10 Weeks Old

Harlow has been up to some pretty cool things lately.

-She can lay on her tummy and push up and hold her head up for a really long time. She just checks everything out.

-She loves to have her feet played with. She likes to have them kissed and blown on and to have you play patty cake with her them. Weird, I hate having my feet touched. She didnt get that from me!

-She hangs out awake for a lot longer now.

-She eats way more each feeding, but feeds less often.

-She has still been sleeping about 7 hours a night (knock on wood)

-She smiles ALL the time

-She loves being outside

-We went out today and bought her a bumbo, and she sat up and looked around all by herself for about 10 minutes today and loved it.

-next she'll be doing cartwheels! Or running for President, in no particular order :)

Blogs I Stalk...

So for the last 6 months or so I've been stalking a couple of blogs (by couple, I mean a ton!). I really love craft blogs and home design blogs, and remodeling blogs. Thought I'd share with everyone the great blogs that I've found over time. And there are many...

Enjoy!


U Create

http://www.u-createcrafts.com/

Frugal Fashionista

http://frugal-fashionista.blogspot.com/

Hostess With the Mostess

http://www.hostessblog.com/

Tangled & True

http://www.tangledandtrue.com/

Room Remix

http://roomremixblog.blogspot.com/

Ohdeedoh

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/

Little Birdie Secrets

http://www.littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/

Living With Lindsay

http://livingwithlindsay.com/

Make it and Love it

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/

Bless Our Nest

http://thedavisfamilynwa.blogspot.com/

Tidymom

http://www.tidymom.net/

Better After

http://betterafter.blogspot.com/

Someday Crafts

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

Desgin Dazzle

http://www.designdazzle.blogspot.com/

Tip Junkie

http://www.tipjunkie.com/

Shanty 2 Chic

http://www.shanty2chic.blogspot.com/

Craftaholics Anonymous

http://diaryofacraftaholic.blogspot.com/

The Creative Crate

http://www.thecreativecrate.blogspot.com/

The Shabby Nest

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

The Blessed Nest

http://theblessednest.blogspot.com/

Susie Harris

http://www.susieharrisblog.com/

Just a Girl

http://j-a-girl.blogspot.com/

From House to Home

http://fromhousetocozyhome.blogspot.com/

Its The Little Things That Make a House a Home

http://itsthelittlethingsthatmakeahouseahome.blogspot.com/

Joys of Home

http://joysofhome.blogspot.com/

Recaptured Charm

http://www.recapturedcharm.com/

Imperfectly Beautiful

http://imperfectlybeautifulms.blogspot.com/

Life in The Fun Lane

http://www.inthefunlane.com/

Brown Paper Packages

http://brownpaper--packages.blogspot.com/

Unnecessary Necessities

http://amber-unnecessarynecessities.blogspot.com/

Thrifty Decor Chick

http://www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/

Knock-Off Wood

http://www.knock-offwood.com/

My Insanity

http://meandmyinsanity.blogspot.com/

How Does She?

http://www.howdoesshe.com/

The Pleated Poppy

http://lindseycheney.blogspot.com/

Blue Cricket Design

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

Russet Street Reno

http://www.russetstreetreno.com/

Blog 'n Tell

http://blogntell.blogspot.com/

Emily A. Clark

http://emilyaclark.blogspot.com/

Young House Love

http://www.younghouselove.com/

All Things G & D

http://www.allthingsgd.com/

Crafty Sisters

http://craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com/

Drab to Fab

http://gorgfabgoodies.blogspot.com/

Remodelaholic

http://www.remodelaholic.com/

Future Fresno State Cheerleader

JUST LIKE MOMMY!

I figured she better wear this outfit before it gets too small. Even though this is a little boys onsie from Baby Gap, I had to buy it to support our bulldog Buddha as her big brother and Fresno State of course! Too bad this outfit probably won't fit by football season. :( Now all she needs is a uniform and a set of poms (and maybe some stunting and tumbling lessons from mom).


PS: I know Buddha's eye looks gross, he's gone blind in that one eye. So sad for the poor guy.

Getting So Big!

She's getting bigger than Gus Gus!

2 Month Old Pictures

I tried to take Harlow's 2 Month Old Pictures today but they didnt turn out as well as I had liked. I'll have to re-try them another day when there is more natural light and she isnt as tired.

Buddha decided to crash our photo shoot. He was feeling a little left out.

2 Month Checkup

Harlow had her 2 month check-up on Friday.

She is now 9 pounds, 4 ounces

and 22 and 1/2 inches long

The Dr. told me that she is either under weight or just a petite baby like mommy.

He was pleased to see that her growth is at a consistent rate and so he is not too worried about it.

She got 3 shots. 3!!!!!!

Pete was working in Washington so I had to take her to get her shots by myself.

I cant even get a shot myself without getting teary-eyed.

Not gonna lie, I closed my eyes when they gave them to her and held her little hands and tried to calm her down when she turned bright red and cried so hard.

Not gonna lie, I almost cried too.

She is way more social than before. It has changed in probably the last 2 weeks and gotten better over time.

She smiles all the time and at everyone.

And she never holds still anymore.

She makes a lot more noises and they are louder than ever.

She got to spend every afternoon with Ojichan and Obachan (grandpa & grandma) while I went to work.

I missed her little face so much when I was gone.

We flew back to Washington yesterday.

Me and baby, all by ourselves.

What an adventure that was!

Security check was pretty hard with a new baby, carrier, stroller, diaper bag, and having to take everything out of the diaper bag to be screened.

Suprised at how many people through both airports offered their help.

Harlow started off the flight wide awake but pretty chill, she looked around taking it all in.

She snoozed for about 20 minutes

And then cried for about 20 minutes too.

But eventually slept the last 3o minutes of the flight.

At least I wasnt alone with the fussy baby, there were probably 6 babies on the same flight.

Now we are back in Washington with Daddy.

And it was raining when we got here... :(

Hoping to take her 2 month pictures today. so excited to see how different she looks compared to last month!

Single Working Mom for 2 and a Half Weeks...

This picture has nothing to do with this blog, it was taken when she was about 4 weeks old and I don't think I ever posted it. This is probably one of my favorite pictures. Sleeping in mama's arms. :)

Cousins - Harlow and Amelia

Notice the opposite expressions on their faces, its hilarious!

This was her good morning picture to daddy the first day he was gone.

In all of my years of life, my dad has never set foot in a mall with me, or done any type of shopping with me. But the other day he offered to take me and the baby shopping at the mall! Any excuse to spend time with the baby. This is one of the outfits that he bought her.

Papa rick with Harlow and Amelia

Me and Andrea at Meridith's graduation party.

I know everyone says that their baby is the cutest baby in the world but mine really is!

Juan moved back home!

Meridith and baby Harlow at her graduation

the whole gang together again!

Ali and Harlow at Mer's graduation ceremony

watching Meridith graduate

not watching Meridith graduate, haha

I took a break in my "maternity leave" to come home and work while the Barrier Breaker team traveled over to the Dominican Republic to do some outreach and missions work for 2 weeks. Before I had Harlow, we had planned that while they were gone, I would come home and work to make sure everything was running smoothly and to lock up and sub for some of the coaches. But man! what did I know about going back to work when you have a 7 week old?! I guess it's better to just assume you can do something than to stress about it. I think that because I didn't realize how hard it would be to take care of a baby on my own and work for 2 weeks - it made me have that "can do attitude". I think its because, its too late to change my mind, I have no other choice now. So with Pete in Washington working, and me and baby Harlow here; this last week has been rather interesting. "Interesting" being the most positive way I can put it. haha.

I definitely under-estimated myself. I'm starting to see that I'm a lot more capable of doing things than I thought I was. But maybe that's just part of being a mom. It's eye-opening for sure, who knew the funny stuff you'd do for you kid.

Anyway, my days consist of waking up with Harlow around 5:30 am or 6:00 am to feed, then by the time she's done eating, there really is no point in me going back to sleep so I get ready for the day and do any chores around the house that need to get done while she goes back to sleep. By the time I'm done with everything, its time for her to eat again. We try and get out of the house to do something, Starbucks run, bank, target, whatever errands I have, just so it breaks up my day of going from home to work again and again. Then before I have to be at work in the afternoon, I take Harlow to my parents house so they can watch her. I usually work from 4-8 pm. They generously offered to bring her to me at work at the end of my work day (with dinner) and then it's home we go. She eats, then I eat, then I shower while she naps and then we hang out and watch some TV together and then it's bath-time and bedtime. I'm just glad she has started sleeping for larger blocks of time or I would be the walking dead at work. I don't know what I would do without my parents help either.

We've actually had a pretty eventful first week home. As soon as we got here we went to Meridith's graduation to get her Masters and then Mer's graduation party and I went to Kristina's bridal shower, saw friends that were in town for all of the festivities and visited family who were missing the baby :)

It hasnt been as hard as I had imagined, but it is hard! It sure makes me appreciate Pete's help so much more! Now we're counting down the days we can go back to Washington and be with Daddy again. We miss him!

Newborn Pictures by Stephanie Ryan

Stephanie Ryan took Harlow's newborn pictures a little while ago. They turned out so cute. I love them! I can't believe how much she has changed already.

Stephanieryanphotography.blogspot.com