Present And Accounted For

There is something so satisfying about having all the binkies in the house in one spot. Probably because it's kinda miraculous around these parts.  

Also, tell me the truth...Is the ponytail not quite ready for public appearances yet?  Sometimes I think we are golden and other times I worry it's trying just a little too hard.  And since there is no one's opinion I trust more than the internet, I'm just putting it out there.

Kid Vs. Kid--7 Months

Because I haven't posted in awhile.  And because this post took about 3 minutes to complete.  And because I just think my kids are cute, darn it!   And because it's fun to look back and think "Wow, a month's worth of  photos and Holden has his mouth wide open in every.single.one. of them.  Wonder what that phase was all about?"  Ahh, reminiscing.  

Summing Up Summer

in one video...
Legos and trains
Constant interruptions from the dryer timer
Bad music (along with forgetting most of the words)
pants optional
baffled little sister

Yep, that pretty much covers it.  Our summer in a nutshell.

I know videos are super annoying...but I love it too much not to share.

Presented in Pretend Polaroids.....

Harper at six whole months!

Here's what's up with our little Harps, Harpsichord, Chubber, Frazzletoe (yes, that one is sticking...)  

She's reluctantly mastering her sitting up skills.  She can last a good 30 seconds, but would much rather be perfecting her crawling.  When my iPhone is in sight she'll lunge for that thing with army crawling skills that Holden didn't manage until he was many months older.   I must not have done a good enough job explaining that she is skipping my favorite part of babyhood.  I like to call it the lazy stage, because I can be a much lazier parent during this part.  You know, the part where she can sit up in shopping carts so that I can stop lugging around my biggest enemy, her giant carseat,  but also can't get anywhere without my help.  Yeah, I don't think that stage is going to work for very long with this one.  No free rides here.

She's still rocking mounds and mounds of hair.  And it is getting more and more difficult to manage.. Especially when Reo gives her crazy hair at bathtime.  I know, right?  Wahh, my baby has sooo much glorious hair.  Cry me a river.

Speaking of bathtime, she totally digs it.  Especially right before she goes to bed.  For the first time.  Home-girl is not at all interested in sleeping through the night on a regular basis.  Even with Reo taking on some of the night shifts we are still bordering zombie apocalypse around here some days.

Also, despite the fact that she gives you major stink eye when you eat people food in front of her (as pictured below), she is indifferent at best about baby food.  Even the good stuff. (For reals, guys, just try to tell me baby food pears aren't delicious.  Just try.)

Favorite thing about Harper right now?  She loooves her toys...And in this case, her friend Culver's toy. Look at the intensity of her love.  It's almost frightening.

Finally, she continues to be a big ball of chubby goodness.  I can't get enough of all 26.5 inches (67th percentile) and 19lbs 4oz (92nd percentile) of her.

Best Of: Going Unplugged

I spent a good portion of last week "unplugged."  That's a big fat checkmark on #4 of my 30 by 30 list.  Three days with no internet, TV, movies or games on my phone.  Surprisingly, the internet survived without me, and Friday Night Lights was waiting for me on Netflix right where I left off.  So you could say it went off without a hitch.  I MAY have planned the blackout for a few days when I had lots of fun stuff planned anyways to make the withdrawal a little less severe, but that's not cheating, right?

Oh, also?  I kickstarted the whole event the night before by completing number 16 at this restaurant with one of my favorite people who has the nearly psychic ability to call me whenever I could really use a friend.  

Some highlights:

Annual trip to Pineview Reservoir.  This trip always makes me remember that I can never spell reservoir correctly on the first try.  Or the second apparently.  Holden spent the bulk of the day building pirate jails on the sand.

Conning Reo into taking a day off of work for a "Family Fun Day,"  complete with ice cream for lunch, visiting Grandpa's office for a little game of chess, and impromptu bowling when it rained out our afternoon swim.  Harper was there, but hanging out in your carseat all day doesn't result in many pictures apparently.

And of course, we hung around the house, playing with toys and attempting new hairdos.

After feeling pretty darn proud of myself for my accomplishments, we capped off the weekend with our new favorite tradition of Reo and Holden watching America's Funniest Videos, which they both enjoy way too much.

Lucky

Harper is pretty lucky to have Holden as a brother.  And she knows it, too.  Every morning Holden wakes her up by getting right in her face and yelling, and she just grins at him.  As of now he is the only one who can get her to laugh.  And, he likes to help her eat.  He takes his job very seriously.

And he also belongs to the "bite for you, bite for me" school of thought.  Whatever gets him to eat his vegetables, I guess.

On the flip side, Holden is pretty lucky to have Harper as a sister.  I'm pretty sure he gets in a couple good jabs or squeezes on her every day, and she never rats him out.

Legit

Well, it finally happened.  We are real live parents now. The Manning household has seen its first big "owie."  Apparently my constant reminders to everyone to "be careful!" was not a flawless plan.  Last week, our typical afternoon pool rat routine ended at Instacare when according to Holden he was "jumping into the pool and (insert unintelligible jibberish here) and split my chin RIGHT OPEN!"  He'll tell you all about it if you want...Or even if you don't want.

Three stitches later---

And five days after that they're gone---

This was him right after some pretty harsh accusations.   "You LIED to me!  It didn't tickle!  It HURT!"  Mom of the year right here, people.  In my defense, I didn't realize that there were some pretty deep stitches going on in that chin.

Oh well, nothing a Spiderman sticker, a sucker and a bright orange Band Aid can't fix.

And also some late afternoon underwear modeling....Calm down everyone, it's never been worn underwear.  And look at both of them looking at me like it's no big deal.  Seriously mom, no need for the camera here, move along.