Sweet face

Reid is 11 months!

Already! 11 month old Reid is on the go.  She is not officially walking yet but she is close. She is a great eater (not something I ever experienced with big sister) and is already very verbal with a short list of distinguishable words. She is such a cuddle-bug and loves to snuggle with just about anyone. We've definitely got another daddy's girl, which is fine by both Andy and me. Reid and Harper are best friends for the moment. 

Sisterly Love

Girls snacking under the Christmas tree

Harper at the DuPage Children's Museum

There is a fantastic children's museum in Naperville and Harper and I spent some "mommy & Harper" time checking it out on the day after Christmas.  Here's Harper in the wind tunnel area:

And playing in the bubble area:

Christmas Eve in Naperville!

We settled in the Chicago area right before Christmas.  This fall has been a whirlwind and moving twice in four months with two small children is not for the faint of heart.  Bottom line, Cleveland did not work out for us and it was best for our family to move on.  Andy is really enjoying his new job and the mission promoted by the School of Rock and the girls and I are absolutely loving our new area to explore. There are endless options of things to do with kids here and I have already enrolled Harper in a three day per week preschool program at a Waldorf school nearby.  I visited a few of the schools in the area and this one stood out for me as being a perfect fit for Harper and our family.  I knew after being in the school for just a few minutes that it felt like home.  She starts on January 10. Here are the girls being silly on Christmas Eve in their new Christmas pjs.

Harper's First Christmas present from Santa

The only thing she has asked for so far: a Christmas tree of her very own.  We told her that Santa brought her an early gift!

Harper's story

Harper and her cousin Luca are best buds.  In the car the other day, they decided to keep themselves entertained by telling "once upon a time" stories.  I caught this one of Harper's and I had to immediately write it down.  This girl has quite the imagination!


once upon a time, there was a fake tree that turned into a real tree that turned into a ghost that turned into a people that turned into a house and I lived in it.  Then a shark came and chased me out of the house and I hit it with a golf club.  The end.

Harper plays at Luca's school

We are visiting in Connecticut right now and Harper was able to join her 4 year old cousin Luca for a day in his classroom at a local Montessori school.  There are 38 preschools within a 5 mile radius of the house we'll be living in in Naperville, Illinois as of next Sunday! I was so overwhelmed by the project of narrowing them down that I hired a virtual personal assistant to narrow them down for me using criteria I provided her ... indulgent? Maybe.  But I work, I can do indulgent things once in a while, right? And this seemed like a worthy cause.  We've narrowed the list down and I have visits scheduled at several the first week we'll be in Illinois.  I'm excited to get her back in school, she needs it.  Our visit to the Montessori confirmed my interest in Montessori, I LOVED the learning techniques and the overall style of the school. And so did Harper, I really hope one of them in "Chicago-land" work out ...

Guess who's on a mission to walk?

Harper in her Halloween costume

I had decided that we would reuse Harper's giraffe costume from last year but the plans were changed.  I made her a video on jibjab.com (which I highly recommend checking out!) featuring her and her cousins and we cast her as a witch.  She became obsessed with the idea of being a witch and when I realized that nothing short of a witch would work, I had to make a last-minute run to Walgreens and piece together a witch costume. So this is a bizarre, last-minute witch costume. She was satisfied and what else really matters, right?

Harper's stage

Harper is convinced that the sawed off tree stump in front of our neighbor's house is her personal stage.  Sometimes she even gets a small audience for her performances.

Reid with one of our most trusted winter friends- COLD SNAP!

Reid playing at the Peace Park near our house

Our Big Girl

Harper is three! We celebrated Harper's third birthday this week. She is such an amazing kid, Andy and I feel honored to be her parents.  She is so bright, sweet, observant.  Can't say she doesn't have her three year old moments because she certainly does, but they are completely out-shined by all of the joy she brings us.  She has transformed before our eyes over the last few months, into a big girl.  Her thoughts are so...profound! She is such a thinker and she is constantly analyzing.  She knows that we had a big move recently and often talks about her life in Colorado. But she will quickly talk about how she has mommy and daddy and Reidy and how that is all that really matters.  She's right.  Andy has been traveling for work a lot lately and last night she asked me pointedly, "Mommy, why isn't Daddy sleeping here tonight?" Heart-breaking! We are reading her first chapter book (Charlotte's Web) right now, one chapter a night, and she so inquisitive about it.  At first, she was alarmed at the lack of pictures but has seemed to picked up the concept very quickly.  She remembers the story line from the previous night and is ready to jump back into it.

One thing that I think is pretty amazing about our three year old is that she is very healthy. In her three years, she's never had a dose of antibiotics or an ear infection, or any diagnosable infection for that matter. I took her to the doctor for a "sick" visit once- when she was 19 months old. At her two year old appointment, her doctor commented that hers was one of the thinnest files he had ever seen. She has not seen a doctor since that visit.  I intend to keep it that way (other than well visits of course, I'm not a negligent parent!). I was very determined to limit her exposure to drugs- antibiotics particularly- from long before she was born and we have been very successful at doing so. She's had lots and lots of Chinese herbs and homeopathic remedies but that's as far as we've ever had to go. She has such a strong constitution.  I remember looking at the tiny girl I gave birth to- 6 pounds, 13 ounces- and worrying that she was too small.  Harper is still on the small side, but she is mighty. 

We love her to pieces, more so every single day. 

Leaf collector

And yes, she put her headband on herself!

We love these girls so much.

Guess who wants to walk?

Fortunately, she doesn't quite have the balance yet. I hope it stays that way for another month or two!

Chatty Reid

Browns Sundays

Now that we are living in Ohio (temporarily, that is, until we move to Chicago in a few months!- more on that in another post), Andy has been able to amp up his loyalty to his home football team, the Cleveland Browns.  Harper has amped up her sportsmanship too, she's got some new gear and is certainly more aware of the Browns talk around the house.

A conversation from Sunday:

Me, to H (wearing her Browns shirt, even though they had a by week): Daddy is going to be home soon. Do you want to go hide in your tent and come out and scare him? (one of her favorite activities)
H: No, I'm not a ghost today, I'm a Brown, so I don't say 'boo.'
H: But do you know what Browns eat? Brownies.  We need to make brownies.

The many faces of Harper

Reid checks out the toys at the library

Apple-picking with her cousin Lucy

Fishing with her cousins in Connecticut

Ready to go boating...

Now, whenever I put on my vest when we're leaving the house, she says, "Mom, why do you have your life jacket on? Can I wear my life jacket and go on a boat?"

A friend from Colorado - in Ohio!

Our friends Matt, Debbie, Abby and Connor moved to Ohio from Denver earlier this year.  We are so happy to be reunited with them.  The girls played so well together. Although they live a few hours away from us, we are planning to get together as much as possible.

Reid test drives her new car

Reid and her best bud, cousin Eli

Harper meeting a cow at the UConn farm

Reid trying out a walker at my parents house in CT

Picture from our going-away party

As you can tell, I just haven't had the time to blog lately what with the boxes I am surrounded by.  Fortunately Andy has been home with us since we moved in on Wednesday and we have gotten the most important rooms done- the kitchen and Harper's bedroom (Reid is too young to really care). However, he starts back at work on Monday and I have a feeling that I'm not going to get any more unpacking done until I have some help.  I am interviewing a couple of babysitters over the next few days so it looks like help is on the way! Fingers crossed that one of them is the right fit for our family. I also have a few things lined up in the way of getting Harper back into a school program.  She has loved her school for the last year and I would really like her to go a day or two a week. I have found a few cooperative nursery schools in the area and will be contacting them on Monday. Also, on Monday,we are going for a visit, tour and preliminary child meet and greet at the Montessori school I would like her to attend beginning next year.  We missed the deadline for this year and besides, it's a five day a week program, which neither of us are really up for so early in life. The admission process for preschool these days seems somewhat like what I remember when I applied for college. Costs almost as much too. (ok, not quite...) Noting the absurdity in that.

Here is a pic of Harper, Reid and Miss Maureen- Harper's music teacher back in Colorado, who played at our going-away party.

All of the Pillari cousins

Guess what? We've moved to Ohio since the last time I blogged.  Kind of crazy how the world shifts.  We have been wanting to move for YEARS and finally had an opportunity that was hard to resist put in front of us so we just took it. We will continue to remind ourselves that nothing in life is permanent and we will take this opportunity to spend less time on planes and be closer to family and take it from there. The girls and I arrived in Ohio on Saturday and Andy will join us sometime tomorrow. He is currently somewhere near the Council Bluffs, Iowa area heading east. He had to drive because of Oscar and stuck around the house to see everything get packed up appropriately.  Our house in Colorado goes on the market on Thursday, we are renting in Ohio in the interim and will move into that house on Wednesday.  I was not thrilled about renting again but this housing market is no place for two mortgages so it is what it is.  I took a peek at our new home yesterday, it looks fantastic. It's a big, three-story Colonial, very different from our modern ranch in Colorado.  Lots of stairs for the girls to fall down.  : )  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  In the meantime, the good stuff of living in Ohio: cousins, cousins and more cousins.  Harper couldn't be more excited to be close to her cousin Lucy.  Here are all five Ohio Pillari cousins: Leo (20 months), Lucy (4), Joseph (3 months), Harper and Reid.  Reid doesn't photograph well these days.  She is always trying to escape and crawl away somewhere.  Ahhh, the difficult stage has begun.

My Reid, my love.

We adore Reid to pieces.  She is the sweetest girl I've ever known (except baby Harper of course, who was equally sweet.)  Harper and I have nicknamed her "dumpster" because of how she eats.  She makes the biggest mess! You always have to feed her with two spoons so you have food going on each one and prevent the lag time of going from bowl to mouth.  She LOVES food.  Harper never loved food the way her sister does.  Harper loved mommy's milk and that was basically it.  Reid is the opposite.  She only wants food, food and more food.  She drinks mommy's milk because that's part of life but I know she would take food over it at any time. She loves purees and is also turning into quite the pro with finger foods. It is so satisfying to feed a baby- Reid eats the most amazing, nutritious foods and for at least the next few months I can take pride in the food she eats. Harper is a great fruit and vegetable eater so I can't complain too much, but she basically survives on 10 foods and can't handle any food combinations, it all must be separate. I got the "Beaba babycook" which is maybe the best baby food making invention ever.  It steams, purees and reheats.  It is so much more efficient then my old way of preparing everything on the stove and then transferring it to the food processor.  And guess what? Reid now has FOUR teeth, not two.  Harper had eight at eight months, I think Reid is trying to keep up.

Riding in the swing for the first time and loving it!

Reid has the world's goofiest smile, it's the cutest thing!!

Trip to Elitch Gardens

My thoughtful and generous friend Cary invited me to use one his free passes to the local amusement park and tag along with him and his son and another friend for a day of fun.  I was hesitant because I honestly think of amusement parks as a microcosm of everything I dislike about the world but I agreed, reminding myself I have children now and I can't be such a Grinch about certain things.  Guess what? I was right, amusement parks are not my thing. But I'll admit it was entertaining and I will take hanging out with Cary and Noah no matter what the situation is, they are such great friends. When I asked Harper what she thought of it she said it was fun.  Strange since she screamed bloody murder about every single ride except the carousel.  : /

Two year olds are so...interesting.

I know every parent finds their child absolutely intriguing and I am no different.  The things that come out of Harper's mouth on a daily basis fascinate and inspire me- they inspire me to be a better parent, a different parent than the one I thought I would be.  I guess the one I thought I would be was a little like the Rick Moranis character in the movie "Parenthood" who walked around with flashcards and tried to make their child bilingual by age 2.  Andy likes to mock me for being like that but I really am not. Honestly, I don't have time and I have accepted that that's not the way my child learns.

One thing of interest over the last month is my realization that Harper does not really recognize her numbers. She  knows what a "2" is, of course, but the other ones she just doesn't care to learn, or learn well. I have realized that symbols like numbers and letters are completely abstract concepts for a two year old who barely has context for them aside from "H is for Harper" and "D is for Daddy".  Even when she spells her name for me I realize that it is just because I have drilled it into her head.  Harper shows a lot of interest in reading and seems to put together that letters make up words, but it ends there. Here are a few Harper quotes on numbers:

3="that's not a three, that's a funny S"
4="that's an A with a broken leg, mommy."
5="that's a two like Harper, it's just upside-down!"
8="two Os, stuck together."

Her lack of knowledge about numbers briefly left me a bit distraught and feeling like a failure of a mostly stay at home mom, so I went where any other parent in my situation would go: Walgreens.  At a friend's suggestion, I bought a box of magnetic numbers, traced them on to a piece of construction paper and placed the construction paper over a cookie sheet with the intention of having Harper match the magnetic number to the traced number.  She enjoyed it, for one round. Then she had the numbers make friends and talk to each other, a la "Hi, my name is number three, what's your name?"

Truly, two year olds are fascinating!

At the zoo with Madison

"Fishing" in the wildlife sanctuary across the street

with no hook or bait, of course.  But don't tell her that.

Deep thoughts by Harper Elizabeth

Harper: Cars should be able to fly.

Me: That would be nice.  Why do you think they should be able to fly?

Harper: Because then I wouldn't have to take an airplane to see my cousins.

Daddy: (playing with Harper's kitchen): Thank you for the soup Harper.

Harper: And thank you for using a kind word, Daddy!

Harper: Daddy, if I go pee-pee on the potty today, you have to buy me a guinea pig! (HA! Yeah right on that one. And thanks to the Sprout channel for teaching her about guinea pigs.)

Me: Daddy is bringing you home a bike helmet today.

Harper: A bike helmet? Why?

Me: To protect your head when you're riding your bike just in case you fall off.

(few hours later, Andy comes home from work)

Harper: Daddy, did you bring me home a helmet and a falling bike?

Harper shows off her new shoes.

She called them her "dancing shoes."

Six Month Reid

Six-month old Reid continues to be our peanut.  But a mighty peanut! At her six month appointment, she weighed 14 pounds, 2 ounces, which dropped her into the 16% for weight.  She is in the 33% for height and the 55% for head circumference.  What to do? She is eating solid foods now and there is a lot of avocado in her diet.  She is noisy like her sister, very sweet and active.  She is sitting unassisted some of the time and attempting to crawl.

Guess what? There's a tooth in that mouth!

and a second one about to pop through!

The life of the second child

Sisters watching Tangled together while Harper enjoys a pre-bed snack of peas.

Enjoying the water at the Denver Zoo!

We used to go to the zoo for the animals but now I guess we'll be going for the new water feature they've installed.  Here's Harper having a blast.