Harper... we're home, baby girl!!

On October 15 we brought our baby home to her first OFFICIAL home :)!!  With the help of 6 of our closest friends me pretty smoothly moved all of our things to our new address...

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!!

Here are a few pictures of our new home.... it is work in progress, but we just feel great after 6 WEEKS of painting, cleaning, and chaos... to be here!

Our Living Room

The "Kid Bathroom"

... minus the kids- but ONE day we'll have those cute tub pictures of little ones- ha!

Nook

Guest Bedroom

Harper's Nursery

Kitchen

Living Room

(another view but I HAD to show your beautiful paintings, Abby- love them always!:))

Pete & I's Room

Office/ Emma & Olivia's Room

Dining Room/Play Room

...ya, not much fine dining here.... but I see LOTS of Harper messes for now ;)

As with any new homeowner, there WILL be minor hiccups here and there and YES we have hit our first one!  I cleaned out the jets of our Jacuzzi tub with bleach solution like we were instructed.  After I finished and was cleaning up I did notice a quarter-size pool of water where the marble hits the tile, but didn't think much of it, until....

...Pete comes home from work and literally squishes his way through our bedroom to the bathroom- uh oh!

...we had a small leak that turned into a flooded bedroom :(  Luckily we were able to save the carpeting (Thank GOD!!!!!!!), but our friends at Mr. Rooter ;) paid us a visit to fix our issue!

Pete and I feel so blessed to FINALLY be settled in our home, but we know we couldn't have done it without all of you: thank you ALL for your kind advice, encouragement, homeowner wisdom, manual labor and sweat, and long hours of listening to us figure out this HUGE commitment.... we could NEVER have made such a "big kid decision" without you ;)

Celebrating with Pumpkins!

6 Months Old!!

I cannot believe my baby is already 6 months old!  I still remember so vividly holding her tiny self next to me in the hospital and now she's sitting, talking, playing, and busy busy!!!

Daddy surprised us with Krispy Kremes and a couple new toys for Harper in the morning and then we decided to take a break from the moving/painting for a day to spend it together.... it was JUST what we all needed!!

Friends of ours invited us to the pumpkin patch.  I had wonderful thoughts of sitting Harper amidst pumpkins still on their vines, and maybe a family pic or 2, but this little sweetheart had better ideas....

through the corn maze and pumpkin pickin' she was OUT!  75 degrees, slight breeze, and a stroller ride make for GREAT nap time! 

She showed us her cute little peepers right as we were leaving, so we did our best to get a couple pics with her buddy, Ty!

Daddy and Harper wore themselves out during our

'Family Day of Fun'.... pretty much loved seeing them both out cold together- so cute!

And this is a picture from Pete and I's FIRST date night since welcoming Harper!  It happened just before Harper turned 6 months old.... holy cow, it was long over due.... but how did we spend it???

- shopping for Harper

- getting a couple Christmas gifts for Harper

- talking about how much our lives have changed since having her

- then finally deciding.... ya, it was time to head home and see her (2 hours before we were suppose to be home- ha!)

.....what can we say.... pretty sure it will be BABY steps to having 'Mommy and Daddy Nights Out' ;)

These past 6 months have been the most challenging, exciting, sleepless, loving, and amazing times of our life.  Not a day goes by that we don't just watch in awe at our little one and thank God for the blessing she has been in our lives... thank you all for helping us through the learning and crazy that is parenthood- we love you all!!!

Lovin' School

Harper loves her time at school with her friends!  Her teachers are wonderful- love you guys!  I am always receiving pictures of her throughout the day and love knowing she's in good hands when I can't be with her :)!

Oh I got a good laugh from this picture!  All 19 pounds of Harper hanging off of tiny Ms. Deena.  Harper LOVED it, but pretty sure Ms. Deena's back was bothering her afterwards ;).

We even got this sweet little 'Congratulations on your new home' card the day we purchased the home!

I still can't believe I was even a little worried about Harper being in day care.  Pine Crest has been such a blessing to us when Pete and I can't be with our little one.... thank you everyone for all you have done for us!

Our Always Growing Baby Girl!!!

 I wanted to share a few pictures from our always growing baby girl.....

Nana made these adorable costumes for Harper and her friend, Seth.  The babies are going to be Pebbles and Bam Bam this Halloween... we just couldn't help ourselves and had to try them n the babies ;).  Thank you, Nana!!!!

Baby girl has been sick again this month :(.  Nasty cold that turned into a sinus infection that turned into an ear infection... we found out she has a couple allergies though that resulted in hives which were not fun either!  Harper went through the ringer, but it gave me even more of an excuse to cuddle up next to her on the couch while she napped.... love her!

Just talking up a storm!

Oh I have found a few Penguinette Christmas gifts this year ;).... this one I just HAD to try on a little early- hehe!

LOVING her jumper!!  Her little legs aren't quite long enough, so a pillow has been a helpful addition (hehe), but she loves it!

What a month!!!

I cannot believe it has been just about a solid MONTH since I have posted :(....

Things have been sightly crazy around here as we get our new house ready for Move-In Day next week:).  The past 5 weekends have been spent elbow deep in paint, weeds, blue tape, and cleaning supplies as we attempt to make our new home fit for a queen (or Harper ;)).

Oh the many loads of what seems like meaningless items over to the house.... who knew just 2 1/2 people could accumulate such random things ;)

The best part about this whole experience has been the LEARNING to be grown ups/homeowners that has happened the past few weeks.  In no particular order of severity or one's fault here are a few of the slight mishaps:

1) Paint.... so there was this deal at Lowes that we just COULDN'T pass up on paint.  Silly thing was we hadn't received the keys to the house yet so we just used out best judgement to decide the tones of our home.... oh goodness- we needed better judgement :(

- our bedroom is a bright shade of baby blue- fit for a preschool (the swatch said 'illusion'...like illusion between grey and blue....oh goodness!!)  Too bad we didn't figure this out until our room and bath were complete ;)

- the other walls of our home turned out to have an effervescent look to them- resembling a purple high lighter- ha!  Thankfully the WONDERFUL (and somewhat more paint smart) helped us get the correct shade which was a saving grace.... didn't know if I could manage living in 15 gallons of highlighter ;)

2) Locks.... they're for keeping the bad guys out, keeping your children inside, and oh yes.... keeping Pete and Amy from ENTERING their home!

We had not set up our garage door openers (yep.... should have done that), but one day I decided to head over and surprise my husband by putting up/cleaning up from all the prep from the weekend.... only to find that he had enabled ALL of the child-proof locks (they look like the locks you see in hotels, horseshoe thing up high on the door) before hopping over the laser in our garage, letting the garage door close.... what does this equal????  A locked our situation!!

Oh yes, it's time to break in ;). 

One more trip to Lowes and a bolt cutter later I was in- those things are FUN, but this certainly cinched it for me- I want a security system ;)

3) Clearing and weeding the flower beds was a job I had been looking forward to since we bought the house!  I love jobs like that where there is immediate gratification ;).  My excited self went (oh yes) to Lowes again for mulch, a real shovel, and a medal rake.  I unloaded it all, and dug in!  I didn't mind the fact that I was tearing up my arms- should have worn sleeves, but without thinking, I turned around with a handful of brush and stepped so perfectly right on the shovel, sending the handle sailing to my forehead.  I seriously thought I knocked myself out.  Totally embarrassed I stumbled inside to share my oh-so-proud news with Pete, to which he came out to show me proper rake etiquette to prevent further head trauma, but seriously... I had a bump and a hard time touching my head for a week.... OUCH!

We have realized that the productivity of house duty is somewhat less with Ms. Harper Grace.  So, one day each weekend our WONDERFUL friend Kassi has taken wonderful care of our little peanut while we work.  THANK YOU MS. KASSI.... you have been a saving grace.... don't know what we would do without you!!!!!

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 :)