Sippy cups & finger foods

It's so fun watching the changes that Harper makes on a daily basis! In the past two weeks she has started to drink out of a sippy cup and also eat "finger foods". The finger foods that I've been getting her to eat are the little puffs. They practically dissolve in her mouth. Here is a little video of her first attempt...




Don't worry - she did eventually have success.
Concentrating so hard.

We have also started to teach her to drink out of a sippy cup. She is slowly getting the hang of it. The cup has a few ounces of watered down juice for her to "drink" (or dribble all down the front of her.) Not sure how much she actually swallows.She is still enjoying eating all of the fruits and veggies that I make. So far she has not met a food that she didn't like. Monday afternoon we went to Jeff's baseball game because the weather was so nice. Jeff's dad met Harper and I at the game. She is always chewing on something!

Harper is trying to look around me to see Jeff out on the field. So cute. Harper now has two bottom teeth. I've been trying to get a good picture for the past week. Today, she finally smiled just right for me to catch a glimpse of her teeth. Don't mind her drool soaked shirt.

Harper likes playing with her first ball. I'm sure that this is just the first of many more to come.

Catching Up

I started this post last week and never finished it. Here are some random pics from the past couple of weeks. Here's Harper getting some tummy time in on our bed. Sitting up like such a big girl hanging out with Papa

Harper styling with Emily's sunglasses (Yup - Emily I think these are yours that Meesh has now!)

Reaching for the camera!

Happy Birthday Welch!

Sarah was my first friend at Baylor. We met the Summer before our Freshman year at camp in Colorado. We met each other the first day and realized that we were both headed to Baylor in the fall and would be living in the same dorm. We went by our last names Welch & Cutrell while we were in college because we were roommates for two years. I've put together a little photo history...
Sarah and I in June of 2000 at camp in Colorado. I can't believe that we have been friends for almost NINE years!Collins Temptations. We played on the same freshman intramural volleyball team. I had never really played volleyball so Sarah taught me everything I needed to know so I didn't make a fool of myself!Freshman year at Baylor we both pledged the same sorority - Kappa Chi Alpha. We shared so many fun memories like pledge dances, SING, formals, Crush, camping trips, & mission trips. Not sure why we thought these big jerseys were cool!

One of the many KXA pledge dances that we attended...Another fun KXA function - Foam CrushWe decided to make our Halloween costumes one year. We went as Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, & Tweedle Do Do. Not sure what we were thinking...Sarah is from Fritch, TX Population 2,235. We stopped in Fritch on our way to ski over Spring Break one year. Sarah was there from the very beginning of mine & Jeff's relationship. She was such a supportive roommate. She knew that he was going to propose several months before he did and was able to keep it a secret. They planned an engagement party for me the night that I flew home from St. Louis when Jeff proposed. She baked a mini wedding cake!

I got married in my home town of Paris, TX. Sarah was a bridesmaid in my wedding. Here's us the night before I got married. We had such an amazing wedding day surrounded by so many of our sweet friends like Sarah.

Sarah and I both moved to Dallas after we graduated. We enjoy hanging out on a somewhat regular basis. In 2006, Sarah came to Florida to cheer me on in my first Ironman Triathlon. What a trooper to endure 13 plus hours of cheering! That next summer I got to support her when she did her first triathlon!

We have spent several fun weekends at Natalie's lake house. Here's Sarah and Natalie jammin' while playing Rock Band. A couple of years ago Sarah got to go to Maui, Hawaii with me when I traveled there for work. We had so much fun exploring the Island.

One of my favorite memories from our trip to Maui was driving up to the top of the Haleakala Volcano to watch the sun rise. We left our hotel at 2am and arrived at the summit around 4:00am. It was FREEZING cold and dark. Once the sun started to rise, you realized that you were above the clouds! It was amazing. Yes - those are clouds behind us as far as you could see. Sarah has been there for so many of my major milestones. College graduation, engagement, wedding, and the birth of Harper. I love you Sarah and I love sharing a name with you!!! Happy Birthday!

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

Today is Rebekah's 19th birthday. She is my youngest sister and I can't believe that she is 19 already! I remember when she was born! Makes me feel pretty old. She is a freshman at UT and is doing great in the business school. We are glad that she lives close enough to hang out with Harper on occasion. Here's some pics from Easter weekend of Harper and her Aunt Beka!

Happy Birthday Sis! I love you!!

Easter Weekend

Warning: this post has a lot of pics. This was Harper's First Easter so I think I went a little overboard with the 150 pictures that I took. This weekend we made a quick trip up to Paris to spend time with my family. Jeff had a game on Friday night, so we left on Saturday morning. We arrived in time for lunch. It was pretty weather on Saturday and it was supposed to rain all day on Sunday so we enjoyed being outside while we could. Rebekah was able to come home from college for the weekend. Harper loved Aunt Beka's long curly hair. Harper loves the dogs. She would just giggle every time they came near her. Aunt Beka is determined to make sure that Harper is not afraid of dogs like me!Check out those leg rolls! Entertaining Great Grandaddy on Saturday night. After, we went to church on Sunday morning we snapped a "few" pics of Miss Harper in her Easter dress. She thinks her daddy is so funny!

Our attempt at a family photo Harper was more interested in looking at the dogs than the camera.

The girls - Aunt Beka and Mimi. We missed you Carol! My sweet little girl!

7 Months Old

Whew - it's been a hectic week. Jeff is right in the middle of baseball season and is busier than ever. Harper turned seven months old last Saturday. The time is flying by. She is getting to the age where her personality is really coming out. She babbles all of the time and loves to laugh. She has two bottom teeth that are poking through. I've tried several different times to get a picture of her teeth - but so far none of them have turned out.

Harper is still not sleeping great at nights. She normally goes does around 9pm - usually not without a fight. She loves to play games with Jeff and I around bed time! It's pretty frustrating actually. Motherhood is definitely the most challenging, exhausting, and rewarding things that I've ever done. The night time routine can be exhausting just to get her to go to bed. She still gets up twice per night to nurse.

When she wakes up in the mornings she is such a happy baby. Here's some video that I took one morning this week.