Photo Catch-up

 Spencer came to visit and have dinner with us one night. Aside from the newly groomed hair and the button-up shirt that fits :), he is the same ol' Spencer. There must be something about those Smith men...Harper was equally mesmerized by Spencer's dad, David.

This is from our visit to Macon a couple of weeks ago. Donna (John's mom) was teaching me how to sew. We also made an applique. She is such a great teacher. She was so patient with me, but she also made me practice. I can't wait to have another "Sewing with Donna" lesson soon.

 Harper loves her daddy. These two are my heart on the outside of my body. She loves going to Lowe's with her daddy. They both get a lot of attention.

What's in a name?

We found out we were pregnant on July 21, 2011. Almost instantly we started thinking of baby names. We honestly had more boy names that we liked. We actually had a boy's name picked out -- Mason Richard Clark. (Funny enough -- John's oldest sister Erin had a baby boy and named him Mason. Neither of us had talked to each other about it.) So, on October 23, when we found out we were having a girl, we didn't know where to start. John has always known that I like older, classic names, but I have also loved the name Harper for a long time. I remember when Victoria Beckham named her daughter Harper, I was crushed. I didn't want our daughter's name to be extremely popular. I looked at the most popular baby names list and made sure it wasn't in the top 10. I love the idea of  using family names. I want the name to mean sometime. No, I don't mean that actual meaning of the name as in "strong heart" or "warrior," although that is pretty interesting. We wanted to use the name of people special to us...who we would want our daughter to emulate. Fortunately for us, our families' had a name in common. Evelyn. John's paternal grandmother's name was Evelyn Hansard Clark. My paternal grandmother's name was Christine Evelyn Beck Perry. These also happen to be the only great-grandmother's that are no longer with us. And so it was...Harper Evelyn.

John and I wish so badly that Harper could know these great-grandmothers. I often get choked up because I know my Big Mama would be over the moon with Harper and I want to share this experience with her. My Big Mama passed away 2 years and 2 days before Harper was born. We like to believe that our grandmothers and grandfathers in Heaven were able to meet Harper before we did. I like to imagine Evelyn and John Clark Sr. and Christine and Richard Perry Sr. passing around sweet baby Harper.

Christine Evelyn Beck Perry and Richard Lewis Perry, Sr

John Dawson Clark, Sr. and Evelyn Hansard Clark

Playing Catch-up

We have been pretty busy here. Two weekends ago we had a Morris Family Reunion (my maternal grandmother's family) and Hadley's 5th birthday party. Last weekend, we went to Macon to visit John's parents and stay in their new house. This upcoming weekend is my high school's homecoming, the next weekend Harper is getting baptized and the next weekend we are going to the beach. YAY! September and October are such fun months. The weather is changing. I am baking pumpkin bread and watching the leaves change colors. John's birthday is in September and mine is in October.

Updates on Harper: she is such a funny baby. I adore her facial expressions. I can tell that she will have a fabulous sense of humor. She laughs a lot -- loves getting tickled by her daddy. She is eating more fruits and vegetables -- so far she has eaten avocado, banana, pear, prunes, sweet potato, carrots, peas, rice cereal, oatmeal and yellow squash. She loves the fruit. That will change, I am sure. I am looking forward to getting more direction (how often to feed her, what to feed her, etc.) tomorrow at her 6 month check-up. We also put Harper in her high-chair to eat now. She is growing so quickly!

 Here is Harper playing on the rug in the kitchen. As soon as she starts crawling, the dogs are going to think she is their new toy.

 We took Harper to the pool again. This time John did not have a cast. She seems to really like water.

 OK -- I know this pictures is blurry, but I wanted you to see my favorite new face that Harper makes. She crinkles up her face and breathes heavily through her nose. It is so funny.

 While taking pictures for John's birthday gift from Harper, Jackson did a run-by licking.

We are all doing very well. I have contacted a mom's group and should be meeting up with them this week. John has a new role at GE and will be a requisition manager starting later this month.

Harper is nearing 6 months of age. Wow. She giggles...a lot. She smiles all the time, she "talks," eats well from a spoon and has outgrown her baby tub. Don't get me wrong -- she cries, too. She is very vocal. She has good nights where she is asleep by 8 and doesn't wake until 6. She also has nights where she wakes up at 2 and again at 5. Her naps are getting better, but her morning nap is the worst. It lasts 37 minutes -- almost exactly...everytime.

A good friend came to visit us last week. She brought her 6-week old son, Beckett. We had a chance to catch up. She is one of the few people who was absolutely real with me about having a baby. (Beckett is her second child.) We talked about motherhood. She told me that there are two things moms lie about: how their baby sleeps and how much weight they gained. Haha. Hysterical. As if either impacts the type of parent you are. It's crazy how moms (and dads, whether they mean to or not) make each other feel guilty about their parenting choices. It's the formula vs. breastfed babies, stomach sleepers vs. back sleepers, natural birth (no drugs) vs. vaginal vs. c-section, stay-at-home moms vs. back-to-work moms. It's just crazy. It's also sad. Instead of knocking each other down, we should be supporting each other. 

Perhaps I am hyper-sensitive. When I hear people say "but we want to do it naturally," I can't help but take it as a little jab. I am sure most women start out wanting to do it naturally. I don't want to deter anyone from that. I can also say, my baby was 9 lbs 5 oz and 21.5 inches long. I didn't have a c-section....but you can be certain that I had an epidural. I didn't ask for one until the pain of the contractions was too much and there was not much time in between them. See, I went from 2cm dilated to 10cm in a matter of 2-3 hours. I was given pitocin because my water broke. Once your water breaks, they like to deliver the baby within 24 hours to prevent infection. Pitocin speeds up the process, but it also intensifies the contractions. Let's just say...it was a humbling experience. I have broken my arm twice, crushed a pinky and had a couple surgeries on it, fractured my tailbone, my tooth busted through my lip, and fractured my foot (twice). I thought I could handle pain.

My focus has remained unchanged...Harper is almost 6 months. She is an absolute angel who smiles when she sees me, tries to eat my face, holds her arms out to the dogs while she closes her eyes (she knows they will lick her), giggles when her daddy tickles her belly, loves being in the stroller, and doesn't judge us as parents. She doesn't care that I gained quite a bit of weight while pregnant (mostly me indulging, but also being a teacher on my feet all day didn't leave much energy for exercise), she doesn't care that I had an epidural, and she certainly doesn't judge me because I didn't go back to work. The only people who care about that are people who don't matter.

5 months

                       5 months already?!? Harper feels the same way, just look at her face.

Now that Harper is 5 months, everything is beginning to work itself out. She is sleeping better, she is playing better on her own (not having to be held), and she rides in the car better. She still won't nap for very long, but I would prefer she sleep through the night than take long naps during the day (if I had a choice.)

Likes: Molly and Jackson, bath time, prunes, pears and sweet potatoes, swinging outside, daddy/mommy playing "harmonica" on her toes

Dislikes: peas, avocado, mommy leaving the room, having her nails clipped.

Labor Day Weekend

Even though I don't teach anymore, long weekends are still as exciting as ever. Not only do you have 3 days off from work, you only have 4 work days when you get back. Having John around makes everything 100x better. Love it! John surprised me and took Friday off from work. His parents joined us Friday night. They recently moved back to Macon, and they have been working tirelessly on their new house. We had a great time with them, and Harper enjoyed spending time with her Grandmama and Grandaddy Clark. On Saturday, John's parents and aunt (Janice) joined the Perry clan for our weekly lunch get-together at Taco Mac. We took John and Donna to IKEA (they had never been). We stayed for 2 hours and Harper was an angel! We then went to a late dinner at a rather loud restaurant, and Harper was still an angel. The only time Harper really cried all weekend was at church. Thankfully, the only people who heard her were John and an usher. I spent the whole time in the "soothing room." With only a few minutes remaining in the service, Harper fell asleep.


We are so happy to have John's parents back in Georgia. His mom, Donna, recently retired and is now taking care of Meagin's (John's sister) baby, Madison. We hope to go visit them soon and see all the work they have done on their beautiful new house.

 John's aunt, Janice Harrington, lives in Marietta. She located the grave of Harper's great great great grandfather (on his paternal grandmother's side), George Washington Hansard. On Sunday, we all drove there and took some pictures.