Happy Birthday, Harper!!!

Quiet, you! I know this post is more than two months late. Then again, I still haven't done my Christmas post so, by comparison...blah blah blah. This is very late. The PICTURES were taken on her birthday, I swear!

Our sweet little Harper Rose is one year old! AMAZING! I don't know how it happened; my permission was not asked. But there you have it: she's growing up. And she is growing into such a beautiful, sweet little trouble maker!

Harper wasn't feeling well on her birthday but she still had a few sweet smiles to share. We got her a rocking horse and some cuddly stuffed animals so she can snuggle her little heart out. This kid seriously loves a good snuggle!

Grammy popped in for a few minutes to wish Harper a happy birthday!

Sky is clearly a natural on the rocking horse. Harper hasn't been able to ride it much yet...

Kissy face!

I love messy 1st birthday cake moments. Remember Sky's? Harp was completely enthralled with her cake. It took her a few minutes to feel comfortable with digging into the sticky, chocolaty wonder. But dig she did.

I took a little video on my iPhone. I just watched it while it uploaded--you can watch Harper being cute, and you can also listen to Sky in the background talking non-stop about how she wants to eat some cake, too. Sky talked about eating that cake all day long and was patient enough to wait for Harper to taste hers first. She got a nice big slice as soon as I stopped recording this. :)

Some day Harper will ask me what she got up to as a 1-year-old. This is for her:

*Note, these are her 1-year happenings. She may be 14-months-old as I publish this post, but this is history being recorded, people. This is Harp at 12-months.

• Harper can walk like it's nobody's business! Forget crawling; once she realized how much more she could see (and get into) while standing on two feet she never looked back. She is technically a toddler, after all, and crawling is just not something she believes in as a one-year-old.
• She loves anything soft and snuggle-worthy. If something has the ability to open and close, she will play with it. And she will probably fill it with spoons from her favorite kitchen drawer. Harp also loves wearing hats. Well, she loves to put them on and take them off, then repeat.
• She will eat anything. She will eat everything. She eats twice as much as Sky, easily. Bananas are her favorite food, followed closely by food. That is not a typo.
• Harper loves animals. If she sees one, she will run (hobble, whatever) toward it as quickly as she can. She tried to catch a squirrel at church. Animals: beware! Not a day passes by without Harper showing me a picture of a cat or dog, followed by Sky telling me we shouldn't have left Hero in Reno. I am truly the worst.
• I used to think Sky was a mama's girl. Then Harper came along. She follows me everywhere, like a teeny tiny shadow. If I stop short, she rams into my legs. I recently landed on my face in a failed attempt at jumping the baby gate while trying to sneak upstairs without being followed. She really loves her mama, but Daddy  is definitely an acceptable substitute.
• She says "mama" and "dada." She also yells, "AMEN!" any time she hears the name "Jesus Christ." Works out great at the end of a prayer, but there is a near-constant "AMEN!" shout happening during church hours. I'm starting to wonder if she associates yelling "amen" with laughter? She yells "AMEN!" then everyone laughs, then she laughs, then everyone laughs again, then she laughs again and I have to leave the room. She is so dang cute.
• She knows a few signs. She can sign "more," "sleep," "milk," and "all done." She also claps when we say yay or if we sing If You're Happy and You Know It.
• Our favorite thing that she does is her kissy face. It is the cutest thing in the world. She will do it any time I say goodbye or goodnight to Mike. The girls loves to give her daddy a juicy smooch to remember her by.
• Harper loves to watch Sky. She's amazed by everything her sister can do. When we're in the car, she leans forward as far as she can in her car seat so she can keep an eye on what Sky's up to. They play tag, which mostly consists of Sky running around the house screaming with Harper moving back and forth (also screaming) along a 10' length of hallway, desperately trying to keep up with Sky. I really love these girls.

Happy Birthday, Harper Babe! We love you like crazy!!!