Chatter

I have been wanting to share a quote from a little plaque in Harper's room that Blair got me when she was born.

"Just when you think you know love, something little comes along to remind you just how big it really is."

I love that quote.  It is so true.  I have only had Harper for a short 3 and 1/2 months, but I cannot imagine my life without her.  There is just no greater love.

I love my husband too:)  On Tuesday night we had our second date night since Harper has been born.  We went to see "Just Go With It."  It was the perfect date movie.  It was so funny and I loved Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler together.  It was a Tuesday night and Kyle and I were both so tired, but it was still really nice to spend some time alone.  We had dinner and a delicious $5 chocolate milkshake at the Alamo:) 

I have been trying to catch some good pictures of Harper smiling lately.  She smiles a lot, I promise, just rarely for the camera.  Here are a few of my attempts from yesterday.

Her lean to her left cracks me up!  She has really started talking a lot more, and laughing!  Her laugh is the sweetest sound! 

A not so sweet sound that we have been experiencing too much of lately is nighttime crying.  Since our trip to Nashville, Harper has been waking up so frequently throughout the night.  Last night she only woke up three times, so hopefully she is readjusting.  I have to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and I know it is so hard for Kyle to be home alone with her when she is waking up so much.  Pray that our sweet girl starts getting some good rest so we can too!

I am having a lazy laundry day today.  If it's not laundry, I'm not doing it:)  I already have dinner in the crockpot.  I love days when I am motivated enough to start dinner early.  It makes our nighttime routine so much more enjoyable for me.  I'm making chicken tortilla soup.  It was super easy, so I'm hoping it's super delicious!

Well, the Baby Einstein video just ended, so I guess that's all for now:)

Family, Friends and Flights

Harper had so many "firsts" this past weekend.  She had her first flight, she met her cousins, maternal great-grandparents, maternal great-great aunt and uncle and paternal great-aunt and great-uncle for this first time and she attended her first baby shower:)

One of my oldest and dearest friends Sarah called a while ago and said her sister and friend had invited me to one of her baby showers, but she knew I wouldn't be able to come.  I started thinking that I would really like to be there and what a great excuse it would be to go to Nashville so Harper could meet more of my family and they could see her before she gets too grown up.  I also have a nephew who is 8 and 1/2 months old.  I had not seen him since he was about 8 and 1/2 weeks old, so I was dying to get up there and see him before he got too grown up! 

Crawling all over the place!  Isn't he handsome?!?

Blair, Harper and I headed out early Thursday morning.  What a blessing it has been to have my sister around and especially while travelling!  I don't know how you do it by yourself.  Airport security is no fun with a baby, but luckily we got through with only one bag search:)  Harper did so well on the flight.  She hardly cried and even napped for a little while.

When we got into town we headed over to my Grandmother and Granddaddy's house.  My Grandmother stayed with my brothers and sister when Harper was born so my Mom could come stay with me.  Thanks Grandmother! 

My Grandmother just had surgery on her rotator cuff and has to wear a sling, but she still got to "hold" Harper quite a bit. 
After we hung out with my Grandmother and Granddaddy for a while, Blair and I took our niece Mia to the mall.  It was nice to have her all to ourselves for the afternoon.  Blair asked her what kind of car she wanted when she turned sixteen and she said "a mini-van just like Grandma's."  She cracks me up!  She loved Harper and kept calling her "tiny."  On our last morning in Nashville, she told me she didn't want Harper to leave.  How sweet! 

Blair and Mia

Of course, for dinner we had to go to Las Palmas.  We met Adam, Lisa, Ashton, Matt and my Grandparents there and stuffed our faces. 

Harper with my Grandparents

Blair and sweet Matt

On Friday, I met up with my friend Grace and her new daughter Hannah for lunch.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but it was so great to see both of them.  Hannah was so good during lunch and I know Grace just loves being her Mom:)

After lunch my Mamaw came over.  She brought snow mounds!  She knows how much I love them:)  It was so nice to spend time with her.  Lisa took the day whole day off too!

Harper cuddled for a while with her Uncle Adam on Saturday morning.  She loves him!  She also loves her thumb!!!



We had a delicious pancake breakfast with the fam (Thanks Lisa!), then we headed over to Sarah's shower.  She didn't know we were coming and it was so much fun to surprise her!  The shower was so nice and Sarah got a lot of great gifts.  After the shower, we went over to Sarah's house to see the nursery.  I wish I would have taken some pictures of it.  It's so sweet!  Whenever we see girly nurseries, I always tell Harper not be jealous, since hers is "gender neutral." ;)  Everything and everyone (including Sarah:)) is ready and waiting for Baby McCollum's arrival!  I can't wait to meet her! 

The guest of honor with Harper

Blair and her BFF:)

The Hunter's Branch Girls (+ 1 and 1/2)!

Harper and her BFF:)

On Saturday night we had a "girls night out."  We took Mia and Ashton and met up with Erin for dinner (at Las Palmas, of course:)).

Me with my girls:)

Snoozin'

Since Harper stayed asleep after we got home, I was able to get in some good cuddle time in with Matt.

I spent Sunday morning getting ready for Harper's three month pictures.  Adam and Lisa's photographer took them.  She is amazing and so sweet!  I can't wait to see them and share them!  After pictures, my Grandparents, Great-Aunt Bess and Great-Uncle Don came over.  I didn't take any pictures:(  We visited with them for a while.  After they left the little ones played.  Sarah stopped by and then we had dinner with my Aunt Kyra, Uncle Greg and their three boys. 

Matt already likes to pick on Harper:)

Playing.  I love this picture!

Sleeping on Aunt Kyra

Snoozing with Uncle Greg

"The Pretty People"

I always love seeing my Aunt, Uncle and cousins, but they were all so tired, so the visit was short and sweet.  Good thing, because after they left I got sick with some kind of stomach bug.  It was a long miserable night:(  Being sick and taking care of a little baby has to be one of the worst things.  Again, thank goodness Blair was around.  She was up with Harper most of the night.

Monday morning was bittersweet.  I was so ready to see Kyle, but I always hate leaving my family.  We had to take one last picture with Aunt Lisa before we left. 

Harper did pretty well on the flight home.  She was so happy to see her Daddy and I know he was so so happy to see her when we got home!

Thanks to Adam and Lisa for their hospitality during our stay.  And thanks to everyone that came by to meet Harper!  Love you all!

Sleep and Snow!

Since Harper was born, I have been hoping she would learn to love sleep and lazy days as much as we do.  She has not been the best napper or sleeper in general, but I think she is finally getting there.  A few nights ago Harper woke me up at 4:30 after she had slept for a solid 9 hours!  The next night I woke up at 5:00 and she was still asleep.  I couldn't believe it!  She didn't wake up until 6:30 after sleeping for 11 straight hours!  Last night, she only made it 8 hours, but after she woke up at 4:00, she went back to sleep until 8:00.  She even fell asleep on her own while playing the other morning!  I never thought I would catch up on sleep, and I probably won't, but I am feeling so much more rested after the past few nights!

I mentioned in my last post that the weather last weekend so was perfect.  Well, this weekend has started off looking like this.

We have snow!!!

It has actually been pretty cold all week.  On Wednesday it was so cold that Austin was having "rolling blackouts" because our power plants couldn't supply all the energy that everyone was trying to use!  Luckily, our electricity was only out for about 15 minutes.  The people that Blair nannies for didn't have electricity all day!  She and Beau had to come over and cuddle up with Harper and me!

Unfortunately, we got ice with the snow.  The roads were pretty slick this morning, so Kyle gets to stay home from work all day!  I'm supposed to work for the next four nights, so what a blessing to have him home so I can get in a couple naps today!  I know the cold weather won't last long, so I'm trying to just enjoy it.  And by enjoy it I mean, staying in my warm house and drinking lots of hot chocolate:)

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the girls' trip to Austin!

Emily and Eleanor MADE the sweetest outfits for Harper!

This is the one Emily made.

How sweet are those bloomers?

This is the outfit Eleanor made.

Emily, Eleanor and Erin picked the perfect January weekend to come visit.  The weather was perfect.  It was in the 70s!  We had such a nice walk around Lady Bird Lake.  It is one of my favorite things about Austin, so I always like to take visitors there. 

Harper has decided she loves to suck her thumb!  She has never been a fan of a pacifier.  It has taken her a while to figure the finger thing out.  She's been working on it for a while:)  I think she finally has it!  I'm not looking forward to ridding her of the habit, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there:)

I was, again, so upset with myself for not getting a picture of the girls with Harper, so we took this one at the airport:)

Such a great weekend with such great friends!

Catching Up

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  Since my last post I have gone back to work, Kyle has started session, so his hours are longer and we celebrated Harper's three month birthday!  I cannot believe how much she has grown in the past three months.  In the past month she has become so much more social, she started rolling over (front-to-back) and now she hits and grabs toys.  I love watching her play!

I love her activity mat and I think she does too!

12 weeks old

Like I mentioned, I went back to work.  I have only been back for two shifts, but it has definitely thrown me for a loop.  Talk about sleep deprivation!  It's nice to be among adults for a little bit and it's also nice for Harper to have some Daddy time, but it's still hard to leave her for so long.

This past weekend a few of my best friends from college came to visit.  I loved having them here!  They were all so sweet with Harper and we had such a great time.  We ate out a few times, went on a stroll around Lady Bird Lake and went to the Alamo Drafthouse.  The Alamo Drafthouse was my favorite part.  It is a movie theater that serves drinks and dinner.  They also have several dessert options and we definitely indulged in a few:)  I can't believe I have lived her for five years and I had never been!  I didn't take many pictures.  I get so mad at myself about that and always swear I will do a better job!  Eleanor took quite a few with her fancy new camera, so I'll post some when she sends them my way. 

Oh, I almost forgot...last weekend we went to Houston for one night.  Kyle's Grandma June turned 85 and his Uncle Larry came into town from Reno to celebrate.  We also celebrated Uncle Larry's 60th birthday.  My mother-in-law put together a super nice luncheon at their country club for their birthdays.  It was great to visit with everyone!

With Grandma June

At the Luncheon

Kyle with Uncle Larry

We also took a trip by Kyle's brother Kevin's new car wash.  It has its grand opening tomorrow!  It is in a great location and it looks amazing!  Kyle and I are so proud of Kevin!

And one more picture.  Harper is becoming more interested in Moose.  She will watch him walk around the room and she doesn't mind when he gets right up in her face.  I have even seen her smile when he licks her! 

So sweet!



Bath Time

This is a picture from Harper's first bath.  She wasn't really sure how she felt about it:)

This one is from tonight.  She loves it:)

 Giving Harper a bath has become part of our bedtime routine and one of our favorite times of the day.  She is so good and sweet in the bath.  That is probably one reason why I love it.  Another reason is Johnson and Johnson's bedtime lotion:)