Luke Hudson

Big Man! Our Luke is almost 15 weeks old and more and more we get to see his sweet personality. Besides screaming (no really, SCREAMING) when being fed due to his reflux (we are on our second round of meds, I am currently cutting out dairy from my diet, and we are about a week away from calling the GI doc to see if what is going on in this kid!) Luke is such a sweet boy! He is super observant, he loves to talk (Dear Lord help me when both of my kids can form sentences!) and extremely content just hanging out. The poor kid, however, has to put up with his extremely spirited, extremely interested sister, who doesn't always realize that he is not a doll, but in fact a real baby. Sometimes I find him staring at me while Harper is talking to him too closely, or covering him with a blanket or trying to put his pacifier in his mouth, as though he's saying "Help me." But I just laugh at them most of the time; watching both of their personalities come together, it's awesome.
One of the many things Harper has done to Luke. I watched as he patiently endured his sister's many failed attempts before finally getting the lamb headband on and declaring, "Bwother, cute."
Before church last Sunday. He looked so stinkin' adorable!
Baby model. Hittin' you with a little "Blue Steal."

Harper Dawn

Oh, my little Harper! What to say about a little girl that has truly turned into a little person in the last few months. Everyday she says something new, does something new and grabs onto our hearts a little more. While I've heard that there are little girls out there that play quietly, or can sit and read books by themselves, or are seemingly more compliant than a boy might be; that is NOT our Harper. My girl wakes up on level 10 and keeps going all day! She runs, she dances, she laughs and talks CONSTANTLY, she always wants to go "bye, bye" or go see her "frwends" (which I think is terribly funny since outside of church on Sundays she really only has one "friend" and he's a boy, and he's 3, and she always trying to hold his hand when they are together.) She is extremely opinionated and stubborn, which can lead to battles between her and I since, according to her dad, she got those two traits from me. But simply put, she is full of life and as her dad says "she is so freakin' great!"
Little Miss got into Mama's makeup. At least she was in the right general location.
This is the "Mama, I didn't do it," look.
Loves her babies.

My Two Babies

One of the first things I said when Luke was handed to me was "He looks so much like Harper." These probably aren't the best pictures to compare, but I thought it would be fun to look at Harper and Luke right out of the "oven" (as Jeff would say). Luke's head is obviously smaller, Harper has a dome on her!
Harper Dawn
Luke Hudson

The End of The Grandparents...AHHH!

Mom and LukeBoth my kids are very upset that Grandma is leaving them all alone with Mom!
Harper, going in for a kiss,

"Hello everyone"
So after weeks of grandparents, we are, as of today, by ourselves! I have a feeling a little "detoxing" will be in order for our Harper; she has been living in a world, of cartoons, toys and balloons (thanks mom, I will now be avoiding the flower section of Schnucks) and someone to say "yes" to her mom's "no." In fact, when I told her she couldn't watch anymore TV today she started crying "ganma, ganma" (we had dropped my mom off at the airport hours before). To be honest, we are all going to go through a bit of withdrawal. Between both moms we could barely take off an item of clothing before it was thrown in the wash, and my fridge, freezer and pantry is stocked with so much food, I literally will not need to go to the grocery store for weeks. Beyond all the practical things however, we will desperately miss the company, and fun times spent together over these few crazy weeks! Thank you moms and dad! We heart you!

Destiny

So, I know anyone who happens to actually look at this site really only gets on here to see if there are any new pictures or videos of my sweet kids and probably the last thing you want to read is my sports soapbox, but, as a break from my studies today I find it hard to concentrate, given that my Nuggs are in the conference finals and a crucial Game 5 is on tonight. I went to ESPN to check it out and found this great little piece by Rick Reilly, whose articles in Sports Illustrated I really love. If you're a Nuggets fan, check it out. It will make you laugh or get you pumped for the victory tonight. If you're not a Nuggets fan, there's still time to get the train before we dominate the rest of the world and hoist our trophy,...better get on it. And for any Lakers fans, I don't think I can say much to you on here..after all, it's a family website, other than it's gonna be so sweet when your little golden boy crybaby has to go home and watch us play in the finals....GO NUGGS!

Rick Reilly's ESPN Story Link

Don't Cry

I just thought it was cute watching Harper in her first moments as a big sister, saying "don't cry." We'll have some interesting moments, no doubt, when she wants to take him and carry him around the house by herself, but we're confident that her obsession with babies will come out in a constructive way in the future. If nothing else, I guess she can teach him how to give knucks. For those of you wanting more pictures, we'll try to upload some photos on Snapfish that you can download and print if you want later tonight. Also, a photographer came by in the hospital here and took some pretty awesome pictures that we were obligated to get because they were so good. To see or download those, here's the snapfish link: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=843158013/a=126516533_126516533/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Luke Hudson Van Eps

So for those of you out there without a Facebook account, I wanted to put a few videos up here for you to see and to give you a rundown of our time here in the hospital. Everything with the birth went well, we arrived here at St. Luke's around 8 a.m. for induction and Steph was dilated to 3 initially, and was hooked up and started on her Pitocin induction around 8:45. Her doctor came in to check her around 12:30, found she was dilated to at least 4, broke her water right there, and she got an epidural within 20 minutes. Steph was feelin good at that point, so we threw in a movie and both took a nap. We woke up to her being dilated to 7, nearly totally effaced, and the nurse said we should have a baby within the next few hours. For us, this time flew by given that Harper's induction took over 24 hours and extending through the night. He cried right away after they suctioned him and pinked up really quick, easing his dad's anxiety. Although we were initially just glad to see all ten fingers and toes and all parts in the right places, we were struck how much he looked like his sister initially, with those same bright red lips. He was fine that first day, mostly sleeping, but yesterday as we suspected might happen, he went from a 0.0 bilirubin to over 9.0 in less than a day. So he's been getting his baby bronzing ever since yesterday evening with the UV bili bed, to help clear the bilirubin that his immature liver can't clear yet. He's been under the high intensity lights all day, hoping to drive down the numbers so we don't have to take a bili bed home with us like we had to with Harper, and we're trying to push the fluids on him but he's been so-so with the feeding so far. All in all, though, with today's technology jaundice like his is not a big deal, just more of an annoyance. We're still kind of shell shocked that we are now the American family with 2 kids and a dog, but also incredibly thankful for our new healthy boy. We have been so fortunate and thankful to my parents for their tremendous help with our crazy 1 and a half year old during this whole ordeal. We might have been clinically insane by now without them. Thanks to everyone for your excitement and support.

Mama and Harper

These were a few of our last moments as just "Mama and Harper" before brother Luke made his first appearance.

Off to induction

Induction 101

So, if there were a class on induction we may be able to teach it after today. Here we are again, sitting at St. Luke's waiting on biophysiology to take place at the forced hand of a Pitocin IV, trying to do the last minute mental prep that we in fact have another kid that will enter our world in T - minus 12 hours or less. It was difficult again for me to comprehend our situation for the last 9 months and what it really means to have 2 kids. I've been able to see Steph's body change, but without any other outward daily evidence for me, it has seemed to sneak up on me again. But the excitement is setting in too, imaging what he'll look like, how similar or different his personality will be to Harper, and how different it will be to parent a boy. Everything is fine so far, Steph is hooked up and we're watching Juno. Praise God for family, as Grandpa and Grandma Van Eps are enjoying taking care of their granddaughter today. Pray for health for Steph and Luke.

Egg Hunt...kind of

Here is a little video of Harper "hunting" eggs at the park. It was freezing, so along with her dress she also has on leggings, socks and tennis shoes and a hat, none of which match. However, I feel this is a good representation of Harper and all her glory!

Easter

Easter. The event started the day before when we attended the church run Community Egg Hunt in Tower Grove Park (A park near our house.) It had rained the entire day before, and despite the sun on this day, the park was wet and muddy. It took Harp all of two minutes to fall and get dirty, and it was at that point (i have to admit) I turned to Jeff and said "this may not be worth it." However, we stayed. I don't know how to explain Harper in open space, it's like a caged animal being released into the wild. She runs. And runs. And runs some more. With no purpose of where she is going. And like I said previously, it was wet and muddy, so much of Harper's running also turned to Harper falling. She didn't seem to care (our little linebacker doesn't cry much) so we got over it also. She didn't really care about the eggs until Jeff showed her that there was some sort of prize in them (Her favorite were the fruit snacks, the runner up were the stickers).

Easter Sunday. After church, a nap for Harper and some cooking, we headed over to Nick and Kim's for a great meal and company. Without family nearby it is always great to have good friends to share a holiday with and the Kuntz' are those people! After we ate we walked over to the park so Harp could play and we could have a little make-shift egg hunt. We filled the eggs with Cheerios, graham crackers, and chocolate chips. (The Chocolate was her fav!)


Harper's Easter Basket filled with books, stickers, soap in the shape of a duck (she is obsessed with ducks!) some eggs, and a little duck that quacks when you press on it. Harper's present to Dada; a new tie and a colored picture of her and baby brother (if they were bunnies). I may have helped a little. Harper getting into her basket.

Her lamb ears. We found these at Hobby Lobby. After we (yes, we) shopped in them; I couldn't help but buy them for her.

Our Silly Little Girl

Just a quick little video of Harper being silly, like usual. 

Hangin' Out With Harp

Harp and I have great mornings together. We eat breakfast, watch a little Backyardigans, read some books, and do some morning chores. Being 6 weeks away from giving birth to baby #2 (YIKES!) I try to spend as much time having fun with her as possible. These are a couple random pictures of one such morning. The girl won't sit still, so it's hard to get a good pic!

Harp got these scrubs from my Dad and Allie (Papa and Nana), although she looks terribly cute in them, her dad might have some reservations about this being her future! (Med School is hard.) 
Intensely coloring and "stickering." (Her newest hobby)
Harp and Mama.
The finished project. 

Bathing Beauty

Our Beautiful little Peanut doing one of her favorite things: taking a bath! (And yes, our bathroom is pink!)

We have known for a long time that Harper is a little jokester. She loves getting a laugh or a rise out of us (hmmm...who is that like? "cough, cough.. Jeff") She has even gone so far as to make herself throw up, because she thought it was funny that I didn't want her to shove her hand down her throat (natural consequence I guess). In this video Harper is at it again; sticking her face in the water over and over, and once again natural consequences prevail. 

Don't worry Grandparents, no grandchild was harmed during this filming! 

Getting Ready For Baby Boy...Thinking Of Our Baby Girl

As we get ready for Baby _____ (we'll just pretend that there are still some of you out there that don't know his name yet!) I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of Baby Harper. It's funny she still looks so much the same, and yet totally different...how is that possible?

Even at 7 lbs she had those chubby cheeks (sorry Harp, your mama feels your pain!)
Jaundice= Great Baby Tan.
Literally hours after she was born. Jeff and I had no idea how weird it was to have have such an alert newborn until everyone started telling us. A view of things to come (I have a 16 month old that wakes up at level 10!)
First photo shoot, and maybe the last time she ever sat still for a picture. She still has those rosy lips!

No Picture, Just a Funny Story

Harper has been talking like crazy lately! She has picked up so many words, and tries to repeat even more. Some of her latest are: light, please, round round (when referring to the fan), and cracker, which means graham cracker.

So, while looking at pictures today I pointed to "Grammy" (Dawn) and asked, "Can you say Grammy," and Harper looked at me and said "Cracker." I lost it! Grammy Cracker!! She preceded to repeat "cracker, cracker, cracker" until I went to the pantry and gave her a stinkin' graham cracker...persistent little thing!

One More

Okay, I thought I would add just one more post tonight, because she is so darn cute! 

I'm Too Busy For This!

So nesting has totally set in! Yesterday I decided to reorganize our "mud room" which we use for a catch all. Harper and I went to Walmart and got this shelf and plastic bins and "ta-dah" organization! This has also led to cleaning out cabinets, my closet, organizing Harper's clothes and beginning to organize the basement. While all this might seem great, the down side is I have way to much to do already, and when I get focused, basic, everyday things don't happen, like eating and showering!

Jeff's Birthday...The Big 27!

It was Jeff's birthday on Friday, and while we didn't do anything extravagant, we did have Pizza Buns and this apple cherry cobbler thing that I made. I had to take a picture of it since I don't bake much, or ever (I'm no Claire Van Eps).
This was Jeff's present from Harper; it was a framed picture of him and Harper walking in the park (Jeff wanted me to take a picture of the wrapping.)

We also got to use a gift card to Macaroni Grill Saturday night while the fabulous Kuntzs' watched Harper!

Almost 30 Weeks

No, I don't wear the same thing to bed all the time. I put on the same clothes so you could compare to the last pic. 30 weeks on Friday!

Such a Busy Day

Thought everyone might want to see a little glimpse into the very active life of Ms. Harper Dawn Van Eps.

Watching Baby Einstein.
Reading books (or "bas" as she calls them)
Eating.
Making a mess (she did all this in the time it took me to unload the dishwasher.)

Putting random things on her head; these are underwear. Lately she has taken to putting blankets over head and walking around...she runs into a lot of things.

She also doesn't stop talking...ever! No really, SHE NEVER STOPS!

What a Good Mama!

Harper has become slightly consumed with her baby lately. She puts her to bed at every nap time, making sure she has her pacifier. She has her sit next to her while she eats, and on occasion she makes a fake cry or says, "Mama, Mama" in her "baby voice" and then pretends to give her some milk from her cup. Now this doesn't mean that baby is free from her wrath. Baby gets thrown down the stairs, shoved under the TV console, dressed and undressed multiple times, and like in these pictures put into random things around the house.
This was right before the mischief began.

After dragging the trash can out of our room, Harper decides this would be the perfect place for her baby to go "night, night"
Poor baby. (PS- This trash can has felt the wrath of Hobbs.)

I just thought this picture was so cute! While her baby "slept" she went and got my shoes and tried to put them on; what pretty little sausage feet.