Another comparison

This pooooor neglected blog!! Sorry all for not posting cute pics of the kids!! I have them, but haven't gotten around to posting. Although, I thought this would be a fun post! - check it out...my three babes, all a few weeks from each other doing the exact same thing! :)
Harper as progressed physically a little faster than the other two - probably because they're constantly running around and she wants to be in the action so much. She started crawling before she even turned 7 months old!!

Here's Harper at 6.5 months

Easton at 7 months

Raquelle at 7 monthsSO fun! They are so similar it's funny! - Yet Ms. Harper is very different in personality than the other two! Super social, fidgety, wants to be in the action, dramatic! - oh no! :) She's a hoot!! I can't wait for her to start talking and for that personality to bloom! ;) Love her!!!

Rear Facing or Forward Facing

I remember when Easton turned 12 months old, I couldn't WAIT to turn him around so he could see out! In fact, we turned Raquelle around at 10.5 months for a long road trip so I could access her and she would be more entertained. I came across these videos and they've changed my thinking tremendously!!! Check it out for yourself...I guess the government is now strongly suggesting/requiring children to face the rear until at least 2 years of age.

Animated Video

Real crash test video

The AAP's policy will appear in the April edition of Pediatrics (their peer-reviewed scientific journal) and is based on research such as a 2007 study in Injury Prevention showing that children under 2 are 75% less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing. This is a finding, by the way, that comes to no surprise to countries such as Sweden, which has the world's lowest highway fatality rate for children under 6 and requires children to be rear-facing until age 4.

Just thought I'd pass it along!!

My sweet 6 year old!!!!

We threw a little party for my daughter's 6th birthday! I can't believe this sweet babe is six already!! I am amazed how I look back on pics how much she has grown, matured and blossomed into this wonderful blessing in my life!!!! Raquelle, I love you so much and am sooo proud of how much you desire to love Jesus, laugh, be creative and just have fun!! May your life be soo rich and sooo blessed!!

She LOVES cheetos and requests them for every b-day!

More party pics

She got legos for her birthday! - and she's been building building building ever since!! I love it...that's what I used to do all the time when I was little! She has built several houses all by herself just by following the instructions...that's just like her daddy! - he loves to read instructions! :)

I made a lollipop cake that stood up like a lollipop. I totally ran out of time and with an hour left for the party I squished all the colors together to form a tie-die lollipop instead of the swirls like I had intended to do! To see more cake pics you can look at my cake blog here. Next party...the cake MUST be done the day before the party!! If it wasn't for my mother in law, there would have been no decorations! Thanks nana!!!!!!!! You're the best!! :)

Oh my sweet girl!! Love you loads!!!

A fun comparison...again!

I'm sorry it's been MONTHS since I've posted anything!! I have sweet pics of my babes, but it's a matter of sitting down long enough to get them off my camera!!

However, I had to do this one because it was soo stink'n fun!! Harper is rolling over now and grabbing at her toes! She just turned 4 months a week ago or so and is sooo strong! Gotta love those belly babies! :) She was sitting in her boppy holding her toes and I remembered I had taken some pics of the other kids doing the same thing at about the same age! So, I quickly snapped a pic and began digging back on the blog and I found them!! So, here are all my babes together, on the same boppy, holding their feet the same way! :) SO FUN! You might have to click on the pic to zoom in...

Harper is such a little Harris - and such a great blend of both her sis and her bro! I love it!
And here's Easton trying to be a baby! :) LOL! A little different than the pic above...only 3 + years later! Silly boy!

Sweet Harper Joy is here...

YEAH, our baby girl arrived almost 3 weeks ago...and yes, I'm just now posting pics and an update!! Harper Joy Harris arrived on Oct. 29th at 8:06pm. She was 7lbs 4 oz and was 20" long...my biggest baby!! Raquelle and Easton were both 6lbs 15oz, so she was only 5 oz heavier! My womb must max out about there...at least I felt like it did! :) All went well...for delivering a baby! She came out super fast and was beautiful! She has been an amazing eater and is a super duper good sleeper! At her almost 2 week check up, she was already up to 7 lbs 14 oz and had grown 1.5 inches since she was born! Whew! She likes to eat!! :)

Things have been mighty busy with three!! Oh my! :) If there has been a spare moment, mama has been laying down or sleeeeeeping! I forgot how being up every 3 hours at night can knock ya senseless during the day!! Thanks to my mom, Ben's mom and Ben being home for 2 weeks to help me get on my feet!!!

Sorry for the picture overload...but it has been three weeks! - and we've taken a good amount of pics! So, here's a few to share...

Once fed and bathed, she settled right to sleep!
A very happy daddy! I think he was glad the "hard part" was over! :) LOL!At home! We left the hospital less than 24 hours after she was born! Mama was ready to be in her own bed!!!! :)I think she's going to have a widow's peak...see her hairline?! :) And, the big question now is what color eyes will she have!? Stay tuned...right now they're a deep blue. But, hopefully they'll change to a beautiful green and we'll have one brown eye, one blue eye and one green eye baby - wouldn't that be cool!? :)
Here she is showing some "sass"! OH no, do we have a princess or what?! :)

Photoshoot with brother
Which was VERY fast and came equiped with several bribes to get him to lay this close to her!Every time she touches Easton, he freaks out! I said "Hold her hand.." and this is the face I get! :) He thinks it's soooo funny when she touches him!

This girl is seriously alert!! I have not been able to get any sweet "sleeping baby" pictures because she is just wide awake unless she is in her bed...then she sleeps hard...but doesn't really transfer! SO, here she is...alert and wide awake! :)
Photoshoot with sister


The whole gang
See, here is Easton freaking out after she "touched" him again! :) SO funny!!!

The kids are adoring her!! Raquelle thinks she is SO cute and says it all the time. She LOVES that Harper looks just like her when she was a baby!! And, Easton loves to goo-goo-gaa-gaa over her! He loves to dance around her and always wants to give her kisses and constantly wonders where she is. It's pretty cute!

Thanks for looking!! - and thanks for all your prayers and support!!! We praise the Lord for His faithfulness in our life and are sooo thankful to have this beautiful, healthy little girl in our family!!

Tired boy and First day of school

You know you have a tired little boy on your hands when you find him in the middle of the hallway sleeping like this! :) He was in his room for quiet time playing, then it got real quiet and I went back to check on him and found him like this! I grabbed my camera because it just looked so sweet to me!!!! He slept like this for about an hour!! Even with Raquelle hanging out in her room right next door, and me out baking, he just laid there, sleeping!! So funny!!

And the latest, most greatest thing that has happened to our little family is my sweet princess has started kindergarten!!! WOW! I snapped this pic in our backyard the morning we left for school. Complete with her backpack! I just loved how she sat down, crossed her legs and threw her arm over the chair - such a professional! :) She looks like she's 8 years old here though...kinda freaks me out how big she's getting!! The school is literally across the street behind our neighbors house. It takes us 5 min. to walk there because we cut through their backyard. The house is owned by the church/school, so it's totally cool for us to do that! :) As my sweet nephew said when I took him that way one time, "Do the police know we're walking back here!?" :)
The school is so fun for her! The entire school (kindergarten through high school) is set up on a M, W, F (in class program) from 8:30-3pm. Then, Tu, Thurs is at home with parents doing assigned home school. Her kindergarten class schedule is set up with two snack times, two recess times and a lunch! :) So, it's a great transition for her...lots of fun and still some learning! Her teacher is amazingly wonderful, sweet and kind and Raquelle loves her. She has a few "kindred" spirits in the class that she has already bonded too, so she is set for the year I think! The transition was much easier than I thought it would be and Easton and I are thoroughly enjoying our time together!! It's so fun having him all to myself for a few more weeks!!

That's it for now...will post more as I start organizing pics. I realized I haven't printed pictures since 2007...when Easton was born! He has no baby book and we have no family albums!! So, my next project will be sorting, organizing and printing our amazing memories of these last few years!! Pray for me...that I won't go crazy! :) :)