The mountains came out to play

East Coast State of Mind

For the Thanksgiving holiday we decided to travel back east. I had not been back to NYC since we left 2 years ago and it would give us the chance to introduce Harper to Uncle Martin, Aunt Pat, and Aunt Deidre down in Richmond, VA.

We arrived in NYC late Sat. night and went back to our old Upper Westside neighborhood for dinner at one of our favorites, Henry's. Harper was still on West Coast time, so she was a perfect angle at dinner. The next morning we met our friends Melissa and Sean for brunch and introduced their daughter Olivia and Harper. They were so cute destroying the restaurant together.

Then we walked all over Brooklyn. We went to our old hood...still hipster mixed with sketchy. We got coffee at Citizen and walked by our old apartment building.

Then we went to Brooklyn Heights and played at the park. Harper loved the NYC swings just as much as she loves Seattle swings.

The Brooklyn Bridge was under construction, but we had to get some pictures with it anyway.

Harper's first subway ride. She loved looking at all the people.

...and Time Square was serious sensory overload. She was so excited by all the lights and noise.

We met Aunt Pat and Uncle Martin at another favorite...Tony's in midtown. We over ate and watched Harper make yet another mess before falling fast asleep on daddy's chest (rare for her).

The next day I went back to Brooklyn to introduce Harper to my friend Jodi and Karen, and then the fabulous community of P.S. 8 (my old school). It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone there and hear how my old students had grown. Then Harper and I met Patrick, Erin, Michaela, and Kevin at a bar in mid-town. Yes...you heard correct...NYC doesn't seem to mind if you bring a baby in a bar. We ate good bar food and had some fabulous laughs with old friends. Irv met us later, so Patrick and Irv could pose for their "my two dads" picture.

The next day we went into the Quad offices and saw Patrick's old work friends. Kate Torpy, came out to lunch with us and gave Harper a super important lesson in credit cards.

Then we took Harper up 5th Ave. and into FAO Schwartz. Cue the sensory overload again.

We continued into Central Park.

After a nap we met our friends Erin, Irv, Mike, and Kara out at City Grill, yet another favorite. Harper was still on west coast time so she played and ate late into the night. She was the perfect baby on her first NYC experience.

Then we took the train to D.C. where we caught another train to Richmond. We had just enough time to eat a quick lunch with my friend Mollie at Union station. Harper had a wonderful time crawling around the open space in the station and we had so much fun catching up with Mollie.

(Already fascinated with jewelry. Daddy was super excited! ha!)

Our first day in Richmond started with Aunt Deirdre and I going for a walk while Patrick went running (a 8 mile run magically turned into a 12 mile run when he took a wrong turn in Aunt Deirdre's neighborhood). We played in the park in the middle of Aunt D. cul-de-sac. Harper loved the swinds, per usual.

We had lots of time to relax and nap and spend time together.

Aunt Andrea and Grammy flew up to spend the holiday with us also. Aunt Andrea and her niece showed their team spirit for UT.

Harper loved crawling around and watching out the back window. The birds and other wildlife running around provided hours of entertainment for her.

The last day we were there, we went to old Gettysburg and then Busche Gardens for their festival of lights. Andrea, Patrick and I got our kicks from riding a looping, crazy roller coaster. We were like kids again.

I was obsessed with getting Harper on her first merry-go-round. She was too small to sit on a horse even if I was holding her. Booo! But she did get to ride in a chair with us.

There were a lot of firsts. Patrick and I marveled at seeing NYC again through the innocent eyes of our daughter. It was truly magical. A perfect start to the holiday season!

1 month short of a year-11 month old Harper

Harper already 11 months old...are you kidding!? No on feels more blind-sided by how time has flown than Patrick and me. We have truly enjoyed every moment. Even those middle of the night wake-up calls, and really stinky, poopy diapers. She's walking more with the support of anything stable. Plus she has started to test her balance by standing and letting go to see if she can stand. She is eating virtually anything we put in front of her. If we don't let her feed herself, she refuses to eat. It's super fun at times. She's babbling with much more intention now. I wish I had a translator. I bet her mind is thinking some fascinating things. I can't imagine what is to come.

Mooo...I'm 10 months old

Harper started crawling and walking all at the same time. So out with the "uglasaucer" and in with the "lunch cart". She pushes it all over the apartment, smiling all the way. That's how we celebrated 10 months of Harper...with a new toy. Bad precedent, we know, but she "needed" it. :)

We also took Harper to her first pumpkin patch. She had a great time on the hay ride and her Klocke farm roots became clear to us as she was mesmerized while watching the tractor pulling us on the hay bales.

Oh, and then there was Halloween. Not her favorite holiday. I'm sure she'll learn to love it once she can chew candy, but for now, this costume business is for the birds. My dear friend Anna made Harper this beautiful cow costume. H didn't mind the bodysuit part, but from the looks of it, you would have thought we had nails in the hood part. She hated it! We had fun trying to get her to pose and seeing all our other friends dressed up.

A little late, but here's month 9 of Harper.

Cameras are not our friends. We are now on our 5th camera in 2 years. Hence the low number of pictures this month. Harper celebrated her 9 month birthday on September 29. She had a great check-up at the Dr.'s weighing in at 23lbs (95%) and measuring 27.2 in. long(90%). She was eating solids well and slowly weaning herself from nursing. Her Dr. recommended that we start giving her more foods cute into small pieces so she could feed herself. Preparing foods for her has become much easier. We just cut up whatever we're eating (although I still make things for her to take to daycare). On October 3, 2010, she started crawling and walking along the furniture. It all happened at once. We're still waiting for her to walk without support, but we don't mind. The time is already flying too fast.