Trip to Utah

We just recently got back from a week long vaca to Utah to visit family and show off our sweet Harper. We were able to split the time pretty fairly between families (although we did have a curve ball thrown our way with people getting sick so we had to change our plans). We started off the trip at my parents house in Pleasant Grove. We had a busy first few days there shopping, getting Harpers blessing in order, getting my hair done, Harpers 2 month pics but then we had 2 full days of relaxing, hanging out, eating out, hot tubing, and lots of laughs and play time with the neices and nephews. Harper was sure a hit to my family, everyone was fighting to hold her. It was hard to tell them that we have a certain routine as far as putting her to bed and keeping her in bed but for the most part she was held alot and I know she just loved all the attention (this mommy sure loved it too because I got some much needed sleep at nights and Jeff and I were able to run errands, shop and go to the gym without hauling her around with us). Harpers first flight of many to come... she did great. Jeff held her the whole time. I knew she would sleep the whole flight because she was literally up ALL day long. Well jet lag definately caught up to her because once we got to my parents house she slept 24 hours straight... one tired girl. My dad loves giving his grandkids a bath. I was super excited to have him met Harper and give her her first bath by Grandpa. She is quite the little fish. Brooklyn was OBSESSED with "Harter". Harp was crying and while I was warming up her bottle Brooklyn got a little nervous and said "I'll feed her", and she lifted up her shirt... silly girl. (She loved watching me breast feed Harper, she is going to be a great big sister once little brother comes. She is quite motherly) So needless to say she loved giving her a bottle.  We had planned to spend 4 days in PG and 4 days in Tremonton but Diana had pneumonia and the stomach flu and Gary had just got over a 7 day stomach flu. Tip and Lola also had pneumonia as well as Uncle Jerry... so needless to say Jeff and all his brothers were leary about heading to Tremonton as scheduled. So they all hung out and stayed the night in Alpine and Nikki's parents house. One afternoon my family was headed to Sandy to go to the Planetarium and Tip and Nikki just so happen to be there as well so we met up with them. Lex and Brooklyn immediately became friends and were holding hands walking around. I love this pic... Rav, Lex, Brooklyn and Hadley all watching the penguins, which I'll admit was the coolest exhibit there. Jeff was able to spend time with his brothers and I tried to split my time with them as well but still had errands to run and needed to see my sister Kim. It sure provided a lot of stress on me because I wanted to see and be with everyone but things just weren't panning out. So after my errands were done, I went to Disney on Ice with Sheridan, Nikki and all the neices and Remi and then I headed back to PG to spend the evening with Kim and her family. Once Harper woke up she too got to enjoy the end of Disney on Ice. She loved the lights and just sat so still... it was pretty cute if you ask me. We were also able to hit up the new hit store in Utah, Scheels with Jeffs family. It was cool and fun to walk around but it's just another sporting goods store... with a massive ferris wheel in the middle of it. Sunday we blessed Harper in Tremonton. It was a CRAZY day and sadly full of regrets :( I will post a seperate post on her blessing. We were thankful to have the love and support of family and friends and I'm thankful we were able to bless her in Utah. The rest of the time we hung out in Tremonton with Jeff's family. Nikki and Tipper had to head back to St. George sadly but we were thankful to have a few days with them. Josh and Sheridan stayed in Tremonton and we sure had fun with them and their kids. We went to Logan, shopped some more and had late night talks and plenty of laughs. Harper was loved on by all her little cousins and Gary and Diana sure couldn't get enough of her. All the Harris grand-daughters. What a bunch of toe heads.... wonder if Harper will stay dark like me or turn to the other side :) The girls sure loved Harper... especially Raegan. She would wonder around the house looking for me when I was off feeding Harper and sure enough she would always walk in on me... she was too darn cute. All the Harris grandkids minus Lex and Rav. (Harper is in the carseat on the floor) We sure love every single one of them and hate living so far away. I couldn't find my child one day for a few minutes... I walk upstairs in Jeff's parents house and see Diana and the girls dressing her up and doing a photo shoot. Poor Harper didn't seem to be enjoying it but it sure was cute. I'm so thankful for our amazing families. It was a much needed vacation and it was so fun to have everyone meet Harper for the first time. It breaks my heart that we live so far away. I've been able to deal with it for 2 1/2 years but having a baby really makes it harder to not be able to see family as often. I dont' want Harper to miss out growing up with cousins and seeing her grandparents and I'll do the very best I can to skype/facetime and fly home as often as I can but it's just not the same. It may be hard at times to live so close to family but it's even harder to live so far away.

Harper 2 month pics

Warning: These pics are absolutely GORGEOUS!!! :)
While we were in Utah I scheduled Harpers 2 month pics with a good friend and old roommate of mine, Annie Duckworth. (She did some family pics for my fam a few years ago and our Temple Sealing pics, we love her talent) Since we didn't LOVE her newborn pics, I told Jeff I wanted 2 month pics and I promised I wouldn't get pics done again until she was 6 months :) I'm so glad we got them done. Thankfully Harper is still a morning person but she was nearing nap time so we didn't get to stay as long as we wanted. And I forgot her bottle at home and I hate breast feeding with an audience so Harper was getting frustrated. But the pics turned out AMAZING. I look at them 5-6 times a day.

 

 

Harpers 2 month check-up

I just absolutely love watching Harper grow up. She sure has been the greatest blessing in our lives. We just had her 2 month check up and she is just growing so well. (I wish my dr. gave me percentages) She had her first shots and was a champ. She was starving so I quickly gave her a bottle and she only got 1 oz down before the nurses came in with the shots. So I held her arms down and put my face against her's. They gave the shots, she screamed, i quickly picked her up and gave her the rest of her bottle and she downed it. (she drinks 4 oz like it's nothing) She never cried again. I gave her a hot bath that night and massaged out the knots in both legs and she still didn't act bothered. She did spike a mild temp the next day but it went away 24 hrs later. I was glad we got these done prior to going to Utah. The dr. checked out her umbilical hernia, said it is pretty common and that it will go away. It has grown so much in the last 2 weeks so I hope it doesn't continue to get worse, because it's just awkward looking. It doesn't bother her at all which most people think it would. It's just a bulge in her belly :)

Length: 21.5 inches

Weight: 11 lbs

This pic was taken right after her shots were given... such a sweet girl. (don't mind my pasty-ness :) I caught the cold this day and felt no desire to get ready just to go to a dr. appt.)

A few updates bout our baby girl:

• She is finally out of newborn diapers. I have started boxing newborn clothes, she can still wear a few outfits. The 0-3 month outfits seem to drown her but I know that wont last long.
• She is a great eater. I breast feed every 2-3 hrs in the day and she does 5-6 hrs at night. I will pump a bottle during the day to give her if we are out running errands or when Jeff is home in the mornings so I can sleep in. She does great taking a bottle and is definately not picky with breast vs. bottle, as long as she gets to eat :)
• She is a morning person... so not my daughter. She likes to wake up between 5-6 am wide awake. She will go back down around 7 am for 1-2 hrs and then is wake until around noon-ish and then will take a 3-4 hr nap sometime in the afternoon. I love when she is awake, I just sit and talk to her. (Since she is awake so much during the day I don't get much done around the house... not a very good housewife :)
• She loves her car seat. She loves car rides and often when I get home she will stay in her car seat a good hour or so sleeping or just hanging out .
• She started smiling at me at 6 weeks old and now smiles and coo's all the time, especially in the mornings.
• She LOVES to lay on the changing table. It's the best time to get her talking and cooing at you. Often I leave her laying there while I pick up her room, fold laundry or just pick up around the house.
• When she is tired and wants to go to bed she will scream and let you know. And at that point she just wants to be layed down... no cuddling, no rocking or bouncing.
• She is so easy to put to bed. You just swaddler her right up, give her the binkie and lay her down. She no longer has to cry it out. Occasionally she will fuse a little but it's just because she is beyond tired. I'm so glad we let her cry it out so early because laying her down is so easy. And she self soothes, if she wakes up during a nap or during the night and is still tired she goes right back to sleep and doesn't need to be coddled or soothed. I love it!!!
 

Fur Rondy/ Iditarod 2013

It's that time of year again, Anchorage is celebrating Fur Rondy and the start of the Iditarod sled dog race. Jeff and I look forward to this all winter long. We were especially excited to take Harper to another Alaska tradition. Well I got smacked with a head cold the day prior and Jeff had to work so we weren't out as long as wanted to be but at least we went. We went with the Ruggles and afterwards went and had breakfast at Peggy's (a new tradition since the diner we use to go to after the Iditarod closed down).

 This seriously is the cutest thing ever!!! Love them both so very much.

 Snuggled up close to Daddy, nice and warm and sound asleep.

Yes I said this last year and I will say it again... I get chills every time a sled team goes by. It truly is the coolest event ever. These dogs live for this race, and so do most Alaskans :)

GO JAMAICA!!!! So glad to see him come back this year. Hope he does better, he scratched pretty early last year.

All cozy in her carseat. She LOVES being in her car seat and you don't even have to be driving. Many times we will leave her in it once we get home and she is as content as can be.

 

 And here he is again... the Great Alaska Bushman. We never miss him. In fact it's almost like "where's waldo" everywhere we go. (He makes you pay a donation fee for frontal pics so unless we are far away and I zoom in all we get are back and side shots)

Earlier in the week for family night we ventured down to the Snow Sculptures. Last year we went after it had snowed and it was hard to see what they were with the fresh snow on top so this year we went down the day after they were judged so they were nice and crisp looking.

 Look how amazing this Moose sculpture is... it was actually the winner. The detail of it all was incredible.

This one was pretty cool too, it was a "Whale" airplane. The pics and lighting don't do any of these sculptures justice.

And yet we meet again Mr. Alaska Bushman.

 

Mommy/Daughter date

Jeff has been so busy working lately that we seriously never see him. He just put in his notice as a lab instructor at UAA so that he will have 2 days off to watch Harper when I go back to work. I felt bad because he loved that job and loved the people he worked with and it has helped him keep up his skills and knowledge while we sit and wait on the stupid FAA to figure their crap out.
So while daddy works, mommy and Harper have to find things to keep us busy. I'm sooooo tired of sitting around the house. The dogs were needing a hair cut and I have refused to cut it anymore (after 3 years of doing it myself) so we took them to Petsmart to get it done. Since it was clear on the other end of town we found things to do to kill time.... shop!!! and go to a movie!! It was Harpers first movie (Jeff was pretty bummed cuz he is the one that loves shows and he wanted to be there for her first show, I felt terrible once I told him where we were) We went and saw a great chic flick, Safe Haven and were the only ones in the theater, and thank heavens for that because she started grunting and was hungry and needed a little attention for the first hour or so but then she fell right asleep. She is such a good little side kick, I just love spending time with her.