Cowboy Judah

John Mark and his two favorite women

No, not me - notice the woman on the tv.

Sweet hospital picture of Daddy and Harper

I just found this on my camera.

Aunt Mandi

This one is for you, Aunt Mandi (because you did buy her the shirt).

Are you ready for some football?

Judah just noticed this helmet that belonged to my dad when he was little. Judah asked to put it on and then got his Alabama football and played. So cute - my dad would love it.

June 2010

Some more cute random pics of the kids.

Judah's haircut

I mentioned before that Judah is not a fan of getting his hair cut (Exhibit A). He has only had two haircuits in a barbershop and each involved one of us having to lay on him and him screaming shrilly. When my mom was here in April, she decided that he needed another haircut. I told the sweet barber that he just needed a trim but then things got a little crazy from there. Judah screamed, bucked in the chair, swung his arms, and basically pitched a hissy fit. In the end, the cut ended up being a little shorter than I would like. But I can't really blame the guy. I can't imagine what I would have done to his hair while he was acting out the Exorcist. He got another haircut yesterday. From Daddy. Here at home. I won't put that poor barber through that again anytime soon.

Harper Talking

May 2010

Cute pumpkin!
We were eating dinner one night and Judah had gone into the bedroom to try to get Harper to stop crying by giving her her paci.
Granny reading to Judah.
Big brother giving some love.
Little explorer.

Did I mention that I love Harper? Did I also mention that this go round has been harder than Judah? Harper is a screamer - especially when we first brought her home - but also whenever we do something that she doesn't want. Like bathing her, trying to put her to bed at night, etc. She still is not sleeping through the night which according to a magazine puts her in the 3% of kids not sleeping through the night at 3 months - oh, to be part of the 97%! (The picture of Judah and Granny above is from when I called and begged my mom to come and help me after one miserable night). But those smiles that she gives when she is not screaming bloody murder are precious. I need to post a picture of that so when she gets older she doesn't think I was just negative. :-)

April 2010

Here are some random snapshots from April. Harper has already changed so much!

Going home

Being at the hospital had been good. We sent Harper to the nursery every night until it was time to nurse and got some decent sleep. Also at this hospital I got to order whatever food I wanted (that they offered) when I wanted instead of them bringing me a tray. We were glad to be going home to be with Judah but kind of sad to be leaving the hospital with all of the baby help. And boy was it rough to be home! Harper had her days and nights mixed up and screamed bloody murder all night long. I was so tired and upset all I could do was cry with her. Thankfully the moms had stayed to provide some help and let me get some sleep. I wouldn't have made it without them.

Judah meets Harper

John Mark's mom and my mom and Aunt Mandi were at our house waiting to see what the doctor said at my appointment on the 12th. Thankfully they were able to take care of Judah for us since the doctor sent us on to the hospital. Judah had fallen asleep when they were on the way to my room and we tried to let him get his nap out (He behaves as well as his mama when he is woken up out of a deep sleep). Something woke him up (probably Harper) and he got to meet his sister. He said "put her back." His feelings for his sister have definitely improved since then, thank goodness!

Here she is...

Yes, I was about ready to pop.
First look at baby girl - she was not happy.
Harper meets mama.
Big brother gets his first look.

Harper Nell Patrick, born April 12th, 2001 at 1:03 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs. and 8 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long.

In April, we had our surprise baby - Harper Nell Patrick. Harper, because we like the name, and Nell after my Granny, Nellie Pearl. We were quite surprised to find out we were pregnant after being diagnosed with infertility and getting pregnant with Judah after infertility treatments. In fact, the day I found out I was pregnant we were sending off the paperwork to begin the process of adoption. So this pregnancy truly was a surprise!
The pregnancy was fairly routine until we had our twenty-week ultrasound. Not only did we find out that we were having a girl, the tech discovered that she had an echogenic cardiac foci. It is a spot on the heart that can be an indicator for Down's Syndrome. However, she did not have any of the other normal indicators. The doctors assured us that the likelihood of her having down's with only this one marker were extremely low and that the spots normally disappear later in the pregnancy. We had ultrasound after ultrasound but the spot did not go away. We had opted out of genetic testing, so we were just waiting to see at delivery if indeed everything was o.k.
My doctor did not want me to go long after my due date because I had a c-section with Judah and she was worried about my scar. We talked about it and decided that if I had made any progress at my appointment on the 12th of April (my due date was the 11th), she would let me try to labor. If I had not, she felt safer doing another c-section.
When I got to my appointment on the 12th, I had not eaten anything in case she was going to do the surgery. The doctor said I had not progressed at all so they sent me directly to the hospital. This experience was so different than with Judah. I was very calm and was able to experience everything that was going on (I was kind of out of it after laboring for 24 hours before my c-section with Judah). They were also able to manage my pain and nausea (unlike with Judah).
When I got into the operating room, they were playing "Macarena" on the radio. I asked the dr. if I was really going to have my baby with this on. After a couple more cheesy songs, she got them to cut the radio off. It seemed to take forever for them to get Harper out since the umbilical cord was wrapped around her a few times--so very grateful that I did not try to labor! I was so glad when I heard her crying. After they showed her to me and took her to clean her up, it ended up taking a lot of time for them to finish my surgery. I even asked if there was a problem at one point because it was taking so long. The doctor said that I had a ton of scar tissue that looked like I had multiple c-sections instead of just one and that the scar tissue had pushed my bladder out of its normal position. Finally, they sent me on to recovery and I finally got to hold Harper.

Zoo in Columbia

The Friday before the Sunday Harper was due Mom and I took Judah for one last outing to the zoo in Columbia with our friends the Reeds. Judah is a huge fan of the zoo (even though the tiger roared while we were there and he was quite scared). We had such a good time that we became members so I anticipate many more trips when it is not 100+ degrees outside.

Savannah

Julie came up and we went to Savannah for Saint Patrick's day. I enjoyed spending time with JM and Julie but didn't really enjoy the St. Patrick festivities, being nine months pregnant and all. We did get to eat at Lady & Sons but Paula Dean's brother's restaurant, "Uncle Bubba's," was even better to me. There is this funny story about the pastor, the policeman, and the parked car (said police officer is in picture five above) ... but I will save that one for John Mark to tell.