I Just Can't Believe It...

The Cake!

Tomorrow our Sweet Baby Girl will be 1! Wow! Time has flown by. This has been the most amazing and rewarding year of my life and I am so blessed to not only have Harper but Logan and Cameron as well and be married to their WONDERFUL Daddy.

The Birthday Girl!

I look back over the last year and we have watched Harper grow so much. From the not so tiny newborn that would cry and throw fits if you tried to rock her to sleep, she wanted for you to lay her down and leave her alone when she was tired (which is still the case) to the growing toddler who just in the last few days has learned how to climb furniture and her new favorite place is standing in the middle of the coffee table. In between we've watched her first steps, heard her first words and even sat by her hospital bed for 9 days and 8 nights at LeBonheur when she was one very sick little Baby when she had RSV. None of this I would change for anything in the world.

Harper after 7 days at LeBonheur. She was starting to get better at this point.

First off, Harper is the SWEETEST child. She loves everyone. If you are holding her you can bet she will either be rubbing your arm or patting your back and this holds true for her Baby Dolls too. She is such a little Momma to them, holding them and patting their backs as she carries them around. The only ones who don't get pure sweetness from Harper are her brothers, or Ubba and that's Logan or Ubby and that's Cameron. She is as rough and tumble with them as they are with her. Cameron will roll around on the floor with Harper wrestling and Harper gives it back just as much as she gets it. She will slap and pull hair and I'll start to break it up but stop almost every time because they both will have the biggest smiles on their faces. One of Harper's favorite past times since she was able to crawl has been sneaking up behind the Boys and pulling their hair. If they were laying in the floor playing or watching TV you could bet that Harper was not far behind and she had a plan to get to them and get a hold of their hair. Now that she can walk anytime they are watching TV she goes straight to, turns it off, gives them the biggest grin then takes off running. She will do this half a dozen times in a row and just laugh. She thinks it is so funny. I can already tell she will be picking on these two big boys for years!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture.
Logan and Harper fell asleep on the way home, holding hands. :o)



Harper has a few other loves too. Like the water! She LOVES to swim or take a bath! Her first trip to Pickwick surprised all of us. I thought she'd like to splash around a little but I had no idea she'd love it as much as she did. Not only did she want to stay in the water, but she would fight to try to get away from you. Of course we couldn't let her but she'd push and twist to try to get loose from you in the water. She would even take her whole face and dunk it in the water and not even bat an eye. The first time she did it, she scared me to death because I was holding her and she leaned forward out of nowhere and did it, now we've come to expect it. When we'd get her out of the lake and put her back in the boat she would cry and throw a fit to get back in the water. Something else that we discovered that she loved that trip was watermelon! I can say it was love at first bite for Harper. :o) Harper also loves music and loves to dance. Her favorites seem to be Lady Gaga and Kenny Chesney, what a wide range. :o)

From John and Jennifer's Wedding in November.
Even then Harper had a great time dancing with her Daddy! :o)

What does Harper not like? Her nose being wiped! That is definitely number 1. She also doesn't like regular milk. I just started trying to wean her from formula to milk and she isn't having any of that, even with the milk in a bottle and not a cup. She just saw the gallon of milk today and started to scream. We're going to have to work on that though, milk is very important for toddlers, maybe if we add a little chocolate.



Harper is about 24 hours old in the picture.
We would fight over who would get to hold her in the beginning.




Easter. One of Daddy's Favorite Pictures from the last year. :o)

Oh and Harper and her Daddy. Hmm...he is something else when it comes to her. He has a very hard time telling her no and when he actually does he's so sweet about it that she can't even tell she's doing something she's not supposed to be doing. She loves him too. I'm normally her first pick as who she wants but for some reason when she is sick she wants her Daddy. No one else will do it has to be him to hold her at night while she sleeps when she's not feeling well. She wants me close by too, but not actually touching her. She also likes to tease him. Nothing seems to make her happier than Daddy asking for a kiss and her running to him and getting so close and then turning and running away from him at the very last second. Daddy says they already have a song too, Trace Adkin's Just Fishing.

Harper and Mommy!
Every mom should be blessed enough to have a daughter!

Harper also of course has her family in Arkansas too! Grandaddy and Grandmama just kept her for the weekend while we took Logan to Pickwick. It was just too hot to have her out there for 3 days. She had a great time and Grandmama said she wanted her to hold her all of the time which made Aunt Lesli jealous. Harper also loves her Mmmm (Makinley). She knows Makinley is always there to hold her! I can't wait to see them in a few years when Makinley is driving and Harper wants to tag along and go everywhere Makinley does. Then there is Abbey. Only 363 days apart Harper and Abbey will be probably be very close when they get older. For now they love each other but they also seem to always want the same toy and since Harper is growing up with 2 big brothers and Abbey isn't Harper always seems to win the fights. :o)

Now Papa and Granny are also some of Harper's favorite people. Harper knows Granny takes her shopping and lets her dance. And Harper knows Papa always has the best treats and anytime Papa sits down Harper checks to see if he is eating. :o) Harper also has her Uncle Tyler looking after her. He was ready to throw down with an 19 month old little boy when he thought he was flirting with Harper at her birthday party. Oh, poor Harper. When she is 16 she will have a 20 and 22 year old brother, plus her Uncle Tyler and Daddy. I will have to work hard too get them to even let her date. I'm sure Logan and Cameron will be going with her each time. :o)

I don't really know what else to say except that having Harper and being her Mommy (or Mammy as she calls me) has been a true blessing and I think God everyday for all 3 of my babies but Harper has truly completed our family. When Wesley and I decided to have a Baby he told me he wanted a sweet blond headed baby girl, I told him you don't get to pick, but apparently I was wrong.

Happy Family!
And if you've never tried to take a picture of a 1 year old with a
birthday party going on in the background, you have no idea
how hard it was to try to get a decent shot! :o)

We LOVE you Sweet Baby Girl!