Halloween 2014

Nothing like posting about our Halloween the day before Thanksgiving!

We had so much fun on Halloween this year with all three girls!  Earlier Halloween week, the girls and I went with Nene & Baba to our aunts neighborhood trick-or-treating (Daddy was out of town).  They do things a few days early for the extended families of the home owners.  It was small and low key, but the girls had so much fun riding around in the golf cart from house to house.  Plus, some houses gave out FULL candy bars! I would've loved a neighborhood like this growing up!!

On actual Halloween we walked around our neighborhood.  There are a lot of kids between our sub-division and the sub-division right in front of ours.  The older girls were hanging out in the wagon while I had Harper in the stroller.  We were able to snag a few pictures before we started and they turned out really good!  Hadleigh & Hayden got lots and lots of candy, so they would call it a success! As a mom, I love how they forget about the candy a few days later J  Next year; I’m walking around with wine in a cup.  Not that this is breaking news or anything, but it didn't occur to me that I should do it until we were already a few blocks away from our house. fail.

Cue the cute Halloween pictures!! Introducing our two witches and their black cat:::

State Fair 2014

This year we took the girls to the State Fair twice.  We didn't have enough time to let the girls enjoy the rides on our first visit, so we came back a few days later.  We enjoyed seeing the animals - Harper was amazed.

 Hayden even rode one of the ponies there!  She was so cute and very brave, but towards the end she was done.  Hadleigh wouldn’t step foot near it!

  We ate some of the horrible (for you) fair food and even indulged in some ice cream J

excuse the blurry iPhone pictures!!
Hadleigh & Hayden both got bow & arrows that they had been asking us for several weeks before.  

fair = GREAT excuse to wear your cowboy boots!
Hayden wanted nothing to do with the rides, but Hadleigh had a blast.  Her favorite was the fun house, which was her favorite last year as well.  She went through that several times.

  It was so fun seeing them so excited about the rides and the games.  Daniel and Baba played some of the games with the girls and even won a few goldfish.  The goldfish lasted maybe 3 hours after we got home?  Once we transferred them into their tank, they were gone within an hour.  Apparently, Daniel and I are really horrible at being goldfish owners. Oops!  Hayden didn't notice and Hadleigh took the news really well.  She didn't even bombard us with 1000 questions.  I think we will just stick to the games that have the stuffed animals as prizes next year!

4/5/6 month comparisons

It’s been a few months since I’ve done side-by-side comparisons of the girls.  I’ve taken a picture of all three in the same Christmas dress, just so I could compare!  Hadleigh & Hayden actually wore the dress on Christmas Eve, but Harper is a little off on the seasonal clothes that her older sisters had. I dressed Harper in the dress a few weeks ago before I lost my chance of her fitting in it at all!

So, we always say how much Harper looks like Daniel and Hadleigh - which is so true!  But here, Hadleigh & Hayden look more similar.  I think Hadleigh looks more like Daniel now that she's gotten older, and Harper looks like both of them now. Can you tell Hadleigh & Hayden weren't too impressed when they were babies?! haha.

Who do you think looks the most a like?  

Harper - 6 months

Harper Madden is 6 months as of yesterday!! I’m so excited to see her grow, but a part of me is sad that she is probably my last baby.  It’s hard for me to admit that still!  Lately especially. 

 Harper is so happy – smiles all the time!  She loves pretty much everyone, but really loves when her sisters are around.  She will finally laugh for us, but Hadleigh still gets her to laugh so much more!  Harper loves to be around people, so I think she’s going to be our little social butterfly.  She’s happiest when in company. 

Harper rolls from stomach to back and back to stomach all the time.  She is sitting up great with support.  She can almost sit up by herself, but she still falls over or leans forward way too much.  It definitely won’t be long though!  She wants to crawl so badly, but hasn't figured it all out yet.  Because she’s so social and sees her sisters walking around, you can tell she just wants to be up and at it with them.  Although I don’t want to rush it, I really do think she will be even happier when she gains that independence of being mobile.  Right now she gets bored and frustrated easily with being on her belly/being in the jumper/being in her kickin’ coaster. 

 Harper is still nursing and getting breast milk in bottles during the day while I’m at work.  She does awesome with both, so I’m going to keep going until she starts showing signs of wanting to wean or she starts beating on my chest like Hayden started doing.  That’s when I know it’s time to stop nursing! J  Harper is getting cereal once a day, and then a fruit & vegetable once a day. Although I will admit that sometimes she just nurses because things get so busy.  She is 100% happy with nursing and doesn't miss the food on the days I don’t offer it to her, so I don’t sweat it.

She was sleeping through the night, but now I’ll admit that is not the case anymore.  I thought it was just a fluke, but after a few weeks…not so much a fluke anymore! Ha. She goes to bed around 8pm every night.  I nurse and rock her to sleep and then put her in her crib.  She goes until about 1:30-2am, and then she’s awake babbling in her crib.  So, I get up to nurse her and put her back to sleep.  Then she’s up again between 4-5am to nurse again.  Sometimes she wakes up at 6am, but then goes back to sleep around 7:30am.  Other days she is asleep after that 4-5am feeding until about 8am.  Days when her sisters are home, she takes more cat naps and then one decent hour nap.  She catches up on her sleep the days when both Hadleigh & Hayden are in school.  I think she’s going to be like her sister Hadleigh and if any stimulation is around, she’s up! 

She has brought so much joy to this family in the last 6 months!! We cannot believe she is 6 months ( ½ a year people!) already!

Mommy, Daddy, Hadleigh, and Hayden love our buddaboo, Harps, Harper-baby, poopy butt (as Hadleigh says sometimes) so very much!!