#2

This summer has also been busy because of some other news.....baby #2 is on their way!  Our due date is February 4.  I can't believe that Harper will already be a big brother, but we are excited to add on to our crazy family!  This time has gone by so much faster.  It's hard to concentrate on your self when you are chasing around a 1 year old.  I'm about 14weeks now and we will find out what we're having on September 20.  I'd love to be patient enough to wait for the surprise, but I already can't wait until the 20th to see if Harper will have a little brother or little sister. 

Had to get the big brother shirt already...can't wait to get the little ____ to go with it!

 

New baby at 12 weeks

We have a neice and nephew!

It's been so long since I have posted anything.  This summer has gone by in a blur.  We did have some wonderful people bless our lives on July 12.  Little Miss Ashlynn Ann and Mr. Collin Micheal! Our new niece and nephew!  We couldn't be happier to have them in the family and Harper is thrilled to have cousins.  We were lucky enough to be able to go down and be there when they were born too! Can't wait to see the babies again!

Ashlynn Ann

Collin Micheal

Happy New Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harper's Birthday Party

Harper had a wonderful birthday party to celebrate too. Since he has a summer birthday, we did a beach theme with baby pools and a sandbox. So many wonderful family and friends came!  He is a very loved little boy:)

Harper's Birthday

It's been a busy month to say the least!  I am a little behind on blogging.  Harper had a wonderful time on his birthday.  Still hard to believe that my baby is 1!  I wanted to share some pictures.

 Presents from Mommy and Daddy

 Cupcake Time

 Trying to start with a fork

 Nah, just shove it all in my face

Messy Boy

Having fun opening presents

Loves his new ball pit

My Baby is 1 today!

I can't believe that a whole year has gone by since Harper blessed us by entering our lives. 

From the beginning he has been a wonderful baby.  He has always been happy.  Not overly fussy or too much crying.  Usually when he cries it is to be picked up which I love to do.  He only cries when he really needs something even now.   

His smile lights up my life.  His laugh is the sweetest sound in the world.  It's a belly laugh that is contagious.  He thinks so many things are funny and wonderful.  Harper makes friends where ever he goes.  He smiles at strangers.  Everywhere we go people say "what a happy baby".  Already you can see his kind personality emerging. Such a blessing! 

He is also my snuggle bug.  We still take naps together some afternoons.  Even when he plays he often stops for what I call "drive by hugs".  He stops just long enough to hug me and then goes back to playing.  In the morning when you go to get him out of his crib he just hugs you for the longest time.  He loves to give kisses.  Harper will grab both sides of your face and go in for the kiss.  It's so funny. 

Harper is also super active and curious.  He loves to see new things and tries to figure out how things work.  He is always getting into things he's not supposed to because of this, but does it with a smile.  He has started to understand what we say and we are almost having conversations now.  He can say ma-ma, da-da and dog.  He talks all the time, but we are not always sure what he is saying.  He is all boy.  He loves rough games like dropping and wrestling.  His favorite game right now is to crawl on top of our dog Buddy and tumble to the other side.  He will repeat this for a long time.

He can crawl faster than any baby I have ever seen.  Sometimes his legs move faster than his arms and he falls.  But gets up without a tear and keeps going.  He can cruise around all the furniture and stand independently.  Harper has taken his first steps, but crawling is so much faster that he's not too interested in walking just yet. 

I thank god every day that I have Harper in my life.  Happy Birthday baby boy!  May you have many, many more wonderful, amazing years! I love you!

1 year photos

I cannot believe my precious baby will be 1 next week!  I am a little obsessed with photos so of course we had to have a special 1 year photo session.  They were taken on Sunday by a friend I work with.  I just have the preview so far, but I think they turned out well:)  I'll post more when she is done.

Diaper Derby

This week I was looking into things to do this weekend and I found a Strawberry Festival in our area.  One of the events was a Diaper Derby.  The diaper derby was a crawling race between babies 3months and 12 months.  After I read this I really wanted to go.  Harper is the fastest crawler.  He can go to one side of the house to the other in no time at all.

So this morning we went to the Diaper Derby.  Harper won the first race hands down.  He speed down the track and won easily.  So the got to the championship.  He took the lead early on, but every time he'd go really fast, people would cheer and Harper would get distracted and sit and look at all the people.  So in the end another baby passed him while he took a break to watch his fans  It was so cute!  And so funny to see babies race!  It's amazing how competitive and proud you can be with an 11month old.

 Harper in the 1st race

 Harper in the championship

 Harper racing around in the grass after the race

Passed out in the car after the festival.  Poor little guy even fell asleep mid bite with his hand in the puffs.

uh-oh

So today was my first major catastrophe as a mom.  My son fell down and started bleeding for the first time.  Harper was busy watching his dad and grandpa work on the deck while he was standing up holding onto a chair. As he tried to move from the chair to the coffee table he either got caught on the carpet, or his feet moved faster than his arms, whatever happened his little hands didn't make it to the coffee table.  He started losing his balance and went to catch him self but couldn't.  He hit the chair and then bounced off the coffee table and finally hit the floor.  All while I watched from the other side of the room.  I tried to get there in time, but even though to me it looked as though it was happening in slow motion, it probably took all of 5seconds.  I got to him as fast as I can.  He was doing one of those cries where he couldn't catch his breath.  You know the kind where their little face is so red and can tell they are in so much pain, but no noise is coming out.  He had as small little dot of blood on his chin and blood in his mouth.  At first I thought his one little tooth had cut through his chin.  It would be my luck that the kid has one tooth and that would cause a major injury.  But thank goodness that wasn't the case.  He must of hit the spot where is next little tooth is about to come in and this caused it to bleed.  It was so terrible seeing my baby in pain.  Luckily it was nothing major, but it felt awful.  It's even harder knowing that this is only the beginning of many more boo-boos for my little bruiser.  

  If you look closely you can see the cut on his chin (it must be really bothering him, lol)

11month and counting

Harper turned 11month a week and a half ago.  Since then it seems like he is learning one trick after another.

 Happy 11months Baby!

He can now say three words that we understand, dada, dog and the long awaited mama!! yeah! He's been saying dada since February.  But he can say mama now and I know he's saying it to me!  It melts my heart everytime he says it.

He is cruising around the furniture like a mad man.  He can move so quickly holding on to one piece of furniture as he moves to the next.  Especially if he sees something he wants like a cell phone to suck on or a soda to knock over.  I feel like walking is just around the corner.

 This is Harper cruising the chairs after the wedding ceremony we just went to.

He is crawling super fast.  Sometime his little legs move faster than his arms he is going so fast.  His little hips go back and forth.  It's amazing to me as I think back to his backward crawling days.  I think he could win a baby race hands down right now.  He loves to go up the stairs too.  His favorite game is to crawl to the stairs and wait till he sees you watching and then once he sees you, crawl up as many stairs as he can without you helping.  We play this game over and over all day long.

He can high 5 and wave.  He has been able to high five for about a month now, but now if you say hi or bye to him he puts his little hand in the air and opens and closes it. 

It's amazing to me.  Every new accomplishment blows me away.  Of course we think he is the smartest, cutest bay ever.  Just like all parents think about their babies.  He is the light of my life.  It's hard to think he wasn't even here yet a year ago. Everyday is something new right now.  Everyone says babies change and grow so quickly but you don't appreciate this comment until you see your little angel do it right before your very eyes!

Day 100

I made it to day 100 of the 365 challenge! 265 to go...Hope I can finish.  This challenge is more challenging than I thought it would be.  I love to take pictures, but they are all mostly of Harper and Buddy and Marley.  I hope by the end of the challenge I will have grown as a photographer. 

Love this quote, I just had to share

Mother's Day

Today was my official first Mother's Day.  I think becoming a mommy is one of the most wonderful things in the world.  It's harder than any other job I have ever had, but I love almost ever minute of it.  Harper has changed my life in unexplainable ways and I can't imagine life without him.  It is so great to have a day to celebrate it! 

My husband did a great job!  It started off by me sleeping until almost 8! In this house that's almost unthinkable since the little guy gets up around 6:30 every morning, but Chris got up with him.  Then I got cards from my furry babies and one from Harper.  They also got me 2 charms for my Pandora bracelet.  Then we went to brunch.  It was very yummy and Chris had flowers delivered there.  So sweet!  Then we came home had a little nap time before it was off to Leesburg and Frederick to see our moms.  We first visited Chris' mom and then went and had dinner with my parents and grandparents.  Harper wasn't his normal happy self all day because I think he is getting some more teeth, but overall a great day!  I hope all the other mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day too!

Flowers I got at brunch

 I really wanted a picture with all 3 of my kids....Harper didn't want to cooperate today :(

My flowers and my bracelet with the new charms

My grandparents with Harper and me, us with my parents, my little family (minus the puppies) and then all the moms with Harper after dinner in Frederick