Redlands

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have dinner at Tom's Aunt Judy's house. Tom's cousin Julie and her friend Alex were here visiting from Utah and they cooked a delicious Hungarian dinner for us.We love going to visit Bob and Judy because (just like Tom's parents) they are very welcoming and there is always really good food. Harper got to see her cousin AJ and they had loads of fun. I had a hard time getting a photo of the two of them. These were the best ones.This was our first attempt at pigtails for Harper. Her hair isn't quite long enough so she ended up with two little ones sticking straight up. I couldn't believe how much older it made her look. Her hair has started to make her look like a puff ball, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Here is a "puff ball" photo from this morning.

14 Months

Harper is now 14 months old and she is doing new things every day. Some things that are currently going on . . .

• As Tom mentioned, Harper now loves to point. She likes to point at random things and say something that resembles, "what's that?" She likes to point when she wants something. And if you ask her where your nose or your eyes are, she will point to those too.
  
• She has also recently discovered shaking her head. I have gotten in the habit of asking her questions like, "do you want to take a nap?" or "do you want to put your shoes on?" but I think I need to change that because now she shakes her head and gets upset.
• She loves to give hugs. And to try to grab your glasses, beware.
  
• She loves raisins. When we were in Utah and we went to lunch with our friends Jaime and Emma, Jaime gave Harper a raisin and I was SHOCKED that she ate it. She doesn't usually like things with much texture so I had never given her one. She is now obsessed with raisins and wants to eat them every time she is in her high chair. The really strange thing is that she also loves the box that the raisins come in. She crawls around with it all day and even wanted to take it with her to her nap the other day (don't worry, I didn't let her).

Utah recap

We've been back from Utah for a week now and I'm finally getting around to making a post. I think Harper misses my mom's dogs, but she was excited to see Tom and is happy to be home.

Some things we enjoyed while in Utah . . .

• Visiting with her cousin Hailey and meeting her new cousin Gavin (who we didn't even get a picture of, shame on us).
• Hanging out with my sister's and cousins. She loved the attention.
• Hanging out with my mom (by the way, Happy Birthday Mom!) and laughing at my stepdad. I have no idea what she thought was so funny, but every time he looked at her she started laughing.
• Having dinner with my Dad and visiting him at work.
• Getting together with her friend Emma. While we were in Utah we were able to get together with my friend Jaime who used to be in our ward here (but now lives in Texas where her husband is a dentist). Emma and Harper were born a few days apart and haven't seen each other since they were a few weeks old, so it was fun to have them play together.

We're looking forward to our next visit . . . in less than a month.

why can't i get anything done again?

I blame Harper for my incredible lack of focus.

Also, in the last day or so, Harper has figured out how to point at what she wants....HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I should add - this has somewhat replaced simply screaming at the top of her lungs when she wants something)

the bar exam

There is something to be said for the saying, "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." When it comes to attempting to learning the massive volumes of material that the bar examiners expect you to know, it is a matter of deciding how much fear you are comfortable with. This is definitely a process no one would want to repeat, even if jobs and future well being wasn't on the line. Being a serial procrastinator doesn't help me any and I'm doing everything I can to psych myself up so that I don't waste valuable time. Right now I am diligently attending my bar prep class that meets five to six days a week and telling myself this is why I took it easy for two years, so that I can push hard now that it matters most. The next blog post will illustrate why that has been trickier than one might otherwise think.

My support crew:

We're in Utah

Harper and I are currently in Utah visiting my family. Tom has been having a difficult time focusing with Harper crawling around all over the place, so we thought we'd give him a break for a few days. So far we've been having lots of fun. Harper LOVES playing with my parents' dogs and I am loving having my sisters to help with Harper. I did not love that she screamed the entire way here on the plane. Here is Harper playing with the dogs:

Harper with the dogs from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.

And Harper putting on a show for us last night. She loves to be the center of attention.

Harper dancing from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.

beach trip

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. We've had a rough couple of weeks that have involved all kinds of computer problems and Harper getting new teeth and everyone being sick. We have had some fun times though. The other day Tom was laying on the couch and Harper crawled up to him, put her head down on his shoulder, and said "Dada." It was so cute I almost cried.Speaking of Harper, we have had a rough time teething. She got her first tooth at 11 months, and then a couple of weeks ago she got three more. This has not been a pleasant experience for anyone.

She is all over the apartment lately, cruising all over the furniture and trying to stand on her own. She is also likes to do "headstands" (normally she puts her head down on the ground). On Saturday we went to Mother's Beach to get together with the Hawkins (who were visiting from Cleveland) and some other former UCLA ward members that we don't get to see often enough. This was, sadly, Harper's first trip to the beach. I'm not a big fan, but I'm glad we made an exception.
Harper got some hugs from NoraAnd sat on a mat on the sand (I tried to let her play in the sand, she didn't like it, she takes after her mother). You can see her brand new teeth in this photo.Clare and Nora were a little more adventurous.We love the UCLA ward and miss all of our friends who have moved away!