A Day in the Life of Harlow

Day in the Life of Harlow

Harlow is now 10.5 months old and continues to light up our life every day. After eating dinner tonight, this old couple stopped by our table to pay us the nicest compliment. They wanted to tell us how precious and adorable Harlow is (nothing new to have people stop us to say this to us), but then they added how obvious it was that we loved our daughter and enjoyed spending time with her. It's true. We absolutely love her more than any mushy feeling we've ever had in our lives. She is "our everything", "our world", and all the other cheesy cliches used to describe love. Hope you enjoy watching how we spent our day together!

♥ Jess and Dax ♥

This is me, Harlow Kuykendall. I wake up in the morning and play with my toys inside my crib until my Mommy or Daddy come and get me.




This is my yummy breakfast. Daddy made me eggs this morning and I also ate my oatmeal cereal mixed with fruit.


This is me and Sissy-Dog Leyla getting ready to go for our morning walk.

Mommy put a blanket on me, I think it was a bit of an overkill, as it was only 65 degrees, but whatever floats her boat. She gets so happy when it cools off!
After we got home, it was time to get dressed for the day. Mom said something about going to the mall to start some Christmas shopping! Fun!!
Sissy-Dog Leyla likes to be in everyone's business, all the time. So annoying to my mom and dad, but I love it!
Here I am! I love this outfit and my Tiny Toms!
This is one of my favorite past times while at home. Getting into my food drawer and pulling out everything I can get my grubby hands into. What does grubby mean? My mom always calls my hands that when I am getting into things.


After playing around this morning while mom and dad got ready, I busted my dang lip. It hurt pretty bad, but my Mommy got me some ice to put on it. That helped some and before I knew it, I forgot it even happened! BTW people, do you think you could do a little bit better job of wiping my face after I eat? I mean this was a good 2 hours after I had eaten. It's getting embarrassing guys.

We made it to the mall!


Eating lunch at the food court!
Yay, it's play time. Why does that kids place smell like dirty feet?

We got home in time for me to take my afternoon nap and play for a little bit. Now, it's time to get ready for dinner. I puked on my outfit, so my Mommy decided I'd better change.

This is my second favorite past time. I love to close the door, then pry it open with my free hand while standing like a big girl.
This time, Sissy-Dog Leyla was on the other side (no surprise, remember I told you she is always in everyone's business?)


See ya!
My Mommy was being silly trying to take a picture by herself! Man, I am a Que-Tee.

Yummy! Dinner time!
Sitting at the bar with Dad and Mom waiting for our table. Everyone loved me (as usual) and I even got TWO people saying I was the cutest baby they had ever seen for a grand total of 3 people for the day. To be honest, that is a little under my average. But these 2 people today both even had their own kids. Wow, sucks for those kids. One lady especially loved my "style". I do happen to like this outfit. Especially my kicks. So comfy.
I'm watching the bartenders intently while they mixed drink's I'll never have. (Mommy says they all taste yucky and I believe everything my Mommy says!)
Yummy, glo-sticks. Those bartenders were so nice to me!
First time in a booster seat! I sat pretty good, but thought it was so funny to tear up the paper table cloth. Come on people, what did you expect?
This is my first time eating Mahi Mahi. It was so delicious! I ate more than my Mommy!
How silly am I??

Finally, we were home. I ate so much, my tummy is so full and I am so tired!! But I didn't "lose my mind" like my Mommy always says. I held it together.




No wonder my Daddy's back hurts after giving me a bath, I'm so slippery I slide all over the place.


This is the time I like to be really squirmy. It's extra fun to do it with Daddy because he is much slower at putting on the diapers. He thinks if he gives me that silly bunny I will hold still.


Nope, I just throw it on the floor! Haha Daddy!
I decided to give Mommy one more big smile before I retired for the night. I do love these jammies that my Grammie got me. They remind me of my Sissy-Dog Leyla and make me have nice dreams
Here is my sleep sack. It keeps me nice and cozy at night.
Finally, it's bedtime. I'm so tired after my day with my Mommy and Daddy!
This is how I like to sleep. With my lovies at my side and paci's in both hands. I love my Dad and Mom for not taking away my paci's yet.
Night night everyone! See you next time!
♥ Harlow

Mommy sleep training....this is hilarious

I saw this linked from Facebook the other day...and can't stop laughing....

****MOMMY SLEEP TRAINING****

Dear Fellow Babies,

OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for 5 months. The first few weeks were great–I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, around the clock. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, Ithought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like its pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 5-6 months.

Here’s the thing: these Mommies don’t really need to sleep. It’s just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep–they just don’t need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this:

Night 1–cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it’s hard. It’s hard
to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it’s
for her own good.

Night 2–cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3–every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot stress
this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT’S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep; she is just resisting the change.. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

The other night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with:
•My sleep sack tickled my foot.
•I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
•My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
•I burped, and it tasted like rice cereal. I hadn’t eaten rice cereal since
breakfast, what’s up with that?
•The dog said”ruff”. I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20
times a day. LOL.
•Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the
monitor in the other room.
•Too hot, too cold, just right–doesn’t matter! Keep crying!!
•I had drooled so much my sheets were damp and I didn’t like it touching me.
•I decided I was sick of all the green in my room so I cried.

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies’ internal clocks.

Sometimes my Mommy will call for reinforcements by sending in Daddy. Don’t worry Daddies are not set up for not needing sleep the way Mommies are. They can only handle a few pats and shhing before they declare defeat and send in the Mommy.

Also, be weary of the sleep sheep with the rain noises. I like to give Mommy false hope that listening to the rain puts me to sleep sometimes I pretend to close my yes and be asleep and then wait until I know Mommy is settling back to sleep to spring a surprise cry attack. If she doesn’t get to me fast enough I follow up with my fake cough and gag noise that always has her running to the crib. At some point I am positive she will start to realize that she really doesn’t really need sleep.

P.S. Don’t let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.

Well guys...What is considered walking?

Cause this little one is mighty close. Today, she took about 4 steps 2 times in a row so we ran and got the camcorder. Of course, by that time, she was too tired to do it anymore. I had her paci in my mouth, which is a little game we play, so the motivation was high to come and get it!

Daylight's Savings wasn't too bad, but silly, silly, Dax and Jessica put Harlow to bed an hour early because she was so crabby. We never do this, as we like to spend as much time as possible with her, even when she is crabby, but last night we just were done with it all and she needed to sleep. About 3 hours later, it dawned on me that it was an incredibly bad night to do this as there was a time change in a few hours! Sure enough, LoLo woke up 12 hours later....at 6 AM. We are totally spoiled around her, she sleeps 8-8. That's how the Kuykendall's roll. So, whatevs, we will survive, and if we are lucky, she will pick right up tonight. Seriously though, we've decided that Harlow just rocks overall. She has been a very easy and fun baby molding right into our lives. Keep rocking Lo!

This weekend, Dax and I built our own little portrait studio for our house. It was a fun project that will lead to great photo sessions in the future. I'm already planning Harlow's Birthday shoot and Christmas Card shoot. It's super hard for me to not post the practice pictures we took today but it will be better to share the finished product instead!

The pictures this week are from FAU's Homecoming Parade/Fall Family Fest. Harlow got to visit the stinky petting zoo, which she really enjoyed. Then, we met up with some friends who were celebrating "Take this Job and Shove It" Friday at a really neat German Bar/Restaurant. All in all, we had a fabulous weekend! We welcome any cool breeze we have been getting and hope that there is more on the way. Have a great week everyone!






This is a sweet letter that Piper wrote at school. She later corrected herself after she realized that she is my niece, not my cousin! Love this ♥

Harlow's First Halloween

We dressed Harlow up on final time yesterday for her first Halloween and took our last pictures. Unfortunately, it was raining ALL day here, so mama had to use the yucky flash and cheesy inside shots. I really was hoping to get her outside with the pumpkins in the yard. Oh well! We did some trick or treating at our neighbors and even got to see the little boy down the street, Peyton. He just learned to walk this week so he was showing off his skills to Harlow. His mom and dad are much cooler than us, they dressed up like cows.

Harlow isn't walking yet. She loves to cruise around on furniture or anything else she can get her little paws to hold on to. Including mommy's moving legs. She will briefly stand and balance but only when transitioning to another stable object. She loves to open and close cabinets and drawers so we have to watch carefully so she doesn't slam her little fingers. She uses her walker and runs into all kinds of things if we let her. She loves having the freedom to crawl around and get into all the things she is not allowed. She responds to "no-no" but as soon as you turn around, she goes right back to what she was getting into. She loves to crawl to the window and look outside into the yard. I used to have to clean the outside of the door because of Leyla, now I have to clean the inside because of Harlow's little paws. She is cutting 2 new teeth, numbers 5, and 6. She has the top two and the bottom two already. The news ones are on top and bottom, on the right side. They have been bothering her a lot lately, but I think both finally are cut through enough to give her a break. She has learned to wave and kiss, and will do it about half of the time you ask her to. She also knows the sign for milk and eat. She says Mama, Dada, Dad, Leyla (at least I think she does!). Her hair is getting longer and she even can wear pigtails now! I downloaded the pictures from my camera, but not surprisingly, I cannot figure out where they went now. Maybe by the next post, I will have fixed the problem.

Today, we made some more baby food. We made carrots, spinach, raspberries, kiwi, peaches and apples all from the Farmer's Market we went to on Saturday. Harlow is eating all kinds of new food now that she has some teeth. She eats eggs, pasta, pizza, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, crackers, chicken and pork. We are still working on getting her to drink from a sippy cup. Soon, it will be time for real milk! The challenge will be getting her to drink out of something besides a bottle. She still has her pacifier, but only for sleeping times. She has one for her mouth, and one (or two) to hold onto. She sleeps from 8-8, sometimes later. She takes 2 naps, sometimes 3 if they are shorter naps. Lately, she has been taking very short naps, only 45 minutes at a time. When she is up, she is non-stop. We bought a large fenced in play pen for the corner of the living room, but that little turkey doesn't like being inside alone. Go figure. She is very spoiled for my attention, but I love being able to give it to her every day. We visited two day cares last week, both of which we were not too impressed. We are still not sure what we are going to do but the main priority is for Harlow to be in a safe, nurturing and loving environment. As she gets older, it will be more important for her to be exposed to other children and other people so that is something we are working on. Hopefully, when the weather cools a bit, we can spend some more time outside going for walks and playing at the park. Some things I am lining up for us to do next month include getting a zoo pass, visiting the local Children's museum and attending the library book readings. We will also be staying busy from now until Christmas-shopping and also planning for Harlow's first birthday party. Finally, here are the most recent picture of the little angel!

Oh, we wanted to say Thank You to Reta for Harlow's First Halloween card and gift! Thanks Reta, we love you!

This is Peyton, the little boy down the street!

Farmer's Market

Last year Halloween.....
And now we have this year Halloween...