One Year Recap

 Today was Harper's one year check up. If I remember the doctor's words correctly, it was something like "dang. baby got back."

Baby girl is 29.5 inches (70th percentile) for height & 24 lbs (90th percentile) for weight. Our doctor confirmed that Harper is a certified badass since she is walking (almost running), says more than five words & was able to pick up on a little bit of sign language right there in the office.

 I wasn't sure I wanted to do one of those "one year stats" posts, but I have decided that I have to. It will be fun to look back on, to remember all these things & hopefully will come in handy for baby #2... someday.

Age: One

Stats: 29.5 inches, 24 lbs, 18 inch head circumfrance

Favorite Foods: Blueberries, Lasagna, Green Beans & Graham Crackers

Favorite Words: Mama, Dada, Zee (Izzy our cat), Bop

Favorite Toy: Organic Monkey Lovie Blanket & Baby Einstein Activity Table (crazy because she's had both of these toys for months & they are still easily her favorites)

Favorite Activities: Bath time, imitating everything we do, running laps around the dining room table, playing with mama's lip gloss bag & going for wagon rides 

Least Favorite Activities: Getting out of the bath tub, the word "no" & being calm.

Nicknames: Harpie, Harpie Doodle, Doodle Bug, Harpsicle, Harps, Harp-dogg, Harplacher, H-bomb & Punkey.

Signature Moves: Her fake laugh. Anytime she hears other people laughing, she wants to join in, so she does the loudest, fake laugh, that sounds like a dolphin or a sheep. It is too funny to describe, but we have a hundred videos of it. Also, the memorable booty drop. Girl's got moves.

Mom's Proudest Moment: Accidentally looking away long enough for Harper to grab one of my tubes of mascara, unscrewed the lid & put the wand in her mouth. (Yes, I called poison control. And no, it's apparently not harmful. But dear God, it was terrifying)

Runner Up: spilling beer on the baby when I leaned over the side of her crib to kiss her goodnight. I felt like a certified asshole on this one.

Dad's Proudest Moment: Putting little baby Harpie on his lap during dinner, but when she sneezed, her face slammed into the table top because she was too close.

Runner up: dropping a mini-bottle of water on her leg when she was riding in the stroller just a few minutes after she got shots in that leg. (She didn't even flinch, but dad felt awful for days)

Some other recent one year shenanigans...
The other night Harper finally pet our cat soft on her back (instead of plucking a whisker, poking an eye or trying put the cat's tail in her mouth), and while she was doing it she said "ni.... ni...." since we always show her how to pet "nice..." I was laughing so hard that I cried, it was the sweetest moment.

I bought Lucky Charms this week (for St. Patty's of course) & put a few on her high chair tray. She tried them & immediately proceeded to throw all of the actual cereal on the ground, only eating the  marshmallows. Smartest kid ever?

The most recent fun game she likes to play when she wakes up from a nap, she puts her head down and closes her eyes. We say "oooh night night..." and then she pops up laughing. Five hundred times.

 I could do it all day long. Although I guess that's an easy way to get fired from my job.

This face? My heart!

Pajamas, Security Blanket

That about sums up the highs & lows of Harpie Doodle's whole first year. I never thought I could possibly love someone as much as I love this little kid. Every day with her is exponentially more fun than the last.  I fondly remember sobbing over her growing up too fast (when she was literally four days old, but I was totally bonkers at that point) but now I look so forward to all the incredible things that she learns & does.
It just keeps getting better & better mamas... you have lots to look forward to! :)

Happy Birthday Donuts!

Oh yes, more birthday goodness. Since Harper's birthday was Friday but the actual party wasn't until Saturday, I wanted her to still have a birthday "cake" but didn't want to give her the smash cake quite yet. So I opted for DONUTS!

I initially had planned on attempting to build more of a donut cake, but amidst too much baking & lots of cooks in the kitchen, we ended up with this festive little display instead.

We also wanted a practice round of the happy birthday singing so we would prep her for the party, in attempt to avoid this face.

After staring at the donuts completely cross-eyed for just a few seconds...

...homegirl picked it up & went to town as if she had eaten them every day of her life.

I'm not entirely sure that she took a single breath while eating, in fear that someone may take it away if they realized that she was polishing off half a krispy kreme.

Candles, Headband, Popatu Cupcake Onesie (similar here)

Harper has been one for almost a week already & we are absolutely certain that these have been the best days of her life! :) Thanks again to all of our friends and family for coming to her birthday, to everyone who sent cards & texts AND to all of you, for all of the incredibly sweet comments & birthday wishes!
Harper would like to eat a donut for each & every one of you... as a thank you of course! :)

Valentine's Day Recap

 I still can't believe that Valentine's Day was already a week ago!

Valentine's Day felt more like Christmas morning, as we woke up to all of our family arriving from their overnight roadtrip from Iowa. We were rocking our red & ready to make a festive breakfast for our guests. Harper looks still half asleep here, but the fluffy bed head makes my day. She may also still have been confused about the Happy Birthday Eve song that I came bursting into her room singing just prior to taking this picture.

 Hello Sweatshirt, Red Pajamas

I know my heart shaped pancake actually looks like a shoe-print, but that's just me being entirely too lazy to use a mold or cookie cutter & free-hand-pouring it from a measuring cup. But I assure you, some of them actually looked like hearts. And they all tasted like funnel cakes because I cook pancakes in oil. And they're the shit.

We shopped for some birthday goodies, did a little party decorating & ate more heart shaped food.

 Typewriter Onesie, Hair Clip, Baby Fringe Moccasins, Fringe Boots
UPDATE: I'm embarrassed to even note this, but my shirt is Crewcuts from J.Crew. I went to buy it for Harper but all they had left was the largest kids size 14.... so I got it for myself. You can find it here.

 Heart shaped grilled cheese bites were a big hit! :) This is so easy because you can use cookie cutters of any shape to make festive lunches for any holiday! I even caught my husband fishing me out a red peanut m&m (even though I typically go for the blue!) because he knew I would want the festive one for Valentine's Day. 

I know, grow up Peter Pan. I seriously can't help it.

Olive, My Love

More pics to come tomorrow of her actual birthday & the donut cake that she polished off in a hot second. Hashtag, sweet tooth like mama! :)

Harper's First Birthday Party!

It doesn't seem possible, but our sweet baby girl has officially turned one year old. I can hardly remember what life was like before her, she is our whole world. Time truly flies when you're having fun!

Happy Birthday, Harper Eve! You are the sweetest, silliest, most fun little girl in the whole world. You are so beautiful, your eyes & smile light up the room! This year has been incredible & we can't wait to see what each new day brings with you in it. We love you to infinity and beyond! 


We want to thank you all so much for the sweet comments about her first birthday!! We had such a blast celebrating with our friends & family, and this sweet little kiddo certainly enjoyed herself as well! Her birthday extravaganza was so much fun! I'm excited to finally share some pictures! :)

We went to town with our pink ombre theme & I think it turned out pretty perfect! We had subs catered so that we could put all the focus on the desserts. We had cupcakes, dipped strawberry wafer cookies & lots of pink cake! Little kiddos got to tote around pink paper cups full of cheerios & frosted animal crackers! :)

My ombre balloon vision was not all that I hoped it would be... looking at the pictures now I'm almost laughing at the outcome. 

Harper's outfit was my favorite part of the whole day!! I worked with some fantastic Etsy shops to help me make my vision come to life & I loved how it all turned out!! She was such a little ham running around in her tutu. Such a doll baby.

After she got to visit with all of the guests, it was smash cake time! She couldn't quite figure out why she had such an audience & the singing scared the shit out of her.

She didn't waste any time, as soon as we took the flaming pink candles out of the cake, she slapped her hand right on top. 

I had to sneak in and cut out a big piece so we could finally see how the pink ombre turned out! I made her cakes myself the night before. I actually just used two store bought white cake mixes for this one & added in this pink food coloring starting with the darkest mixture first. For the frosting, I also took the semi-easy-way-out and bought a big bag of buttercream icing from Publix! I used the same food coloring to make a few different shades of pink & then just went to town trying to frost it perfectly. It was a bit of a mess but I loved how it turned out. It was topped with this edible gold glitter.

She could not get enough of this cake, she smashed her face right into it!

Of course we were all dying just watching her chow down on her cake... and you better believe there were tears when I finally had to take it away. I swear she would have eaten the entire thing if I would have let her! I thought for sure we would be in for a pink ombre puke-a-thon after that hot mess.

At the end of the party, our guests took home mini bags of popcorn & cotton candy as party favors!

All in all, the party turned out to be so much fun & so very festive! I loved planning it & am already looking forward to next year! Thank you all again for all of the sweet birthday wishes to Harper! More to come on our Valentine's Day & Birthday Eve festivities! :) XOXO

 Sources: Birthday Crown, Onesie, Pink Tutu, Galvanized Metal Trays, Gold Tray, Wire Baskets, Cotton Candy, Paper Garland, Tissue Fringe, Cake & Cupcake Toppers, Pink Popcorn Bags, Paper Straws, Wooden Spoons, Paper Cups, Confetti, High Chair Banner & Happy Birthday Banner handmade by me.

Happy Birthday Eve, Harper!

The day is finally here, sweet little Harper Eve's birthday eve! :) A year ago today, we went to dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day and had no idea what was in store for us the next morning. And tonight, we will be celebrating our little hearts out! I love this little ball of fire more than I ever thought possible. We sit up at night watching her on the monitor as she sleeps, talking about how we want to go wake her up so we can play with her & let her sleep in our bed. Granted, we would never dare wake her, because in reality she would be Judo kicking me in the face instead of actually snuggling or going back to sleep. Sweet baby.

This little stroll down memory lane over the last twelve months makes me tear up. But, I also smile bigger than I ever have thinking of all the fun that is to come as we watch our little doll grow even more & our love for her grow exponentially right along with it.

Happy Birthday Eve, Miss Harper Eve!! :)
Oh, and we wish you all a VERY Happy Valentine's Day! XOXO