Meeting some dinosaurs

Harper really enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit at the Houston Zoo today. Would have been more fun to be with her cousins. Especially Drew, the dinosaur expert.

So Close to Talking

Harper is really starting to repeat words and she babbles so much. It's a sweet tone she takes whenever she's saying whatever she's trying to express. Every day there's a new word she tries out. She's got 'yellow', 'blue', 'up' and 'poopoo' down this week. I'm working on convincing her to leave diapers behind, but I think it'll be a while.
She does like to carry her potty around upstairs, usually to the middle of our bedroom. Not quite sure what that's about, but I'm hoping once she starts using the potty for real it will stay in a bathroom.

This morning she carried the step stool over to the sink, climbed up and grabbed a bath crayon off the back of the counter. She was REAL proud of herself. She kept laughing to herself and telling me (I think) that she did it all by herself. What a cutie!

Happy 4th of July

Harper is enthralled with flags right now, so she is loving all the flags out in the neighborhood for 4th of July.
Today we went to the Gillette's to BBQ. Harper loves the whole family as much as we do. She has the best time trying to keep up with Will and Nick.

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