Harper Elle a Valentine...soo sweet and thanks Nana.

I gave her Valentine shoes. Too bad they are still big and they are 0-6 mos.

My Valentine

Harper came home from school yesterday wearing her first Valentine for Mommy and Daddy. Her class decorated onesies and I couldn't contain my kisses when Bob brought her in the door.

Her teacher is so creative. Unfortunately, I am not. After reading Harper's daily sheet, I notice a huge cut out heart that says VALENTINE PARTY tomorrow with all her classmates. I thought I was off the hook this year, she IS only 6 months old.... What am I supposed to make, pureed carrots in the shape of candy? Well, I thought fast and made these Valentine's tags below. Each kid will get one and there is a little magnet on the back so it's safe, thankfully there are only three others. I'm such a sucker for stuff like:)

My friend Kate

My sweet sweet friend Kate was diagnosed with Breast Cancer around this time last year. After many months of treatment and finally surgery, we met up two weeks before Christmas to celebrate her wonderful news that she was residual free. She and her husband spent a family vacation in Hawaii over the holiday but in January she went back into the hospital and was told she now had aggressive Spine and Brain Cancer. I'm sharing this unfortunate news to solicit all available prayers and positive energy to be sent her way. Kate's time is limited and her condition has become worse over the weekend. Please pray for my friend Kate, please pray for peace to be with her.

Home from Grandma's

What a warm welcome we received for Harper Elle in the cold state of New York. She met roughly 30 new friends and family and had a blast. So many showered her with gifts and Grandma, Auntie Steph and Grandpa could not get enough hugs and kisses. They asked if she could stay there due to our endless issues with our Sunday flight cancellations and nervous energy about our travels home. The huge snow storm that swept through Baltimore on Saturday caused our Sunday flight to be delayed and cancelled four different times. After 9 hours of travel on Sunday, we arrived home safe, sound, and sane:) She was such a good girl and we all snuggled in for some R&R.

It was so nice to spend so much time with Harper this week. I got to see both of her teeth come in, watch her sit up and playing independantly, and start eating sweet potatoes and carrots.

She LOVES her new food and attacks the spoon. She watches me prepare her meals from across the room and starts the rapid breathing and kicking her legs like a little puppy dog after a bone.

L-R

(My husband Bob, Aunt Monique, Grandma Cietek, Cousin Vincenza, Auntie Steph, Grandpa Cietek, Me)

http://gallery.me.com/jrcietek#100185

Made it to Grandma's!

We made to NY safe and sound.

Her first ride in the air! And it went well! She sat VIP seat of course, Mommy in the middle, and Daddy on the outside. I think her most exciting part of the trip was the loud lady's voice that came out of nowhere, she would look up with this puzzled look on her face and then go back to playing.

Look what Grandma made! This hat and scarf is too precious for words and it fits PERFECT!

Lovely Darling, Lovely. Thanks Grandma:)

Harper loves Grandpa's mustache, she cozied up to him as soon as we got in the house!

TWO Teeth

Harper Elle is getting her first tooth, I'm sorry first teeth! The first one broke through on Monday and the second showed up today. Both on bottom and just in time for our first plane ride to NY! We leave tomorrow so we got a quick visit in with the doc today. She has been so congested, coughing, cranky, not sleeping well, and clearly not maxing out on the bottles. Doc says all is relatively fine, just a cold, continue with humidifier, let her cry it out at night, and the babe is really ready for some veggies! Ok, so it was a relief to hear all is fine for the most part, but how is this all going to go down tonight? Stay tuned.

She is absolutely hysterical when she eats, it is totally my favorite part of the day. She sees the bowl sitting next to her little bumbo chair and starts opening her mouth. Once you get the spoon loaded up with the goods, she lunges forward so forceful that her chin is almost parallel with a little fat thighs. I HAVE to catch this on video....did anyone invent those extra set of arms that all moms need yet?

All of the drooling, crying, and sticking everything in her mouth is all making sense. It's like it comes out of nowhere and you contemplate everything it could be. Then that little tooth pops through and you thank your lucky stars she's not allergic to you!

Snow Days

Nashville got about 4-5 inches of snow this weekend and it all started on Friday afternoon. It quickly turned into packed ice therefore we bundled up in the house all weekend.

Nana and Poppie made a trip down this weekend, so we ventured out for a bit to take some shots of Harper and I in the snow, it was quite comical to see my Dad escorting all his "ladies" around on the ice to get the perfect shots:) What a sweet Poppie but I'm going to go ahead and put it out there that I doubt he would have went to all that trouble for just me and Mom. I'm pretty sure that sweet little snow bunny had something to do with it.

Moss looks like a little reindeer...she absolutely loves the snow. All of the 4-5 times she has ever seen it:)

Plasticville

It's true....your house really does turn into "Plasticville" once you have a baby! I'm not sure if all the plastic goodies bother me more because it's really not what I picked to coordinate with the decor or my obsession with trying to find "affordable" organic toys that don't contain the wonderful toxins that plastics leech. Either way, I'm not going to win. And bottom line...Harper is loving all of them. Happy baby, happy Mommy:) I do love this exersaucer that I found her. It has a garden theme which I love all the colors and there are really so many things for her to do that it keeps her busy for a little while at least.

Moss loves it because she can lick Harper anyyyyytime she wants:)

YES, you saw it here first! She is sitting alone. A little support when she starts leaning to one side but she can hang for awhile.

This is one of my favorite parts of the day. When complete peacefulness comes over her and I get to sit and stare at her. I love her tiny quick breathes and her congested snorts during her naps. Her hands always seem to find each other no matter what she is doing. Usually they are intermingled and gripping tightly.

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