A New Year

2012 has been a great year for us. It has been amazing. It hasn't always been easy -- in fact, it has been really challenging. With each challenge I think we have learned more about our abilities to adapt and roll with the punches. I am really proud of us.

Some things we have learned:

- John can help with the Harper in the middle of the night and have no memory of it in the morning. (muahahahah)

-A quiet Harper is cause for concern.

- If you can't find John, he is either under a car or in his workshop/shed.

- Our idea of dirty clothes has changed -- it must have a least 2 different kinds of baby food on it for it to be washed.

-Laundry takes 2 weeks. 1 week to cycle the clothes through the washer, dryer and fold them. Another week to put them away.

- It has been said that women are terrible drivers. I challenge anyone to drive well (and obey the speed limit) with a screaming child in the car.

- I read this somewhere, but it applies to perfectly to us: I never knew how much I loved John until I saw how much he loves Harper.

-Commercials that show dads being helpless and clueless annoy us. John is the most capable and wonderful father.

-Jackson is good with babies. Molly is NOT.

- Fireworks.are.the.worst.ever.

Wishing everyone a blessed and wonderful 2013!

Gal Pals

Since Harper's birth, we have had many friends have babies. One as recent as two days ago (yay Megan and Ben!) Grant and John grew up together in Macon. Grant and Carrie had sweet Vivian about 7 weeks ago. She and Harper are fast friends. Harper just REALLY wants Vivian to play with her. Before we know it, they will be going on spring break together. Yikes.

A Full Heart

I love Christmas for so many reasons. Although some people may disagree, I love how full the church gets around Christmastime. People coming home to be with their families or maybe people who feel the need to go to church and celebrate Jesus' birth; whatever the reason, it warms my heart.

I grew up in Marietta. I was an "East Cobb Snob" from the age of 2. At 18, my parents built a house in West Cobb. When John and I got engaged, we bought a  house in West Cobb. Most of my friends don't live in Marietta anymore. So Christmas means that they will be coming home and I always hope that I have a chance to visit with them. (We took Harper to a Walker Christmas Party and she was so well behaved. I think people wanted to see her more than they wanted to see me. I don't blame them.)

Christmas also means that my whole family gets together. It is often assumed that we all spend a great deal of time together because we all live so close (the furthest sibling being near Lenox.) Although I do spend a lot of time with my siblings and their families, it is not very often that we are all together in one place. I just love it.

Christmas Eve was so exciting. We went to the Children's Nativity Service and Harper loved it. She wanted everyone to know how much she loved it so she squealed as loud as she could. :) After church, we had dinner at Waffle House. We then hurried home, gave Harper a bath and to bed she went.

(L) Harper with Aunt Janice, (top) at Church, (bottom) Christmas morning.

Christmas morning was spent at our house. Harper opened -- chewed on -- her presents. The dogs ate their bones, and John and I exchanged a few gifts. After Harper's morning nap, we packed up and headed to my parents house (all of 5 miles away.) We all decided to have a breakfast buffet instead of a large meal and IT WAS AMAZING! Betsy's breakfast casserole, Dad's cheese grits, Keri's bread pudding, my sausage balls, Mom's biscuits and Kelly's fruit salad. We had a great time exchanging gifts and spending time together. Soon it was Harper's nap time, so we headed home. John and I had a little nap, too.

Christmas Day!

The next day we headed to Macon for the Clark family Christmas. It's great fun to have Harper spend time with Madison because they are just 2 weeks apart. Sweet Baylee is so good with the babies. We spent a few days in Macon, so we had a chance for Harper to spend time with her Great Grandmama and Grandaddy Mason. We also visited the graves of her Grandmama and Grandaddy Clark. If you know anything about John's mom and sister, Meagin, then you know they are bargain hunters. They inspired us to do a little early birthday shopping for Harper. Perhaps even a little early Christmas shopping? Let's see if I can wait that long!

with Great Grandmama and Grandaddy Mason.

I have so many ideas/plans for what we will do with Harper when she is more aware of Christmas. I am in no rush for her to grow up, but I intend on her knowing the true meaning of the season.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love this time of year. Getting to spend extra time with family and friends is the best gift ever. Add to that looking at all the beautiful Christmas cards and baking up a storm in the kitchen -- perfection. John and I are thinking of ways to incorporate Jesus into our Christmas traditions (a little crazy that we have to do that -- I mean, think about it) aside from Christmas Eve service. I love that Jason, Betsy, Hadley and Hayden bake a birthday cake for Jesus. I also want to create my own advent calendar with 25 Bible verses along with the sweet treat. It is so easy to get caught up in Santa and Rudolph and getting that doorbuster, but I want Harper to know that is not why we celebrate Christmas. That being said, Harper is completely unaware of Christmas this year. She is not even 9 months old. I mean, she plays with wrapping paper as I wrap gifts, she hangs out in the kitchen while I bake until there is no counter space left, and she loves playing with our tree. She has multiple Christmas dresses and had her picture taken with Santa. All of this is for us. She is just along for the ride. I am looking forward to the day when she can take part in all of our traditions and be excited about it.

Harper didn't cry. She was very interested in Santa.

She is also very interested in Christmas trees and ornaments.

A happy baby while Mama bakes!

How much longer?

A Trip to Athens

John had a business trip last week in Pasco, Washington. Harper and I decided to drive to Athens and spend the night at the Gober's house. Carson is 2 years old -- he will be 3 in May. Lauren and I have been friends since Kindergarten. Girls scouts. Camp High Harbor. Panama City. Breckenridge. Lake Burton. So many of my childhood memories involve Lauren. She was one of my bridesmaids. Lauren (and her family) are so special to me.

The months leading up to Harper being born and the months following her birth, I called Lauren all the time. Is this normal? What do I do? What do you recommend? She was such a great resource, but an even better friend. I love that our children will be friends. Oh, and they will also be married. It's perfect.

I had a great time at their house, but I think Harper and Carson had the most fun. Lauren and I found ourselves sitting silently by and watching the two play together. Carson was so sweet and gentle with Harper. And Harper? She was so loud and made so many funny noises -- Carson loved it! (and often mimicked her.)

Let's not forget about Chris! He was so sweet...he offered to watch Harper and Carson so that Lauren and I could go out to dinner. Knowing that Harper was "off" her normal schedule, I wouldn't put him through that. Chris and I did convince Lauren to watch Duck Dynasty. She was not too impressed. 

Middle school? Yes, this picture is definitely from middle school. :)

Carson and Harper meet -- Harper is 3 months old.

during our sleepover -- they had so much fun!

8 months (and 10 days...eek!)

It is hard to believe that 8 months have gone passed since our little girl was born. The first month was the longest one of my life -- and since then, time has passed so quickly.

Harper loves bath time. Bath time listening to the Sound of Music? It doesn't get much better. :)

Headed to the Army/Navy Party

ahhhhh.....

smiling at my daddy....

those eyes.

Harper loves being on her daddy's shoulder.

Harper is close to crawling. She just has such long legs -- it's hard to maneuver them! She claps, although no sound is produced. The other day she whistled -- completely on accident -- and then she spent the next 5-10 minutes trying to make the sound again. It was funny to watch. She is doing very well with a sippy cup (water and very, very little juice) and wants to be independent. Oh dear. It is happening already.

She loves books. She likes when I read them, but she prefers chewing on them and turning the pages on her own. She has successfully found every Christmas tree needle that has fallen on the ground. She practiced unwrapping presents has I was wrapping them.

We are looking forward to visiting Santa later this week. I am sure I will get some great pictures from that!

A Day in the Life -- Updated

Harper is almost 8 months old and SO MUCH has changed. Our day looks completely different now. That being said, I am still completely exhausted at the end of the day and and just thrilled to hear the garage doors open. Not because I want to get away from Harper -- I just need a minute.

Morning:
Harper wakes up between 6 and 7. If she wakes up earlier, I nurse her and she goes back to sleep until maybe 8...if we are lucky. John will usually get her in the morning and change her. She goes in the swing in our bathroom while he gets ready for work. This gives me a little more time to rest. Once that bathroom door opens I know that I am on the clock. I take Harper downstairs, she nurses and then plays on the floor or in her bouncer. I use this time to pump. Without going into too much detail, I am a producer and must pump ASAP in the morning. I have been told that this is a good problem to have. (I have also been told that this is why not all of the baby weight has come off...that and chocolate.)

About an hour after Harper nurses, I give her oatmeal mixed with some veggies. She does quite well eating. She really loves the cereal puffs that she can feed herself. I still have to be careful that she doesn't a) choke on them, and b) feed them all to the dogs.

Two (or so) hours after she wakes up, Harper goes down for her morning nap. This is at least 1 hour, but no more than 2 hours. I would like to say that this is when I go on the treadmill or clean the house...and sometimes I do. Sometimes I like to nap. [side note: the dogs know when I put Harper down for her morning nap. they are usually waiting for me in my bed. honest. they need cuddle time, too. i don't want to neglect my dogs. i am just resting for their sake, not mine.]

Afternoon:
Harper is usually awake between 10:30 and 11:30. We like to go to story time at the library. We have three different ones we go to...on Mondays we go to the Central Library, Tuesdays are at Kemp Memorial Library on Due West Road and Wednesdays are in downtown Kennesaw. Wednesday is the best day. There are a many more kids Harper's age at Wednesday story time. Now -- here is the problem. The end of story time sometimes marks the beginning of her nap time -- meaning that I have to keep her awake all the way back home. Sometimes I win this battle, but more often that not, Harper is victorious. If I can keep her awake, she eats when we get home (mixed fruits and veggies) and then goes down for a nap. This nap can last anywhere from 1-2 hours.

Harper will usually be awake around 3. We will go get the mail, play with the dogs, visit Nana and Popi....find things to keep us busy. She is a happy baby as long as she is doing something. Lately, we have been making many trips to craft stores.

John gets home around 5:30. Sometimes I will start dinner as soon as he gets home or we might cook it together. SOMETIMES dinner was cooking all day in the crockpot. Those are glorious days.

Evening:
Harper will start to get sleepy/fussy around 6. We usually let her nap for 30-45 minutes. We don't want to her to sleep too long and mess up bedtime, but if she doesn't take a little cat nap, she will be a nightmare until bedtime. Once she wakes up, we prepare her dinner. This consists of banana oatmeal and either a fruit or veggie (depending on what I gave her for breakfast.)

7:00 means it is time to start our bedtime routine. We give her a bath every other day, although sometimes we do it everyday. She loves bath time. We play music for her (the Raffi station on Pandora is the best. hands down. If you don't know Raffi, get to know Raffi.) She loves to splash and play with the 6 ducks, 1 squirrel, 1 whale, 1 octopus and fish that she has in the tub. (I know there are more but I can't think of them.)

Once Harper starts getting visibly tired, we take her out of the bath. It is lotion and pajama time. We will let her play for a little bit before we give her a bottle. Now -- since I pump in the morning I have a whole bottle for her. She will not nurse very long at night...giving her a bottle lets me know exactly how much she is taking. Some people says that it doesn't matter, but I want to know. (This also means that I have to pump before bed -- but I just use that milk to make her oatmeal the next day.)

Since I also pump at night, it gives me the chance to go on the treadmill. Like I said before, I am a producer, so jogging is not fun for too long. Jogging at night is also tough because I am so exhausted. I try to jog every couple of days. I try.  I also try to straighten up the kitchen at night before bed -- a messy kitchen messes with my head.

If Harper wakes up at all, it is just because her pacifier came out. If we pop it back in her mouth, she goes back to sleep. She may wake up at 3:00 or 5:00 to nurse, but that doesn't happen everyday. She is a wonderful baby. A sweet baby. We adore her.