Pics

Supporfting Dad's alma matter (go Herd!)

I'm typing one handed, I have some pics of the Boss. I've a couple of her sleeping (when she takes the best photos) of her laying on a blanket that a nice woman from Mom's work made her and her right after a bath (she's still upset in the photo b/c she's still naked and not over the shock of getting wet).

Updates from the zombie parents

OK, the Boss is asleep, so I think I have 5 secs before she wakes up and demands a feeding or her diaper changed (she poops her pants and then gets mad @ me b/c she has poop in her pants). Life is changing, but I think we're both adjusting well to parenthood. I've discovered how seductive the bed is @ 2am in the morning when you've just gotten to sleep @ 12am. I've also discovered I have to have permission to use the bathroom or shower. I've just had to settle down the Boss after using the bathroom w/out permission. She was in the room w/ me and just screaming, but I had to potty! She's using me as a pillow now, but guaranteed, if I put her in her swing she'll wake up upset b/c that's not where she wanted to sleep.

Life w/ a baby isn't all that bad. She does let me get a nap most mornings and she does seem to settle down pretty quickly when she's upset. She does have a very laid back attitude, which is fun. She's also exhibiting teenager facial expressions. She's done everything short of rolling her eyes. My MIL swears the Boss's expressions are copies of her mom's. That's cool. I've come to terms w/ the fact that the only thing she inherited from me is my monkey toes. She looks exactly like her daddy, has 1 of his cowlicks (unfortunately, it's the entire back of her head) and even her hair gets wavy when it's washed.

We took her yesterday to church for the 1st time for her blessing (or what other churchs call christening). Everyone was amazed @ how much hair she has. She wore the same gown I wore to my blessing and was very well behaved during it. My biggest fear was for her to have a bowel movement during the blessing. For those who don't know, newborns have really loud poops. You can hear it across the room and that's funny when you're @ home, but embarrassing when you're in public.

I think that's it for this update. I'll try and post some more pics of the Boss @ a later date, but I'm scared if I move she'll wake up.

Baby Harmon has arrived.

Baby Harmon has arrived. Both mother and child are doing well. Wish I could say the same about myself, she didn’t seem real until I saw her born. She was in the presence of our Heavenly Father such a short time ago and now he has entrusted her to us. Every time someone calls me “dad” it just doesn’t feel right. She has a name, but I don't think it is safe to post it on this page yet. Feel free to email Kelli or myself to find out. We will have more pictures soon, had some technical difficulties in that area but should have them cleared up today.

7lbs, 19 inches, 12:54pm.... a little after noon

The last post for a while, maybe

For those of you who live in a bubble or maybe haven't been paying attention; I'm pregnant. Not just slightly pregnant, but "can't tie my own shoes" pregnant. Our little one is due May 9th, which is (not counting today) 9 days away. We are excited and have all of the major things ready for a baby. We're also taking birthing classes.

Birthing class is a really nice informative class. I took it mainly for the tour of the hospital, but they did show us the different things that could be used on me and the baby during labor (forceps or the vacuum suction thingy?). They also had a "video night" where we watched actual labors that had been taped. It was gross and graphic. John kept looking @ me and telling me that the waiting room looked better and better. Ya know what? I agree, if it weren't for the fact that I was the one pregnant I would totally be in the waiting room.

An interesting development from being so hugely pregnant is the way people answer the phone when I call them. It's never, "hey how are you?" or "what's up?" it's always "are you in labor?" or "are you having pains?". Most of this is from my parents. John can say what he wants, but I come by my drama queen-ness honestly. I get it from both of my parents.

I did take a picture today to show off my very large belly. I didn't realize I was so big, but then again, I am 9 mths pregnant. I guess this just goes to show how vain I am. I saw pics that someone had taken @ my baby shower and was shocked when I noticed I had more than one chin! This really shouldn't surprise me, yet it does. Well, I take solace in the assumption that I'll not have more than one chin after little one appears.

As for names, we have a name, but we aren't telling. This drives my parent's up the wall (dad has decided that we are naming her Temperance), but both of us have known too many people who have announced the name before hand only to change it last minute. We'll announce the name when the ink is dry on the birth certificate and we won't take forever to name her, either. She'll be named before we leave the hospital. I've heard of people who want to "get to know" the baby before naming them and end up taking 2-3 months to do so. I know it would drive John nuts if I did something similar. I try not to annoy him too much, so we've got a #1 name and a couple of back ups, just in case.

Here's a pic

When I wrote about poor old Sammy Joe, I wanted to add her pic, but since I was @ Mom and Dad's house and the only pic I have of her is on my desktop @ home, I couldn't. So here is Sammy Joe in the trunk of our Honda going to Don Petry's house. This was taken right after John and I got engaged, so she was still pretty spry. Now that I get a good look @ it, she looks a little on the chunky side.

37 weeks and ready to explode

John had to travel out of town this week for work, the last time before the baby comes. Since no one feels comfortable leaving a hugely pregnant woman by herself mere weeks before her due date (about 18 days, not that I'm excited or anything), I'm spending time w/ mom and dad. Coming home after being married for a while (4 1/2 yrs) is kinda weird. I'm sleeping in a twin bed, which is something I'm not used to. It is nice for mom b/c she's been able to see my stomach move as little one moves around trying to find room and feel body parts as they jab me.

Spending time here is kinda fun. Today, for example, dad and I watched 3 deer eating grass in the field not far from their house. We actually watched 2 yearling deer grazing across the street. While deer are beautiful, my dad could only think of 2 things: hunting and how he is going to keep them out of his garden this year. I still remember the year he read that human urine would scare deer away. Mom got really mad when she found out that all of her "boys" (including dad) were peeing in the garden.

Today was also a day that I scared mom. Mom and dad are super watchful over my belly. I got in minor trouble for opening the garage door. I decided to get into the candy bar stash tonight after dinner. I apparently sat down too hard on the rocker arm chairs that mom got from Granny's house. I say apparently b/c I ended up going head over heels. Thankfully I fell slow enough to be able to arrange it to where I landed on my upper arms and not my belly, but it was too fast to stop it. Mom was up and by my side in a second. She still thinks I hurt myself more than I'm admitting, but not true. I actually thought it was funny. Dad thought I didn't need the candy bar (he was wrong, king size Kit Kat bar, I mean, Hello!), but the pregnant woman prevailed.

Dad and I also figured out how old their cat, Mamasita, is. I found once an old vet bill for her from 1993 and it said she was 1 1/2 yrs old. That being, she is somewhere around 17 yrs old. She is really getting to the point where she wants to be loved on almost all the time. She forced me to love on her for a good 15 mins. She later got into the house and settled on my belly (apparently it's a good spot for a nap). When I kicked her off of me, she settled on mom's chest and they engaged in a staring contest. Mom won. Mamasita is not a good sport so she settled giving us dirty looks thru the picture window after she got put back out.

The End of an Era

On Sunday a sad event took place. Mom and Dad's faithful dog, Sammy Joe, was found dead in the yard. She was over 13 years old, deaf, going blind and generally old. Sammy was a purebred chocolate lab that was given to my parents by friends of ours kid. They were dog breeders, but Sammy's whole litter ended up getting some sort of disease that didn't clear up until they were 6 months old, too old to sell. No one wants to have over 13 puppies, so they were just giving them away to good homes. Mom was the one who "picked" Sammy out. Mom went to the breeders to pick one out and as she stepped on the front porch, she was swarmed by a whole pack of puppies. The first one to get to her knocked her down and ended up being the one she brought home.

Sammy was a fun puppy. Being older, she was able to do more w/ less of the awkward puppy stuff. Our dog, Chowey, wasn't really sure she liked having a puppy in the house esp one that wanted to play and not leave her alone. Eventually they became good buddies. Ben was surprised by Sammy. He was on his mission when we got her and no one thought to tell him about her, so when he came home he was shocked.

As w/ all dogs, Sammy did have "Marley" moments. The first Sunday we left her alone to go to church, we came home to discover she had trashed the living room. Since it was spring time, mom and dad had left potting soil (in their bags, of course) in the living room. Sammy fixed that. Thankfully, that was the last time she did that.

My favorite Sammy "Marley" moment involves Marsha and Larry Denzil. Since Sammy spent the majority of her first 6 months outside, she was a little slow understanding the whole housebreaking deal. Mom was sure after a while that Sammy had mastered this skill. Marsha and Larry Denzil were over and mom was bragging how she had finally housebroke Sammy. The most natural thing in the world, of course, was for Sammy to squat down and pee right in front of them. I thought (and still do) it was funny, but mom was so embarrassed. I can understand, having owned dogs of my own.

Don Petry loved Sammy Joe. He would always bring a treat for her, usually Mug root beer and would not bring anything for anyone else. Don would always try to get her to smoke cigarettes (she didn't), but during the time he smoked a pipe, she would knock people down to reach him in time to eat some.

Sammy was also a good dog for kids. When Marsha was in John Hopkins waiting for lil' Larry to be born, Savannah would stay w/ us while Larry Denzil was working. We actually trained Sammy to let Savannah to "ride" her like a pony. When she was tired and didn't want to deal w/ kids, she would walk to the door to the downstairs and wait to be let downstairs. Even when she got really old, she never snapped @ anyone, she just got up and moved away.

Sammy liked to go on walks w/ anyone who would go. The only time she didn't, Jacob decided to take her running. She was over 6 yrs old and starting to show her age. Jacob took her for a long run and in the middle of it, she had enough. She laid down in the middle of the road and refused to get up. Jacob was not thrilled that he had to almost carry her home. He got in trouble for "nearly killing Sammy".

Sammy will be missed. She was a good dog and died peacefully in her sleep.