Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Harper's first Easter. The Easter Bunny left her a little basket with a few goodies-- a rattle, books, a stuffed "Peep", and new bib. Her grandparents both sent her some fun goodies, too. We enjoyed a beautiful service at church, and then the three of us had a nice brunch out. We had Easter dinner with three other couples and their kids at our friends Blake and Rebecca's house-- a fun tradition that we've been doing with our friends for the last 5 years.

What a blessing to be able to celebrate the Lord's resurrection with our sweet girl! We can't wait until she gets older and we can teach her all about her risen Savior!

Our little Easter present! This will be one of those pictures that she will HATE when she's older. :)

Harper got her picture with the Easter Bunny at the mall, but slept right through it. She refused to open her eyes at all, so we just ended up laying her across the Bunny's lap.

Our little family at church.

Harper's Easter dress. A beautiful handmade smocked dress that was a very sweet gift-- thanks so much Kay!


She even had a matching Easter bonnet. She looked so cute in it-- like a little pink cabbage!


Springtime means that its cherry blossom season in DC. They are beautiful, but only last a few weeks.


Even Miss Harper got to "Oooo" and "Ahhh" over the cherry blossoms this year.

Our big handsome Norm loves the warmer weather, too... we think he must know that its almost swimming season!

One month old

I'm a few days late in posting one-month pictures of our girl. It has flown by! If this last month is any indication, I can only imagine how quickly her first year will pass by. It's been the best month of our lives and we are having so much fun with our little sweet pea!


She is focusing on things so much more now. She is really into the mobile hanging above her crib.


I'm going to take a picture of her each month by her giant pink bunny to see how much she grows. Here is Month 1.

... and of course we had to do a wardrobe change.

Aunt Al visits

My sister Alison flew out to meet Baby Harper and spent 6 wonderful days with us. My mom flew up to Missouri to watch her kids Jackon (6) and Mollie Jane (3) so that Alison could spend some quality time with Baby Harper. So it was so sort of a vacation for Al, which was well-deserved-- she is 7 months pregnant and is a very busy, tired mom who works part-time. We had so much fun just hanging out, shopping, and eating... it went by way too fast. Baby Harper is in LOVE with her Aunt Al!



Harper getting some snuggles from Aunt Al in her nursery.


Nothing cuter than a baby tooshie! Al and I had fun giving Harper her baths.

Of course we managed to do plenty of shopping together. We figured it was best to indoctrinate Harper early into our family's shopping habits (i.e. frequent and always on the lookout for a bargain).

Harper has gotten very spoiled this last month getting to sleep on people's chests, which she loves. She especially loved Alison's pregnant belly-- it was like a built-in pillow for Harper's little body! We joked that she was bonding with her soon-to-be cousin (Smith Allen Brawner, due 6/2/09) and already bossing him around!

Alison--ever the teacher!-- read books to Baby Harper, who loved listening and looking at the pictures.

Al knows all kinds of cool child development tips and tricks. She said that newborn babies (with their limited vision of only 8-15 inches) love to look at brightly colored shapes, so she drew Harper some shapes on a piece of paper and we taped it up in her bouncy seat. We also have a copy in her crib, and one in the car. Harper LOVES this! She stares at the shapes all the time, and they often put her right to sleep!

Al, we miss you tons and I SO wish we lived closer! :( We're counting down the days until we come in late June to meet Baby Smith! We love you!