Grandpa Turns 70!

On March 10 my dad/Grandpa turned the big 7-0! As much as we tried to talk him into a big party - or even a little party with friends - he was insistent that he simply wanted to celebrate the milestone with his favorite people (and surprisingly, that was us!) :) 

For his actual birthday he had two extra favorite people in town, Don & Rosemary, and he was happy to enjoy some family time during their visit as well. Look at this happy Grandpa with his loving grandkids! 

For his "birthday bash" we had the family over to our house. We put out some old pictures, decorated with a "Happy Birthday" banner and served up a dinner of shrimp cocktail, filets, twice baked potatoes and roasted asparagus. 

A big milestone for one of our favorites - I love you dad & I love the amazing Grandpa you are! Happy Birthday! XO 

Harper Eats!

I was so excited to hear from the doctor at Harper's six month check-up that we could start feeding him real food. I had wondered if we'd have to wait until he was six months per his "adjusted" age - but hooray - we didn't have to. 

We decided to start our little buddy of on peas (Andy was pretty insistent that we not start him off on anything too tasty - we're determined to have at least one child who isn't picky about food!). Turns out - Harper finds peas to be pretty tasty - or maybe it was just the joy of eating something other than milk for  change. Regardless, he was all smiles and you could tell he was just relishing in the fact that he was doing such a big boy task! 

Over the following weeks we tested him out on the following and it was thumbs up all around: green beans, bananas, apples, pears, peaches, carrots, & squash. So far so good on the picky eater front - phew! 

A Visit from Don & Mae Mae...

We were so excited that Don & Mae Mae came up to visit for a few days before Grandpa's BIG birthday (more on that later!) It had been since Thanksgiving since we'd seen them and boy did Harper have a lot of big changes to show them. It was great to see all the Harpers together - loving on each other and sharing some special moments. If there is one thing we could all use more of in this world, it's Harpers...

Harper's Half Birthday...

Wow! What an amazing six months it has been since we welcomed Andrew Harper into this world. When I look at those first photos of him I am reminded of how truly lucky we are that we now have a healthy, thriving, chunky, full of personality and oh so handsome six month old. 

At his six month check up he weighed in at a solid 14 pounds 8 ounces - he's certainly come a long way since his birth weight of 2 pounds 15 ounces! He's wearing mostly six month clothes and even starting to bust out of those a bit - big boy! The doctor was so thrilled with his progress and had no complaints - she even gave us the green light to start feeding him baby food (more on that later). 

In this last month we have been working hard on rolling over (he's getting there and as long as his arms are under him he can easily do it), we do lots of tummy time and you can tell he's just dying to get crawling once he figures out getting those arms up and under, and sitting is coming along though with his big head that's proven to be a bit more of a challenge - poor kid is a bit top heavy. :) Haha, he'll grow into it no doubt and will be sitting in no time. He is also a definite thumb sucker and I find it very adorable. 

Meanwhile he is doing a lot of talking still, giggling, giving us big smiles when we enter a room and his purposeful play is getting better and better. He also found his feet! So he spends a lot of time playing with those - ha - who needs toys when you can tickle your own toes!? 

He still sleeps through the night and we're slowly finding a rhythm with naps during the day - but we're not quite on the schedule that I'd like, but I'm learning to be flexible which is not always my strongest suit.

To celebrate this big half birthday milestone I made the traditional half cake and we took some baby belly photos as well. We did the same with Adam so it was cute to compare their chunky legs and baby bellies. 

Here's Adam at his half birthday

In some ways these past six months have been a whirlwind and in other ways I feel as though Harper has always been a part of this family - time is funny like that I suppose. 

Regardless, we can't imagine life without our big Harper boy! 

A Day at the Zoo

That same weekend with still nothing on our schedules we took advantage of a beautiful, warm and sunny Sunday and headed off to the National Zoo. We hadn't been there since we took Adam at the ripe old age of one (see here) so we figured a visit was well overdue. 

Adam really had no memory of being there before so he was pretty excited to get to see so many different animals - and the best part was the excitement kept his mind off of the 4+ miles we walked around the park. We saw lions, tigers, apes, elephants, sea lions, spiders, gators, zebras, and best of all the pandas! Sadly we didn't see the new cub, but it was still fun to see mom and dad outside playing. 

Harper mostly slept through this visit but we'll be back - hopefully before he's 6! 

Air & Space Museum

A few weekends ago with absolutely zero plans on our schedule we took advantage of the whole "world is our oyster" situation and headed off to the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum. We've been there a few times before but this was the first time visiting where Adam could actually read the signs and information - and the best part was he wanted to read the signs and information. Sure, he didn't really read everything but it was fun to see him get excited about a certain aircraft and then go read about it. 

Harper seemed intrigued as well and was actually awake for the bulk of our visit just staring up at all the planes hanging from the ceiling. No doubt he enjoyed seeing all the different shapes and colors. 

For me the highlights are always seeing the Concord up close and of course seeing the space shuttle. It's just so amazing to stand next to it and to look at all the intricate details that you know took so much thought, engineering, testing, and meticulous installation in order to maintain a safe and reliable vehicle for our astronauts. Amazing! 

Speaking of space shuttles, Adam was excited to find a new hidden treasure at the museum - a flight simulator where you get to actually land the space shuttle! He loved it and had there not been a line of other eager kids (and adults) wanting to take part in the fun I'm sure he'd have landed it 20 times. 

We are so lucky to have such a great museum just 15 minutes from our house. We'll look forward to future visits and to one day watching Harper land the space shuttle! :)