Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Story of Baby Bea
Monday morning at 5:30 am Matt and I dropped off Micah at a friends house. Thus begining the day of our little mystery's birth. We got to the hospital at 6:00. On the elevator I started to panic alittle bit cause there was no backing out. Matt grabbed my hand and said, "we could turn around right now and go to the beach." I just looked at him wishfully cause I really really wanted to run away from all that was coming. But instead we went up to the maternity wing and I was admitted. By 7:30 I had gone through all of the initial paper work and they began the labor inducing medicine. My contractions began soon after that.
At first I was laying down on the bed and the contractions were manageable. Thanks to the tricks I learned from the midwife I had had with Finn. They slowly intensified and by 10:30 or so were really bad and hard to handle. I asked the nurse to come in and help me to the bathroom. As I was sitting on the toliet (TMI?) I had a contraction and said to the nurse, "Man these are way easier to manage sitting here." She said, "well the bed does convert to a sitting postion almost like a large chair. Do you want to try that?" I said yes and so we did. Surprisingly they were very managable like that. I labored in that position until noon when the nurse checked me and I was at a 4. So they ordered the epidural. Matt went to the hallway for awhile as he almost passed out when I got mine with Micah. It hurt really bad this time and there were some scary moments, but over all I got the epidural and the rest happened rather quickly. I was at a 10 by 2:30 and ready to push. The nurse told me that we were going to go ahead and start pushing. I told her that I only pushed 3 times with Micah. She said really even with an epidural? Yep, I said, I'm a great pusher! So she had me try one so she could see how I was and after that she told me to hold it and that yes indeed we were going to wait to push until the doctor got there. So they called him. I would have had her at 2:45 if he would have been there, but we had to wait for an hour for him to get to the hospital. The nurse checked me once and I knew the baby wasn't far! Let's just put it that way.
You may wonder how I was actually feeling while all of this was going on.... The whole time was a constant battle in not allowing fear to one hundred percent over power me. I was terrified that something was going to go wrong with the baby and this time I was terrified that something was going to happen to me. Leaving Matt alone with a new baby and Micah. I prayed the whole time. I cried alot... and I tried to stay above the negative thoughts that threatened to take me over. Matt was amazing! What a gift of a husband he is to me. I am so thankful for him. For the source of strength he was to me during it all. For the honesty that he brought to all of it. For the way that he heard my fears, tried to understand, but also spoke truth to me so that I could fight them. Anyway back to the point of pushing...
The doctor finally arrived and sure enough 1,2,3,4,5 pushes and out the baby came. Setting the baby on my chest, neither Matt nor I asked the doctor what the sex of the baby was. I think we both just assumed it was a boy. Finally Dr. Sacks said "It's a girl". Matt and I literally looked at each other confused and then Matt put his hand over his mouth and said NO WAY! we both started laughing. We never thought a girl was a true possibility. What an amazing surprise!!! It was so worth waiting to find out the sex just for those few moments of total and true surprise.
So we enjoyed an hour or so with Beatrix. They handed her to us, we took pictures, videoed the nurses checking her over and weighing her. Then Matt left to call family and friends and I tried to nurse her for the first time. While I was feeding her the nurses came in to the room to tell me that they needed to take Beatrix to the NICU for some tests. Here we go again, I thought. Why, I asked. They told me that while I was in labor they had been able to hear that her heart beat sounded off and they wanted to take her down, hook her up to the heart moniter, do an EKG and just make sure. They tried to reasure me that her coloring was great, she was eating well, and she was active. All I could think of was "what is Matt going to do when he comes back up here and has to hear this news..." So I asked them not to take her until Matt got back so that I could reasure him that she was ok and that the tests were mostly precautionary. Plus I knew that he would want to go with her. So I did wait, I explained it all to him, held his hand and reminded him of the tests we had had when I was pregnant and that it couldn't be too bad and to stay positive. He left. I called my parents, 3 really good friends and had some dinner.
When the nurse came in an hour later I was in good spirits. Pretty happy at what a blessing had just occured. My DAUGHTER was here, there were very compitent doctors checking her over and Matt was proud of me and thought me AMAZING (his words). She wanted to help me to the bathroom. After checking to make sure my legs were relatively funcitonal we went to the bathroom. The following may be too much information and is relatively gross so don't read it if you get sicked out, but this is what happened next... I was sitting on the toliet, and after peeing I noticed that it still felt like I was peeing. I looked in the toliet and blood was streaming out. I said is this normal? to the nurse. She said, "Yes, you just had a baby." I didn't really think that it was, but I got up and went back to the bed. She left me alone. Sitting there though I noticed that it still felt like I was peeing and the more I moved the more it came out. I lifted up my gown looked down at my underware and they were soaked with blood and it was spreading rapidly. Right then and there my friends I really thought my fears of dying were coming true. I calmly (don't know how) pressed the call button for the nurses station and said I think I need a nurse. She came in and I said, "Christina I don't think this is normal". And showed her what was happening. She went to the door and yelled a bunch of things came back to me and lied to me by saying you're fine everythings fine. I knew it wasn't. Nurses started to file into the room and they laid me back in my bed, hooked me back up to the IV and started another drip. One of the nurses came over and started to push on my stomach. Blood poured out and then clots the size of oranges and grape fruits. And this is how I was when my dear husband came back to my room pushing our daughter back from the NICU. (He later told me that when he walked in and saw my lower half covered in blood he thought I was dying too.) Anyway, he rushed to the bed by me and grabbed my hand I looked at him terrified and began to sob! They are still pushing on my uterus to get all of the clots out, I am sobbing and saying I just wanted everything to go perfect this time. Matt is rubbing my head saying I know, I know. The nurses are saying you are going to be fine and I am thinking that I have just ruptured my uterus and am bleeding to death. It was very chaotic! It felt like forever, but I am sure it was only minutes. They got the bleeding under control. And they finally explained what had happened that my unterus hadn't contracted on its own, clots formed blocking the normal flow of blood, thus the reason it all backed up and then flowed out. I was beyond myself by this time and just wanted to disappear. I was relieved and very confused as to what had just happened. Though it left me quite anemic and I have to take iron now for a month.
Fast forward a bit, we got to our recovery room and Matt started to call people to once again pray for one of our new little ones. So many things about this pregnancy were reminders even to our bodies of what we had gone through once before. The army that emerged to pray for Beatrix's heart was and is beyond comprehension! So many family, friends and even total strangers began up lifting our family to our God. We were so humbled! The cardiologist took Bea to do a heart ultrasound and then came in to tell us the next afternoon that she had a small hole which he believed would correct itself, she had a minor murmur which he also thought would correct itself. What he did say we needed to watch out for was the extra heart beat that she has. This he said could lead to something alittle more serious, but that more then likely it would also correct itself and that our pediatriction would just need to watch it and we would need to watch for any strange moments of her acting lathargic. In our minds our prayers were answered. She would be fine and we could take her home.
Micah stayed with his little friend the first night and then Tuesday night Matt brought him up to meet his sister and then the two of them went home to have a guys night. It was pretty cute when Micah ran into the room. He saw the little bed and yelled, "A BABY!" He couldn't believe she was really here. I was standing there video taping it all and he came up to me and said "Mommy no more baby in your tummy?" I said, "no buddy no more baby, she is right there". He looked from me to her and then back to me again. He looked at my stomach and then at my face and said, "Mommy now you can run!" "Yes, buddy now I can run." It was a precious moment. He wanted to hold her so he sat on the bed and did an amazing job holding his sister for the first time.
I came home on Wednesday and since then it has been mostly wonderful with a few tough "what is happening?" moments. I feel emotional alot and I guess that is to be expected since I just had a baby 5 days ago. This morning Matt took Micah to Boo at the zoo and so he wanted a picture with Micah in his tiger costume and Beatrix in her little ghost onsie. I think he looks so happy in the pictures....
After Beatrix was born and we were sitting in the room feeling alittle overwhelmed with the fact that we now have a daughter to raise, Matt looked at me and said, I am so proud of you, you really are amazing. I told him I couldn't have done it without you, and I actually meant it with every fiber of my being.
My final thought for this posting is Lord, may I never forget the love and appreciation that I felt for my husband at that moment. It was so pure, so raw and so real! Thank you for Matt, thank you for my beautiful son Micah and thank you Lord for my new precious daughter Beatrix Sparrow Harrison, born on a Monday afternoon.
The story of her name...
At first I was laying down on the bed and the contractions were manageable. Thanks to the tricks I learned from the midwife I had had with Finn. They slowly intensified and by 10:30 or so were really bad and hard to handle. I asked the nurse to come in and help me to the bathroom. As I was sitting on the toliet (TMI?) I had a contraction and said to the nurse, "Man these are way easier to manage sitting here." She said, "well the bed does convert to a sitting postion almost like a large chair. Do you want to try that?" I said yes and so we did. Surprisingly they were very managable like that. I labored in that position until noon when the nurse checked me and I was at a 4. So they ordered the epidural. Matt went to the hallway for awhile as he almost passed out when I got mine with Micah. It hurt really bad this time and there were some scary moments, but over all I got the epidural and the rest happened rather quickly. I was at a 10 by 2:30 and ready to push. The nurse told me that we were going to go ahead and start pushing. I told her that I only pushed 3 times with Micah. She said really even with an epidural? Yep, I said, I'm a great pusher! So she had me try one so she could see how I was and after that she told me to hold it and that yes indeed we were going to wait to push until the doctor got there. So they called him. I would have had her at 2:45 if he would have been there, but we had to wait for an hour for him to get to the hospital. The nurse checked me once and I knew the baby wasn't far! Let's just put it that way.
You may wonder how I was actually feeling while all of this was going on.... The whole time was a constant battle in not allowing fear to one hundred percent over power me. I was terrified that something was going to go wrong with the baby and this time I was terrified that something was going to happen to me. Leaving Matt alone with a new baby and Micah. I prayed the whole time. I cried alot... and I tried to stay above the negative thoughts that threatened to take me over. Matt was amazing! What a gift of a husband he is to me. I am so thankful for him. For the source of strength he was to me during it all. For the honesty that he brought to all of it. For the way that he heard my fears, tried to understand, but also spoke truth to me so that I could fight them. Anyway back to the point of pushing...
The doctor finally arrived and sure enough 1,2,3,4,5 pushes and out the baby came. Setting the baby on my chest, neither Matt nor I asked the doctor what the sex of the baby was. I think we both just assumed it was a boy. Finally Dr. Sacks said "It's a girl". Matt and I literally looked at each other confused and then Matt put his hand over his mouth and said NO WAY! we both started laughing. We never thought a girl was a true possibility. What an amazing surprise!!! It was so worth waiting to find out the sex just for those few moments of total and true surprise.
So we enjoyed an hour or so with Beatrix. They handed her to us, we took pictures, videoed the nurses checking her over and weighing her. Then Matt left to call family and friends and I tried to nurse her for the first time. While I was feeding her the nurses came in to the room to tell me that they needed to take Beatrix to the NICU for some tests. Here we go again, I thought. Why, I asked. They told me that while I was in labor they had been able to hear that her heart beat sounded off and they wanted to take her down, hook her up to the heart moniter, do an EKG and just make sure. They tried to reasure me that her coloring was great, she was eating well, and she was active. All I could think of was "what is Matt going to do when he comes back up here and has to hear this news..." So I asked them not to take her until Matt got back so that I could reasure him that she was ok and that the tests were mostly precautionary. Plus I knew that he would want to go with her. So I did wait, I explained it all to him, held his hand and reminded him of the tests we had had when I was pregnant and that it couldn't be too bad and to stay positive. He left. I called my parents, 3 really good friends and had some dinner.
When the nurse came in an hour later I was in good spirits. Pretty happy at what a blessing had just occured. My DAUGHTER was here, there were very compitent doctors checking her over and Matt was proud of me and thought me AMAZING (his words). She wanted to help me to the bathroom. After checking to make sure my legs were relatively funcitonal we went to the bathroom. The following may be too much information and is relatively gross so don't read it if you get sicked out, but this is what happened next... I was sitting on the toliet, and after peeing I noticed that it still felt like I was peeing. I looked in the toliet and blood was streaming out. I said is this normal? to the nurse. She said, "Yes, you just had a baby." I didn't really think that it was, but I got up and went back to the bed. She left me alone. Sitting there though I noticed that it still felt like I was peeing and the more I moved the more it came out. I lifted up my gown looked down at my underware and they were soaked with blood and it was spreading rapidly. Right then and there my friends I really thought my fears of dying were coming true. I calmly (don't know how) pressed the call button for the nurses station and said I think I need a nurse. She came in and I said, "Christina I don't think this is normal". And showed her what was happening. She went to the door and yelled a bunch of things came back to me and lied to me by saying you're fine everythings fine. I knew it wasn't. Nurses started to file into the room and they laid me back in my bed, hooked me back up to the IV and started another drip. One of the nurses came over and started to push on my stomach. Blood poured out and then clots the size of oranges and grape fruits. And this is how I was when my dear husband came back to my room pushing our daughter back from the NICU. (He later told me that when he walked in and saw my lower half covered in blood he thought I was dying too.) Anyway, he rushed to the bed by me and grabbed my hand I looked at him terrified and began to sob! They are still pushing on my uterus to get all of the clots out, I am sobbing and saying I just wanted everything to go perfect this time. Matt is rubbing my head saying I know, I know. The nurses are saying you are going to be fine and I am thinking that I have just ruptured my uterus and am bleeding to death. It was very chaotic! It felt like forever, but I am sure it was only minutes. They got the bleeding under control. And they finally explained what had happened that my unterus hadn't contracted on its own, clots formed blocking the normal flow of blood, thus the reason it all backed up and then flowed out. I was beyond myself by this time and just wanted to disappear. I was relieved and very confused as to what had just happened. Though it left me quite anemic and I have to take iron now for a month.
Fast forward a bit, we got to our recovery room and Matt started to call people to once again pray for one of our new little ones. So many things about this pregnancy were reminders even to our bodies of what we had gone through once before. The army that emerged to pray for Beatrix's heart was and is beyond comprehension! So many family, friends and even total strangers began up lifting our family to our God. We were so humbled! The cardiologist took Bea to do a heart ultrasound and then came in to tell us the next afternoon that she had a small hole which he believed would correct itself, she had a minor murmur which he also thought would correct itself. What he did say we needed to watch out for was the extra heart beat that she has. This he said could lead to something alittle more serious, but that more then likely it would also correct itself and that our pediatriction would just need to watch it and we would need to watch for any strange moments of her acting lathargic. In our minds our prayers were answered. She would be fine and we could take her home.
Micah stayed with his little friend the first night and then Tuesday night Matt brought him up to meet his sister and then the two of them went home to have a guys night. It was pretty cute when Micah ran into the room. He saw the little bed and yelled, "A BABY!" He couldn't believe she was really here. I was standing there video taping it all and he came up to me and said "Mommy no more baby in your tummy?" I said, "no buddy no more baby, she is right there". He looked from me to her and then back to me again. He looked at my stomach and then at my face and said, "Mommy now you can run!" "Yes, buddy now I can run." It was a precious moment. He wanted to hold her so he sat on the bed and did an amazing job holding his sister for the first time.
I came home on Wednesday and since then it has been mostly wonderful with a few tough "what is happening?" moments. I feel emotional alot and I guess that is to be expected since I just had a baby 5 days ago. This morning Matt took Micah to Boo at the zoo and so he wanted a picture with Micah in his tiger costume and Beatrix in her little ghost onsie. I think he looks so happy in the pictures....
After Beatrix was born and we were sitting in the room feeling alittle overwhelmed with the fact that we now have a daughter to raise, Matt looked at me and said, I am so proud of you, you really are amazing. I told him I couldn't have done it without you, and I actually meant it with every fiber of my being.
My final thought for this posting is Lord, may I never forget the love and appreciation that I felt for my husband at that moment. It was so pure, so raw and so real! Thank you for Matt, thank you for my beautiful son Micah and thank you Lord for my new precious daughter Beatrix Sparrow Harrison, born on a Monday afternoon.
The story of her name...Beatrix - we just loved the name and found out after wards that it is derived from the Beattitudes in Matthew.
Sparrow - 2 fold explanation... one, we liked it all the way back in Toronto when I was pregnant with Finn and didn't know it was a boy. We used to watch the sparrows in the park and thought them such happy little birds. Matt nicknamed them "hoppy birds" cause they bounced all around looking for food. So he started calling the baby in my womb "hoppy" and we joked even then that if it was a girl her middle name would be sparrow. However, the name took on a new meaning for me this pregnacy. Early on I had a dream that the baby was a girl and the fear began that something was wrong with the baby. Later that same day, I was reading in a little booklet called "Our Daily Bread" and this song was listed at the bottom of the page, "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.... We need not fear the perils around us because the eye of the Lord is always upon us." I didn't know for sure that nothing was going to be wrong with this baby but I was assured that as much as He watches every little sparrow he was watching over the new life growing inside of me. With out a doubt right then and there we decided that if the baby really was a girl her middle name would be Sparrow. What a beautiful promise is in our daughter's name!
Micah holding Beatrix at home. He is so gentle and loving to her, So far!
Matt with his two favorites!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Beatrix Sparrow
This is just a quick post for you to meet our Little Bea for the first time. She was born on Monday at 3:40 pm. She weighed 7 pounds and 19 inches long. I will post more later about the process and how it all went and how we got her name. We got home today from the hospital and I really should be in bed. But I couldn't resist getting the only two pictures of her I have available on here. Can't believe it is a girl. Matt and I are still looking at each other saying, "I can't believe we really have a girl!" Micah is being an amazing big brother and was just excited today to bring "my baby" home. It will be fun to watch their love for each other develop and grow. Thanks for your prayers for her safe arrival and health. We are so happy to have her home with us.
Friday, October 17, 2008
The day has been scheduled....
We had our doctor's appointment this morning and we are all scheduled for an induction on Monday morning, October 20th. The day Mystery will be born and we will know if it is a he or she. I am feeling nervous, emotional, excited, scared and curious. It will be wonderful to see this little one and to know what has been growing inside of me all of these months. I am scared cause come on who really wants to go through the birth process. I am feeling nervous about Micah adjusting, all of us adjusting to another one in the house. But mostly I am feeling emotional cause it is really hard for me to even think in future tense when it comes to babies. I want to be positive but I also can't just be so naive to think that we are assured of a great outcome. There is still reality there and reality is that something could happen. I try not to dwell on this and it can very quickly turn me into an anxious mess. So I try to focus on the peace that the Lord promises me in the midst of it all. Lastly I am feeling curious. Curious as to what our little family of four is going to look like, be like, smell like (just kidding).
Micah is super excited and I also think that he is sensing that it is very close. He has been
particuarly affectionate to me over the last couple of days. He will come up to me, give me a big hug, tell me he loves me and then run off to whatever he was doing before. He is so sensitive! We have had excessive talks about what he can expect to happen when mommy and daddy go to the hospital to have Tractor (see 5 or 6 posts below). He has told me on a couple of occasions that he wishes he was a baby again and Matt and I try to acknowledge that yes the baby is going to get alot of attention, but there are sooo many things babies can't do that big boys can do. And how exciting to be a big brother cause you get to show him or her all of those things. We list them all and he feels better for awhile. It will just be interesting to watch this drama called the Harrison family unfold. How I imagine our love will deepen and grow and change. It is exciting....
Matt has so much to do between now and Monday. It is his end of the quarter and so he has about 50 papers to grade and college exams. He is feeling anxious also and will be glad when all is said and done and the baby is looking up at us in a room full of florescent lights. How crazy that this is our third child together and it still seems as new and unrehearsed as the first time. Please keep him in your prayers as he almost passed out last time I got an epidural. Plus it is hard for the husband I think cause they can't feel it all and so the labor process is really all about waiting for that one moment, THE moment. The moment it is tangible and there is a real live baby to look at, hold, bathe, name and love!
We covet your prayers and are so excited to call you with the good news some time Monday...?
Love the Harrison Three
Micah is super excited and I also think that he is sensing that it is very close. He has been
particuarly affectionate to me over the last couple of days. He will come up to me, give me a big hug, tell me he loves me and then run off to whatever he was doing before. He is so sensitive! We have had excessive talks about what he can expect to happen when mommy and daddy go to the hospital to have Tractor (see 5 or 6 posts below). He has told me on a couple of occasions that he wishes he was a baby again and Matt and I try to acknowledge that yes the baby is going to get alot of attention, but there are sooo many things babies can't do that big boys can do. And how exciting to be a big brother cause you get to show him or her all of those things. We list them all and he feels better for awhile. It will just be interesting to watch this drama called the Harrison family unfold. How I imagine our love will deepen and grow and change. It is exciting....
Matt has so much to do between now and Monday. It is his end of the quarter and so he has about 50 papers to grade and college exams. He is feeling anxious also and will be glad when all is said and done and the baby is looking up at us in a room full of florescent lights. How crazy that this is our third child together and it still seems as new and unrehearsed as the first time. Please keep him in your prayers as he almost passed out last time I got an epidural. Plus it is hard for the husband I think cause they can't feel it all and so the labor process is really all about waiting for that one moment, THE moment. The moment it is tangible and there is a real live baby to look at, hold, bathe, name and love!
We covet your prayers and are so excited to call you with the good news some time Monday...?
Love the Harrison Three
Happy Birthday Brenna!
Yesterday the 16th was my neice Brenna's birthday. Can't believe that she is ONE already. Just wanted to put up a cute picture my mom sent me of Brenna and my brother Jared. Happy Birthday Brenna love Uncle Matt, Auntie Lydia, your cousin Micah and little mystery doesn't want left out either.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Halloween Crafts
October 1st was the begining of Halloween at my house. Matt was excited to share it with Micah and so he asked me to think of some creative things that the two of them could do together. I bought dollar necklesses at the fabric store that they did the 2nd of October, they made halloween cookies last weekend and then this Saturday we made these "ghosties". I bought some fabric for a dollar a yard, got some styrofoam balls to act as heads, used black buttons for eyes and black pins to hold them on and then we hung them in our front yard tree. Micah had soooo much fun putting the eyes, nose and mouth on the little guys. It reminded me of Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin where Charlie cuts his ghost costume out and he has 10-15 holes all over it. Micah put the buttons everywhere, though he was pretty sure that he knew exactly what he was doing. "This is where they go mommy."
The ghosties in their new home.
Matt also strung orange and purple lights around the base of the tree. Very Spooky! ,but not scary cause "ghosties aren't real".
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Oh and this site too...
Matt and I were given a CD as a baby gift from our dear friend April.
It is a CD of lullabies using music from the Rolling Stones.
Don't understand ??? check out the site at
They have over 20 different CD's from The Cure to The Beatles and everything inbetween.
It is so soothing and its fun to listen to songs that are familar to mommys and daddys and soothing to little ones.
We actually fell asleep to it the other nite.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Ringbearer Micah
Micah was ringbearer in a wedding 2 Saturdays ago. I also did the flowers for this wedding. Amanda is the daughter of a fellow school teacher with Matt and she has babysat for Micah occasionally. They asked me to do the flowers last February before I knew Mystery was growing inside of me and so I agreed. They asked if Micah could be ringbearer much later than that, however. Who knows what I was thinking ??? My friend Michelle and I found Micah's little tux on ebay for $20! It would have cost $125 to rent it ??? crazy right...
Micah followed the flower girl down the isle. Just a side note....we had been bribing him (though I perfer to call it preparing him) to walk down the isle for a month. A month before the wedding he had found a Little People Race Car Track that he really wanted. So I told him that if he did a really good job at the wedding walking down the isle and back we would get that for him. Well it worked and right after the wedding he asked if he could have his race car track. We had had it in the car for a week. It was a great excercise in waiting for something that you really want.
Micah looking SOOO happy to be in pictures. 
This picture is another funny story. I was already at the reception helping to get the room ready and Matt stayed with Micah to take pictures. This is Carlos FERNANDEZ's family, the groom. Somehow Micah found away into their family picture. I guess Carlos' grandma wanted him to stay in them she thought he was so cute! So this is Micah Fernandez :)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A Few of My Pregnancy Photos
Thursday morning my very good friend Karyn came to our house very very early to take Micah and I to the beach for a sunrise photo shoot. She does photography professionally and offered to take some pictures of us. What a wonderful gift! We had so much fun and this is just a small taste of what she took. If you would like to check out more of her work you can see it at http://www.inbloomimages.com/ . She is super talented!
Hope you enjoy this little sample of Micah, Me and Little Mystery.
Micah stripped down to his underware because he didn't like the sand in his pants...
Micah stripped down to his underware because he didn't like the sand in his pants...
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this one!
These next three were taken in my friend April's pool. Just for something a little different.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"These are Beautiful..."
Micah may look like his mother, but other then that he is Matt to a T! Case in point... this morning Micah and I got up even earlier then the Crocodile (see 5 posts down). We actually got up at 5:15 (yes folks that is AM) to take Matt to school so that Micah and I could have the car to do a ton of errands today. (don't worry he took a 3 1/2 hour nap later) Fall happens to be the rainy season here and Matt could not have ridden his motorcycle to work. So anyway we got Micah out of bed put him in his rain boots with jammies and set off for daddy's work. (by the way..funny side note...Micah wants me to call Matt daddy and he calls him Matt. He likes the reversal!) Anyway, we get to school and have breakfest with Daddy Matt and watch an episode of Flipper (see one post down). Then Micah and I set off to do our errands at 7:30. We first went to Walmart to kill some time and then we went to the crafts store to get a few things for the wedding flowers that I am doing this weekend. While we were walking down the isle looking at "harvest" decorations aka Halloween stuff, Micah looks at me panic striken and says. "Mommy, I have to go poopy!" So I start running to the back of the store saying, "Come on buddy, quick quick hurry hurry." Only to look behind my pregnant self and see Micah 5 rows back, stopped and gazing at something. "Mommy, come look at these houses. They are BEAUTIFUL!" "Micah, hurry" I yell in the fabric store, "You said you have to go Poopy" He slowly starts to walk towards me, "but mommy they are beautiful, come and see." I tell him that once he has gone to the bathroom we will come right back here so that I too can see what he's in love with. We finish up in the bathroom and I tell him to take me to the beauty. He RUNS to these houses. I finally get to where he is and he is gazing at the cheapest little snow village houses I have ever seen in my life. "This is Beauty in the eye of my son?" I think to myself... But he is enamored by these things, JUST LIKE MATT! If it were up to my husband our house would have little hideously painted villages everywhere at Christmas. I have up until today, kept them out, but now I am not so sure I have a chance at winning this battle. Now that there are two of them against me. The funny thing is Micah has never even seen a Christmas village house or tree or fake snow until today, he never knew what they were, never knew how much his father loves them, nothing, nada, no clue and yet somehow things that I never thought could be embedded in DNA, are. How does this happen? It is remarkable to me! His love of these houses, the way he sticks his tounge out when he is thinking like Matt's mom and yes Micah even has his mother's clumsyness. Thanks for pointing that out Matt... Qualities, traits, even preferences never spoken about..how are these things inherited? Whatever the case, in THIS area he is Matt to a T!
They call him Flipper...Lounge Singer Style
So the funny thing about this is Micah picked this up at the library yesterday and could not be talked out of getting it. I tried to convince him it was old, dated, totally sexist, but my stubborn little man would hear nothing of it and simply looked at me saying, "No mommy, I want the dolphin movie...what's his name?" "Flipper honey" "Yeah, I want to go home and watch Flipper, he swims under water. He doesn't have teeth that will bite me like a shark. He's a dolphin." So I bring the movie home thinking he will forget all about it. No he loves this show. Hopefully he won't catch on to too much of it because man is it ever politcally WRONG! Hahaha! Enjoy the theme song. I had to print out the lyrics tonight from Goggle so that he and Matt could sing it together while Micah was in the bathtub. Where do they get these ideas from?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Amazing Waffles
Need a breakfest idea.... well since I have been up since the "crocodile" today (see 3 posts down) I made waffles for micah and I this morning. (can you tell I am pregnant?) Matt has a "swim race" this morning and I woke up HUNGRY! So, I stumbled on this recipe from a magazine and thought to myself "Wow, I have got to try these!"
Michael White's Whole-Wheat Peanut Butter Waffles
(from Cookie magazine)
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 cups milk
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
cooking spray or melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1. Preheat waffle iron before getting started.
2. In a bowl combine all of the dry ingredents and stir with a wire wisk
3. In another bowl combine oil and peanut butter, mix well. Then add milk and beaten eggs. Stir until combined.
4. Add wet to dry and stir quickly but don't over mix. May be some lumps and will probably look thick. MY NOTE: Once the batter has started to get foamy don't mix it more...that causes the baking powder to deflate and then your waffles won't be as puffy. And whatever you do don't add more milk to thin it out...big mistake!
5. Pour batter onto waffle iron and cook until brown and crispy.
I served them with butter, syrup and cut up bananas. Then ate the two together! oh man....I wanted to eat all of them, but quit after a half a waffle. Try them...I have never shared a recipe before and these were AWESOME!
Friday, September 19, 2008
A Harrison Halloween 1929
Dear Matt, Lydia and Micah,
This picture was taken in 1929 (during the great depression). I was 5 years of age. My dad came home and my mother was crying. He asked the reason for her crying. She said we have only $1.00 left to live on. Dad said, there is a Halloween dance up town. The admission is $1.00 let's dress up and go dancing. My mother put together these costumes and they went to the dance. They won 1st prize for the best costumes of $5.00.
Matt note the purse my mother has in front of her (a hot water bottle). Every good scot has a purse in front. Note the piece of black tape she has on her tooth (to look as though she was missing one).
I thought you would enjoy your Great Grandparents dressing up for Halloween.
Love, Grandpa Harrison
This picture was taken in 1929 (during the great depression). I was 5 years of age. My dad came home and my mother was crying. He asked the reason for her crying. She said we have only $1.00 left to live on. Dad said, there is a Halloween dance up town. The admission is $1.00 let's dress up and go dancing. My mother put together these costumes and they went to the dance. They won 1st prize for the best costumes of $5.00.
Matt note the purse my mother has in front of her (a hot water bottle). Every good scot has a purse in front. Note the piece of black tape she has on her tooth (to look as though she was missing one).
I thought you would enjoy your Great Grandparents dressing up for Halloween.
Love, Grandpa Harrison
I don't know about you, but I think that this is a beautiful story! They are on their last dollar and he says lets go dancing. ??? I wish that I could respond to our money woes with such a calming demeanor.
I have been wanting to post something about Matt for awhile now, but didn't want to write about his school, or work, or coaching swim team.... all of the busy-ness that he is experiencing right now. I have wanted to write something ABOUT him. Who he is as a person. A window into my love. This letter coming in the mail yesterday has given me just that. Matt loves Halloween. As evidenced by this picture from 1929, it seems to be firmly embedded in his very genes. I don't really understand some of the things about my husband, but one thing I do get very clearly. He ADORES his holidays. I love that about him. He makes them special and fun and that is something that our children will cherish for the rest of their lives. Never will a holiday go by without decorations or excitment. He has not been able to put this picture down since it came in the mail yesterday. I think he even took it to school with him today. It has given him something....hope? a sense of groundness? belonging? I'm not sure what, but it brings a smile to his face every time he looks at it and thats enough for me.
A Funny Picture Just Found
I found this picture of Micah....Matt had it stored on the cell phone. This is from a night when I was gone somewhere, can you tell? Matt thought it would be hilarious to draw a beard like Daddy's on Micah's face! (yes it is with markers!) Dads and Moms are so different, aren't we... though you know if it wasn't for our differences i guess we wouldn't have this hilarious picture. The good Lord help us when we have multiple children running around the house with drawn on facial hair. This kind of thing reminds me to relax.... Mornings and Conversations
yesterday morning micah and i had a conversation and it went like this....
micah - "mommy i got up at the crocodile today!"
me- (confused) "what?"
micah - "i got up at the c r o c o d i l e today!" (getting frustrated)
me - (still lost) "the crocodile? honey what are you talking about?"
micah - "you told daddy, i got up at the crocodile today."
me - (sudden understanding) "oh! mommy said the crack of dawn. you woke up at the crack of dawn, buddy."
micah - "yeah, mommy, the crocodile."
me - "yes, honey the crocodile." (sigh, why fight it?)
micah - "mommy i got up at the crocodile today!"
me- (confused) "what?"
micah - "i got up at the c r o c o d i l e today!" (getting frustrated)
me - (still lost) "the crocodile? honey what are you talking about?"
micah - "you told daddy, i got up at the crocodile today."
me - (sudden understanding) "oh! mommy said the crack of dawn. you woke up at the crack of dawn, buddy."
micah - "yeah, mommy, the crocodile."
me - "yes, honey the crocodile." (sigh, why fight it?)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Ahem.... Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
Ladies and Gentlemen!
A Harrison Announcement!
A name has been choosen for baby mystery....
According to the Royal Sir Micah Pea the baby's name shall hence forth be known as
T R A C T O R
T O O T H B R U S H
H A R R I S O N
let the records show that on Sept. 12, 2008 a name was choosen.
We dub thee...
TRACTOR!
Sir Micah Pea and his royal scary teeth.
Rooaaaarrr!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
A Surprise Shower for Mystery Baby and Me
yesterday i thought i was going out for dinner with 3 girl friends, but when i showed up to her house i got surprised with a shower! boy,was i ever surprised! i had NO clue!
the tables were done in bright fun colors
.
some of the gifts....
after having an amazing mexican dinner with guacamole, chips, nacho cheese dip and a caserole that was really really good i got to open presents. very sneakly they had gotten me to register. unbeknownst to me it was for this very shower that they had been planning for months.
more fun gifts!
all of the presents have been opened. my mom had even sent me a card with a gift in it. she had known about the shower when she was down visiting the begining of august. everyone did an amazing job keeping a secret!
my friend heather feeling my belly and saying "i wonder what you are?"
my friend karyn wrote prayer requests and tied them to roses as favors for all of the guests. one of the ones that got left behind was for "abundant finances because babies are expensive"...i am going to send that one to someone for sure just to make sure it gets prayed! :)
a rowdy bunch of ladies!
the shower was organized by my dear friends april and her mom ginny. april is the one holding the new baby (she just had twins 7 weeks ago!!!) and ginny is the one in the lime green shirt. they live in my neighborhoood and have quickly become dear friends.
matt was in on it too and boy is he ever glad it is over. both ginny and april told me i never need to worry about matt because he has an impossible time keeping secrets. those three have been scheming together on this for months. i was just blown away! it was not even in my radar which made it so much fun and i went home feeling so special and very excited to welcome
our new little mystery whomever it may be!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wanting to Rescue
My son has been crying for a half hour straight. Why? Because this is the chosen day for giving up his "night nights". What are they you ask? They are his pacifiers that he has had since the day we brought him home from the hospital. He has had them for every nap and every night since August 18, 2005. I imagine that he is in there screaming, crying, and kicking the wall right now because he is experiencing withdrawl. It must be like quitting smoking for him. I don't know, all I do know is that if we hadn't been talking about this day for the last 3 weeks or so I would be caving right now. How do I assure him that he will get over what he is feeling right now? It is almost impossible to not want to rescue him. I want to run right out to the mail box and get his "goodbye night night bag" that is waiting for our post man to take it away to some other needy baby. He put them in the bag himself and knew exactly what he was doing. Yet now he has to deal with this feeling. The missing....which I am all to familiar with and that is why I am struggling with not giving in. Who cares if he has buck teeth, who cares if he uses a pacifier until he is 22? I don't! Because I want to protect him from this very feeling that he is experiencing right now. The missing, the longing to have something you can't have. It is a hard lesson for a 32 year old let alone my 3 year old little boy. It's really hard being a mom some days...
Monday, August 18, 2008
"Gamma" comes from Iowa
My mom and Micah in their snorkel attire. While mom was here she bought a swimsuit for the first time in at least 15 years. I told her with a kid in Florida you have to at least own a decent swimsuit. I think she looks beautiful!
I love this candid picture of the two of them enjoying the waves.
Micah waiting for "Gamma" (he can't say r's) to get back in from snorkeling.
My mom really took to snorkeling. We took her to the beach three times and everytime she and Matt would venture off to stare at the underwater world. I will never forget the first time she came back. She was GLOWING with excitement! The second time out they were gone for over an hour and saw some "amazing fish". It was fun watching my mom have the willingness to try something new and loving it so much.
Waving at me as they sat on the beach and let the waves rock them back and forth.
Micah loved it when "Gamma" gave him a bath. She played with him forever.
My mom took a family picture of us that turned out so sweet.
(notice the little bump...)
The time with my mom was way too short. I loved having her here and I can promise you that I was not the only one as Micah called me Gamma for two days after she left. They were like two little peas in a pod. Mom shooed us out of the house one night and Matt and I went to dinner and a movie. It was heaven! They played crash the trucks for two hours! How do Grandmas and Grandpas have such stamina?
We took my mom to the beach three times. She loved snorkeling the best and had so much fun discovering this underwater world. I sure hope my dad gives it a try when he comes to visit after the baby is born. I think he would also be amazed, scared at first, but worth it in the end.
I have to admit I cried when she left... It really hit me how much our family would be changing by the next time she came to visit. Plus one whole person is a big addition! She was so much help that it made saying goodbye really hard because I know how involved she and my dad would be in our lives if we were closer..... Ifs only make life frustrating so I will just look forward to their next visit. It will be truly wonderful to see them both next time!
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