Welcome Harper Marie!

8:08a today you came into this world Harper! You were 8lbs 6oz and I believe 20" long.

Your Mom and I were up bright and early at 5a this morning to get to the hospital by 6a to start the check in process. Thankfully your sister slept through us leaving and didn't wake up GiGi and the Colonel until around 6a. We got into the hospital and had to fill out some paperwork and then we were led back to the recovery room where your Mom got to switch into her "awesome" hospital gown and start getting all sorts of tubes and wires attached to her to monitor her vitals. Meanwhile I pretty much got to sit there and do nothing. That is the job of a father prior and during delivery - sit there.


A little before 8ish they wheel your Mom into surgery to get her drugged up and then shortly after I get called in to the OR. By this time I had donned a hair guard, surgical mask, and white body suit to keep the environment sterile. It was a look that, when she saw it later, made Madison say "Daddy why are you wearing that - you're not a doctor". The C-section seemed to take a little longer than last time but they got you out and over to the nurses station to get a little cleaned up. This time they had me come over to see you immediately and once again I started to get teary eyed. Something about having children really makes me emotional I guess.


They moved me and you back to the recovery room while they finished sewing your mother back up. There they did the measurement thing and did your initial shots. Unlike Madison's birth they did all this stuff in the same room that your Mom would be brought back into after surgery so she didn't have to sit around in a bed waiting for me to bring you to her. She came in and I brought you over to her - it was love at first sight for all of us.

They had our private room ready for us a little while later and we moved in and gave the grand parents the ok to come meet you. The first to arrive were my parents along with your big sister Madison. She was a little shy at first but warmed up to you very quickly. She laughed when she touched you for the first time and soon was demanding to hold you over and over again.  She loves Baby Harper! She held you and then you made it around with my mom and dad. While they were still here MiMi and Boompa showed up as well and it was a full house in this tiny little room. You were passed around over and over to everyone and nobody could stop talking about how much hair you had. Eventually it was time for you (and me and Mom) to sleep so everyone went back home.

After everyone left we've just been sitting around sleeping when we can and trying to get you to eat. You slept at least an hour in my arms while your Mom got a little rest and now you're over there eating like a champ.


Looks like two more days of hospital living for us. I'll see if I can't blog a little more while we're here.


Love you!
Dad

The Night Before

Hey Harper,

We're less than 12 hours away from meeting you now! I'm writing this at 9:50p Friday 5/1 and the c-section that will deliver you is scheduled for 7:30a tomorrow morning. That means your Mom and I will be getting up around 430-5a tomorrow morning. You're not even out yet and you're already making us wake up super early.

My parents made the drive up from Augusta yesterday. It was my Dad's first day of his retirement. The guy really knows how to celebrate - driving 13 hours northward. We spent today getting your sister used to them and filling them in on the Madison care routine. They'll be handling her while we're in the hospital with you. Hopefully it goes well. We're not entirely sure how Madison is going to handle no longer being the only child in the house but thus far she's been excited about your arrival. Today she told your Mom that she was going to color your hair purple and her hair pink when we came home. I've been having dreams in which you come out of the womb with black hair but certainly not purple...

With us so close to meeting you it's a bit strange - last time we were a lot more anxious but since now we sort of know what we're doing I think that helps us with the nerves. We still don't know how hard its going to be taking care of two kids. The routine we have right now, while not perfect, is at least consistent so I know approximately how much sleep I'm going to get every night. With little baby you all that goes out the window and you're going to be waking us up at all hours of the night. I only hope that Madison will keep sleeping so we don't have to deal with two kids up in the middle of the night.

I apologize for not blogging as much for your pregnancy as I did for Madison's! I really got busy with my new job and didn't have as much time at work to just sit and write about your mom's pregnancy. Good that I'm busy at work again but not so good for your baby blog. For the most part the pregnancy was pretty easy. Of course I wasn't the one carrying you around for 9 months so your Mom might beg to differ. I know she's definitely ready for you to be out. She's been having trouble getting comfortable on the bed and sleeping through the night.

Well I should probably get to sleep now since I have to get up soon and go to the hospital. I'll bring my laptop so I can write up your actual delivery and first couple days of life. Hopefully. If you give me a chance to sit back and type.

Love you and can't wait to meet you tomorrow!
Dad

Breachin'

Hey Harper,

We're sitting at t-minus 33 days until your arrival into the world. Mom went to her doctors appointment last week and we found out that not only are you camera shy you were backwards and breached. That means you've got your feet facing downards in Mom's belly rather than the preferred delivery method of being head down. Also you're facing Mom's back rather than her front so the pictures, if you can call them that, were poor. Only got a shot of your foot and your ear (or at least they thing its your ear). Because of this positioning when you kick, and you kick a lot, you kick Mom right in the bladder. Ouch!

You still seem to get your most active right as we're settling down for bed which is a dangerous sign. We need you to sleep regular hours! That's the biggest thing I fear with your birth - lack of sleep. When Madison arrived I picked up a horrible caffeine habit - Monster energy drinks, Mountain Dew, and coffee. Before her I never drank any of that stuff with the exception of a Mountain Dew here and there. Now I drink a coffee a day!

We've pretty much got your room put together now and Mom has washed all the clothes you'll be needing at first. We're just kind of trying to remember everything we needed when Madison was born now and make sure we have it. All we could think of yesterday were diapers (which we bought at Costco) and a new baby monitor (which we didn't buy cause we had to go home cause your sister had to take a nap).

In the yard I current have steaked out the outline of what will be you and Madison's swing set. Your Mom keeps asking if we can just have a professional put it together but forget that I say! I can put together furniture so why can't I put together a swing set? Hopefully when you're reading this that swing set is still standing nobly - built like a rock by your Dad.

In addition to building a swing set here is something else your Dad was doing while waiting for you to be born - replaying old computer games from my youth and posting them on YouTube. Watch and I'm sure you'll get a huge kick out of how stupid I sound in these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU3emkmxPHw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7k5IYbPAPE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxkMhAesj8w

See you in 33 days!

Love,
Dad

Two Months Away!

Hello Harper! We are just about 2 months away from your arrival and we've fully hit preparation mode. You room has been vacated by Madison and this weekend your mother started organizing all of your clothes. We seriously have way too many clothes. It was true when Madison was born and it is true again with you. Something about having a girl just makes clothes appear out of nowhere. So now the upstairs guest bedroom is filled with piles and piles of clothes ranging from newborn to 2T. These days you're stretching out a lot in the womb. All this week your mom was talking about how much you were moving around in there and stretching out as much as possible. She could feel you at the bottom and at the top of the womb. Madison and I watched her stomach and saw your hands and feet pushing out against it. You seem to be quite a night owl right now - really getting active around 9p. I hope that isn't a trend! You need to be a good sleeper cause your sister is super difficult to put to bed. Your sister has fully hit the terrible twos. This week she hit maximum frustration levels not listening to anything your mother or I said. Lots of "no!". Lots of crying. Lots of yelling. Lots of wondering what the heck we're going to do when you arrive if Madison is still being a pain in the butt. Fallout coming from my kidney stone was that I had to go get a sonogram so they could check out my kidney and make sure there were no more stones in there. So in addition to having the child birth like pain I got to have the sonogram associated with pregnancy. If I packed on some extra lbs around my stomach I'd have the full preggo experience.

Dad Gets Kidney Stones

Hello Again Harper!

Things are going well here. I've started getting into the swing of things at my new job and last week presented to the CEO of Claire's herself and got rave reviews. She described me as an "intelligent speaker", that I should "teach this stuff (this stuff being digital advertising)", and she loved my jokes (cue your Mom rolling her eyes). So while a little stressful it was good to get some face time with the CEO - now we just have to hit these rather lofty goals we set for ourselves in 2015.

Also this week your Mom took and passed the SPHR test. She had been studying all month - probably harder that I studied my entire senior year of college. She was crazy anxious leading up to it but I knew she was going to pass. Now that that is over with its a lot more relaxed in the old Peters household.

The week prior to all this stuff I was laid up all week with kidney stones of all things. Never had any issues in my 35 years of life with my kidneys up until that week. Let me tell you...kidney stones hurt alot. Everything they say about them is true - the closest thing men can get to the pain of childbirth. So your Mom can't hold that over my head anymore. Thankfully I got some drugs on Tuesday for the pain and just kind of waited until I passed it. I think I passed it before the weekend but it wasn't as climactic as I was expecting. The pain just kind of stopped. Didn't even see the little brat that was causing me all this pain.

With your Mom's test behind us its now time to start focusing on getting your room ready. Currently Madison is living in there so we are buying a twin bed for her and moving her to the room over the garage. Once she's in that room than we'll convert her room back into the state it was before she was born and it'll be ready for newborn use again. Madison, in stereotypical girl fashion, wants her room pink so we have to paint that room this week. By "we" I mean we're hiring a guy to do it for us.

It looks like my parents are coming up here at the end of the month. I like to say its for my birthday but really its just cause they want to see Madison. I can only imagine how often they'll visit after a) Dad retires and b) you're born. 2 grand daughters just waiting for them up in Chicago.

Talk to you later kid.

Love Dad

I Know. I'm Terrible

Hey Harper,

Dad here again. I know you're looking at the number of posts I've made during your incubation and then looking at the number I did with your sister and you're saying what the heck Dad! Five months to go and you've only posted TWICE!??! I'm sorry. It seems that whenever your Mom gets pregnant I decide to get a new job. Unlike my previous job with OWC my new job at Claire's actually has me doing real work and its been keeping me busy. But today is Christmas Eve so it is super slow in the office so I can write some thoughts down!

First off - the new job. I'm the digital manager for Claire's and their sister brand Icing. I took this job because my job at OWC was boring as heck. They had no business goals or direction and I just sort of sat around all day reading the news, checking Facebook (is it still a thing now?) and Twitter (also still a thing?). I was so disenchanted by the management and the CEO specifically that I had been looking for a job all year. Thankfully in November I saw a posting for the job at Claire's, interviewed, and was quickly hired. Now you and your sister reap the benefits of me working at a company that makes fashion accessories for girls. Or maybe I'm not working there anymore - who knows when you'll be able to read this.

So Claire's takes up a lot of my time so I haven't been able to write down much about your pregnancy. About the same time I got the new job you stopped making your Mom feel sick every night so that was good. You still make her tired and she goes to bed around 9-930 every night but it is without sickness so that's a win there! Plus it gives your Dad time to stay up and play video games and watch Walking Dead.

Yesterday your Mom went in for an ultrasound. Here's you.

They said you were measuring tall and a week and a half ahead of schedule! Madison was pretty big when she was born so we'll see if you can beat her record of 9lbs 10oz. Other than being tall you were perfectly normal in there. 2 arms, 2 legs, no tail.

In a little sadder news this past weekend we had to put our dog Hannah down. I'm not sure if Madison remembers Hannah at the point you're reading this but currently (my currently, not your currently) she really doesn't "get it". She knows Hannah is in Heaven with other dogs but I don't think she knows what that really means. I'll admit putting her down was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Honestly she had been quite a terror - constantly tearing apart our fence and escaping, tearing things up inside the house, freaking out over loud noises and thunderstorms, keeping us up late at night but still she was our dog and she was sweet in her own way. As your Mom said she was weird but in a good way. It was sad that we had to do it right before Christmas but her cancer was really keeping her in pain and it was just the best thing we could do for her. If I'm reading this with you I should tell you about the time me and her drove up from Georgia to Illinois. It encompasses what Hannah was about.

Well things are closing down here at Claire's so I'm going to get out of here and head home for long weekend. We've got a dinner with your Mom's aunt tonight (always exciting...) and then Christmas morning tomorrow. This is the first year your sister understands who Santa is and that he'll be getting her presents so it'll be pretty fun. I can't wait to share Christmas morning with you too! I'm sure you and Madison will be waking me and Mom up at way too early of a time in the morning to go downstairs and open presents. I may grumble about it but inside my heart I'll love it.

Love,

Dad

Boy That Was Quick

Hello....Harper!

This past week we found out that you are going to be a girl. Whew, 2 girls plus your Mom and our dog Hannah. That's going to be a of estrogen floating around our house with me the lone man in the house.

We were driving home from O'Hare - I had just picked up your Mom and Madison. They had been in Augusta all week visiting GiGi and The Colonel. Your Mom called her doctor to see if they had the results for her blood test that would tell us what your sex was. This is a relatively new thing and it didn't exist even as recently as when we had Madison. With her we had to wait a couple months for an ultrasound to see her little girl bits (or lack of boy bits) but here we are at just 14 weeks and we know - you are a girl.

Immediately your Mom asked me if I was disappointed because you weren't a boy. First off let me say it's a difficult question to answer. Immediately it conjures up negativity by assuming I had my heart set on a boy and wouldn't be happy any other way. While I did want a boy because, having been a boy myself, I was looking forward to getting buy all sorts of cool boy toys like Legos and Star Wars but I certainly was more than happy to have a girl as well. Maybe I can get you or Madison interested in things I like and still get those Legos and Star Wars toys or maybe I'll be stuck buying pink princesses for the next 15 years. Either way I'm happy. I don't want this whole "hoping for a boy" thing to be associated with any negativity or that I would love you any less because you were a girl. You are my child and that's all that is required for my love. I'll love you just as much as love Madison and your Mother.

Speaking of Madison...as soon as we found out we were having another girl (we we were on speaker phone with the doctor) Madison got really quiet. She was quiet for the entire ride back home which was very unlike her because around this time (2 years old) she was pretty much talking or singing non-stop. When we got home she told your Mother that she "didn't want a sister" and that it was "very frustrating". This was the first time I think she ever used the word frustrating with us. I didn't even know she knew that word! I explained to her that in Frozen Ana was Elsa's sister and that's what you'd be - Ana to her Elsa. She then said I must be Olaf and Mommy was Kristof. I'm just glad she didn't say I was Sven...

So there you have it. The story of how we found out you were a girl. We actually dodged a bullet here because your Mom and I have never been able to agree upon a boy's name but just like with Madison we immediately agreed on the first girls name presented - Harper. We'll see if that lasts the whole pregnancy. Man it'll be quite embarrassing to call you Harper here and then 6 months later call you something like Gertrude.

....just kidding - we'll never name you Gertrude.

Love Dad