The Joys of Motherhood

Motherhood is rewarding, it is fun, it is incredible but let's be honest...it is tough! Little boys are noisy, they are wild, and they are messy. A silent home is a very rare occasion. Some days for my sanity's sake I go out to my car and sit in silence. I'm sure my neighbors think I am crazy but I need it. I need to hear myself think again. And I need to get away. I can't afford a luxurious spa vacation so I go out to my car. I listen to the radio, check e-mails on my iPhone, and then sit there in pure silence. It is fantastic! Sometimes Erik gets home from work and the first thing out of my mouth is, "Hey, will you watch Harper for a bit? I am going to go sit in the car for a few minutes." Oh the little things!

What do you other moms out there do for an escape? Anybody lock themselves in the closet? Haha! I think that could have crossed my mind at some point.


Tonight, Harper insisted on eating spaghetti and yogurt for dinner. What a strange combination! He likes to go to the fridge and pick out his own meals now. If he doesn't like what I give him he throws it down for Fender. He loves to feed himself. Watching him eat this particular meal was quite entertaining. I will leave you with some photos of the fun:

We Are Blessed

Motherhood is pretty amazing. Every single day is an adventure. I am constantly learning new things about my baby and about myself.

Harper is a sweet, sweet baby. He loves to cuddle and he is only fussy when he is hungry. We are blessed. We catch him smirking, smiling, and once an awhile he lets out a small chuckle. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen and every time he smiles, my heart melts.

I always thought I was a career woman. My profession and my career dreams were on the top of my priority list. Now I just want to figure out a way to stay with Harper as long as possible. I would give anything to be a stay-at-home mom. I just can't imagine missing a second of this little guy's life. I want to see every smirk, every step, every cry, every thing! I am already aware that being a stay-at-home mom is  the hardest job in the world but I think it is totally worth it. And if we can't work that out, I would love to figure out a way to take Harp to work with me or to work from home. He is already growing up so fast and I realize I need to cherish every moment we have with him. On that note, he is 6 weeks old!!! CRAZY. When people say, "they grow up fast," that is a complete understatement. As of today, Harper moved up to size one diapers. I think he is will fit his size 0-3 month clothing any day now... they are still a little big on him and he still wears newborn clothing.

We had a WONDERFUL Halloween week. My best friend, Bri, came in town from Charlotte and met me and Harper for lunch. I was so glad they finally met each other. And my parent's best friends came in town from Florida. It was great to visit with them. On Friday night a huge group of friends went to Joe's Crab Shack to watch Erik's new act, "Palmetto" play! It was so much fun. We played pass the baby and Harper was able to meet a ton of our friends and the guys sounded fantastic! If you live in the Upstate, make sure to come to Joe's Crab Shack on Pelham Road in Greenville, SC this Friday night from 8:00pm- 11:00pm. The band is playing a again and there is always a fun group of people at the show. They play a variety of music, everything from Kenny Chesney, Pearl Jam, John Mayor, to Jimmy Buffett. Plus, it is FREE!!! Can't beat that right!?

To top it off, the Gamecocks WON on Saturday. Harper wore his good luck gamecock outfit and it worked. Thanks Auntie Jenna for the adorable t-shirt, Auntie Corbin for the Carolina booties, and Colin for the awesome USC toboggan. Now we just have to pull out a few more wins so we can win the SEC East.

We had an amazing Halloween. Harper made it to church for the first time (more like we woke up in time to make it to church for the first time since the baby was born.) We just started going to a new church when we moved back to the Upstate and we absolutely love it. They have been an amazing church family. Several members of our Sunday school class brought up homemade meals when Harper was born. It was a huge blessing! We are really excited to raise Harper with such a great church community.

Then we headed to Denver Downs Farm in Anderson, SC. It was FANTASTIC. Harper went on his first hayride. We picked pumpkins, sunflowers, and zinnias. We enjoyed lemonade and funnel cakes. And we took lots of photos. The weather was perfect and we decided to make the trip a yearly tradition. After the farm, we headed to my parent's house and enjoyed a steak dinner.

Hope you had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Let's Talk Genetics

It is amazing how fast babies grow and how much their appearance can change from day to day! Right now Harper's hair is changing. In the front it is getting VERY light. So light that is actually looks like he is bald in the front in photos.

Can you see how it is turning light in the front?!  But it is still dark on the sides. Hehe! 

The funny part is, the back of his hair is still brown and is starting to look somewhat curly. It is hysterical because that is what everyone is waiting to see, whether or not Harper will get my blonde hair or Erik's brown/curly hair. Now he has BOTH! I think he is teasing us. We really have no idea what it is going to do next. It definitely has some wave in it. So maybe it will be curly like his daddy. When he was born, it was very dark. But my hair was actually extremely dark when I was born too. Within a few months my hair turned white. Erik had lighter hair when he was born and then it turned dark and curly. So really there is NO telling what his will do.  I will try to dig up a newborn photo of myself tomorrow and scan it so you can see how dark it was. It doesn't look me at all.

The photo below was taken when I was about 5 months old. By that time my hair was blonde.

We are also really excited to see what eye color he will have. Erik and I both have greenish eyes. My eyes were really blue until about 2nd grade. Now they go back and forth between blue and green. Erik has beautiful green eyes. Right now Harper's are dark blue (they look brown in photos but they are actually really dark blue.) We did a little research and found this chart online. So according to the chart it looks like his eyes will most likely be green. I guess we are just going to have to wait to find out!

This photo is when I was  a little older but my eyes are still blue:

I found a great website that helps predict your baby's eye color. Check it out here! It is great because it factor's in all of your family member's eye color and gives you an exact percentage. 

Fun Facts about eye color: (From docshop.com) 

• You probably knew that brown is the most common eye color worldwide, but did you know that green is by far the rarest? In fact, less than 2 percent of the global population possesses green eyes. As a country, Turkey has the highest percentage of citizens who have green eyes, at 20 percent. There are a number of countries – generally located in Asia, South America, and the Middle East – where green eyes are almost completely absent among the population.
• Did you know that blue eyes are the most common eye color for Caucasians, over amber, hazel, grey, and green? In fact, over 80 percent of the population of Iceland has either blue or green eyes.
• A not-so-common, but very noticeable condition called heterochromia can result in people having eyes of different colors. Actress Mila Kunis, of That 70’s Show and Family Guy fame, for instance, has one blue eye and one green eye. Kate Bosworth, from Blue Crush and the new Superman, has blue eyes, with a hazel blotch at the bottom of her right eye. David Bowie, of Ziggy Stardust and Labyrinth lore, is perhaps the most well-known celebrity with mismatched eye colors. Most people don’t know that Bowie’s condition is the result of a traumatic soccer injury suffered as a teenager, and not heterochromia.

Ok ladies, now I need your help! Here are a few questions that I have. Please help me out if you know the answers for any of the questions below and leave them in the form of a comment on this post. Please leave them as a comment because your answers help a lot of the other readers too and when I receive e-mails I am the only one that gets to learn from your wisdom. 

Questions for mamas:

1) When does the ugly dark line disappear from your belly? Mine is fading but I am ready for it to be GONE!
2) Did any of you all supplement with formula? If so, how often and how much formula? I have talked to three separate doctors and received different answers from all three so I would love your input!
3) Did you all wait 6 weeks until you started working out? I can't wait to fit my jeans again. They are still a little snug. But the doctor suggested I wait 6 weeks until I start working out again... boo!
4) Does anyone know where to find cute baby boy jackets?
5) Did you wake-up your baby for feedings? My lactation consultant suggested I should. What do you all think? If Harper decides to sleep through the night should I let him? Could going that long without breast feeding cause my body to produce less milk?
6) Has anyone read Baby Wise? Erik read it on his flight yesterday and thinks we should try it out so I am going to try to read it tonight. What did you all think?
7) When did your babies eyes and hair turn their permanent color?