Fever...not again!

We had our 4 month check-up and this time we only got 2 shots but still we had fever. For three days she ran fever ranging from 102-105! I am so tired of this. She did not sleep, she did not eat she just whined. It is so hard being in this business and being a parent. I KNOW what I would tell a parent in this situation, but I cannot give myself that advice. All I know is that my beautiful, happy, sweet baby is miserable. She smiles even though she feels terrible and it makes me cry. At times like this I realize how much I love her. My mom always said that I would understand the term "Mother's Love" one day and she was so right. I now understand why she hovered over me as a child and why she stayed awake at night waiting for me to get home as a teenager. I know why she cried when I moved to college and why she now loves Harper so much. I never thought a love existed like the love I have for Harp. It is because of this love that I will do ANYTHING to make her happy. With that being said, I will now be one of those moms who will make her own immunization schedule. Yes, I know that how many people I told that it was fine to get them all at once, to you all I am sorry! I do not think Harper is permanently harmed by these fevers (to be honest, it distresses me more)but watching your baby hurt and not being able to fix it is the worst thing I have ever felt.
After three days of misery, Harper woke up this morning and her temp was 97.9!!!! Finally!


She still loves her cereal! It is so cute to watch her. She shoves the spoon in her mouth because I am not fast enough. I love it. We started sweet peas as well and she is not as fond of those. She makes a face with every bite, but she still eats them. She tries to gag them out occasionally which makes me laugh but manages to keep them down.
Another milestone is Harper said her first word. At 3 1/2 months old, Harper very clearly started saying "Mama"!!!! I love it. Now she looks at me and says "Mamama" When she is fussy, she says Mama, when she is playing she says Mama and when I walk out of the room, she says MAMA! All of these "Mama's" and I am still not tired of hearing it. (According to my mom, I will get tired of hearing it but I'm not there yet. I still get goosebumps!) She is also lifting her face to yours when you bend down to kiss her. So sweet! She is quickly learing how to get everything she wants. If she stays this sweet Jon and I will have to get 2 or 3 jobs!

Halloween and Cereal

Halloween and all the changes in October

Harper had her first Halloween! We did not go trick-or-treating because she is obviously not going to eat the candy and mama doesn't need it, but she did dress up and greet the hundreds of kids that rang our doorbell. She loved looking at all the colorful costumes- so much that she skipped her late day nap (not so great for mom)! She has also been going through a growth spurt lately. Harper usually sleeps 11-12 hours at a time at night but for about three days she has been waking up after only 6 and starving!!!! (I know I am spoiled but since we have such great nights of sleep 6 hours is brutal!) She is also wanting to eat every 2 hours during the day so it was time for a change. We decided that we would give cereal a try. It was so funny! At first she wasn't sure what it was but then she decided that she liked it and I couldn't get the spoon in fast enough! She was sucking on the spoon (which totally defeats the purpose of trying food) and grabbing the spoon and shoving it in her mouth! I guess she takes after her Daddy because I never ate like that!
She is also staring to squeal which is so fun! I love hearing that sound because she squeals out of delight. I am sure soon enough it will start to make me crazy, especially since the dogs often bark when she squeals, but right now it is my little happy alarm. She smiles all the time and I happen to think she has the most beautiful smile that I have ever seen! We have been working on tummy time, but she still hates it. She loves to sit up though. I feel like my child will never roll over. She will go from laying on her back to sitting to walking and skip crawling and rolling! We will keep practicing though. She loves her toys now. She has a few favorites like the thing that I think looks like and atom and a zebra and a lion toy. I love watching her play with them. She studies them, cuddles them and then tries to eat them! It is amazing how much she is changing. Everyday brings something new!

Fall Fun

Today we went to the pumpkin farm with Harper. We had fun taking her pictures but it was cold so we did not get to stay for long. We are having so much fun being parents. She is such a great baby! She watched the other kids running around as if she can't wait to join them. It will be so exciting to see her next fall running around with everyone. Today sitting in the cold on a wet bale of hay in a muddy field that smelt like poop I felt like the luckiest person in the world. I love Jon and Harper more than anything else on earth! I feel so blessed!

Big Girl!

Harper is finally over all the drama! Her eye looks GREAT! Now we are working on growing and having fun. She is so interested in her toys now. She loves the overhead toys on her play mat and her bouncer. She bats at them and is trying to grab them all while squealing and cooing at them. It is so cute to watch- I never thought something so simple could entertain me for hours! She has also started sitting in her Bumbo. She likes it for about 10 minutes and then she's over it. She like to sit and watch TV which is horrible! I am constantly having to move her so that she cannot see the TV- She is just like her parents! She is figuring out that the puppies exist now and that they are interesting. She watches them and smiles at them and will occasionally reach out to touch one if they get close enough.

Sunday she slept in her bed at night for the first time. I put her down at 10pm and she slept all night. No crying or anything- well not from her, I cried for 30 minutes! She has done great every night and I am getting better! :)

I accepted my new job and found out that I won't be starting until January! That is good because I get to spend more time with Harper and I love that but the money would be nice. Here are some pics of Harper in her Bumbo, with her sunglasses, with Nana and getting ready to go walking with mommy!

Go Tech!

I think it hurts Mommy more than it hurts Harper!

On Monday we went to the eye doctor and decided to do a tear duct probe. This involves sticking a probe up Harper's nose and forcing it through her tear duct- sounds horrific right? I handed her over to the doctor (because this is apparently a minor procedure which they do in office) and I went to the bathroom and cried. This took about two minutes, and when I walked out, they were looking for me to tell me they were done. Harper was lying in the nurse's arms whimpering, while mommy was bawling like a baby! I am sure the doctor was thinking, "Great, another high strung mommy." That night and the next day she seemed only slightly uncomfortable. She is so tough! On Wednesday she got her 2 month shots and last night began to run 103.3 temp! As if her week had not been bad enough we had to go back to the doctor this morning and she had to get her heel poked to draw blood. It looks like she had a reaction to her shots or a virus (very hard to tell which one). Whew! I don't know if I can take anymore, however, Harper keeps smiling through it all. She is such an amazing baby. Let's cross our fingers that next week goes better!

Announcing....

Here is her birth announcement. A little wild but it fits our personality.

Look out Vogue, here I come!

At 4 weeks old Harper had her first photo shoot and she did great! She did not want to go to sleep, as usual. She was so good though and she only peed on the pillow once!

I cannot believe she is 8 weeks old now! Time is going by so fast. It is so bittersweet to see her grow. She is smiling at me all the time now. My favorite thing is to get her up in the mornings because as soon as she sees me she gives me a huge grin and it melts my heart. She loves to lay and kick her legs and be free to move. I spend a lot of time singing to her and the song that gets her smiling the most is Ice Ice Baby- I have no idea what made me sing it to her but she smiles and kicks everytime I sing it. Go figure. Every night we read books and she watches the pages and sits so quietly in my arms as we read. My mom said I was the same way.

We have had a rough couple of weeks with problems with her eye. She has had a clogged tear duct since birth and two weeks ago we started her on eye drops to clear an infection, however they did not work and her eye became very swollen and painful. We took her back in and had to put her on antibiotics by mouth that are very strong and upset her stomach quite a bit. These helped clear the major infection but a large knot was left under her eye. We saw the eye doctor last week and started some more eye drops. If these do not work then she will have to have surgery on her eye to remove the knot. I know that this is very minor compared to many of the things that other families have to face, however, she is my daughter and the thought of her going to surgery creates a knot in my stomach. My thoughts are consumed with prayers that I will not have to watch them wheel my little girl away from me to the operating room. If you are reading this, please take a moment to say a little prayer for her. Again, I know this is easily fixable and considered a minor procedure, but no matter how small it is, it is still surgery. I will update this after we see the eye doctor again and get a decision. For now, she is a happy little baby who loves crappy 80's music and is growing like a weed!

Sleeping Beauty

I just had to post this pic of her sleeping in her bassinet. She sleeps with her arms up in the air everytime she sleeps! It is so cute. That's how we know she is in a deep sleep. Even in our arms, if she falls asleep those arms will go straight in the air!

She is growing so well. She loves to eat and it shows! She weighs 8 lbs 8 oz! I cannot believe how much she has grown. She is already too big for her newborn onesies. I was so sad the day I realized that. I swear all of her weight is in her cheeks! She is so skinny everywhere else!

She is already showing her personality. She does not like to take naps. She sleeps fine during the night but if everyone is awake, SHE wants to be awake. It is so cute and so frustrating how she fights sleep. She is laid back (for now) and loves to watch everything around her. We read the Black and White book and she is so tuned in to it. She watches the puppies and they watch her. Marley cannot walk through the hallway without going into her room to check on her. If she is crying, he comes and gets one of us and whines until we follow him into her room and pick her up. He is so protective of her. Maizie on the other hand pretends that she does not exist. SHe climbs up on the boppy when Harper is feeding and tries to push her off.

It is amazing how quickly they change and time just races by. I am loving every minute of being her mom, no matter how exhausted I am. I still cannot believe that I am lucky enough to be a part of this little girls life.

I love my bath!

7/12/2009: Introducing...Harper Marie!

We went in at 7:30 this morning to be induced. They broke my water at 8:30 and after 10 hours and a NON-WORKING epidural, Harper Marie Morris arrived at 6:20 pm! She weighed 7lbs 10oz and 20 3/4 in long. I was instantly in love. Jon was amazing! I fully expected him to get light headed and need to take a break but he was at my side the entire time feeding me ice chips and rubbing my back. Even during the few scary moments with blood pressure problems and the realization that this was going to be a natural birth whether we wanted it to be or not he kept encouraging me and holding my hand. He even cut the cord. My mom and dad helped calm fears, wipe sweat and cheer me on. I could not have pushed her out through all of that pain with them all. Jon was head over heels the minute he met her. He could not put her down. All in all it was the best day of my life because I got to meet my beautiful daughter and all of the pain and tears was worth it because she is absolutely the best part of me. I am so lucky to be her mom!

My Giant Belly

We took some pictures of my stomach finally! I knew if we didn't I would never believe that I was this huge! It is amazing how much you can stretch. I feel like there is no more room for her to grow but there is so much time left on our clock. We are 35 weeks now and I am almost finished with school. I am doing about 55 hours per week trying to get it done and I am almost there. As long as Harper stays in for 3 more weeks we will be in good shape! Here are some of the pics we took. Amazingly it has only been 3 days since we took these and I am even larger! I am begining to get concerned that I might explode! :)

The Nursery

We finally finished the nursery. Well, we have ordered some curtains, but other than that we are done! It was so much work, but so worth it! We are about 33 weeks now and doing great! She is moving constantly and is very particular about how I lay. She does not like it when I lay on the right side. She uses her hands (or feet- not sure which) and pushes on my side until I roll over. I think we are in trouble, she is strong willed already! I have no idea where she gets that from :)! We also had our family shower in Midland. It was so much fun and Harper got a lot of great stuff. I have posted some pics of her room and will soon post pics of my belly before pregnancy and in the ninth month so stay tuned...

We are in the home stretch!

We are 26 weeks today and in our third trimester! I cannot believe we made it. Things have been so busy for us lately so time has flown by. She is kicking like crazy now and her favorite times are late at night and early morning. Jon finally felt her kick and he was so excited! He bent over and was talking to my belly and then kissed it and she kicked him right in the mouth. It was pretty cute. That is the only time he has felt her kick though. He tries but she seems to know exactly when his hand is there and she stops. She is already stubborn like her mommy! In more good news, Jon has been accepted into an elite program at his job called the Organizational Leadership Development Program. Tons of people apply but they only take around 6-10 people per year. We are so proud! This program will train him in all aspects of Lockheed and give him great experience. Also, I will be finished with classes this May and now I only have clinical hours to complete! It has been 2 1/2 long years but it is almost done. And for the final bit of good news...our daughter has a name! Harper Marie Morris. Her middle name is my mother's middle name and I cannot think of a better person to be named after. Pictures will be posted soon of my giant belly and of Harper's room so stay tuned....I promise I will be better at updating this.

Here is her first picture taken February 16, 2009!

Our first blog

We decided to do this blog to keep our families up to date with all that is happening. We are a very busy family and have a hard time keeping in contact with everyone so hopefully this will help that.

We are 21 weeks pregnant and doing wonderful! As I am sure you all know, we are expecting a baby girl!!!! We could not be happier! Jon is so in love with her already. He talks to my stomach everynight and has been so wonderful letting me go crazy buying girl things...so it must be love! She is due July 17th and she is already so big. Lets hope her growth slows down a little bit, for mommy's sake!

Jon and I are in school still but we see the light at the end of our tunnels. We never thought we would get to this point. I am set to graduate in August, as long as this baby cooperates, and Jon is set to graduate in December.

We have been so blessed to have so much support from everyone through the past few years. We have taken on a lot as a young couple, but we know it will all be worth it in the end. We only ask for your continued prayers that this little girl is healthy and happy. We have no doubt that she will have more love than any child has ever felt!