Harper ~ 4 months old

• likes to look at herself in the mirror and smile
• will smile back at you when you smile at her
• enjoys her jumper
• sleeping on her back, side and stomach
• eating 4-6 oz
• teething big time - lots of slobbers
• rolls over from back to stomach
• when she smiles her mouth open real big with an Elvis lip
• sitting in her big highchair & bumbo
• likes to lay on stomach and up with her elbows
• smiles at herself in the bathroom and floor mirror
• grabbing toys, blue suction bulb, mommy's hair, our fingers
• has been admitted to 2 different Children's hospitals
• has had flu and RSV and one ear infection
• was at Miss Julie's daycare and now staying at home with Grammy
• loves when Jonah talks to her
• if a TV is on, will turn her head anyway to see it
• likes to watch nursery rhymes on our iphones
• loves bath time

Harper's 2nd trip to ER and Hospital stay

Rough week -- Harper got diagosned with RSV on Thursday. Jonah had been sick with a cold since Monday and it finally hit Harper and her little, weak body later in the week. So late Friday night we took her to the Children's ER and she had a temp of 102.5, ear infection and a serious case of RSV, but no flu or punemnia. So we were admitted and they immediately hooked her up to oxygen to help her breathing, had a hard time finding a vein for the IV and started the suctioning of her nose to get all that mucus out! Harper didn't like that suction bit at all- but it helped to clear her chest so she could eat and not throw it up. The oxygen came off by Tuesday night, the IV was stopped Thursday and we finally went home Friday afternoon.

The nurses were awesome, the McGee Zoo stepped up to take Jonah all week for us, Andrea took Jonah a few hours over the first weekend, friends stopped by to help and bring food, Mom helped by sitting with Harper so Rick & I could get out and rest and everyone prayed for her to get stronger and well ~ and it took an entire village of friends, family and doctors / nurses to battle that RSV and help Harper recover.

Snow Days - all 4 of them

How we spent our 4 days off from school

We have NEVER had 4 straight days off from school due to bad weather. But this week we had the such. Tues - Fri off from school- yipee and major cabin fever all at the same time. We got creative in entertaining 2, well actually 1 child. It was icy outside so we couldn't go out there, when it did snow- Jonah was good for about 15 minutes. And all this the week the Super Bowl is here in Big D! Everyone is saying how God must really dislike Jerry Jones to do this on his week to host the Packers & Steelers! The days were long with only reaching up to the teens and the nights were bitterly cold! The heater was running non-stop. Both teams only practiced inside since it was just too cold. We tried to go to a movie, but the electricity was not being turned on to save it. And we had "rolling blackouts" on Wed and Thurs- which means they rotate turing off the electricity around the area to conserve since everyone was running it so much. Never heard of that before. Had it not been for the ice, I think me might have gone to school- but the sidewalks and parking lots were like skating rinks. And the most important thing was the Super Bowl- we needed to conserve energy for that big game coming up- all in the name of money and representing!

the bumbo & Harper~ a really good pair b/c she is high enough to be a part of all the action

Jonah playing in the water

not sure about this frog thing!

watching TV with Daddy

Big Brother showing Little Sister how much he loves her

Bounce Bounce Harper ~

Jonah loved this jumper when he was little and I think Harper will be the same. At first, she didn't know what to think about hangin' out- her feet dangling and then she started smiling! Of course, we had to fend off Jonah who liked to push on it really hard~ brotherly love!

SUPER BOWL 45- Dallas

We are all into the hype around town. Jared & Rick went to the NFL Experience in Dallas all day Sunday and had a blast- they got to pretend being football players and did fun athletic activities. Then Monday night we drove to Ft. Worth - Sundance Square to see the ESPN set up and all the media outlets. It was cool to walk around and see the 2 teams representing!

A BIG Thanks

Thank you A-ya for making Harper such beautiful bows! She now has one almost in every color and for any holiday- she will look beautiful!

Dallas Zoo Animals

What a wonderful and warm weekend so we headed out to the Zoo. It was awesome. I really liked the giraffe section cause you could feed them lettuce. The gorilla was right up at the window and was just watching us in the eyes. Too cool. Jonah ran from section to section so excited to see all the animals.

Sleeping Time

Me & the mini

The kids!

I see you!

Thanks Garner Family for the UT clothes!

Sweet kisses!

Our pretty girl -

check out the spiked hair!

just waiting on Jonah & Mommy to hurry up so we can go to Miss Julie's

Me & mine

another pic, mom????

cousin Mason loving on Harper

Handy-man

We ventured out for Jonah's first kids project at Lowe's. He was excited to use a real hammer and nails. To be honest, the ball toss was a little hard for him to make and for mommy too, but we did our best and after all- sometimes it's just fun to hit the hammer over and over!

this is Jonah showing Harper what he made- doesn't she have a good view of it?

the finished product- I'm sure we will loose those balls within the next 24 hours

Birthday for Rick!

The big 37 - and a big year for Rick- becoming Daddy for 2nd time, celebrating 10 years with his sweetie, starting a new job / career as a high school Counselor-- wow! Jonah helped me make come surprise cupcakes for Rick to take to school and we had a family celebration at Justine's house b/c our house is torn up right now due to water damage.

This is what we do after school

It's so hard to find things to do after school during the cold months. Jonah gets major cabin fever because he can't play outside and right now Harper is too young to be outside for long periods of time, especially just recovering from the flu. So here are some snapshots of what goes on after 4pm in our house....

Harper's 1st ER Hospital visit

Friday AM came a little rough for this household. Rick was diagnosed with the flu Thursday, Jonah has been battling a sinus infection all week and then Harper got diagnosed with the flu Friday AM. My mom & I got put on a preventative medicine since we are around all of the flu stuff. While I was out getting prescriptions for everyone, our washing machine busted and flooded our kitchen, media room, dining room and part of our living room. Basically, lots of water damage at at time in our life when we are a little busy with 2 kids, especially a 3 month old and now everyone sick.

Well Harper's fever would not go down all Friday and her breathing got real fast. So we took her to Children's Hospital in Dallas and she was taken back immediately where her fever was now 103. Poor thing- her cheeks were so red, so uncomfortable, so congested and just not feeling good. They ended up admitting her to the hospital to make sure she could keep her bottle down, to bring the fever down and to make sure her congestion was not going into her lungs. So we stayed there 2 nights and poor Rick was going back and forth between home and the hospital, my mom had Jonah almost all weekend (which he didn't mind getting spoiled by Grammy and Popo), and I was able to be at the hospital with Harper. She had an IV, was eating 2-4 oz and keeping it down and was a trooper when they suctioned her little nose to get all that junk out. Even though she was sick- she would still smile at us-- precious baby girl. So glad she is feeling better and looking better too. And now onto the water damage and all the mess that it made----

Harper ~ 3 months old

Our little pumpkin can:

• follow us with her eyes
• gets scared / startled when Daddy sneezes
• has a big brother who kisses her and talks, reads and loves on her all the time
• makes 'coo' sounds
• eating between 4-6 oz
• is sleeping from about 11 pm - 5 am
• enjoys spending time with Grammy & her teachers at Miss Julie's
• likes to hold our pointer fingers
• smiles all the time
• likes to sleep on her tummy during the day & swaddled at night
• still sleeping in our closet
• is wearing 3-6 month clothes
• can sit up right in the bumbo for up to 5 minutes
• goes with flow of this crazy family life that we have

Hangin' outside

Even though it's January, we can still go outside some days- depending on the weather. And even when it snowed, we went outside for a little bit so Jonah & mommy could throw snow balls at each other! Winter is a hard season for us as we like to come home from school and immediately go outside and play. So we certainly appreciate days where it's not too cold.

Brother & Sister Time

Jonah adores Harper~ he is constantly kissing on her, asking where she is, wants to sing songs to her, read books to her and just talk to her all the time.

Wedding time is family time

My Aunt married her high school sweetheart and it was a beautiful cermony for a beautiful couple. It was nice to see our cousins and catch up, dance and all. Congrats Auntie Loy & Rene.