I can’t believe that we are getting towards the end of May already! At the Harper household, we are starting to get excited about Nana & Papa Harper’s upcoming visit next week, but before they get here, I wanted to post some pictures of the everyday stuff that we’ve been up to lately.

Although things have been really amazing the past couple of months, there have also been a couple of tough moments too.

After returning from South Carolina at the beginning of April, Colt gave me a little bit of a hard time. There was a week during which Michael was traveling for work and Colt was getting his third tooth (the left canine) and he had SUCH a hard time with it. Honestly he was like a completely different baby (so much so that we named this alter-ego Franklin — no offense to any Franklins out there), crying constantly, always needing to be held, not eating well and really not sleeping well. His naps were all over the place and he would wake up once or twice each night with terrible crying. He also had a runny nose, a low-grade fever for a day and one morning when I went to get him from his crib, he had thrown up all over. It was the saddest and grossest little sight – the throw up was matted in his hair and down his sleep-sack. I also realized that he wasn’t quite as good at chewing as I had believed as there were big chunks of black-beans everywhere! Gross. Poor Michael felt so badly being gone (he even surprised me by ordering an amazing sushi delivery for me one day) but honestly it was for the best. He needed to be able to focus on work and I needed to be able to focus on Culhane. Once the tooth popped through he was a lot better, but truthfully all of April was a little touch-and-go.

I think another aspect that made it tougher was his newfound mobility. I am definitely in the chasing-stage and I am constantly amazed at how fast Colt is and how he is consistently most drawn to things that are not for him / dangerous. I mean, who can blame him though — why play with bins full of brightly colored, soft, noisy toys when you can play with an outlet, a trash can, toilet paper or a bottle of olive oil? Poor thing – our apartment is so small and so not-baby proof and he’s at the point where he can move quickly to things but doesn’t yet really get what’s off limits… Anyway, gone are the days of being able to set him down in one room and do something in another. This means that it’s become really hard for me to “accomplish” anything while he is awake during the day. He only naps for 2 1/2 hours so if I am going to shower/get ready, eat lunch, clean up the house and check my email, I am pretty much done. Plus, by the end of the day I’m usually exhausted and sometimes even sore from all of the bending and carrying etc. etc.

Another thing that’s a smidge tricky is that I make all of Colt’s food. I’m not against buying pre-made stuff at all and we use it when we’re traveling, but being here I’m just not crazy about the quality, selection or the price, so I have just made it all myself. This wasn’t such a big task at first but he eats so much now that I feel like I’m constantly trying to keep up with him. And again, it’s something that I have to do during naps or at night because if I’m cooking or cleaning in the kitchen, he follows me in and races straight to all kinds of bad things! (Side note: If anyone out there also made their baby’s food and has any great recipes, I would love to see!)

During the month of April I got so worn down trying to keep up with it all that I actually got a little sick a couple of times. Nothing ever really full-blown – it would just feel like the beginnings of a cold or flu but I would always feel better if I could get some good rest. Anyway, that kind of stuff always makes me think of the amazing, courageous single moms (and dads) out there who do it all themselves without the support of a spouse. And it makes me wonder if/how I’ll be able to do it one day when, God willing, there are more kids in the picture. I know that everyone does it so I feel like a wimp to even say all this, but it’s how I was feeling…

Following what felt like a bit of a more difficult month of April, God was so gracious to give us a fabulous month of May. Colt finally got back on a good schedule and is now absolute clockwork – sleeping better than he ever has before. Basically he wakes up around 7:45 or 8am (8:30 when we’re lucky), then naps from 10:15-12:00 and 3:00-4:00 and goes to bed like an angel at 8pm. He eats breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks through the day, and we just went from nursing 4 times down to 3 times per day. He has been in such great spirits this month and has become so much fun. He is crawling everywhere and climbing and standing up on everything. He loves peek-a-boo and will initiate it if he has a towel or something to put in front of his face. He loves books and will point to pictures and turn pages. I can tell that he’s enjoying the park more and more and even climbed up the rock-wall a little bit. In addition to fun with Colt, we have continued to be so thankful for the incredible group of friends that we have here.

OK – now to the pictures!

Checkers! And a cute bow tie by our dear friend Paula Cannon!

Cannons & Harpers at the Joneses!

Love this boy!

Sweet sofa snuggle time.

Heading out to meet up with friends!

Cuddling with Paula’s sweet boy Gabe!

Poor little snot face.

Playing with his favorite toy – the 8!

Fruit sauce in the making: green & red apples, pears, strawberries & some sneaky broccoli!

Hungry little hippo.

Loves black beans.

Cutie pie.

Obsessions.

Colt & Mailey – play date at the mall library!

Flirting…

Colt loves giving us a show on the monitor.

What could be better than a pot and some measuring spoons?

Colt & Mailey all tuckered out after shooting an episode of House Hunters International! We were in the “6 months later” part of an episode with some friends who did the show down here! Be on the lookout!!

After the shoot concluded, we had a wrap-party at Jam Sushi and T$ really showed up.

Too much.

Reading with Dad.

Culhane loves grocery shopping.

Celebrating Uncle Joe’s 35th!!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Happy baby.

Angel face.

Pals! Jack, Colt & Mailey

Dinner time for the babies!

Spiky hair, round belly.

Loves his alligator.

Colt & Mailey – 2 peas in a pod.

Also 2 peas in a tub.

Waking up is hard to do.

So serious.

Family selfie in front of Fuleco (the World Cup mascot) – picking up our tickets!

For our friend Michelle’s birthday we had a big surprise dinner party at the Hudsons. Paige pulled out all the stops (homemade bread & homemade pasta among many other delicious things on the menu!) and it was a blast!

Paige’s beautiful table!

With Michelle, Brett & Paige

At some point the USA World Cup Home and Bomb-Pop jerseys came out…

I made the birthday cake!

Part 2 of April & May coming up with park pictures!