Happy New Year!!!!

A few years ago we started a tradition of going to the beach for New Years with Cookie and Doc. Everyone comes down and we spend a few days of rest and relaxation. This year, we stayed in Watercolor just a few streets over from my aunt and uncle's house in Seaside, so we were all able to hang out together. It also happened to be my 30th birthday on New Years Eve, so my aunt, uncle and cousins came over for a birthday dinner that night. Spending time with my sisters, my soon to be brother in law and cousins was so much fun. We rode bikes, walked all around Watercolor and seaside, read, took naps and ate some yummy food. Luckily, my mom is a phenomenal cook.
Harper Kate wasn't feeling great down at the beach, but we couldn't really figure out why. She hadn't felt 100% over Christmas either, and I was starting to get a little worried. One night, at the beach,she woke up in the middle of the night burning up,and acting a bit strange. I went and woke my dad up,and he and my mom sat with Jarod and I while her fever came down. When her fever gets high, she has extreme seizures when she has pauses in her breathing. Luckily, we were headed home the next day so we headed to the doctor, which began a couple weeks of trying to figure out what was going on. More about that in another post.
The beach is Harper Kate's favorite place in the world to visit. She would be fussy at the house, but then we would take her to the beach and she would be happy. I think the best place for Harper Kate to live would be the beach, but her Daddy's job is more important. Hahaha!! We look forward to our next beach trip which happens to be in May!!!! We can't wait. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Cookie on New Years Eve!  Love the hat, Mom.

Just hanging out after the babies went to sleep....The three "brothers" in the Johnson family!

New Years Eve. 

Happy New Year from Carrie & Whit!

Family Beach Vacation...New Years 2012

Like I said, it's Harper Kate's favorite place

Happy New Year from Harper Kate

HK resting in Cookie's arms...she wasn't feeling great this day. :(

Harper Kate loves her soon to be Uncle JD!

Take 1...Happy New Year!

Take 2....Happy New Year!

We LOVE the beach!

Good Morning from Seaside, FL.

Naptime on the beach

Naptime at the house.

A little dark, but oh well.  Love you babe!

The princess on the beach

This is one.happy.girl!

First Christmas!!!!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I was so excited to celebrate Christmas with our sweet little girl. While Harper Kate didn't require lots of toys for Christmas, Jarod and I started our Christmas shopping for her the day after Thanksgiving at Pottery Barn! We decided to get her one of the Anywhere Chairs to practice sitting in. She can't quite hold her head up yet, but we thought it would be a great practice chair.
The weekend before Christmas we celebrated Christmas with Jarod's family. We all hung out for the weekend, spent great time being together, opened packages and enjoyed lots of yummy food! Harper Kate got some really cute clothes, great books and a couple small toys she could reach for, which were all wonderful. The best thing about being with the Pardue clan though is the quality time we all spend together. It's crazy chaos most of the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I truly consider myself so blessed to have an amazing second family that thinks and treats me as their own.  I'm horrible & got no pictures from the whole weekend!
Then, we came home for a few days and headed back to Birmingham for actual Christmas weekend.    Christmas Eve we spent hanging out with my family, then we all got ready and went to church Christmas Eve night. I love the Christmas Eve candlelight service and, more importantly, showing Harper Kate off. :)  We also have another tradition where my parents best friends, the Clintons, come over to my mom and dads and we all eat dinner together. I look forward to that every year as well because I don't get to see them very often and love catching up with my other "siblings". Carrie and I had matching pajamas made for Whit and HK, so we got them ready for a few pics before bedtime. :).
Christmas is a HUGE tradition in my family. Even at 30 years old we still put out treats for Santa, wear matching pjs ourselves....we know it's lame, and fully admit it, but we continue it anyway. Christmas morning we wake up, excited and ready to open packages. Jarod and I were so excited to let Harper Kate see her first "Santa present"! I loved playing Santa, setting Harper Kate's chair up the night before. But....Harper Kate was not feeling great and fell asleep almost right after we showed her the chair...oh well, we still got some pictures of her. My family spent the day watching Whit play with his new toys and HK relaxing on her mat looking at herself in the mirror that Aunt Carrie and Uncle Nate got her. It was perfect! Aunt Mae Mae and Aunt Kitty gave Harper Kate her first baby doll. It's a classic, and so soft to put in Harper Kate's arms. Christmas night we go to my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dave's house with my cousins and grandparents for a wonderful dinner and exchange of gifts with my grandparents.
Goodness, Christmas was very overwhelming, but so much fun. I wouldn't trade any of our wonderful family events for anything!!! I'll leave you with some pics from the holiday.

Matching pajamas are so much fun!!!

Harper Kate's "Santa" presents!

She liked her chair at first...

then...she's a little "over it."

Christmas night at Uncle Dave & Aunt Sharon's house

Christmas Eve! :)

"Santa" brought Harper Kate & her cousin Whit a kitchen to play in.  

sisters....

and then, she really was mad about it!

We LOVE Christmas at my mom & dad's house!  

Not sure where Carrie was....

10 months old and counting

Harper Kate....Oh my goodness sweet girl, you are getting so big. You are tall and skinny and so incredibly beautiful. You look more and more like your daddy and Aunt Abby every single day. You aren't gaining weight as fast as we would like, but that's ok. Your mom and dad were skinny too. You sleep pretty well at night but you are certainly an early riser. You wake up around 6:00 or 6:30 every morning, which is ok since we are up anyway. Naps are always exciting for you. You sleep for about an hour in the mornings and a couple of hours in the afternoons. Daddy and I are so proud of you because you keep learning how to eat. You really love bananas,carrots, sweet potatoes and mommy is trying to teach you to eat peas. You work so very hard at therapy and your neck is really getting stronger. You can't hold it up yet,but that's ok,Daddy and I know you will get there in time. You still love your hands and have started keeping them by your mouth more. You are doing better at keeping your eyes downward focused and will recognize things if you can stare at them long enough which is difficult. You continue to practice rolling over from your back to your side. M
We went to Nashville for a very quick visit with mommy's St Paul friends. Mr. Andrew picked us up from the airport and took us to St. Paul where I walked you from class to class and everyone loved seeing you. We sat in the library and spent some time with the fifth and sixth grade team and Jennifer. Then Jess came to pick us up and we hung out with Jess,Mary Margaret and Lizzie for a while that afternoon. We went to eat supper with Emily and Jacob and then we had to wake up early to head back home to Atlanta. What a fun visit we had with friends. We certainly miss Nashville very much and hope we can make it back for a visit soon.
We love you sweet little girl....you are growing up so very fast!!

I love my fingers in my mouth...a huge accomplishment I might add!

New Winter pajamas!!

Alex came to watch the Heisman Presentation with us and put the custom jersey he gave Harper Kate on while we watched!

Bathtime is the best!

My little winter snow angel :) 

Yummy carrots!

Look Nana, I can play with the toy you gave me!