Hadleyisms

Since I know a lot of the posts coming up will be about Harper, I want to make sure I document some of the funny things Hadley is saying/doing right now, too. 

• When she reads her Bible – she sits and flips through the pages yelling saying “baby Jesus!! W’are youuuuuu????” (where are you) until she comes to the page with the picture of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• If she is eating something she particularly likes (which is a VERY rare find these days) she will get so excited about it, exclaiming “mmmmmmm!!!  Dis is dee-wish-us!!!” “Sooooo yummy!!”  {The strawberry ice cream cone above is a perfect example of this – that was her first time to ever have one and it happened to occur when Nana was on duty while we were in the hospital…shocker ;)}

• When I’m putting her down for nap or bedtime (which at the moment, it HAS to be me putting her down, or else we are dealing with MAJOR meltdowns because she has to share momma) – if she hears Harper cry while we’re up in her room reading she will interrupt the story to say “oooh no, bebe Harper cryin…need momma’s milk… prob-bee make her feel betta”

• She is great at counting and can go almost all the way to 20, but if you ask her to do it on command, or ask her how many of something there is, she almost always says “One, two… five!” 

• On a daily basis she will grab my phone and say “pay wif momma’s hone – tall nana” (play with momma’s phone – call nana) – and she has actually facetimed and called my mom on multiple occasions all on her own!

Harper is One Week

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Today is the day Harper was due to arrive and yet she’s already been here for 8 days!  How has it been a week (and a day) already?  It seems like an eternity and the blink of an eye at the same time.  In some ways I can’t remember Harper not being a part of our family, and yet just 8 short days ago we were just a family of three. 

I thought it would be fun to put Harper in the same outfit that Hadley wore when she turned one week. 

Some moments I think they look so much alike, and then other times I think they look completely different. 

Here’s what we’ve learned about Harper so far…

• She is a great eater – she latched on 5 minutes after having her in the delivery room and hasn’t looked back since!
• She had almost gained back the weight she lost in the hospital by her 2 day check up!
• She does not like to have a dirty diaper; unlike her sister who would happily keep playing (& really has never been bothered by them since day one)
• She is a squeaker -  one of her nicknames is goose because she can literally sound like a flock of geese sometimes when she gets going
• She has a much more delicate, dainty cry than her sister most of the time, but she can definitely let you know when she’s angry – which pretty much only happens during diaper changes
• She HATES cold wipes – we went 2 years without needing a wipes warmer for Hadley because they never really bothered her much, but I sent my mom out on day 2 to get one for Harper because she hates the cold that much
• Her hair is two different colors right now – she’s got blonde peach fuzz at the top and short brown hair on the back and sides; all in all though it’s much shorter and lighter than Hadley’s was at this point
• Her eyes are still that grey-blue newborn color; they look really bright some days so I’m wondering if she’ll be another blue-eyed baby.  My prediction was that she’d have brown eyes.
• And I’m not even going to act like I know anything about her sleep pattern now.  Big sister was so colicky, but it didn’t kick in til closer to a month, so I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Time will tell what kind of a sleeper Harper will be!

Today was also my first day flying solo with both girls.  Matt went back to work and my mom can’t come back up until Monday, so I get a little trial for two days until the weekend. 

Last night was a rough night with Hadley – I think it’s starting to sink in that she doesn’t have me all to herself anymore and we were dealing with some major temper tantrums so I’m praying today and tomorrow go a little smoother.  So far, I was able to get Hadley dropped off at school relatively on time – let’s just hope I can get back to pick her up without being too late!  It’s tricky timing newborn feedings with school pick-up & drop-off!

All in all, we’re feeling so blessed by our two precious girls!  Can’t wait to learn more about Harper and see what the next weeks bring us!  Happy one week sweet girl!

Sisters

Because Harper was born during the day, Hadley was able to come up to the hospital just hours after her little sister was born to meet her!  My mom and sister were home with Hadley and brought her to the hospital for an early dinner and birthday celebration for Harper. 

It was almost more than my heart could handle; seeing my little baby become a big sister and little girl in the blink of an eye.  Hadley did so well and was so gentle and loving with “bebe Harper.” (It’s never just Harper – always bebe Harper.) 

Harper got Hadley a gift (big and little sister dolls, a big sister book and an Elmo cookie), and we had a cookie cake to celebrate Harper’s birthday.  We sang happy birthday multiple times for bebe Harper. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the cookie cake was a hit ;)

It’s so bittersweet to see Hadley step into her role as big sister.  It’s hard to imagine that just two short years ago I was holding that sweet little swaddled bundle and learning my new role as mommy.  And then there she was, running around, eating cookie cake (or just licking all the icing), singing happy birthday to her new baby sister.  She is 4 times bigger than Harper and suddenly looks SO different to me.  She is gentle, concerned and loving with Harper, and although I anticipate we’ll have some behavior problems ahead as we all adjust to our new normal, I just know she is going to be the best big sister.  My hope and prayer is that the girls will grow up to be the best of friends (despite the fights and growing pains that I know are to come).

Harper’s Birth Story

First of all, thank you for all of the comments, tweets, texts and well wishes over the past week!  It’s hard to believe that we have already been a family of four for a week.  I guess I’d better get used to time flying by, though.  So before I forget it all, I wanted to document Harper’s birth story.  I thought I’d separate this post out from her announcement in case anyone wanted to just skip over the details… although there will be more pictures in this one.  Feel free to just skim the pictures if birth stories make you squeamish. ;) 

On Wednesday, February 6th, I woke up around 2:30am to go to the bathroom.  This was pretty par for the course at that point in my pregnancy; I think Harper was just camped out on my bladder.  When I laid back down, I had a contraction, but this was also nothing new as I’d been having them randomly for a week or so.  About 10 minutes later, I had another one, and given that my doctor had warned me at my 38 week appointment that labor would go quickly this time, I decided to stay awake to time them. 

After an hour or so of relatively easy contractions coming every 5-10 minutes apart, I decided to call the doctor and text my mom and dear friend Courtney. {Sidenote: Courtney is a college friend of mine who is more like an aunt to Hadley & Harper than just a friend – she volunteered to be the one to come stay with Hadley until my mom could get here whenever I went into labor.  And I kid you not, she responded within a minute of my texting her at 3:45am!  She is a true example of what friendship should look like.}

I woke Matt up and called the doctor and they said to go ahead and come to the hospital.  I showered and Matt loaded the car up while we waited for Courtney to get to the house.  We finally left for the hospital around 5am and I made Matt stop at the McDonald’s drive-through so I could get a bacon & cheese bagel and water for breakfast. (Totally unnecessary detail – yes, but I never said this would be short!)

We had to go to labor & delivery triage at the hospital since it was so early, but my doctor came down to check my progress and said I was around 3/4 cm and 50% effaced.  We had to be monitored for 20 minutes to track my contractions, and then they told me to go walk around the hospital for 20 minutes or so, and then come back.  After we got back, they put me back on the monitor to watch my contractions for another 30 minutes and then sent us to go walk again.  We got back from the second walk around 8:30a and they checked me again.  This time I was almost at 5cm but still 50% effaced.  We had to wait a little bit, but finally around 9:30a they came back to tell me I was going to be admitted and they were waiting on a room for me. 

We both breathed a sigh of relief to finally know that we weren’t going to leave the hospital without a baby; although my relief was also filled with anxiety about what was to come.  My contractions were still not unbearably painful and weren’t coming that much closer together, so I wasn’t sure when I should get the epidural.  I didn’t want to be a wimp and get it too early, but when my doctor came back to check me again after we were admitted it almost brought me to tears from the pain.  When she said at the next check she was also going to break my water I decided I wanted the epidural before that time came! 

The epidural hurt more than I remembered this time, but that’s probably because my labor wasn’t as painful as it was with Hadley,  By 10:30a the epidural was kicking in and I decided to try to take a nap.  My doctor came in to break my water around 11:30 and told me I was between 5 and 6cm and to rest for a bit.  They left and just said to call if I felt any pain or pressure.

Well, I didn’t get to rest much as around 12:25 I started feeling pressure like I needed to push.  I called the nurse and she came in, did a quick check and said “well, let’s do a practice push… you’re ready!”  I laughed, assuming she was joking, to which she replied that no, I was indeed ready to push.  After one practice push she told me to stop and called for the doctor.  I started pushing at 12:38 and Harper was born 8 minutes later at 12:46pm!  Much nicer than my hour and a half of pushing with Hadley. 

Letting the nurse know she was NOT happy about being away from momma.

Sleeping in daddy’s arms :) Much better than the giant pout Hadley gave…

Heading home with our newest little girl! Feeling so blessed.

One more post of when Hadley met Harper (also known as the moment Hadley became a little girl instead of my baby – cue the tears) coming soon.

Announcing…

Miss Harper Kate made her arrival into the world on Wednesday, February 6th at 12:46pm. 

8lbs 5oz and 20.25in

She is perfect in every way and we are feeling so blessed that God would entrust these two precious, sweet little girls to us!  More pictures and Harper’s birth story to come…

Me and My Girl

These pictures are extremely blown out and not processed well at all, but I still love them.  Hadley had a rare day of sleeping in yesterday and was generally in a good mood most of the day so we took advantage of it and had a fun girl’s day!  We spent a lot of time outside, did a little shopping and had a lunch date.  I’m not sure how many more days we’ll have just the two of us, so I wanted to be sure to capture this one!

Harper’s Room

This will likely be the last “decorating” post on here for awhile.  For some reason I just don’t foresee myself having a lot of time to work on the house with 2 little girls to keep alive love on all day! Hopefully, some day in the not so distant future, I’ll get back to it, but for now, I’ll leave you with Harper’s nursery!

I thought it might be fun to see quick before and after, too.  The before has the seller’s things (and is eventually probably similar to what this room will look like again, as it won’t stay Harper’s room once she and big sister are on similar schedules).  This is also the reason we didn’t paint in this room yet; I don’t know how long it will stay Harper’s room before it goes back to a guest room.  Hadley’s room has a jack & jill bath that connects it to another room, so long-term, the girls will both be upstairs, but for now, I am so thankful to have an extra bedroom downstairs to use as a nursery!

Here’s a source list for most of the things in the nursery…

• Crib: Delta Sedona Classic Crib – White (Babies R Us)
• Dresser: Hemnes dresser – white (Ikea)
• Glider: Little Castle Swivel Glider – Green (Target)
• Nightstand: Hemnes – white (Ikea)
• Rug: Mandara Hand-woven pink shag rug (Overstock.com)
• Curtains: blackout liners from Pottery Barn/ white drapes from Ikea
• Shelf: Hobby Lobby
• Bedding: Kumari Garden custom set by Etsy shop KozyKidzShop {sidenote: I cannot recommend Kathy ENOUGH! She was so great to work with!)
• Monogram above crib: Etsy shop ScrappinPlus (this is the 30” vine monogram and I painted it with craft paint from hobby lobby)
• Prints above dresser: Ordered from The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy on Etsy
• Shelf décor: Large framed print (this was a gift from one of my dear friends and college roommate, so I don’t know details but the print was bought on etsy); blue frame – Target; pink H – hobby lobby (again, painted with craft paint); green & pink birds – hobby lobby
• Lamp: Home Design on Amazon

A house update: paint!

I know I have been awful about posting pictures of the house now that we are in and settled, but moving with a two year old when you’re pregnant doesn’t make for a lot of down time and decorating. 

That said, as our Christmas present to each other this year, Matt and I decided to get some painting done (as you might remember me mentioning, I basically want every inch of this house repainted at some point – walls, trim, doors, shutters, you name it!)

We decided to start in the kitchen.  Even though this isn’t finished yet, because I haven’t finished making the new valances (even though I have all the fabric – I got distracted by the nursery), I still LOVE the change the paint made!

So, here is the first set of house before/afters (with a sneak peek at the valances).

Before:

During: (Although the trim already had one coat done, you can see the difference between the two walls pretty well in this picture below.  Just for reference – the color of the door is the color of the old trim.  The door will be painted one of these days, too! One thing at a time!)

And AFTER: (sort of – minus the new valances)  The paint colors used were Sherwin Williams Universal Khaki on the walls and dover white on the trim.

And here is a quick preview at the fabric for the valances – this one is just pinned up there, will have ties, etc…

Hopefully the valances will be finished soon and I’ll have better “after” pictures for you then!  With a new baby on the way, though… I’m not making any promises!