Life is extremely hectic in the Shipman home, so I apologize for my lack of blogging. I feel like I've gotten so behind on letting you all know how Harmony is doing... I am so lucky to see Harmony reach every milestone, and I sometimes forget that you all don't have that same privilege. So I will try my best to fill you in more often.
Off we go.
I officially call Harmony my "Independent Woman". She now wants to do everything on her own, and on her own terms. About a month ago, she stopped wanting to be rocked to sleep at night. It was one of my favorite times of the day because she is not a cuddlier, and this was the one time she snuggled up and I got some good "mommy-daughter time" in. But now she just wants to be put in her crib with her binkie and blanket, and talks herself to sleep. I will admit that it's much easier, but sometimes I miss that cuddle time.
She also is getting a bit tired of her bottle. She will hold it on her own for a little while, but for the most part it takes me about 3 "rounds" to get her to finish it. She gets so bored so quick, that after about 2 ounces, she needs to take a break to play, and then she will get hungry again, and I feed her another couple ounces. Now, the only time that doesn't happen is with her 1st bottle of the day. She downs in in about 5 minutes, and then she is ready for the day.
We've pretty much converted our basement into a play area for Harmony, and she is more than happy to crawl around and play with all her toys for up to an hour. And like almost every baby i know, she also likes to play with mommy's and daddy's things. Our DVD's are right at her reach, so that's what she goes for first. And its so funny because she takes them out one at a time, and actually looks at the box like she is seeing what movie it is. Let me tell you, she has good taste in movies too! The first one she goes for almost every time is "13 Going on 30". She is a Jennifer Garner fan too! That's my girl! She also goes for the Lord of the Rings movies (grandpa would be proud). But after a while, she just goes to town and sweeps them all off the shelf and plays in the piles. So our solution was to empty the bottom part of our bookshelf and put all her books and toys in there, and now she hardly ever touches our DVD's because she is more than happy to take all of those off the shelf.
Like you saw in the video, she is crawling now, and she is getting quick. Before, I could have her in the main floor living room and let her play while I wash dishes or make dinner, but now she is crawling at lightning speed and I can't keep up. So on Monday Mike took the morning to put up her baby gates. So far we've only put gates on the stairs that go down, but as of yesterday we will have to put more up because she is pulling herself up on the furniture, and it's only a matter of time that she will be crawling up the stairs! I was at small group last night, and Mike and his dad (who is here for the week) were watching Harmony, and next thing they know she pokes her head up over the auto-man just a-grinning! They said the did it 3 or 4 times, and would actually scoot around while holding onto the side of the auto-man until eventually she fell back on her bum. The girl just won't stop! She JUST learned to crawl, and she was happy to be mobile for like, A DAY, and now all she wants to do is walk. That's all Mike and I do now- hold her hands and let her walk everywhere. She looks downright SILLY walking around because she is so small, but she just LOVES it. It's insane. She is just growing up WAY too fast- I feel like I can't keep up. I hardly ever put my camera away because I'm constantly having to document things.
Harmony is very proud of herself! I kid you not, i did NOT pose her like this!
As of her eating habits, she is doing well. She LOVES her carrots, bananas, and sweet peas, and tolerates her applesauce, sweet potatoes, and green beans. She doesn't like plums or apricots much at all, so i usually mix those in with some cereal and she is good to go. It's so funny to watch her face as she tries new foods, but I'm very lucky that she pretty much eats anything I put in front of her. Occasionally we give her "people food" as a treat, and the other day we were making a jello dessert with whipped cream, and Mike let her have the spoon. She LOVED it!
Yum Yum!
Since she has been able to crawl, she stalks Kemper around the house, and he has some mixed feelings about this. Some days he LOVES her as a playmate, and other days he just can't be bothered with her. But for the most part he takes is role as "big brother" very seriously and stays close to her.
Here they are together, watching the birds outside. It was sooo cute!
Mike and I count our blessing everyday, knowing that we are so lucky to have a house full of love. Thank you Lord!
