The Warren Family

Sweet sounds of a new life!

2012-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like the sound of baby #2's heart beat! This was a video of the first time I found the heart beat using the Doppler we have! Harper now puts the Doppler on her belly and says baby! Love her!! Enjoy!!

Sweet Sleep

2012-01-27T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just had to post this because it was adorable. We ran to Henderson this week and this was Harper's car nap. Wish I could sleep this good and this comfy in the car.

In need of Pink !

2012-01-27T17:51:00.000-08:00

Over the last two weeks we have had some major changes. Harper moved to her new room and it was so unexpected that we did not have that room ready at all. One wall in that room was dark blue and it needed some PINK. So this week we started working on Harper's new room. It is going really ,really slow at this point. We have just been so busy with mom moving in and selling her house and with Brad working late most nights. So one night this week Brad was able to get home and put up chair molding and start painting. I love the color. It is a really pale pink and then we have a almond color for the bottom. Harper's new room is going to be fairy tale. But honestly not to much theme. I have most of her bedding now but not all quite yet. I wanted to post a few pictures of the work in progress. Hopefully we will finish soon and I can post some finished pictures. Then I guess it will be on to fixing up the nursery again. So here are a few pictures of Harper's construction site. Wish us luck on getting it done fast because Harper is sleeping with us until the paint smell is gone. She may get use to this :)

Mommy moments

2012-01-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

This week I just wanted to take the time to remember some of my favorite moments of the day. I love naptime when I get a chance to slow down and spend some quality time with my favorite girl. Most days I have things to do but I try a few days a week to just lay with her even if I can not take a nap just to spend time with her. And I love, love bedtime. She has changed so much lately. Each night she climbs in bed with us and we put on a show or two for us and we give her the ipad and she will play for a while and then when she is ready she climbs over close to Brad or I and just goes to sleep. We love it. She is on the go so much that I almost always love on her for 20 minutes before putting her in her bed. I just know that as fast as she is growing before we know it she won't want to snuggle with us anymore. So here are a few pictures from this week. Mommy looks horrible but its the moment that matters . I love this precious girl.

Special Introductions

2012-01-23T17:41:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to introduce everyone to the newest edition to the Warren family. We found out that we were pregnant in November. Although it was a little bit of a surprise, we are super excited. We had an interesting start to this pregnancy. I went in to have labs drawn and found out that my progesterone level was slightly low so I have had to be on progesterone the last few weeks. It has not been easy for me. It seems to make me really tired and irritable which I hate. This, added to the nausea, has really been hard with a toddler, but I am more than anything just grateful that the pregnancy has continued and is very healthy. We just had our 12 week nucal sono and it went perfect. It was nice to see our little peanut again. So here are a few pictures of our precious new edition. We are praying for a healthy, happy and safe pregnancy and can not wait to meet this new sweet baby.

7 weeks

12 week face shot!

( I am so amazed with how much this face shot looks just like Harper's face)

12 weeks

Potty training begins!

2012-01-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Today after running some errands we decided to give potty training a try! It never feels like the right time, we are always busy but I thought we have to start sometime so why not today! Harper has been using her potty chair once a day for 2 weeks now so I figured it's time to start. So today we had 3 pee's in the potty and 2 pee's in the pants! Overall not bad for Day 1!! I had to post this hysterical picture. I put a potty chair in her play room so we could attempt often. Here is Harper with all the tools to potty train.. Cracks me up.

Children's museum

2012-01-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther king day my nephews were off from school so we decided to all get together and take the kids to the children's museum. They had so much fun. Harper loves her cousins and I just want to make sure she grows up spending lots of time with them. I forgot my camera but I did manage to grab a few phone pictures. We love the children's museum. I actually cannot wait to be able to take Harper to the IMAX.

Big girl bed

2012-01-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

It has been wild around the Warren household lately! Harper is growing up so quick and we are hitting milestones like crazy. This last week Brad was traveling and on Wednesday night I heard Harper making noise . By the time I grabbed the monitor to look I saw her hop right over the side! Terrified me and I took off to get her and I opened the door to find Harper sitting there smiling. Little toot..... Anyways it was time to convert her to a big girl bed. I was so scared about this transition. And we were in the process of moving her to her big girl room and it was not ready one bit. But our pediatrician said move her anyways to avoid training twice. So needless to say my house is a total disaster but we are on night 3 of toddler bed and doing okay! First night was the hardest with about 30 minutes of crying, and 10 at the door beating it screaming for us but each night it gets better. I think I cried as much as she did the first night. We are still waiting on the toddler bed part to come in so we are using a temporary bed rail. But it seems to work great. Here is a quick video of Harper playing in her new bed. Now on to actually fixing her room up. This weekend chair molding and paint..

New Hair Do's in 2012

2012-01-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today was the day! I finally mustard up enough courage to get harpers haircut. Brad had been trying to talk me into it for a while but I just couldn't imagine cutting that baby hair. But it was pretty horrible and long in the back and short in the front. So Brad and I met and took Harper to this fun place in Rockwall called Groovy's Kids Cuts. We had to wait for a small amount of time which didn't seem to bother her at all. She had a blast around the shop with all the balloons and lollipops. So when it was our turn we decided on the Barbie jeep for the chair. And even though she was full of wiggles she did great. I have to admit I may have had a small moment of mommy breakdown but once that first piece was cut I was okay. I will have that the lock of hair forever. 2012 will have many new changes for Harper but I think a new do was a great start. You look adorable angel and you did so good. We are so proud of you. Here are a few pictures from Harper's first Haircut.

The before....

The after....

My baby curl..

My sweet girl and her first haircut.

Cousin Love

2011-12-29T19:27:00.001-08:00

Love this picture and just had to post it. Harper loves her cousins and the older she gets the more she loves them.

Sweetest picture ever.. Love these kids...

My little comedian!

2011-12-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

I had to make sure I remember some of the silly things Harper does these days. So here are a few quick stories I think are so funny..

First off let me say she is becoming very opinionated. The other day I went to get her dressed and she found a horse outfit I had bought her and refused to wear anything else. So we ended up wearing a crazy horse outfit around the house to play in.. It was pretty cute, and I had only bought it because I knew she would love it . But it just made me laugh to see that she really really wanted to wear it.

Last week we headed over to CiCi and Papa's house to house sit while the new tv was installed. CiCi had a dentist appointment so we sat over to help the geek squad install the new tv system. When the guy arrived and installed the new tv I mentioned that the new tv seemed so small since they had done some construction to the entertainment area and the guy asked what the old tv looked like. I told him that the old tv was in the garage and he asked to see it. So I took him to the back door and showed him the tv. I had Harper on my hip and wasn't paying attention to her for a split second. When she reached up beside the back door and hit the POLICE button on the alarm system. All of a sudden the entire alarm started screaming and I freaked out because I did not know the code so I started trying to call Cici at the dentist. The cops called her and she told them it was okay and finally called me with the code but I was so embarrassed in front of the installation guy. SO EMBARRASSING. It amazes me that out of all buttons on that key pad she picked the one that instantly calls the police. HAHA... This was not so funny at the time but now is so funny. I bet that the geek squad guy went home and told everyone how crazy we were. HAHA!!

Then the other day we had a plumber come by to check the water pressure and when he did he left the water hose disconnected. So later that day we had a visitor come by and when they left we walked them out. I gave Harper a banana right before we went outside because she was begging for one. We went outside to say goodbye and as I was talking to our friend I look up and Harper was laughing. I walk over to see what she did and she had stuck her whole banana down the water hose. Awesome baby girl. Nice place to keep your banana. Funny thing is that we find pieces of banana all over the house in different things. She hides them in toys all the time.

Also at night when we put her in bed sometimes she will lay awake in her bed and talk for 30 minutes. Most of the time she lays there and talks about everyone and everything she loves. It cracks me up! She says every ones names over and over. Including hippo and Chester her favorite stuffed animals and Ray Ray and Emma her favorite dogs. Love it...

I could probably go on forever , I just want to remember some of the funny things she does these days.

LOVE YOU LITTLE COMEDIAN...

Wild about Santa .....

2011-12-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

It has been another wonderful Christmas! We are so blessed and we have had so much fun spending the holiday with our loved ones. We have made many stops along the way, and now Harper has so many fun things to play with. Thank you to everyone who has showered us with gifts, food and love.

First stop PawPaw and GiGi's house. Uncle Mike and KK and the rest of the family came over to do our yearly girls/boy exchange. Brad ended up getting an awesome cooler and I got a really pretty candle holder. Then we decorated gingerbread houses and the girls won again this year. We opened up gifts and Harper got the most adorable puppet show with princess and prince puppets. I can picture this girl now already having shows for us all the time. We also got a membership to the Dallas Aquarium. I am so excited to use this all year long. We are so grateful for the time we had a GiGi and Paw Paw's house. They have some little yorkie puppies right now and they were so cute.

Next stop was actually Santa. I worked Christmas eve but had Christmas Day off. Angela at worked offered to work for me and I almost cried I was so happy. So Uncle Mike and KK came up Thursday night and we did our christmas on Friday. Mimi got new Kindle Fire which she loves and Uncle Mike and KK got new stuff for their house. I worked Saturday but when I got home we put Harper to bed and then got the house ready for our first Santa visit. Brad and I decorated around the tree and went to bed.

I think I was up half the night with anticipation of Harper getting up. I think I was more excited for her than I was for myself as a kid. So early Sunday morning we got up and everyone got ready to see Harper's smiling face. I think when she saw us all staring at her she was a little confused honestly.

But once she figured out the stuff around the tree was for her , she was super excited.

We opened all the toys and played with everything until it was time to say goodbye to Uncle mike and KK. They headed home to spend some time with other family members and we headed over to the Hill house to have some breakfast. Hayes and Holt had so many fun things to play with. I think Brad had more fun than the boys with their new toys. After breakfast we headed home to cook for dinner. We then headed over to the Warren's for Christmas dinner and gifts.

After opening and getting some awesome new things we had a great mexican dinner.

What a busy holiday it has been . We are headed to Henderson to make one last stop this Thursday. We are so overwhelmingly blessed this year and we thank God for all the Family , Love and Health that we have. We hope that everyone had a great holiday and well. Here are a few holiday pictures. LOVE, The Warren's

IT'S POTTY TIME!!!

2011-12-17T19:10:00.001-08:00

This Friday we had such an exciting day. Brad and I were in Dallas for an appointment when Mimi texted us to tell us that Harper peed in her potty. I was shocked. I had bought her toilet about a month ago with intentions of trying after the holidays to potty train. When Harper woke up from a nap I guess she just decided to try and she peed. I was so excited and sad I missed it. We picked her up a , MY PEE PEE DOLL. Haha!! I figured it would motivate her to have a friend to potty with. ( it's a doll that comes with it's own potty chair) and came home to celebrate. So when daddy got home we tried again and she pee peed again. I almost fainted in excitement. WOW, being a parent is hysterical. How excited could you possibly be over PEE... :)So I am not completely prepared but we are giving it a try. Wish me luck.
M&M's in place ...
Pull ups bought...
Just a few more details like picking out her own big girl panties and we are off to give it a try. I promise to keep you posted. For now here are two discusting but must post potty pictures....

Harper's first and second PEE PEE in the potty.

White Family Farm Day

2011-12-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we went to visit Mama and Grandpa White down at the farm . I took a ton of pictures but there were just few that I want to remember forever. Grandpa was so excited to take you for a ride on the Tractor. We climbed up in it and you really enjoyed it. I think it made his day. Harper also was able to help Mimi drive the rhino. These pictures really arent the best ones but they mean to most to me.

Helping MiMi drive.

Taking a break in Grandpa's chair

Riding in the tractor

18 Months

2011-12-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

18 months old ! Wow, it's hard to imagine you are already 18 months old. As each month goes by we learn more and more about your little personality. You are no longer our baby , you are now a small version of your daddy and I. You have your daddy's sweet personality with all your hugs and kisses and you are so determined like your mommy. You are starting to make so many decisions on your own and you are communicating so well. You are learning so much everyday and trying to say anything we do! We just started working on the itsy bitsy spider and you make your little spider so cute with your hands. You are sleeping so well these days . Usually waving at us as you go to bed saying "night night". But overall I think it's pretty determined that you like to stay up late and wake up early. We usually just have to make you lay down at 8:30. You had your 18 month visit with Dr. B this week. It went great . You are growing and doing great. Still very small as always.
Stats:
19.8 lbs
35% in height
25% in head

You have now discovered candy and chocolate. OH NO... You ask all the time now for " CHOCK" aka chocolate. Thanks to Mimi and the holidays we have discovered your new favorite food.. HaHa.. You are so picky as all toddlers and eat wonderful one meal and not much the next. Your hair is getting so long, in the back..Ha Ha. I think Daddy has just about talked me into taking you for your first haircut to even things out. I just hate to cut that precious little baby hair. Your favorite toys right now are the animal ones. You are obsessed with Hippos right now and farm animals. It is amazing to me how you know so many animals and the sound them make. You are also so into mommies Ipad. I have downloaded so many educational apps and you know exactly how to get into them and play. You are my little best friend and any minute I am away from you I miss you like crazy. When I think back to the day you were born it brings tears to my eyes. It is just hard to describe how much I loved you then but how much my love has grown now. Everyday we are just so grateful and honored to be your parents. We love you sweet girl. So I thought I would just post a few fun pictures of Harper at the coast. We just got back and she had the best time as always playing in the sand. So no cute bow or outfit, just my beautiful little girl playing her heart out.

BLESSED

2011-12-02T18:11:00.001-08:00

We are blessed to be the parents of this beautiful angel.. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Santa 2011

2011-12-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

Well friends and family, this year Harper did not find the old hairy stranger to be any fun. So no surprise to us she screamed her head off and dug her nails into my skin to hold on. So after lots of work from the photographer we finally got one decent picture including mommy in santa's lap. HAHA! Oh well, maybe next year she will be more willing to sit on his lap! So here is Harper Lynne all dressed up to meet Santa and then our famous Santa picture! Happy holidays!!

Bubbles

2011-11-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

I love this video. She loves to blow bubbles in the tub. I think it is so funny but at the same time she chokes all the time. Ughhh. I almost want to stop her from doing it but then how fun is this mommy. I am thinking this winter I am going to take her to Aqua tots. Hopefully if we practice this winter she will be a pro by summer.

Just another nap

2011-11-30T18:54:00.001-08:00

I love this picture! They truely are napping buddies!

Decorating fun...

2011-11-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post a few fun pictures of my sweet girl helping decorate the tree. She took off as much as she put on the tree but she had a BLAST and asks us to see the tree a million times a day! And now before bed we have to go in and tell the tree "night night tree " and give it a hug.. I secretly crack up every night when she does this. SO CUTE!!

We put it in the dining room behind the baby gate! Good thing we did because she is so obsessed that she cries when we don't take her in to see the tree for the 30th time in a day;). Mimi also made Harper a special tree , decorated with all birds !

She loves it too ! I love Christmas time. The house always looks so cozy with all the decorations. I always get a little sad after the holidays when it all comes down. Hopefully we get the lights up this weekend to finish it up! Happy holidays friends and family!

ICE " Shrek"

2011-11-30T17:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we decided since I had off Sunday that we would make it a special family day. Harper is so obsessed with Shrek that when I found out that the ICE exhibit was Shrek the Halls we had to go. So we decided to invite the whole family and go together. We bought the tickets for 2 pm so we got out there about 1 to walk around the Gaylord.

They have it decorated so beautifully. So ends up there was a bad wreck on 635 and our family was late. So mean while I developed a horrible stomach ache and could barely function. So we finally were able to go through and I was only able to go through about half , because I was so sick.

Harper had the best time. She was a little intimidated for a few minutes , because it was so cold and the figures were so big.

But very quickly she warmed up to the event and then went nuts . I bet we heard "Shrek , Ice " a million times. We even paid extra to meet Shrek which she loved from a distance but freaked out when up close! Haha he was kinda HUGE!! So after Ice we then headed over to Great Wolf, originally I thought this would be great since we were already out there. But due to my illness and a late start it didn't go as planned. Once finally in the room( due to messed up room keys) we headed to the pool.

But I think because it was the coldest day so far this year it was cold in there! No toasty swim experience for us, we ended up just going in the hot tub for about 30 minutes and then heading back to the room. We ended up going down to the arcade and story time and that was really really fun. The hardest part of the little family day was at night. Harper usually does great but that night we were up every 30 minutes all night. So early the next day I ended up calling the Pedi and going in to find out Harper had an ear infection. Poor baby I bet being in the 9 degree ice exhibit or going swimming was really painful. So antibiotics and a good nights rest she is back to here crazy happy self and multiple times a day I still hear "Shrek, Ice" . So I guess even though it was a hard day, in the end we were able to spend the day together and I think Harper had a great day ( minus the painful ear infection night) ;( . so here are a few pictures of my little ogre! Love her!!!!

Thankful

2011-11-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

We have so much to be thankful for! When I sit down and start thinking about it , I get so emotional. We are so blessed to have all the wonderful things going on in our lives. And each year it only gets better. I am so grateful that we have our health and that we are so happy. Also I am so thankful that we are able to support our family! So many people out their struggle to put food on their table. I am so abundantly thankful for Harper. She has brought so much joy and love into our lives. She teaches me so many things daily from patience to unconditional love. We are so thankful for our families. The family that helps us when we need and are always there for support. I could go on for hours probably with all the things we are thankful for. This year we had a quiet Thanksgiving . We got up and Mimi made a pintrest sticky bun breakfast! Yum! Then we turned on the parade and laid around and watched it while napping off and on.

Later that day we headed over to Aunt Jenn's house for a thanksgiving dinner.

The kids played like crazy around the house and we all ate way to much food! It is always so awesome to spend the holiday with family because working as a nurse their are many holidays spent at the hospital. It was a great Thanksgiving and we look forward to the next year of things to be thankful for next year.

Beautiful Voice

2011-11-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

I just had to post this video. Harper watches Shrek probably two times a day. I am so embarrased to say that but she loves Shrek and The little mermaid. It is completely amazing to me how she memorizes things in the movie. We caught her doing this the other night. In shrek there is this one spot that Fiona sings to a bird in the tree. We did not teach her any of this. The way she sings with her or the hand motions. Who knows where she picked this up , but everytime I watch this it cracks me up. This little girl makes me laugh every day.

The Coast.

2011-11-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

So after the last crazy week we had, we headed down to the coast with Brad so that he could work. I had switched a day that week and so I actually had off that Sunday so we took full advantage. We packed up on Sunday and headed down to Houston to visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristi. They moved into their new house recently and we had not had the chance to see it yet. The house is so perfect and they are working so hard to repaint everything and fix some small things up. We loved it and Harper took full advantage of the playground across the street. Kristi and I took her over and played for an hour or so before Paw Paw and Gigi showed up to visit. We spent the whole day with all the family and then watched a movie before bed. We had such a great time visiting them and hope to be able to do it again really soon. On Monday morning we got up and headed out to go to the coast for Brad to work a few days. They are building two houses right now so he is going to be traveling down there quite a bit more now. So we are trying to go more to be able to hang out as a family in the evenings. Turns out that Tuesday we had some rain so we were able to hang out a little more due to rain delays..

I love this picture of the rain in the distance. I can not say I was too sad about the extra family time...:) We always have such a good time when we go down there. The alligator in the pond behind the house came out and basket in the sun one day and we were able to see it's full body for the first time.Usually we can only see his head from a distance. He was so much bigger than we thought . Probably about 9 feet. Emma no longer has full outdoor privelages.We wouldnt want her to be lunch.

Also on one of the other lakes in the sancutary the ducks have figured out that they are safe during hunting season. So everyday we would drive Harper over to see the ducks. Their were literally hundreds on this one pond. When we would drive up they take off and its beautiful to see them take flight over us.We also went down and played at the park in the evenings. Harper would say over and over "SLIDE".

Each night after we would get home Harper would lay up in our bed and watch shows on the Ipad. Man what a rough life she has.

While we were in town I picked up Harper a wagon full of sand toys and each night we would go down to the beach and play in the sand. Harper loved it , but was a little confused on why she couldn't play in the water. Just a little to cold.

a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PQktH3yr33Y/Tsm5H-8VF5I/AAAAAAAACHM/tp2X0DtQ_n0/s1600/beach%2Bwalking%2Baway.JPG">

Also the house is not as baby proofed as home so I was constantly trying to keep this monkey off things.

We took Emma on this trip and left Riley with the Warren's . It is just so hard to travel with both dogs. So Emma went on Vacation too. She took full advantage and napped most of the time.

On Thursday we headed home and Harper did great in the car. I keep hoping she gets use to the travel , so that we can go down easily from now on. Brad always says when we get home how much he loves being home. But I cannot lie, I love being down on the coast. Funny how he views it as work and I view it as vacation! Yet he views home as rest and I view it as WORK.. Ha Ha. Either way Harper was happy to see her playroom and back to work this weekend for mommy.

Week of celebration

2011-11-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy busy two weeks and I realized somewhere in the past weeks I forgot to blog ! We have had so many parties and travel that somehow I was just to tired at night to sit down and blog. I rarely go two weeks without blogging so I guess I will just have to do better and catch everyone up. Last week we had a baby shower at work for Deanna to celebrate little B and then I worked on Wednesday. I then bought Harper a big blue hippo chair (her favorite Hippo's ) for Christmas and she saw it and now uses it daily :) ! Note to self hide things better.

Then on Thursday I was able to get the first haircut since Harper was 3 months old. Of coarse she went crazy with Mimi in the mall so she ended up in my lap ;)... Interesting new way to get my hair cut!!! For the first 5 minutes Harper thought the guy was hurting me by cutting my hair but after that she watched bubble guppies sitting pretty still.

Then we had Cheri's retirement party that afternoon. Her work threw her a really nice party and the whole family went to support her! Hayes stood up and told everyone that he had two things to say
1: That he was excited to spend more time with CiCi.
2: That the only bad thing is she was going to make less money!
I'm still laughing about this, kids are really smart these days! They know NO WORK = LESS MONEY!
CiCi received some awesome new luggage to travel with from her office. And Harper ran all over her office and passed out in the car on the way home.

Then on Friday we had a shower for Kelly and baby girl Finley. I made adorable party favors that I found on pintrest. They were s'mores that looked like owl ( her room is done in owls).

After the shower I then headed over to Zannatas for dinner. We celebrated CiCi's birthday with a wonderful dinner with all the family. I then worked Saturday and Sunday! The following week we also had a visit from Paw paw and Gigi. We had lunch and then spent the afternoon at the zoo. Harper had so much fun and my camera charger is lost so I didnt get to take any pictures :(. It was such a busy week but we celebrated some fun stuff. So here are some pictures from that week!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Halloween! I have to say I think everyone at the Warren house is exhausted from this weeks fun. We have had such a crazy last few days but in the end it was all worth it and now we will take a few days to recover. First off we dressed up Halloween night and Harper went to a few houses in our neighborhood to trick and treat. At 16 months we just wanted her to do a few and then she mainly helped us out passing the candy to the kids. I have to say this year she was a little fearful of the scary kids. Funniest moment: Our neighbors child came over as a lion and from that moment on Harper decided to ROAR like a lion . So I'm thinking her pebbles costume was not what she wanted to wear this year. She also had her first taste of candy. Thanks to the kit Kat that got a away from us we now have a candy addiction. Who could blame her right?? She looked so adorable and I just cannot wait to see what she decides to be every year.

So then on Tuesday we had been working for weeks to have a small party at the house for the kids. So thanks to Pintrest ( my new addiction) some friends from work and I put together a fun little carnival style party for the kids. Complete with carnival games, bounce house, art table,family picture booth, face painting, and cookie decorating. We also had good food. Everything from mummy wraps to halloweenies.It was so fun . So much hard work paid off in the end and I think the kids had a blast.
This year as a family we went as the The Flintstones. Maybe this will be a tradition for us and I will let the kids pick out a family theme each year. I guess we will see how it goes.
Harper ate probably a pound of candy( which I still can not believe I let her do) and was face painted all over (thanks to daddy who let her face paint herself) ha ha. I have to admit that dirty child looked so cute!

Thanks to all the people who came to share the evening with us and special thanks to my family for helping out so much .

I hope everyone had such a wonderful Halloween!

Annual Arboretum Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Another year has gone by so quick. Last year we took Harper to the arboretum pumpkin patch and she was so tiny. This year she ran all over the place and touched every pumpkin there. HAHA... Favorite thing: The horses made of greenery. This child is obsessed with horses. We met up with Celesta, Savannah and sawyer and Liz and Heaton. It was a little hectic with all the kids but well worth it in the end. We had fun and enjoyed the girl talk. It is becoming so hard to get pictures of Harper . It is hard to get her to sit still and she is easily distracted by other children running around. We had a little picnic and didn't leave until after 3. Harper fell asleep before we even made it to the car. She was so exhausted. So now I am sitting here thinking "what will Harper look like next year and what will her personality be", :) I just remember thinking the same thing last year. I love this little girl...

Harper's Favorite Horse

Rockwall Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Today was really fun. We had some plans that had to be cancelled last minute so we decided to have a lazy morning. Harper took a good nap and I was able to work a little more on the Halloween party stuff. Then when she woke up we ran a few errands to buy Harper some winter play clothes. Lately she is so dirty and rough that I decided to get her some warmer play clothes to keep her from ruining her good clothes. So we did some shopping together and found some great deals. I ended up buying 11 winter outfits and a pair of play shoes for 115 dollars. Then this evening we met up with JJ, Hayes, Holt and Cici at the Rockwall Pumpkin Patch. It is the first year that this family is hosting it. I thought it was great. We fed the animals in the petting zoo and played in the pumpkins and then took a hayride together. Harper is so in love with her cousins right now that she has a blast when we do anything with them. I love it. We also got to take home a small pumpkin each so I guess I need to start carving some pumpkins. I hope lots of people go and enjoy it so they continue to do it every year. In the summers they have blueberries you can come and pick. Harper loves blueberries so we will be returning this summer. Here is the website with the information www.Blasefamilyfarm.com , it is small but a really fun family activity to enjoy.

Some pictures from the Patch..

The 30's Club

2011-10-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

This week mommy turned the big 30! Yikes, hard to believe I'm already 30. We had such a fun week. Mimi came up to hang out with Harper and I ,and Brad surprised me with some birthday fun. Wednesday as a family we stayed a night at Great Wolf. Brad is such a great husband and always knows exactly what I would love to do on my special day. It was so fun! Brad and I had been there before we had Harper , but it was so much more fun with her. We did a lot of swimming and did some arts and crafts.

She even colored her own t-shirt.

That evening we did story time as well. Harper had a blast and was so exhausted that night.

Then on Thursdsy we had a family dinner at Ava's . Thanks to all of our family for the special gifts, I really appreciated all of it! On Friday I woke up with what I later found out was pink eye! Yuck!! I haven't had this since I was a child. I'm assuming I picked it up at the Great Wolf ;) .... So I have been on antibiotics and it's finally recovering. I had to call in for the wknd because it is contagious so Brad worked all day Saturday and I worked on the Halloween party. We spent the day together Sunday and I always cherish these days because they happen so rarely! Lots of time spent in the backyard.

I had a great birthday week and I couldn't ask for a better family to celebrate with. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes! And one last picture of Emma and Riley. I caught a glance of the two of them spending time together. I love that they love each other.

And one last picture of the best daughter a girl could ask for. This was right before church. She looks so big.

Harper's Backyard

2011-10-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Lately as Harper gets older she loves going outside. It starts as soon as she gets up and goes on all day long. If I dont take her outside she sits at the back door and cries. Pitiful !! Our backyard is one of those things you dont think about until you have kids. I remember when Brad and I looked at this house , we thought it would be perfect for children. WELL.. Let me just tell you we had no idea what having children ment. Our backyard is one big hill. The only flat part is right off the patio. So with the dogs pooping and the hill, going outside was a nightmare. So Brad and I decided it was time to make a change. So we made a small fenced in area with a gate that would keep harper away from the hill and keep the dog mess out. PROBLEM SOLVED. Brad and Charles put the fence up last Sunday and we have been enjoying every minute since. Harper loves the freedom and I love it as well. The weather is awesome and perfect to be enjoying our new mini backyard oasis.. So here are a few pictures of Harper enjoying the sun. Thanks again Cici and Papa for coming over and helping!

Only thing left is painting. Any volunteers??

The Farm

2011-10-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last week was really busy , AS USUAL. Brad had to travel with work so I decided to load up Harper and Emma and head out to Henderson. It was MaMa's 77th birthday and we really wanted to go visit. Harper had that ear infection so I was skeptical about going out of town but she did okay. It is always hard to take a toddler out of town. She never sleeps good and it is always interesting because no where is ever as baby proofed as your house. But you have to keep moving and it gets a little easier every time. We ended up having a great time. Wednesday we had lunch with Mama and Papa and then spent the evening on the farm. We took Harper for a ride on the rhino and over to see the neighbors horses. She loves their dog Lady and loved climbing and running around like crazy.

Climbing the fence.

Picking peaches.

Hanging with Mama and Papa

Then on Thursday we got up early and met one of Mimi's friends at the zoo with her little girl. We spent half the day at the Caldwell zoo in Tyler and Harper had a blast petting the goats.

Friday we headed home to get ready for work that weekend and we were both really excited to see Brad. We dont get the chance to go to Henderson much anymore but we always have a great time when we do. Thanks to Mimi for making our stay so much fun, and Happy Birthday MaMa.

SICK BABY GIRL

2011-09-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

:( My poor baby girl ! Harper has been a little cranky the last two days and last night we had a horrible night. We haven't been up all night like that since she was 8 months old. So I took her in to Dr. B's office and she ended up having a R-ear infection. So now we are on ABX for 10 days and I hope she has a better night tonight and starts to feel better quickly. I hate when my baby is sick. She took a really long nap today and I love watching her sleep. I hope you feel better soon baby girl....

ZOO DAY

2011-09-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

The weather was beautiful and we hadn't been to the zoo in so long, so we headed out early to go see the animals! Mimi went with us and we met Deanna and Kymber there. Little Miss Harper's favorite part... The Children's zoo. We fed the birds, pet the goats and you rode your first horse. I was suprised to see how much you loved the horse. You touched everything. I think you are going to be an animal lover just like your mom.We had a great time and I cannot wait to go back. Good thing we have a membership because I plan on taking you much more as the weather cools off.

Kymber and Harper playing in the eggs.

Goats

The fish tank..

My little BFF

2011-09-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

It is only Tuesday this week yet we are having a fun week together. I say it all the time but Harper is truely my BFF. I hope we stay like this forever... Monday's are always my favorite because I have missed her so much over the weekend at work so I enjoy Harper so much on Monday. So here are a few pictures of me and my BFF. Ignore how horrible I look , we were up early...

Dress up....

Kisses

Lots of reading..

Naptime

On Monday night, we suprised Harper with a new outdoor play cottage. I found it on Craigslist and thought she would love it. Brad picked it up and she has loved every minute of it since.

Hope everyone is having a great week like us....

Thankful Thursday

2011-09-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say how thankful I feel to have the best husband and child. I love them so much and the last few days we have had such a good time.

I have had my little helper in the kitchen...

We have been out in the evenings enjoying the weather...

And we have been enjoying naptime as a family...

I love you guys so much and feel blessed everyday to be Harper's mother and Brad's wife...

Vail, CO

2011-09-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

We are back from our first real family vacation. With Harper we have only been down to the coast, Henderson or to Houston for a night or two. So this past week we flew to CO for Kirsten and Jeremy's wedding and stayed a few extra days to spend some time together. Overall I think it went really great. Traveling with kids is a whole new experience but we had a great time and it is so beautiful right now in CO. First was all the packing . Who knew you needed so much stuff to travel with a child. I think it took me a whole day to pack everything we needed to take. Lots of weighing of luggage too. :) We left Wednesday morning early and headed to the airport.

The airport to me was the most stressful part of the trip. Harper is at the age where she wants to be down running so it was hard to keep her contained. Once we were on the plane , she did great. No crying or screaming! Just lots of snacking and games we brought and even a little nap.

Two hours later we arrived in Denver , unloaded and headed to the rental car place. We then had a two hour drive to Vail. The weather was so amazing. It has been so hot here in Dallas that it was wonderful to have a break from the heat. The high was about 60 and lows 37-40. We even had a little rain a few days and we loved that. The first night was a little hard with Harper getting use to the time change and the new place but the rest of the trip she slept good. We rented a condo with plenty of room to play and I think it was perfect. It had a kitchen and a laundry room.

On Thursday mom and I went to a bridal luncheon for Kirsten

and then took Harper to a painting class .

Then we had dinner rehearsal while mom watched Harper. On Friday I was gone most of the day getting ready for the wedding, with hair and pictures. That night the wedding was beautiful and we all spent the night dancing and eating good food.

Then on Saturday and Sunday we spent some family time together. Saturday was perfect weather and we headed out early and went to the Gondola and rode to the top of the mountain.

We took Harper to the nature's building and learned about the animals in the area. Then we went digging for dinosaurs and had a good lunch at the top of the mountain. Then we spent some time at Octoberfest and did some shopping.

Later that night we met Kirsten and some friends at dinner .

On Sunday we had breakfast at a French Bakery and then went to Vail village to Farmer's Market and Car show.

Vail Village is so beautiful. After shopping for a while we headed back over to Octoberfest for the polish dancers and Brats eating contest.

Then Sunday afternoon we decided to drive over to Beaver Creek and check the ski spot out. When Harper turns 3 I want her to have her first ski lesson. I have always heard that Beaver creek is a very family oriented ski spot so we drove over to check it out. I loved it, and while we were there we had a charachature done of Harper. We spent our last night at the condo playing Yahtzee and watching the Cowboys play together as a family. I was sad to see the week come to an end. Family time is so rare these days that I always enjoy it so much. On Monday we headed home and Harper did wonderful again on the plane . She slept the whole way home on the plane.

So now we are just getting back into the groove of being home. Brad is back busy at work and Harper and I have been cleaning and unpacking. We loved our trip to Vail. I highly recommend CO in the summer. I have always traveled there only in the winter and now we will definitely go back in the summer. Just wanted to post some pictures from the week .

My Harper is 15 months

2011-09-05T03:06:00.000-07:00

My Harper is 15 months old ! I know I am a little late but we held off on going to the pediatrician until after our trip so we just went this morning. Harper's 15 month check up went great. She is growing big and doing everything she is suppose to be doing and more. Harper still remains tiny ! Most of my questions at the appointment were about food and milk. Harper still continue to have trouble drinking whole milk. I continue to have to breastfeed because I cannot get Harper to take whole milk. We now have many new suggestions to try so maybe soon we will be weaned off. Her growth curve is great , she has always been small and the doctor said that between 9-15 months they usually do not gain much weight because they are so active. Who can gain weight when they are vacumning all the time?

15 month stats:

HT: 20 th percentile
WT: 5 th percentile
HC: 10 th percentile
Teeth: 5 still but finally cutting one other tooth on bottom right and one molar.

Clothes: We are still wearing 6-12 months or 12 months, and size 3 shoes! She is so active I have trouble keeping up these days. I catch her climbing all the time. Just last night I looked over and she was climbing a baby gate and almost over the top. GEEZ, I freaked out. At this age Harper loves to be outside. It is so hard because the weather has been so hot but in the evenings we have been going out to play. She loves her sandbox, cozy coupe and trike. The most adorable thing I have noticed lately is that she LOVES other children. The girl's across the street are our favorite. If they come out of the house you cannot say Hi or wave enough.

Favorite foods:
Cheese
Mac and Cheese
Ravioli
Grilled Cheese
Bread of any kind!( biscuits are the best)
cereal
Avocados- guacamole is a hit.
hot dogs
french Fry's
KETCHUP on everything.
Sausage
plum baby squeeze packs
chicken nuggets
Eggo's

I wish this list was covered in veggies but this toddler is picky as most are. I am learning new ways to sneak them in everyday. Sleeping is going wonderful. We put you down and you go right to bed usually . Every once in a while you cry for a few minutes or play but we always have to put you to bed with Chester. Chester continues to be your favorite animal. It is now a challenge just to bath him. YUCK!!

What is Harper saying??

Dog, Cat, Turtle, Cow ,Fish, Moose, Emma , Riley, Chester, Harper, Mimi, Momma, Dada, Cici, Papa, Hayes, JJ, Juice, Cheese, Apple, Banana, Cookie,nite nite, Eat,Cup, Peepee, poopoo, Hi , Bye ,Book,Keys, Bubbles, Hop hop, Mermaid, Toes, Hair , Ear , Nose , Eye, Button( aka Belly Button)and teeth, moo, Monkey,
You try to repeat almost anything we say at this point. We are now watching what we say around you. This is our new parenting challenge.

And you use short sentences like:

Hi ___ ( anything you say) Hi mama, ect
I have even heard you say Hi Toes... HAHA
Where's _____ ( usually Chester, mimi, mama, or Dada)

You also say EWWWW to anything wet or if you toot. It cracks us up. And now you do the Baylor bear call , just in time for football season. We do not watch much TV but you seem to like bubble guppies. If you get upset in public we can usually sing that intro song and she start dancing. Anytime you hear any kind of music you dance and clap. Books are your favorite toy right now, aside from mommies cell phone or your kitchen. If only you didn't chew them up. All the books in the house look like a mouse has been after them. Many times a day you bring a book and sit in my lap.

Favorite Book:

Moo, Baa, La La La
In fact you will bring it to me and say MOO, LA LA LA
It is so cute and you nod your head when you say it.

Harper you are doing so much I could go on for hours. You are now hysterical and love attention from us. You do this funny face like you are shocked and make a sucking in noise and we cannot stop laughing. I plan to get this on video as soon as possible. And the other night you tooted in the tub , looked up and said EWWWW and laughed. I think I laughed so hard I was crying. Also you drop everything on purpose just to say UH OOOO. At this stage you make us mad one minute and laugh the next. Just in the last few weeks you have become a little defiant. There is alot more crying around the house these days when you do not get your way. But overall you are so sweet and your hugs melt us.

You are still a little fashionista. You now have your first pair of Joe's skinny jeans( thanks cici) and a new pair of pink winter Uggs. We love you so much it is unimaginable little angel. I cannot wait for the upcoming months. So much fun stuff to look forward to.

Riley and Ranger Game

2011-08-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would post a few pictures from tonight. Brad was watching the Ranger game and Harper was on the bed with me and Riley. I looked up and she was watching the game with Riley. They are like best buddies. ADORABLE.... I love that Riley is so relaxed with Harper. Who knows maybe Harper will be a baseball fan or animal lover??

Emma and Weekend Update

2011-08-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

It has been a week or so since I have blogged and mainly because we have just been busy with life. You know how it goes! I wanted to take the time to update everyone on Emma. We are amazingly blessed to say the least. Emma has done amazing . We had a follow up with our vet after one week and he said we could wean her from her steroids. She is getting around great. She almost looks completely normal. We are still limiting her activity and keeping her off the beds and couch. I have to say she is back to her normal self. Causing trouble as usual :) Harper I think is thrilled to be able to play with Emma again. It was such a good week. We have been doing a little shopping the past week. We will soon be going to Vail and I had to pick up some warmer clothes for Harper and I . Let me tell you how hard it is to shop for warm clothes in 107 degree weather. I found some cute stuff for Harper and now trying to find some things for me.

( Harper modeling her new coat!)

We also had some rain which was amazing. Not much but we will take it.I had an appointment at the allergist the morning it rained and as I backed out of my garage the most beautiful rainbow was across the street.

I am so looking forward to some rain and cooler weather. The allergist went well, I found out I am allergic to rye and barley which was weird but not much other than that. So I feel pretty blessed overall because it could have been way worse. Just a few minor food changes and I should feel better. Brad was pretty busy all week but I was off on Saturday and so we planned a family day. Saturday morning we got up early and went to breakfast. There is this little diner called Route 66 in Rockwall and I haven't been so Brad took us there.

( Daddy and Harper having breakfast)

It was so yummy. Harper loved the pancakes and sausage. Then after breakfast we headed over to farmers market in downtown Rockwall. We bought some fresh peas, squash, okra and the most amazing freshly baked sourdough bread. I wish I was off every Saturday to go buy local veggies for the week. Maybe one day..:) We then went home to drop all the food off and decided Harper needed a nap. So we all laid down and Harper slept for 1.5 hours while Brad and I watched a movie. It has been so long since we have been able to relax in bed and watch a movie. For the rest of the day we took Harper to swim at CiCi and PaPa's house. She loves the swimming pool. Sunday I worked and now this week I am busy getting stuff together for travel and cleaning house. Also we are playing outside when ever cool enough. Harper is loving her cozy coupe .

The weeks seem to fly by these days and Harper is growing up so fast. Here in just a few days she will be 15 months old. I promise to post a 15 month Harper blog so stay tuned. Hope everyone is doing great and have a good week.

Emma Lynne Warren

2011-08-19T19:31:00.001-07:00

Emma Lynne, we LOVE you... It's been a hard day today. I worked yesterday and right before I left work I recieved a call from Mom to tell me something was wrong with Emma. I rushed home and ended up taking Emma to the emergency vet. When I got home she was having trouble using her back legs. During the day mom said she never heard her make a noise in pain or anything . The only thing she could have jumped off of was the couch . So after sitting at the emergency vet for two hours. The vet told me that she could have one of two things wrong. FCE or herniated disc. The vet seemed very stressed and had given Emma a morphine shot. She said she would recommend an MRI which after hours would cost us over 1,000 dollars and then if bad enough, surgery that was over 2,600 on top of the MRI. I immediatly started to cry in panic of Emma's health and the fact that who can walk into a place like that and drop that much money. I was devestated . I called Brad and we decided to bring her home on the medications, and take her to our vet the next morning. So it was such a worried filled night and alot of praying. This morning I made the first appointment to see our vet. He took one glance and said he was going to start her on steriods and that I needed to crate emma for complete rest for 4-7 days.He said he couldn't tell if it was a slipped disc or FCE without an MRI but that with the way she was looking if we did everything he said to do and she didnt take a turn for the worse , we would have a good chance of recovery. So I brought her home and we have been following all of the rules and everyday we see a little improvement. We continue to pray for a full recovery but we are just so thankful that things are looking better everyday. We follow up in one week so I promise to keep everyone posted on Emma's condition. But for now one of my favorite pictures from this week . Harper loves Emma and I think Emma loves her too. WE LOVE YOU EMMA... Get well soon..

Dinner at the Warren's House...

2011-08-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

This week I decided to upgrade Harper to a real fork and no longer giver her the SPORK. She would try to use it and could never get the food on it, so we gave a real fork a try. She loved it and we have had many laughs at the dinner table since then. Usually she gets it all the way to her mouth and then looses it or feeds it to the dog. Here is a hysterical ( or at least we think it is) video of Harper eating Chicken and Dumplings. I always want to remember what a mess this little girl was when she is older. I have bought every dinner appliance in the baby section and it always seems to make more of a mess or just make more dishes . So lately I have just been putting it on the table . It works... Enjoy!

Animal Sounds

2011-08-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Listen carefully....
Harper loves to act like a dog and make pig noises.. Best video I could get that day.

Happy Birthday DADA

2011-08-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Happy 31st Birthday Daddy!!

Last week was Brad's birthday and it went by so fast, like the last year has gone by. I remember this time last year we were celebrating his 30Th birthday with a 2 month old. We started the celebration on Wednesday night. I worked on Wednesday, so I met the family after work at Kyoto and we had an awesome dinner.

I even think Harper enjoyed the hibachi cooking show. The night before I made Brad a homemade Hershey's Bar Pound Cake and we ended the night with a slice.

( FYI the cake turned out amazing )

So then on Thursday, Brad's official birthday , we made a breakfast special for daddy. Cinnamon rolls and Turkey bacon :) ...

Then for lunch we met Brad at AVA's downtown. Nothing like shrimp and grits to celebrate your birthday. Harper surprised Daddy with a custom outfit. It turned out adorable . Palmtree Resort Properties Mascot!! I think Brad loved it.

On Thursday night Holt had his 5Th birthday celebration so we finished out the day with them. We had such a fun week celebrating Brad's Birthday and can't wait to celebrate this time next year. Maybe next year , Harper can sing Dada the birthday song. We love you!!

What's your name?

2011-08-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Harper!! Love this little voice..

Mini Family Vacation

2011-07-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Last week Brad had the chance to take off a week from work and we were able to go to the coast together. He ended up working half a day Monday, so to make it easier on Harper we drove to Houston and stayed the night. It worked out great because we were able to meet up with family and eat dinner together. Michael and Kristi met us with Dad and Kelly and we enjoyed a nice meal. It was so good to see everyone and after dinner we headed back to Dad's house and just visited and watched t.v. Early Tuesday morning we headed out for the coast. Mimi met us in Houston and followed us down there. So for the rest of the week we enjoyed hanging out as a family resting and playing in the sun. Harper had a great time and did really good. We took her to the pool everyday and ate at two new restaurants in town. Last time we went to Port O' Conner was when Harper was 10 weeks old. It's hard to believe that she is almost 14 months old now. As always we had a great time and it was beautiful. It has changed so much down there , and we were able to see the houses Brad has been building . We are so proud of him and we can't wait to do back down soon. Here are a few pictures from the week and a video of Harper showing you her EYE..Road trip... Hello POC... MIMI's love... Harper with Chester before dinner. Sunscreen Mohawk Pool time My eye...

Church nursery

2011-07-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I ended up getting the day off so we decided to go to church. It is so rare these days to go to church together as a family that I get so excited when we are able to go. This wasn't the first time that we had taken Harper to church , but this day we decided it was time to send Harper to the nursery. It is becoming so hard to keep her quiet and she needs to become more comfortable apart from us. I also want her to be comfortable at church. My hopes are that soon, with or without me , Harper will be at church most Sunday's learning about the Lord. This week we decided to make the transition a little easier and asked CiCi to stay in the nursery with her. I felt like if she knew someone it would make it a little bit easier. So we dropped her off and I waited around the corner to listen for her to stop screaming. She finally quit when Cici arrived and we went on to church. I couldn't wait to see her after the sermon. Come to find out she did great. She played well and seemed to do great with the other kids. I wanted to get more pictures of her that day but I was so stressed it didn't happen. I did grab one picture of Harper and her daddy. Maybe next time we will try it without Cici and things will get better. Here is a quick picture of out big day.

Harper GET DOWN...

2011-07-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Harper " get down " is the new phrase around the Warren household. All of a sudden Harper thinks she needs to climb on everything. So today I had her in my room while I changed the sheets on the bed. We had been in the room for 5 minutes and this is what I caught Harper doing!! My little monkey! Also we recently in the last week finally had a new tooth come in. So here is number 6!! So the smile is balanced back out now..

Last is a video of Harper talking. Just thought it was cute. ENJOY...

Random Sweetness

2011-07-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

Just thought today I would post a few cute things. Harper and I have been really busy so far this week , so today I decided to take it easy. I just wanted to post a few cute pictures from the week so far.

My little vintage baby playing in her room.
Notice little Chester :)

Harper playing in her toy box.

Harper playing with chalk for the first time.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Hide and Seek...

2011-07-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Harper where is Chester? This is our new game. She loves us to hide her favorite stuffed animals. Then we ask her to find one and she goes looking. It is so funny to watch her look over the room.

Fourth of July

2011-07-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY...

I love holiday's on days I am off. :) I love to be home with family an extra day. It is so rare these days to be together all day that I love these days. Today we took it easy. Harper was up at 5:45 so we were up before the sun. We played with Harper most of the morning in the playroom and around lunch we started cooking. Brad started marinating ribs and Mimi made potato salad. We also got corn on the cob ready to be grilled and made some baked beans. Then we all loaded up and headed to Cici's house. Cici and papa and the Hill's are all down at the coast. We were sad to miss the trip but I had to work so we decided we would just go over to their house and swim for the evening. We had JJ and Pops meet us over there and we all hung out at the pool. Brad grilled all the food up and we had an amazing dinner. Harper was obsessed about the dog toys while we were there. She kept taking all the squeaky toys and balls from the basket. So finally I just gave in, cleaned them and let her play with them. Harper was exhausted because she only had a small nap so around 8 we headed home and called it a night. So now everyone is in bed and we are listening to the sound of fireworks. Happy Birthday America!! Here are a few pictures of Harper today with her adorable outfit and little squeaky toys...

Chewing on her dog toy..:)

Hanging with Mimi in the pool

JJ

I loved Harper's outfit..

This was Harper one year ago today. It is crazy how much she has changed in one year. I can not believe it..

Second 4Th of July !

Patriotic BUM....

Fun Filled Friday

2011-07-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Friday's are always the hardest for me. I remember coming back from maternity leave and someone saying " It's okay Jennifer, it really does get better". It did get better but I have to say I almost get a little depressed on Friday's because I know that for the next two days I will barely see my girl. So my new thing is to try to make Friday's really fun. Mimi came up this week on Thursday so we all decided to get up this morning and run some errands together. First Walmart! We are having a party at work on Sunday so I needed to pick up some food to make a dessert! Mom brought Harper a mini stove top microwave toy this week and we picked up some fake food. It has this little shopping basket with tons of fake veggies and fruits in it. SO CUTE!!We then picked up some lunch and headed home to unpack groceries. After we got everything put away we loaded back up and went to the Medical store in town to see about getting Mama a wheelchair. Mama and Papa White are going on a cruise soon and we needed to pick her out a chair to help get her around the ship. So we ended up spending two hours there and Harper was running the place ragged. Once we got done there we decided to come home and I cooked a good dinner. I actually made a dessert for us tonight to try out the recipe for Sunday's party. Pretty sure everyone was happy to try it out for me. I made a Blueberry Dump Cake. Sunday I plan to substitute Peaches but the blueberries were awesome. So after we ate dinner and cleaned up we decided to let Harper play outside for a while. I had picked up this water toy at Tj Maxx last week and figured we would try it. It was clearance for 5 dollars and it was like a mini splash park. It turned out to be really cute and she liked it but only played for about 15 minutes before heading off to get into trouble . Brad pushed her around on her Trike for a while and then we headed into bath. We finally got Harper clean and she was exhausted so we fed her and rocked with her for a while. When Brad finally took her to bed I was so sad to see her go. She waved and said NITE NITE and it just about broke my heart. Funny thing is that this week on Tuesday we met Liz and Heaton at Northpark to shop and she was a little irritable so I grabbed a clearance stuffed animal in Nordstroms to keep her busy. Next thing I know she is love with the stuffed classic tiger doll. I had just told some people I work with last weekend that Harper is not attached to anything. And next thing I know , she is in love with this orange tiger. We now carry it everywhere and sleep with it at night. So after we put her in bed tonight we watched her for 20 minutes on the monitor play with her Chester.{ Chester: stuffed tiger } When I was growing up I had a cat named Chester that looked just like this stuffed animal so we decided it would be kinda cute if we were both attached to a Chester :) Glad this Chester comes with no litter box. Well I hope everyone has a great weekend and a Happy Fourth of July. Here are a few pictures of Harper playing with her new Kitchen set and Water toy.

My sweet little chef.

Harper on her trike.

Splish Splash..

Surprise Wednesday's

2011-07-01T19:31:00.001-07:00

This week I was on Craigslist to look for a diaper sprayer and so I went to the search bar and for some reason it brought up kids toys. Honestly I had never even thought about buying toys on Craigslist. Cici was just telling us the other day about how one of her friends bought this Laugh and Learn House and her grand kids loved it. So randomly it showed up for sale. So since it caught my eye I went to the site and checked it out. Ends up the lady selling it was in Rockwall. It retails for about 85 dollars in the store and she was selling it for only 30 used. It was in perfect condition with only a few crayola marks which I am sure we will only add too. So I called Brad and had him arrange the pickup and on Wednesday night we surprise little miss Harper with her new toy. It was so fun to watch her. I was giving her a bath and Brad set it up in the playroom and man she was so excited. She LOVES IT.. We probably should not have given it to her so late because it was hard to get her to bed that night. So now I am officially addicted to Craigslist! Harper is still in love with her new toy and I have to admit it really is such a cute toy. I love it when she rings the doorbell.

Belly Button

2011-07-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

Harper where is your belly button??

There it is!!!!

Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristi Visit

2011-06-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had a little surprise visit from Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristi. Last minute they decided to come visit and I was really excited. We haven't seen them since the wedding, so It was great to have a day to spend some time together. They drove up late Thursday night after work so that we could all hang out on Friday. Since I work Sat/Sun we are adjusting and finding ways to see family. Anyways, when I found out they were coming I started googling things to do in town with Harper. It was so hot outside that we had to do something inside with Harper. So I finally decided on the Children's Museum at Fairpark. So early Friday morning we headed out for some family fun. First was a stop at the best breakfast taco joint in town. YUM !! Everyone loved Chiloso :) Then we drove to Fairpark and got our tickets. The children's museum turned out to be so fun. I think we had more fun that Harper. After the museum we decided to walk over to the aquarium. It was our first time to go and we had so much fun. We all fed the stingrays and Harper touched a Rock Lobster. Well we all fed the stingrays except me. NO WAY.. They gross me out for some reason. Then we walked over to the OLD MILL INN to have lunch. After lunch we ended up driving back to Rockwall and then headed out to the park. Michael got an electric boat as a wedding gift and we took it out to play. It was actually kind of fun, although I was terrified we were going to wreck it. Last we came home and I cooked a dinner and then put Harper to bed. We all talked for a while before bedtime. I love days like this. I wish we were able to do it more often. The older I get the more I love spending time with family doing fun stuff. I worked the rest of the weekend but MiMi and Kristi took Harper shopping on Saturday and Mike and Brad played golf. I was so sad for everyone to leave Sunday but hopefully we can get together again soon. So here are a few pictures from the weekend.

First Pony tail...

2011-06-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was giving Harper a bath the other night and as I went to comb her hair I realized we have quite a bit of hair on the back. So what else do you do than try a pony tail.. We currently have the mullet still so her hair is only long enough in the back. But one day soon we will actually have a pony tail. Until then here is a little sneak peek of whats to come.

Adventure in Cloth Diapers

2011-06-19T19:45:00.001-07:00

We started a new adventure this week. Not sure we picked the best week to start it considering Harper has been sick and on antibiotics but so far we have handled it well. I decided to try to use cloth diapers. When Harper was a baby it never really crossed my mind . Over the past year I have heard of people using them and always wondered how I would feel about using them. So I decided this past week to go out on a limb and give it a try. Honestly I know alot of people will be shocked but I could think of a many reasons why I am trying them. First of all it saves money , which is always good. I could think of many fun things to do with the money we would save. Also it's so much better for the environment. There are many reasons but really I have no expectations for the trial. If we like it we will do it and if not we will move on. I may even do it when we are home and then use disposable on the road. So far it has been about a week and we are doing great. I only have 6 so I cannot use them full time but I am finding out that it really is not a big deal. The only thing I am finding to be difficult is getting them completely clean with a number 2.. Sorry it sounds gross but if any one out there has any ideas I would love to hear suggestions. I ordered biodegradable liners to try which I think will fix that problem but I guess we will find out soon. I will say I have ordered two other brands to trial and I can't wait to get them and see what I think. Lastly, I just wanted to say that Harper looks absolutely adorable running around the house in a cloth diaper. Something about that little hiney in a cloth diaper that makes me melt. So I promise to keep you posted for all those people who are wondering what I am going to think. So I thought I would post a picture of Harper in her FUZZY BUNZ cloth diaper. We have multiple colors but the one I had on her was blue. I probably should have put a bow on her but who says girls cant wear BLUE...

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

It is Harper's second Father's Day!

I wasn't expecting to be off today but the week started out with Harper being ill and then ending with me being ill. The first of many times that Harper will get sick and then passes it around the house:). I took Harper to the doctor Monday and her doctor was out of town so we saw another. He said she had a virus and she had been running a fever all weekend so that wasn't a surprise. He said if she still had one on Tuesday to bring her back in, and so the next day we ended up back at the doctor. Dr. B saw her the following day and found an ear infection so we finally started antibiotics. Harper started to look better the following day but on Friday I started to run a fever and felt terrible. I ended up going in to Care Now and she said I had a virus and pharyngitis. So now I am on antibiotics too and starting to feel better slowly. It has been so long since I have been sick that I forgot how miserable you can feel. But on the upside we ended up spending father's day together. We had already celebrated because I thought I wouldn't be here. We gave daddy a pair of wireless headphones for the T.V. so he could watch late night sports center. Harper had him a surprise and so daddy opened it that morning. We had the cutest shirt made that said " My daddy Rocks" with a drum set on it. So most of the day we just relaxed as I am still sick but we did go to the Hill's house to eat burgers and open gifts. Overall it was an awesome laid back day. Another father's day has come and gone now and even though we didn't do anything significant we had a great unexpected day to spend together. WE LOVE YOU DADDY and you are the greatest DADDY ever.

5 Things Harper loves about her daddy.

1. She loves when he goes to get her in the morning. She is always so happy to see him.

2. She loves when he chases her around.

3. She loves when he gets home from work in the evenings. She runs up to the gate and giggles so loud like its been so long.

4. She loves bath time with daddy. He always knows what to do to make it so fun.

5. She loves to say DADA. It is the word she says the most around the house. She will point to a picture of her daddy and say DADA a million times.

We could go on for a long time , because Harper adores her daddy. We actually just received our sneak peek for Harper's 12 month photo shoot with Erica and my favorite picture is one of Brad and Harper. You can see how much he loves his girl in the picture. So here are a few pictures from Father's day and two sneak peeks of Harper with her daddy. Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day..

12 Months

2011-06-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

Now that your party is done and the presents are put together. We are having so much fun with you. This month you have officially turned into a toddler. Even though you have been walking for a while now, I feel like you are now a toddler since you have turned ONE. We got up this morning and took you to your one year checkup with Dr. B and here are your 12 month stats.

Weight 18 lbs ( 8 Th %)
Height 28 in (20 Th %)

You are such a tiny girl but are growing good on your growth curve so Dr. B had no concerns. You eat good but are just on the move so much. I guess you burn alot of calories. You are so independent these days. We chase you around all day! It seems like you explore everything. I am constantly watching your every move because you love to get into things.You are so quick on your feet. When you look up and see me coming you speed up. You are still so funny. Tonight at the dinner table you were having a whole conversation with your self and mimi and I were cracking up.
Your vocabulary is great. You are so smart and pick up on words quick. Your updated list of words:
Mama
Dada
Mimi
Papa
Dog
Doggie
Bye bye
Ball
Fish- ISH
Weeeeeee
Uh oh

Favorite foods
chicken
cheese
biscuits
potatoes
mac n cheese
carrots
garlic bread- just like her mimi
goldfish
animal crackers
and I could go on for a while...

You are sleeping so good. Usually down around 8-8:30 and up at 7 every morning. Your new thing is that you have become a climber. It scares me so much. We have caught you going up stairs at Cici's house and climbing on your play stroller multiple times. I hope you do not start this in your bed. I will freak out. I want you to be safe in your crib. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you figure out how to climb out.We started swimming with you and you are such a Diva. You hate cold water , so we have to heat up the hot tub just a little at Cici and Papa's house for you to get in and then you love it. You love other children. You are in such awe of them. I am going to put you into a Mother's Day Out program but not until you are 18 months old. You now dance when we ask you to and it is so cute. You are doing so much these days it is so hard to keep up. I'm finding new ways each day to entertain you and keep you busy. After your party we have been playing with so many new toys. Right now I would say your favorite toy is the Cozy Coupe. We got you a little trailer and you fill it up and climb in and out our your car. Well, I cannot wait to see what the next few months bring. We love you so much and look forward to doing some fun things this summer. Happy 12 Months baby girl. This month no crazy dress up pictures but just some of my favorites of us just having some fun.

First Splash Park visit with Landon!

Cozy coupe fun!

One year doctor's appointment!

Post birthday party nap with mom!

Harper's First Birthday Party

2011-06-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we celebrated Harper's first birthday party. What a special day it was. It's weird that the day has already come and gone so quickly. Seems like we have been preparing for months and it's already over. The party was perfect and went so good. All the tiny details I added for Harper she will not remember , but I just wanted to make it special for her and I will never forget this day. We had adorable cupcakes! Vanilla, chocolate and lemon with little fondant flowers or 1's on them.

Her smash cake turned out to be so cute to. I think so cute that Harper was so gentle with it. She turned out to be quite the Diva and did not smash it at all. It made for an easy clean up. I will say she loved it for sure. Brendal added a white chocolate 1 mold on the top and that was her favorite part.

She had the perfect birthday hat and bloomers. The hat didn't last long, but she sure was cute in it for a few seconds...:)

Of course a mommy and daddy moment!

The Happy Birthday song and one fired up candle. All while holding my daddy's hand.

A little sharing. Harper is the sweetest girl ever!! :)

Opening presents from all of our awesome friends and family. Harper got some really fun stuff like a backpack, cozy coupe,trike,water table,first baby doll, sandbox, swing/slide set, tea set, potsy, dinner place mat, food tray,clothes, curious George dvd, doll and book, veggietales movie,outdoor pool and toys, CD player and bow holder. Man someone is spoiled!!

And to say " Thank You" , we had a candy table with every candy that was made egg shaped or bird related. We even had haystacks made by Cici with jellybeans for eggs in them.

And all over the house were special things made just for Harper. One of my favorite things was a banner I made that had Harper's 12 month pictures . I can not believe how much she has changed in 12 months. And also a slideshow that Mimi made that played in the background with tons of pictures of Harper over the last year. We also had pink lemonade and strawberry milk for the kids. And we had faquitas with all the trimmings.

The day was so special and without all of our friends and family it would not have been the same. Special thanks to Mimi for all her help in preparing. She is such a great mother and grandma. We love all of these people in our lives.

Thank you to everyone who was able to be a part of Harper's first birthday. Happy Birthday Sweet Harper and we look forward to planning your next birthday.

ONE YEAR OLD....

2011-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

I can not believe you are one year old. I have been thinking about this day for a year and here it is . I can not believe that for one whole year you have been a part of our lives. This day one year ago I held you in my arms for the very first time. Little did I know that day how much I would love you a year later. You are our everything. You make our lives so much more exciting and fill us with joy every day. You make us laugh , and cry. You are so smart and so funny that everyday I am amazed at new things you do. Today we celebrated with your favorite breakfast and a trip to the Dallas Aquarium. Daddy was worried you were a little to small for the aquarium but turns out you LOVED IT. We had so much fun with you today. You love animals which I'm sure you get from your mother . We watched them feed the sloths, penguins and sharks. And we also made a stop by the gift shop and bought you a few souvenirs. We got you the cutest little stuffed manatee with big eyes and a flamingo purse. And mimi bought you a t-shirt to remember your first trip to the aquarium. We then headed home to get ready for you party tomorrow. I have worked so hard to make this party special for you and you won't even remember this day. So I am going to take so many pictures tomorrow so that we have this day in our memories forever. We can not wait to spend this special day with our closest friends and family. You are the most important thing in our lives and we are coming together tomorrow to celebrate your special day. We are also taking this time to thank our family and friends for helping support us in our first year of parenting. We have so much help and love that we just want everyone to know how much we all appreciate it. So today, no long 12 month blog but this week I will do our ONE YEAR stats and post pictures of your party. Tonight it is late and we have had an awesome day just spending time with you and that's what is most important. So just a few quick pictures from today and many more weekend pictures to come. WE LOVE YOU HARPER LYNNE and HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY ANGEL!!

Wedding weekend...

2011-05-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a crazy busy weekend but in the end we added a new member to our family. My brother got married this past weekend. It is so weird to say that really. He is growing up and turning into a man . Anyways, it was quite an eventful, with an almost One year old, but we made it through and it went pretty good. We left on Thursday morning and headed down to Houston. The wedding was actually in Liberty City which is about 5 minutes from Kemah. It took us about 5 hours to get there and Harper did okay considering she hates her car seat. We met Mike and Kristi on Thursday night but mainly just got unpacked and settled in. Friday we had rehearsal at 12 and then the girl's got mani/pedi's and then headed to Cullen's Live for rehearsal dinner. We had a pretty rough night , I think Harper was overly tired and over stimulated. She cried most of the night and I was starting to think she was sick, so we left about 9:30 and she was asleep in the car before we left the parking lot. Then on Saturday I went to the venue at 10:30 to have hair and makeup done while Harper and Daddy spent the day together. Then at 6:30 that night Michael and Kristi became man and wife. The ceremony was beautiful and Harper did her job as flower girl great. We were able to stay at the wedding until about 10 and then we had to go because Harper was so exhausted. She had a rough last night in the hotel and we were up most of the night past 3 a.m. but overall she did good sleeping away from home. We all had breakfast before coming home Sunday afternoon and then today we were so lazy. We were just exhausted from the weekend and didn't have the energy to do anything. We took lots of pictures and I plan on posting some of the professional ones when we get them back in a few weeks as well. I hope that everyone had a blessed Memorial weekend. Congrats to the Bride and Groom..We love you!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

One of my favorite pictures. Harper loved the glass shower so Brad let her play in it . He is such an awesome dad.. Special thanks to Daddy for being such an awesome father this weekend.

NUMBER 5

2011-05-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

We finally officially have tooth number 5 and she looks so adorable. There is this cute little gap in between her two front teeth. Oh my gosh , it makes her look so much older. My baby is growing up. Here are two pictures . They are not very good but it's so hard to get a good picture of the tooth when she hate's for my to touch them. So we take what she gives us. Enjoy...

Tornado Sirens

2011-05-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

Last night was one of the scariest weather nights I have ever experienced. I love weather and in the past I would have loved crazy weather, but now with Harper it just scared me. I was worried for her safety. Thank God Brad was home. I think if I would have been alone it would have been so much worse. I cannot image what Joplin went through because this was scary enough. I can only pray for those families. Around 8:45 the tornado sirens started going off in Rockwall and we headed for the middle bathroom. I had prepared a kit under that sink because of all the weather we have been having lately. Just two days prior I had run up to Hobby Lobby and got stuck in a hail storm and had to dart under a car wash. So me, Brad, Harper and the two dogs crammed into the bathroom. It felt like forever, we were in there for around an hour while the storm passed. Harper thought it was a party. She loves the dogs and any excuse to get close to them. She flushed the toilet and climbed under the sink.. We are so blessed to be safe, and as I watch the Joplin footage I want to just cry for those people. We had another much smaller storm come through later that night so Brad and I sat up and waited for it all to pass since we put Harper back in her bed. We will continue to pray for all the people that have been affected by these storms. And thanks to everyone who was checking on us and worried. Here are a few pictures of the crazy sky before.

Sneaky Tomato Thief

2011-05-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

For weeks I have been wondering who is taking the strawberries and cherry tomato's from my mini garden. Tonight I went out to water my plants and caught the thief red handed. I cannot believe Emma likes strawberries and cherry tomato's. MY DOG IS CRAZY!! I guess at least I know she eats healthy..

Our little Comedian

2011-05-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

As Harper is getting bigger she is turning into quite the little comedian. I swear everyday she does something so funny. Some days I feel like I'm laughing all the time. She is so creative and silly without even knowing it. So I decided to take a few pictures of Harper doing stuff the last few days and post some of them. I want to remember this little funny girl when she gets older. So here are a few pictures and videos from last week.

When I put Harper in a highchair or in a stroller this is how her leg ends up most of the time. Wearing her mother's bra! I gave Harper a pickle the other day thinking she would think it was nasty. A few minutes later I realized she had eaten the entire inside of the pickle. It was so funny. And every night when I give her some yogurt she makes a huge mess and giggles as if she knows I do not even want to pick her up like this. Harper's new sound...

This is our little gymnast. I caught her doing almost the splits the other day.

Tooth 3 and 4

2011-05-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Last week was a really hard week for Harper. Getting teeth is HARD work. I always feel so horrible for Harper when she is cutting teeth. But after a long process, lots of Tylenol and tears. We have tooth number 3, and 4. We are currently working on #5 so the drama continues. Not sure why it took so long to get any teeth after the first two and now they are coming in quickly. So here is the best picture I was able to get. She hates for you to go anywhere near her mouth.

Family Fun

2011-05-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today was such a great day!! I can't remember the last time we were able to spend family time together doing something for fun. I was able to trade a day with someone at work, so we decided to make use of the day with nothing but family fun. So this morning we woke up early as usual and got ready for church. We went to the early service and Harper took a little nap so she did awesome. We do not get to go to church much anymore so I love having Sundays off. After church we headed out to Dallas to go to the zoo. Harper and I have been before but Brad has not been since he was young. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and 72! Doesn't get much better than that for a day at the zoo. We ended up only going to the children's zoo and the African exhibit because Harper was just so sleepy. We rode the monorail for the first time and I was worried Harper would get bored on it for 20 minutes but she loved it. I just love the zoo. I told Brad that if I had a dream job it would be a Vet in a Zoo. Best part of the day was when Harper fed the giraffe. I thought she would love it because she loves feeding the dogs but the LONG tounge freaked her out. On our way out we stopped in the gift shop and bought harper a purse with a giraffe in it to remember our fun day. We loaded her in the car and poor baby was asleep before we left the parking spot. So I guess she had fun :). After getting home we called CiCi and she came over and played with Harper so Brad and I could go to the movie together. We saw Water for Elephants and it was so good. We haven't been out alone in months, and we enjoyed the alone time. I feel so blessed to be off so many days with Harper, but days like this, I sure miss my weekends with Brad. This makes you really appreciate the time we all have together. Here are a few pictures from the ZOO day.

Daddy and Harper checking out the big cat.

Harper feeding the giraffes.

Before we even left our parking spot, this was Harper.

Sweet feet

2011-05-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was planning on posting a picture of Harper because I just thought she looked adorable but ended up not getting a chance. We got up yesterday and headed to Baylor . Beth and Jon had little Jake on Monday and we went to visit. We stopped by the NICU to do some stuff and Harper was able to visit some of my co-workers. She was so shy and clingy. She has had allergies the last few days so I think she just feels alittle under the weather . Baby Jake was adorable and it was fun to hold a newborn again. It's hard to believe that almost one year ago I was in that exact spot. Then we headed back to Rockwall and later that evening we went for a family dinner to celebrate a late Mother's day. We went to the Oar House and had a yummy dinner. Harper did pretty good at dinner. She was tired and sickly so overall she did awesome. So here is Harper from yesterday and also a picture of the sweetest feet out there. So chubby I love them..

Harper's sweet little feet!

My little princess!

A Special Weekend!

2011-05-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

Busy Busy Busy! That's really how last week and weekend was. We started out the week with me working and Brad down at the coast so that we could be off for the weekend. I'm not use to backing my days up as much as I did last week and boy am I glad I am only working 2 days a week. I missed my girl! Then on Friday we loaded up the car and headed to Houston to have Kristi's shower on Saturday. Friday went as expected . Harper hates her car seat so she screamed most of the way and I think my blood pressure was so high when we finally arrived. We checked in to our hotel and then headed over to Grandpa Harrell's to visit. Kelly and Dad were really happy to see Harper. It had been a few months so she had changed so much. We went to dinner and played with their new puppy Lola for a few hours and then headed to the hotel to sleep. Harper actually did pretty good that night sleeping in her pack n play from about 10-7! Then early the next morning we went to the Teapot Depot to have Kristi's shower. It went really perfect , the food was awesome and the games went really good. Harper wouldn't let anyone touch her. She hasn't acted like that before but I guess it was a lot of people she had never met before and probably a little overwhelming. So she was attached to me the whole day like a little monkey baby. After the shower we headed down to Lake Jackson to Grandpa's bay house. We had family and wedding party down to cook out and relax. It was fun, Harper was able to take a boat ride on the new boat. She loved it! We also had every one's dogs down there and we all know how much Harper loves dogs. Emma was able to take a boat ride too, she traveled with us this weekend and did great too. After the party we checked into a hotel in Lake Jackson and went to bed. That night did not go as well , Harper was up every three hours and then up at 5 am. Sunday we went back to the bay house and visited for an hour or so before heading back to Rockwall. Sunday was my first Mother's Day. We spent most of the day in the car and Harper hated it but I will say that I am so blessed to have my little girl. Being a mother is a dream come true and I look at her and can't believe God has blessed me with this precious baby. She is growing up so fast and I can not wait to spend many more Mother's Days with my baby. When we got home last night Brad and Harper gave me some new James Avery Mother's earrings and I love them. I sure love my little family. On Monday morning they got up and let me sleep in and then made me breakfast since we were on the road Sunday. I sure appreciated it. So we have just a few more weeks before the wedding and Harper's first birthday. What a busy month we are about to have. So here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Harper enjoying the new puppy Lola.

Teapot depot shower

The Bay house

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! We are surrounded by amazing mothers and I couldn't do it all without them. Harper made her MiMi and Cici special garden stones with her foot print in them to say I LOVE YOU...Special thanks to my mother for always being there for me when I need her.

11 Months Old

2011-05-03T19:13:00.001-07:00

Eleven Months ago today you came into our lives ! Never did we expect how much you would change in eleven Months. We cannot believe that in one month you will be One year old. There is no way to explain how fast this 11 months has gone by. This last month you have learned so much. Everyday you do something new! You are becoming this little person who loves to learn and explore. You are now officially INTO EVERYTHING. Daddy is working on putting latches on every cabinet in the house. You are so fast on your little feet. Crazy how much better you have become at walking in the last few months. You walk now instead of crawling almost 95% of the time. Sleeping is so much better. We actually have a routine. You now know exactly when it's time for bed. We lay you in your crib and pat your back for about 5 minutes and off to sleep you go. Occasionally you are a little harder to put to bed but most nights you do great. You continue to be an early bird. I'm not sure if Mommy will ever adjust to that. Most mornings we are up at 6:30 before the sun. Eating is much better as well. You will almost try anything I put in front of your mouth. We are having a little trouble getting you to take enough because feeding it to the dogs is always more fun.

Favorite foods:

Prunes
Chicken
Macaroni and Cheese
ravioli
yogurt
sweet potatoes
grilled cheese
tater tots
cheese

No more baby food for Harper.

Words List:

Mama
Dada
DOG
Book
Bye Bye
Ba aka Ball
sheez aka cheese

You also know where your and our nose is! And you love the Wheels on the Bus song. You are quite the Dancer and you love to give all your stuffed animals hugs.You just started giving us hugs as well! You are such a joy and make me smile everyday. You wave and tell everyone bye bye and it melts my heart. I hope you are always this sweet!! Last week we had the chance to watch the royal wedding. It is really crazy that Princess Diana and Charles were married the year I was born and their son was married in your first year of life. It really is fun that we were able to watch the wedding together as three generations. I look forward to the fun things we can do together as girls !Well let the count down to your first birthday begin. We love you baby girl and can not wait to see what this next month brings. So this month for pictures I decided to go with the theme of the recent royal wedding. Here is our girl all dressed up as a princess.

Crawfish Friday

2011-04-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we went to Amy and Robey's house to eat some crawfish. It was the first time that we had the chance to hang out with all of our friends with Harper. It was fun to see everyone and their kids as well. Robey showed Harper her first live crawfish. I do not eat crawfish (ewww) they look like creepy bugs. Fortunately Robey had some hot dogs which made me really happy. I actually didn't get many pictures like I usually do . It was hard chasing Harper and getting pictures. So I thought I would post a few . Aubrey was there and so the girls were able to play. So thanks to the Canaday's for the awesome food and friends.

Mommy and Harper

Kimberlee and Aubrey

Harper playing with her eggs.

Aubrey in her crawfish outfit..

Dancing Queen

2011-04-25T11:16:00.001-07:00

Recently Harper started dancing to music. It cracks me up!!We have a music dvd we play during the day called Silly Songs and she loves it. So here is a small video I was able to get of Harper dancing.

First Easter

2011-04-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

Happy First Easter Harper Lynne!

Another first for my sweet little girl. Time is going by so fast. I had to work this weekend as usual and it was hard not to be home to go to church and celebrate the traditional way, but I did spend it with some tiny little miracles which is the best way to spend Easter if not with my own family. I ended up having someone come in early for me at 5 so I could be home for the Warren family Easter egg hunt and dinner. So I can't complain since I was able to be with Harper for her first Easter egg hunt. When I got there we all started hunting, or really mommy and daddy hunted for Harper and Hayes and Holt eagerly searched the yard . Every year Cici and Papa hide money eggs and everyone goes nuts looking for them . So this year Harper's grand total 43 dollars. Not bad for not even knowing what she was doing :). So in her piggy bank we will make her Easter deposit. After the hunt we ate dinner as a family. SO MUCH FOOD, and everything was so good. Aren't holidays the best! So I wanted to post a few pictures of Harper's first Easter. She looked adorable as always in her little pink A-line bunny dress and bunny bow.

Thank you JJ for the Easter bunny.

Harper's Easter basket!

PaPa and Harper

My sweet girl...

Daddy and Harper hunting

My new shades that have animals on them..

Holt

Hayes

Hope everyone had a great Easter ! Praise the Lord for such an amazing life we are blessed with. He is risen.

Ducktails and Injured Paws

2011-04-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

So we had a minor accident at the house this week. A little drama to keep us on our toes I guess. So on Tuesday Emma went to the groomer like always and spent the day at the SPA.. Not sure if she thinks it is a spa :) But anyways when she got home she wasn't acting like herself so I asked Brad if he thought she needed to go to the vet. All that night she kept us up licking and moving in bed. So the next morning she looked worse. Shaking and tail between her legs, Brad thought she just needed to rest. So after he left for work I started looking her over and figured it out. One of her nails was twisted and hanging off. OH MAN, im a nurse and I was a little grossed out. I called the vet and immediatly took her in. So now picture this , me, Harper and Emma and a random cat all sitting in the vet office. The cat was so funny . He acted like we weren't even in the room, he opened a jar of dog treats and helped himself while we waited on the vet to arrive. So long story short they had to cut it down to the toe and Emma screamed and blood went everywhere. I gasped and Harper started to cry. It was tramatizing to all of us. So she had a little bandage on her foot for a day and she looked so pitiful. Poor girl!! She is still limping and guarded but hopefully soon she will be on the mend. I guess this happened at the groomer and we will no longer be using them. Guess Ill have to find a new one. So here are a few quick pics of our gimpy little Emma..

And on another note, I wanted to post the most adorable picture. I love this little tiny thing we like to call Harper's ducktail. Now that she is actually getting some hair she has this tiny little curl on the back of her head everyday. It is so precious and I LOVE IT.. Cant wait to turn that ducktail into a pigtail. :)

A Giving Baby

2011-04-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

So in case everyone was wondering if our dogs have adjusted to having Harper around, I thought I would post you a video. This shows how much they appreciate and love having such a giving baby around! Enjoy

Just for smiles..

2011-04-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty uneventful ! Which is actually nice. Sometimes it seems like we are always so busy that it is nice to have a week of just spending time together. Plus Harper is teething SO BAD this week, I feel really bad for her. She chews hard on toys and then crys and I feel helpless. Im alternating Tylenol and Ibprofen but it never feels like it works that great. Anyways, I hope soon those little teeth pop through and Harper has some relief. We did have a playdate at our house on Tuesday and that was fun. We all met at Lenny's Sub shop in Rockwall and then came to our house to decorate Easter cookies and play. It was a pretty big group for us and all the kids played so good. It was cute to watch. And when it was all over Im pretty sure they all CRASHED for a really good nap. It was so funny because I kept getting text pictures of kids passed out in the car. And the playroom floor was covered with toys. So I am guessing they had fun. So I thought today I would post some fun pictures I have taken over the last two weeks. My phone has about 2,000 pictures, everyone who knows me knows that I always have a camera of some sort. So here are a few of my favorite recent ones.

Brad and Harper swinging at the park!

Just thought she looked so cute in her little flower outfit.

Shopping with TWO purses..

Trying out her new carseat!

Having breakfast at CFA ( this girl loves breakfast food)

Future KISS member!

Sweetest baby girl, snuggling with her new pillow friend..

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Dallas Arboretum Day

2011-04-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today was fun, we went to meet Kymber and Heaton at the Arboretum. It was the first time hang out with Heaton and he is so precious. I can't believe that Harper was that small only 6 months ago. I woke up that morning worried about the weather. It was cold and the wind was blowing 25-35 mph. We went ahead and loaded up to see what the weather was in Dallas and I am so glad we did . It was a little windy but beautiful. Perfect temperature and sunny!! We had a great time, just eating a picnic lunch and walking the park. We took a few pictures and just had some girl time. I love that it's warming up again, I can't wait to take Harper swimming this year. So here are some pictures from the day.

MiMi and Harper

Elizabeth and Heaton

I love Harper's face!

Sweet Baby Heaton!

KISSES..

Lots of Easter Eggs

10 Months Old

2011-04-03T19:24:00.001-07:00

How can you be 10 months already?

It's amazing how fast time flies by when you are having so much fun. When I look back over the last 10 months things have changed so much. You were so little and now you look so big to me. Although people tell me you are tiny still.. So where to start is the question? You are doing so much these days I struggle to keep up . Everyday is something new , and Brad and I laugh everyday over something you did. Just today I went to the grocery store and came home and put you in your walker.You were zooming all over the kitchen and every time I looked up you were trying to feed your banana cookie I gave you to Emma.Or lets just say you were sharing which is "OH SO GROSS". But you were giggling every time you gave some to Emma and it cracked me up. So to start you are sleeping really good. Most nights you are in bed somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 and are up at 6:45 am. And you are always up at 6:45 on the dot. You are like a little alarm clock. So no late sleepers around this house anymore. I think you are playing so hard during the day , you are exhausted at night. Usually we still hear you whine alittle in your bed in the middle of the night , but you put yourself right back to sleep. Eating has changed so much. We now know you just hated baby food. Which we don't really blame you honestly. It is kinda gross. We started feeding you table food in mini form and you love it. I'm amazed everyday how good you eat. Funny how I was so stressed about food a few months ago. Almost anything we put in front of you, you will eat. But we cannot feed you !!! You are MISS INDEPENDENT! I think its a stage and im glad to watch your tiny little fingers feed yourself , although it's always a mess. Your favorites right now are waffles, pancakes, banana cookies, ravioli, and mac n cheese. But you love anything for the most part. Usually what ever we cooked you eat for the day. You are now a pro at walking. You now prefer to walk over crawling and it's so funny to watch you do it. Your just so tiny and wobbly. You are jabbering up a storm. Favorite things to say are Mama and Dada and Dog. You are still singing on your microphone like a rock star. I'm sure before long we will be getting daily concerts. You are still wearing 6-9 months clothes. And you feet are 2 or 3, but always come off right away anyways. You still only have two little teeth. You act like your teething but I can't see anything coming in. Your hair is getting long. It is thin but so soft, and really looks like a mullet. Short in the front and long in the back. Always a party with Harper:) I'm sure soon we will be able to put you in some pig tails . I can't wait! Bath time is still a battle . You hate to sit down and now you try to turn the water on all the time which is so stressful. I am hoping this phase ends soon and soon you will understand the dangers instead of smile at me when I say NO Harper don't turn on that HOT water!! We continue to get your birthday party ready and it will be here before we know it. Next month will be so busy for us , I hope you do well with all the travel. Michael and Kristi's wedding is approaching quickly and we are getting excited. Well Harper we love you so much and can not wait to see what you do this next month. You sure are a happy , sweet girl. We thank God everyday for you. Here are some updated 10 month pictures. I will say it is getting harder each month to slow you down long enough to snap a picture. Im going to have to be creative next month for sure.

This is how most pictures start!! :)

What a talker!!

2011-03-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks I have been trying to video tape Harper's new word. She has been saying Mama and Dada for a while but I think it's so cute when she says her new word.

So drum roll.....
What is her new word!!

DOG..

Of course it is ! Emma and Riley inspire her.. She watches them out the playroom window and points and says DOG all day. She loves the dogs so it's only fitting that Dog is her new word. So here is an attempt to get a video , listen hard to the last word she says..

Kymber's a Diva

2011-03-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today was Kymber's first birthday party! I can't believe Kymber is already ONE.. Kymber's mom works with me and I remember being pregnant at the same time and sharing all the pregnancy details with each other. I remember when Kymber was born and when she came to my shower for Harper and was only 3 weeks old. We started having playdates when harper was only 4 weeks old. I think over time Kymber and Harper are going to grow to be good friends. From diaper rash to first teeth I can't believe how big she is getting. So today was our first birthday party to go to for Harper . Im sure one of many as she grows up and makes lots of friends. It was fun and I can't believe in 2 months or so, we will be having our first birthday too. We had a great time and Harper slept the whole way home!! She was obsessed with Kymber's Trike and so I think we might now know what to get Harper for her first birthday.. So here are a few pictures from the day!

Kelly and Blaine!

Harper hanging out with her daddy!

The Dive cupcakes!

The birthday girl!!

Harper on the TRIKE!!

Diva party gone wild!!

And to end the day I gave harper her first taste of cupcake! She loved it... I wanted her to be prepared for her party and I think she will be totally ready for it.. She kept asking for more...

9 Month Photo Shoot

2011-03-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

We just received our 9 month pictures back, and I love them all as always. I tried to post the link to the slide show a million times but having some technical difficulties. So at least here are a few to peek at.. Hopefully soon I can get the slide show up.. Enjoy.. Have I said lately how much we love this little girl.. And I love all of her silly faces!!

Case of the Mondays...

2011-03-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

It is Monday and it has been an interesting day to say the least. We got up this morning and got ready. Deanna and Kymber came over and we went downtown to go the new baby store in town. We very quickly discovered it was closed on Mondays but not before we unloaded two babies and all the stuff that goes with that. So then we loaded back up and headed to Kid to Kid . Found a few things , nothing impressive except a really cute hair clip for Harper to wear for Easter. We then proceeded to eat at Chiloso for lunch and Brad met us and we consumed way to much food. Harper was really lethargic all day . Sleeping in Brads arms at lunch and I kept saying " Do you think she is okay". Its just unlike Harper to nap that good. I told Brad she has been really clingy too. So then after lunch we headed to Cosco. I had been wanting a membership for a while and Deanna needed to buy stuff for Kymbers birthday Saturday. So we went and signed up for memberships and started shopping. Harper was clingy and fell asleep in my arms again and I started to get really worried. By the end of the shopping trip I was so concerned I called the Pediatrician and made an appointment. I told Deanna I thought she was running a fever. And as soon as I got home I checked it , and it was 102 . I completely lost it.... First baby and first illness! I called Brad hysterical and he came home and took us to the doctor. So long story short , her throat was really red, so they ran a strep test and POSITIVE.. I was devastated. I try so hard to keep her well, and I know its going to happen, but I just felt like a terrible mother to not take her in sooner. Its hard because you keep thinking its the teething or something they ate. So now we are on 10days of antibiotics and taking lots of Tylenol to keep the fever down. I pray Harper feels better soon because we hate seeing her sick. Breaks our HEARTS.

St. Patty's Day

2011-03-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

It's Harper's first St. Patty's Day!! Although we will not be having a party or drinking green beer. We dressed up for the occasion and we maybe having some GREEN beans for dinner!! HAHA... Wow!!! How your life changes. Hope everyone had a great St. Patty's Day.

Bubbles

2011-03-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

For the longest time Harper has been scared of the bubble machine I bought for her ! Tonight I filled the bath tub up with bubble bath and turned on the bubble machine and she seemed to like it better. Just thought I would post a few fun pictures before bed...

My little bubble head...

She was hard to get a picture of , she was moving so much...

Working on Walking...

2011-03-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

We came home yesterday from the photo shoot with Erica and we were playing in the playroom. Brad and I were being silly with Harper and Mimi was watching and all of a sudden Harper walked to Brad. It was awesome. She is still really cautious and prefers to hold on to things but we are one step closer to being a walker. Here is a video we shot yesterday of Harper taking steps. ENJOY.

Sunday with Family

2011-03-13T10:12:00.001-07:00

It is Sunday afternoon and I am blessed to be off today. We got up early with the time change and got ready for church. Harper looked adorable today all dressed up for Jesus. We met Cici at church and all sat together. Harper took her little nap during the service as usual except today she woke up before it was over and decided to talk to the congregation. Good thing it was the end or I would have had to leave. It was really funny, it was hard not to laugh. Then we went to lunch after which was nice. Harper is finally eating some things, I guess she just doesn't care for the baby food. She loves baked potato soup so we got her some. Now we are doing some stuff around the house and getting ready for your photo shoot with Erica this afternoon. Mimi is putting up a bird feeder outside your playroom window today so you can watch the birds. I love these days off with the whole family , I wish I had every Sunday off. So here are a few pictures of Harper in her adorable outfit. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will have some 9 month photography pictures to post soon. Hope everyone has a good week !

MiMi and Harper before church.

First Steps

2011-03-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today was a big day for us at the Warren's household. Brad and I were in the playroom with Harper and we were looking at some mail when Harper started acting like she wanted the paper. All of a sudden she took 2 or 3 steps right at us. We both stopped talking and looked at each other in awe. It was an awesome moment and to be able to see it together was such a blessing. She has done it a few times since but never more than just 2 or 3 steps , so we will keep you posted on when we are officially walking. I'm assuming it will not be long. Here is a little clip of her trying to walk. We were not able to get her to do it again on camera , but this is close. We are so excited but also a little sad our baby is growing up so fast.

My little BUG..

2011-03-04T11:41:00.001-08:00

At little gym Harper is considered a BUG . But we are considering moving her up a class because she is by far the most active in her class. I feel like now I spend more time chasing her and keeping her off the other children than participating. Most of the children in her class are only sitting and the instructor will say " gaze into your babies eyes " and while everyone else gazes Im wrestling Harper down to look at her face.. HAHA... So I do believe next week we will be moving up to becoming a BIRD. So here are just a few fun pictures from Harper's Bug class this week.

Catching bubbles.

Harper loves these balls. As you can see , she thinks all of them are hers..

Sunday Funday!

2011-02-28T09:42:00.001-08:00

We have had a quick weekend and even though it didn't go as planned we still had a great time together. I worked on Thursday so I was off on Sunday which is always a blessing. Especially since Brad is leaving this week for work again. We had big plans to meet the Norton's and McNulty's at the zoo after church and hang out. The weather did not cooperate.It was drizzling and so windy we decided to hang out back and Kristen's and Bobby's. So the girls played in the floor while we all chatted and spent sometime together. Aubrey is getting so big and is so happy and adorable it was so good to see her . And I think Harper and Aubrey played well !! I know they will make good friends as they get older! Here are a few Sunday pictures of the girls playing.

Proud Daddy's

Playing with cups.

Precious Aubrey!!

Mommy's Girl

Also we had some drama when we got home Sunday ! Brad was working in the yard and he came running in the house and said there was a tiny bunny by the garage. So when we went out there he looked abandoned so I ended up rescuing it and researching what to do . So long story short Brad went back to the yard and discovered 2 other tiny bunnies so I'm guessing the nest is close so we re-released the baby bunny and they were gone this morning. Baby bunnies have to be the cutest little things ever , except for Harper of course. So here is a picture of our little new friend. I hope and pray they are doing great.

Isn't it the cutest bunny EVER....
Hope everyone has a good week !!

9 months Old

2011-02-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

Nine months Old..

A list of 9 of my favorite things about you!

1. YOUR SMILE!! It is so adorable it makes my day ! I love your two tiny little bottom teeth.

2. YOUR INDEPENDENCE! You are so brave and so smart. I love watching you explore the room . You are so close to walking!

3. YOUR EYES! They started out so blue but they are now just like your daddy's. Still a little blue but really more green now.

4. YOUR LAUGH! Your little giggle is so cute that everyone in the room starts to laugh. I can never get enough of your laughs..

5. YOUR FEET! I love your cubby little feet. I still have trouble getting shoes on your fat little feet. And even when I do , you pull them off and we tend to loose them anyways.

6. YOUR PERSONALITY! You are happy and funny , but also really strong headed. You let us know when you do not agree with us.

7. YOUR LOVE FOR THE DOGS! You think everything they do is so funny. You stand at the baby gate and try to touch them when they walk by. And when you actually touch them you crack up. And now your new trick is feeding them from your high chair. They love your gerber graduate puffs.

8. YOUR CUDDLES! I love that at night when you fall asleep in my arms you will let me snuggle you. Your so busy now during the day I miss your snuggles so when you let me cuddle you at night I LOVE IT.

9. YOUR LITTLE HANDS! I love how now you like to share with everyone. I hope you grow up to be giving like you are now. You love to hold our hands or reach out for us and they are so small and chubby.

I think I could go on forever because everything about you is wonderful.

So much is changing so fast with you Harper. You are getting so big and moving so much these days. You are going to the doctor for your nine month check up on Monday so we will soon have an updated weight and stats but I think you are around 17 lbs now. Your wearing 6 months clothes or 6-9 sometimes. You wear a size 3 shoe but only because your feet are so fat , I can't get 2's over your foot. You are just about ready to be in a size 3 diaper , so we are using up the last of the 2's. You are sleeping really good . I give you a bath about 7 and we start putting you to bed at 7:30 and usually your in bed about 8. You have been sleeping 10-11 hours. Usually you are up about 6:45-7:30. I know you feel so much better sleeping all night now and it's a huge step for you. We still have trouble getting you to nap , but it is getting better. The car seat is so much better , you love your DVD player and we can actually travel without you screaming in the back. You are still a picky eater but I continue to try every day and it is slowly improving. You still LOVE prunes and squash, but really hate peas and green beans. You would just rather have breastmilk. You are such a busy body, the last two weeks you have been standing without holding on to anything but you haven't taken a step yet on your own. I can tell you are so close , I wonder all the time when you will officially be walking. You and I have been going to little gym classes and you are the most active in your group. I told your daddy I think you are ready to move up a class because I spend more time chasing you than participating.:) You have the longest eye lashes, they are gorgeous and curl on the end because they are so long. You are talking so much these days. You look at me and babble like you know exactly what you are saying. It's the cutest thing I have ever seen. Erica is coming back soon to take your 9 month pictures and I'm excited once again. I think our house is full of beautiful pictures and we will only continue to have more .Bath time is so fun, I got you a mat for the bottom of the bathtub so you don't slip. So now I just fill the tub up with about 2 inches of water and let you play with all your toys like a big girl. I have to watch your every move but I think it works the best so we will stick with it. You still love BLUE'S CLUE'S. I think it's going to be your favorite. Maybe you love Blue because you are an animal lover like your mommy. Sometimes I wonder who you will be more like when you are older, Me or Daddy. I see both right now, strong headed like your mother and sweet like your daddy. You continue to be the best thing in our lives every day and 9 months really feel's like you have been a part of us forever. We love you so much Harper and can't wait to see what this month has in store for our family.

Once again here are a few silly 9 month pictures to see how you have grown.

A Gift from God!

2011-02-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD! (Psalms 113:9)

When your expecting a new baby you imagine how much you will love your child. There are no words to describe how much your life will change when they are born. Looking back now I had no idea how special she would be to us. I feel so blessed everyday to have Harper in our lives and thought I would just share some new pictures of our growing little girl. GOD IS GOOD!

I love this video , I bought Harper this new microphone toy and she loves it. I showed her the other day how to sing into the microphone part. The next day I saw her doing exactly what I had shown her. It was adorable. She might be our little rockstar!