357 days old...

I can't believe it is almost here...Harper's first birthday. Has it really been a year? The year flew by and we hardly noticed it. Now Harper is about to celebrate her 2nd Easter in under a year (which I find pretty awesome) and shortly thereafter...her birthday. I have slowly been planning her party and I love that it is during spring. Her party will be at the end of April -- here's hoping for lovely weather.

As I reflect on the past year I can say without a doubt that being a mom is one of the hardest jobs in the world. There are moments when I want to cry (or I do cry), where I want to get away for a while -- where I call John and tell him to pick up dinner on his way home. Yes it is hard to be at home all day. (as I imagine it is hard to be at work and away from your baby all day, too.) It is particularly hard to be at home all day when it is cold and rainy. But I love morning cuddles. I love watching Harper play by herself (if you can call her being amongst all of her toys "by herself") for at least an hour after morning cuddles and her bottle. It is hilarious to watch her imitate me -- which makes me realize I tell her "NO" and shake my head at her quite a bit. I love sending her daddy texts and photos of her during the day. I love Facetime with her grandparents and uncles. I love taking her to story time and playgroups. I love chatting with other stay at home moms who know exactly how I feel without me having to go into much detail. I also love the advice they give. I love the sound of the garage around 6:00. I love that my body (although definitely not where I want it to be) protected and nurtured our little girl for 39 weeks and 6 days, and that I would it do it all again if it meant she would be just as happy and healthy as she is now. I have a deeper love and understanding for my husband now than I did before we had Harper. She has made us stronger.

We have been extremely busy every weekend -- traveling to Charlotte for Mason's birthday, going to Blue Ridge for the weekend, traveling to Macon for Madison's birthday...and soon, we leave for our cruise.

In other news...

-Harper is walking -- a little. She still prefers crawling, but she can go 6-7 steps before holding on to something. ahh!
- Harper no longer wants baby food. She now has four teeth and she wants to use them.
- Harper has cousin #8 and #9 arriving in September. We are so excited (and this might mean I go back to work to pay for birthday and Christmas gifts -- ha, kidding)
- My long-term leave is up in April. Yup, not going back. We all knew that.
- John and I will be running the Peachtree Road Race on July 4. whoop whoop. (we might also do a half marathon in January.) I still don't think I will ever be a runner. Between keeping Harper all day, John getting home at 5:30-6, making dinner, cleaning up, bathing Harper, putting her to bed and cleaning up...ugh...if only you could burn calories that way. We shall see. :)
- October is National Get Married Month. At least for our friends (and family) it is. :)


OK ok -- here are some pictures. ENJOY!

A Teething Baby...

...is a drooling, runny-nosed, fussy baby. It's been a long month and a half. Harper has 4 teeth. Unlike other children who have multiple teeth come in at a time, Harper's teeth like to tag-team. They come in one at a time. The bottom two teeth weren't so bad...but the top ones? Yikes. I am somewhat impressed at the amount of saliva and snot my child can produce. The extra saliva is causing her to have some red spots on her face. This has something to do with the enzymes in her saliva while teething -- who knows, really. Apparently this is all normal. I also stopped breast feeding this month. A few days after Harper turned 11 months old, I decided to stop nursing. It was very emotional for me. Surprisingly, Harper didn't seem to care at all. Really. She went straight to cow's milk (although  I have been mixing in some of my frozen breast milk.) Cow's milk before age 1? What are you thinking? Well, I talked to the pediatrician. She said it was pointless to get Harper to drink formula for a month and then transition her to cow's milk, so we went straight to cow's milk.


We went to Charlotte on Saturday for Mason's 1 birthday. He is the first of the trio of cousins to celebrate his 1st birthday. It was quite a drive for a 24 hour visit, but spending time with family is important. Harper enjoyed seeing her cousins.

Below are some pictures we had taken Sunday morning. 

11 months

Harper is 11 months (and one day) old. I am in shock. For many reasons, actually. I can't believe that she is almost a year old. Time is passing faster than I had anticipated. It is also hard to know she is this old because my body is not where I want it to be. A wise friend said not to think a second more about that because it is toxic to my journey. So, today I stared my Tracy Anderson Post-Pregnancy workout. It was tough. That on top of running should get me to where I want to be...but that's not what this post should really be about...



Harper is the sweetest little girl. She only gets fussy when she is hungry. Any problem she has can be solved with grapes. She loves anything off of my plate. She can take up to two steps on her own and it is dangerous to take your eyes off of her. She is teething which makes nighttime less fun. She currently has 3 teeth, with the fourth making an appearance soon. She loves music, dancing and animals. She adores babies and children. She points to things -- and actually means to point to them. Like flying birds or pointing at me when I walk across the room. She says something that sounds like a combination of "hey" and "hi." She actually says that at the correct time. She recently started saying "mamamama" in reference to me (HOORAY!) She can unlock my iphone with her little pointer finger. It is incredible to watch her move with such purpose. She shakes her head "no." Harper amazes us, entertains us, fills us with worry and with joy.

she likes to push up on her legs from this position

A trip to Disney with running on the side

February was an especially busy month for us. I had been simultaneously excited about and dreading February.  No, not because of those obnoxious Subway commercials -- how hard is it to say Februany?  Let's back up -- we had Lisa and Jerry Logan and Josh and Katie Pike over for dinner. It was a blast catching up and I can't wait to see Baby Boy Logan (aka Lil G.) Valentine's Day was sweet and John being away to Greenville, SC for a week wasn't terrible -- but the half-marathon (for which there was little training) was at the end of the month. The two days prior to the race would be spent at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom (note: next race will not have me walking in flipflops for two days -- fresh legs are needed for 13.1 miles!) I gave myself a couple of days to pack so that it was not overwhelming. (Typically on trips, I forget essentials like a tooth brush or underwear. This means that I have tons of underwear at home and several toothbrushes because I am always having to buy new ones. Any pump supplies? OY! We have a bunch!) I think I did a great job packing. Really. I impressed myself.

We loaded into the car with Ricky and Keri on Thursday night. We spent the night in Macon with John's parents. It was fun catching up and letting Harper spend some time with her grandparents. The next morning, we hit the road for Orlando. The ride down was pretty uneventful, mostly because Keri and Ricky were SO good to Harper. (Keri is one of the greatest people I know and I have a special place in my heart for her for these reaons: she always finds Snocaps for me even when I can't find them anywhere, she ran the half-marathon with me and was my biggest cheerleader, AND, most importantly, she is so good to Harper.) As soon as we checked in to our hotel (special things to Dottie Stubel for being the biggest fan of Disney and hooking us up with a great deal!) we changed, I pumped and we went to Epcot.

Keri crowned Harper on the ride to Orlando

Harper's first ride -- the tram to Epcot!

meeting Aurora -- Harper was not amused

It was a great day to visit Epcot and Harper enjoyed several rides like Spaceship Earth, Universe of Energy, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, etc. I am super dorky and love Epcot the most. We walked around the World Showcase, eating dinner and China and watching the fireworks display.

The next morning we had every intention of waking up to see the opening of the Magic Kingdom, but Harper had other plans. We eventually made it to the park and had a blast. It was so crowded.

we just walked through the gates at the Magic Kingsom

Jungle Cruise

Harper and her Daddy watching a concert

mesmerized by "It's a Small World"

I was so worried that Harper wouldn't take any naps at the park since we planned to spend the whole day there. I was clearly a silly thing to worry about....

 Harper even slept through the Winnie the Pooh ride. She woke up just in time for us to walk through the gift shop. She kept pointing at Winnie the Pooh -- so her daddy bought her a stuffed animal.

Harper and Keri

After spending most of the day at the Magic Kingdom, we left to meet Ricky at the hotel. He went to watch the Braves play that afternoon. His friend, David Hale, made the 40 man roster this year. We showered and got dressed so that we could meet David and his girlfriend, Megan, for dinner. Downtown Disney was packed. We lucked out and got a table at an Irish Pub. We sat outside with live music. It was a blast.

Megan, David and our waiter, Kevin.

Keri, Ricky and Harper

David finally held her!

Harper loved the live music. I play music all the time around the house and she loves to dance. If you haven't seen the video, you might enjoy watching this.

The next morning was the big race. Buses were running from the hotel to Epcot (the start and finish of the race) from 3-4am. Thankfully, we were outside waiting at 3:30 because the lines were so long. Yes, I was super nervous but at this stage in the game -- I was going 13.1 miles. I tried to dress up as Snow White. Keri was Aurora. I made the mistake of thinking my running tank top (with built in bra) would be sufficient for a nursing mom. WRONG! I went the whole way with my jacket zipped up -- yes, it was super warm. Lesson learned. We were in corral C, so we started 15 minutes after the start of the race. We found a couple whose pace I really liked and for 2.5 miles we rocked it. We had to stop for a restroom break and lost them. That was ok. We were still going strong. A little after 3 miles was a photo stop with all the fellas from Disney fairy tales. We waited in line -- meanwhile the leaders of the race were heading past us in the other direction-- done with nearly 8 miles. yikes! One thing that needs to be said is that we didn't run the race to achieve a personal best. I can't imagine running Disney race for that reason. You run it because it is an awesome environment with photo stops with characters that you would never normally see in a park (or the lines would be too long.) We stopped for photos with all the villains, Mary Poppins, Belle, Alice in Wonderland, a photo at the castle. It was great. So, our official time was slightly less than 4 hours wasn't entirely correct. (Also, we made a deal with ourselves that if we stopped for a photo, we would run harder to make up for lost time. It was exhausting, but very worth it.)

the villain photo stop

haha...I have 2 ponchos and 4 energy gels in my pocket

right before the race

"how are you?" "tired." "i can't even imagine."

It was hard. My longest training run was 6 miles. I was in pain. I kept saying that I was doing it for Harper and for John. I mostly did this for me. How could I let myself get so out of shape? That question brings tears to my eyes even as I type it now. In the back of my mind I also knew that John's flight was at 12:30 and he would need to get to the airport a few hours early. We needed to finish this race so that I could say bye to my husband.

There are two things that I never want released even if I die tomorrow: my Google search history and the playlist that got me through this race. I will admit, we walked one mile. Mile 10. That was it. We didn't even stop for pictures or anything after that. My knee was hurting so badly -- my feet sore from two days of walking the parks. Keri was awesome. She could have done the race a lot faster if I didn't hold her back. She stayed with me and cheered me on -- I love her for that. My goal was to do the 13.1 miles in under 3 hours. Although our official times says we did not, Keri kept our time on her phone and accounted for our photo stops. AND WE CAME IN UNDER 3 HOURS. For some people that isn't a big deal. For this overweight, out of shape breastfeeding mama, it was awesome. I had a vision of us seeing the finish line and running to John and Harper and crying (and hopefully nursing immediately!) That didn't happen. John needed to get the the airport 3 hours early. Ricky was taking him. No one was meeting us at the finish line. So here is the finish line and all I have are tears. Yes, I am exhausted and proud of myself -- but Keri and I want to share this moment with the men we love and they aren't there. We grab some waters, powerades and our sub-par snack boxes. We get our medals and take pictures. We wait in line for a bus ride back to the hotel to shower and head home.

This magical weekend ended abruptly -- it was bittersweet. I was very emotional the whole way home. I didn't get to say bye to John, and I was in pain. I knew that I had a whole week alone with Harper (who was getting sick.)  She was particularly fussy on the way home. Ricky and Keri were so good to me. I swore I wouldn't do another race.

My mom came and spent the night with me. She dealt with Harper the whole night. I got to sleep. I iced my knee. The next day I felt great. I was a little sore, but my knee didn't hurt at all. John had arrived safely to Budapest. I had nothing to cry about anymore. Now I want to sign up for another Disney race.

10 months! (and other ramblings)

It is hard to believe that Harper is 10 months old. I know that I say that every month, but really -- it's wild. At what other time in our lives do we learn and change so much in such a short span of time? It is so amazing to watch. I always thought teaching kids how to multiply or calculate sales tax was a sight to behold (and it is), but watching your own child learn how to move, grow and become more aware of the world around her -- I am in awe.

At 10 months, Harper is an avid crawler (she bolts to the stairs and her wagon whenever she sees an opening). She stands on her own and walks while holding on to things. She likes to walk behind her musical walker. She still loves Jackson and she tries desperately to get Molly to pay attention to her. She loves cups and bottles -- specifically my bright pink Nalgene water bottle. She still doesn't like peas, but she will eat most anything. Fruits are definitely her favorite. We have had a ROUGH week since she is cutting two teeth on the top of her mouth. We have had some beautiful weather this week. I took Harper on a LONG wagon ride yesterday and she loved it. We also have many wagon rides around the house when it is cold and rainy. I heard Robert DeNiro say in an interview that when he had young children and it got tough, he kept saying to himself that he loved what he was doing. So when Harper refuses to go down for a nap, when she wakes up 6 times at night, when she is hungry but won't eat anything -- I tell myself that I love this. I take a deep breath. It really works. I think it works because I do actually love this. It is hard, but I love it. 

these have been the hardest pictures to take so far. She won't sit still!

We are still enjoying our Tuesday playgroup and we finally had a chance to return to Story Time at the library this Wednesday because Harper decided that a 30 minute nap was sufficient. She also felt this way Tuesday and Thursday. yikes.

Last week, Kalee and Rylee came to visit. John and Kalee went to Westside High School together in Macon. She is also really good friends with our friends, Kara and Jonathan Koetter. Here are our girls "playing" together.

Harper (10 months) and Rylee (2 months)

We took Harper to get her passport on Wednesday. I can't quite describe the feeling of preparing all the documents to take with you and noticing a mistake on the birth certificate. Maiden name: Terry. Nope, that's not right. We called and the hospital made a mistake with the forms. It is our fault for not checking the forms, but when you have a new baby checking the forms when they arrive in the mail isn't a priority. Oops. I just hope this doesn't prevent her from getting her passport. I am trying not to think about that. Think happy thoughts.

Keri, my brother's fiancee, and I signed up for the Mardi Gras 5k this Saturday in Marietta. I think it will be fun. We are getting really close to our trip to Disney and the Princess Half Marathon. For anyone who thinks that this race is a good one to set a PR, you are mistaken. Yes, we will be running -- but there are stops to take pictures with Disney characters. We are dressing up. I will be Snow White. I don't think that I will ever be a runner who has a goal of doing a marathon or getting an awesome time. I wasn't a runner in high school. I played basketball, tennis and softball. Running is something relatively new to me. Running not tied into a sport, that is.

In case you haven't seen it, here is the link to a video of Harper all out laughing. It was the first time I have witnessed her laugh like this. I watch it everyday. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0YFh4BMN2w

so grown up!

Harper loves climbing up the stairs

The New Year (so far)

January has been a busy month for us, but it is safe to say that 2013 is off to a great start. We have a lot going on these next few months and it is all very exciting.

But let's back up. John and I celebrated 3 years of marriage on January 16. I have such great memories from our wedding. I still haven't tasted a wedding cake that tops ours. Gabriel's did a great job. Every year we buy a small strawberry cake from them, reminiscent of our wedding cake. Three years doesn't seem that long, especially when you consider that John and I started dating 8 years ago.  Some people say the first year is the hardest -- I disagree. The first year felt like summer camp -- we had so much fun and loved living together. That hasn't changed -- we just have a new roommate. Harper.

My grandmother, Elnyr Roberts, had a big birthday this month. She turned 89 years old (she would kill me if she knew I posted this -- then again, she reads this. HELLO MEMAW, LOVE YOU!) We had a little party for her at my parents' house. She has the greatest sense of humor. She is doing very well considering that she had shoulder replacement surgery in November. I told her that she is doing well -- she is in good health, they just need to replace her parts every once in a while.

I don't think that I have mentioned it before, but I am "training" for a half marathon in February. I have a little less than a month to go. I am running with my future sister-in-law, Keri. She has been training a bit more vigorously than I, but I am doing my best. I am running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Disneyworld. Ricky, Keri, John, Harper and I are going a few days early to visit the parks. I am excited. It feels nice trying to get in shape again. It is definitely not easy trying to juggle jogging/running with breastfeeding, but it is important to me. I have also struggled with finding time to run because John gets home around 6, so I cook dinner, then it's bath time for Harper then we put her to bed. I am usually left running around 9 at night -- so I finish my runs around 10:30. I am pretty wired after that, so it is not ideal, but I am doing what I can. Did I mention that I bought Harper an adorable Minnie Mouse outfit and Keri and I are planning our running costumes? ...because yeah...that's happening.

John has a couple of business trips coming up:  he will be in Greenville, South Carolina all of next week, and he will leave for Budapest, Hungary for a week just after our trip to Disney. In fact, he is catching his flight from Orlando. John has traveled a few times since Harper's birth and we have managed just fine. I have family VERY close and they love to help. My brother, Ricky, and his fiancee just moved into a beautiful home in Marietta about 2 miles from us. They will want to help me, I am sure of it. :) I would plan more slumber parties for us, but Harper only sleeps well in her crib.

Aside from our Disney trip in February, we have a Caribbean cruise in April. My dad is turning 60 and the whole family is going on the trip. Harper will have just turned 1...I can't believe it!  We take Harper to get her passport in a little over a week. It will be an adorable addition to her baby book one day.

What's new with Harper? Well, she is super mobile. She is standing on her own, but she is not taking steps without holding on to something. She is "cruising," which means she will walk along the couch or a table while holding on to it. She climbed four stairs the other day. I was with her so don't worry. She is doing so much and she is not even 10 months old -- I can't imagine when she will start walking.

She loves eating fruits and veggies. We have added turkey and pulled pork to the mix and she loves it. She also likes to eat Cheerios. She is drinking more from a sippy cup, but we don't do that too often because she is still nursing. We have found a lovely little play group that meets every Tuesday morning. We also have other outings planned, but the Tuesday play group is a weekly thing and we love it. I am so thankful to have those babies to entertain Harper and those mamas to talk to me. I have also met a friend through MRTT and we meet occasionally to run. It is great having another mom to run with -- Sandra is great.

Now I will just leave you with some adorable pictures...

this girl loves wagon rides.

we love when Daddy has the day off from work!

Riley, Scott and Harper. A fun dinner!

love this girl.

9 months

Harper is 9 months old. Technically, she is 9 months and one week old. She is an absolute joy. We took her to the pediatrician where she measured in at 21 pounds 3 ounces and 29 3/4 inches long. OH MY! She is in the 98% for height and 90% for weight. Dr. Gaines asked us if she was crawling. She wasn't crawling on her knees -- she was pseudo crawling on her belly, but she was doing it like a pro. The very next day she started crawling on her knees. She is insanely fast and nothing is safe. For some reason, she is drawn to the fireplace and the stairs. WHY?!??! She is also pulling herself up to a standing position. This is crazy to see. She has cut two teeth (on the bottom.)

Since she moves SO well (and so darn fast!) she does not want to sit still. There is no cuddle time (except for the first few minutes after she wakes). It was hard to get pictures of her because she is fast. I know that she will be losing her lovely thighs soon. Very sad. 

lots of personality. lots. :)

her crib is now at the lowest setting possible...and this is how we find her when she wakes up from a nap.

catch me if you can!

2 baby teeth, coming right up!

I also have a couple of videos of Harper. Enjoy! (Feel free to turn the volume down...I wouldn't want to listen to me, either.)

Harper crawling
this is the first morning she started crawling. Time trials will be next. 

Harping pulling herself up
this is the first time we got it on video. She has perfected it now.

Harper and Jackson
Jackson is great with Harper. Molly....not so much. We always stay close and we watch Jackson closely. Basically, don't report us if you don't agree with this video.