Harper and her tutu

I feel like I need to make more posts about Harper because things have been a little all-about-Jonah recently.  Harper is a little obsessed with her tutu.  I made it for her last Halloween and she refused to wear it, but now she wants to put it on every day.

She wears it while doing her "cheese" smile for the camera.

While eating applesauce in the rocking chair in her room.

While dancing in her room.

She frequently asks to wear it during her nap.  No photo.  I don't actually let her wear it during her nap.

Jonah does this thing occasionally where he takes a REALLY long nap in the morning.  Like the whole morning.  But Harper and I like to stay upstairs so we don't disturb him while he is sleeping.  It seems like now that Jonah is around Harper really enjoys just hanging out with me and/or Tom.  Here are some self portraits we took this morning.

 They were Harper's idea.

I think I have complained before about Harper's eczema.  It hasn't really gotten any better and we haven't really gotten any better with dealing with Harper saying "itchy, right here," eight thousand times a day, but we have found a new distraction: gummy bears.  I don't actually mean gummy bears, that is what Harper calls gum.  Maybe she is a little young to be chewing gum, but it is buying us all a lot of sanity right now.  Except now we hear her say, "gummy bear, okay," all the time.  But at least she's not scratching her skin up.

Harper hadn't really shown any interest in babies or dolls until Jonah was born.  Recently, she has started carrying around these 3 little dolls with her around the house (she has to have all three).  I got them for a dollar a few months ago at a garage sale.  One dollar well spent.

And one picture of Jonah.  He has started sleeping a little better at night and has actually only gotten up once the past three nights.  We just love him SO MUCH.  He is the best little boy. 

ICE MEAM!

Yesterday we went to the grocery store and brought home some ice cream. Harper saw what we had purchased and was extremely interested in having some. Since she had just had a few cookies I gave her one small bite of ice cream and told her she could have some more "tomorrow." That seemed to appease her and we went on our merry way.

This morning Erica and I were lying in bed, fast asleep, when a loud voice from the room next door penetrated our slumber. "Daddy, wake up! Wake up daddy! ICE MEAM DADDY! WAKE UP!"

I gotta start watching what I say, because Harper doesn't let anything past her these days. I always thought that once she understood what "tomorrow" meant that she wouldn't be our little baby girl anymore. Looks like those days are over.

a Harper post

Harper loves to sing, though usually she makes up most of lyrics.  Recently she has been singing the alphabet song a lot and it is so cute.  After I recorded this video with my phone Harper watched it about a dozen times and laughed hysterically each time.

Harper has recently started playing with other kids better and making friends.  She particularly likes her friend Kate and always asks to play with her.  Last week she came over to play one afternoon.  They saw me swaddle Jonah before his nap and Harper and Kate wanted me to swaddle dolls so that they rock them to sleep.

And then on Friday we went to a park in Santa Monica with some friends and here are Harper and Kate playing in the playground.

2 months old

I was giving Harper a bath today and I realized . . . Jonah turned 2 months old on the 15th and I totally missed it. 

He is the SWEETEST baby, which is lucky for him because he still isn't sleeping longer than 3 hours at a time at night.  He loves to be talked to and will smile and coo if you look at him. 

He loves to watch Harper.  We spend a lot of time playing in their room and he will just sit on the floor and watch her play around him.

He is a very good eater, but he is still spitting up a lot.  I weighed him today on our scale (I'm sure it wasn't super accurate) and he weighed in at just under 15 pounds.  Whoa.  Harper didn't weigh that much until she was 5 months old and, according to the internet, this puts him in the 97th percentile.  I was at the mall today and 2 different people asked me how old he was.  When I said he was 2 months old, they both said, "Wow, he's big."

But we absolutely love him, even Harper (most of the time) who loves to give him hugs and kisses.

A Miracle Worker

Reading our blog might give you the impression that everything is giggles and smiles around the Jackman home. Actually, it is quite the opposite. We take pictures of the smiling children and post them on the blog so we can remember those precious moments during the other 23.5 hours of the day, when Jonah won't stop crying or Harper just HAS to have a snack and no, not that one.

This isn't to say that we have nightmare children (we do), but I wanted to make sure that Erica knows just how much I appreciate the fact that she has been able to maintain her sanity since little Jonah was born. Two kids is DEFINITELY harder than one kid. I imagine that it is not as bad as twins (bless you Robyn), but these two are never on the same schedule, and what was once precious moments that could be counted on during the day to rest and recoup are now often no longer there. Not to mention the spit up, and the liquid, get everywhere poop that the new guy has brought to the situation. Little Jonah needs to learn how to get things under control. I rarely come home to see Erica wearing the same shirt she had on when I left. My guess is that she goes through two or three while I'm gone.

I know my work makes it hard for me to be there as much as I should be. Some days I come home and I am tempted to play the "I'm more tired than you" game, but I know lately it isn't even close.

Thank you honey, for all that you do!

Love,

Your Husband

This little boy . . .

. . . loves the look of his own face.  He will stare into the mirror on his swing and coo for long stretches of time.  It's adorable.

Harper shares

This is Harper's idea of sharing her toys with Jonah . . .

exciting presents

A few days ago we found a giant box on our doorstep.  My Aunt Jan, who was in New York on vacation, had sent presents for Harper and Jonah from FAO Schwartz.  And since there are few things Harper likes more than presents, this was very exciting.

Thanks Aunt Jan!

Jonah's blessing

We had Jonah's blessing today in our ward.  Unfortunately not very many family members were able to make it, so we were small in numbers.  Tom gave a beautiful blessing and Jonah slept through the whole thing.  Afterward we went over to the temple grounds to take a few photos.

Harper wasn't thrilled.

And then afterward we came back to our house for lunch.  But then my parents and sisters had to leave to go spend a few days in San Diego.  We miss them already!

the beach

On Saturday we went to the beach.  I will admit, I'm not a big fan of the beach.  This was the first time I have been in the last year. 

Harper was pretty terrified of the water, but we have been working on her aversion to sand and she enjoyed burying her legs. 

Jonah didn't love the beach either.  Maybe next time.

Visitors

This weekend my Mom, Eric, and my two youngest sisters came to visit.  How is that we have lived in LA for 4 years and this is the first time any of my siblings have visited?

Harper was a little slow to warm up to everyone, but soon she was her normal self. 

Jonah was happy to see some new faces.  He loves to be talked to.