Harper Bo Barper or Harpey Lou

Sweet Harper....
How is it that we are approaching 15months old & I have hardly blogged about you??? Life is too busy sometimes.

You are talking up a storm a few words you say (in your sweet raspy little voice, that I love SO SO S much)
Mama
Dada
Bubba
Harper Bo Barper (lol too cute) or Barper
Kitty
Mo ( milk) So you say mo mo for more milk. Too cute
Pup Pup (puppy)
Yaya (Lala)
Ba (ball or Boss)
papa
nana
naw naw - anything food related (have no idea???) Only a mommy knows
no
yes
pss (please)
thank you
baba (but we dont do bottles anymore so we dont say this much)
bye bye
HI to everyone ALL THE TIME (one of your first & most favorite words)

I know there are more but I just wanted to list a few.
Sweet baby this last 15 months has flown by! You seemed to stay a baby longer than your brother , but you all the sudden are a toddler so fast  it's flying by too quickly now. You are the sweetest little thing. There is SO much personality bursting from every fiber in your litle body. You love your big brother with all your heart & love that he plays with you. Ya'll are becoming best buds & it makes my heart sing. If we go somewhere to play the entire time you yell BUBBA to find him & squeal with delight when he runs to you. You will give him anything he wants because you want him to be happy, he is spoiled to you! Although don't get me wrong you hold your ground too. :-) Feisty thing you!

You have been the EASIEST baby. Your brother was super easy too just in a different way. He was def more scheduled. If something didnt happen he would let you know we were 5 min past nap time. You just go with the flow, I think this comes from being the second child. You can go anywhere, sleep anywhere, do anything & are happy. You still take 2 naps 9-11 a.m. & 2-4:30 p.m. then bed at 7:30. You are a sleeping machine have been for a LONG time. You suck your left thumb & have a night night just like your brother. It's literally the exact same blanket just a different color. We call it the magic blanket & you both call it your night night.

You have been the sweetest addition to our family. I can not imagine life with out my Harpey Lou. It amazes me how much God know what we all need in our life. You think life is perfect & then you realize you never knew you were missing so much. Praise the Lord he knows more than we do just what we need.

Oh and one last thing... you look JUST LIKE ME & ACT JUST LIKE ME! It is so fun to have a mini me. Keith has his & I have mine. Precious baby we love you more than you can imagine. Thank you Lord for allowing us to raise Harper in your word. Give us wisdom & help us to guide her in your ways...

Here is a quick recap of Harper's first year. It's true (or at least for me) I have had a harder time documenting #2. It def does NOT mean I love you any less... It's a busy life. MUST DO BETTER!


Harper's 1 Year Video- Click Here

It's Been a YEAR!

Well I have not updated in FOREVER! Not going to lie... It's hard for me to take time to sit down, update pictures & write. I usually just clean!

Instead of writing too much about this last year in words I decided to put a video together of pictures showing us in our new home over the last 12 months. I think we have gone through almost every emotion since moving here (more me than Keith) Ha! I feel like we have overcome so much to be here today. Words can not express how proud I am of our family for living this adventure. I know God has bigger plans than we can imagine & he reveals HIS plan more & more to us everyday. I feel blessed to have Keith leading our family & being so supportive of me. Enjoy some pictures (click the link, the video was too long for blogger :-( ) & I will write more another time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfD_A9_QMA0&feature=youtu.be

My Little Boy

Well I have not posted on just Graham in a while so I decided it is time!
Graham you are almost 23 months old... I can not believe you are a big brother & we are starting to plan your second birthday party. The idea of you being 2 brings tears to my eyes. How did this go by SO fast??? Where is my baby boy going??? You are turning more & more into a little boy everyday. I know God has perfect timing & we would probably think stages were too long if they lasted longer than they do, but honestly I could stand for things to move a little slower!
You are the sweetest little boy ever & a smarty pants too. You talk so well & have been making full sentences for quite some time now. "Mommy I love you" is music to my ears & having you say it on your own melts my heart. You have been great with your little sister & I knew you would, but seeing it makes me ache with love for you both... How blessed are daddy & I to have these two precious kiddos entrusted to us by our Lord???
You had a hard time adjusting to our move, but you came around after about 4 weeks. It was amazing how little you were but you knew so much was changing... I could not have done this without you buddy. In so many ways we stabilized everything for you but it helped me too. We would do anything for you! Taking care of you & thinking about Harper helped me more than you will ever know... Now we are blooming where we were planted.
We are still all at home together, but we have started talking about Mothers Day Out maybe in September. This is by far going to be harder on me than you. I know you need it so badly though because we don't have any other little kids to be around so I know it would be good. You LOVE playing with kids & you could care less when we drop you off while trying out new churches... this makes it SO much easier on Mommy & Daddy. They always LOVE having you in their class & always question how old you are because of your HUGE vocabulary & how well they can understand you. We were even told you would do better in an older class!
During Christmas you started watching The Grinch with Jim Carrey & you will almost watch the ENTIRE thing. It's crazy because we have hardly ever let you watch any shows & I thought you may be scared of the Grinch but you love him?!?!?! You also have a little crush on Cindy Lou Who... Every time she sings you say "ahhh beautiful". It has been fun to cuddle on the couch or floor & watch a movie with you. This is a new stage & I am LOVING it.
I wish I had a video camera on me ALL the time... you have started to get really funny & I am ALWAYS amazed by some of the things you say to me. Here are a few stats for you these days

Weigh about 26 lbs
Some 2T's (you need a belt or a sinch thing inside your pants skinny boy)
Not sure length but you are tall... will check soon!
Size 4 diaper (starting to potty train)
Sleep 7:45-8:15
One nap 12:45-4:00
19 teeth
Sleep with 2 night nights(your blue blankie) and about 10 stuffed animals! Seriously! Kiki(green monkey & Woody are your favorite)
Size 6 shoe
Eat everything
Pretend play (copy mommy with Harper)


Baby boy if I could press pause for a while I would... I still go in your room at night just to peek at you. What a miracle you are... watching you grow up is so bittersweet for me. We are blessed by you everyday & I am reminded how grateful we are to have such a healthy happy little boy. Sorry I have not updated about you, life is getting by me. I MUST write more things down so we can go back & tell you everything you were about! Looking forward to many many more things with you, my first born. SO glad we were picked to be your parents. How precious you are to us! You are going to do great things.

Little Miss has ARRIVED!

Well the big day has come & gone and we were left with the greatest blessing a second time. Little miss Harper Ellison Toogood was born on November 21, 2011 at 1:09 p.m. She was 7lb 12 oz (just 2 oz bigger than Graham) & she was 20.25 inches long. She has a TON of hair... in the delivery room I just could not get over how much hair she had. I just kept saying her hair, her hair, her hair?!?!?!?! over and over agin. Ha!

My labor this time was MUCH faster than with Graham. I was induced but the didn't have to do much. I went in at 7 a.m. & I was already a 5! Holy moly I was halfway there on my own! I got all hooked up & they started the antibiotic I had to have in my system this time. I did not have it with Graham & I hope to never have it again. It was terrible, made my arm feel like it was attacked by fire ants! YUCK! Anyway.... She didn't check me again until 1 because my water was about to break anyway & I had to have 2 doses of antibiotics before I had her so that we would not have to be monitored for 48 hours. Well 1 p.m. rolled around, she checked me said it was time to push & BOOM Harper was her @ 1:09. It was FAST!
She is the sweetest blessing! Graham had to take a week to warm up but he did & he loves his "little baby seester, Harper". She is such a good baby & we just can't stop staring at her! It's amazing how God picks each of us to belong to certain families & we all fit just perfectly. His plan truly is divine & feel blessed by my family everyday.

It has been kind of hard to be so far away from family during this happy time... We got to show Graham off right away & had so many visitors everyday, so it's been quite different this go around. We have had several visitors but you know it's just not the same as being in the same town. With Harper being born right before Thanksgiving we were SO blessed to have my parents stay about a week with us. My mom was SUCH a blessing!!! I am NOT one to ask for help & she is great about just DOING it without requiring me to ask her to do anything. She always running around taking food orders, playing with little Graham, and cleaning. I am definitely taking notes, she is a wonderful mom, I am truly blessed! Thanks to her we had Thanksgiving... it was MUCH smaller than ever but special. Thanks Mom! It really is amazing how much you take for granted when you have always lived so close to family... I know we are still in Texas, but it's so much further than down the street. I really do miss my family so much... Thank goodness for Keith, Graham & Harper they make this new place home to me.

You know people say that you forget things from the first baby when you have another baby & I can say I agree & disagree. It feels like yesterday Graham was this small but I have forgotten details about having a newborn. I so badly wish I would have written his EXACT schedule down @ each stage just to remember. I know Harper is a different baby so it would not be the same, but just to have something to remind me would be nice. Here is what she is up to...

Newborn diapers
Newborn clothes
Feeding every 3 hours during the day
Wakes up 1 time for feeding at night
Weighed 8.3 at 1 Week & 8.12 at 2 weeks (bigger than your brother!)
Love to be held
More & More alert everyday
HATE diaper Changes (you have pooped on everyone... even Graham)

She is such a sweet sweet baby & we are so happy to be her family!!! Harper Ellison praise the Lord for your safe arrival. You will never know how thankful we are to have you in our lives but I pray that we show you everyday just how much we love you. Children truly are a gift & our blessings from these two gifts are overflowing! May we always show our children God's love & help them to follow him in everyway. Here are some pictures from the BIG day....

Almost forgot to say she wore the same outfit home that Graham did... thought it was a sweet idea to bring all of our babies home in this sweet outfit.

Harper Ellison

Well sweet Harper...

We are counting down the hours now until your arrival & I am feeling terrible that we have been so busy. Thank you for being such a good little baby & allowing me to be so so so active moving & chasing your big (but still little) brother! We are SO looking forward to your arrival & we have finished your nursery & have everything you would need, plus TONS of love. I can't wait to see what you will look like & act like! I hope that you know we have loved you every second of your little life, even before your heart was beating we loved you! I know that just like Graham, you will change our lives in so many ways (for the better of coarse).

What a wonderful blessing to have something so precious to focus on during this move. You & your brother are the light of our lives & I truly feel priviliged to be a mom. We love you so so much & hope that you want to meet us as much as we do you!

Love you baby girl
Mommy

Our Little Pumpkin

Well Halloween 2011 has come & gone. Keith & I both LOVE Halloween so we hope to meet a lot of new people before next years so we can kick off our Halloween party again. We decorated a little but not like usual at all... honestly I am about to decorate for Christmas (I know it's crazy but it will be one less thing to do after little miss gets here).

Graham was a pumpkin & he really enjoyed himself! He left the hat on basically the whole night & LOVED going up to ring the doorbell for treats. He said trick or treat & thanked everyone! Such a sweetie... he also loved handing out candy with Keith when we got home. Glad our little guy is on his way to being festive for our favorite Holiday!

Also our neighborhood was AWESOME! Tons of people walking around all dressed up & Tons of decorated houses... how fun! Sometimes you just don't know how some things will be... it's like when we were moving here I asked Keith if he thought people in Austin put up Christmas lights...LOL! He thought I was crazy... I mean I figured they did but it just doesn't seem like it will feel like Christmas time when it's still in the 80's! Ha! Anyway here are a few pictures of our little pumpkin all dressed up!