putting the "jump" in jumperoo

Ok, I have another video. Yesterday when I was getting ready for church, Tom called me into the room because he wanted to show me something: he had taught Harper how to jump in her jumperoo. It is so fun to see her get excited about her new ability!

Untitled from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.

videos

Here is Harper enjoying her pears:
Untitled from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.

and here is Harper hanging out with her cousin AJ a few weeks ago:
Untitled from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.

Harper is 7 months old

Harper is now 7 months old. Here are some things we are currently enjoying about our sweet girl:

• She has mastered sitting up. Okay, she does still fall sometimes, but usually when she's trying to reach something that is a little too far away. This has made my life much easier because now Harper is now much more content to sit and play by herself. This is huge.
• She has become much more giggly.
  
• She gets really excited to see Tom when he comes home from school.
• She also gets excited when we go outside. As soon as I open the front door she raises up her arms and makes a cute squealing noise.
• She loves smiling at strangers until they smile back.
  
• She loves music. Her current favorite is "C is for Cookie."

I have a video to post of Harper enjoying some pears for dinner (so far it's the only food she seems to enjoy eating), but for now you can see some more 7 month photos of Harper here.

camouflage

yay!

I'm so excited that my little brother has turned in his mission papers! My step-brother is currently on a mission in Philadelphia, so it is going to be fun to have them both gone at the same time. Look how excited Harper is for her Uncle Chase :)

this is pretty much how today went

We have had a cranky little girl lately. For the past three or four days she hasn't been sleeping well at night, she doesn't want to eat baby food, and she is upset most of the day. I thought maybe she was teething, but we haven't seen any teeth yet. Despite her mood, she has now learned how to roll over from her back to her stomach (even though she hates doing it) and she will only roll over if she sees something that she really wants (usually the remote control or one of her shoes).

But she's so cute I can't get too sad about her cranky behavior. Look at this cheesy grin she gave me earlier today:

pedroza visit (and some random cute pictures)

On Saturday morning Tom's sister Denise and her family visited and Harper got to hang out with her cousin AJ. They were so cute together. It was great to see Denise and John and have a nice lunch together. Also, here are some random photos of Harper from the last few days. She has started to sometimes do a cheesy smile when I take a picture of her. She's so cute.

back to normal

Now that the election is over, we can go back to the blog being all about Harper. She seems SO much more grown up lately and it is crazy to see all of the new things that she has been doing.
Here are some things she has started doing lately:
- Splashing in the bathtub. She actually moves her arms in a splashing motion a lot. Tom says it looks like she's trying to fly.
- Making some consonant noises. She also likes to do this really loud monotone yelling sound. She did that through most of church last week.
- Sitting up pretty much on her own. She still falls over sometimes when she gets bored or if she gets really excited about something.
- Trying to reach for things she wants. She used to just stare at things that she wanted, but now she will reach for it even if that means falling over or trying to leap out of my arms. She gets pretty angry if she can't reach it.
- Almost rolling over onto her stomach. She can't quite make it, but she tries.

Also, after spending a small fortune on various lotions and cremes, Harper's eczema is finally getting a little better. Yay!

Election Night

We couldn't be more pleased about the results of the election last night. Obama's speech last night was absolutely incredible and I am so excited for him to take office in a couple months. We were able to celebrate the evening with our friends the Jasinskis and delicious pizza and brownies. Harper and I had to leave early since she turns into a little monster baby after her bed time, but we had a great time.
As ready as I was for the election to be over, I'm a little sad now that it's all done.

Voting!

Tom, Harper, and I walked over and voted this morning. We ended up waiting in line for a little under 2 hours, which actually seemed to go pretty quickly except for the part where Harper was screaming because she needed a nap. Here are Harper and Tom in line prior to the screaming:
The line was mostly young-ish people and plenty of other strollers with screaming babies. The line went down the block and wrapped around the corner a little ways.Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at IHOP in celebration of not having to wait in line any more. On our way there we saw a plane flying with this sign (click the photo to make it bigger):We also saw several of our fellow ward members waving "Yes on Prop 8" signs at a busy intersection.

This was actually the first presidential election in which either of us have actually gone to the polls. We have both only been old enough to vote in 2 presidential elections and in 2004 Tom had just gotten home from his mission and I did an absentee ballot. Don't forget to vote today! The lines may be long, but it is important!

Also, I thought this is funny so I wanted to share. Tom has a Tuesday night class and, because we are going to be watching the election results at a friend's house tonight, he emailed his professor to let him know that he wasn't going to be in class. This was his professor's response:

Ok - wish I could go with you.