Posted on | March 31, 2010 | 22 Comments
17 months ago today, Harper came into our lives. keeping up with these monthdays are hard, but she is still changing so much every month i have to record what she is up to. 17 months is dangerously close (as in, hi next month) to a year and a half, so my heart cries a little. but things just keep getting more fun (and more interesting) so here we are!
not a baby activity.
it seems more apparent with each passing day that H is no longer a baby. at her 1st birthday, she was still very much a baby. she couldn’t walk yet, couldn’t really say anything and was just, well babyish. i can’t say the same these days (tear). girl is all over the place and talking up a storm. she surprises us daily with new words. yesterday Dora said “say backpack!” and you know what happened? HARPER SAID BACKPACK. very alarming indeed. today as i was buckling her into her carseat she pointed at her nose and said “nose”. i didn’t even ask her to, she just wanted to let me know. last night i asked “Harper do you want juice or milk” (you know one of those questions you ask just to ask, but not expecting an answer because duh, she’s a baby) and she said “joos”. well then.
i’m this big mom, didn’t you know?
this kid continues to make friends everywhere she goes. people completely fawn over her and it’s not like they even have the choice – she leans over, looks people straight in the face and says “HI!”. said person then melts into puddle on the floor. she is pure entertainment all the time. some people say she’s advanced, some people can’t believe how old she is, some people say she is going to be famous. i don’t know about any of that but i do know for a fact she is something else. i know kids are products of their environment and all that, but she has something special that we haven’t taught her. i’m not quite sure what that is yet, but she is one crazy kid.
some of her most recent cool tricks (COOL COOL COOL TRICKS! YEAH!):
- fake eating. using a spoon to pretend eat out of things. anything. and her pretend food always tastes good. i know this because she exclaims “MMMM!” after every pretend bite. she also mixes her pretend food up in bowls. not cute at all.
- BALL! if she sees any kind of ball anywhere, she lets us know. the huge bin of bouncy balls at Target ” BALL!”, a basketball game on TV? “BALL!”. the millions of balls we have that go in the ball popper, ball machine, etc etc etc? “BALL!…A BALL!”.
- oh the dancing. she’s always been a dancer. she started at 6 months, and hasn’t stopped since. now it’s some serious booty shaking, and often. i have a few videos, i need to get these to you guys asap. really. you’ll die.
- she knows where her belly is and she’s not afraid to use it. ask her where it is and she lifts up her shirt and says “bewwy”. then as she points to it she makes the “pfffft” sound because that is what we do when we poke her belly.
now. i need to go hangout with this supposed 17 month old. we’ve got some fake food to eat and she’s cooking.
post summary: the only thing keeping me from going into a crying tailspin these days re: the age of my child is the fact that she still wears 9 and 12 month clothes. helps the denial go down smooth.
Posted on | March 29, 2010 | 579 Comments
as i’ve said many times, blogging is a great way to build relationships you otherwise may have never formed (because people live far away and you’d never meet them). same with twitter. a relationship that i’ve come to enjoy and laugh (a LOT) over is mine with Modern Bird Studios. we “met” via twitter a few months back, and since then i’ve grown to love their work and their personalities. the art they are creating is unique, gorgeous and full of love.
Modern Bird is made up of Meghan and Gregg Deal, husband and wife super duo. Gregg brings the art and the soul, Megan brings the spunk and heart. they have 2 adorable kiddos, they have an incredibly wicked sense of humor, and most importantly, they like me. they think i’m totally batpoop crazy, but not enough to deter them from being my friends (yay!). i have a lot of fun with these 2 and the love they have for their business is apparent from minute one.
i have been admiring their work, entering contests on other blogs to win a piece and scheming ways to make Scot buy me one since the moment i laid eyes on this stuff. luckily, i didn’t have to start getting violent on anyone (from the not winning) because a short while ago they asked me if i wanted to review a piece and do a giveaway for my readers! (i almost peed. really, really, i did. almost.)
working with both Megan and Gregg on my piece was great. the thought of picking ONE photo of Harper was overwhelming to say the least. so i sent a few over to Gregg and he helped me. after much hmming and hawing on my part (seriously, SO hard to choose), we went with one of Scot’s favorite pics of all time.
picking colors was also rough (but again, how great of a predicament to be in!), because they have so many awesome choices and the possibilities of combos seem endless. we decided on Almond and Black Plum. both Gregg and Megan kept me updated during the whole process until the day my super amazing, one of a kind, never to be duplicated piece showed up on my doorstep.
isn’t it AMAZING? not only did i almost cut myself opening the box (i was excited), i also exploded pink peanuts all over the kitchen and then i cried when i finally got to the piece. this is not just a piece of art. it’s a piece that i know was made with love. they are emotionally invested in each one, and that makes or breaks a business. i highly encourage you all to work with Megan and Gregg.
here’s a way to make that more possible. from now through Sunday, April 18th, use the code HARPER at checkout at Modern Bird Studios for 15% off of your order. um, YAY! what an awesome mothers day gift, just sayingggg.
for all the people i know are waiting for this…YES! Modern Bird has awesomesaucily offered to give away one 12 x 12 custom piece to one (superduperuber) lucky reader of the haps! (value $215).
To enter, go check out Modern Bird’s color chart and leave a comment telling me which color combo you think would look awesome in your house (don’t worry, you won’t be held to those should you win).
additional entries (per uge, come back and leave another comment for each thing you do so they all count!):
Rule-ios: sorry, but no previous winners of a Modern Bird piece are eligible to enter. this contest is open to only the lower 48 states. contest will end at midnight PST on Sunday April 11th and winner will be announced on Monday April 12th. discount code runs until Sunday April 18th, which is one week after the contest ends.
ok! there it is! a ridiculously awesome new giveaway for you to all squee your pants about. i’m totally still squeeing mine. good luck homies!
Modern Bird Studios sent me their product in return for review of said product. No monetary compensation was received for this review.
Posted on | March 27, 2010 | 31 Comments
giant clue that you’re getting older: whilst perusing Target you come across an end cap in the baby section full of an item you wore as a child. an item that you coveted so much you’d have rather died than admit they were hurting your feet, making weird marks on your toes, and causing your feet to sweat because omg they are see through and they have sparkles and everyone is wearing them and omg I DIE! oh yes friends, i speak of the jelly shoe.
[what makes one even older? not only wearing them the first time they were cool (around age 5ish) and then wearing them again when they came back at age 14. something coming back two times in your lifetime? aarp, here i come. hrmph.]
only weirdos see such a thing in tiny baby and toddler sizes and audibly GASP and then squeal, right? just the wackadoos, correct? mkay, then sign me up for crazy camp because i was sooo excited! i snatched up the orange ones for Harper, but will certainly be back for the purple and possibly green ones (shhh, don’t tell the ball and chain).
just me and mah jelly shoes!
maybe they are the perfect shoe because in the car she took one off (really when do they stop doing that?) and proceeded to use it as a nice teether. GENIUS. well played jelly shoe people, well played.
here’s another picture just for good measure and mostly because she’s doing her favorite thing of wearing a pumpkin bucket (thanks emily!) as a hat. she often comes over to us and puts it our on heads, laughs and then breaks down like someone kicked her puppy if we try to take it off. ::side eye:: sooo, the dramatics are strong with this one.
harper’s hat-ennings. <—- snickersnort – see what i did there?
post summary: file orange jelly shoes under “unreasonably cute”. right next to clown fish and zooey deschanel.
Posted on | March 24, 2010 | 25 Comments
doesn’t everyone have a friend that is a little unexpected? like the one you weren’t quite sure of when you met, but then somehow ended up falling madly in love with? one that you wouldn’t ever expect to become close with because they are cooler than you? well i do. her name is Bree.
Bree and i met almost 5 years ago through mutual friends. funny thing is. we would sit at the same table amongst these mutual friends and never really speak. i was scared of her. she was pretty, uber cool and to be quite honest, i thought she was a bitch. (it’s ok, she knows all this). i would tell my friend Alex “she hates me! she looks at me mean!” and he would be like “what? Bree is the funniest person i know”. i would side eye him whilst sipping my vodka tonic and think, nuh-uh. she’s a meanie!
after a while we’d start talking as her bf, Scot and all of our other man people who play music would talk about man music things. slowly but surely i realized Alex was right. she WAS the funniest person ever. and one of the most unique, amazing friends i would ever have.
she’s pretty right? like, unfairly.
Bree loves robots. one of the first times i realized how freaking ridiculously funny she was was halloween a few years back. she showed up in a robot costume that was made for kids (she is super tiny and petite so it fit). it was a head piece and robot hands and she’d grab her drink and anything else in sight with these robot claws while saying “meep, mop, boo beep”. I KNOW RIGHT? she has amazing taste and recently graduated from fashion design school. if i ever have questions regarding my wardrobe (can i even wear skinny jeans? how do i tie this scarf? what should i wear to my 10 year reunion?), i call her. better yet, i just pretty much take her shopping with me every time now. no seriously.
i think people think we are nuts when we go shopping, because of our silly banter. this is a LEGITIMATELY accurate conversation we have on the regular at h & m:
me: “this is dumb”. ::holds up super cute top:: “i hate it”.
bree:: “that IS dumb. if you don’t buy it i will. it’s so stupid”.
me:: GASP “what the hell is this dumb shirt doing? ::hangs on stroller:: i buy you now”.
bree: ::holds up dress:: “why do i want to buy this? i kinda want to buy this.”
me: “you should, it’s hideous”.
I KNOW.
besides the being adorable and helping me shop thing, she’s incredibly caring and is the best listener i know. she tells me when i’m being a bit ridiculous and tells me when i’m not. she LOVES my kid and my kid LOVES her (last night Bree was over and Harper just went over and hugged her before bedtime. she never hugs without asking. it was precious and my heart melted).
Bree not only listens to all of my blog talk, she reads it daily and has even told me she cries regularly over it. i suppose this is my way of telling Bree how much i love and adore her, and am so grateful for her friendship. i tell her frequently IRL, but who doesn’t like to hear it on the internet, too? weird people, that’s who.
and no. you cannot have her. no really, you can’t. she doesn’t blog or tweet so you have no way of stealing her. last night we were gonna drink wine and i was gonna show her how to tweet, but instead we ate hummus and dark chocolate toblerone and cried like girls whilst watching Parenthood (not even possible to NOT cry at that show. Parenthood: 4 Mandy: O). i’d give you her number for fashion advice, but i’m super selfish so no.
Bree my darling, i love you. you’re amazing, beautiful, talented and a kick ass friend. even though most times my face hurts for hours after hanging out.
because of the giant face hurting smile, obv.
post summary: i will totally let you all know if Bree cries at this post.
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