“Do you promise to raise her in a Godly manner to the best of your ability?”

“We do.”

May 13th- Mother’s Day and Baby Dedication. Meg, Harper, and I stand in front of our church family with our Pastor between us and another family of four. Even after being on stage every week playing in our praise band, right now, with no instrument in my hand, I am nervous. I’m not expected to give a speech, not expected to sing a solo, not even answer some biblical trivia. (Thank Goodness) But what I am about to do, at this moment, is still just as nerve racking.

Meg stands just to my left holding Harper. (Who is giving everyone she looks at the stare down) Directly to my right stands our preacher holding his Bible and a certificate with our names on it. When I notice my nerves are probably controlling my facial muscles I make a quick correction and replace with the appropriate smile. The pastor begins with introductions.

Next Pastor Chris starts the dedication process. (No don’t worry we don’t do any weird sacrifices or anything like that.) The dedication process for us is just a few short questions for Meg and I, and then Pastor Chris asks the congregation to help us and keep us accountable.

It was truly a great experience and I feel like I will strive to be a better Christian example for Harper because of our accountability with our church family. After asking the congregation to help you raise your daughter in a Godly manner it may make you view your lifestyle a little different as well. I am extremely thankful for our Pastor, church family, and our physical family that was also there for our support!

Here’s to 2 years of happy marriage!

A small glimpse at some of the fun we had during HK’s 6 month photo shoot! Be on the lookout for the rest coming later this week!

After too many close calls involving food and grabby baby hands, we decided to start letting Harper have solid foods! We planned to wait until 6 months per our pediatrician and the AAP’s recommendation, but we felt like she was really ready.

She had some avocado that she nibbled on a little bit, but she really got excited about banana! I think these pictures really show her excitement!

We have a five month old.  How in the heck did that happen?  Want to reminisce over the last five months?  Go here!

Harper is such a sweet girl and rarely cries or gets fussy!  If she does cry she is usually hungry or tired.

At 5 Months Old, Harper:

• Laughs a lot!
• Smiles all the time!
• Tries to pull her knees up to crawl and scoots around on her belly!  Her favorite target is her brother dog Gauge!
• Thinks her Daddy is super funny!
• Has started to notice when Mom leaves the room
• Has slept erratically!  Some days she naps well, some days… not so much.  Some nights she’ll sleep all night… other nights .  (I’m so glad I documented last month’s sleep so I can have hope that she’ll sleep through the night again!)
• Wears size 6-9 month clothing
• Is rocking an awesome comb over!  We call her Donald Trump
• Is getting better and better at sitting up!  She can sit for a few minutes at a time now!

Harper plays really well independently.  She will contentedly play on her playmat for close to an hour.  She loves to explore her toys.  Her favorites are Captain Calamari, her crinkly book, Sophie the Giraffe and the basket that her toys are in.

Gauge is so sweet with Harper!  He shares his toys with her and will randomly check on her.  Even when she manages to sneak up on him, he just gets up and finds a new spot.  The first time she crawled to him and grabbed his foot, he kind of jumped up with this puzzled “what in the world?!” look.  I think they are going to be best buds!

Harper will be 6 months old this month which means we get to start solids.  We are planning on doing baby-led solids, which emphasizes baby controlled intake and exploration.  I think it’s going to be lots of fun!

Make sure you check back this weekend for a little Easter action!

Just a couple quick pics from yesterday’s photo time. Hope you enjoy!