Swinging! What a big girl!

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Team Dead Weight

A little over a month ago John decided in order to increase the momentum in his excercising, he would find a race to enter. He came across the Mud Run and recruited 3 friends to join the fun. John, not wanting to overshoot their abilities signed their team "Dead Weight" up for the 12-15 minute mile catagory. Hilariously, they were the only all male team in their division. It seems he definitely underestimated their abilities since they passed multiple teams along the way! Next year, they're moving up a couple divisions for sure. The guys had a great time as did the cheering section. Definitely a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Team "Dead Weight"
Garrett Reed, John, Rick Hawkinson, Donald Spann

Off to a good start.

Sprint to the final obstacle.

My husband looks HOT! I'm just sayin:)

Finishers

Our cute cheerleader!

"Daddy, What's on your shirt?"

Cheering section.

Go Tigers!

Harper's excited to cheer on the Tigers for her first Clemson-Carolina game tonight!
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HARPER!!

Okay, so I'm a lot behind, but.....

She's here! Harper Elizabeth Childress arrived on Friday, October 15, 2010 at 2:35pm weighing 7lbs 4ozs and 19.25 inches long. She looks exactly like her Daddy, but with Mommy's eyes. Thankfully it looks like she's going to rock her Dad's awesome eyelashes too (I've always been seriously jealous of those)!

Here's a picture from the weekend she was born:

The following couple of weeks have blown by! We've enjoyed each day of getting to know our sweet daughter. The transition has been pretty smooth. Harper is super snuggley and loves to be around Mom and Dad. She follows our voices and responds when she hears one of us nearby. It is just amazing to be able to calm her with our presence. She is a good sleeper and is starting to steadily gain weight now that we've worked through the whole eating thing. She has deep blue eyes that she looks intently at us with. At three weeks she shared her first smile and has been smiling more and more each day. Last week she started cooing on occasion. I love hearing her sweet voice and can't wait for that to increase.

We have had a bunch of visitors since Harper arrived. At birth she was greeted by all of her grandparents, Uncle Brad, Aunt Megan, Lillie, Aunt Laura, Uncle Mike and Sophie. We were so thankful to have our family with us despite the distance we live from each of them. Both Gram (my mom) and Grandma (John's mom) were able to stay a week each with us too! We are so thankful for the help they gave us with Harper, the home cooked meals, stocked freezer, clean house and clean clothes. Harper has also gotten to meet her "aunt's" Sabrina, Emily and Jessica. So, so grateful to these dear friends for making the trip!! I loved every minute with each of them!

Here are some pictures from the last month of our life:

First Snuggle with Daddy

Aunt Megan, Uncle Brad, Lillie, us, and The Sheriff

1 Week Old

Bat Girl! - First Halloween

Sweet snuggles with Gram

"Ooooh"

Hanging with Grandma

Smiley - 5 weeks old

Waiting for Harper

So after my doctor's appointment last week where the doctor said he wouldn't be surprised if my water broke before my appointment this week, we have gone into overdrive getting ready for Harper's arrival. I spent the next couple of days washing everything, cleaning the house, praying for our last minute orders to arrive and setting up the "nursery" (I use quotes because living in corporate housing has limited what we can do). I guess the nesting/panic stage hit hard. I think we are now finally ready. The carseat has even been installed in the car...might have been 10pm the night we installed it, but at least it's in!!

Now that everything is ready, we can't wait for her arrival. The doctor should have never told us she may come early because now she can't come fast enough!

Here is the current belly picture and some shots of our attempts at creating a special place for her:

38 Weeks. Come out Harper!!

DC Living

Since we moved to the D.C. area at the beginning of September, John and I have tried to do our best to soak in the local scenery. Over Labor Day, John and I spent the day around the Mall area and checking out the Museum of Natural History. Here are a couple pictures from that day:

John's first visit to the Lincoln Memorial

34 Weeks

We then had a great visit with John's parents a few weeks later. They drove up from South Carolina with a truck full of the goodies we received at our baby showers back in July. It was like Christmas rediscovering all the fun gifts everyone had given us! We also spent more time visiting the city.

Randee and Bobby at the Big House

The view from Mount Vernon. (36 weeks)

33 Weeks

For those of you who have asked, here's the current belly picture.

A lot bigger than a month ago!!

So I'm feeling pretty great these days. I feel Harper move all the time which is really fun and she gets the hiccups almost daily. Apparently I had the hiccups a lot, so my mom is pretty excited that I'm getting paid back:) I regularly see a butt, arm or leg push out to the side and John loves that he can feel her move from one place to another. He really likes to try to make her move.

We are currently settling into our new place in Silver Spring, MD. The move went very smoothly. I mostly opened doors, held elevators and carried light bags. It was pretty hilarious to be this big and moving. I will post pictures of the apt and neighborhood soon. We're just outside of DC and are excited to spend some time exploring the city. Just another adventure:)