18 Months

Oh boy is this post late. With summer finally arriving with the month of August and our annual trip to Chicago all happening on Harper's 18 month milestone I found myself falling farther and farther behind with the post.
We have had the rainiest summer I can remember so we've been making good use of the dry days we have. Harper enjoyed her first Fireworks and she made all the appropriate oohs and aahhhs along with me.
July also brought a visit with Theo and his parents. The older they get the more fun it is to watch them play together. There was even some grape sharing.
Steph & I took Harper to a Junkman music fest in Woodstock. She seemed to enjoy herself and met up with another pal from playgroup.
In the most exciting news this month Kyler turned one. But she's already been walking since last month so she's an old pro now and it's so fun to watch her and Harper run around together. The entire dynamic of their relationship has changed now and they are on a much more even playing field. Harper still tries to smother her with hugs and kisses but now she can run away if she's had enough. But most of the time she hugs her back. They are adorable.
This month Harper learned to take bag clips off which has required some cupboard reorganization. But I still keep her snacks pretty low and if I'm trying to get something done in the kitchen I'll often turn around and she'll be gone. My first place to check is the bottom of the stairs where she sits with her newly found bag of snacks and helps herself.
We also learned this summer that she hates to get her feet dirty. My dad built her a sandbox but she prefers to play from the perimeter rather than diving right in. I can't say I blame her but it is funny at the beach. I ended up buying her water shoes to keep those toes as clean as possible.
Most of July was spent unpacking and trying to organize the new house. It's been fun and stressful at the same time but it feels more like home everyday. Now we just need some paint on the walls and a few final boxes unpacked. Come visit soon and weigh in on paint colors!














Pass the grapes please.















Daddy's girl


















Making music with junk...how fun!















High Five!

See all of July's photos here:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1072334016/a=13429038_13429038/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

17 Months!

June was an eventful month albeit terribly rainy. It kicked off with the annual strolling of the heifers parade. We went with the McClellands and our friends Becky & Jackson who had never been subjected to such an event before, they were good sports!
The next day Becky & Jackson hosted us as we all watched a 1/2 marathon in Quechee. Harper clapped for everyone and was a welcomed distraction for the runners.
We enjoyed a trip to the petting farm with the McClellands. Kyler learned to walk which has already changed the dynamic of her relationship with Harper. They are on a totally different level and it's a lot of fun to watch.
Harper began her flower girl duties at Pat & Steph's engagement party. We spent Father's day watching Will run a road race for charity. Harper is a fantastic spectator and claps and cheers for everyone!
The big event this month was our move. We closed on our new house in Lebanon and spent a marathon weekend cleaning, packing and moving all of our belongings. Harper & Bella both seem to love the new house. Harper has her own room which she loves and slowly but surely we are getting boxes put away and organzied. We had a ton of help an owe big big thanks to all our friends. We've promised them we won't be moving again for a VERY long time! We are looking forward to a visit from Leah, Ryan & Theo next weekend so we have a goal to be done unpacking before they arrive!















The cat was the most exciting animal at the petting farm.
















Daddy's biggest fan!















Helping Pat & Steph move.



















Too cute!














First night in the new house!

16 Months!

Thank goodness May was not as crazy of a month as April. Seeing Harper this month you would never know she ever hurt her leg. She is one busy girl! In May she enjoyed a trip to Maine and Goose Rocks Beach as well as her first tricycle ride. She has become attached to her first stuffed animal, Beatrice the Bunny. She seems to get a new word everyday. She knows where her ears, eyes, nose and mouth are. Harper gives high fives and eskimo kisses. Harper has her first chore, every morning when we get up it's her job to go turn off her noise maker. In May Harper also had the chance to host her first pool party (baby style) and has already visited countless play grounds and swingsets. At this rate it's going to be one fantastic summer!














Ready for bed! Harper loves Beatrice!



















Harper takes Theo's trike for a spin. Don't worry, we had a talk about riding and talking on the cell phone at the same time. It won't happen again.















She still loves to swing.















Exploring Goose Rocks Beach.



















Looking like Daddy



















Looking like Mommy.















Lounging in the pool with Jackson.

15 Months!

What a month. April was by far the craziest month we have faced since Harper joined our little family. First things first, we celebrated Easter with Harper a few days early because Will had to work on Easter. She loved following the trail of eggs the Easter Bunny left for her as well as her goodies, especially a wind up bunny. We would wind him up and she would kick him over and laugh ;) Easter weekend itself was not quite as fun. On Saturday Harper and I went to an Easter Egg hung in Brattleboro and then Dana and Ryan watched Harper while I went out to dinner. (Will was at home working.) When I got home from dinner we realized that Harper was not putting any weight on her right leg. We called the doctor and they told us to let her sleep on it and come to the ER the next day. Of course this was Easter Sunday and Will didn't go to work and drove down and took Harper to the ER with me. They did x-rays and suspected a toddler fracture so although the x-ray showed no break they put a little splint on and made an appointment for us on Thursday.
Harper wasn't a big fan of the splint and losing her mobility. We enjoyed Easter at the Houstons and we happy that Will was there to celebrate with us despite the circumstances. That Thursday Will and I took Harper to her pediatrician who took the splint off to see if Harper would walk on it. She also took another x-ray (no sign of break) and took some blood (traumatic for me more than Harper but the blood came back good.) She left the splint off thinking it was perhaps transient sinivitis (sp) which is a swelling in the joint that comes and goes without much reason. So we went home and tried to enjoy the weekend with out baby who still would not walk. Things were going well and she would take a few steps here and there until she had a high fever and we realized she was cutting four new teeth at the same time. Monday came and Harper still wasn't walking so we went back in to be checked again. We saw a different doctor on this day and she opted to take blood again just to be safe. When she called me with the results Harper's white blood cell count was up which was disconcerting to her and she consulted with Dartmouth Hitchcock here in Lebanon and they decided they wanted to see Harper in the ER that night. So Harper and I got back in the car to drive back to Lebanon, meet up with Will and go to the ER.
DHMC is a really impressive facility but they want to see their own x-rays and test their own blood so we had to put Harper through another round of x-rays, they started an IV and took a little more blood to test and they also took a urine sample with a catheter (poor Harper!) We were in the ER until like 11pm when they told us they were sending us home but wanted to see Harper first thing the next day. At that time they thought she had a urinary tract infection but were not positive and still concerned about the leg.
The next day we saw a pediatrician, pediatrician specializing in bones and lots of other doctors. They decided to do a bone scan of Harper's body so that they could narrow down where to look for a break or problem in her leg. This involved putting her under anesthesia while they did the procedure which was very stressful for us. The good news was that while she was sleeping they took the blood and urine samples they wanted for more tests so she did not have to go through that awake again. They were worried that the WBC may have been high due to a bone infection in the leg she would not use. The bone scan showed a problem in her right shin but that was all. The urine they took that time confirmed that she did in fact have a UTI. They wanted us to spend the night in the hospital that night just to be safe. The next day Harper had an MRI (anesthesia again) to look very closely at that shin area and low and behold they found a very tiny little toddler fracture in her tibia. At this point that and the UTI explained everything and were great news as compared to the alternative. Our last day at the hospital Harper enjoyed visits from Grandpa Gerry and Dana and her kids. We also had several visits from the guys that Will works with. They were all very helpful and supportive which was wonderful since our families don't live in the same town. We enjoyed our stay in the Childrens Hospital and feel very strongly that there's nothing better to make you realize things could be much much worse then spending some time in the children's wing of a hospital like DHMC. We feel very blessed that Harper's diagnosis was so minor and that we were able to take her home without even a cast. Since it had been 10 days already they only would have left the cast on for a few more so they were ok with letting her be. The next day she started walking around without holding our hands at all as she had been since the splint came off and the only memory of our time in the hospital was the antibiotics we had to give her twice daily and the baby sized hospital gown Will stole as we were leaving. This certainly was not an experience we will soon forget.
However April was a long month and beyond this it was filled with many wonderful things. We had another gathering with our new friends from Quechee. We enjoyed some beautiful weather and explored this funny thing called a deck that's attached to our house and believe me...it's fantastic! This weekend we celebrated Will's birthday with dinner courtesy of his mom and the most delicious cake I've ever had. On Will's actual birthday we had the pleasure of celebrating Jackson's baptism (the son of our Quechee friends Becky & Jason) and then went to softball practice (I even brough my glove circa 1989 that says KATHARINE GATZ on the side. I'm very good in case you were wondering ;) and after practice Pat and Steph came over and made Will a birthday dinner complete with goodies from Mike's Pastries for desert.
It was a good month and I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I can always update. May is also off to a great start with a trip to the museam today, baby yoga yesterday and little miss Harper is doing great at one long nap a day. She has also started giving those really great hugs where she grabs onto your neck and holds on tight. It's the best. We have our well baby 15 month visit tomorrow morning and we've planned a trip to Maine for a very overdue visit with Mr. Theo. We move into the new house at the end of June and all is well! Enjoy a few of our favorite photos from April!















Our Friday morning Easter celebration.















The day of the Easter Egg Hunt and the day Harper hurt her leg.



















Baby sized splint.















We took Harper for a tour of the hospital in a shiny red wagon. She waved to everyone we passed like a princess.















High chairs for three please (in Harper's hospital room.)

14 Months!

Harper is totally a toddler. She is exercising her opinion and pushing her limits. She's practicing her words all the time. She says Bella, toe, more, dog, woah joe (from our music class) and we've gotten her to say a few more things one or two times but she's getting more vocal everyday. She has amazed me this month with her coordination. She can now stack all the pieces onto her stacking ring and she can unzip her doll's dress and puts items in her little purses very easily. It's amazing how one minute these things are a struggle and the next she's an expert.
March was a very fun month. We had a mini-vacation with the Adams' at Loon Mountain. We stayed a couple nights and explored the ski mountain and tried some arts and crafts with the kiddos. Harper and Theo are enjoying each other more each visit. We can't wait for the next time! We had a nice visit and dinner with the Houston's. Harper loves Farley (their dog) almost as much as she loves Emily (her cousin.) They had a great evening together.
The McClellands made a trip to Lebanon to check out our bouncy house activity. Alex had a blast and it was such a nice day we made a trip to the park afterwards. I got trapped in a spinning seat made for 5 year olds and Dana had to rescue me. It wasn't embarassing at all. Harper loved the slide! She's definitely a climber. This month Harper started giving us the biggest grin ever, it's our new favorite thing. She can also strum her lips which she loves. And she's finally warming up to drinking milk.
In other news Will and I made an offer on a house and it was accepted. There still a lot that needs to happen before things are finalized but we look forward to being settled. Will is also starting a new part-time job. I'll share more on that later when I know more.
Here are some of our favorite photos from this month:















At Loon Mountain. If you didn't know better you'd think there were ski's on our feet.















That's the grin!


















My daughter is better dressed than me...















big smiles



















so fashionable!

13 Months Old!

After Harper's very exciting birthday celebration February proved a fairly relaxing month in our house. We spent lots of time exploring all the fantastic goodies that she received for her birthday. Took lots of walks with Bella and enjoyed some "warmer" weather as we finally saw proof that eventually winter will end.
Harper and I enjoyed a girls weekend in Boston visiting with Courtney & Morgan. A little shopping and lunch with some of our favorite Bostonians made for a perfect weekend! We made another trip to the Montshire museum with the McClelland kiddos and their mom. Harper and I made an effort to explore some of the activities offered in the Lebanon area and had some mini adventures. We also made some new mom and baby friends which is very exciting for me.
Harper is getting very coordinated and more and more curious every day. She is beginning to explore her shape sorters and realizes they are for more than banging. She is much more communicative and if you ask her to bring you something she will (and always claps for herself!) She is also working so hard on her little vocabulary. She said her first word which was Bella (sounded like BE LA) and has fun practicing repeating things that we say (I know...yikes right?) She is very steady on her feet and still loves to climb. Her new favorite food is hummus and every animal says "woof woof."














kicking back with a sandwich at the museum














Harper loves broccoli (she actually really does...she gobbles it up!)














Taking her new birthday presents for a spin














Out for a walk with Dad.

Happy 1st Birthday Harper!

Wow....what a year. On this day last year we were in our hospital room watching the Superbowl with a brand new baby girl in our arms. This year we're chasing Harper around the house as she toddles from room to room. Last year we watched intently as the nurse showed us how to give our new baby a bath and it took two of us to change a soiled diaper. This year Harper gives hugs and kisses and can tell you what Bella says ("oof oof".) It's so fun to look back but not for long because everyday is so new and exciting. We just simply can't get enough of our "baby" girl.

January brought another trip to Maine to celebrate Theo's 1st birthday. This was a very important trip because Theo demonstrated his walking skills which Harper watched carefully and then decided to take her own first steps as soon as she got home. Harper's birthday gave us another excuse to see Theo and his parents. At this gathering Theo taught Harper how to climb the stairs. Needless to say we're not as excited about this lesson but Harper did get a brand new gate for her birthday to celebrate the accomplishment.
On Saturday January 31st Harper had a birthday party. She had lots of friends there, Kyler & Alex, Amelia, Theo, Jaiden, and Mya & Kylie, and of course her Auntie Megs, both sets of grandparents and her two great-grandmothers. She enjoyed her very first cupcake (see below) and got a ton of very fantastic and generous gifts. Her favorite is a firetruck from her dad that she will eventually ride but for now prefers to push all over the house with the help of someone else to steer. She especially loves to run into things and laughs out loud.
Harper loves to give hugs and kisses. She especially loves to kiss babies. Kyler has been on the receiving end of hundreds of kisses but she got her very first hug at Harper's birthday party. Harper is wild about Kyler.

It seems so unbelievable that this year of firsts is coming to an end but also so exciting. This is the start of a new year in Harper's life and we can't wait to exprience all that's in store for us!















Harper is such a love in the morning. She'll cuddle and give kisses. It's my favorite time of day!



















Look at this little girl walking!!! She is so proud of her new skill...it's really fun to see her excitement.















She loved my cupcakes even though I hid avacado in them. She ate all the frosting and a lot of cake before sharing with Bella.



















Our sweet birthday princess!

Here is our favorite video this month...Harper's walks. This was taken the day she took her first steps. It was so fun to watch her...she was working so hard. It's amazing to look back and see how well she's mastered the skill in only two short weeks!