What do you feed your toddlers?

I have been having a REALLY hard time finding foods Harper will actually eat. Seriously! This. Kid. I have to give her carnation instant breakfast twice a day with her whole milk, just so I know she is getting SOME kind of nutrients. Have any of you been through this too? I ask her pediatrician every time I take her in, but he doesn't really seem concerned. Maybe it's just a phase, but it's SO frustrating!

These pictures don't have anything to do with my rant above but cute, nonetheless.

The other day at work, a kid left his water on the table, and Harper took it upon herself to drench herself. I took off her dress and threw it in the dryer. Harper was trying REALLY hard to get completely naked. At one point, she had her bloomers around her ankles and diaper almost off.

She didn't care about the multiple other kids in the room. If this persists after 10 years, I'll start to worry.

Hopefully one day she won't think stripping is fun.

She fed herself some Oreos.

She looks WAY too big here! This was this morning watching the Sesame Street episode with "Socks in the City." I really hope they weren't doing a play on words.

Harper got her new car seat in the mail that we won from Recaro! This. Car seat. Is. AWESOME.

After a failed attempt to get her to eat some pasta stars with turkey, she finally ate some spaghetti and meatballs. I was trying to avoid a bath tonight. No such luck.

On a totally unrelated note, I am so (selfishly) thankful my child loves to sleep. She naps well and sleeps well. Tonight she went to bed around 6:30 and will probably sleep until at least 7 which is when I get up for work. On the mornings I don't have to work, I will keep her up a little later the night before. It's fabulous.

Let's end the night with some vomit.

I started out today by oversleeping, not waking Michael up in time for him to get ready for church, then Harper and I rolling into church late. I picked her up from the church nursery after the sermon and took her back into the auditorium with me like I always do. Right when I sat down, I noticed a really bad bite on her right arm. She didn't seem too worried about it! I stopped by the nursery on the way out to the car just to ask if they had noticed it. They hadn't because she didn't cry the whole time she was in there. I really wonder if she bit herself! I know that sounds silly, but she is teething really bad right now and has been gnawing on her fingers and hands. Why not move on up to her arm? :)

It looks A LOT worse in the picture than in person.

This girl.....we are (hopefully) past the crayon eating phase but have unfortunately moved into the color on everything phase. At least it was washable this time around!

We headed over to Michael's dad's house this afternoon to hang out and eat dinner.

This girl thinks she owns the place.

Playing Aunt Alexa's piano

Harper LOVES her Aunt Alexa, and Alexa is SO good with her!

Here's a video of them playing on the trampoline together.

We didn't leave their house until after 8:30, so I changed her into her pj's before we left their house.

One tired little girl! (and lookin' a little rough)

I put her to bed when we got home then went back in to check on her and put some of her laundry away. She sat up and puked. A lot. Luckily, it all went on her blankie, and I didn't have to change her clothes or her sheet! We did, unfortunately, have to lay that poor blankie to rest. She has 5 more just like it. She'll be okay. I cannot say the same for the blankie.

Spotted Man-Parts and What Not

I may or may not have turned off the baby monitor in my sleep last night and slept in until 10. WHO does that? Certainly, not me.

Harper apparently kept herself entertained by pulling about 10 pairs of shorts, pants, and skirts into her crib out of the canvas boxes under her changing table. I guess the feat of getting that blue jean skirt on was too much for a girl to take.

Harper enjoying some celery and ranch.

This girl is OBSESSED with phones, AND looks pretty dang cute, if I may add.

Blurry but still cute.

So we went into World M@rket this evening since we hadn't been in well over a year.

Really, Heintz marketing department? You couldn't come up with ANYTHING better than this?

Well, there you go, folks. A shelf full of spotted dick for only $4.99. Now THAT, my friends, is a STEAL!

I live for Friday's

This morning started off with Harper's friend Juliana coming over to play while her momma got a massage.

Harper "helped" me mail a package to her friend Emily who is still in my friend's uterus. :) I don't recommend taking a toddler to the post office even when said toddler (ah hem) is in a stroller.
We went to T@rget to find a swimsuit that will actually stay on her. The picture makes it look red, but it's coral with white polka dots. SO stinkin' cute!
What's wrong with this picture? I hope the "flashing" stage passes quickly and doesn't carry on into adulthood. That would be embarrassing.
She was dusting the floor. I'm a supporter of child l@bor. (please note the sarcasm)

Anyway, here is a video of Harper "stuck" in her Daddy's boots. I know some of these videos are lame, my Harper's aunts, cousins, and grandparents like them. So deal with it.

Here is a pretty funny one of Harper's reaction to the vacuum being turned on.

What is UP with my kid puking in public places?!

Before I get to the whole puking part...

I went in to get Harper out of bed to get her dressed this morning. This kid cracks. me. up. She wasn't pissed off like I thought she would be in this predicament. Of course, I had to leave her like that to get my camera. I mean, I'm being a responsible parent by documenting these moments in her life, gah.

She thought it was pretty funny that I was laughing hysterically.

I always set Harper on the potty before I put her in the bath so once we do start the potty training phase, she won't be terrified of it. I mean, I would be pretty scared of a giant whole of water that growls when you touch the while thingy.

She looks like she's concentrating pretty hard on something.

Nope, it's an act and apparently, really funny.

We went to the mall tonight after dinner, and Harper puked all over herself. Again. At the mall. For the third time. Really? As if the public restrooms in the mall are super clean and everything, I have to strip her down, wipe her off so the puke smell doesn't make ME vomit, then get her into another pair of clothes. Luckily, this time I did have some extra clothes. On our way out, we let her play a little to wear herself out.

She went down the big kid slide all by herself!

Is it just me, or is my kid pretty dang cute?

Charcoal Grill!

When Michael and I moved from Wilson to Lubbock, we decided to sell our propane grill since we didn't have a privacy porch at our apartment. Well, after almost two years without a grill I just couldn't take it once it started to get warmer outside. I wanted to start with an inexpensive grill so if it gets stolen (like Michael's bicycle did that was changed to the stairs), I wouldn't be too sad.

It did a pretty good job for $25!

Mmm....cow.

Harper has been so crazy lately. She is obsessed with trying to put her own pants on. It's pretty entertaining to watch. Tonight while I was grilling and Michael was winning the Super bowl on PS3, Harper played in her room. I didn't get a video of her trying to dress herself, but I did get a pretty cute one of a short game of peek-a-boo.

Random stories from today

Yesterday at work, I was walking backwards trying to get away from Harper because she was whining and wanting me to pick her up. I tripped over a toy and caught myself on the changing table and diaper champ. As soon as I did, I knew I pulled something in my back. So I went to the chiropractor this morning to hopefully start some kind of pain management plan. He did x-rays and said he was going to take some time to look them over and to schedule another appointment. I was thinking...like tomorrow. No, MONDAY! What? By then I could convince someone else to just do a back transplant. Not really, but you get the idea. So I left there super annoyed and still in pain. Oh, and they weren't able to verify my insurance online so instead of calling the insurance company, I just had to pay out of pocket until it's verified. SO annoying.

Random picture #1: I go by Tuesday Morning every now and then to check out their baby clothes. I found this sweet smocked dress for $12.99! Yes, please!

Random picture #2: When I got home from grocery shopping tonight, I went to check on Harper. She had pulled a pair of pants out from one the canvas boxes under her changing table and apparently fell asleep while trying them on. Silly girl!

Camping Trip: Caprock Canyons State Park

Michael mentioned he wanted to go camping for his birthday which is April 4th. I did some research on camping sites close to Lubbock and decided to make a reservation at Caprock Canyons. It's only a little over an hour from Lubbock and wanted to start close to home for our first family camping trip.

Disclaimer: I am not too great at "roughin' it." I take at least two showers a day and don't care for bugs or dirt. We packed up the Durango and headed out Friday around noon.

Poor Me Max wasn't too sure about this. Harper wasn't phased by the amount of crap camping gear surrounding her.

"Do I have something on my ears?"
Michael: "Hey, it's a bison!"
Me: "Umm, I'm pretty sure that's fake."
We got the tent set up without killing each other.
It almost looks like we could relax in those chairs, but Harper would try to wonder off and play with the cactus.
It was pretty but not pretty enough to want to do this on a regular basis.

We stopped at the park by Lake Theo to pass some time.

She LOVED this tire swing. She kept saying, "Eeeeeeeee!!!"
Remember this dress from our last photo shoot? Like I said, good thing it didn't cost a lot because that dirt is never coming out...hence camping in a dress.
I thought it would be a fabulous idea to make some bacon and eggs for dinner. Well, being the very intelligent person that I am, I brought a plastic spatula. Not smart. It melted plastic to the bottom of the pan without my knowledge....until the taste test.
I forgot butter, so I fried some eggs in the bacon grease and toasted the bagel in the same pan. Remember the plastic spatula mentioned earlier? Yeah, Max wouldn't even eat the food. GROSS.

Before we even left Lubbock, I promised Michael at least ONE night of camping. We paid for two and didn't even last 24 hours. We got to the park at 2pm on Friday and was packed and headed home by 9:30 am on Saturday. Hey, at least I tried, right?!

We have a biter.

Do you see what's wrong with this picture?

Now do you see it?

Really? Then she screams when she doesn't "work." I realize this may be the point where we say "so long" to her beloved paci, but I REALLY like my sleep and feel like I'm not getting enough here lately. She has about 2.5 million paci's so I guess once she goes through and destroys all of them, that will be the end of it. Until then, I will enjoy my sleep.

Next post to come: Camping at Caprock Canyon State Park (leaving tomorrow and staying 1 or 2 nights...just 1 if I have anything to say about it!). I don't like bugs. I take at least 2 showers a day. I have a feeling that camping and I just won't get along.