Harper is 1 year old! She's actually 13 months.

She has 5 teeth and I believe her 6th is on the way. She got her bottom tooth in December. She turned one with just one tooth. Her 2nd bottom came in that weekend. Gramma Nan is always blessed (or cursed) to be around for a new tooth.

Her fangs came in after a particualarly fussy week, yet they still surprised us since we never saw them until they were both fully in. (Ok, they aren't her incisors, but since she's still missing her two front teeth, they do look a bit like fangs.) One of her top front teeth is offically peeking through. I believe it's neighbor is on the way.

Harper has been such a pro at walking with pushing toys...she learned how to steer when we were at Christmas in CA and she never looked back. By the time we returned she was manhandling them, turning corners, jogging from one end of the house to the other. By the time her Grandparents came to visit, she decided it was one hand only if you wanted to help her walk around. By her daddy's birthday on the 28th, she was walking on her own.

I think she likes her new independence... I take that back, she LOVES her new independence.

She still loves her mommy. Her mommy loves that to be sure. Harper manages to strike a good balance between being independent and needing some TLC.

She now says 'daddy', 'doggie', and 'hi'. She points and mumbles words that may not have the correct consonants, but the intonation is spot on. I know when she means to say 'all done', 'birdie', 'there', 'that', 'yeah'. We've been working on her sign language in concert with her English and she can sign 'eat', 'all done', 'hi/bye' and then she does a universal sign which means 'diaper' or 'more' or 'puff's' or 'milk'...it's confusing but it's promising that she at least understands she can make her needs known by using her hands if she can't find the words.

Whenever she hears a birdie or a doggie, a helicopter or an airplane, a fire truck or an ambulance, she always stops to look for the source. Whenever she hears a machine, she imitates the tone... a garbage truck, a van backing up, a lawn mower, a food processor...it's pretty funny, she's got a great ear.

She's still the happiest baby I know. We both love her laugh try earnestly to win it all the time.

She loves to watch a ball bounce down the flight of stairs, she loves to climb said stairs...we've actually got her trained to call out when she's on the 2nd stair so we know to come spot her. She's been pretty good about always heading back down 'feet first'.

Happy New Year from Houston!

It's been so long since I've posted anything. We moved to Houston in the beginning of October...I think. By the time we got settled, it was the Holidays. I will try to back-track. For Harper's sake more than anything else.

Harper is moving to Texas!

Harper and her family are moving to Texas! Next week!
Nate got a job working with a great group of guys, some of whom he worked with straight out of college. He's looking forward to being a part of growing this small company of energy advisors.

So we're moving to Houston. Via California. The movers come Monday to pack us up. The truck comes Tuesday to collect our stuff. We fly out Wednesday to SF to visit Grammie & Grandpa Wax. Harper will get some much needed TLC and QT with her grandparents. Nate and I hope to sneak away to the city for a night and to Napa for two. Our first nights away from miss H!
We're moving into a rental first: a great 4 bedroom house with a jacuzzi!
Plenty of room for visitors!
We had a babysitter twice last week so we could celebrate our 6 year anniversary and have some last meals here in NYC. Saturday we went to Apiary. Chef Scott Brian (from Veritas & Indigo) gave us an incredible tasting menu. And Harper slept the entire time we were gone! Whoo hoo!
Monday we went to Le Bernardin for an incredible meal. I'm so glad we were able to get in and experience Chef Eric Ripert's amazing seafood...Heaven.
Afterwards we went to Rudy's Bar where Nate and I shared our very first kiss. It's still a dive. It still gives away free hot dogs with purchase. It still has a giant pig guarding the entrance.
Harper did well with our babysitter, Susan. She woke up for a bit, so at least Susan got a chance to say Hi and Good-bye. We'll be sad to leave Susan behind. She's really connected with Harper.

We'll be sad to leave NYC and all our friends here. But we're looking forward to spending lots of time with Carrie and Tim (college friends of Nate) and their boys, Will & Nick. They're almost like family. Will & Nick really seem to like Harper. They play well with her and Harper loves to see older kids who have mastered the skills she's just now trying out (walking, talking, etc.)

Nick, Harper, & Will

Where's the baby?

Harper is babbling away. I'm sure it's actual conversation to her... She's mastered dada, mama, and nana. It all started with blah, buah and bah, but we don't hear that as often anymore.
She's still a fan of the raspberry and what we have dubbed 'the elephant'. She very specifically does a version of a 'motor boat' when she doesn't like something. She'll say nana often when she's lost something (namely her pacifier) or is otherwise dissatisfied. She speaks dada when she's just hanging out and happy. And, of course, mama is uttered when she needs comforting or is looking for her favorite person. ;) I'm not saying she's using language deliberately yet, but it is pretty amazing to see that natural language instincts follow what the latin based world has adopted.

Harper loves to stand and walk. If you try to sit her up, she inevitably goes all the way up. I call it 'the waterskiier'. She pulls herself up to stand now using the arches of playgym. She pulls herself up to stand using pretty much anything. Her crib went down to the lowest level just in time.
She is crawling commando style, but bets are still being taken as to whether she'll crawl or walk first.
She is a happy kid. She can wave hello (by either sticking her hand out in the general direction and/or slapping her thigh) to new friends. She give big droolly, open mouth kisses. She loves her mommy. She loves her daddy. She loves peek-a-boo.
And she loves to have a laugh-off. She laughs, you laugh. You laugh, she laughs. It's a fun time.


Harper is eating solid food now. She's a great eater. Just like her mommy. No doggy bag for her! She's friends with pears, apples, bananas, carrots, prunes, peaches, raspberries, oatmeal, rice, toast, guacamole. She's had very limited experience with adult food, mostly just sucking on apple, melon & celery. Nate and I are little paranoid to start finger foods, but we keep trying new pureed items. Harper is decidedly NOT a fan of peas. As a matter of fact, I tried to give her chicken and veggies tonight. I didn't realize til it was too late that there were peas in there. She did the motorboat, gagged repeatedly and then vomited all over the place.
Don't know if it was the peas or the chicken fat, but I think we'll cool it on both for a while.

There's is so much more to be said about the move and life with Harper, but as we're trying to get our apt packed up, say good-bye to NYC and as many people as we possibly can. I have such small sips of time to sit at the computer, upload photos/videos. Hopefully the photos/videos will speak the volumes I cannot.

American Baby Models have a playdate: Meridian, Eva & Harper

Harper & Dori (they're getting so big!)

Harper & her Italian boyfriends: Elio & Leo

Family picnic at Brooklyn Bridge Park

Harper is starting to crawl

Harper is starting to crawl...

Breakfast with Harper

Have breakfast with Harper!

this week...i've lost count...

Apologies to anyone who checks this blog regularly. Since we've returned from Cali, I just can't seem to stay on top of all the cute things Harper has started to do...
So I'm going to deviate from my regular format and hope that some day I'll return to cataloging week by week, but that's just not now.
California was awesome. Seeing all the kids was great. Having Harper spend a long weekend at the cabin with her two cousins, Drew (3) and Matthew (1)and their cousins (which might as well be her cousins too, since we've known their dad, Brent all our lives), Blake (6), Casey (4) & Scooter (2) was the best ever. the only thing better would have been if Brady, Brent's sister and my dear friend since I was 4 had been there with her son, Zachary. Then the whole gang would have truly been together. As it was, you'd think it'd have been mayhem having 6 kids 6 and under under the same roof, but it was sublime. Brent's kids are the sweetest and all the kids did great.
We went to the beach, BBQ'd hotdogs for lunch, went crock-a-dad (aka crawdad) fishing in the afternoon. Life was great. We all missed our spouses, but it was a sweet week regardless.
I hope we can make it annual thing.
This is the short version. I'm leaving out tons of dear friends and stories. I'll incorporate photos later, though they're already up at Picasa.
This video could not be left out though...

Big shout out to my friend Chrissy who flew in from LA and extended her stay. She's my best friend from college, yet I had no idea she was the kid-whisperer. She gave nature talks, help build forts, took dogs for runs...My god! She was truly amazing. I feel in love with her all over again.

Back in NYC, yes, we made it one piece. Nate was over-whelmed with how much Harper seemed to grow in two weeks. She's even more aware, she's quick on the draw, she's starting to get into crawl position, and she's starting to babble in syllables..."baba", "dada" we're still working on "mama". And she laughs if you laugh. Which is pretty awesome.

This week she had her first piece of toast. We sat on the living room floor and she had toast while I had toast with eggs. It was the first 'tea party' of many and it was one of the most incredible moments of motherhood thus far. Second only to lounging in bed and whispering back and forth to each other. Harper is going to be a great friend and it those moments when you are so sure of what the future has in store that you realize you are just where you are supposed to be and you are grateful for all you've been blessed with.

Harper has also started to bounce this week, spring with her legs from standing to sitting and back. She is pretty sturdy on her legs too. She may walk before she crawls! Well, she's doing her own version of crawling now...she uses her head instead of her arms to pull her body along. It's pretty funny. We've had to double her 'play area' to an area rug so she has something soft to crawl on.

This is the reason I decided to get up to date on this blog...

Harper can also do the stately Queen Elizabeth wave now. Not on cue, we're working on waving and kisses (right now she just presses her mouth to your face, like she wants to eat you). She spends a lot of time relishing all the skills she's acquired. We look forward to what's ahead of us while cherishing each and every moment of the here and now.
Speaking of...I have a baby who's sick of seeing her mommy at the computer...

Harper's 6 month check-up

Harper is growing well. She's 16 lbs, 12 oz (64th percentile) and 27" tall (92nd percentile). She's almost too big for her infant car seat!