It's official.

Dear home, I'm coming your way, baby!!!!! June 11. Be there. I can't wait to see you. Love, Me.

Heeeeere she isssssss!

When your baby is teething, you learn to appreciate moments like this one when they're actually laughing and not crying/bitting/slobbering a river/fussing. :) [I forget how not fun teething is. Just come in already, you dang teeth!!]

She's learned how to squeal too. Oh my. So funny at times, but

not so appropriate at others - ie: sacrament meeting, the gym, etc.

"Who, me??"

Mid-squeal.

Mommy loves you, baby girl. ...and your high pitched squeal.

Zoo!!

Saturday, we drove to Memphis to go to the temple. After, we decided to go to the Memphis Zoo with our friends Jason & Jamie. (This zoo kicks the pants off Hogle Zoo. The animals were very active.)

My favorite. Love me some giraffes.

Ok, so I guess it was a tie. I like zebras too.

This was Mike's favorite part. The grizzly bears. Their "habitat" was really big and so cool! They were very active... Just before this picture, the one on the far left stood on the rocks and jumped on top of the middle one and started playing. So cute.

The polar bears.

...And Mike doing the 'Lion King'.

Harli says "Really Dad? You better not drop me!"

(Everyone loved her glasses and hat. She probably got as many ooh's and aah's as the animals!!)

Elephants. (Duh.)

You have to look close, but the monkey at the bottom was a mama with her baby. You can see the cute little baby's head poking out on the right. :)

I kind of get hungry for Panda Express every time I see a panda bear now. ha ha

Jamie & Jason

What is the zoo without a ride on Daddy's shoulders?

These guys were kind of creepy. All the big cats were for that matter. They were all pacing back and forth the whole time, staring at people. Scaaary!

The middle tiger was really pretty. He was orange and brown stripped.

You can see him a little better in this picture (he's on the left).

We had so much fun! I can't wait to go back again!

Yes, she is her Mother's daughter.

I laid Harli on the floor the other day (on her back), walked out of the room for a minute, and when I came back, I found her enjoying the TV. Oh boy. I think I've created a monster.

People. You have to try this. Really.

I bought asparagus the other day to eat with our Sunday dinner. We usually eat it with hollandaise sauce, but I usually buy the mix because I didn't know how to make it. When I was at the store, I forgot to buy the mix, and didn't really remember that until the asparagus was in the pot boiling last night... So I thought I'd look it up online to see if it was easy enough that I could make it homemade. Turns out it was. And it was 10,000,000,000,000 times better than the mix. (Sorry McCormick. You're out.) It was even good on the pork chops. Mmmmm. --Thank goodness for leftovers!

This is the sight that taught me how:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipes/recipe-how-to-make-hollandaise-sauce-044743

She called for heavy cream, which I didn't have, so I used half-and-half instead.

She also called for lime juice, which I didn't have, so I used lemon juice.

It still knocked my socks off. Mike liked it too. You'll have to try it.

(What a post... all for hollandaise sauce.)

(Almost) A Southern Belle.

You know you're living in the South when you feel the need to say 'y'all' instead of 'you,' 'you all,' 'you guys,' or any place else you could stick it - just to be sure the cashier will understand you.

Baby food.

I've been on a baby food making kick lately... The first time I tried it just to see how easy it would be and if I could even do it... It turned out pretty good, and Harli likes it much better than store bought food, so I guess if I have the time, I might as well. :)

It is really easy to do. You just have to steam the vegtables or fruits and blend them. I put most of it into ice cube trays and freeze them and then after they are frozen, take them out and put them into freezer bags. It makes it really convienient when I go to feed Harli becuase I just pull a cube out and stick in the the microwave on dethaw for 2 1/2 minutes and Ta-Dah! Baby food.

Blending the broccoli

Carrots, Sweet potatoes, Applesauce (Miss Harli's FAVORITE! ...that's why I don't really bother with the ice cube tray portions on that one. She could eat it for every meal if I'd let her.), and Zuccini-Spinach

Johnny Jump Up!

Grama Vandercook sent Harli a Johnny Jump Up.

I. LOVE. IT.

It's hot pink. Can you get any more girly??!!

She loves it too. :)

update.

So.

Apparently God sent me an angel child. (Does that mean I can't handle anything harder? Or does that mean my next one is going to be a hellion? Oh boy. I'm betting it's the latter of the two.)

Anyway. Back to the purpose of the post... Harli's sleep.

It only took one really bad night and a couple semi-good nights and she is finally SLEEP TRAINED!!! It is so awesome.
Yay Harli!

Guilty.

So tonight was the first night that we tried the Cry-It-Out method to put Harli to sleep. Oy. So hard. I cried. Harli cried. Bad deal.
I feel so guilty! I know it's only a few nights of sadness, but it's so hard to hear her cry so much! :(
We tried to watch TV to distract us, but it was still traumatic.
Any good ideas?

Photoshoot.

Mike took some pictures for a girl in our ward today so

Harli and I had a mini photoshoot while we were at it.

Let's just be honest here, people...

Oh my gosh my baby is cute!

So serious.

" No more pictures, please. I've had just about enough of you people."

Etsy

Y'all. I'm on Etsy now and I'm so excited about it.
You'll have to check it out!
(There's a link over here...) ------------------------->

Baby girl.

My little baby is not so little anymore!

She has started to jabber and it is so much fun. I could listen to it all day.

This baby loooves to stick her tounge out.

We love big bows. They're just so stinking cute!

I also love being a Mommy. It is the best thing in the whole wide world.

Miscellany.

My baby is growing up so fast!!

Harli is able to hold her head up long enough to sit in her Bumbo now. Wow! Who knew a chair could age your baby. ha ha

Santa says Harli made it on the GOOD GIRL list. :)

It snowed on Christmas day. I just about cried when I saw it. I was wishing and wishing it would snow to make it feel more like home, and my wish came true!! I was so happy... and on Harli's first Christmas. So perfect.
Mike shot a white tail deer over the break (I couldn't get those pictures to work... I will post them later...) so we got a meat grinder and made deer sausage. I'd never had it before and surprisingly, it was pretty good!

Just before bath time Harli likes to look at her reflection in the mirror. So cute. :)

This is just because the picture is so stinkin' cute.

Don't you just want to pinch her little cheeks? I do.

Harli's Blessing

We were able to bless Harli a couple of weeks ago. Fortuantely both Mike's parents and my Mom and brother, Michael were able to be there. It was such a special day. So neat to be able to watch Mike bless our little baby. He said he felt so humbled by her..

Harli's blessing dress was actually the dress that I was blessed in when I was born, which was also the dress that my great-grandma was blessed in in 1893. It is SUCH a beautiful dress and so special to us.

So beautiful.

Harli's Mama and Mimi. :)

Grampa Vandercook was so cute with Harli. She loved all the little faces he'd make at her.

Uncle Michael loves Miss Harli

Orencole Family :)

The guys

Update

Well, life here in Starkville hasn't changed much.
Mike has his finals this week and next, so he will be a happy camper when he is done. He'll get a 4.0, I'm sure of it. He's a good studier!! :)
Harli is still growing like a WEED! She has started to put on the chunk - SO cute! She's also started to coo, which I love.
I'm just hangin' out at home, and I love being a mommy. So awesome! :)
Mike's parents are coming next week to spend some time with us, which will be so nice to have company. We are also going to bless Harli next Sunday while they are here, which I am really looking forward to. My mom just surprised me yesterday and told me that her and my little brother, Michael, are going to come for a day for the blessing too! It will be so wonderful to connect with family, especially so close to the holidays.
It's been very different being here in Mississippi this time of year. It was 60 degrees yesterday. It barely reaches freezing at night. No snow. SO weird.
Hope all is well with everyone. Miss you!

Pictures with Harli

Mike's friend, Daniel, took some pictures of our Harli for us yesterday... They turned out so nice! Thank you Daniel!!! :)

Daddy's little girl.