Fun with the dishes!

Who knew so much fun could be had when you're doing the dishes?!?! These videos only capture a small portion of the songs these boys sang tonight! They are hilarious! Hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful day celebrating with their families! We're certainly enjoying Harper's first Christmas... and she has had a blast! I hope to upload some pictures soon, but it might take a while! Have a great day!

Love,

Lauren, Corby, and Harper

Harper's First Christmas- Part 1

Since we'll be doing a lot of traveling this Christmas, we decided to let Harper open her gifts from us last night. And by "open", I mean sit in front of them and look at them. I had already done so much wrapping, I didn't have it in me to wrap that huge box! And that leap frog toy was oddly shaped, so it just wasn't happening. I had gotten her another toy, several months ago. It was on sale at a toys r us that was closing. I got it out the other day and oops... it's in Spanish! I have no idea how I didn't see that all the writing on the box was in Spanish! It still cracks me up! Anyway, she enjoyed taking pictures with her new toys, and while she was sleeping, I put the house together. After her bottle this morning, I put her down by it, and SUCCESS! She loves it! It has so many parts that keep her attention! This will definitely be our best friend!

So excited about her Christmas gifts!

She loves it!!!

Peek-a-boo Harper!

She thought it was pretty funny that I was on the other side!

She couldn't be more proud!

She has mastered the skill of finding ways to keep herself from falling asleep during nap time. It now takes her quite a while to actually nap, but at least it eventually happens! She is just so proud of herself that she can stand up in that crib! I walked in after her nap, and this is exactly how she looked... smile and all!

Check out that smile behind the paci!

I took it out of her mouth to capture her cheesy grin!

Introducing the newest addition to our family...

Neta Elease Pardue

On Friday night, Auntie LC came over and brought Harper her Christmas present. She is now the proud owner of a Cabbage Patch Doll... and a sassy one at that! Her name is Neta Elease! Where do these people come up with these names??? I love it! She was born January 13th, and we just might celebrate her birthday. Harper really does love her... especially her fancy hair! Thank you, Auntie LC, for being so thoughtful and generous! You're the best!!!

Our Snuggle Bug

Lately Harper has been so snuggly! Usually she is only like this when she's not feeling well, but this weekend she fell asleep on both of us... which is shocking! We love every second of it, as you can tell! She definitely still isn't feeling her best, but I think that's just how winter is going to be. As soon as one cold leaves, another one invades her little nose. She's a trooper and handles it all very well!

We wore her out on Saturday!

Snuggling on Friday night while we sang Christmas songs!

She loved it!!!

Harper met Blitzen!

Today we went to the Arboretum to see Santa and one of his reindeer. Harper responded well again with Santa... I don't have a picture because of the professional photographer there. We should get it in the mail this week! However, we did get to meet Blitzen! Harper was very curious. We couldn't get too close because they said she was a little uneasy that day. After telling us that, the owner asked if we wanted to pet her. We kindly declined! But I thought it was pretty neat seeing her and learning more about reindeer (the owner LOVED talking about them!). Here are some pictures from our afternoon... Enjoy!

Blitzen snacking on some grass

Blitzen hanging out in her cage

Harper loved getting to meet her!

Corby and Harper in front of Santa's workshop

She also got to meet Rudolph!

One of our few family photos

Overwhelmed...

Although I haven't written about it, my mind has been rather consumed lately with the health of our pastor. On Thanksgiving day, he had a seizure. Through a scan of his head, a brain tumor was found. He had it removed two weeks ago and has been working diligently in rehab. He received the pathology report yesterday, and it is malignant. The church just sent out the email with that information, and I'll be honest... I just feel really overwhelmed right now. My mind is racing thinking of his precious wife Lauren, his 3 beautiful children Audrey, Reid, and Norah, his amazing ministry at the Village, and most importantly, simply thinking of Matt. In a video he recorded 3 days before the surgery, he spoke about being thankful that God sees him worthy enough to ensure this hardship. And he tweeted about the pathology report being secondary, as God has already numbered his days here on earth. I am thankful to have found our church home at the Village, and to be under the care and teaching of such a Godly man. I know there are so many uncertainties ahead, but instead of worrying myself sick over them (which I do that very easily!), I'm trying to think more positively. I have absolute confidence that my Savior can perform a miracle, and that is what I'm choosing to pray for. That outlook on a scenario like this is much easier said than done for me. I will get there. But let's be honest... right now, I'm just sad.

Shaking her head!

Here is a video of Harper's favorite thing to do right now. She was rather distracted with breakfast, but I still got her to do it. She loves to shake her head back and forth with you! I think it is so sweet! (Please excuse me deep voice during some of the video... not sure what got into me!)

Perfectly Proportioned

Today Harper had her 9 month appointment. She hated every minute of it... she even screamed her head off when they did her height and head circumference. Whew! She is so dramatic. And I have no idea where she got that from. Everything looked perfect, and I couldn't be happier! Here are her stats:

Height: 27 3/4 in (55%)

Weight: 19 lb 6 oz (55%)

Head: 43 cm (20%)

She has been doing some pretty silly things lately. I need to video her crawl because it is hilarious. It's more of a cralk (crawl/walk). She sticks one of her legs out and pushes herself forward with it. She also offers her paci to you when she's laying in your arms before bed. She is awfully generous! We love our sweet Harper girl!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday and today. Enjoy!

She LOVES the tree!

And this is her favorite ornament!

Holding on to the light... and absolutely in awe!

I caught her mid clap!

I gave her the paper while it was still in it's wrapper.

I think it's safe to say she thoroughly enjoyed herself all day!!!

Out as long as she was in!

Sort of. Except that really it's 10 months, and the doctors are liars! But today is Harper's 9-month old birthday, and we celebrated by going to the doctor and getting diagnosed with a double ear infection... again. This is now her 3rd double ear infection since Halloween. Winter is not treating her well. In other news, she is growing like crazy, and I can hardly stand it!

Here are some things about little Harp at 9 months:

-She weighs 19 lb 2 oz... down 10 oz since Thanksgiving. I wasn't surprised since her congestion has been doing a number on her eating!

-She shakes her head no, and it is hilarious! She does it sometimes when it would make sense and other times when it doesn't. Either way, it's so cute and she likes to copy you when you do it.

-Eating finger foods is tricky. She will put everything in her mouth but once she decides she hates it, she spits it out. It could be interesting if this doesn't stop!

-She crawls fairly regularly and pulls up to her knees. She has tried to pull up on the coffee table, but that ended bad... so we're hoping that doesn't happen again!

-She naps twice a day, and still sleeps wonderfully at night! I am so thankful that she sleeps so great!

-She says "Dada" and "Mama" and a few other sounds. It is so cute! I love her little voice... it's sort of deep!

-Still no teeth... I love her toothless grin!

That's all I can think of right now... it's late (for me!) and today was rather long... ear infections are no fun! We're hoping for a better day tomorrow!

LC and Mare celebrated her 9 month birthday with her tonight!

Cheesing it up for the camera!

Somebody stop this cuteness!!!

So proud that she pulled the ornament off!

It's on the bottom for her!

Have a great weekend!

Harper the Artist

This morning I decided to have some fun with paint. Harper wasn't too sure about our activity at first, but she quickly got the hang of it. She made several masterpieces that I will treasure! I couldn't get too many pictures because I was busy making sure the paint didn't get everywhere. She definitely made a mess... but it was such a fun mess! And she didn't try to eat it either, I was shocked!!! Enjoy the pictures of her art project!

A little confused

What is that?!?!

This is kind of fun!

Best activity ever, mom!!! I think it's clear that she enjoyed herself!

She can't be comfortable...

Now that Harper can sit up from the crawling position, it takes her a little longer to fall asleep during nap time. This morning, she spotted the video monitor camera and tried so hard to get it! I had a lot of fun watching her on the monitor. I eventually only heard the humidifier, so I assumed she had finally fallen asleep. I couldn't tell on the monitor, so I went into her room to check. And what did I find? She must have been sitting up and then got so tired that she just fell forward! I think blood circulation might be an issue in her legs, but she moves so much in her sleep, I doubt this position will last very long. I thought it was hilarious, and thankfully the camera didn't wake her up!

Catching up...

I feel like I have been a total slacker with the blog lately! I'll blame it on the craziness of the Christmas season, even though we haven't really been busy! We did have a Christmas party last night at our house, and Corby's parents are in town... so I guess I've been distracted!

Anyway, we have a new nightly ritual at our house. Harper wasn't interested (AT ALL) in the inflatable duck in the bathtub, and since she wants to move all over the place, Corby decided it would be fun (and safer for her) to get in there with her. Yes, he wears a swimsuit... that would just be weird if he didn't! I'm not sure who has more fun with the bath toys, but it certainly keeps her entertained, and in the evening, that is all that matters!

In other news, it snowed the other day! It didn't last very long and only stuck to the yard, but it was beautiful! Harper and I went outside briefly so she could experience her first snow! It really was shocking that it actually happened here in Dallas. It may be our only snow for the season, so I wanted to make sure we had some pictures.

And lastly...Harper girl is crawling! She doesn't understand that it is a mode of transportation quite yet. As you will see, she is usually mad when she does it! It's hilarious! This video was taken on the first day she started moving, so she has gotten much better in the last few days! We are so proud of her!!! This new found movement has put quite a kink in nap and bed time, but she does eventually fall asleep! Thankfully!

I hope that you are having a great weekend!

More LR Fun!

Here are a few more pictures from our time in Little Rock. On Friday, Harper enjoyed watching the Alabama football game with her Daddy, while the other girls went wedding dress shopping. We arrived towards the end of the game... and let's be honest, we're thankful they pulled out a win. Our evening would've been drastically different had they not won! On Saturday, we kicked off the Christmas season at the Promenade by seeing Santa and Mrs Clause. I had very low expectations for how Harper would handle Santa. She isn't a fan of strangers and let's you know about it immediately. Imagine my surprise when she simply sat on his lap, gazing at him. I was shocked but thrilled! We ended our evening my watching the Hogs (don't get me started) and eating Christmas Tree Pizza. I had a few pictures, but since I looked pregnant in them, I am choosing not to post them!

I must admit, Harper looked pretty cute in her houndstooth.

(Obviously, she looked cuter in her hog shirt)

If only you knew the story behind this...

Corby and Chris were ridiculous all week long!!!

Pre-Santa... but she looked the exact same post-Santa

Holding onto me for dear life as she checks out Santa!

Meeting Santa

He's not so bad afterall!

The cousins hanging with Mr and Mrs Clause

Harper's First Thanksgiving!

We had such a great time in Little Rock... even though 2/3 of us are sick! The wonderful Riggan family invited us over for Thanksgiving, and we had a wonderful time at their house! Mary Jane is a fabulous cook, and she prepared enough food for the whole neighborhood! She even had toys for Harper and Eliana! They are such a generous family, and I am extremely thankful that they are in our lives. Harper's first Thanksgiving was such a success! And thanks to Mary Jane and Tony, she had her first taste of whipped cream! I think she enjoyed it!

We didn't even plan to all wear brown that day!

Harper, Tia Leah, and Ann (who she is named after)

Eliana and "Grandma" (she isn't interested in calling her Gran-D)

Once again... twins!

She had so much fun with Tony!!!

Sweet Maggie had to massage Mary Jane's feet after the day was over!

And precious Harper was so worn out from the day!

She never falls asleep on us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I obviously have so much to be thankful for, and that guy and precious little girl are at the top of that list! I feel like this year has been filled with a lot of hurt and pain, as so many people I know have dealt with loss. Therefore, no matter what has gone on in my life, I must be thankful. The Lord has blessed me in a huge way!!! Speaking of that sweet little girl... she has a double ear infection. Sweet thing didn't sleep at all on Tuesday night, but was fine for the most part yesterday. However, when it was time for her dinner last night, she went crazy and didn't stop screaming for quite a while. Thank you, after hours pediatric clinic at Baptist...even if we contracted something while being there (we probably did!), you made our night much better last night. She has been much happier this morning, but she is obviously very tired today! Thankfully we don't have a whole lot going on today, so we will be resting! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that you have a wonderful day, focusing on the things that really matter!

Harper and Sawyer, Sittin' in a tree...

We went to Fayetteville early, and hid at the Henry's house... so Leah wouldn't know we were there! Thank you again, Katie, for letting us invade for a few days! It was so nice not having to take any baby stuff! Who knew it would be such a luxury to travel with only a suitcase?!?! It took Harper and Sawyer a little while to get used to each other, but by the end of the trip, they were big fans of one another! We stayed pretty busy with Leah, but I did get to spend some great time with my best friend, Aubrey.... and we also got to meet Lyla Blagg and baby boy Bailey (still residing in Jenessa's womb!). It was such a fun treat to see some of my favorite people! I took so many pictures, but narrowed them down to a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

I love the pleased look on her face!

I LOVED his hat... and this picture cracked me up!

No need to spend money on toys when you have plastic cups!

They "fought" over this toy. As you can see, Harper won.

So precious!

Laying on her side is her new thing... she does it all of the time!

It definitely looked like she was putting the moves on Sawyer!

Go Hogs!!!

Sawyer, Harper, and Aunt Barbie!

She is the best... and her blonde hair puts Harper in a trance!