Harper is 4 Months old! :)

Well, it has been two long month since I last posted on Harper's blog! UGH!

I will do a few quick updates:

Harper is now four months old!! At her 4 month check, she was weighing in at 13 pounds, 13 ounces, and measuring 25 and 1/8 inches long! She is long and lean! She's now current with her immunizations.

Harper had a great last visit, at the end of August, with her new pediatric orthopedist at Children's. Her ultrasound showed "normal" hips! We were thrilled with the news as you can imagine! :) She is wearing the harness at night for 6 more weeks (until Oct 7, we hope!!) and then she will hopefully be done with this hip nightmare!

Harper loves to "talk," scoot on her bottom, look at books, be outside, and play with toys while laying under her baby einstein play gym. She's a very happy baby!

Harper is sleeping great at night-typically 14 hours. She goes to bed around 7 pm and is awake around 9 or 9:30 am! (This is with 1-2 feedings, usually between 4 and 6 am, and sometimes one more before she is up!)

She still loves to take cat naps...probably because she sleeps so long at night.

Harper enjoys car rides now...which makes me SOOO happy! It's no longer torture to run an errand.

Harper loves going for jogs with mama! She sits so peacefully in the BOB...watching the trees, listening to the sounds of nature. She's yet to fall asleep while in the jogging stroller, but I predict it will happen sometime in the near future.

Harper loves giggling...

Harper is 2 months!!

Well, we have a big girl on our hands!!!  Harper was two months yesterday!!  Can't believe it...but happy that she is settling into a schedule!  Right now, some of her favorite things are sleeping on my or Brian's chest, relaxing outside in the fresh air, eating, smiling, cooing and looking around.  She's much more alert and is an amazing joy!!!  Harper dislikes driving in the car, but hopefully this will end sooner than later!! :)  We've begun getting out of the house much more too.  Meeting up with friends and other babies has been a great relief for me! :)  I've enrolled us for ECFE this fall, at the Edina Community Center.  I'm really excited for this class!  It's for parents and infants 3-9 months old, so I think it will be a great resource and way to meet other parents! :)  

Erica's wedding

Harper got to experience her first wedding this past weekend! :)  She was fantastic.  She wore a beautiful silver, taffeta dress! :)  She was ravishing if I must say so myself!  She was quiet an snooz-y during the whole ceremony and the cocktail hour.  It was fun to see college friends and get out of the house, dressed like a person.  :)  Only around her bedtime did she become fussy.  We made our exit at 7:15 just before dinner was served, although the wait-staff noticed and gave us our food to-go so it didn't go to waste.  Is that tacky?  I Hope not!!!!!  We got home and put her in her pjs just in time.  :) Pictures to follow...

Different again

So I have become that mom who is obsessed with their child's sleep habits.  UGH.  The swaddling only worked for 2 days, so my pacifier hunt has continued.  This morning, I fed Harper, burped her and then put her in bed awake, but drowsy.  She looked at me with her beautiful little face, smiled a few times, I kissed her and she turned her head to the right and went to SLEEP.  Without a fuss, a peep, a cry, anything.  Now, why was it so difficult yesterday?  Is it all truly related to timing it just perfectly??  If so, I don't know how I am going to get things done during the day obsessing about "is it the perfect time??"  Well, either way, she's still a great night sleeper, and is "technically" sleeping through the night.  She goes to bed around 7, 7:30 p.m.  She doesn't make a single peep!!!  She sleeps 6-8 hours for the first stretch, gets up to eat, then goes back to sleep for 3-5 more hours!  So, she is sleeping 11-13 hours each night, which is fantastic!! :) It's just nap time that continues to keep me on my toes.  :)  

Things change everyday

It's interesting that each day, I think I am starting to understand Harper and her daytime sleep needs.  Each and everyday, these apparently change.  WHAT?  I don't get it.  Some days, she sleeps great and is able to easily fall asleep on her own.  Other days, she is impossible to get to sleep without help.  On these hard days, every little sound wakes and startles her.  On the good sleep days, a semi driving through her room wouldn't wake her.  I don't get it!!!  I become frustrated, only to remember she's 7 weeks old and is trying to find her way too.  At this point, I will do what is needed to get her to sleep, or to help her sleep as I know how important sleep is to her.  I do think her sleep would be much easier if she would take and hold a pacifier in her cute little mouth.  She gets it in there for a few minutes her and there, but doesn't hold it and usually rejects it.  I am thinking about spending out "out of the house time" today at Target buying every single type of pacifier to try with Harper.  I am hoping that in the next few weeks, as she gains more weight and gets a bit older, that this nap issue is solved and that she's able to be more consistent with her daytime sleep.  :)

Pic of Harper

Sleep

I think I have finally solved Harper's disruptive sleep problem.  She's always been a great night sleeper, however naps are much more difficult.  She's a great sleeper, but since we've put her in her crib, she's had a harder time sleeping during the day.  I read two books-babywise and healthy sleep habits, happy child-neither of which helped.  She's too young to be on a rigid schedule and the ideas are great, but don't lay out step by step what to do.  SO, I randomly decided to try swaddling her.  Once I did this, she's been a fantastic, normal napper.  This has also almost completely eliminated fussing and bed and nap time!  WOO HOO.  LOVE IT!  :)  Harper is such a wonderful, fantastic, phenomenal little miracle.  WE love her SOOOOOOO much!  :)  Now