Adventures of a 12-16 month old

Goodness gracious...I have been very delinquent. Harper is almost 17 month olds. We've had a few sunny days to enjoy Seattle, visits from 2 sets of grandparents, and loads of firsts.

This is Harper's first dinger. She tripped on her own feet and fell into the ottoman in her room. Of course, she fell on the wood legs, not the cushioned part. But she recovered well and had no problems getting the swing when she wanted it at the park that week.

Harper seems to be following in mommy's footsteps...she loves to "clean". Too bad she also likes to make a mess.

After work book reading by daddy.

Harper has become quite attached to her blanket (this one in particular from my dear friend Bonnee). She brings it with her all over the apartment and repetitively picks it up and spreads it out on the floor, laying on top of it.

"March Madness!!!"

We make all of Harper's meals for the week on Sunday. She likes to stand on the ledge of the freezer and picks out what she wants..."No...no...ya."

Cleaning again

Joe-sy Cool

Harper and I met Lauren, her mom Carolyn and sister Jordan for a play date at Gymboree. We met Carolyn and her husband Jamey through our friends Shannon and Dan. Then, Lauren and Harper were born 1 month apart.

She loves taking her books off the bookshelf, and reading them for 2.2 seconds before moving on to the next one. Daddy loves organizing the books, 4 times a day. (sarcasm)

Mommy's shoes make walking a bit more tricky.

Harper had fun playing with daddy near Pike's Place Market. We were so impressed with her control running down the hill and back up. Is it obvious this is our first child?

"I pitty the the fool who has hair!"

Working girl.

Nonno and Nanna came for a visit. They were so excited to read to Harper and see all her latest developments. Like bringing you a book, sitting on your lap, listening intently for 2 pages, then promptly crawling off to fetch a new book. It never stopped being cute.

Classic

A trip to the Children's Museum (across the street from our apartment) proved developmental. Harper learned how to climb the stairs, sit, and slide all on her own. It was the first time and we concluded that she was fast learner.

And a masterpiece artist.

She loves "talking" to the sea-beasts...I mean seagulls. They are as big as her, but she is fascinated by them.

Painting at home.

After Nonno and Nanna, Nene and Papa came for a visit. Patrick and I planned a trip for my spring break so we played with Nene and Papa for a few days before leaving them to keep up with their ever mobile granddaughter. They loved every minute, even the afternoon naps.

Every spring, Skagitt Valley, just north of Seattle has their tulip festival. It is one of the largest exporters of tulip and daffodil bulbs in the world. Last year we were a week too late to see the full bloom. This year we were a week early. The daffodils were gorgeous, but only a few tulips had bloomed. Harper didn't seem to notice and ran wild through the grass.

We also took Nene and Papa to one of Harper's Gymboree classes so she could show off.

Ah, the bottom layer of the soon to be book mound. At least she's interested in books.


Nene and Papa also took H to the children's museum. She drove a bus, toured a few other countries, and shopped at the Metropolitan Market.


Lots of park time, when the sun came out to say hi.

We thought it was weird that only her legs were cold, too.

An after work hike through our urban Discovery Park. H loves being outdoors.

A rare appearance from the sun prompted us to drive to Alki Beach (10 minute drive on the other side of the Puget Sound from our apartment). We played at their super cool park, had lunch, and walked along the beach. Harper better get used to the sand between her toes...minus the mountain back drop.


It was a perfect evening for a bbq on our roof.

H has her daddy's sleep habits...wack-a-doo sleep positions. This one had us laughing ourselves to sleep.


Hike with daddy.

Look closely, H is amongst the tulips below the space needle. Just a little jaunt around the Seattle Center.

She's learning to feed herself. Yay!...I guess.

A trip to the aquarium.

Followed by fun in the sculpture park.

And another hike. Yes there is still snow in the mountains and it's late May. There will be some pluses to our new home in L.A. But we'll miss our beloved Pacific Northwest!

A Southern Holiday with a celebration of 1 year of Harper

I can't believe how late this post is...Harper turns 1 and mom stops documenting. What kind of a mom am I? This is our trip to Texas for the holidays. We celebrated Harper's first Christmas and first birthday. It was wonderful to see so much family and watch Harper discover the wonder of the holidays.

The fun began Christmas Eve at Grammy Vecchio's house with Aunt Andrea. Harper got gifts from Aunt Deirdre, Uncle Martin and Aunt Pat, Aunt Andrea, and Grammy. Here she is opening a fun bath toy from Aunt Pat and Uncle Martin. We then went to Aunt Therese's to celebrate with the Lindners, and Bartholomews. This has been a tradition in Grammy's family since we all moved to Flower Mound in the late 70's/early 80's. I cannot remember a Christmas where I didn't celebrate with my cousins and aunts and uncles at Aunt Therese and Uncle Dale's with the trains below the tree. It meant so much to me to introduce Harper to the same tradition.

Christmas morning, Harper got to experience the Wille tradition of stocking opening. Her stocking, thoughtfully made by Nene was bigger than her, but she loved discovering everything inside. We all enjoyed laughing and spending time together while we opened gifts and enjoyed a yummy holiday dinner.

The best gift of the day was this activity table from Aunt Heather, Uncle Curtis, cousins Connor and Hunter. She still loves this table...almost 2 months later.

We had fun playing with the box...typical.

We took Harper to the park around the corner from Nene & Papa's house. Of course she loved the swings and eating bark.

Dinner with grown-ups...Harper made the transition to whole cow's milk and ate everything we ate the entire trip.

Harper and her cousins Hunter (Longhorns) & Connor (Red Raiders).

Aunt Andrea, daddy, Harper and I took a quick trip down to Kingwood to see Nanna & Nanno. We got a chance to reconnect with our cousins Frank, Mark, and Valeta Vecchio and their families. Frank's birthday was Dec. 28, so he and Harper celebrated together. Harper was also infatuated with Mr. Freeze's dog bed (Valeta's dog). Mr. Freeze wasn't so fond of Harper.

Exploring Nanna & Nanno's porch.

After returning back to Flower Mound, we spent time with Aunt Andrea and Grammy at Grammy's house. New Year's Eve, we went to Sonoma Grill (Aunt Andrea's and my favorite restaurant in Flower Mound). We had a great time although none of us made it to midnight (11:30).

We got a chance to see Uncle Marcus and Mollie. They brought Harper a fabulous teddy bear bigger than her. She also took her first steps at this Starbucks (although she didn't truly take off walking on her own until we returned home).

We made sure to celebrate Harper's first birthday with family. Aunt Trudy and Uncle Jerry provided the appropriate attire (my first birthday onesie). We had Nene, Papa, Grammy, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Dale, Aunt Therese, Aunt Monica, and Uncle John, yummy food and H's first birthday cake. She wasn't so sure what to do at first, but she quickly embraced the sugar of the cupcakes. :)

Everyone was spectacularly generous and Harper really started to get the hang of opening gifts. Dare we say she started to enjoy it?! It was a fabulous first birthday for our first baby. And can we just, holy cannoli, it's been a year and we're all still alive and healthy.

Harper is so lucky and so are we to have such a loving and supportive family.

We had time for one last trip to a park before flying out. Harper loved the swings and slide again. But this orange thing-y was not her favorite. Thank Aunt Andrea for saving her!

The mountains came out to play