My heart is melting right now. I am sitting downstairs on the sofa at the end of a long week…..I left Nick and Kate upstairs in her room a while ago with Nick handling bedtime duties tonight. The routine always involves a bedtime story – always of the typical story/picture book type. “The Giving Tree”, or “Manners” or “Dora” or a book of what Kate calls “Wimes” – which is really “A Children’s Treasury of Irish Rhymes”. She has also taken to listening to these stories on the floor like she is at storytime at the library. Then will crawl up for a quick cuddle and song before going to sleep.
BUT. Tonight, Kate selected a book off the bookshelf that is “a big girl book”. She asked Nick to read the real “Winnie the Pooh” to her. Not the Disney storybook version, but the chapter book. Now, maybe she was trying to be clever and extend bedtime by selecting it – but I don’t care! I left them upstairs, snuggled together in the rocking chair with Kate in her yellow footed fleece jammies, freshly bathed, sitting on Nick’s lap, holding her sweet floppy bear in the crook of her arm. I can now hear them over the baby monitor as Nick reads a full chapter from “Winnie the Pooh”. Kate is not fidgeting or being distracted at all. Every now and then she will make a little remark about the story, though. So engrossed. Such a big girl. And so special. Like I said – my heart is melting. It is moments like these that illustrate the indescribable joys of motherhood and marriage. Thank you, God!
Friday, January 20, 2006
Friday, January 13, 2006
Wild Head Kate in Curlers
Kate loved playing with her Nia's curlers.....she had so much fun "getting ready".
Hello 2006!!!!
Kate continues to be a total delight! Christmas was so much fun. She really got into the idea of Santa “seeing you when you’re sleeping and knowing when you’re awake”. I have to say that I know bribery is not really the way to go with children, but the concept of Santa really helped to generate some EXTRA good behavior on Kate’s part in the weeks leading up to Xmas! ☺
So, we all had a wonderful Christmas. My parents were both here and we all spent some terrific time together. New Year’s Eve was low key but wonderful – we all hung out at my parents condo and ate amazing food – courtesy of one terrific Chef, Kate McKenny! – and played movie trivia games and watched football. Those who were able to drink enjoyed some celebratory beverages and preggo me looked on in envy! ;) It really was a great break, with Nick finally enjoying some much deserved time off. And little Kate got to spend marvelous time with her Nia and Gramps. She was so sad to see them go back to Florida and actually wailed “Kate go to Fwowida tooooooooo”. Break our hearts!
So now 2006 is in full swing. Nick has taken on some new responsibilities specific to a business within 3M with regards to Mergers and Acquisitions, so that is keeping him incredibly busy. He also jumped right back into house projects here in our wonderful little bungalow and has made some great progress. The baby’s room is now no longer a catch-all storage room with old OLD windows (complete with black shutters with RED plastic inserts), hideous paint and no heat or ac. This room was a combo effort between the “pros” and Nick and now our baby’s room has a beautiful new window, heat, ac, and air return, is painted a lovely shade of “Riviera Azure” (read: blue) with all new brightly painted clean white baseboard mouldings and room trims and good-as-new painted closet doors. Well, the doors are to be completed this weekend. I know that I MUST post some pics soon of all the changes. They are just wonderful. The playroom is fully functional now and Kate absolutely loves it. It is a terrific place to spend family time. So many changes! This house most definitely now feels like “home”. We love it.
Not much else to report! I am still on the “take it easy” prescription from the doctor. In addition to being on the medication Nifedipine – which helps to keep contractions at bay – I have to have relatively light days and I also have to go in for full checks at the doctor once a week now. I am 32 weeks and have been told I will be taken off the meds at 36 weeks and anything can happen from there. I am not exactly comfortable – I am not going to lie! I am roughly the size of the state of Montana and my already existing pregnancy heartburn/reflux is aggravated by the fact that one of the major side effects of the medication I am on is, you guessed it, heartburn and reflux! Woo hoo! Lots of fun. I am sure Nick is looking forward to the day when his National Monument sized wife stops needing a forklift to get off the couch so she can pop 10 Tums at a time! ☺ Nah, Nick has been wonderfully understanding and cool about it all. And in the grand scheme of things, some meds, rest, and discomfort are a walk in the park compared to what some people have to go through to enjoy the blessing of new life. We’re fine!
I am getting busy again with my charity that I am involved with here in the Twin Cities….Ever After Gowns. We help to provide young ladies with a free prom dress, shoes, and accessories to help them have a memorable and financially worry-free high school event. It is SO fun and rewarding and last year’s event was a huge success. I am proud to be a part of it. This year I have to stick with more of the computer planning aspects, of course, and not be running around to dry cleaners and boutiques begging for donations….but I am happy with handling logistics! If anyone is interested or wants to help, our (fledgling and under major development) website is www.everaftergowns.org. I would love for you to check it out!
Along with the logistics for that, I am learning how to become a Mac user! I am TOTALLY new at this and am learning as I go, but I really like our new iBook! Santa (also known as Ed McKenny) brought us one for Xmas! It is super cool and fun to play around on. So – as I am a beginner, please bear with me as emails, blog posts, documents, pics etc, may seem different or unreadable or whatever. I am trying to figure out an easy way to transfer all my Outlook contacts and emails from my old PC to the iBook as well. Any Mac experts out there with any advice?
Well, this little blog post has become something of an homage to Tolstoy’s longwinded style of writing. To sum up – all is well and we are looking forward to all the exciting things ahead! We hope you are happy, healthy and blessed as well!
To end on a light note, here are some of Kate’s latest phrases and words at age 2. She speaks in full sentences now, but sometimes they are a bit…..off:
“Ooooh! It’s Darking, Mommy” - Translation: It is getting dark.
“We’re in a tunnel! It is sooo Fooky” - Translation: She says this every time we are in a parking garage. And “Fooky” is “Spooky”. She cannot say the Sp sound – it comes out as an “F”. But I don’t know where she got the idea that things were “fooky”. So funny.
“Ow! Ow! Double Ow” – She said this once when she stubbed her toe and it cracked us up. She says it all the time now. Have no idea where she got this.
“Wiam is moving!” – Wiam is her baby brother in Utero “(William or Liam). She LOVES to kiss him and hug him by kissing and hugging my tummy and is always wanting to see or feel him move. Which happens a lot.
“I’m cooking Deppables” - Translation: “Deppables” are “Vegetables” and she LOVES to pretend that she is cooking then in her play kitchen.
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little…….applesauce.” - Kate LOVES to sing, has great pitch and sings ALL the time. But she also fancies herself a bit of a comedienne. She thinks it is hysterical to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but just before the word “Star” she pauses for dramatic effect, tries to suppress a smile or chuckle and replaces the word “Star” with a silly word like “Applesauce” or “Boat” or with someone’s name. She then absolutely cracks up. We are talking belly laughs, rolling giggles, nonstop. She repeats this to the point where you cannot even understand what she is saying she is laughing so hard. Of course the more she cracks herself up, the more we laugh – and the cycle continues.
“Daddy is cweaning the snow” - Translation: Daddy is cleaning the snow, or he is outside in the freezing cold shoveling the sidewalk or scraping the car after a storm.
“Daddy is beuwding the house” - Translation: Dad is working on SOME project in the house – which as you know is a lot. This sentence applies to painting, sawing, hammering, whatever!
“No, I messer it” - Translation: “I measure it”. After watching her Dad so much, Kate thinks she is quite the contractor. She REALLY like to use the tape measure to measure things – the coffee table, her bear, a book. She will very seriously, and adeptly, use the tape measure and call out a number of “the messering”. Sometimes it is in the range of what is showing on the tape, sometimes not.
Well, that is all the Harris bragging for now. Time to hit the hay. I just have to grab a dozen or so Tums first………..
So, we all had a wonderful Christmas. My parents were both here and we all spent some terrific time together. New Year’s Eve was low key but wonderful – we all hung out at my parents condo and ate amazing food – courtesy of one terrific Chef, Kate McKenny! – and played movie trivia games and watched football. Those who were able to drink enjoyed some celebratory beverages and preggo me looked on in envy! ;) It really was a great break, with Nick finally enjoying some much deserved time off. And little Kate got to spend marvelous time with her Nia and Gramps. She was so sad to see them go back to Florida and actually wailed “Kate go to Fwowida tooooooooo”. Break our hearts!
So now 2006 is in full swing. Nick has taken on some new responsibilities specific to a business within 3M with regards to Mergers and Acquisitions, so that is keeping him incredibly busy. He also jumped right back into house projects here in our wonderful little bungalow and has made some great progress. The baby’s room is now no longer a catch-all storage room with old OLD windows (complete with black shutters with RED plastic inserts), hideous paint and no heat or ac. This room was a combo effort between the “pros” and Nick and now our baby’s room has a beautiful new window, heat, ac, and air return, is painted a lovely shade of “Riviera Azure” (read: blue) with all new brightly painted clean white baseboard mouldings and room trims and good-as-new painted closet doors. Well, the doors are to be completed this weekend. I know that I MUST post some pics soon of all the changes. They are just wonderful. The playroom is fully functional now and Kate absolutely loves it. It is a terrific place to spend family time. So many changes! This house most definitely now feels like “home”. We love it.
Not much else to report! I am still on the “take it easy” prescription from the doctor. In addition to being on the medication Nifedipine – which helps to keep contractions at bay – I have to have relatively light days and I also have to go in for full checks at the doctor once a week now. I am 32 weeks and have been told I will be taken off the meds at 36 weeks and anything can happen from there. I am not exactly comfortable – I am not going to lie! I am roughly the size of the state of Montana and my already existing pregnancy heartburn/reflux is aggravated by the fact that one of the major side effects of the medication I am on is, you guessed it, heartburn and reflux! Woo hoo! Lots of fun. I am sure Nick is looking forward to the day when his National Monument sized wife stops needing a forklift to get off the couch so she can pop 10 Tums at a time! ☺ Nah, Nick has been wonderfully understanding and cool about it all. And in the grand scheme of things, some meds, rest, and discomfort are a walk in the park compared to what some people have to go through to enjoy the blessing of new life. We’re fine!
I am getting busy again with my charity that I am involved with here in the Twin Cities….Ever After Gowns. We help to provide young ladies with a free prom dress, shoes, and accessories to help them have a memorable and financially worry-free high school event. It is SO fun and rewarding and last year’s event was a huge success. I am proud to be a part of it. This year I have to stick with more of the computer planning aspects, of course, and not be running around to dry cleaners and boutiques begging for donations….but I am happy with handling logistics! If anyone is interested or wants to help, our (fledgling and under major development) website is www.everaftergowns.org. I would love for you to check it out!
Along with the logistics for that, I am learning how to become a Mac user! I am TOTALLY new at this and am learning as I go, but I really like our new iBook! Santa (also known as Ed McKenny) brought us one for Xmas! It is super cool and fun to play around on. So – as I am a beginner, please bear with me as emails, blog posts, documents, pics etc, may seem different or unreadable or whatever. I am trying to figure out an easy way to transfer all my Outlook contacts and emails from my old PC to the iBook as well. Any Mac experts out there with any advice?
Well, this little blog post has become something of an homage to Tolstoy’s longwinded style of writing. To sum up – all is well and we are looking forward to all the exciting things ahead! We hope you are happy, healthy and blessed as well!
To end on a light note, here are some of Kate’s latest phrases and words at age 2. She speaks in full sentences now, but sometimes they are a bit…..off:
“Ooooh! It’s Darking, Mommy” - Translation: It is getting dark.
“We’re in a tunnel! It is sooo Fooky” - Translation: She says this every time we are in a parking garage. And “Fooky” is “Spooky”. She cannot say the Sp sound – it comes out as an “F”. But I don’t know where she got the idea that things were “fooky”. So funny.
“Ow! Ow! Double Ow” – She said this once when she stubbed her toe and it cracked us up. She says it all the time now. Have no idea where she got this.
“Wiam is moving!” – Wiam is her baby brother in Utero “(William or Liam). She LOVES to kiss him and hug him by kissing and hugging my tummy and is always wanting to see or feel him move. Which happens a lot.
“I’m cooking Deppables” - Translation: “Deppables” are “Vegetables” and she LOVES to pretend that she is cooking then in her play kitchen.
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little…….applesauce.” - Kate LOVES to sing, has great pitch and sings ALL the time. But she also fancies herself a bit of a comedienne. She thinks it is hysterical to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but just before the word “Star” she pauses for dramatic effect, tries to suppress a smile or chuckle and replaces the word “Star” with a silly word like “Applesauce” or “Boat” or with someone’s name. She then absolutely cracks up. We are talking belly laughs, rolling giggles, nonstop. She repeats this to the point where you cannot even understand what she is saying she is laughing so hard. Of course the more she cracks herself up, the more we laugh – and the cycle continues.
“Daddy is cweaning the snow” - Translation: Daddy is cleaning the snow, or he is outside in the freezing cold shoveling the sidewalk or scraping the car after a storm.
“Daddy is beuwding the house” - Translation: Dad is working on SOME project in the house – which as you know is a lot. This sentence applies to painting, sawing, hammering, whatever!
“No, I messer it” - Translation: “I measure it”. After watching her Dad so much, Kate thinks she is quite the contractor. She REALLY like to use the tape measure to measure things – the coffee table, her bear, a book. She will very seriously, and adeptly, use the tape measure and call out a number of “the messering”. Sometimes it is in the range of what is showing on the tape, sometimes not.
Well, that is all the Harris bragging for now. Time to hit the hay. I just have to grab a dozen or so Tums first………..
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
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