Welcome spring!  It’s time for our quarterly update from the Richards household.  Are you ready?

Our winter months were fairly low key.  Eric has been studying for his Structural Engineering Licensing Exam, which he takes/took April 13.  That means 4-5 hours a week with his nose to the books, working engineering practice problems.  Most of his study time was allocated to nap times and after Harper’s bed time.  But it still was a drain on him and our family.  I have maintained my 4 day a week work schedule, which is terrific.  I’ve also been working on some crafty projects (baby gifts for friends and family, cards for a card-swap) and tending to the majority of household chores (so Eric can study). 

We snuck away to Breckenridge for a long weekend in February.  We had a terrific time playing outside with friends.   Harper got to learn her first lesson about changing weather in the mountains.  We took a snowshoe hike that started out lovely and turned windy, cold, and snowy about an hour in.  Our plan was to turn around at the 45 minute mark, so at that point, I left the group and headed back to the car with Harper on my back.  When the temperature dropped and wind picked up, I started running, which is NOT an easy or graceful thing to do on snowshoes.  Despite a few whimpers, Harper was very strong, and I praised her mountain-goddess toughness.  The real trouble was at the car, when my fingers were partially frozen (b/c I had forgotten my nice winter gloves on the trip and just had light ones) and I struggled to unlock the doors, unhook the baby carrier, and load her in her car seat.  I think we both shed a few tears, but we survived.  Harper was even game for going out to play in the snow the next day.  What a trooper she is!  She actually really loved riding in the sled around the neighborhood we stayed in. 

In March, we traveled to Kansas on 2 occasions – once to Wakeeney and once to McPherson.  We had a great time catching up with grandparents and cousins.  The weather was not exceptionally pleasant for either trip, so we didn’t get to do some of the fun “Kansas” adventures we had hoped for.  However, just having time with family is so nice for all of us.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to connect with many of our extended family or friends.  There’s always so much to do and so little time to fit it all in to. 

 

Easter was a big even in our household.  We weren’t sure how or if Harper would enjoy hunting for eggs.  But, boy, was it a fun game.  We “hid” an Easter basket for her in the morning, which she found right away and squealed with delight when she realized there was PlayDoh in it.  She also spent a large part of the day outside hunting for eggs; “hiding” and re-hiding them over and over and over.  What great fun! 

Eric and I don’t feel like we change a lot from month to month, but boy do we notice the changes in Harper.  She’s such an amazing gift in our lives, and a fascinating science experiment.  Some of the milestones we’ve noticed in the last few months:

·         A wee bit of attitude.  I feel like she was very, very laid back until her 18 month birthday.  It was as if on that day she decided to be a toddler instead of a baby.  She now has opinions about everything – food, shoes, what cup to use.  It’s hilarious and makes for interesting negotiations.

·         Running, walking on tip-toes, walking backward, spinning, dancing, and just generally moving… all the time.  Harper is pretty cautious at the playground and with things like stairs, tall objects (couches), etc.  She’s thus far not much of a climber.  But she definitely is on the move, all the time.  We love watching her get across the floor or yard using her jubilant and slightly out-of-control run. 

·         Teeth, feeding herself, and having strong food preferences.  We went from 7 teeth to now 10-12 (I lose count) within about a month.  Molars are coming in and it seems like she’s constantly teething.  Harper is perfecting using her spoon and fork (sometimes both at the same time), and she is expressing strong opinions about her food.  A couple of weeks ago, we made a Thai noodle dish that I thought she wouldn’t like.  She tried it and expressed “yummy, yummy” in a loud voice.  The next day, we had left-overs, and she wouldn’t even open her mouth to try it.   Luckily, she’ll almost always devour her veggies, she will always, always eat cheese and yogurt (plain), and if all else fails, she fills up on her trail mix of “O’s (cheerios), berries (raisins) and goldfish”.

·         Talking, talking, and talking.  We don’t like to brag about Harper, but she seems to be pretty gifted in the communication department at this point in life.  She has too many words to count, and she can now speak in simple sentences.  We hear things like “Harper ride blue car” when we’re loading up to go somewhere.  Or, we hear “don’t want to” when we ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do.  She can join in the singing of songs like “Twinkle Twinkle” or the “Hokey Pokey”, and she also can “read” to us certain parts of her favorite books.  One of my favorite things is listening to her when she’s just waking up.  She often sings herself songs, or repeats lines of books we read prior to nap or bed time over and over.  It’s so sweet. 

If you made it this far, I commend your attention span.  And, I’ll reward you with a bit of exciting news.  Come fall, Harper will no longer be the only subject of our blog.  Eric and I are excited to announce that we will be welcoming baby #2 in late September / early October.  We’ve nick-named this baby “Rocket” because we were a wee bit surprised in how quickly Rocket came, AND because we feel like we are just about to BLAST OFF into an even more crazy, busy, and joyful adventure in parenthood.