Harper is 4 months old

Our sweet Harper Grace is 4 months old. I was having a conversation with a dear friend of mine today and we both giggled that I can now say "When Harper was little" (well, littler at least...to me she is still so small).
What are you up to at 4 months old Miss Harper:
-size 1 diaper
-size 3 month clothes
-eating 5oz every 3 hours during the day and going much longer at night. We had a full week of you sleeping 12 hour stretches at night with only needing your paci a couple times; however, this past week you have needed to eat at least once in the middle of the night and you've been so restless at night. Possible growth spurt?
-smiling, smiling, smiling. You have the most contagious grin and you are not shy or selfish with these gummy grins. You love when people talk to you and you coo and smile the biggest smile.
-you still absolutely HATE riding in the car. My mercy you scream like someone is hurting you while we are in the car. You are fine in your car seat up until I start moving. Ugg sweet girl, I hope you out grow this phase really soon. Mommy's nerves are shot. :)
-you rarely cry unless we are in the car or I wait too long to feed you. You wake up grunting and moaning a little bit, but not really crying.
-you only want your pacifier if you are having a hard time sleeping, other than that you refuse to take it.
-you adore your big brothers and smile at them frequently
-you startle easily with sudden loud noises. Your "scared" cry is the saddest thing I have ever heard. Breaks my heart little one.
-You are getting stronger and stronger everyday. You can lift your head really well while doing tummy time and if you are on your side you try so hard to roll over.

Oh sweet baby girl. I cannot believe four months have passed since you entered this world and blessed our family. We love you so much and cannot wait to watch more of your sweet little personality come to surface!! You are certainly loved little one! We cherish and adore you!

Love how sweetly she is looking at grandpa voda

Eeek. Ruffles!

Precious baby snuggles with grandma

Lovin' from Great Grandma Joe

Silly smiles while helping her brothers decorate cupcakes

This picture just makes me laugh. The boys were decorating cupcakes and it looks like she eagerly wants one herself!

Sweet Cheeks

I love to look back at pictures and compare similarities with all three kiddos. While Miss Harper actually looks a lot like I did as a baby, she definitely shows some similarities with her big brothers. She has the same baby blue eyes and light hair color as Paxton, but her cheeks are starting to look more and more like Maddox. 

What do you think? Do you see any similarities in these sweet chubby cheek little babes??

Harper Grace 3 months old

Maddox at 2 months old

Fall

I love fall. I love the cooler weather. I love to watch the trees change colors. 

I love that fall means football season. I love the chilly evenings. I love seeing all the pumpkin decorations. I love dressing my kiddos in fall color clothes. 

Siblings

Sweet Siblings Smiling Sweetly

Harper Grace at 3 months old

Paxton James at 3 months old

Maddox Bradley at 2 months old (It is still so shocking to look back at pictures of MADD....my mercy he was a massive baby!!! Love it!)

My 3 Blessings

There are times when being a mother of 3 is completely overwhelming. Today, I am overwhelmed with love.

Paxton is doing so good at school. He is thriving. He is playing and learning and coming out of his shell! I am so thankful for his loving teacher and the extra time and energy she puts into helping him adjust to his new surroundings! He is talking more and more each day and he has started walking into class like such a big boy and doesn't even hesitate. I am so proud of the progress he is making each week. Way to go little guy!! And by the way, when did he turn into such a big kid...this picture makes him look SO grown up.

Maddox LOVES school. He is learning SO much and it is the joy of my day to hear him tell me all that he learned that day. He recently started a Science class and he is definitely his daddy's son because he loves that class so much! I adore all of his teachers and the passion they have for my big guy! His afternoon teacher stopped me today and told me that he is so respectful and kind, such wonderful qualities he is demonstrating. Such a JOY.

Harper Grace is growing like a weed and is such a joy (unless we are in the car. whew, she does not like the car and screams the entire ride. not fun pretty girl....not fun) She gives the best smiles, the sweetest coos and just lights up our entire family.

Love these kids with all my soul

Little Red Raiders

Texas Tech is near and dear to our hearts. I have mentioned before that going to Tech is where I met Bradley, we fell in love, got engaged (just outside the football stadium where we first met) and started our lives together. It has been an absolute blast raising our little red raiders and sharing our school pride with our kiddos. And they look adorable doing it!

Ha. She was not too sure about standing up.  Silly girl making silly faces

Sweet sweet boys. gosh I love those grins!

Texas Tech

Love our Red Raiders. Love that it was at a Texas Tech game 10 years ago that I met my amazing hubby. Oh Tech, you will always hold a very special place in my heart!

(Thank you Aunt Kim and Uncle Austin for keeping the boys this weekend and PopPop and Nanny for watch Harper Grace so we could attend such an amazing game this weekend!! We had a blast and enjoyed the time spent together)

Cousins

Some of my favorite memories as a child include my cousins. We took vacations together, celebrated holidays together and spent many memorable summers together. I love that our parents tried so hard to ensure a close relationship with our family. Throughout the years it has become harder and harder for all of us to get together. We all have our own families now or have moved off (becoming doctors or engineers in the Marshal Islands). We have tried to have a family reunion once a year and get everyone together; however, that is also difficult to get everyone's schedules to align.
This past weekend we were able to get together with my Aunt Karla, Uncle Gary and my cousins LaDonna, Adam, James Ryan and his beautiful wife Codi and there two adorable daughters. It was certainly an adventure with 7 kids ages 4 and under. It was so good to see them all and to watch our children play together just like we did.

A little difficult to get all 7 kids in one picture, but I think it turned out great. Take note of Paxton sporting a Mardi Gras necklace, a machine gun, baby Jesus and Elmo shoes. HAHA that kid cracks me up. Sweet little Maddy is trying to pick the flowers off of Harper's pillow. So sweet.

Molli (3), Maddox (4), Paxton (2), Kyndall (2), Maddy (6months), Harper (3months), Henley (3months)

The kids table. Oh if everyone could march to the beat of Paxton's drum!! HAHA.

It is amazing what a difference a year makes! The kiddos were all just babies here last summer and this time we added 3 more to the mix!! Amazing!

Maddox (3), Paxton (15months), Kyndall (18months), Mollie (2)

Under the Weather

We have had some long nights the last few days because Miss Priss is not feeling fantastic after her immunizations on Wednesday. Nothing crazy, she can go from fine to pretty irritable very quickly and she is congested (like the rest of our household) making it hard to breathe well with a pacifier or a bottle! She went from sleeping a good 9+ hours at night to getting up every 2 hours or so. Boo. Feel better soon sweet baby girl.

It is a good thing she is so darn cute 

Making Friends

Maddox is making some fantastic friends at school this year. It is no surprise that making friends is relatively easy for him because he is so outgoing. We continue to work on doing things that our friends like to do and not always having to be the boss, but that is all typical four year old stuff. I was not at all surprised that he hit it off with a little boy in his class who likes camouflage, shooting guns, super heros and all other things boy. I am not surprised when he comes home with dirt stains on his jeans from playing so hard outside. However, what did surprise me was when he came home and told me his favorite friend at school was a girl. He informed me that this precious little girl asked him to go to eat lunch at Blue Sky and then asked for his phone number! Ha. I asked what he liked about her and he said "I like that I can just talk and talk and talk with her" HAHHA. Now that does NOT surprise me, he is a talker and he has found someone to listen and enter act with!!!

Such a sweet little boy and his new favorite friend!! (Apparently this adorable little girl talks about Maddox ALL the time...haha, her mom sent me this picture she took of them at Maddox's favorite boy's birthday party. She needed a picture of Maddox so she could show everyone who her daughter was ALWAYS talking about. heheh.)

Growth

Harper had a well check Dr. appointment yesterday. She is looking fantastic. She is strong, sweet, and growing right on track. She smiled and "talked" with the doctor and all the nurses.
Harper's Growth Stats at 3 months old:
Weight: 10lbs 15oz (22nd percentile)
Height: 22.5" (30th percentile)
So very thankful for a healthy beautiful baby girl.

Paxton has made HUGE progress at school. They switched teachers in his class and I LOVE his new teacher. She truly has a heart for the kiddos and she loves my sweet sweet boy. He is playing, eating, and napping really well. His new teacher is so helpful in encouraging him to speak and ditch the pacifier. He even fell asleep at nap time yesterday without his paci! Paxton reminds me everyday on our way to school that "mommy comes back!" I am so thankful for the progress he is making everyday.

Maddox is loving school. He loves his teacher and his friends. He has homework every night of practicing writing the letter and number he is learning each week. He has learned 'A' 'B' 'C' and '0' '1' '2' He listens well, plays hard and loves it all!

Thankful for the growth all the kids are making everyday.

3 Months Old

Harper Grace, as of the 29th, you are 3 months old!!! WOW sweet girl, you are getting so big. In many ways it feels as though you have been with us much longer than 3 short months and in other ways I cannot believe that 3 months have already passed us by. It is amazing how quickly our lives can change, adapt and discover a new normal. You already have the 3 boys in your life wrapped around your tiny little finger. Maddox, Paxton (and daddy too) will do just about anything to watch you grin and get you to "talk" to them. (Don't tell anyone, but I tend to transform into a crazy goon just to make you smile, and oh my sweet sweet girl, when you smile I am certain the entire world is smiling with you! You are just too cute with that grin taking over your entire body).

What are you up to at 3 months old?

I am not sure how much you weigh...we go to the doctor on Wednesday so we will see then.

You are able to fit in some of your newborn dresses but are wearing mostly 0-3 months clothes. Newborn leggings still fit you best (you have tiny little legs).

Size 1 diaper

You eat around 4.5 ounces of alimentum formula every 3 hours during the day.

You are sleeping in your swing.

You sleep at least one 6 hour stretch in the evening (usually from about 8pm-2am), although you have gone 9 hours a couple of times (when you make the longer stretch without eating, I still get up with you a time or two or twelve to give you your paci). 

You have been super easy to get to go back to sleep after your middle of the night feed.

You loathe your car seat. You cry cry cry and scream in the car. (I will be very happy when we outgrow this particular phase)

You are still swaddled to sleep. You do not like the process of getting swaddled, but you certainly sleep well when you are all snug as a bug

You have started "talking" some and let me just tell you, you have the most adorable little voice and you make the sweetest facial expressions.

Harper Grace, you are the most adorable little girl I have ever laid my eyes on! We love you sweet 3 month old little girl!!