Mother's Night Out

I am very blessed to have met a great group of mom's. I was taking Harper to The Little Gym, when I met a mom, who asked me to join her play group. I joined and I have gone to play groups to the pool, mall, and I have done mother's night outs to restaurants, etc. It has been great meeting other moms and their kids too. Last night was fun, one of the mom's, Karen, the birthday girl, organized a make over at Chanel in Saks at the Galleria for 15 of us! After our make overs we then went and ate dinner at Phillippes. Dinner and drinks were great! I had a great time while Brian and Harper had a fun daddy/daughter day out.

Cake, cake, and more cake!!!

Yesterday was Brian's 29th birthday! It's so fun to have a family of Leo's and celebrate everyone's birthday in one month.... NOT! All we have done is eaten cake and gone out to dinner. For Brian's birthday since it was a week day I made him goat cheese stuffed chicken breast with a sun dried tomato sauce and pesto and pine nut spaghetti squash. And creme brûlée cheesecake for dessert. Yummy!!! And this Friday we're going out to eat to Americas with his parents. Food, food, and more food!!!

For our birthday gifts to each other this year we bought toys and we're going to bring them to Texas Children's hospital. We are so blessed to have a beautiful healthy daughter and that's the biggest gift of all and the least we can do is give back.

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine....

Ahhhh!!!! I can't believe Harper is actually one!!!!!! It is so crazy! Her birthday party was fabulous and it actually fell on her real birthday, July 28th. We had about 60 guests, friends, family, co-workers- it was quite a success. It was obviously a "You are my sunshine" theme, and we had it from 10:30-12:30, so we served brunch food. Unfortunately, her daddy was sick, and we just found out Monday he has mono. But luckily, last week Harper and I kept our distance from him, so we didn't get sick. But other than Daddy being sick, the party couldn't have been any better. The guests were amazing, the food was delicious, and Harper got the CUTEST gifts! (Thanks You!!) Thanks to everyone who made Harper's birthday so special! Also, a special thanks to little Jackson who sang to Harper, "You are my sunshine!" It was so cute and sweet! Here is a link to my shutter fly to see the pictures, Just copy and paste: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=46c96a1b08b339dac7e45aad1e0cdff4&s

Random Misc. Pics

Since it's been FOREVER since I've posted, I thought I would just put a few latest pics of Harper.

What a year!!

We've had an amazing year with lots of ups and downs! I haven't posted in a while because I've been overwhelmed working and being a mommy. But now that I'm home for the summer hopefully I can catch everyone up!

I can't believe that Harper is almost one! We've had trouble all year with chronic back to back ear infections. It all started when Harper was around 5 months old we were having trouble with her trying to sit up. So we started going to physical therapy. Physical therapy was going great, every time we went, her therapist was so impressed with how she was improving. She eventually learned how to sit. After a while when Harper was around 8-9 months old, we noticed she was behind on crawling, we continued with the physical therapy and we changed pediatrician's. When we met our new pediatrician she was also concerned with Harper, so she had suggested that she get a chromosomal test done to make sure she had all of her chromosomes and she wasn't missing one or she didn't have an extra one. That was very hard news for us to hear, and it was the longest three weeks of my life to find out the results. Thank God, everything came back negative and normal. We are so blessed. We continued with the physical therapy and by then it was summer time so Harper joined "mommy's boot camp," just kidding, but I seriously had that girl working the moment she would wake up until she went to bed to try and strengthen her muscles to crawl. I also had her in everything possible, gymnastics, swimming lessons, and I constantly tried to keep her active and moving. Well while all of this was going on, like I said, she has had chronic back to back double ear infections. Finally, last Monday at the pediatrician I asked if I could please see an ENT doctor. So they referred me to an ENT and I got spot for this past Friday. When I went in to the appt they did a hearing test on Harper and they said he had had mild hearing loss (which can be recovered with tubes.) I was so upset, but then met with the doctor who said that Harper needed to get tubes in and he needed to get her adenoids removed. I was happy to hear that there might finally be an answer to all of my prayers and that my daughter will start to feel better. I asked the ENT doctor when my pediatrician should have referred me to him and they said after 3 ear infections and my daughter has had more than 9, I lost count! I'm so upset that both pediatrician's did not refer me and because of this she has had mild hearing loss. They said everything Harper hears is as if she was under water. Poor baby! And to top it off the fact my latest Pedi went the route of a chromosome test and not to see an ENT doctor??? Anyways... We had Harper's surgery yesterday and it went very smoothly, the hardest part was watching her come out of her anesthesia. She was kicking, screaming, and flailing her arms. But once she arrived home she recognized her surroundings and she recovered well. And wouldn't you know it, today, the DAY after her surgery my sweet Harper started crawling. Not just once, but all day, all over the house. I'm so happy and I've thanked God repeatedly!

It's been a wonderful year, and we are so blessed to have a beautiful, healthy, sweet daughter. I'm looking forward to what's ahead and I can't wait for many more memories with Harper.

Charleston, South Carolina

Our little summer vacay this year we decided to go and visit one of my bestest friends, Nicole. (Yes, from The Bachelor) :) haha Harper was a great traveler, with this being her third time on a plane, I think she really enjoys it. We had a great time, Thursday night we went out to dinner with Nicole and Morgan and we asked them to be Harper's Godparents. We gave Nicole a pandora bracelet with the faith, hop, love charm. It was really cute! We also have her an Morgan a framed picture of Harper, even though she already had Harper in frames around in her house. And we gave Morgan the Godfather DVD, haha, we thought that was funny. They were very sweet and said they would LOVE to be Harper's Godparents, even though Nicole was a little confused of a Godparents "responsibilities," but we explained them to her an she was very excited. On Friday we went for a run over the bridge together, then we hung out until our other guests arrived. Danielle and Joe arrived mid afternoon and then Kristen and Matt shortly after. We had hired a sitter for the night to watch Harper and Walker while we went to dinner then for some after dinner drinks. We had a blast, and we cheered on the gamecocks baseball team and watched them win! Woo! Go Cocks! Saturday was a blast, we went to the beach, Harper loved it! It became so hot so the girls went back to Nicole's house and put the kids down for a nap while we layed out in her back yard. When the boys returned we just relaxed and had a BBQ in the back yard an played a ridiculously interesting game, 50 questions for insane conversations. It was fun! The. On Sunday our trip came to an end and we had to go back home. It was a very relaxing vacation. Miss my girls and I can't wait for our next get together!

Harper @ 9 months

Wow, oh, Wow, does time fly by! I can not believe that Harper is already 9 months old. Of course, I've been planning her 1st bday party since she was 6 months old. I already have it all planned out. It will be a "You are My Sunshine" theme with hot pink, orange, and yellow colors. This month has been a great month for us as a family. We had Harper dedicated this mother's day weekend. She recieved her first little bible and a DVD of the dedication. Harper also met my mom for the first time on Saturday. It was a great experience and my mom was in real good spirits. :) My brother had his senior prom this weekend, I can't believe he is 18 and went to prom! Brian, Harper, and I went to Sugar Land to take pictures. It was such a good looking group. There were 40 of them and they went on a party bus, that was the size of an RV and had a dance floor on it. :) Oh those were the days, I can still rememeber my prom, we had a theme at our beach house "under the sea." We were so lame. haha We've really just been hanging out with the family lately and praising God for our health and our gratefulness for our family. We have so much to be thankful for and sometimes we take advantage of the little things.

More fun with Harper

Harper has been such a fascinating joy to be around! (well she always has been) But... she changes daily. She is doing something new constantly and I love every bit of it! She loves swimming and splashing, she loves to stick her tongue out, and she is doing SOOOOO much better at sitting. She sits for minutes now and while she plays with toys. Her physical therapist said she was very very pleased will all of her milestones that she reached thus far. We are now working on trying to crawl.

This Easter Sunday will be filled with lots of treats by the Easter bunny! :)Harper and her best buds, Mallory and Julianna, went on an Easter egg hunt last weekend, and it was so cute to see Harper pick up the egg, and drop it into her basket. I'm looking forward to this Easter Sunday!

A little treat for Brian and I to have some alone time was that and I had bought him a personal chef for an evening for a Christmas present. Well we used it last night. It was nice to have a nice evening in. Harper was already asleep and the chef was cooking for us downstairs while we were upstairs. When the dinner was ready she rang a bell (awkward,) we went down stairs, and we had a beautiful table set with candles and some Kenny G playing. :) The first course were some scrumptious crab cakes.. mmm..mmm..mmm! Then our second course was a strawberry vinagarette salad with pecans, our third course was a jamacian salmon, with pureed butternut squash and snap peas and mushrooms, and our fourth course was a fudgy brownie trifle. The food was delicious and the service was so nice. It felt so awkward having someone serve me in my own house though. She cleaned all of the dishes and had our kitchen sparkeling clean when she left. Wow.. is that what it feels like to be a celeb?

Anyways.. life is good right now. Thank you God for all of our blessings! :)

Harper 7 months

Even though Harper will be eight months tomorrow, I thought I would update what has been going on for the last month. At The beginning of March Cherry had her 60th birthday party. We threw her a party at our house for her birthday and we had a great time. Harper was the hit at the party and even though she was sooo tired she didn't want to miss a thing. She never took a nap. Silly girl!

Then on March 14th we left and went to Utah for our second family vacation. Harper was an amazing passenger on the flight there and back. The flight attendant even said she won the passenger of the flight award. :) We wnt on this trip with our neighbors, Chris, Catalina, and their 12 month old Thomas. When we arrived in Park City, Utah we checked into out lodge at the Canyons and picked up our ski and snowboard gear. Then on the following days we would ski, the boys would snowboard, and the babies went to the childcare palce at the lodge. This was only my second trip skiing, and they were all advanced, I really tried to keep up with them. On the first day that we ski'd I was going so fast down the mountian (Brian said I looked like I was going faster than a professional, haha) and I couldn't stop and I literally TUMBLED down the mountain. With no helmet on! So that did put a rough start out to the trip, because from then on I was scared that was going to happen again.
Other than that, we had a fabulous time!!! We had chocolate stuffed waffles at the top of the mountian, Harper played or stared at the snow, and it was a great family vacation.

Between all of our fun activities I have been taking Harper to physical therapy every other week. She is improving soooooo well!The physical therapist said she is so pleased with how well Harper improves every visit. I although, am getting frustrated because I do exercises with her daily and I just feel like she should be sitting up completely on her own by now. She does sit, but then with her bad habit, of pushing back, she falls over. I'm ready for her just to stay seated. But Harper definitely wants to do what she wants to do and she just isn't ready yet. I took her to the doctor last Friday and since her 6 month check up her head has grown a whole cm. Which is really good. I just think Harper has a small head when compared to others, because it matches her body size. So the doctor and my opinions she is doing great!!! Woo Hoo!

This past Sunday Brian had to work so Harper and I had a mommy and daughter day out. We had SOOOOOOOOOO much fun. First we went and saw the Easter Bunny, then we went and took pictures in the bluebonnets. After that we went to the pool at Villa Sport and we swam. Harper had so much fun, she splished and splashed. She thought it was so fun! She kicked her little legs and laughged. I can not wait to take her to the pool again this weekend! :)

So Blessed!!!

We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, sweet, precious baby girl!! We took her to her physical therapist appointment and they did several exercises with her and assessed her. They said she looked spot on, except she's a little behind on being on her tummy and pushing up with her arms. So the doctor gave us some exercises to do with her at home. It's amazing how at this age they grow and change daily. In just this week she has sipped from her sippy cup, rolled completely over, she now is rolling all over the room, and she got her first tooth in! Yay! It's her bottom left tooth. She LOVES eating her solid food now; peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini, squash, apples, and pears are her favorites. And of course I make everything myself and it's all organic. Nothing but the best for my baby girl. :)

Gosh, does the time FLY by...

These last two months have been amazing!! Harper is growing so much everyday reaching new milestones. She has the cutest personality, the sweetest heart, and she is just a bundle of joy!!!

In the month of January, she has learned to clap, she loves her solid foods, she grabs toys, and she is still trying to do so much more.

At her 6 month check up on Monday we found out she weighs 15.5 lbs and she's in the 49th percentile and she is 26 1/2 inches long and she is in the 78th percentile.
We were also told two concerning things. One concern the perdiatrician had was that her head circumference was on the small side. She said it could be because she just has a small head or that her brain wasn't developing. She said she wasn't that concerned though because her head is still growing which is a good thing. She just wanted to let me know so we can keep an eye out on it.

The second concern was that Harper is a little behind. She does roll over, but she gets stuck on her arm, she does sit up, but only with assistance, and on her stomach she hasn't quite figured out the whole pushing up with her arms thing. So Harper will start seeing a physical therapist next Thursday that will just work with her with different exercises and send home some exercises for us to do with her.

On a positive note... Harper has been AMAZING!!!!! She melts my heart everyday! We have had a lot of fun taking her to the park and pushing her on the swing. We enjoy walking to the park in the stroller, and we put Pasha down in the basket in the bottom. Harper has enjoyed spending quality time with her boyfriend, Cade, and her best friend, Avery.

Brian and I have been enjoying every second as a little family and also finding time to ourselves. We love our Saturday routine when we wake up with Harper, play together, then we take her to the gym, where Harper plays, and mommy and daddy work out.

That's about all we have had going on in our lives, but we have a lot to look forward to in the next month. We are going to Austin for a wedding and we are taking Harper, then we have a wedding in NYC, and HArper will be staying with my Aunt, then we have Gigi's 60th birthday party at our house, then the following weekend we are going skiing with our next door neighbors and Harper in Utah.

I'll update pictures soon, and update after all of the fun festivities soon! Keep Harper in your prayers that her head is small and that she is growing at the right pace. :)