The first month

One-month photos are not easy to take. I took a couple dozen photos to get a few good ones. I guess that's how it goes with newborns.

No pictures please

Maybe just a few

Ok I will obey and just sit here

And be a little cute

That's all you get mom, I'm done! 

We don't see the doctor again until 2 months since Harper had already met and passed her birth weight at her 2-week check up so I am not sure her weight or height, but based on how much she eats and the fact that she's already in her 3 months clothes I can guess she is well over 8 pounds now and most likely 21 inches.

At 2 weeks she was……

7 pounds 12 ounces
20 1/2 inches

Here is what Harper is up to at one month old…..

- Sleeping, eating, pooping, and repeat!
-She is starting to show some more awake time and is learning to be a little more happy when she is awake and not eating. We usually get 5-10 minutes of "play" time before she needs to be held again, eat, or sleep.
- At night she usually gives us one 3-4 hour stretch and then is usually up every hour after that. I am hoping that changes soon!
- She nurses all the time! Every 2 hours sometimes more.

We are starting to get little smiles (that are not gas related). Usually it is after she eats and is feeling very content. It's funny though how she can go from smiling to screaming in under a minute. 

Baby acne has taken over her face. I know it's normal and doesn't bother her at all, but I feel so bad. 

We all survived the first month……

The first month went by in a flash! After Mimi left (it was a sad day for all of us) we figured out how to make this work. Ava has been amazing, she is the best big sister and helper. She does have her moments where she wants to act like a baby or wants my undivided attention (and it breaks my heart when I can't give it to her) but overall she adjusted better than I could ever have asked her to!

Morning snuggles with her sister

Mimi soaking up some snuggle time with her granddaughters. 

First bath. Ava loves helping with bath time. Harper is making it clear how she feels about bath time. 

Papa is the baby whisperer 

First family photo and first Bears game of the season

Ready for the game. 

<3 Sisters 

Titi came to visit! 

Snuggles with Uncle Jake. 

Thanks for coming out to visit us Sandy and Jake!!

Day one without Mimi. This is how we survived. She is in this thing for most of the day….it solves both of our problems. She wants to be held and I need to be hands free. 

We managed to make it out to the park finally! 

And to the beach. Thankful for the baby carriers that make these trips possible right now. Harper is not a fan of the carseat, so baby wearing is how we do it around here! 

First weekend alone with the girls. We all survived…phew! 

Anna came to visit and help out while Steve was gone. She is amazing!!!!! 

Checking out her baby sis. She always points out to me that Harper has hands, feet, a nose, etc. She is still figuring her out. 

This is what we've been doing a lot of lately. Harper is in a phase where she only wants mommy to hold her. 

Starting to see those half smiles. 

I love it when I catch her reading, singing, or just being cute to her baby sister. She is especially attentive when Harper cries and tries to fix it. <3 

Harper Evans Scifres…August 30th, 2014

Everything about her birth was wonderful (well except for the painful contractions) but it was all worth it to be able to experience such a magical moment. It was just so different from my first experience with Ava. Things were hectic with Ava, people were stressed, we were scared, and the worst part….they took her from me within minutes of her birth. This time it was the opposite. People were relaxed, we were happy, and they let me cuddle her for hours after birth. They didn't even weigh her until she was a few hours old. I do appreciate both of my experiences for their own uniqueness. We got to experience all of this magical moments with Ava too, just not in the same way it happened with Harper. Enough about Ava, back to Harper!

Harper's birth stats:

Time: Harper was born at 10:51 am after 8 hours of labor. I started pushing at 10 am and she was here in a little under an hour.

Weight: 6 pounds 14 oz.
Height: 19 1/2 inches long

She came out screaming, alert, with a major cone head from birth (it is taking several weeks to go back down).
She also came out with a full and I do mean FULL head of dark hair. We all (doctor included) wondered where that hair came from???

She's here!! Like I said, major cone head! 

Just a few minutes old

Not happy she was taken away from mommy. 

Look at that hair!

Snuggles with daddy

Harper meets her Mimi. If it weren't for Mimi I don't think I would've made it to full term. We are so thankful for her and all she did for us! 

Ava meets her little sister. She was a little hesitant at first, but quickly warmed up. 

Harper meets her grandparents!! 

Grandma and Harper!!

Very curious about Harper….wanted to see her feet, hands….making sure she is human I guess. 

The next morning…….We were tired, more tired than I ever knew I could be, but so so happy this little one was here and healthy! 

Morning snuggles with daddy

Auntie JJ (Jamie) came to visit us and meet Harper!!

We are busting you out of here! She is 26 hours old and they are letting us leave???? 

Heading home!!

August 2014……a great month for us! (Long overdue post…I know it is almost October)

I am way overdue in updating the blog! As soon as I was taken off bed rest I hit the ground running. I knew my time was limited before baby came and I had a lot on my to-do list. Although some of the pictures and things in this post are old news, I want to make sure to capture the things I know I will want to remember one day. We started this blog to update friends and family about our upcoming arrival and continue to update about our life, but I have discovered that a blog is also like a baby book for our kids and a journal for me.  I have gone back to old posts to see when Ava met certain milestones and what she weighed at different stages. A friend of mine actually took all the posts from Ava's first year of life and turned them into a book for us. It is such a wonderful keepsake for Ava and the rest of of us.  I want to do the same for Harper, so I will try my best to keep up with the blog updating about Harper and the rest of us too!



August began celebrating our 5th year anniversary. With me on bed rest there wasn't much we could do to celebrate, but Steve still managed to make it a special day by surprising me with a new car (one we had been planning, shopping, and saving for since last year).


August 18th was a happy day! I was taken off bed rest. I was 36 weeks, almost full term and had gone a few weeks with no changes to my cervix so the doctor felt comfortable taking me off all medication and bed rest. I took it easy for the first few days trying to regain my strength and energy, but once I felt up to it I started checking things off my long to-do list.

At the top of my to-do list…..Take Ava Swimming!! 

Next up, go to the beach 

And take Mimi and Ava to the pier

One more trip to the aquarium 

Another item on the list, take Ava to art class. The little chairs weren't really cutting it for  me so Mimi did a lot of the art activities with Ava while I watched from a comfortable "grown-up" chair nearby. 

Then 37 weeks came, 38 weeks, and we were beginning to think this baby was going to be closer to her due date, maybe even past. The doctor and I discussed the plan of action if I go past due. Well later on that week things went from 0 to 60 pretty quickly. I was barley having any contractions (for someone who had been contracting since 30 weeks, this was shocking) and my cervix wasn't changing much, until Harper decided it was time. The night before I went into labor we went to Steve's football game at his new high school. It was HOT, long, and a lot of walking around. I guess that is all I needed to send my body into full blown labor because later that night (midnight) I woke up and knew that it was time.

36 weeks! No more bed rest…woohoo!! 

37 weeks….full term!! 

38 weeks….happy to still be prego, but starting to really feel the discomfort of the last few weeks of pregnancy 

Last outing as a family of 3…..at the Calabasas high school football game. Ava and the mascot

The last picture of just the three of us. 

Just as August began on a happy note it also ended on a happy note. On August 30th at 10:51 am Harper Evans made her arrival into the world.

Just when you think your heart can't get any bigger! This was truly an amazing experience and I feel so blessed I was able to experience it (twice). More about her birth and our experience in the next post. 

35 weeks and counting.....

We have made it through a month on bed rest and Mimi has survived a month living with us! I never imagined we would make it this far, but am thrilled that we have. It has definitely been an adjustment for everyone and we will all be glad when this is behind us and we are cuddling our little girl. My weekly doctor visits have showed that I am continuing to efface but not as rapidly as I was when this all started. We are hoping for another 1-2 weeks of growing for baby girl so we can hopefully avoid the nicu all together, however, if things don't pan out that way I am still happy to be where we are. Babies born at 35/36 weeks do very well and usually need minimal nicu time. Next Monday at 36 weeks I will go off of my medicine, progesterone shots, and bed rest. We could be having a baby next week or it could take a few weeks for my body to kick back into labor. Thank you for the prayers, they sure have been working!

Here is what we've been up to this past month.....

I had to sneak out one day to watch these two play at the pool. 

This was all her idea! She is so good at coming up with things we can do with me on the couch. 

Off to Sonoma to watch Aunt Sandy get married.  Mimi,  Ava, and Steve had a blast. 

Pictures with the bride and groom. Aunt Sandy looked beautiful!!!!  

She had so much fun playing with Sutton.  I can't wait to get all the cousins together next summer at the Evans Family Reunion! 

Too much cuteness in this picture!! 

So happy to have the family back together! 

Making chocolate covered bananas. She ate most of the chocolate right from the bowl....very much like her momma! 

Steve surprised me with a new car on our anniversary. We've been talking for over a year now about getting one this summer, but with everything going on and me being out of commission I figured this was put on the back burner.  I was shocked to find out that he in fact had still been car hunting for a while. Now we can fit 2 car seats with plenty of space for everyone. 

Poor baby wasn't feeling well this past weekend. Naps on the bathroom floor are acceptable when you're 2 1/2.   

Putting on makeup with momma. 

We got out all the baby stuff this weekend since at this point if baby girl were to come she may very well come right home with us with no nicu. Better safe than sorry! Ava loves all the baby stuff, but for her animals only. I wonder how she will feel once there is an actual baby in there??

Snuggles and movie time. She has been so sweet about all of this change. She finds ways to be with me and does not ask me to do anything I can't do. This past week I was getting up a bit more than usual and she kept telling me to get back to bed and lay on my side. Such a good caretaker!! 

Ava pregnant with her baby bop. She loves to put her animals in her belly and pretend to be on bed rest with me.