april 28th

I spent months and months counting down to April 28th. I even had an app on my ipod that wouldn't let me forget how many days there were to go. Today is my due date. I never would have guessed that I would have a nearly four-week-old baby today. I was very sure that I would still be hugely pregnant. Today is also my nephew Paul's birthday. And, Brady discovered last night, it is Harper Lee's birthday. Can you believe it? I had no idea that our little Harper was set to arrive on the same day her namesake was born.

While we were dating, Brady was reading To Kill A Mockingbird. When he mentioned it in one late night phone conversation, I decided I really ought to read it too. Somehow, I had gone through school never having read this Pulitzer Prize winning classic. I went out and bought my own copy and fell in love with sweet little Scout and her compassionate father, Atticus. I remember thinking then, 'Harper. I like that name.'

Three and a half years after reading this and a month before Harper was born, I mentioned to Brady that I felt like our short list of names may not include the right name. We started looking in more places for additional names and that's when I asked him "What do you think of the name Harper?" He liked it right away and although I told him he couldn't settle on just one name before we met our baby girl, I'm pretty sure he did just that.

Harper Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007,
just as I was reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time.

I hope that our little Harper will be a precocious reader like Harper Lee. I want her to have a lively spirit like little Scout. Each day I spend with Harper, I get more acquainted with this tiny one and am so excited for everything she will teach me and who she will become. Perhaps she will go on to win the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I love you sweet Harper. I love that I got four extra weeks being your mom. I love your forehead wrinkles, your tiny hands and the way you sigh after you eat. You are my everything.