Epic Mom Fail

We figured out around 8 weeks old that Harper has a dairy and a soy allergy.  We went through 5 different formulas and finally found one that worked.  It was a rough start to life for Harper, but she is SO much better now that we have figured it out.  We are always watching for allergies because Cody has quite a few, but we are so glad that she seems to be doing better.  

She loves eating solid food.  There isn't anything she doesn't like and she eats every single drop of food we give her.  I am super excited about her being able to eat regular food some day because it will be much easier and fun to watch her feed herself.  So I got super excited the other day because I realized that she was at the right stage to start eating baby snack foods.  

So I went to the store and bought a few things, including the always awesome, Yogurt Melts.  I was so excited to get to watch her take her first bite of hand held food.  We got out the camera and the video camera to mark the occasion.  I even got Cody to try one just to see how cool they were.  I gave her a Yogurt Melt after dinner and we laughed so hard watching her determined little face trying to pick it up.  She eventually got it but had it grasped firmly in the middle of her fist.  Eventually, she just stuck her fist in her mouth and was able to suck it out that way.  What a problem solver!  Such a great first foods memory.  

We went about our evening and put her down for bed at 8pm.  All of a sudden, at 9:30, she woke up screaming.  And when I say screaming, I mean gut wrenching, inconsolable, a scorpion is biting my butt scream.  At one point, I actually checked her diaper to make sure something wasn't biting her!  Cody and I took turns holding her, rocking her, and trying anything to get her to stop crying.  It took at least 15 minutes to calm her down.  We were completely confused.  Suddenly, it dawned on my super smart husband.  We gave our sweet little girl, who is allergic to dairy, YOGURT melts.  And something my brain didn't process, is that yogurt melts contain yogurt, which is dairy.  

EPIC MOM FAIL.

I seriously don't know how I missed that fact.  It seems so obvious now.  I know, I know.  But either way, we had our trusty Colic Calm, which has definitely been a life saver for sweet Harper, and eventually got her back to sleep.  Poor Buddy.  We ended up giving the yogurt melts to a friend and taking back all the other yogurt packs I had bought for her.  And now we know, she is allergic to dairy, all dairy, including yogurt.  

Harper the Nazarite

Right before we walked into the church, I told Cody that along with Harper's dedication, we were also having her take the Nazarite vow.  We had just discussed Samson two weeks ago in our bible study.  He looked at me and said "Really???"  Haha!  No...

We dedicated her at First Baptist Church of Lewisville on February 19th, 2012 at 11:11 am.  We have been going to FBC ever since we got married so we have lots of good friends there.  We even got to dedicate Harper with her sweet friend, Avinley Hunt.  We have been friends with Matt and Katharine Hunt all 5 years and it has been so fun having babies at the same time.  I'm pretty sure we solidified their friendship in the womb.  We even decided Avinley's older brother, Quinlan, might even get to date Harper one day...

Matt, Quinlan, Avinley, Katharine and Us

Avi and Harper having girl talk

Careful Avi, she's quick!

Our preschool minister, Sherry Shaw, gave the presentation and our pastor, Stephen Hatfield, sang the babies a song.  They each got a New Testament bible and a certificate.  They also got a sign that explained their name and gave them a "life verse."  Harper means praise and her verse was Psalm 139:14 - "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."  I pray that she always knows that God made her exactly like she is and that she is perfect in His image.  What a sweet, sweet thought!

Us with Dr. Stephen

Here she is during the prayer.  I'm not sure she knows quite what to do during prayer time yet...  During the dedication, Harper kept kicking her legs and squealing, like always.  Of course this made the congregation laugh.  Everyone just thought she was hilarious.

All of our close family came to the dedication.  Cody's parents, my mom and sister, and my dad, stepmom, and sister.  Grayson was napping and Carleigh had gotten sick with pneumonia on Thursday so they weren't able to make it.  But I was impressed with our crowd.  These were the best pictures we could get.  It's hard work to get lots of adults and a baby all smiling at the same camera at the same time.

Us with Kathryn and Kristen

Us with Serena and Buddy

Us with Gary, Kristi, Taylor, Kristen - This was the best one!

After church we went home and had a family lunch.  Harper got a Bedtime Prayers book from her Mimi and Pop (my dad and stepmom), a Bible DVD set from Big Daddy and Rene (Cody's parents) and a sweet dress from her cousin Grayson (Kristen's little boy - he's not a baby anymore!).  She liked everything, but mostly just wanted to eat all the paper, of course.

We couldn't get one with her smiling because all she 

wanted was Kristen's necklace.

She HATES her shoes.  She just wants them off.  And when she gets 

them off, they are a great chew toy.

She had a great day and pooped out for a sweet nap.  She is truly one of the most funny, cute babies ever.  She's usually talking, loud, and moving all her extremities.  She just never wants to stop or miss anything.  And she's always good for a smile.  We are so excited to see what God has in store for her in the future.  I've often wondered what path her life will take.  Teacher like her parents?  Missionary in Africa?  Some PR charmer?  But most of all, we pray that no matter what her vocation, she stands like a light on a hill.  Shining through the darkness of the world.  Being a sweet guide for those who don't know Jesus.  Being joyful even when times are hard.  Being strong because her strength comes from a Higher Source.  Being content because she knows the Prince of Peace.  I just can't wait!  Today, we rejoice in what a blessing God gave us with our sweet Missy Prissy Harper.

7 Months and Sick as a Dog

7 months and growing like a weed!  Harper now weighs 17 lbs and is super tall.  We are finally in 6 month clothes and doing tons of big girl things!  

She is in somewhat of a clingy phase right now, which is sometimes cute and sometimes not.  But she absolutely loves mom, dad, and dog.  Funny enough, Maggie beats Cody and I out for favorite most days.  She HAS to be able to see Maggie wherever she is.

A few things she loves...

She loves to be thrown into the air.  

She loves getting tickled.  Usually on the side or the back.  She does not like be tickled on her feet.

She loves scratching things.  I'm not sure if it's the sound or the feel.  But we always hear her scratching her car seat, the wall, or her crib bumper.  

She loves being outside and walking in her stroller.  This is always our go to activity when she's grumpy.

She gets mad because we won't give her the remote control.

She's still a rebel.  When you think she'll zig, she zags.  Just because she can.  Crazy baby.

She likes to sit on the changing table and play but she HATES getting her diaper changed.

If you look close you'll see that she's laughing at her favorite playmate, Mags.

She has TONS of funny faces and noises that she makes now.  We have to be careful what we mimic because if she knows we like it she will constantly repeat it.

We have been sick, sick, sick.  We started on December 23rd with a cold, that moved on to double ear infections and RSV.  Then in January we got the stomach flu.  And by we, I mean Harper then gave it to me.   Two days later, she got a cold.  Two days after that, Cody and I got it too.  A few days later, it turned into another ear infection for Harper and a sinus infection for me.  Good gravy!  Can we please just get better?

This was after a day of not being able to sleep because she couldn't breath and her stomach hurt.  It was attached to a text to Cody that said "Get home fast!"

She is eating solid foods and definitely has opinions about that.  She loves apples and sweet potatoes and doesn't really care for green beans.  And of course she has inherited Cody's ability to be allergic to random fruits and veggies.  So far we are steering clear of pears and bananas.  She is also learning to use her sippy cup.  Right now it's more of a toy but every now and then she'll get some juice and it surprises her.  

She still loves her exersaucer, jumper, and stroller.  And now she loves her new walker, too.  She hasn't totally learned how her feet work but every now and then she can scoot her self around a bit.  She is finally somewhat interested in crawling.  She can rock on her hands and knees and army crawl forward if there is something to push off of with her feet.  Plus she's very creative in getting somewhere if she really wants to.  She can roll and twist a few times in a row and eventually end up where she wants.   

Cody made her a "bath cage" so she can sit up in the big bath tub.  She just wasn't able to sit in water without falling over quite yet.  This just helps her keep in an upright position.  He's very clever and crafty, that man.

This bottle only had a few ounces of juice in it and she was able 

to hold the entire thing all by herself.  

This has definitely been a grumpy month.  We are hoping for an early end to winter and all the sicknesses.  Few people want to wake up to this crazy face every morning!  Ha!

To grandmother's house we go...

Since I stay home and have tons of vacation days, I decided to visit my family in Kansas.  I found awesome flights back in November and went during the 2nd week of January.  My grandparents are amazing people but they are getting older and I just felt the need for a visit.  I somehow didn't start feeling nervous until the week before but eventually anxiety set in.  All by myself for 2 flights and 3 days?  Yikes.

We flew at 7am so it turned out to be a good time.  She's usually pretty happy in the mornings and we got to use up some flight time with a bottle.  She did great.  Not a single tear or fuss.  She was feeling particularly talkative that morning which I felt bad about because a few people around us were sleeping.

First Flight

My Aunt Pat picked us up with Grandma and Grandpa in tow.  They weren't about to miss even 1 minute of seeing me and Harper.  They were SOOOO excited to see us.  

Grandma feeding Harper

Grandpa playing with Harper before bedtime

  We pretty much did a whole lot of nothing for 3 days, and it was wonderful.  We played in the mornings, slept in the afternoons, and hung out in the evenings.  Thankfully my Aunt Barb brought over some toys for Harper to play with.  Bringing things on a plane is a lot more work than I would have imagined.

She spent most of the time rolling across their living room.  Her new trick 

is rolling multiple times in a row.

Calling daddy.  On day 3 we learned how to skype off our cell phones but it was still hard to hold a baby, talk, and not let her eat the cell phone.  

We spent all our time with my grandparents, Aunt Pat and Uncle Don, and Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim.  It was a nice vacation for me to not have any household chores or errands to have to do.  And it was fun to see Harper with her Kansas family.  It even snowed on our last day in town.  

Everyone helped feed Harper - no one wanted to miss a thing!

Harper and Uncle Don

 Growing up I've always known how much my grandparents loved me.  But the amount of love they have for Harper amazed me.  They watched her nonstop, played with her, laughed at every little thing she did, and never wanted her to leave.  The first day my grandma cautiously asked if she could hold her.  By the third day, she just kept stealing Harper from whoever had her.  So funny!  And in case you didn't know, my grandparents are 88 years old!   

Saying goodbye

Harper grabbed her face and "kissed" grandma goodbye.  She held on for awhile too!

We had a great time playing and visiting family.  She did awesome on the flight home as well and all the people around us loved her.  But we desperately missed Cody and were so thankful to see him when we got home.   Good first trip!