Friday, June 29, 2012

2 Months- June

You know the old saying, "Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile"?  Well that's exactly what my Harper is guilty of this month.  Harper was 2 months old on June 24th and I must say that she is growing like the cutest little weed that you ever did see.  
Harper is now 11 lbs, 5 ounces and 23 3/4 inches tall.  If you haven't had the chance to kiss her cheeks lately, I must say they are growing too- about the size of two pillsbury mini-grands biscuits.  She sleeps and eats like a champ- for real.  Overall- and not as indicated by the picture below- she is a very easy going and happy baby.
She loves to make eye contact and gives the best smiles.  I'm afraid she's also going to be chatterbox just like her mother.  Especially after she eats, she'll sit there and make the sweetest cooing noises.  She tells the best little stories.  Matthew said the other day "I can tell..she's just going to be really nice."  Well, I hope so. 
I just can't get over how fast she's gone from being a tiny little newborn to being a beautiful, blue-eyed baby.
       
   
 

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Then and now: Gavin Clapping

Just a little motherly walk down memory lane.  
This is my little boy clapping for the very first time this time last year.
And this is my little boy clapping now.  I cannot believe how big he has gotten!

No more blinking for me! 

Monday, June 18, 2012

Then and Now: The Polka Dot dress

I love this dress!  This is the first dress that we bought our little girl the day that we announced our baby was a GIRL!  Then we could only dream of the little gal that would fill it out someday. 
 But on Fathers Day this year our little lass sported her dress in style- complete with frilly socks and a bow! 
I think her daddy was just a little bit proud.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Harper's First Flowers

Every girl likes to get flowers on occasion.  While I tend to think of most flowers as not very practical, sometimes a girl needs something a little impractical and pretty to let her know that someone cares.  Harper is a very lucky lady to already have two very special men in her life that have showered her with love and flowers.

I guess the first flowers technically were for me, but they were indirectly for Harper.  We call Harper our little "bonus" baby.  Think about it- if you go to the store to buy one item that you love dearly and you find out that they are "buy one, get one", how excited are you about that one unexpected item?  Or if you get a bonus at work- you get something that was above and beyond what you were expecting, right?  Well, Harper is our above and beyond baby- above what we could ever have planned and beyond our wildest expectations.  On one very unexpected day, I saw a very unexpected blue plus sign that meant I was now expecting something that was previously very unexpected.  It was a Sunday morning and I waited until after church to let Matthew in on my little surprise.  I sat all morning through church and through Sunday school with a tiny little secret that no one else in the world knew besides me and God and a tiny little being that was so fearfully and wonderfully forming.  I let Matthew in on our little secret- of course he was thrilled and pleasantly surprised.  He showed me his stamp of approval later that day he went out to run some errands and came back home with four roses; one for each member of our little family. 

Fast forward 9 months to the Saturday before my due date.  Gavin decided he needed a gift for baby Sister to have when she got home from the hospital.  Mommy and Gavin made a trip to Lowe's where Gavin picked out the most beautiful flower that he could find to give Miss Harper.   
It was actually a very fun trip- never have I ever felt so compelled to buy garden statues.  I mean, normally they don't really speak to me, but seeing Gavin try to have a conversation garden grizzly bear wearing overalls is pretty much the most convincing sales pitch I've ever seen.
But we made it past the tempting bear garden ornaments and purchased our purple hydrangea.  We got home and Gavin took special care to plant and prepare the hydrangea so that it would be a welcoming and warm greeting for little sis when she came home for the first time.

Gavin has taken special care of his flower and made sure to water it (when reminded by Mom) and has even fed it cheerios to make sure that it remains a healthy gift.  
 
 Sure enough, when Harper came home from the hospital, it was one of the first sights that welcomed her. 
I'm so excited for my little girl to have two men in her life that love her so much.  I am sure in the future she will have scads of fine young gentlemen bring her flowers, but long before those days I hope that a strong foundation of love and self worth- far beyond the superficial things in life- is formed and I know that her daddy and her brother will play a strong role in developing that.  

Harper Addison- you are loved. 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

1 Month- May

Another month is in the books- May 2012. My little girl is one month old!!

We are so in love with our baby girl- she is such a good baby!  She loves to eat and nap and poop and does all of these things with excellence, of course.  She loves her swing and likes to focus on things and track them with her eyes.  She's lost a little bit of hair went from having Jack Nicholson power alleys to a very cute 1/4 bald head.  Matthew says it's because of all the bows.  I'm not so sure that I agree...

Harper has lots of fun playing with big brother Gavin, who has loved getting to know his little sister.  Gavin is quite an excited big brother and we say more than one or two times a day "okay, Sister has had enough kisses for right now."  Needless to say he gets pretty into smothering her with brotherly love...and sometimes brotherly non-love.  And what can I say about Matthew and I?  We love dressing her up and listening to her coo and spending our days poised to take a picture if her lips curl upward the least possible bit to get a snapshot of her sweet little smile.
Our first full month with Miss Harper Addison has been wonderful!  We couldn't be more in love!