Ring, Ring; Who's Got the Ring?

Mike and I have been searching the house with Sky for the past 20 minutes. She misplaced her CTR rings (yes, plural--she got a new fancy silver ring for Christmas and now wears one on each hand) and we couldn't find them. Not in her room, not in the kitchen, not in the bathroom, not in the ring box, not in the fridge, not in Harper's diaper.

I started to look in her purse when suddenly:

"Oh! I know where they are!!!! They're in my pocket!"

Phew! At least they weren't lost in my pocket.

11 Months Old!

This is what Harper looks like at 11 months:

She is getting so big! And somehow, blurrier. We're hoping she'll grow out of that, but we will love her just the same--blurry or sharp. That's what kind of parents we are.

We're also the kind of parents who let our kids play with the Christmas tree. Harper LOVES the Christmas tree. This is how she looks at it. Behold the lights in her eyes:

She's a stander and a walk-along-furniter-er:

She's learning the pirate ways from Sky. Doesn't this picture totally remind you of Sky in the "No Boys Allowed" post (also at 11 months old)?

She doesn't quite have the "yeargh" look the way Sky had it, but I'm confident she'll master it with more practice. Harper makes a lot of cute faces these days.

We love this little girl so much! She has two bottom teeth, which you can glimpse in the blurry picture at the top, and since I snapped these shots her top middle teeth have grown in. She'll have at least those 4 teeth to munch cake with on her birthday!

Harper is a shrimp. People often guess she's 9 months old, sometimes they guess younger. She weighs around 16lbs and when she wanders along furniture all you can see is the top of her head. She has teeny tiny feet. It's like someone turned me into a baby and there I am, trying so hard to see what Sky left on the couch for me to play with. 

Dear Harper: I am your future. You will be very short and very white. I'm sorry.

Harp can say "mama" and "dada" and now says "amen" after prayers. She signs "more," "all done," "sleep," and LOVES to clap. She also thinks she's hilarious. Her favorite funny thing to do these days is to let things hang out of her mouth (toys, necklaces, noodles) and laugh until we notice and laugh with her. I love that my kids have a sense of humor from such a young age! Oh, and did you know you don't actually have to cover your face to play peek-a-boo? You just have to put your arms above your head and wait for someone to ask, "Where's Harper?" and then BOO! There she is! Who knew?

Sky is the best big sister in the world and Harper adores her. When they are laughing and playing together, it's like life couldn't get any better. I can't wait to see them playing together more this next year!

Online Shopping 101

Today we got a special package delivered to our front door from my awesome friend Christy and her girls, one of whom is Sky's best buddy--Mia. I decided to let Sky open her gift early because she was just so excited!

Mia sent Sky a very cute flower shaped "I am a Child of God" mirror. Sky can't stop talking about it and showing it off! Then this:

Sky: "Mom, can you keep Harper away? I need to use my computer."
Me: "Sure. Are you doing your work?" (because she is usually 'doing [her] work' when she uses her computer)
Sky: "No. I need to order a present for Mia."
Me: "Oh! Well, I already ordered her something. Want to see it?"
Sky: "Umm. Well. Okay, yes."

It was like I was the most annoying person ever, ruining her big plans. Anyway, I grabbed Mia's gift, showed it to Sky and explained what it was.

Me: "Fun, huh?!"
Sky: "Oh. Yes, that is cool. But I need to order her something else because I really love Mia."
Me: "You really do, huh?"
Sky: "Yes, Mom. I know! A camera that takes real pictures!" (which is exactly what Sky asked Santa for this year)

A few minutes later I heard, "Done!" and she walked over to me with an imaginary piece of paper.

Sky: "Here.This is the order. You hold on to it."
Me: "Okay, I will keep it safe until the order comes."

I assumed she was done, since she'd printed the receipt and all, but suddenly...

Sky: "A computer! I can get her a computer!"
Me: "But you already ordered her a camera that really works! And I already have a gift for her on the counter."

No response from Sky, who was back at work ordering things on her computer. Until she exclaimed:

Sky: "I can't stop ordering things for Mia!!!"
Me: "You can't stop?!"
Sky: "I can't! My computer says, 'Don't keep stopping ordering things to Mia.' That's what it says."
Me: "It does? It says that?"
Sky: "Yes, it does. You know why? Because I love Mia. And she gave me that mirror."

We sure miss Mia around here. Too bad we are so INCREDIBLY lame as to have neglected to ship the gifts in time for Christmas. I hope they still love us, anyway!

(As a side note, this incident also proved two things to me: 1) Sky has learned that we don't shop in this house--we order things; and 2) Sky has a very generous side to her. This is contrary to the face-plant-on-couch exclamation of last week that Sky will "never be happy, EVER again!" after having been told to share her toys with her cousin, Crew.)

The Prettiest Girl

Sky went upstairs to use the bathroom a few minutes ago. She has been changing underwear multiple times per day, simply because she wants to wear every pair she owns every day, so I asked her not to change her underwear. Then she came down with a different pair of pants on.

Sky: "Close your eyes, Mom!"

Me: "Sky, why did you change you pants?"

Sky: "Because these pants are really pretty."
Me: "I know, but you were wearing a different pair of pants when you went upstairs."
Sky: "Well, I am the prettiest girl so I need these pretty pants."

Me: "I'm not pretty?"

Sky: "Oh! Well, yes, you are. But I am the prettiest girl. Too... So I need to wear these pretty pants today."

Me: "Now I have to wash two pairs of pants instead of one."
Sky: "Well that's okay. These ones are really pretty."

So logical. As Sky would say, "it just makes sense."

10 Months Old!

Harper will be 11 months old in five days, so I figured it's about time I got around to posting her 10-month post.

I took the pictures when she turned 10 months, but Mike has created a death hole in the office and I was afraid to enter until now. I have to be brave. For the children.

Harper learned so much between months 9 and 10! Suddenly she learned to stand (and prefers to stand at all times of day), teeth were working their way out of her gummy smile and she started signing more reliably. And did I mention the whole this-kid-could-eat-a-horse thing? Because she is hollow. Constantly hungry and so dang cute.

Here! Pictures!

This one is blurry, but it has the seahorse and it's still cute.

And here she comes to steal my lens cover.

Sneaky, sneaky.

A proper munching.

And a proper big sister attack.

More to come in a few days. Phew, I'm glad I finally got that done! I hope I can find my way back out of this cave of wonders.

3 Troubles and Christmas Setup

In the later part of this week, I had my Wells Fargo debit card number jacked and had to cancel it, couldn't get my ING debit to work (turns out it was simply never activated), and fell down the stairs carrying Harper.

I have learned not to spend money ever. And never to use stairs.

Okay, so maybe I haven't learned those things but I did order a new debit, activate the other and have been entirely cautious while walking down the stairs with kids in arm.

Today we are setting up for Christmas. Sky is SO excited for "Wanta" to come this year. She wants him to bring her a camera that really works. She says she is going to be really, really nice and good at sharing so he'll be motivated to make her camera dreams come true. We are encouraging this behavior.

In fact, I am in the process of creating a responsibility chart for Sky, which includes things like "say prayers," "share," and "eat meals." Eating meals will be the most challenging of those three. "Stay in bed" might be another toughy, but she's already got "brush teeth" down.

Christmas tree time!