Bring on the new year!

As I sit here on this last day of the year, I reflect on what I accomplished this year, what I am happy with in my life and what I need to work on this next year.   This year has been a wonderful year as it was my first year as a MOM!  I have loved every minute of being Harper's mom and all of the experiences it has brought to our lives! She is such a sweet spirit and very curious!  I hvae loved watching her grow into such a "big girl."  I am excited to continue to watch her grow and learn.  I'm really anxious for her to start talking!  Most parents that have talking children tell me no you can definitely wait for them to start talking, but I'm excited to hear all of the things that is going on in that little mind.  I know I have a while before I hear full sentences, right now we communicate a lot by pointing and the sound of her going "uh uh uh uh"  and I just keep grabbing things until I figure out what it is, lol!

Adam and I have grown a lot in our relationship.  He has been gone a lot this year for work and so I have learned to get used to being a parent by myself a lot of the time.  Its has been challenging on our relationship and we have had to get used to this new "normal" for our lives.  I am so thankful for his job  and being able to be work part time.  I really love working part time, it is nice to be able to get out of the house a couple of days a week and see all my friends at work and apply myself at things other than changing diapers, laundry and fixing meals.  By the time those days are over I am so ready to go pick up Harpy and spend time with her. I miss her so much when I am away from her.  I am so blessed to have the man I have in my life, he is a wonderful provider, a wonderful father and a best friend.

As far as my career, I am really happy to still be working but I am ready for a change.  My job is great and I really do love what I do but I feel like I am at a point in my life where I need more.  I feel like I need more of a challenge and more of a satisfaction for what I do.  I have found myself not being %100   in what I do.  When you work with people that are sick, hurting, dying and healing I think it is important to be %100.  They don't deserve anything less then the best and so this shows me that I need a change.  I think any type of customer service job is hard because you have to stretch yourself.  Even if you don't feel good or you are in a fight with your spouse, or you are worried about your sick kid at home you have to put a smile on your face and act like you care.  Some days that is easier than others. I haven't decided what a change means for me but I do know that this year I have plans for something different.

Spiritually I am not where I need to be in my life.  Adam and I do go to church and we try to attend regularly but it has been hard with his job and him being gone so much. We also got involved in a weekly bible study which we really enjoyed, but again with his schedule we were not able to keep up with it.  My goal for 2013 is to pray daily and be in the word daily, I need to make this a priority.  Adam's schedule is looking more of the same from this last year, so my plan is to get involved in a women's bible study.  I know this will help me be more accountable.

I would love to travel some this next year, work out more, get more painting, decorating and house decor for my house.  We have lived here two years this spring and we are still trying to get it all decorated:)  I have just learned to be happy right where we are because it is a PROCESS!!   Hopefully Adam and I can take more time with and for each other.  I think this last year we didn't ever want to leave Harper.  We didn't take a lot of time away from her for ourselves. It must be a new parent thing!!  Maybe if we took some time away we could work on a brother or sister for her;) I hope that is part of the plan for this year!!

I am so thankful for everyone who helped us get through our first year as being parents, it truly does take a village to raise a child!  I want to thank our parents, grandparents,  and friends for all of your advice and help with this new year of discovery!!

Some of my favorites from this year!!

We had so much fun at H's first pumpkin patch 

UH OH someone is in TROUBLE:)

I just love this pic of H she looks so happy!

great day with one of my favorite people!

Halloween!!

We had such a fun day at OSU and also so proud of my husband this day 

she is so sweet!

being silly

Such a precious pic

This pic is from my first mothers day, we had such a fun day this day. It was a family BBQ 

One of my many "photo shoots" with Harper this year:)

I just love her little smile

I just think she is gorgeous

H and I on Christmas, we missed Daddy but we got to see face time with him.

This is a video that was made of Harper over this last year.  I posted to my Facebook but if you haven't seen it here it is again!! We are so blessed.
Harpers 1st Year


May 2013 be a great year for all of you!!!  Happy New Year:)

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!! I hope you all had a blessed holiday with all of your families!! We had a great Christmas with our families. It was fun with Harper this year!! She has a lot of new things to play with now and I have to figure out where to put all this new fun stuff. I think a room in our house is going to have to be converted into a play room sooner than later! We have a lot of kids in our family so we get to use their old toys that they are too big to play with. It's a win win right?!? We get free stuff and the parents get rid of extra toys!! It is really great for us but we just got to figure out where to put it all!!!

I was really hoping we would see a white Christmas with all of the weather reports but we were unlucky!! I'm waiting for that big snowstorm this year! I looooove snow!

We did get to make a Christmas trip!! We went back to KS to my parents.  Harper started running a 102 fever the second day we were there so to the ER we went!! Harper had to get a breathing treatment and some antibiotics, they thought she may have pneumonia. It was NO fun, but Glad to report she has now made a full recovery!! These last few months have been so crazy with sickness, I'm hoping 2013 is a healthier year for all of us!!!

My baby all dressed up for Christmas at Great Gparents

Harper loves playing with all of her cousins!!

With Grandma and Gpa Ellis and Aunt Macy

Her new Pink Car!!!

Tired baby on our way home!

She even got her own little recliner

A trip around the sun

Wow! My baby girl is one year old today!!!  I can't believe a year ago today I became a mom!  My life has been so blessed with Harper and life has been so much fun since having her.  This time a year ago I was in a hospital room getting to know this new little person that we welcomed into the world.  I respect moms all over and especially my own my mom so much more, it is not an easy job.  She changes so much from day to day and I always love to see what new "thing" she will do. I love to see her little mind working!  I know that time will pass no matter how many moments I wish I could just freeze in time so I just try to soak it all in and take lots of pictures!!

This last weekend we had Harpers 1st birthday and we had so much fun!!  I had a blast planning it and decorating for it (I may have went a little overboard).  Harper was feeling a little sickly, she has had a cold but we partied on.  We had a really good turn out and Harper got a lot of fun toys! We are definitely blessed with great family and friends.  She wasn't super interested in eating her cake but more in just playing in it.

We have been so busy these last few months, but in the last few weeks Harper has started walking!! She isn't super fast yet but she is very steady.  She is now saying "hello" "dog"  "ball"  "uh oh" and "Abby" (our dog's name)

We are traveling back to KS this weekend for Christmas to stay with my parents since Adam will be busy working.  My family of course is excited since I haven't been back there for a Christmas eve in four years.  My sister is in the nutcracker so she is excited for me to get to see her in it this weekend!!

We went to the Dr today for Harper's 12 month appointment, I know a great way to celebrate her birthday, right?!?!  She weighed 18.8 lbs which puts her in the 20% and 30 inches long which is 75%.

Happy Holidays!!