First Family Vacation

Harper (and Kevin and I) got to spend the week in the Outer Banks with my family at the end of August. We had a fabulous time!! We had a small house for 8 people, but it was on the beach and that made the close quarters very much worth it. A typical day involved a sunrise breakfast (for Harper) on the rooftop deck followed by a little playtime inside while the water in the baby pool warmed up. Then, she usually spent 30-45 minutes each morning on the deck or beach in her pool, and then it was time to eat again and take a long afternoon nap.

Her great-grandparents were better than great and stayed at the house with her each afternoon while she took a nap so Kevin and I could both enjoy the beach. Then we either went out to eat or cooked a great meal in, took a walk on the beach, and it was time for bed! Sounds pretty uneventful now that I'm writing it, but it's just what all three of us needed after a busy couple of weeks.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Harper wasn't entertained that we were making her pose for photos on a bright pink, oversized adirondack chair. Harper, when you read this someday, please know it was your Grandma's idea.

One of our evening walks on the beach

This was one of Bailey's many evening swims. She got so much exercise this week she slept for almost the entire next week at home.

Harper in her bumbo in the pool

Bailey: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

Harper: Mitts Off puppy

Bailey's probably lookin' for some spit-up in this shot. Oh how beautiful a family we have :)

Both faces are priceless in this one

Watch out Tyra, Harper has quite a portfolio

Harper's set-up on the beach. By the time the camera defogged from the humidity, she decided she was done in the pool, so this is all ya get.

Catch Up

Well, once again, I haven't kept up with this, so I have decided this afternoon will be "Catch Up" day. Since the last time I wrote we have done many things, so let's start at the beginning! First are some pictures from our trip to West Virginia for my cousins wedding. (I retrieved them from my parents camera when we were at the beach--stories to follow in a later blog).

This is what happens when Grandma plays with Harper's hair.

Harper's baths in the sink. This actually was her last real sink bath, as she's now in her bumbo seat in the tub.

Harper and Amanda at Traci's house. She spit up on Amanda and it went down her dress all the way to her ankle. She's still happy to be holding her :) - I have great friends!

Harper and Traci. She hosted a "Welcome back Amanda and Aaron and Welcome to the World Harper" dinner. We ate cheese from France and had a great time seeing each other!!

This was Harper's little nook in the bedroom. She fit so nicely!

Just waking up from her nap! :)

So there's our WV trip in pictures. I'll add another entry soon!

Harper the Socialite

Harper’s first two weeks at daycare were great—she told me—she's very advanced. My first two weeks back to work were wonderful. I love being with Harper, but I don’t think I was cut out to be a stay at home Mom. I didn’t realize just how much I missed coming to work until I came back. Because of my high blood pressure, I had been on desk duty since January, so it had really been almost 7 months since I had done my normal job. It was great to see some of my long-time patients and just to get back into the swing of doing music therapy.

On Friday (July 31) Harper and I headed up to Radford in one car while Kevin followed behind us in another. A friend from there was getting married the next day, so we went to Roanoke to stay with the Janneys and visit with Cory and Melynda. It was a quick trip, but we haven’t seen each other in a LONG time, and it was great to catch up! I realized that times have certainly changed, as the room was filled with sounds of crashing toys and screaming little boys and conversations centered on Sesame Street (I’m not joking, at one point Cory and Alan were ranking their top three favorite human characters and I believe the comment “Don’t even add in monsters, that’s too hard” was shared). Regardless of the changes, the friendships are still there and that was great to see. Saturday, we drove to Radford to see Ann and Elliot get married!! Ann was beautiful!

After the wedding, I continued north to my parents’ house in West Virginia, and Kevin came back home to Virginia Beach. Thus began a whirlwind week of family festivities. I did take my camera with me, but took very few pictures, as my hands were usually full of other important cargo. I think my parents have some, but Harper might turn one before we get them off their camera, onto their computer, and emailed to me. So here’s a brief rundown of Harper’s busy social schedule:

Sunday: Went to church in Bridgeport and spent the morning in the nursery. Got to meet a lot of people important to my childhood and then went out to breakfast with my parents and grandparents.

Monday: Went to the hospital where my Dad works and Harper met all of his coworkers.

Tuesday: Tried to get Harper to take an early nap – she disagreed. So, we headed to the mall with a tired baby and then spent a little time at my grandparents’ house visiting. We left their house and drove up to Morgantown to have dinner with some of my best friends from high school—Traci, Amanda, and Katie. They loved meeting Harper, gave her adorable gifts, and she spit-up on each of them – typical Harper behavior. After not having a nap, I expected a pretty rough night, but Harper’s easy-going nature emerged and she just went with the flow.

Wednesday: Spent the day at home so Harper (and her Granddad) could catch up on the sleep they missed from being out late the night before. My parent’s friends (Avah and Jerry) came over for dinner to meet Harper. Jerry has lots of jokes to share, and Harper just smiled and laughed every time he talked to her.

And the week is only HALF OVER.

Thursday: Back to the hospital in the morning to meet some more people my Dad works with, and then an early nap to get ready for the night’s events. Michael (my brother) and Maria (his girlfriend) got into town, and we went to Buckhannon for my cousin Julie’s wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

My brother decided he needed a little playtime after a long drive in from South Carolina.

Friday: Good old blueberry pancake family breakfast, a little sesame street, and Harper was down for another early nap in preparation for Julie’s wedding that afternoon. My Mom was helping direct people down the aisle and I was reading in the ceremony, so Harper got to spend the majority of the time with her Granddad. She did great until I began to read and she heard my voice, but wasn’t real sure where I was. Of course Julie looked gorgeous, and the reception was at a local winery and was BEAUTIFUL!!

Saturday: Trip to Blackwater Falls and Thomas, WV. Ate lunch at the purple fiddle, walked down to the falls, and Harper was in and out of her carseat probably 10 times throughout the day. We then went straight to my grandparents for dinner, and the reality of a sleepy, cranky, fed-up baby began to reveal itself. Harper slowly began to fuss just before dinner, and had to be held/rocked all through dinner. Then came the carseat again and she exploded. My easy-going, incredibly tolerant little girl had reached her breaking point and she cried the entire 30 minute ride home. Nothing could console her, my Dad had a migraine, and everyone felt a little tense after being in a car with screaming for 30 minutes – my apologies for all who had to endure Harper not at her best.

Sunday: Up early to travel home! Harper slept for the first 5 hours of the trip and just began to wake up when I saw signs warning of traffic ahead. So, we got off the interstate and took a little lunch break (for her, not me) for about 30 minutes. We then sat in 30 minutes of traffic to get past Williamsburg and another 45 minutes of traffic to get through the tunnel. This made the trip last from 8:30 that morning until 5:00 in the evening. Harper was as tolerable as could be, and only cried a little at the tunnel traffic – and at this point I thought about joining in with her. We got home, unloaded the car, ate dinner, and went down to the beach for our church’s baptisms—what a night!! I was tired, she was tired, but it was definitely worth going down to be a part of the celebration.

Harper was an angel all week (minus the car incident, and I can’t say that I blame her), and I feel so blessed to have a child that is healthy, happy, and sleeping through the night. Everyone continues to say, “She’s so happy!” or “She’s always smiling and laughing” or “Look how alert she is!” and I am just proud to know that I get to be her Mom. J

Last Hurrah

We spent our last weekend before I started back at work in Charlotte, NC visiting Kevin's brother and his family. Patrick and Tricia had a little girl in January, so she is about four months older than Harper. It was so fun to visit with them and see how much Anne Louise has grown!! Harper really enjoyed meeting her cousin, as you can see by her enthusiasm in these pictures!

Shortly after we got there and the babies had a chance to get acquainted we had a delicious dinner and just laid low on Friday night. Anne Louise was offering to share her napkin with Harper, who was more interested in the flash of the camera. Thanks anyway, cuz.

Saturday we spent the afternoon on Patrick and Tricia's boat on Lake Norman. Harper wasn't completely thrilled to have to wear such a cool life jacket, but she got used to it pretty quickly and once the boat started moving calmed down easily. Both babies took a nap on the boat and the rest of us spent time swimming and enjoying the beautiful day.

When Harper woke up we thought we'd try her in the lake. Since they don't make swim diapers or bathing suits small enough for her, she went in redneck style--diaper and sunhat. She cried a little at first but then got used to the water and actually smiled a couple of times. Eventually the diaper filled up with so much water it was getting way too tight, so she went au natural the last few minutes of her swim, which I'm sure she enjoyed knowing how much she LOVES to be nekkid.

Saturday night Tricia's sister Caroline watched the girls (she's a SAINT) and the four of us went to The Melting Pot for a little restaurant week dinner. The food was great and the company was even better! Unfortunately Patrick started to come down with a cold/sinus infection towards the end of the evening and wasn't feeling to great the rest of our trip.

 So Sunday we just hung around the house and had a little photo shoot of the cousins in their matching outfits (courtesy of Tricia).

On the way home we met up with one of my best friends. Heather and I have known each other since the fourth grade and she was one of my maids of honor in our wedding. Harper loved her (as you can see), but Heather had to go back to work so we had to make sure she was fully protected from Harper's typical spit-up routine. We had a great lunch and I know we will have many more times with her!! :)

     Today was my first day back at work and Harper's first day at Ms. Sally's. I had a great day at work and running some errands (sans baby), and Sally said Harper did just great! Two naps, two bottles, and two poops--it doesn't get much better than that folks.

I should post more often

After writing this, I realize I should post more often so I don't end up writing a novel. I will try harder next time, until then, a novel is what you get!  

Harper is doing great! We went to the doctor for her two month check-up and immunizations last Tuesday and the pediatrician told us she was perfect! She weights 10 lbs. 7 oz now and is 22 inches long. This means she's in the 37% for weight and 39% for height to which the doctor said, "Can't get much closer." So she's growing well. She did great with the shots too. She got three different ones and was quite a trooper. Of course she screamed, but she calmed down pretty quickly and honestly has cried louder when she's hungry or just overtired and cranky. Hopefully this trend of being a tough girl continues!

She's getting close to sleeping through the night. She goes to bed around 9 or 10 and still wakes up around 3am or so, but now only needs a quick (maybe 5 minute) pat on the back and her pacifier back in her mouth and she'll sleep again until around 6, when I'll feed her. She then goes back to sleep for a few more hours, usually waking up for the day around 9 or 10am. She has finally started to nap in the afternoon as well. This didn't happen until she was about 7 weeks old, but I think these 3 hour afternoon naps are FANTASTIC!

She is getting much more interested in her surroundings. She loves to lay on the playmat and look at her animals, and she is really beginning to enjoy her mobile. Now when she hears the clicking of the dial I turn to make it run, she begins to smile and even giggle some. She loves to talk and woke me up the other morning babbling to herself. I almost went to get her, but wanted to see how long she would go on until she started to fuss. This monologue lasted about 30 minutes before the crying started and I went in to get her. When I leaned over her crib and she saw my face she began to smile and coo. This was definitely the most pleasant way I have woken up in atleast about 11 months.

Kevin's birthday was June 21st and fell on his first Father's Day. We had a great celebration of the day at Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Pete's house. We continued the birthday celebration a week and a half later with Tommy, Ruthie, Andrew, and Natalie on the Werwath's boat for a sunset cruise and dinner at Chick's while Harper spent the evening with Kevin's Mom.

At the end of June, we took a little vacation to Deep Creek, MD for a family reunion on my side. Harper loved meeting the rest of the family and spent a lot of quality time with her Grandma and Granddad. She even had the audacity to poop all over Granddad. This has happened to me numerous times so I am pretty unfazed, however, I hear my father was not quite as easy going. I happened to be in the shower and didn't get to witness the event, but if you know either of my parents, I'm sure you can picture how it all unfolded. I imagine it was something like this: 

              Jackie: HAHAHA 

              Jeff:Quit laughing and get me something to get this off!

              Jackie: (More uncontrollable laughter)

              Jeff: Seriously, this is ONLY pair of shorts I have

              Jackie: (laughing, tears, and probably darting to the bathroom from laughing too hard)

This was Harper being eaten by a whale at the playground at UNO's Pizza.

I remember playing on this elephant when I was little, so I couldn't resist the picture!

This was after our family dinner on Saturday night.

Harper had an eventful first fourth of July weekend. She got to meet her cousin Ashley and had her first pool experience at the condo where Ash was staying. Let's just say, she was much more fond of Ashley than she was of the pool. 

This is Harper modeling her new BEAUTIFUL dress from Aunt Leslie. She, Ash, and Martha just got back from Puerto Rico, and brought this with them. She's got to grow into it a little, but it's sooooo pretty and I can't wait for her to wear it for something special!

On the fourth, we spent the majority of the day at home, but headed out in the evening for dinner and fireworks on the beach. We were far enough away to see all of the fireworks from various streets, but able to still hear the ocean in the background. Harper stayed awake for the fireworks and was wide-eyed as the colors unfolded in the sky above her. After they were over Harper fell sound asleep and Kevin and I spent some time just talking on the beach--a great end to a great weekend!

Kevin headed out on Sunday morning for the Jeremiah project and he will be spending a week with 15 middle school students repairing houses for people in Winchester, VA. It was very strange for him to go without me (I've been going on these trips as long as he has), but Harper and I are getting along just fine.