Harper's Dedication

This past Sunday, we had Harper dedicated at our church. We did this with Andrew when he was almost exactly her age (6 months) and that felt like yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. I love how our church does dedications...they are so personal and meaningful and involve the whole family.  Nate and I wrote out what we wanted to say and then Nate's dad read it to the congregation while my mom and Nate's mom walked Harper up and down the aisle. I've put the text at the end of this post.

Nate and I committing to "teach her the stories of Jesus"

 Harper hanging out with Omi before dedication time.

 Family picture time back at our house...2 very sleepy kiddos makes this nearly impossible but we tried!

Here is what we wrote, that Darryl read to the congregation:

     It wasn’t long after we found out that we were pregnant with a girl that everyone began asking the standard question: What are you going to name her? Nate and I knew we wanted a name that reflected how we hoped to raise her: to love others as Christ loved us. We chose to name her Harper after one of our favorite authors, Harper Lee, who has woven such ideals into her well-known novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In the novel, Atticus Finch patiently and gently teaches his children the values of kindess, love and compassion and as we raise our children, we hope to impart the same lessons to them.

We chose Elizabeth as her middle name to pass on a family name, as it is the middle name of Alison’s sister, and it is our hope that Harper will have the same close sibling relationships that we have with ours.   

As we raise Harper to follow the teachings of Christ, it is our hope that she will find a faith community here at Highland. We pray that she can discover her place in that body, embracing the teachings of Christ, knowing Him as her Lord and Savior. We believe that a community of believers is essential if we are to raise Haper to follow in the steps of Christ. 

Through her family, both immediate and extended, as well as her church community, we pray that Harper knows the love of our Heavenly father and as she grows up, desires to share that love with others through compassion, service and a strong faith that shapes her character. 

Harper's Room...

This used to be Nate's and my bedroom and for awhile Harper shared it with us while we were completing the master bedroom addition. It was a long 5 months of us all in there (and we lost our closet so we had all of our stuff stacked in crates everywhere...complete and utter disorganization which drove me crazy of course:). Needless to say, I'm glad she finally has a nursery! Of course, I still don't have a thing up on the walls yet but Harper doesn't seem to mind!

Paint color: Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray (one of my absolute favorite colors ever)
Curtains: Waverly "circles" fabric that I used stitchwitchery to "sew" because I still am in a battle to thread my sewing machine correctly!
Dressers: from my room when I was little...a little paint and new knobs fixed them up well.
Quilt on the chair: made by Nate's mom:) And I just realized it is flipped in this picture thanks to a certain 2 year old! I'll put a better picture up later because it is beautiful and DeeDee is oh so talented in her quilting abilities.
All accessories (baskets, lamp, etc.) are from TJ Maxx...my favorite place to pick up all those types of things.

Wrestling match!

They begin innocently enough...

 Harper is going to be one tough girl...

Don't worry...she got him back! Hair pulling always works...

January days

Warm weather means...

Going for a walk

Playing in the yard with a stick

Watching the birds eat

And muddy boots at the end of the day!

Harper 6 Months

 Harper turned 6 months old on January 4th (her dad's 33rd birthday too:) I can hardly believe that half a year has gone by since she joined our family.

She and Drew love each other to death...she laughs at him more than anyone else and even when he is taking her toys, being a little "rough" in playing with her or generally screeching in her face, she smiles through it all like he is the best thing in the world.
Here's her 6 month stats:

• 14 lbs, 3 oz (10th percentile for weight)
• 25 1/2 inches (25-50th percentile for height)
• She still despises any attempts at solid food, refuses to drink from a bottle and is pretty much attached at my hip! But she had an excellent health report at her checkup.
• She started rolling around like it was no big deal over Christmas in Ohio. We turned around and she'd rolled on across the living room floor!
• She still eats every 4 hours and takes a 1 hour  nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon (on a good day, let's keep it real)
• Sleeping at night is  hit or miss. Sometimes she'll go days with a straight night of sleep and other times she needs a lot of help getting settled back down after she's woken up. I'm really don't mind holding her in the middle of the night though because after having one baby already, I know how fast they grow up and that I won't get to do that much longer:(
• She is such a doll and we love her to pieces!

Snow Day in Ohio

 We had about 10 inches of snow in Ohio so Nate was pretty excited since snow in Louisville is becoming a rare thing these days...He and Joe went right to work building an igloo!

 Harper watched from the warmth of the living room and told me she'd like to play in the snow next year but not this year.

 When Drew woke up from his nap, we practically forced the poor guy out the door...

 Nate tried to coax him into the igloo...no luck.

 He wasn't too happy at this point.

 So we tried sledding instead...

 You can see how that turned out

 NOT a happy camper:(

  So I joined in and got on the sled with him

This video says it all! I don't think he was too happy about being in the snow this particular day (he had been pretty sick the day before and was tired too, poor thing). Nate was not about to give up yet though...

 When we got back to Louisville, we were treated to another snow (only about 3 inches but still!) and this time the snow was a hit. We had to practically drag him back inside after he'd been out there for awhile.

His truck turned into a snow plow...so fun!

And a couple videos of him playing in the snow too:

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning at our house was a hit! This was the first year that Andrew really "got" the Santa thing and we had fun too! Nate and I woke up before both Drew and  Harper (since they went to bed pretty late the night before).  When Andrew came downstairs he said "Santa ate the cookies!!!" and was super excited about that. He helped Harper open her gifts too and we had a fun morning as a family, eating breakfast and opening presents. 

Later that morning, we packed up and headed to Ohio. We had planned to do this the day after Christmas but a snowstorm was coming on the 26th so we drove on Christmas Day. It ended up working out perfectly since there was no traffic at all and we made it there in record time.

 The above picture is nothing short of a Christmas miracle that occurred during the drive north:)

 When we got there that evening, Harper begged me to dress her up like a reindeer so I happily obliged!

 Bentley got in the Christmas spirit as well and wanted to wear a Santa beard:)

 Andrew went to work opening the gifts from Omi, Opaq, Diddy, Kelsy & Joe, and a few from Santa!

 The gift opening continued the next morning as well

 About 10 inches of snow had fallen by the 26th so we all buckled down at the house and hung out! No complaints here...it was nice to just relax!

Can you tell he thinks he's a real construction worker in this getup? Thanks Omi and Opaw!

Uncle  Joe even gave Andrew a real Union sticker to put on his hard-hat...he was pretty happy about it!

Christmas Celebration #3

Christmas Eve we continued the celebrating. We went to our church's Christmas Eve service with my family and then back to my parents' house for the evening for their annual "open house" Christmas Eve.
We tried to get a picture of the 3 cousins...we really did...

 But then the leg-kicking started and Harper decided to flash the camera and Leena lost it!

 ...So we opted for some family pictures instead

 She loves those toes!

 My mom, aunt Betsy and cousin Kelly

 Tom and Nate with a guilty look!

I think this one about sums up the evening..fun times at Granna and Grandpop's house!