13 Months!

13 months old!
Harper in her Christmas sled from Great Grandma Berry

This month, Harper turned 13 months old!  She has been a busy girl, in the midst of a busy holiday season.  Here are some of the highlights:

Mac and cheese, please!

Harper continues to explore fun, new foods.  She prefers independence, enjoying feeding herself and often making a mess in the process.  One of her new favorites is macaroni and cheese; I suspect this is genetic, as I'm a huge fan of mac and cheese as well.  In fact, I don't know who loves it more, Harper or me?

Although, Harper has never been a very affectionate baby, only getting into snuggling when she's all tuckered out and ready for bed.  However, she has recently started giving out kisses.  Her favorite person to give kisses to is her Daddy.  It is pretty hilarious to see.  She gets a very focused, serious look on her face, before diving in towards your face.  Harper's kisses are my new favorite thing, but she will only give them when she is in the right mood and will not perform on command!

Movie night?

Harper is more mischievous than ever.  Much to our chagrin, there are two activities that she particularly enjoys: pulling out all the books from the bookshelf in her room and/or pulling out all the DVDs from the storage tower in the living room.  Unlike her mom, Harper seems to feel most at home in a chaotic mess.  This year, instead of a big Christmas tree, we decided to go with a mini version that could sit on a tabletop so that our adventurous babe couldn't pull it down.  It's not quite the same as a big tree, but knowing that it won't come toppling down is definitely reassuring, and Harper still really enjoys the lights on it.

A walk to Starbucks with Mommy and Daddy:
love that toothy little smile!

Harper is such a big girl that she is now brushing her teeth (okay, letting us brush her teeth).  She has a mouth FULL of teeth, so we want to help keep her adorable little gap-toothed smile clean and healthy.  She has her very own Elmo toothbrush and toothpaste, and dental hygiene has become a part of our evening routine.  She doesn't love it, but she is a pretty good sport.

Harper's hair is really coming in, which is very fun for me because it means that we get to experiment with cute new hairstyles.  The key is distracting her while putting her hair up in a clip because once she realizes that she has a pretty hair accessory in her hair, she can't help herself...she simply MUST pull it out!

Harper isn't walking yet, but we are trying to help her gain courage to take those steps.  We practice a lot, holding her hand, and she continues to cruise while holding onto furniture.  Hopefully it will happen in the New Year.

Our little Christmas shepherd
still loves putting things on her head!

As we prepare to celebrate our second Christmas with our sweet little girl, we are reminded of how much she has changed in the last year.  At her first Christmas, she snoozed in our arms, and now she can't be contained!  We are excited for our upcoming trip to Florida for Christmas at Harper's Aunt Kelly and Uncle PJ's house.  She will get to meet some of her cousins for the first time, as well as her Uncle Brandon, and to see her Grandma Annette too.  Plus, it will be her first plane ride...  We have a lot of excitement and fun adventures to look forward to this week with our sweet, spirited little girl.