Crazy, Wonderful Life!

So sorry that it has been almost 8 weeks since my last post announcing the arrival of Harper. Between settling into life as parents and not having internet at our house for a while, blogging has just not fit in!

Nick and I are adjusting to parental life fairly well! Harper has been an overall pretty good baby (of course she has her ups and downs), but a JOY all the time. Even when we resort to driving her around at 3:00 am, I still feel so blessed to have had this opportunity! The first 2 weeks were a breeze! All she did was sleep and we had food galore brought by sweet friends and neighbors and Nick had the first week off. Real life set in at week 3 which included not wanting to ever be put down, napping no more than 10 minutes at a time during the day, and general fussiness. She hated her swing, she hated her play mat, she hated her crib, she hated to be held while sitting down. The only thing that was always a winner was bouncing on my exercise ball with her! I couldn't help but laugh when I walk in the living room at 1:00am to see Nick in the living room in his boxers, watching ESPN and bouncing on my exercise ball! Even to this day, though we seem to "be out of the weeds", the ball is still our go to:)

She also LOVES bathtime!

...and going on the boat:)

Now I have to brag a little. Starting at 6 weeks Harper started sleeping 8 hours fairly consistently at night!!! It was the best thing ever! At four weeks she did her first 8 hour stretch. Of course, I got NO sleep watching the monitor and going to her room several times to see if she was breathing! After a few a few nights like that, we have become spoiled into our new sleep routine. When we occasionally have a not so restful night, I have to remind myself of the many friends with one year olds who get less sleep than we do:)

The past 2 weeks have been a lot of fun! She has started recognizing people and noticing her surroundings. She will now tolerate her swing and playmat, and will even bat at some of the toys. She will reach and grab for things within reach, her favorite of which is MY HAIR!!! The most fun thing so far though, has been the beginnings of purposeful smiles! It melts our hearts when she looks straight at you and lights up with a big smile full of gums:) They are still rare, but she is starting to figure her body out and how it interacts with her environment! It is such an amazing thing to watch:)

The dogs have adjusted well with the new addition, and we try to still give them some attention (or at least remember to feed them:). They were fairly disinterested at first, but are slowly acknowledging Harper with occasional sniffs and licks. I think they are saving most of their attention for when she walks around covered in food and can clean up her high chair:)

Here is Harper with Abby before bed.

Playing on her playmat.

I can hardly believe that Harper will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! It has flown by and I am already getting sad with every ounce she grows feeling like the next time I blink she will be heading off to college...ok, so that is a little dramatic but It does seem to fly by already! She goes to the doctor next week for a check up so I can't wait to see how much she has grown. At her two week appointment she had already grown an inch and put on a pound and a half!! (20.5 inches and 8lbs 12oz) She had her first out of town trip last weekend to Memphis to see Nick's family and some of our Memphis friends. She did great, so we are venturing on a slightly longer trip to Arkansas the weekend after next! Jenn and Kyle, my sister and brother in law, are coming in town from Annapolis, Maryland on Thursday and we get to meet our neice, Reagan Faith, for the first time. She was born two and a half weeks after Harper. It will be so much fun to have them here and spend time with another sweet baby!

This is Harper with her Big cousin Kate from trip to Memphis.

Here are a few fun "photo shoot" pictures:)

Sorry this post is so long! I will try to post more often so I don't write a novel each time! Thanks for checking in! Click here for a link to our picasa site for more pictures!
We love you!
Nick, Rachel, and Harper

Harper is Here!!!

As most of you have probably heard, our little girl is here!!! These last months of anticipation finally drew to a close last Tuesday, May 25. Although things did not go quite as planned, we could not be more thrilled with the outcome!
So, to fill you in, we went to the doctor last Tuesday for our routine 39 week appointment. I felt great and everything looked good, just a little bummed that it was looking like we were going to go past our June 1st due date. My doctor noticed on the labs that my blood pressure was 120/104 which she soon chalked up to a mistake since it was so bizarre and I felt fine. We scheduled everything for next week and on our way out the door she decided to check my blood pressure again to make sure that it was indeed a lab error. After taking it 3 times and getting a different, wild reading each time, she sent us down to get admitted to have them watch me for awhile. After getting to our room and set up, my blood pressure would not stabilize and my doctor came down and said we need to go ahead and have this baby because it seemed I was in early preeclampsia. So around 10:00 am they induced labor, but said get comfortable because it will probably be a long day. Here is Nick and I shortly after the news that we were getting to met our sweet girl today!
So several hours in I start getting really uncomfortable since contractions were coming really hard and fast due to all the medications and procedures done to induce labor. I decided to go ahead and get my epidural. The anesthesiologist came and afterward I felt a little better. Here I am, still waiting:)
The pain returned not long after the epidural, and the anesthesiologist returned to try to redose the medication going into the epidural 3 times over the next few hours before stating he had no idea why this was not working. By about 6:00 Tuesday night I was so uncomfortable and we were so exhausted (yes, Nick did his fair share of work too:)), they decided to try to take out the first epidural and restart to see if it would work. This one was also unsuccessful and we were forced to plan for a natural, unmedicated childbirth. I was terrified! Thankfully, Nick was there and an unbelievable support person and at 8:48 pm we welcomed the most beautiful little girl into our family!

HARPER LYNN BRADSHAW
born 8:48 pm om May 25, 2010 weighing 7lbs 9oz and 19.5 inches long

The minute we met our sweet girl, the long, exhausting day was forgotten and an unexplainable love filled its place. This really was the most amazing experience either of us has ever been a part of, and feel so blessed that God would allow us to be a part of another one of his perfect creations.
The Bradshaw's and my mom were able to be there and meet her for the first time not long after we did. Unfortunately, my Dad had left Saturday to go to Sudan to help Samaritan's Purse with a crisis in which some of their employees had been kidnapped. We wish he could have been there, but he got to meet her on skype in the hospital the next day. Here are the proud grandparents!

We remained in the hospital until Thursday afternoon where we were flooded with love from friends and family coming to meet Harper. We have been home since adjusting to life and loving every minute of it! Here we are getting ready to leave the hospital.
Everyone told me that there is no way to prepare for the joy of motherhood. I usually took this as sarcasm because it was from sore, swollen, sleep deprived women:) But now I see there truly is no way to explain such a deep unconditional love you can feel for this new little being other than a gift from God and a demonstration of his love for us.
Thanks so much for checking on us! I will try to be more consistent and keep you updated as we settle in to life as a family of 3 (oops...5! I'm already leaving out Abby and Jovi:))!

Love,
Nick, Rachel, and Harper

Getting CLOSE!!!

I know, I know...long time no post...sorry! The last few weeks have been so busy! We have had 3 showers, 2 weddings, finished PT school, had a garage sale, once a week doctor appointments, all while I am supposed to be "taking it easy":) It has been so fun getting everything prepared for Harper's arrival. Last post I showed you pics from my sweet Memphis shower, since then my best friends from Ole Miss and our Sunday School class also threw us showers. We have been so blessed with such wonderful friends and family to take care of us and felt so special and loved! Here is her room after with all of her goodies:

So after realizing we only have 3 WEEKS until she gets here, I figured I better get busy putting everything in its place. After several hours of sorting, folding and placing (it shouldn't have taken this long but squealing over every precious item, slows you down a bit) this is what she gets to come home to!

Other than hanging things on walls, her room is DONE...I still can't believe she is almost here! As I mentioned before, I finished Physical Therapy school last week and now am just waiting to walk across the stage at graduation May 21st. Although I have only had 2-3 days of free time, I am already going stir crazy! So I have picked up some arts and crafts:) here are some things I have been working on: (hope she has hair at some point!)

We finished up childbirth classes two weeks ago, and I guess we feel as prepared as we are going to be. And for Nick this includes keeping his eyes shut during every video. He did however pass infant care with flying colors! The husbands were given a doll and told to undress them, remove diaper, replace diaper, redress, and swaddle the baby. Nick was a pro at everything, until it cam to the swaddle. After staring at the doll a few seconds a light bulb went off in his head, as we watched him spread the blanket out and roll the child like a burrito. The instructor died laughing and made everyone stop and watch Nick's technique, as I beamed with pride:) It was so cute, and I will say his "swaddle" looked the best out of all the others! Here is him in action (sorry not very good pics):

Now for baby news! As I mentioned before we are now over 37 weeks! We spent yesterday at the doctor and got one last ultrasound. She was so squished in there and would NOT sit still, none of the pics were worth uploading. She is in the proper "go position" (as Nick calls it) and measured about 6lbs 15oz putting her in the 56th percentile. The ultrasound tech said that these guesses are usually within 1 pound either way, so she is somewhere between 6 and 8lbs most likely. We got to see a glimpse of her face, but could make very little out since she is facing my spine, it was still fun! Nick thinks she looked like she had a head of hair, I couldn't tell. I have packed a bag for her and me, the pack and play is set up in our room and the car seat is in the car. Every step makes all this more real but still somehow DRAGS on! We are just so anxious to meet her! This is us at 36 weeks, then the next is us at 37 weeks with Abby and Jovi.
Speaking of the "girls" I think they know something big is about to happen. They go into her room all the time to sniff around and I have even caught them taking naps in there. Abby even picked out a toy she wanted to borrow from Harper until she gets here. Unfortunately she has already broken it, but somehow keeps finding that same silly toy no matter where I hide it!

Well thanks again for checking in on us! Check back hopefully SOON, maybe the next post will have newborn pics!!!

We love you!!
Nick, Rachel, and Harper Bradshaw

Memphis Baby Shower

Well we had a BUSY weekend! Nick took his PE exam, I had a marriage conference, wedding shower, and most exciting we had our first baby shower. It was so wonderful! Nick's sisters and family friend threw the shower in Memphis on Sunday. We were blessed with so many gifts from Nick's side of the family and family friends! I finally feel like we are somewhat prepared to bring Harper home. We got so many useful, creative, and precious things that I cannot wait to use! Thanks so much to everyone who put time into planning and attending this sweet shower:) In the next couple weeks we have a few more showers that I am so excited about! Here are some pics from the one this weekend.

This is me with the hostesses and helpers after the shower.

Beautiful buffet table...such good food and they even decorated it in black/white/and pink like Harper's nursery!

Precious Diaper cake that Courtney made.

Can't wait to tear into the presents!

All the LOOT:)

So excited to load up our car with all our wonderful gifts!


Ok...finally update on the baby bump. This is us at 34 weeks! I can't believe we will (probably) have a daughter in 6 short weeks!!! We had our third of four weeks of childbirth classes, which Nick has handled surprisingly well:) Every week we get more and more excited!!!

Thanks for keeping up with us! We love you!

Nick, Rachel, and Harper

Happy Easter everyone! We are now almost 32 weeks and are getting more and more anxious to meet our sweet little girl! Two weeks ago we had an ultrasound and she was 3 lbs. 9 oz., which put her in a healthy 55th percentile. She was facing my spine and refused to let us get a look at her or even a profile view. She is very active, and now I can say my favorite hobby is to just sit and watch my belly change shape like it is out of some sci-fi movie.
I feel like our life is consumed with preparing for this baby right now. We finally finished registering (which was much more difficult than I thought it would be), go to the doctor every other week, start four weeks of childbirth classes on Monday, and spend any "down time" on ebay or craigslist looking for baby items. I am so excited about a few showers that we have coming up the end of April and beginning of May. These could not have come at a better time considering, as of lately, I tend to stay in trouble for every new baby item I come home with:)
I got the most wonderful Easter present today...my mom finished the bedding and curtains for Harper's room!!! She did such a great job and they look great in her room. Here are some pictures!
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We do not have a mattress yet, but once we do my mom is making black sheets to go on it (apparently black is not a very popular baby color:)



Here is Harper and I at almost 32 weeks! Getting bigger (which apparently strangers feel is ok to say to a woman if they are pregnant, personally I still don't like to hear it:) On a non-baby note: I would like to ask for prayer for both mine and Nick's families. Nick's father is in the hospital with pneumonia. He is better, but they do not want to release him until his immune system has fully recovered. Many of you know my Dad has gone to Haiti for a month with Samaritan's Purse to help with some security and disaster relief operations. Please keep him and all the people over there in your prayers.
Thanks for checking in on us again! We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend. He is RISEN!!!

Nick, Rachel, and Harper

LAST TRIMESTER!!!!

OK, so I think we have established that I am not the most consistent blogger:) Sorry for not updating, but today is a big milestone.........28 weeks= start of the 3rd trimester!! I cannot believe how fast it has flown by and that she will be here in 12 weeks (hopefully)! So, to catch you up: we have decided on a name for sure....HARPER LYNN BRADSHAW. Harper is estimated to be between 2 and 2.5 pounds and about 15 inches long so far. I spoke too soon last post about her movements. I guess she is a late bloomer, because she is now up flipping around most hours of the day. But I'm not complaining...I love it:) I had my glucose test for gestational diabetes at 26 weeks, and was so relieved to find out I passed. We began registering today at Babies R us...talk about stressful! How many types of bottles and pacifiers can there be??? And they are ALL supposed to be the "best" for your baby. So, any mom's out there that would like to enlighten me on useful products...I would appreciate it! These last 12 weeks are going to fly by! We start childbirth classes soon, have four showers, and I hopefully find time to graduate somewhere in there.
Harper's room is well on its way! My mom has started on the bedding, Nick has almost finished her furniture, and her closet continues to fill. Here are some pictures of what has been going on around here.

This is the dresser/changing table that Nick built for her still in progress.

My extremely talented neighbor, Abilgail, did a metallic finish on it that looks amazing (pictures don't do it justice!)

Almost finished! All it needs is the door and doorknob put on.

This is a lamp that I bought and I added the lace to make it a little more feminine.

So, here is Me and Harper at 28 weeks! We have really grown since last picture:)

Sorry about the awkward picture, but Nick was not home to take it and I was impatient.

This is a picture of Abby and Jovi on our snow day a couple of weeks ago. The girls loved it...but Jovi refused to sit down in the snow.

Thanks for checking in on us, I am for real going to try to do better about updates! We love you all!

Nick, Rachel, and Harper