Take me out to the ballgame

Sunday evening was Harper's first trip to Petco Park, to watch the Padres get beat by the Phillies... Poor Pads...













You can see how enthralled Harper was by the ballgame.

Three months

I can't believe that Harper is already three months old. Everyone says it goes by so quickly, but I didn't think it would go this quickly. Knowing this, Aaron and I are enjoying every minute we get to spend with her.

This month has been full of changes. Harper is sitting up, with help from mom or dad, or a pillow to prop her up. She gets closer and closer every day to rolling over, and in the process is able to pivot herself 90 degrees. She is examining everything she does and everything we do. She sits on my lap while we eat dinner, and watches us all with intent. In fact, at lunch the other day, she grabbed the fork right out of my hand. I knew it was just a matter of time.

Earlier this month, we drove to Stockton to see the Libbey side of the family. As per our usual craziness, we rented a minivan, and put Harper, mom and dad, grandma, uncle and dog in the minivan and drove almost 11 hours to get there. It wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't driving through the Central Valley. Once we arrived, we had a wonderful time. Everyone loved seeing Harper. Harper's second cousins, Caroline and Jack, spent hours entertaining her. Since we were all in one place, we took some family photos, which turned out great, thanks to Aaron's fancy new camera.

During this trip, we introduced Harper to swimming. Thanks to Great-Grandma, she had an adorable swim suit to wear, so she didn't have to skinny dip. There is a heated pool in my grandparents community and when there was shade, Harper took a short dip. She seemed to like it (she didn't cry), so we will try it again in the future.

Tickling rats

On last week's Radio Lab, here was an article about laughter. Aristotle thought that laughter separates humans from beasts. He also thought that a baby didn't have a soul until she laughes, which happens on day 40 of life. We are at day 94 and sadly, Harper has still not laughed. Aaron said that he heard a chuckle, but she hasn't laughed at me yet. But she's still smiling.

Two months old

We have had a busy month. Harper has been on two short trips, made her way around the zoo, gained 2 pounds, 12 ounces and met a lot of new people.

Harper experienced her first library conference in Anaheim on June 29. The American Library Association's annual conference is a great place to learn new things, and people watch. We drove up with our friends Katy and Bill, and their son Liam, and Harper was a trooper. Luckily it was a short drive, and we did it with no meltdowns. Big Bear was a different story.

Barbara and Steven took us to Big Bear to celebrate Aaron's 30th birthday. We made it almost up the hill before Harper decided that she didn't particularly like the car, carseat, windy roads, altitude or mommy and daddy's singing. So the last 30 minutes of the ride was rough on everyone. But the weekend turned out to be a great success. We took it easy with a leisurely walk around the town, and a paddle boat ride around the lake. Harper slept through both of these activities, but Aaron and I enjoyed them.

At her last checkup, Harper weighed 10 pounds, 13 ounces, up from 8 pounds, 1 ounce. She's grown in length, too, but I missed it when the nurse told us. You can see how much she's grown in the photos (try as I might, I can't get her to smile). She's smiling a lot and I think I heard a giggle last night when she was sleeping. She can also hold on to rings, but she doesn't grab for them yet. We, of course, think she is the smartest baby ever, as I'm sure most parents feel about their own progeny.


We're off to Stockton in a few weeks to meet great-grandparents, an aunt and some cousins. The road trip should make for some great story telling... maybe I'll leave that up to Aaron.

See all the photos on our website.