Thanksgiving 2011

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Ross's family in Humboldt this year. We first visited Grandpa Kirk and Grandma Linda's house. The visit was extra special because Ross's grandparents, Joyce and Don, were visiting from Arkansas. They had driven up with Ross's uncle, Dave, and his wife, Yvette. Linda made a delicious meal and it was wonderful to see Ross's grandparents. Everyone was excited to meet Harper and she spent the day being held and loved up by family. Afterwards, we spent a few hours visiting Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dennis where Harper was loved up even more! She's a very lucky little girl to have so many people who adore her!

Welcome, Reid!

Reid Hamlin Harper arrived on November 22nd (11/22/11). Reid was 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21" long. Dave, Steph, Abby and Sydney were so excited for their new addition. Reid spent a few days in the NICU, but is healthy and happy now that he is home with his mom and dad! Harper is lucky to have a cousin the same age - I'm sure they will be great friends! Welcome, Reid!

One Month Old!

Harper is already one month old! On November 19th, Harper celebrated her 1 month birthday.

Harper celebrated her birthday by doing things she loved - eating, playing and sleeping! She normally eats around 3 - 4 ounces every three hours. She loves dancing with mom and dad - she is partically fond of Christmas music and enjoys it when we sing while we sway with her. She has gotten quite strong - she kicks and punches the air. Her neck control has gotten much better and she will look around the room. She has begun seeing better and enjoys watching the mobile on her swing. Sleeping at night is still a challenge - but she is starting to realize that it's more fun to be awake during the day. Our little pumpkin couldn't be sweeter!

Our Little Model

Harper had her first photo session with our friend Missie from ML Photography. Missie takes amazing photos so we were very excited to have her photograph Harper. We spent a few hours at Missie's studio. It was interesting to watch her work - each shot took around twenty minutes to set up. She had a space heater and a white noice machine to help keep Harper comfortable and sleepy. She would slowly pose her body for each shot. It takes a lot of patience to pose newborns! She got a lot of fabulous photos. Here are a few of our favorites.

It only comes once a year...

It's that magical time of the year - for a brief period of time the McRib is back at McDonalds! Ross, who practically lived off McDonalds food for a few years, recently disclosed that he had never eaten a McRib. So, of course, I wanted to be there to witness his first bite of the famous sandwich. Ross rated the sandwich around a 5.5 (on a 10 point scale). His inital reaction that it was good, but not great. It reminded him of  the "Mister Rib" sandwich from elementery school. While he is happy he tried the famous McRib, he won't be rushing back for seconds anytime soon.

Acceptance

Harper has been home for three weeks now. It’s been an exciting period of time for our entire family. Our cat, Grady, is often slow at accepting change. He hung out in the basement for a month when we brought Riley home. He disliked most of our foster dogs and would only interact with them if they got too close (meaning he would slap their face and hiss!). He is very social around us – he hangs out with us in the evenings and can hold a decent conversation. He is quite vocal and will talk back to us. But, anyone who has visited our house knows that he is very shy and will often hide from new people. Grady is especially shy around children – they are too loud for him. He will hide behind the furnace until they are gone. Since we knew Grady was so shy, we were curious about how he would react about us bringing home a baby.

Grady was pretty low key for the first few days. He would walk through the room, but wouldn’t stop to hang out with us. For the most part Grady stayed in the basement (where it was safe and quiet.) He even stopped sleeping on our bed for the first two weeks.  Eventually he came back upstairs and decided it was time to check out the new addition to the family. He has sniffed at her a few times and decided that Harper is harmless. He now enjoys spending time rolling around her rug and enjoying the soothing sounds of the white noise machine. Although she might be a little loud at times and interrupt his sleep, but he has accepted that Harper is here to stay.

3 Weeks Old

Harper had a check up again this week. She had been having some difficulties gaining weight, so we have been to her doctor every week for a weight check. Harper was 8 lbs 2 oz when she was born and 7 lbs 4 oz when we left the hospital two days later. We visited her doctor, Dr. Amy Peterson, a few days later to weigh her and she was back up to 7 lbs 14 oz. However, over a week later, Harper was only up another few ounces - weighing exactly 8 lbs. So, Dr. Peterson, asked us to come back again in a week for another weight check.

Harper and I worked really hard at eating over the next week. Harper even put herself on a 3 hour schedule. This schedule helped her gain some much needed weight. The schedule was tough on me and Ross - sleeping for an hour or two at a time doesn't leave a person well rested! But, all the sleepless nights and big meals paid off - Harper weighed in at 8 lb 15 oz at her next check up! The goal for newborns is an ounce a day - so gaining 15 ounces is a week is awesome. Ross and I were super excited that she was back where she needed to be in regards to weight. She isn't the plumpest baby (yet!), but she is in the 57% for weight now! Now that we figured out what she needs, I predict lots of growth in the coming weeks! 

Diaper Talk

People always say that once you have a baby that all you talk about is poop. I wouldn't say that it's the ONLY thing we discuss at our house - but, yes, some conversations do revolve around what is in Harper's diapers. Miss Harper is talented at using multiple diapers during a changing. The record is 4 diaper diapers in a single changing! Before she arrived I thought we had a lifetime supply of diapers. We had tons of newborn diapers from Ross's Diaper Party - "way too many to ever use" I thought. Ha! In the two weeks she has been home, we've gone through 90% of them. And most of a giant box of wipes. It turns out that infants use way more of these supplies than we ever thought - lesson learned!