5 Months Old!

So, pretty sure this weekend is going to be forever marked as a GOOD one ;)....

On Friday, Pete and I signed over the next 30 years ;), as we bought a house!  We were thrilled that things went well and made a morning of it... spending time together, signing the papers, and beginning the cleaning, repairing, organizing, and painting that will be our life for the next 6 weeks!

The day was wonderful until I found it very strange the way Pete was going to lunch ;)...

Little did I know, we were headed to the small airport here in town and the BEST surprise was waiting there for me!!!

Nana came!!!!!!  

It had been EXACTLY two months since I had seen my mom :(, and Harper and I were MISSING her!!  Never even saw it coming, but seeing her leaning up against her suitcase at the airport pretty much topped buying our first house :).  

It was so great to spend such an exciting time in Pete and I's lives with my mom- she is an amazing mother and Nana.... she made an impact these past couple days- I love her so much....

Harper spent lots and LOTS of time talking... pretty sure Harper was catching Nana up on all the past 2 months entailed!

...and of COURSE Nana had to introduce Harper to a new toy

Oh YES, the i-phone has entered the building- hehe!  She loved it: it lights up, makes noise, and TASTES great and I'm pretty sure she asked for one for Christmas ;)

Happy Grandparents Day to ALL the Grandparents especially to some very special grandparents in our lives:

Gramma Fitzgibbons

Grandma O'Connell

Grandma and Grandpa Lee

Grandma and Grandpa Wilson

Tom & Darla

Mark & Kathy

We love you ALLLLLL so very much and don't know where we would be without you in our lives.... thank you for all you do for our little family- we love you!

Harper sound asleep in her new room ;)... temporary of course, but she was so sweet- sound asleep while I cleaned the house around her!

Another cute school moment!  She was way to busy talking to eat... ha!  

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend....

For us it has been one of excitement and love, but it did not take away from the significance of this day...

I cannot believe it has been 10 years since the tragedy of 9/11.  I am sure, like you all, you took a moment today to remember where you were when the news came to you of the horrific events of this day and to take a moment to remember the lives lost.  My thoughts and prayers are with the millions of families effected by the events of September 11th.....

Not-so-Fun Firsts...

It has been a couple weeks since my last post, the Lees have had an interesting time....

We had out first stomach/diarrhea virus with the baby girl and it was not so fun :(!!  We knew she was doomed when her classmates started dropping like flies- yuck!!!

Our little peanut struggled for a good 2 weeks to fight it off... between the fever, throwing up, diarrhea, then constipation from the medicine, no appetite, and crazy sleep schedule Harper was just not having the best of days....

Daddy & Harper just moments before the throwing up began :(....

Daddy made the scary ER ok :)

After not eating and no wet diapers for close to 8 hours, mixed with vomiting 6 times we decided it was time for the ER....  they were so wonderful and sent us home on a Pedilyte Diet for dehydration and stomach medicine

PS: the ER on a Sunday night... not ok- holy moly there were some characters there- my heart goes out to the AMAZING ER staff on a weekend!!!!

Harper and I enjoyed lots of quiet time together watching our favorite show, Bubble Guppies :)

...she managed to give the virus to Pete and I, so we were all a little under the weather... think we were singing Bubble Guppies songs in our sleep!!! :)

Daddy DEFINITELY came to the rescue!  He stayed home from work 3 whole days to nurture our little munchkin back to health!!!  They are SO sweet together... as she started to snap out of it she would squeal in delight just looking at Daddy... she thinks he's silly (or just silly lookin')- just kidding.... I'm just jealous- that baby sure does love her Daddy :)

Thank you Pete for being truly amazing..... You are a wonderful Daddy- Harper's got it made!!!

With the "hardness" down below we tried prunes to loosen things up.... she liked it although we could hardly bear the way it looked or the smell- ewies!!!

Harper did her part to help support a local family :).... sweet baby

We hope you all are doing well!!  We have personally enjoyed the "cold front" that has come through this weekend.... so beautiful- we were actually able to enjoy some time OUTDOORS on the deck with friends- amazing!!!!

We love you all and hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend :)

An update from Harper...

Our little one seems to be CONSTANTLY changing... don't know if I will ever feel like she's not, but here are some of her "newbies" - straight from Harper's mouth;):

1) Cereal is fun.... playing with the spoon is even MORE fun- the messier the better!

2) ALLLL toys must go to my mouth! No matter if it gags me and I puke or not... I MUST taste it NOW!

3) Lounging is a thing of the past... there's a whole world out there when you sit up! Now if only I can keep myself sitting... I keep tipping!!!

4) Church is NOT a time to be quiet... everyone else is singing- why can't I?! Mom keeps patting me and trying to give me that silly pacifier, but that's for NAPS... don't shhh me- I have a pretty singing voice

5) I never EVER want you to take me away from my bath.... I LOVE playing with Daddy and splashing around- why must you take me out and make me cold?! I will protest- EVERY night- more bathtime! Daddy says I have a meltdown, but can't he understand.... I want more bath fun :)

6) I LOVE to talk... I love to make friends... no big deal if it makes me throw up- just wipe me and let me continue with my conversation- AGAIN... no need for that pacifier

Love, Harper

Kramer is in the building.....

...no matter how much I brush and wet down, the curls prevail- maybe there will be hope when it's longer?!

She is sitting up so well!!! Ya, Daddy is helping a little but we ARE having less face plants and tips these days!

Sweet girl.... just wants someone to talk to her!

Oh yes, it doesn't matter that she gave that thumb a blister... we're just going to keep on sucking it!

Sleepy girl... her swing looks a little crowded with blankie and Dottie, but that's naptime around here ;)

Ha... almost all the pictures are from the same day... oops, I guess things were busy this week :(

We've had a nice week! We look forward to closing on our new house in a few weeks, but until then things have been kind of slow moving... just enjoying the "calm before the storm" as a family ;)

Have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!

School Days!!

Back in July I was nothing short of a basket-case, as I readied myself for taking Harper to school. The thought of someone else taking care of my baby girl just worried me, but I knew that having her in the same building as I was the best thing I could ask for....

....but I never expected for Harper to have such wonderful teachers :).

These are a few of the pictures Harper's teachers have taken of her in the past 6 weeks. She sent these to me and I just has to share- thank you Deena!!!!

"Baby Spice"

she got such a great picture of Harper's pigtail cuteness!!

...oh yes, that Bumbo sitting is TIRING!!

That's more like it ;).... I love how she sleeps this way- totally relaxed!

so serious....

there we go... sharing some smiles!!!

Again, THANK YOU Deena for the fantastic pictures!!! I love them and LOVE you guys for taking such great care of my baby girl.... can't thank you enough :)!!!!!

16 Weeks Old!!!

Our baby girl is 16 weeks old!!!

Harper is becoming a little girl right before our very eyes ;).

She had her 4-month Dr. Appointment this past week and the doctor seems to think everything is going well. I think Harper was a little confused after chatting it up with the doctor and nurses why they would ever want to stick her with a few needles ;(. Bless her heart, she did well through the appointment- shots and all!!!

She DEFINITELY is a happy girl!! "Talking" up a storm, all she wants is someone to sit and talk with her... hehe!

We also started rice cereal this week!! This was her very first feeding- she wolfed it!!!!

She was sucking it off the spoon....

...but wasn't so happy between bites- doesn't quite understand the whole "bite" thing- not continuous like a bottle ;)

and Dottie is STILL a part of a every nap.... for the first time today, she teared up when I had to take Dottie away to readjust her in her swing- my goodness, I see a lot of Dottie love for months or years to come!

It was a busy but fun week! We are LOVING this "Fallish" weather- I mean 70-80 degree days. It is wonderful and we were ACTUALLY able to break out the stroller again- Harper was a happy camper!!!

I wish you all a great week.....

....until next time ;)

Change is upon us...

My GOODNESS it has been a scorcher here!!!! Every day last week it was always over 107 degrees- pretty sure we were melting and our poor air conditioner has been working over time!!! Because of the beautiful yet HOT Arkansas summer, Harper prefers to be naked ALL the time.... either that, or just a shirt and diaper. Ya, she may not have a cute lil outfit on with bows and stuff but you know... at least she's comfy ;)

She's still snuggling with me ;)... I just love it!

Her hair has a mind of its own! I brought her to school and it was CRAZY... Einstein was in the building ;)....

so, her teachers took matters into their own hands....

Einstein came to school, but Baby Spice left the building ;)! I loved her little hair up in pig tails- so cute! THANK YOU, GIRLS!!!!

ps.... as my mom pointed out, yes- one of Harper's friends is exploring the rocking-chair with his mouth- LOVELY ;)

The biggest smiles, most laughing, and happiest baby EVER come from bath time... this little one loves every second of her bath.... but I'm pretty sure we're going to have to take the party to her actual BATH TUB as our poor kitchen floor is SOAKED every night from the puddles, I mean lake, that Harper creates from all her splashing!

And our big news is that our offer was accepted on a house!! We have done a lot of soul searching these past few months and felt this step would be a good one and feel so blessed that we found something suitable for our little family ;). We have a few weeks before we close and it is ACTUALLY ours, but we have high hopes that things will go well in the next couple weeks and I'll have a new place to organize and actually call OUR OWN!

In Arkansas, this is the LAST week of summer before the school year begins again!! If it is the same for you, I wish you all the very best as you head back to school!!!!

Got to Love Family....

Have you ever had one of those days where it turned out to be something TOTALLY different then you thought?

This is a little bit of a different take on a blog post.... but I just had to share a collection of moments from this weekend....

Since Harper has been born, of course Pete and I's simple little life has changed. Of COURSE most of it has been for the better, but its amazing how a little baby can make our lives SO SO busy. Pete and I have become a wonderful team, although we have DEFINITELY had our struggles and frustrating moments, we always manage to rally for that little girl....

...and get things done.

This past weekend was going to be nothing short of that- we had a jam-packed weekend of getting things done and places to go...

So, Friday comes and plans start to change, prior arrangements cancelled, plans delayed, and slowly a to-do list of chores takes its place (ya... I'm OCD- I hate to admit I AM a 'Saturday To-Do List' type of girl ;)) and although it annoys him, Pete is pretty good to me when he asks, "Whatcha need?" ;)

Well... I have NO idea what came over me, but it was truly a gift from God when it hit me that even though I was bummed plans had changed and canceled, it freed up our entire weekend, and what the heck.... we should spend it as a family!

...we did just that- from Friday evening until bedtime on Sunday night, we did nothing but play, laugh, and hang out as a family- with a few chores here and there we were able to try out some new restaurants, actually WATCH a movie together, and spend hours just playing with our baby girl. I know I didn't get my "list" completed, but I never realized what all I was missing lost in chores and plans....

The only reason I write this is to encourage each of you to take time to slow down every once in awhile and just enjoy your family and yourself. You'll NOT regret it- I promise. I am a crazy 'do-er' as my husband calls me, but I have to say.... as cliche and dorky as it sounds (Dad, I know you'd be proud;)- spending quiet moments enjoying family is something not worth pushing off...

...so take time for it. I know we each have a handful of struggles and frustrations and ugh, it's hard to take a step back and relax- but try....

...I promise it'll be worth it ;)

Love y'all!!! Have a great week and ENJOY!!!!