The Harper Headlines: Merry Christmas

Hello again, I figured with Christmas vastly approaching there was no better time to give an update on this poor neglected blog. Time continues to fly in the Harper household; hard to believe that it has been almost 3 1/2 months since we moved to Atlanta. We continue to inhabit the basement of my dad's house trying to help out with Chase and keep up with Eli (which turns out to be a full time job itself). Mark is now working with Nabisco as a warehouse manager in Norcross, GA and I am working as a safety engineer for the Center of Disease Control in Chamblee, GA (near Atlanta). We are both enjoying our jobs and still cannot believe how much we have been blessed. It was less than a year ago that we sat in our kitchen in Warner Robins, GA thinking that it would be nearly impossible to coordinate a move to Atlanta without significantly decreasing our income or one of us becoming unemployed. Little did we know at that time that God would lead the way and that all we had to do was take a little leap of faith...the best decision we have ever made after having Eli.

And speaking of Eli, our little monster is now 18 months old and has decided that he wants to be completely independent (most of the time). He tops the growth charts for his age and seems to have endless energy. He is 30lbs of total destruction running around the house, but also the sweetest boy. When caught in one of his cuddly moods, he will attack my face with his tiny hands as he pulls me into his face to cover my lips, nose and cheeks with kisses. His vocabulary is growing everyday and he can repeat any word or small phrase you say to him (which means we all have to watch what we say now). I still need to record his "I love you" phrase which sounds more like "ah owe you"...it melts my heart every time.

For Thanksgiving, I had Stacey come take some pictures of us after a short lesson on how to use my camera. It is not very often that I get to be out in front of the camera lens so I was happy to finally get some pictures of all 3 of us. What I hoped for was to get some sweet pictures of us together, but Eli had other plans. He did not want to be held, have his hand held or stand still next to us and smiling for the camera was out of the question. Stacey was able to capture a few sweet moments but the photo that represents our daily interaction the most is below. ;-)

I was trying to fix his shirt and have him stand next to me for a quick picture but as you can see he was having nothing of it. I think I actually like this picture simply because it displays exactly what I feel...me grasping at straws to keep him little and in my arms and his desire to explore the world by himself. I keep thinking that this is a stage he is going through but I have a feeling that this will probably be how I feel for the rest of my life....growing up WAY too fast!

Merry Christmas from the Harper family (Mark, Crystal, Eli, Toby the dog and Saydee the kitty too)!