American Sweetie

We've had a nice day just being at home today. In fact as I type this I'm still in shorts with no makeup and my hair looks like it did when I got out of bed. ha! We went for a walk this morning and Scott came out and took a few pics (advantage of a work at home dad)!

I love this of Dawson - he LOVES walks!

Harper's 4th of July outfit of the day. Her Gigi got this for her and it's so cute. It says "American sweetie".

She was under our glass table looking up at me when I took this. It makes me laugh.

This is random but I got a cute birth announcement today and hung it on my bulletin board next to my desk. Two years ago I made this board and it was covered in cards my friends has sent me to encourage me through our infertility. Those cards meant the WORLD to me. Today it is covered in birth announcements of so many precious babies - some of them are adoption announcements! I was thinking today that it should be called a "Blessings Board". I'm so thankful for each "blessing" on that board.
And finallly - tomorrow I will not be blogging. Instead I will be participating in this:

What: Moment of Silence for Cohen

When: Thursday July 1st from midnight to 11:59 pm.

How: Bloggers participating will post the Cohen banner (below) or simply post Cohen’s name in large letters on their blog.

Why: July 1st Megan and Brent will be holding Cohen’s memorial service. The moment of silence is an opportunity for Megan’s blog community to stand behind her and support her on this difficult day. Linking up will give Megan a chance to see the support at a glance.

Participating bloggers can Link Up on July 1st at Send Love To Cohen. Will you join me and help spread the word?

I am honored to have met Megan and my heart breaks for her as she buries her son tomorrow. I'm also going to be thinking of so many friends/bloggers/people who have lost children in the last year as I do this day of silence. Praying for each of you.

O Happy Day

Harper woke up late today - in fact we had to wake her up - and she was in the BEST mood. Which is rare. She was such a joy today because she was all smiles. I loved it. Before we left for church today I took some pictures of her and she came up and started cheesing for the camera (which she never does) and that resulted in the two following pictures and I LOVE them!
This morning was our last Bible Study for the summer and my favorite woman in our church came and shared her testimony. It was SO great. She also encouraged me SO much before we even started because she was sharing that her youngest daughter who just graduated from high school and is just beautiful and sweet and talented - was a WILD toddler and didn't sleep through the night until she was 2. She was also a NICU baby. I can't tell you how much that helped me to hear. I have been smiling all day just thinking I have a lot of hope that one day Harper will be a sweet teenager that people won't run from when they see her coming. ha!

This picture KILLS me. I have looked at it today probably a dozen times and just smiled!

After Bible Study my sweet friend Elizabeth came over for lunch and to visit. Harper took a long nap and we were able to just sit on the couch and visit and laugh and cry (thus the picture with no makeup left on). She teaches school and we just haven't had a chance to catch up in a while and we had such an amazing time together. I am SO thankful for my friends!



Couldn't catch the animal noises but Harper was cheesing for the video camera today and we got a quick hi and bye!

Last thing:
I have a friend who is going through infertility and she has a rare condition and so does someone else close to her. She is looking for anyone out there who had both DOR and Endometriosis. If you did AND you had a successful pregnancy - would you email her at journeytobabyp {at} gmail {dot} com. They could really use some hope and your happy ending would do just that! Thanks so much!

O Say Can you See

This morning was our catch up day - full of dishes, laundry, making beds, etc.
Then we headed to the ENT for a check up on our tubes and hearing test. Harper went BALLISTIC in the hearing test. Screaming and crying. I was so embarrassed. The audiologist tried to schedule us to come in again when there were two of them working but our doctor said he thought we should just wait until she is two. Hopefully by then - it really won't be necessary. Harper still doesn't talk much. She is SO active and very non verbal but she only says a few words. This week though she has started to say animal sounds which has been a great break through for me. Her favorite is cat. She has been meowing constantly but she can do a lion and a monkey (both complete with motions) and a dog and a cow. And she even snorts for a pig. If I can ever get her to be still long enough to do many in a row - I'll put up video.
She also learned this weekend to give us knuckles and she giggles every time.
As if the doctor wasn't punishment enough - we headed to Wal-Mart afterwards to grocery shop. If it wasn't completely necessary - I would have skipped but it had to be done.
I got tickled tonight because Scott took Harper outside to play while I cooked dinner and when they came in - he had tied her dress up in a knot. He hates when I let her wear dresses and she steps on them. I know he's right - but she's so cute in them!
Harper is working more and more on feeding herself with a spoon. I usually wait until we have something safe like mashed potatos that stick to the spoon well but she loves feeding herself. She usually has two spoons - one in each hand.
The 4th of July is probably my favorite holiday. I love that it's summer and everyone has picnics or cookouts and I love fireworks. (well I did until I had a baby and now I get mad when my neighbors are shooting them off until midnight not just on the 4th but for about 6 days in a row. This year I might go outside and tell them if H wakes up - one of them can come inside and rock her until she goes back to sleep. ha!)
Somehow we ended up with a lot of red, white, and blue clothes - so I'm going to let Harper spend a week celebrating her country! We are so thankful to live in the USA and for all the men and women who have died to give us our freedom!

Prayer Requests

Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You, and I will look up. Psalm 5:3

Evening and morning, and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud; and He shall hear my voice. Psalm 55:17

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

So many of you have prayer requests or someone you would like to be prayed for - I'd love for you to link to either their blog/caring bridge site or to a post on your blog about the prayer request. I'd love for anyone who can to pray for those God puts on your hearts! Or just leave your prayer request in the comments! Thank you for being a community who prays for one another!

Real

Warning: Deep thoughts by Kelly Stamps post to follow! ha! I'm adding a few pictures in it for the grandparents or anyone else who doesn't feel like reading this long of a post. ha!

I've been churning this post through my head for the last day or two. I received a comment on a previous post that at first made me mad and then hurt my feelings because I didn't feel like their perception of me was correct or true and it ended with me having an email dialogue with this person that made me feel so much better because I think we both saw where the other person was coming from and I was actually glad they wrote me.

How REAL are we on our blogs?

I love to think that I'm true to who I am on this blog. I write about our days and honestly - it is what it is. I worked very hard at several jobs before I had Harper. I struggled financially, struggled to find a husband, struggled to have a baby, struggled with her health and so yes - I have reached a very wonderful place in my life where my days really are full of play dates and lunch dates and shopping trips and swimming pools and cooking dinner for my family and friends. Am I extremely blessed? Yes! Is my life perfect? NO! Do I EVER want anyone who reads this blog to think my life is perfect? NO! NO! NO! Do I put pictures of myself on here without makeup and crazy hair (which is how I look a lot of days) - Probably not because I'm just vain enough not to. But who does do that?

I have the same issues we all have. I struggle with my weight. I struggle with my looks. I struggle with all kinds of sin. I'm SUPER insecure in who I am as a mother. I lose my patience with Harper lots of days. I have days when I want to do anything but chase a toddler all day. I have fights with Scott. But at the end of the day - my blog is something I do for myself more than anything and I want to remember the good things.
I'm also a very Half Glass Full kind of girl. My family is a positive family who always looks for the best in everything and so am I. I'm not a person who is naturally going to get on here and complain. First of all - my perspective is on other countries and families struggling with sick children or their own health or financially and I know without a doubt I have NOTHING to complain about. I also think of all the girls who read this blog who want nothing more than to be a wife and/or a mother and I'm praying so hard for them and I feel like it would be a slap in the face to be complaining about my family when I want to encourage them instead. And last - Scott and Harper are my world. They both might make me crazy at times but this is not the place for me to air our dirty laundry. That's not healthy for my marriage or for my daughter.

I do try to be open about my struggles as a parent. I was open about my struggle with infertility. I try to be as open of a book as I can be. I know that my life is nothing without Jesus. He is my source of joy. I live by the verses 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice ALWAYS, pray without ceasing, in EVERYTHING give thanks."

I know that a LOT of you reading this live in different parts of the country or different parts of the world and my life seems strange to you. That doesn't make it NOT real - it just makes it different. I would probably think your world was strange or not real. ha!
This is a long rambling post and all I really want to say is - I'm SO thankful for my life. I AM extremely blessed. I waited so long to be a mother and a wife that I treasure EVERY second and maybe I seem a little too "Pollyanna" for some people but it's really who I am. NEVER compare your life to another. I am no better than anyone who reads this blog and I promise I don't think I am. The last thing I would ever want from anyone who reads this blog is for someone to think "well - her life is just perfect" because come spend a day with me. ha!
But life is TOO short to be unhappy or angry or bitter. Find happiness in the small things. I don't write this so you will leave comments saying "you do seem real" or to justify me. I just REALLY want anyone who reads this blog to know that I share the same struggles with you and never think for a minute that my life is perfect or that I am perfect or that I am in any way bragging about my life. It's just a hard line between sharing the best of your life and coming across as everything is perfect.

How real are you on your blog? I'm curious if you put the highlights or the nitty gritty? And what does "being real" mean to you?

Show Us Your Life - Activities for Kids

This post couldn't come at a better time - with kids at home for summer or those of us with busy toddlers or even babies - it's hard to come up with activities.

Especially right now in the south or probably anywhere - it's SO hot already and we can only spend so much time outdoors so I'm always looking for something to do with Harper.

I don't have any good ideas - I need yours!!! I do get an email from a website called www.productiveparenting.com every day. You sign up for the ages of your children and every day they send you an idea of an activity. That has been helpful!

When you link up - put what ages your ideas apply to and that might help us to find what we are looking for! thanks!

Girls Day Out

Today was play group day. We have a great play group but sometimes it's out of control because we have about 20 moms and about 35 kids and it's just A LOT. We have split into two groups but it's still overwhelming at times. Today only 8 of us could make it and it was much more relaxed. The kids played well and we were able to sit and visit. Tracy (above) hosted us - she is SUPER hostess and has us over way too much. We had a taco bar and it was SO good!

All the cute kids having so much fun playing together!

Berkli and Stephanie

Harper loves Amanda - mostly because Amanda feeds her cake. ha!

Ginger and Kade

Tonight the fun continued because we had a baby shower for my friend Maegan who is expecting her third baby - a sweet girl named Kampbell (I LOVE that name - I have wanted to use it forever but Scott wouldn't get on board and I'm stuck on H names now but I was so excited Maegan is using it! Her other kids are Korbyn and Kash - so I LOVE that they use all K names!) (Alliteration makes me SO happy!)
Robin and Jessica (who is about to have baby Peyton any day!!)

Robin always makes cute cookies for every shower!

My pretty friends Ashley, Maegan the soon to be mom, Elizabeth and me! We had it at Panera and were able to just eat and relax and visit. I stayed way too long but we were having fun just sitting and talking which is something we can't always do these days with little kids running around! I'm so excited for these sweet babies to get here!

And just a few things:
*There is a fundraiser for little baby Cohen who passed away's family - read about it here:
www.inthiswonderfullife.com
* You probably heard about the little 8 year old girl Ellie who died of cancer this week. She was a twin. Pray for her family. Read about them here.
* I feel like there are so many prayer requests out there - on Sunday I'll do a post and I'd love for you to PLEASE link up your requests that day so we can cover these in prayer.

And finally - SUYL will be up mid morning tomorrow - it's all about children's activities. Now that school is out - we could all use ideas to keep babies through school aged kids busy! I can't wait to hear your ideas - hope you have some toddler ones! :-)

Wednesday

Maybe I'm in a blogging funk this week. I can't seem to come up with blog titles besides the day of the week. Sad. ha!

Well, sadly my mom left us this morning and we were back to ourselves. Sweet girl took a long nap this morning which I was thankful for because I needed to make dinner for some friends at church. I made them the enchilada ring. I was so sad because I planned to make them guacamole to go with it and all the avacados I had were not ripe enough. I had enough filling left over - that I made us the same dinner!
Harper and I made a little trip to the TJ's this afternoon and I spotted THIS lamp!!! They had it in pink and green and I debated for a minute but I loved the green. I know that as she grows I'd like to use more lime green in her room and also pinks are hard to match.
I have wanted a lamp for her table for a while now but just couldn't find the right one and so I could not pass this one up. Mostly because A. I'm a sucker for all things animal print and B. It was only $30 which is a great price for a lamp!

You can see how it kind of blends in with her bedding and room.

I'm taking desserts to our play group tomorrow and my sweet friend Kristin had emailed me to ask me for a recipe of a cake I used to make but haven't had in a LONG time. I was so glad for the reminder so I'm making it tomorrow as well as coconut cake. Chocolate chip pound cake is SO good and so easy to make! If you are looking for a dessert to make........cause who isn't?

And finally - I totally forgot to ever post the 2 winners from the Hymn CD giveaway (For His Glory) but they are angelastrand.blogspot.com and kaymiers.blogspot.com!

Tuesday

Today after Bible Study -we came home and my mom came to town to visit us! Harper took a nap and my mom stayed with her while I got out to run a few errands. It was nice to quickly get some things done without having to get Harper in and out of a hot car.
Harper woke up from her nap on the wrong side of the bed. She was pretty grumpy for Nonny all afternoon but luckily grandma doesn't care!
I cooked Pork Tenderloin for dinner with rice and salad and we ate after Harper went to bed.

Scott and I went on a little ice cream date tonight while my mom stayed with Harper!

Hello sweet summer goodness!

This may be the post with the fewest words I've ever written but I'm so tired tonight. So it's really more of a few pictures of our day.

Hope ya'll have had a nice day!

Summer Solstice

Happy First Day of Summer!!!

I don't know about where ya'll live but we are having record breaking heat here in Arkansas. This follows a winter where we had a record amount of snow. They always say a hot summer follows a really cold winter. So I guess we are in store for hot, hot, and more hot.

How did you spend the first day of summer? We have been out of town for about two straight weeks and I feel all out of sorts so this morning I made myself a To Do list and I knew I had to get it all done. I only had 5 hours of sleep last night because I couldn't sleep and Harper got up early so I was dragging but I was determined to make a dent.

Harper took a good nap and I was able to get most of the big things done this morning so after lunch she and I went to Sonic first (where I scored a free drink "just because" - talk about a great way to start summer) and then came home and swam and played outside.

This is what you do when it's almost 100 degrees outside - drink from the water hose.

Picture by the Pioneer Woman

Tonight we are grilling steaks. The last few times I've made steak - I've made it the Pioneer Woman way. Lawry's season salt and lemon pepper. Sounds weird, right? But SO good! This is my first time to grill it out instead of pan fry.
And this is what my list looks like at 6:30. Scott added #15 and #16 because it seems I am constantly losing things around the house. I feel like I'm losing my mind honestly. I don't know where anything is.
I'm thankful for a pretty productive day. I plan to reward myself by sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and some DVR TVpalooza later! And maybe I will finally answer a few emails. (I know I'm embarrassingly behind but I just haven't had much time. If you get a reply from me that is about 3 months late - I'm sorry in advance).

Family Reunion

Long time ago in south AR in the early 20's - there were four little girls who lived with their parents. Their mother had a fifth child - a boy - who died at birth and a few days later she died also. These four girls grew up down in Magnolia or the area nearby and their children mostly still live there. One of those girls was Scott's grandmother and one of them was Laurie's grandmother. And yesterday - all the children and their families got together at Scott's parents deer camp for a reunion.

These are the kids - Scott's dad is in the red shirt in the center and Laurie's mom is standing in front of him

This swing was a BIG hit with the little kids - there was at least one kid in the swing at all times

This is Ashlyn. She is Harper's second cousin. Their dads were first cousins and grew up down the road from each other. She is so precious.

Laurie and Harper

It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hot. I thought I was going to die of a heat stroke. Scott's dad fried fish and it was SO good. We had all the fixings with fish and a table full of desserts. I felt like I sweat enough to deserve more than a couple desserts!
I think it's so fun that Laurie and I were best friends in college (and still are) and that I ended up marrying her cousin and now we are at family reunions together. Laurie and I probably had the least fun of anyone at the reunion because we were both nervous wrecks watching our girls and keeping them out of trouble. We were both WORN OUT by the time it was over.
We brought Harper's pool up there and the kids had so much fun. They were slipping and sliding and soaking wet.

Laurie and I looked at old family pictures while the girls played with blocks

Scott took us and the bigger girls for rides around the deer woods. It was a lot of fun!

I took the little girls on wagon rides. This is Ashlyn, Sarah Kate and Harper. They loved this!
Our family. Scott's dad had his eyes closed in both pictures I had but I wanted to post our family. I have some kind of crazy eye infection that I get about once every 6 months so I look a little crazy myself. And I was a ball of sweat.

Laurie's family. Steve had to stay home and work and we missed him.

Laurie and I found old letters that her grandmother, who was the oldest, wrote her aunt when she was 14 after their mother died. It was so interesting. I LOVE to think about how women and mothers lived back in the 1800's or early 1900's. Or really any time besides our own. I try to think about them raising several children and how they didn't have air conditioning or blogs to entertain them or TV or microwaves to heat bottles or warm food or Sonic to drive thru and they had to kill chickens to cook for dinner or pick their own vegetables PLUS take care of the kids. I told Laurie the Lord knew I needed to be born in this era because I would have never cut it back then. Really when I think about it - how women lived then was not that different than how women in third world countries live. I need to stick that in my pocket for the next time I'm tempted to complain about ANYTHING in my very comfortable life.