Saturday frozen yogurt

Tom finally had a little free time this weekend so we spent the day up in Burbank enjoying Ikea, Indian food, and frozen yogurt. Harper loved spending the day with Daddy.

baby gear headache

Since we are counting down the last few weeks of this pregnancy, I am feeling the need to get everything that we need before the baby is born. Luckily, we don't need much since we have Harper's things and I have found some really great garage sales lately. But these last few things are giving me a headache.

• infant carseat (we never used one with Harper, just went straight to the convertible carseat)
  
• double stroller
• bed for Harper

I have the carseat narrowed down to a couple of options depending on which stroller we get, but I cannot make a decision about the stroller. It is a BIG decision since we only have one car and our stroller is like our second vehicle and I do a LOT of walking over some pretty uneven sidewalks. Tom and I are both a little obsessed with researching products until we find the right product for us, so a lot of time has been spent on this subject and it is giving me a headache. So I need some advice.

We currently use this stroller most of the time:And I love it and they do make a double version, but there is no way the double version is going to fit in our trunk. We drive a hybrid sedan which has a battery in the trunk so it has very limited trunk space. Plus, as much as I like this stroller, Harper doesn't like it much because she sits so far back and can't see what's going on.

In a dream world, I would get this stroller:
But it is ridiculously expensive and I'm not sure if it would fit in our trunk. According to the dimensions, it might fit but it would be very close.

And then there is the Phil and Ted stroller, which is also expensive but we would probably get rid of our current single stroller since this one can be used as a single or a double so that would help with the cost. It would definitely fit in our trunk, but I have read that people were disappointed in the quality of the stroller and I am worried about kicking the double seat when I walk.
Any opinions on double strollers?

Tom and I have now made two trips to Ikea to try to figure out what kind of bed we want to get for Harper, and we still have nothing. We have decided not to get a toddler bed because we want something that we could potentially use for guests and we aren't going to move her out of her crib for a few more months and I don't want to buy a toddler bed if she isn't going to use it for very long. I am thinking about getting a full sized bed and I want something that is low to the ground, sturdy, that doesn't need a box spring (to keep it low to the ground), and isn't too expensive. Does anyone have a bed that they like?

Any advice?

birthday recap

We started off our morning by opening presents. Harper received her first money - $3, which she lined up nicely on the floor. She also got some books, blocks, and a leapfrog junior. Since Tom had to work today, I decided Harper and I would have a fun morning to celebrate her birthday. We started off at Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica. Harper ate the entire, giant cupcake and then asked for more. And then we went to Wahoo's fish tacos where Harper had some french fries. Ok, maybe I had some too. And then we walked over to Third Street Promenade where Harper rode on the escalators in Old Navy a few times and then chased around some pigeons. We finished off our morning at Barnes and Noble in the kids section where we read stories until her nap time.
Then this evening we picked up Tom at work and came home to read stories with her leapfrog. I will post a video as soon as I get it off of Tom's phone. It was very cute :)

Harper Likes

I'll add my two cents to Harper's birthday post. Erica can change this if she sees fit.

Harper likes, in order of awesomeness:

chocolate >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> gold fish >> "shows" (hard to say which is her favorite at any given point) > everything else

Everything else in no particular order

• singing the ABCs
• pointing out things that she knows the name of (observations of "water" and "bike" are never missed)
• hugs
• kisses, or as she says it, kiiiiisses
• dogs (still)
• waking Mommy and Daddy up in the morning
• running around like a mad woman
• turning down food we know she likes
• going up and down stairs while you hold her hands
• BOOM BOOM POW (the music video)
• sitting in Daddy's lap while he is at the computer
• bringing you stuff - she will bring you a can of food from the cupboard and then bring you another one and then bring you another one and then bring you another one and then bring you another... If she ever spots anything that she knows is yours, she will bring it to you, saying "thank you" each time she hands you something.
• saying what she wants until she gets it - Erica alluded to this in her post, but this applies to everything: show, show, show, show, show, show; or yo yo (yogurt), yo yo, yo yo, yo yo, yo yo... It is like she gets into these mental feedback loops that won't stop until you put your face 3 inches away from hers and tell her that you understand that she wants something, at which point she says "o tay," as if it was your idea to get her what she wanted

2nd birthday

Tomorrow is Harper's 2nd birthday. We don't have any big plans because Tom has a big work project due at the end of the week so we are postponing our celebration. I did tell Harper earlier today that I would take her tomorrow to get a cupcake or some ice cream, and then she kept asking "Cake? Harper's? Share?" She was very relieved to find out that she wouldn't have to share. A few things about Harper:

• Her favorite color is pink. Notice in the picture above she is wearing pink sandals that are way too big for her.
• She loves giving kisses and hugs.
  
• She loves the TV show Wordworld. We don't actually have cable, but I have a couple of episodes on my ipod and she loves to watch them.
• When she wants something, she will not stop until she gets it or we thoroughly explain to her that it's not going to happen. If she wants a snack she will say, "snack, snack, snack, snack," over and and over again until we do something about it. It drives me crazy.
  
• She is very interested in fish and sharks and always points out that fish and sharks live in the water.
  
• She eats pretty much the same thing every day for each meal. Soy yogurt and zucchini muffins for breakfast, an almond butter and honey sandwich for lunch, and a banana smoothie for dinner with fruit and crackers for snacks. I haven't been able to get her to eat anything else, especially vegetables or meat.
• When we were in Utah a couple of months ago my sister Carly taught Harper about "surprises." She still frequently asks for surprises. Usually that means chocolate.
• She can pretty much say everything now and speaks in some broken sentences, though it still takes me a while to figure out what she's talking about most of the time.
  
• She loves to sing the ABCs (she calls them the CCs) and can pretty much sing the whole song.
  

• 

I can't think of anything else, but this little girl sure keeps us busy and we love her so much!

visiting Tom at work

Tom has been busy at work for the past few days and has been working very late. Since Tom and I share a car (which I normally have during the day) and I don't want Tom walking home late at night in the dark, we have been driving the car over to his office, leaving him some dinner, and then walking home in the evening. I got a photo and a little video when we stopped by earlier today (yes, today is Saturday).

Harper loves doing this. She gets to see Tom for a little bit before she goes to bed and she likes to play in the courtyard in front of his office building. Harper chose her own outfit today and is wearing her favorite thing - her swimsuit cover up.


Also, while I'm unloading things from my phone, here is a video from a couple weeks ago of Harper asking for her friend Kate. She is my friend Morgan's cute little girl and Harper asks to play with her all of the time.

Easter weekend

For our Easter celebration we went to Ktown to get some Korean BBQ. Yum. Harper watched a "show" on Tom's iPhone while we ate. And then we went to Best Buy to check out the iPad. It was pretty cool. Harper decided she wanted to put on a little dance show for all of the customers.

And then finished up with some Yogurtland. Yum again. We did give Harper an Easter basket on Sunday morning, but neglected to get any photos. Oops.

Here are a couple of random, semi-recent photos that I have neglected to post. Harper doing one of her favorite things (riding the escalator):
A few weeks ago I took Harper to the dermatologist. I promise I didn't pose her for this picture.

coloring

Lately Harper has gotten really interested in coloring. This is a relief because previously she was just interested in eating crayons.She is also very interested in shapes and likes to point out hearts, stars, squares, and circles.

Speaking of colors, Harper loves pink. We were at REI the other day and Harper wanted to look at the bikes (she has been obsessed with bikes since she got hers). She walked right up to them and gave the pink bike a hug. Tom asked her which other bikes she liked, and she walked over to the only other pink bike and said, "pink bike." I don't know where she got this love of pink since my favorite color for most of my life has been grey.

Ben & Jerry's free cone day

Last week we walked over to the mall for Ben & Jerry's free cone day. I was expecting to stand in line for a half hour, but there was only one person ahead of us in line so the whole process took less than a minute. It was yummy.

We're pretty much the worst parents ever because Harper is allergic to milk and she was already having some kind of environmental allergy that day and her eyes were swollen, but we let her have a few licks anyway. How are we supposed to tell her she can't have ice cream? Here she is doing her cheesy fake smile. Notice that her left eyelid is swollen.

Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we went to a little Easter Egg hunt with some people from our ward. Have I mentioned how wonderful our ward is? There are all of these wonderful women who plan activities and playgroups Harper and I are loving all of our new friends.

Harper didn't quite understand the Easter egg hunt and was more interested in wearing her Easter basket on her head.
Tom has been having a light week at work (though that changed today) so he was able to join us. Harper loves hanging out with Daddy. Hunting for eggs was fun, but Harper was more interested in the swings.