on our way to a complete family

proposed to amy over the weekend, march 22nd. don't think she saw it coming. i sent an email out to the framily to see when we would all be able to get together for the surprise. i even emailed bob and rhoda and jan and bill, to ask for permission for their daughters hand in marriage. thought at least i could be somewhat traditional considering everything else really isn't. the plan was to somehow get amy to zilker park. we met there 11 years ago at an austin city limits festival, so i thought it would be nice propose there. bob and rhoda were even in on the surprise but it almost became hard to get her out there considering there was a chance of rain that day. amy had other ideas of what to do that sat afternoon so we all had to be persuasive on getting her to the location. people made signs and there even ended up being someone playing music when we arrived. someone had asked them to stick around for the surprise and they were kind enough to do so. i had a big ring pop ready to give her. part of the gang came around the rocks, while some were on the rocks with signs saying things like, "can i get an amen?" "say yes" and "put a ring on it." i got down on one knee and asked her if we could complete our family. luckily she said yes. everyone cheered and we celebrated at shady grove down the road. most everyone came back to house to carry on the celebration. it was a lovely evening. hopefully one amy will never forget.

big girl bed...well kinda

we went to ikea yesterday and found the cutest duvet cover for h when she got into a big bed. i guess it made us talk again about changing her crib and using the conversion kit we bought some time ago. it basically changes one side for her to have an opening to get in and out of her bed and the sides are lower to make sure she doesn't fall out. we hesitated because we imagined a whole other world of her not wanting to sleep and trying to come into our bed, come downstairs or whatever 2 and 1/2 year olds try to do to not sleep. but on the other hand, it could be good on the weekend mornings when we are not ready to get up at 7am. she could get up and play in her room til we get up. still, the possibilities were endless. we knew we needed to start a small change soon since we were going to be starting potty training this year too. she was so excited she wanted to call everyone and tell them about her big girl bed.

she did awesome as usual. she got excited after reading books to be able to get into her own bed. good thing because it was getting hard for me to pick her up and put her in and out of the crib. i am too short! she got under her covers and stayed in her bed. granted she didn't go to sleep for a long time, but she did not get out at all. nightlight was on and door was open for her. at one point during the night, i checked the monitor to see how she was doing. her legs were hanging off of the bed, but seemed to stay on the bed. when i went in to get her up, her immediate reaction is usually to stand up, even if her eyes are not even open yet. had to tell her to slow down and remind her she was in a big girl bed. she scooted down so her feet touched the ground and got out of bed on her own for the first time. it was pretty neat. i could see a smile on her face too. this is only day one of course. fingers crossed it continues to go well and she doesn't figure out that she can run around if she wants.

curious george

me: are you going to share your snack with curious george?
h: oh, curious george doesn't have a mouth
me: yes he does, look again
h: he has a smile, not a mouth

our little swimmer

swim lessons started up again for harper. this time, mommy isn't in the water with her. she is in a class of 3 kids per one teacher. amy and i were a little worried at first, but she was so excited to go swimming again, she didn't even notice amy wasn't in the water with her. her teacher, ms. jen is amazing. bubbly, lots of high fives and singing lots of songs. h did everything she asked her to do. the m&m's helped as well. i think this is going to be so great for her to get more comfortable in the water. so far she really likes it. plus, she looks extra cute in her whale bathing suit.

h's first snow/ice

ok. not exactly a winter wonderland, but she was able to see the white dusting of snow/ice. she got excited to be able to touch the snow/ice on the deck. poor thing. i think we need to find her some real snow.

can you?

it makes me laugh when h asks for help lately. she will say, "can you help me please?" or "can you open this please?"

but! you have to hear her say "can you." it sounds almost french, like "can ju?"

super cute

jump into your pants!

a few weeks ago, we had a stretch of mornings that proved to be challenging. we took for granted that harper is pretty happy in the mornings, with us waking her up so early, getting her ready for school and rushing out of the door. she decided the other day that she didn't want to change, put on her clothes, socks or shoes. it came with her saying, "i don't like those pants. i don't like that shirt." 20 mins later of trying to reason with her, we had to pretty much hold her down and force her to change her clothes. not exactly a great way to start the morning. plus, you just feel bad that she is frustrated. she cried the entire time, on the way to the car and i had some difficulty putting her in her car seat too.
so amy and i had to come up with a plan. we thought of things like, let her pick out her outfits or see if she wanted to put them on herself, etc. the bribe if 2 M&M's didn't even work. then we realized that we were rushing her, so we got her up about 15 mins earlier to let her have her milk and sit in the bed a little while longer, remembering that we both need to stay calm no matter what. sure enough the morning went much smoother. amy even came up with a little game where she jumps into her pants and pops into her shirt. she finds it entertaining...for now. things seem to be back to normal so far. looking back it was the week she ended up having a temp of 102 on that friday. maybe she was not feeling well, trying to fight something off?
i know we have been lucky almost avoiding the terrible 2's, so i am trying not to complain. we are lucky to have so many good days of happy harper. does this mean we are going to experience the horrible 3's?