I’ve had several "Mother of the Year" moments over the past few months – Roman falling off a chair face first in his car seat in Ben & Jerry’s, just to give you an idea. Well this morning I was at Home Depot ordering doors (no more plastic sheeting, yay!), and if you’ve ever done this you know that (a) it takes forever and (b) it is really hard to do with kids. Luckily Portman was home and I left both of them with him. About an hour into my expedition I got a phone call from Portman. I found the Home Depot guy staring at me like "what kind of mother are you?" and in retrospect, my end of the conversation was probably strange to listen to! You be the judge:

Is everyone ok?

Well is it really throw up, or just spit up?

Is it projectile?

I’m sure he’s fine.

What color red – like blood red or food red?

Well just take his clothes off then.

Harper needs to eat.

I don’t know – see if there’s any Easy Mac left.

Then take her clothes off too.

Okay see you in a little bit.

This is the face of someone who enjoyed tonight’s dinner:

The "Good" – bundling up and walking to a friend’s house for a cozy dinner (with kids running around like whirling dervishes):

The "Bad" – forgetting to put down the patio umbrella before the ice snapped it in half (oops):

Here are a few more gems from Harper (aka The Mouth of the South) over the past week or so:

"Help mama! Get apple in frog’s tushie!" (attempting to shove the letter "A" bath toy into a frog puppet)

Me: "Harper, please don’t sit on him."

Harper: "He just a baby…"

"How ’bout some yogurt? Or kitty cracker?"

While I was letting Ro Ro "cry it out" the other night, Harper sat in her crib unable to sleep due to the noise:

Harper: "Mama! Ro Ro crying!" …a few seconds later… "I do big fat poopy!" Sure enough, she had done a "big fat poopy."

Harper doesn’t pronounce her "L’s", so anything with an "L" in it is replaced with a "Y," as follows:

"I watch Charlie and Yoya" (Charlie and Lola)

"He’s just yookin’ mama" (in response to "what is Ro Ro doing?")

Me: "Harper, are we going to see Mickey Mouse?"

Harper: "We so ‘cited!"

In Harper’s world there are 3 categories of humans: babies, kids, and "peoples." "Peoples" pretty much encompasses anyone over 3 feet tall.

Harper (in line for the Norway ride at Epcot): "We go on boat now?"

Portman: "it’s not our turn yet."

Harper: "It for peoples?"

Harper (at the Lego Imagination Center): "I have this please?"

Portman: "No, that’s not ours."

Harper: "It people’s Yegos?"

Today we got snow – a lot of it! The big, white fluffy kind that’s great for making snow balls and stomping around in. To say that Harper was excited is a major understatement. We had to hold her back from it until Roman went down for a nap (Portman worked from home today), then Harper and I bundled up and ventured outside. By 10 AM we already had several inches and I found our snow gear severely lacking. I guess I forgot to buy snow pants for Harper this year – last year we got them as a gift and it just slipped my mind to buy some for this season. Luckily we had some fleece-lined pants and, paired with tights, socks, and warm boots, she was just fine.

Harper played in the snow last year but obviously doesn’t remember it. She marched right into it this morning and exclaimed "oooh, cold!" We played on the back porch for a while, then took a walk to her friend Ellie’s house. Ellie lives two blocks away and we usually take the wagon or the "beep beep car," but today Harper did a great job just marching over there in the snow. At one point she squealed "we running!" and took off in front of me.

Now that Roman is 6 months old, I finally got around to turning his room into a real little boy’s room. Harper previously occupied his room, and it was very cute but a little girlie. Also we never had curtains for the room, so when Harper lived in it I tacked towels over the windows to block out the light (classy!) Needless to say, it was time to get some real curtains, and while I was at it I decided to make the whole thing a little more masculine.

I bought the rug on clearance before we knew that Harper was a girl, and it is perfect for a boy’s nursery. Unfortunately Pottery Barn stopped making that pattern several years ago and it’s really hard to find. Through a combination of Craigslist, Ebay, and Freecycle, I was able to piece together the other parts of the collection (for super-cheap, I should add). I think it turned out just perfect! Also, since we’ll most likely be having #3 in this house (don’t read into that too much – I’m not announcing anything!), it’s nice to have a separate "girls room" and "boys room."

Yesterday we returned from a week-long vacation to Orlando. It was our first "real" vacation since Harper was born. I say "real" because Portman did absolutely no work while we were there, and didn’t even bring his blackberry! We had an amazing trip and Portman and I were both surprised at how much fun Harper had. We expected that she would be a little bit overwhelmed and scared by the characters and rides, but we were so wrong! She loved every minute of it, was excited to hug all of the characters and laughed through all of the rides. We did 4 parks: Magic Kingdom (twice, actually), Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. There were so many great moments over the week, so I’ll have to pick my favorites. Also it will probably be months before I actually upload all of the photos, so I’ll include a lot below.

On our first day at the Magic Kingdom we shut down the park, staying until the last parade. During the parade Harper sat on Portman’s shoulders, her face covered in chocolate milk, and squealed with delight when she saw a character that she recognized. Mid-way through the parade the Little Mermaid float came into view. Harper saw King Triton and screamed at the top of her lungs: "I see SANTA!"

Harper watches her Winnie the Pooh movie over and over again (the classic one, not the new one), so we were not surprised that she was so excited about seeing "real Pooh" and "real Tigger." She hugged them so hard, and wouldn’t let go even to take a photo! We had to pry her off of them, and she still wakes up every morning talking about them.

Roman was amazing on the trip and didn’t have a single fussy episode. He loved watching all of the action from his perch in the backpack or from the stroller. On many of the rides we just left him in the backpack and put him on the seat between us. Here’s a shot of him on the teacup ride – there was a lot to look at!

At Hollywood Studios we got to see a Playhouse Disney live show featuring Harper’s favorite cartoon in the world: The Little Einsteins. Harper was very excited to meet the characters. She only wanted to "bump" Leo, but gave June and Quincy huge hugs.

Roman took to peeing through his pj’s on vacation, so we had a bit of a laundry situation. Luckily Harper’s pj’s fit him just fine. You can put him in pink pj’s, but you can’t take the "boy" out of him!

Harper and Portman brushing up on their drumming at Epcot:

Baby’s first tortilla at the San Angel Inn at Epcot:

Playing in the dinosaur bones sandbox at Animal Kingdom. I have a photo of Uncle Kevin playing in the exact same spot in 2001!

Harper and Portman riding Dumbo – we had to do this one more than once because Harper is obsessed with elephants (she has no idea who Dumbo is).

Roman passed out in Harper’s Mickey blanket. We had to buy Harper a warm blanket because it was uncharacteristically freezing and she kept whining "I need Ro Ro’s blankie!"

Breakfast at Chef Mickeys. In the first photo Harper was studying Goofy and wouldn’t look at the camera, and Roman was actually chewing on Goofy’s hand over my shoulder!

Every night when we had to head back to the hotel, Harper would protest from the back seat yelling "no go HOME!" She made it very difficult for us to leave! Our favorite moment was when we were driving home from Epcot at the end of a long day and we were talking about how much fun we had. Harper was saying her usual "Mama so happy, Daddy so happy," then she paused and thought for a second before saying "and I so happy!" 

While I’m at it, here’s a great video of Portman and Harper dancing over the holidays. They do this daily, and Harper, as you can tell, absolutely loves it!

As promised, here is a video of Roman bouncing:

Roman turns six months old in just a few days, and we had his 6-month checkup yesterday. He weighed… drumroll… NINETEEN pounds, six ounces and was 28 inches long. Translation: he’s huge! In his defense, he hadn’t pooped yet, so he’s probably a little lighter than that. Actually, while he is in the 95th percentile for height, his weight is only the 82nd percentile, so I guess there are a few babies bigger than him. His head circumference was 44.5 cm – the only reason I mention this is that Harper’s is only 48 cm! My guess is that in 6 months or so he will be at least the same size as her, maybe bigger.

Roman is starting to move around a lot more. He isn’t crawling yet, but he rolls over to get to toys, and he is starting to use his arms to scoot himself forward. He watches Harper’s every move and you can tell that he desperately wants to play like a big kid! Pretty soon…

The doctor put him on a new antacid because he still has pretty bad reflux. I’m hoping that the new medicine will help him sleep better. I’ve already noticed a difference in his naps and he’s only been on it for 2 days. He is still waking up at least once at night to eat, sometimes twice. We’re moving towards one feeding, but we’re not quite there yet.

Other than not sleeping through the night, Roman is a wonderful baby. He is SO chilled out and is very content to sit with some toys and people-watch (Harper-watch). He loves his "Jump ‘n Go" – the seat that attaches to a door frame and lets him jump up and down. I call him my jumping bean, but Harper always corrects me and says "no Mommy, he a bunny." I’ll put up a video shortly of him jumping – he will go on for hours!