It's my birthday

I've been tagged and it seemed like the perfect one to do on my birthday...

8 (I'm not sure I can come up with 8! I'm so normal) weird things about Robin:

1~ Until I was about 12 I had very blonde, very curly hair and blue eyes. Now I have dark brown curly hair and green eyes.
2~ When I cook, most of the cabinets are wide open. Once I open a cabinet to get something, I always leave it open just in case I need something else out of it later. This will save me the effort of opening the door again. But I hit my head on the open doors all too often.
3~ I don't think this one is that weird but whatever. When I load the dishwasher, I always separate the silverware. It makes the unloading much easier.
4~ I clip my fingernails at least once a week, usually twice. I can't stand having any white at the end! But I always forget to clip my toenails.
5~ Next year Dennison and I are trading birthdays. I've always wondered what a birthday in the middle of the year would be like and he'll get a little taste of a Christmas time birthday.
6~ I'm a picky eater but not in the sense that I don't like a lot of foods. It's more the quality of the food that I'm picky about. I won't eat anything that looks, smells, or tastes a little off. I used to pick through my rice and take out all the ones that were a little discolored I've gotten better about this over the years.
7~ My biggest pet peeve is when drivers slow down before they get into the turning lane.
8~ Before I put my shoes on I have to check to make sure there's no spiders hiding down in the toe. To do this, I get a wad of toilet paper and quickly shove it into the toe, squishing any spider that might have been hiding. I don't do it with all my shoes, usually just the ones I haven't worn in a while and always with my rain boots. And sometimes I want to do it so bad but I force myself to just put the shoes on (curling my toes back, just in case) without a spider check just to make sure I haven't crossed the 'crazy' line.

So there you go, Happy Birthday to the weirdo.

what a day

Today was Carter's first day of nursery!! He did great, just like we knew he would. He's always a little shy at first but he warms up to anyone pretty quickly. And if toys are involved, forget it! It was a little sad because he didn't even miss us. He probably didn't even notice we were gone. But I'm so glad he had fun and we were able to do our thing without worrying about him.
He looks so grown up!! My little boy....

Unfortunately, he only got to stay in nursery for an hour on his first day. Because of this snow (yes, that is grass that you can still see poking through, and our patio that snow was barely sticking to), church was canceled before the last hour! Being from a very snowy town in Idaho and then Utah, I was a little surprised that this little bit of snow would have such a big effect. But believe it folks, it's true. I was wearing a pair of FLATS while at church and a kind lady was appalled that I would wear such things when in was snowing outside. At first I really didn't understand what she was talking about but then, seeing her choice of footwear, it made sense. Boots. Snow boots. I don't mean any offense by this story, it's just not what I'm used to. But I'm so glad it's snowing!!! It just doesn't feel like Christmas time until I see snow. And living here, we don't see it often (obviously).
But since it was so cold today, the boys got to wear their grandma-made sweaters!! Aren't they darling??!! Carter loves holding Jude's hand. so cute.

Baby sling anyone?

I've never used a baby sling before but I really want one! It would be especially helpful now since Jude is getting heavier by the minute and Carter cannot sit still. I feel like my hands and arms are always full of babies!!! I guess there's worse things in life though :) My sister has a sling and every time I talk to her on the phone her cute little baby is in the sling. She loves it. I also have a friend here that has one and every time I see her she's sportin her sling. Sidenote: when you check out the modmum website, my gorgeous friend Lacy is the model on the main page. Isn't she cute in that sling?!

SOOO.....

If you want to win a baby sling here are the instructions straight from the modmum baby sling website. My favorite sling is the Lily.

If you feel like you broke the bank buying gifts for everyone else, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get the baby sling you have been coveting. Throughout December Mod Mum is giving away 3 baby slings a week to moms in need!

We have different ways to enter, so choose one or increase your chances by doing them all:

1. Write about the contest in your blog telling us which sling you love the most and include a link to Mod Mum. Then send us an email at contest@modmum.com with the link to your post to receive one entry.
2. Add Mod Mum to your Twitter and “tweet” about the giveaway. Then send us an email at contest@modmum.com with your Twitter name to receive one entry.
3. Add our button (to the left) with link to our site to your side bar. Then send us an email at contest@modmum.com with a link to your blog to receive one entry.
4. Email three friends about the contest and copy us on the email at contest@modmum.com to receive an entry.

We will announce the winners weekly! Good Luck!

awwww

Oh Carter...

If you look closely, you can see Carter inside his cool "train" trying to pull Spiderman inside with him. Spiderman is obviously too tall.

Jude's baby blessing

This past Sunday was Jude's baby blessing. All of Dennison's family - minus mom:( - was in town for Thanksgiving so we thought it would be the perfect time. Both of his brothers and his father were here to participate. It was a beautiful blessing and an incredible experience for our family. I've got some amazing guys in my life!!Jude's face is priceless in this one

Dennison with his Dad, brothers Mark and Shane and friend James. And Jude.

Thanksgiving and just some other pictures

All of Dennison's five siblings and his Dad were able to come to our house for Thanksgiving this year! They haven't all been together for quite some time so it was really fun. Thanks to his sisters Heather, April, and Kristina we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with plenty of leftovers. The best part was that I didn't do any cooking! They were so wonderful and thoughtful of us with our new baby. The men were able to get in some football (playing and watching) and the kids all had a blast together. We even managed to get family portraits taken. It sure was crazy around here for a couple days but so fun.
Carter loved the corn on the cob

Jude always sleeps with his hands above his head

Dennison and Jude with his brother Mark and niece Rachel

Me and my boys

Carter giving Jude a kiss and Jude being bored with it.

1 month old

Here's my one-month-old baby! Jude is such a good little guy. He sleeps really well at night, doesn't get too upset when Carter tries to play with him by throwing things at his head, and he's been smiling at us for at least a week now! He is such a blessing and we love him so so much.
Above, Jude is one week old and below, Carter is 1 month old. They're probably about the same size in these pics - Jude might even be bigger:) The older Jude gets, the more similarities I can see between him and Carter.

Dennison's proudest moment

This trick was attempted and accomplished for the first time just prior to the taking of this video. Dennison's favorite part is that Carter grabs the balloon on his way down. My favorite part is that he says, "oh no" right after. It's a good thing we have boys.... (sorry the lighting is so bad, it was a very spur-of-the-moment video shoot)

Jude and his 'rents

I guess he's already sick of me kissing him... check out that face! How rude

some cute pictures and a video

Here's my baby




We have been known to play peek-a-boo but Carter came up with this little game all on his own! It's probably funnier if you were there....

Picture Tag

This is for Lindsay. Here are the rules:Go into your picture files and post the 4th picture from the 4th folder onto your blog. Then tag 4 friends.Ha ha, he was trying to get out of taking a nap.

Suggestions please

So Carter LOVES listening to music. I don't know of many little kid artists (are there even artists for the "little kid" genre?) or songs or anything. So I'm hoping that some or all of you more experienced moms can help me out here. What do your kids listen to and how can I get my hands on it?

My Super Mom

Wednesday was a very sad day... my Mom went back home:( She was here for 10 days helping out with the boys. Carter loved having her here - he was super grumpy all day on Wednesday after she left. She made it feel so easy to have two kids! She played with Carter a lot and held Jude while I took naps. It was so great having her here. If my dad didn't miss her so much we might have just 'forgotten' to take her to the airport! So thanks Mom, for all your help and for being the best mom in the world. I'm so glad I had such a good example growing up of how a mom should be. I love you!

Halloween

Aww... isn't he just so cute?! We didn't do much for Halloween this year for obvious reasons. Some friends came to visit last night and we drank apple cider and ate yummy cookies. It was a nice relaxing Halloween night.
Carter didn't want to sit still for the first matching shirt picture with his baby brother.
Carter absolutely hated wearing his costume until one of his little friends came over dressed as a cat. Once he saw her all dressed up he didn't mind being in his chicken suit as much.

World's cutest chicken

more of Jude

Carter LOVES his baby brother! He always has to know where he is and he loves to pat his head and he says, "beebee!". His car often doubles as a stool.... comes in quite handy, don't you think?

the waterbirth

So several of you faithful blog readers have requested more about my waterbirth experience. So here it is. My reasons for choosing to do a waterbirth were 1-It's a much smoother and easier transition for the baby into this crazy world. He's already used to being in water and the temp of the water is 98 degrees so it's much nicer than coming into the cool room temperature air. 2-The water softens your tissue so the chances of tearing are significantly reduced. 3-the water helps your contractions to be more productive and feel less painful. 4- Labor usually progresses faster once in the water. For more info go here.
**Warning** Birth story ahead, read on if desired.... I went to my midwife in the morning and found out that I was already dilated 6cm. I had been having pretty regular and strong-ish contractions since the week before when I thought I was in labor (thanks, Lindsay, for driving an hour to watch Carter at 3 in the morning even though I didn't have a baby until a week later!). So I was hoping those contractions were doing something but I wasn't expecting 6 cm! Anyways, my midwife was a little baffled as to why I wasn't in labor yet. So she told me to go home and if nothing was happening by 4:00 to just go check into the hospital and she would break my water. She was worried that if I went into labor on my own I might not make it to the hospital in time. So I went in that afternoon and I was having regular contractions about 2 or 3 minutes apart. I could feel them but they were nothing like how I remember them being when I was this far along with Carter. So she broke my water at 6:30 and I got into the tub. Within 15 minutes the contractions were stronger and closer together. They were still very managable and I'm conviced it's because of my hypnobirthing breathing and relaxation techniques and also because I was in the water. At about 7:15, I could feel the contractions change and I knew it was time for Jude to be born. Sidenote: I'm so glad I had a midwife this time! She gave me a few suggestions along the way but mostly just let me do my own thing. It made me feel so confident and in tune with my body. Although you might not believe me, the only time I really felt pain was when I was fully dilated and the contractions changed. Other than that, I felt a lot of pressure and stretching and whatnot, but I wouldn't describe it as painful. So my 9 lb 2 oz baby was born at 7:30. I still can't believe I had a 9 pounder!! Thanks to the water, I'm sure, there was no tearing or anything. Once he was born, she handed him right up to me and I held him in the water with his head our for a while. He didn't cry right away but he opened his eyes and looked around. They touched his back with a cool cloth to get him to cry when they were doing the apgar test. He was so alert and content. He loved hanging out in the water with me. He was mad when we finally got out. It was an amazing experience and I HIGHLY recommend waterbirths to anyone and everyone!

he has made his entrance...

This is Jude Leon

He was over 9 lbs!!

Me in front of the birth tub. Doing a water birth was so awesome!! Believe it or not, this was about an hour before Jude was born. Hypnobirthing is pretty awesome, too.
Daddy and Jude. I think he looks a lot like Carter in this picture.

39 weeks...

Yes, I'm still pregnant

roast Carter?

If there's one thing this boy know how to do it's entertain himself. I was standing at the stove cooking and I heard Carter's triumphant, "Ahh!" and then clapping so I looked down and saw this. Later, he wanted to show Dad how funny he was but Dad just thought he wanted to get cooked.

Some finished projects...

I made this cute monkey blanket for 4h(fourth Harris, the new baby). I thought monkeys to be appropriate since his big brother is already so monkey-like!

And here's a blanket I finished for Carter. I started it when I was still pregnant with him....

And of course, the wedding scrapbook! Yes, I finally finished it after 2 1/2 years!!!! It turned out pretty cool, so I guess it was worth the wait.









So now I've run out of projects. I know I'll be super busy here pretty soon but in the meantime, I don't quite know what to do with myself!