two-and-a-half

my little bean is two-and-a-half. so cliche, but where did the time go? i blink and she's a toddler, developing her own independent personality. and so it had to be celebrated. knowing that this would be her last chance to have a "birthday" celebration all on her own before baby arrives, and loving that my girlfriend, christina, goes over the top for her daughter's half-birthday's too, here and here, i stole the idea. turned out to be quite a fun day. we had off of school for mlk jr. day, so we took the opportunity to visit a local gymnastics gymnasium for open preschool playtime in the morning. harper is energetic to say the least, so she was in her element. bouncing, jumping, trampolining, skipping, running. she had a blast. then it was off to pick up nana and head down to papa's work for a lunch and cake to celebrate his birthday a few days early. and finally back to our city for our weekly afternoon music class and after-music play date with bryce and graham. we were exhausted by the time we finally arrived home that evening, but we still had homemade macaroni and cheese (a harper favorite) and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting waiting for us.

pardon the rest of this post, as i tribute to my little one who made me a mama.

my dearest harper,

you were made to be loved, and i am so lucky that i get to do just that as your mama. your sunshine-y personality lights up the room and everyone around you. you capture the hearts of everyone you encounter, and you have definitely captured mine. you had it from the first moment i heard your tiny heartbeat, long before i knew how beautiful you would be, both inside and out. there may be days that you push your independence and desire to do it your way to my limits, but i know that strong personality will only take you very far in life.

you are my little sprite, full of energy and bursting at the seams. you are the light to my darkest days. you are my sweet. you are the apple of my eye. and you are going to be one heck of a big sister.

i love you oodles, to the moon and back. and i won't ever stop telling you that.

love, mommy

harper at two-and-a-half:

• loves her sweets- chocolate, candies, ice cream- a girl after her mama's heart
• screams when she's frustrated, but won't hurt a fly
• is almost completely potty trained during the day
• has moved into a big girl bed, and sings herself to sleep every night
• loves to care for all of her baby dolls- feeding, putting to sleep, talking to, snuggling with
• has a passion for all things musical- singing real songs and making most up along the way, playing instruments, imitating her music teacher leading class
• has language that expands by the minute, having full conversations with anyone who will listen
• loves talking on the phone to all her family
• is quite the comedian and keeps everyone laughing
• has an imagination fitted perfectly for pretend play
• has a kind and gentle soul and captures everyone she meets with her smile and sweet talk

i heart faces {innocent wonder}

no words...just the wonder in her eyes.

i heart faces {winter wonderland}

my little snow bunny. and the best part of freshly fallen snow? eating it, of course!

bonus

i am always looking for ways to find more time in my day. and when i do find it, i don't always use it wisely. some days, i use those extra found minutes to re-write my scratched off to-do list to reorganize my brain and see what i am then able to accomplish, only to look at the clock and realize that my additional time is up.

yesterday, our principal let us go early from school. the snow was really coming down in huge flakes and the roads were getting slicker by the minute, so she set us free. we only managed to get home 30 minutes earlier than usual, but i used that extra time to make a time-consuming soup (only because of all the chopping). yummy, yummy, yummy. healthy chicken zoopa from a girlfriend in my mom's recipe club (thank you, nicole). recipe listed at the bottom.

...and to utilize the outside lighting (no sun, but bright from the mass of snow) to practice some photography skills about winter window lighting that i read about the night before. i also wanted to just be an observant and capture harper in some of her new big-girl moments. i realize these moments are fleeting and these new accomplishments will be old hat in only a few months (or weeks even?) so i took the bonus time to live the life of my little. babies, getting herself dressed after using the big potty (in her undies and jammies for the third time that afternoon), and posing for candy heart bribes.

Healthy Chicken Zoopa

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 1 cup julienned carrots
• 4 cups chicken broth
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 6 ounces spinach, rinsed
• 1/2 cup whole wheat egg noodles
• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, celery, and carrot. Saute until onions are translucent. Add broth, hot sauce, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring soup to a boil then simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes.
2. Add spinach and cover pot. Stir soup; add noodles. Stir again and add chicken. Let simmer for 5 minutes and enjoy!

i heart faces {smile}

another week, another attempt. this week's theme is {smile}. i had a hard time picking out a smile photo, but i like this one best. i think.

love bug

been bitten by the bug. or slipped a happy pill. or drank the elixir of gladness. whatever it is, it arrived last week and i surely hope it's here to stay.

i'm really not sure why. not like we live in a sunny, tropical locale. sure, we've had some rays of sunshine peeking through now and again, but mainly it's overcast and gray with periods of snow showers and temps in the 20s. and it's not like harper has been a happy little clam 24/7. we have our moments, when she tests the limits of my patience and tolerance while my pregnancy hormones are raging and i'm way too tired and i'm feeling the early signs of braxton-hicks from running after her for bathtime, wrestling her to get on her coat and picking her up when she bats those baby blues at me all. the. time.

so, i'm listing out my reasons for being happy and so very in the moment right now:

1. harper's potty training is going so well! we've managed to convince her that nappies just aren't cool anymore. and even though we do have the occasional accident (hello, in the target shopping cart down the valentine's aisle, ahem), we're on the road to dryer days!

2. my recent addiction to crafts. i have a blank spot where my thanksgiving and christmas banners used to hang, so here's what i did about it.

3. harper's recent addiction to crafts. she woke up after nap this weekend and said mommy, i want to make something. when i asked her if she wanted to make something with food or with paper, she didn't hesitate with her paper decision. i jumped for joy! crafting with my little?! heaven!

4. the colors red, pink and white flooding the stores make my heart pitter-patter. i don't know why, but i just love valentine's day. and the ending of those busy holidays in november and december, turning the corner of a new year and still knowing that we have 3 (or 4, more realistically) months of cold, snow and grayness makes me leap toward early celebrations of the holiday of love. and there's more to come of this delicious love-ly day, because i signed up for willette photography's the joy of love 28-day online class. so, you lucky people you, you get to soak up my sappiness for the next 6 weeks!

side note: um, yes, i'm the one at joann's who lugs her camera into the aisles and takes photos. yes, the crazy one with the toddler and the bags and the felt and window clings falling out of my hands as i snap away at the yumminess of it all.

5. these yummy morsels. i bought the bag last week, and they're almost gone. but they're oh so good and very entertaining. sometimes, i play magic 8 ball with them, asking questions or thinking of a person and then pick one out without looking. good times.

6. enjoying the winter weather. don't get me wrong, i am longing for the sunshine and warmth and my feet in the beachy sand right about now, but i'm not going to let that ruin the winter fun we can have or lost sight of what's important about this very moment. when those big, fat snowflakes fall, i grab my girl and my camera and we bundle up and head outside for a good time.

7. sledding. finding whatever hill you can (even a foot high molehill in the backyard) and wheeee-ing down it. and spending the day with daddy. we had an amazing snowday last february, and i'm praying to the snow heavens above that we get another one of those days this year.

8. my little moving into a big girl bed. seeing her this past weekend sleeping peacefully in her full, while the crib right next to the bed lay empty. {sigh} she's growing up so fast, but it also means that it's not much longer until this little growing in my belly makes {his or her} grand entrance. and for that, i can't wait. to see harper become a big sister is something i'm so looking forward to. more pics of her bed to come- her duvet is on back order (of course!)

9. names, names, names. my mind is flooded with baby names! everything i throw out there or write on our dry erase board either gets the immediate veto by michael or given an ah, that's ok to keep on there for now. but he won't give me any himself, so i just keep them going and going and going. any suggestions from any of you out there??

so, there it is. my happiness for the moment. hoping it lasts and keeps the warmth through these wintry months ahead.

about face

here is my entry for this week's i heart faces photography contest, entitled "best face photo of 2010." this photo was taken within the last few weeks, after much learning over the past year about photography, and i love how my baby's baby blues just pop, sans editing.

good for something

harper is a joy. she's always good for a snuggle and some love. but we've also discovered she's great for a laugh, and we're bound to laugh with her or at something she says or does at least once a day. her school has even commented on several occasions that they will miss her comic relief when she moves on to preschool next year. yesterday, we had quite a belly buster.

an hour into her nap, when we could still hear on the monitor that she wasn't even close to settling down and i could see her standing and jumping in her crib (yes, still in a crib, but transitioning to a big girl bed next weekend!), michael went in to try and get her settled. she fought back, and just as he was turning to leave to try to get her to put herself to sleep, i heard lots of laughter. i went it to investigate, and all he could do was point.

here's what we discovered...

she had taken off her nappie and placed it on george before re-zippering herself up in her jammies. she couldn't understand why we we both had to take a seat for fear we'd fall over with chuckles. when we asked where her nappie was, she told us that george needed it. i have to admit it was a pretty darn good diapering job. she may just be lining herself up for a gig when this little one arrives in 3 months.

so proud of herself. needless to say, she didn't nap after that. i just had to pick her up and give her loving for the joy and happiness she brings to our lives every day.

holiday joy found

i participated in willette photography's finding the holiday joy online class this holiday season. and while most of my holiday photos are embedded within other posts about numerous topics that have come up over the past month, i've chosen a few of my favorites to repost. this class definitely helped to re-energize my photography passion that i found last february, as well as to improve my photog knowledge. thank you willette photography!

the letter from santa

the first gift she chose from her stocking

the candy tree at annual polish christmas eve wiligia

wrapping gifts

holiday nights at greenfield village

playing in (and eating) the snow

cheddar bunnies from her stocking

decorating cookies

red, our elf on a shelf

our advent calendar

our town's holiday parade

snuggling up for a favorite holiday book

warming up with some hot chocolate after trimming the tree

harper's first ornament

ornaments

the completed tree from our front door view

putting the santa on top of the tree

lighting the tree