Dancing thru life

Happy One Year, Makaela!

2012-01-21T09:42:00.003-07:00

My little love. One year old.

My girlfriend, Ashley said it perfectly when her baby turned one: Makaela is everything I didn't know I needed. She is my doll baby, my sweet blue-eyed girl, and my cuddle bug. Our house is twice as blessed because of Makaela.

Here are some updates about Reesie Girl:

She started walking at 10 and a half months. I swear it is because she felt she needed to keep up with Harmony.
She has 6 teeth- 4 on top, and 2 on bottom
She weighs 17 pounds, 3 oz, and is 28 and a half inches tall (5th percentile for weight, and 50th for height)
She isn't the greatest with table foods, but she is getting there. She eats her pureed food like a champ though.
She still doesn't sleep the greatest. She is up maybe 4 out of 7 nights, not always wanting to eat, but just needs to be held. I guess sleeping children aren't in the cards for me....
She is one. happy. baby. Always smiling, always laughing, and she and Harmony have so much fun together. I know the day is fast approaching where they will fight over toys, food, and mommy's lap (maybe that last one happens already), but for now, I love watching them play so well. Harmony is her little protector. Making sure she doesn't cry. Making sure she is safe. It's so sweet. For as crazy and active Harmony is, she is very sensitive and mindful of other's feelings.
She doesn't say much. Mama. Dada. Hi. No. That's about it.
She lives for bath time. Polar opposite of Harmony at that age, where she refused to sit, I would get more wet than her, and it would last for maybe a minute.

We didn't do any big birthday party this year (we didn't have one for Harmony so I didn't feel the need to throw one for Makaela). All we did was make cupcakes together and let her have her first taste of sugary goodness. Then we spent all evening together, watching a movie and cuddling. Perfection.

yummy!!

my beautiful girls. I am one blessed mommy.

This is so AWESOME!!!

My parents send balloons to their granddaughters every birthday, and I took her one year pictures with them.

Peek-a-boo, I see you

I didn't get many pictures because she was far too interested in my camera. This is what she did 90% of the time.

I set up my backdrop while Makaela was asleep, and Harmony was very excited about getting her picture taken too :-)

Meet fairy princess Harmony :-)

We took out the trampoline so she could "fly"

She looks far to big for my liking

Those dance lessons are paying off!

Oh I love her with everything in me.

I took a picture every month for her first year. In case you forgot, here are all the pictures:

The Shipman family is looking forward to another year of memories, blessings, and adventures. Bring it 2012. We are excited!!!

11 month picture

2012-01-12T19:05:00.005-07:00

I am fully aware of 2 things:

1. I haven't blogged in a long long time. It's the product of a very very long wedding season in which every single time I was at my computer, I was editing, emailing, uploading, and downloading all things weddings. Now that I have a 4 month hiatis, I can catch up on even reading blogs, let along writing my own. Thanks for your patience, friends.

2. My daughter is going to be turning one on Saturday, and I am JUST posting her 11 month picture. All I can say is IT'S BEEN THAT KIND OF MONTH. Sickness ran rampant in the Shipman home for weeks (and poor M is battling a nasty cold when I took this picture, so excuse her sad smile), but we are all healthy. FINALLY.

I plan on writing a long post about Makaela's first year of life once I finally take that last 12 month picture and post it, but for now I leave you with a picture of my sweet baby girl.

5 Months

2011-06-16T10:10:00.002-06:00

Preface: I am obsessed with a website called Pinterest. It's amazing. I found this idea on there that looks like this:

so I decided to do it for the girls. I like how it came out, and i think I'll keep doing it.

4 months!!!!

2011-05-20T06:47:00.002-06:00

I feel like time has sped up exponentially these past two months. She is no longer my little newborn, but a giggly, engaging, smiley person who is by far the most popular member of our home. We all dote on her, kiss her adorable cheeks, and will do anything to hear her laugh.

She is a rolling maniac, and is now unable to be swaddled, and that is the challenge we are facing right now. She has a love/hate relationship with it. She sleeps AMAZING in it, but will kick up a fuss when you are putting her in the swaddle. She is now able to escape from it too- and when I say escape, I mean she is completely out and on the other side of the crib. Houdini. So we are back to getting up a couple times a night- hopefully it won't last long, and she will figure out how to sleep swaddleless.

She had her appointment on Wednesday, and she is now 12 pounds 4 ounces, and 24 inches long. She is in the 40th for her height, and 25th for her weight.

She. Is. Awesome. I can't say that enough.

5 Things

2011-04-11T17:42:00.002-06:00

5 Favorite Movies

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Sleepless in Seattle
3. Newsies
4. So I Married an Axe Murderer
5. Young Victoria

5 Songs that always make me cry

1. I Am by Nicole Nordeman
2. In my Daughter's Eyes by Martina McBride
3. Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood
4. Why by Nicole Nordeman
5. Why by Rascal Flatts (not a typo- both songs are called "Why"

5 Things that get me fired up

1. Being (and feeling) judged
2. Being misunderstood
3. Games where the Steelers are losing
4. Cold weather
5. When my favorite contestants get kicked off of American Idol

5 Reasons why I love having daughters (and children in general)

1. Mike and I make super beautiful girls
2. Matilda Jane :-)
3. They have softened Mike, and it's amazing to watch him with the girls
4. They make life 20 million times better
5. Their giggles, smiles, cuddles, and all around awesomeness.

5 favorite TV shows (Present)

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Glee
3. American Idol
4. Raising Hope
5. Castle
(Honorable Mentions: The Mentalist, The Office, Psych, Chuck)

5 Favorite TV shows (Past)

1. Lost
2. 24
3. Alias
4. Will and Grace
5. Monk

5 Favorite Books

1. A Walk to Remember
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany
3. Keeping Faith
4. Love You Mean It
5. The Notebook
(I constitute "favorite" by the fact that I have read these books multiple times)

5 Names we considered before deciding on Makaela

1. Cecelia
2. Hope
3. Celeste
4. Hailey
5. Reese

5 Boy names we considered for both pregnancies

1. Isaac Stephen (Isaac means laughter, and that is what Mike did when I told him I was pregnant with makaela, and Stephen is my dad's name)
2. Aaron Michael (After Mike's best friend, not Amy's brother) :-)
3. Elijah-nicknamed Eli (couldn't figure out a middle name that sounded good)
4. Liam
5. Noah (but now we have a Norah in the fam, so it would have been weird)

5 Favorite movie quotes

1. "You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events. - Juno
2. "If you're a bird, I'm a bird"- The Notebook
3. "So long Sucktown!"- Just Friends
4. "Did I hear a nine-r in there? Are you calling from walky talky?"- Tommy Boy
5. "You better pay for that pee-stick when you're done with it. Don't think it's yours just because you marked it with your urine!"- Juno
(and pretty much every other line in Juno- should probably put that one my favorite movie list)

Top 5 Favorite Memories

1. My wedding day
2. The birth of my children
3. The first time I saw harmony after Makaela was born
4. The birth of Norah
5. When Mike proposed to me

2 Months

2011-03-15T17:28:00.002-06:00

Some FAQ's on my two month princess and other things:

Weight/length/percentiles?
As of today, she is 10 pounds, 3 ounces, 22 inches long. Her head was 14 1/2cm. That puts her in the 39th percentile for weight, 40th for height, and 11th for head. She is proving to be my "chunk", since Harmony didn't hit double digits till almost 6 months! Tho Harmony was taller than M at this age.

Is she sleeping through the night?
Nope. Still up twice. Usually around 2 and 6, then up for good at 7-7:30. But she is usually in bed by 8. She no longer wants that late night feeding. And even if I do wake her at 11 to feed her, she still wakes up at 2, so I usually just let her sleep. So I guess that's progress.

Who does she look more like?
I don't know, you tell me. I see her looking less and less like Harmony-who is Mike's mini-me, so I think she is looking more like me *this pleases Becca, since Makaela is her closest bet to having a child who looks like her*. I think the blue eyes make her look like Mike, but she does look a lot like my baby pictures. But this could all change, so I don't think much about it. Like my dad said, "She looks like Makaela", Well put, Papa.

How is Harmony doing with having a sister around?
She is doing awesome. She adores her. So so much. And I love watching M just light up when Harmony comes in the room, and vice versa. Harmony is DYING to play with her. She is always trying to put toys in her hands, and asking me to put her on the floor so she can be near her. The issue we have is sharing mommy in the evenings. During the day she is great. But since M is fussy at night, she requires more attention from me, and H does not like this. She constantly is asking me to put Makaela down and says "take care of me now, mommy". It's tough. To feel like I have to choose. I can honestly say that I haven't figured out how to master the "witching hour" in our home, so any advice is much appreciated.
But other than that, I am delightfully surprised at how smooth the transition was from 1 to 2. It's a crazier pace, but it's awesome. i just LOVE being a mom of 2.

How's Kemper doing with the new addition?
Awful. He is a bigger grump than ever, and he is a little depressed if you ask me. We just don't have much time for him, and as much as I hate to say or admit it, he isn't priority right now. We debate on whether we should find a new home for him- a place where he will get more attention and affection. We shall see.... we still love him tho. We really do.

Are you done having children?
Ask me in 2 years. :-)
Right now, I feel like yes, we are done. We always said we wanted 2, and having Makaela makes our family feel complete. But we aren't going to close that chapter quite yet. People always say "time to try for your boy!". This is something I won't be doing, since no one can promise me a boy next time around. What if I have twin girls? DEAR GOD, I would die. But I am not one of those people who feel like they need a boy to complete my family. I love my girls. And I am happy with my mostly estrogen-filled family. :-)

So is life good?
Yes. So very very good. And Makaela? She is more beautiful every day.

Summing it up

2011-03-08T14:43:00.002-07:00

This

plus her

plus them

plus this little mover

Equals a pretty great morning. Yay for playdates with amazing women and their adorable kiddos. (Sorry you didn't make the blog, Carter!)

Nothing But Love

2011-02-28T06:47:00.002-07:00

Guess

who

loves

her

Uncle Mike!?

Norah Does!!

Oh, and look who is all smiles now!?!?

Sick Days

2011-02-26T18:51:00.002-07:00

A couple months ago, while I was still preggers with Makaela, I remember secretly dreading winter, and all that it brings. Cold. Snow. Short days. Cabin Fever. But mostly, I dread cold and flu season. I know that it's inevitable, especially when Harmony goes to day care, and is in a class of 15 (give or take) three-year-olds at church on Sundays. And I knew that it would be even harder when there were two. I thought I had prepared myself for it.

But I didn't prepare myself enough.

Not at all.

It hit our home on Valentines Day. Harmony all of a sudden darted from the dinner table to throw up. The next day, a cough started. And by the end of the week, her fever spiked. High. It was over 103, and it freaked me out. And through it all, Makaela became heavily congested, and wasn't sleeping well at all. I also feared that she would catch whatever was causing Harmony's fever.

Oh, and did I mention I had the flu? Icing on the cake, people. Icing on the nastiest, ugliest, grossest cake you ever saw.

So you can imagine my panic on Tuesday when Harmony's fever was STILL high, Makaela still wasn't sleeping for more than 30 minutes at a time (during the day- at night she was still doing very well- thank goodness, since Harmony was up every hour), and COMPANY WAS COMING. Mike's sister was coming to visit with a friend of hers, and also his mother was coming for the weekend. And my house was TRASHED. It was almost comical. ALMOST. This is what it looked like:

My table was caked in food.

My kitchen had dishes everywhere.

My living room had clutter everywhere.

And oh, my closet. Laundry piled high.

My bathroom had bath toys, damp towels, and my toiletries everywhere. (and yes, those are my winter boots in there. Don't ask)

God was feeling sorry for me, so he cut me a break. I put Makaela down for her mid-morning nap, and I put a movie on for my sick little girl and hoped for the best (just look at her- so miserable. She has a terrible cold sore, hence the bandaid on her face).

I got to work. And two hours later, I finally had a clean home. Harmony watched the entire movie and Makaela slept the whole time. And I was a cleaning maniac. It was almost therapeutic- to rid my house of germs, to make progress on SOMETHING. To get my mind off of worrying about the girls.

And it felt good. Clutter makes me stressed. Even watching house demos/renovations on TV makes me anxious. So to see my house that messy, and to not have time to do anything about it made the whole thing even more difficult. But the girls came and always will come first. We aren't out of the woods yet. We're pretty sure H now has an ear infection, and M is still having a hard time breathing. I still hate cold and flu season, and how awful it makes my girls feel. But my house is clean, and that's a start.

Bragging

2011-02-16T07:07:00.002-07:00

I was going through my computer to "clean out the clutter" so to speak, and I was putting a bunch of pictures onto my external hard drive, and when I usually do that, I tend to get all nostalgic and look through all my old pictures. While doing that this morning, I came across Norah's one week pictures, and I stopped at the pictures of Norah's quilt. And it prompted me to brag a little bit about my mother's quilting abilities, and that she has taken the time to make them for all three of her granddaughters.

Makaela

Norah

Harmony (better late than never)

All were made with love by their Grammie. :-) Thank you, mom! I know we will treasure them forever!

Makaela was lucky enough to have TWO quilts made for her. One was made by Mike's mom, and it's awesome! She is one lucky girl! As soon as Mak (or KayKay, or Kaylee, or Reesie- she's getting quite a few nicknames these days- wakes I'm going to try to get some pics of her on that quilt too.

One Month

2011-02-14T09:50:00.006-07:00

Our sweet girl turns one month today. I have a hard time believing it. It's strange because it feels like we just had her yesterday, yet we cannot remember life without our incredible little girl. She truly is amazing.

So far, Makaela has proved to be an easy going baby. She settled into a routine fairly quickly, eating every 2 to 3 hours, with an hour to 2 hour nap in-between feedings, except for evenings. She tends to cluster feed, so she eats about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It tends to be a little difficult only because it's Harmony's bedtime- trying to get her into her bath, her pajamas, and bed isn't easy when you have a baby who wants to constantly nurse. When Mike is home it's a non-issue, but there are a few nights a week he isn't, so it's.... interesting. :-) But I have to applaud Harmony for how well she is doing with a new baby sister. She LOVES her. Makaela is smothered in hugs and kisses during her wake times. It's adorable, yet she is a little too aggressive with her love that we have to constantly tell her to be gentle. But we try to include her in all we do with Makaela. If she cries, we ask Harmony what she thinks Makaela wants, so that way she feels important by being able to help make the decision. Best thing we ever did. She loves to help change diapers, change clothes, give her baths, and to shush her while she cries. She doesn't love when Makaela cries in the car, or when she is on mommy's lap when Harmony wants to be, but other than that, it's been a surprisingly smooth transition. Yay for big sister, Harmony! P.S, she is looking so grown up these days.

At Makaela's one month appointment, she weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces (up from 7p 6oz at her two week), and was 20 1/2 inches (up from 20 at her 2 week). She had a bout of gassiness at around 2 weeks, but with a diet change, it already seems to be going away. Thank goodness. It was sooo hard to see her in pain.

She's a pretty darn good sleeper at night- usually hitting the hay between 10, then up like clockwork at 2:30 and 5:30. She usually is up around 9ish, which is nice cuz we have an hour where Harmony has us all to herself. We eat breakfast and get dressed for the day, and usually by the time we are done with our morning routine, she is begging to get her sister up. I still send Harmony to day care two days a week. She would go insane if she stayed home every day, so it's so good for her to have that time with her friends. She BEGS to go to school. So she goes Monday and Wednesday, and is home with us Tuesday and Thursday, and Fridays are our family days. It's been a great routine for us, and it's so nice to have these quiet days with just Makaela and I. Lots of snuggle time. :-)

As for Harmony, she is our constant chatterbox, who needs to be doing something/going somewhere/seeing someone at all times. She is one of the most social children on the planet. On the days she is home, I try to find play dates for her, or think of creative things to do at home. Like playing with bubbles in the sink.

Her most favorite thing to do? Dance. All the time. We soooo need to put her in ballet classes.

Overall, we have a good routine going here at the Shipman home. We're loving life, and we constantly are thankful for our beautiful, healthy little girls.

Speaking of beautiful, I still see a lot of Harmony in Makaela, but at the same time, she looks so different. Maybe it's the blue eyes that get me, or that she is chubbier. What do you think?

Makaela

Harmony

Either way, I can't get enough of her. We're a big fan of Makaela Reese around here. We'll keep her.

Norah Kathleen

2011-02-10T14:06:00.002-07:00

Aka Junie Bug

Norah Beaner

Norah Kate

And my favorite: Sputnik :-)

I love her like I love my own girls. Truly.

Happy 9 Months, Junie. TiTi loves you so much.

Fridays

2011-02-09T09:05:00.003-07:00

Our one day off. We always take full advantage of our family days- even more so now that Makaela is here. Us girls let Mike sleep in a little while we get the coffee started, and let Harmony eat her breakfast while watching a TV show. Once Mike rolls out of bed (usually about 30 minutes after we get up), he starts a fire and we drink our coffee and catch up on our week. And now added to our morning routine is a suggle fest with our sweet girl.

Daddy is a baby hog, i might add.

Not to be left out, Harmony needs Makaela snuggle time too. :-)

Once the coffee is gone, we rummage up some yummy breakfast, and this past Friday, we feasted on pancakes made by Mike and Harmony. It's her most favorite thing to do ever- she pulls up her stool and gets to work. She is finally at the age where its becoming fun (ie, I don't have a mess all over my counter and floor after I let her stir the batter).

Our finished product

I love this picture because it depicts all what we did that morning- we have the pancakes and syrup, plus the ipad where Harmony and Mike played games and read interactive kids books, and two pairs of sunglasses, because Mike and Harmony claimed it was so sunny that they had to wear them. So I scrounged up two pairs of my sunglasses, and giggled while my manly husband strutted around in them. I should have gotten a picture.

I wish I could tell you that we spent the day all snuggled up in front of the fire, but we didn't. I wish I could tell you we went somewhere fun and exciting together, but that wasn't the case either. Instead we cleaned up the kitchen, threw on clothes, and carted our girls to the mall. I hate the mall. But Mike was in desperate need of new clothes, so we went. It was a bit hectic with the girls- correction- it was a bit hectic with HARMONY (Makaela slept the whole time). By the time we left the mall she was in full blown melt down mode. Fun. We learned our lesson: Don't go to the mall before nap. The end.

Not every Friday is drama-free, but we look forward to it nonetheless. It is OUR day. We cherish it, and we protect it. Family days rock.

Our team may have lost...

2011-02-07T12:40:00.001-07:00

But we sure looked cute!

Makaela slept her way through the game :-) We"ll make her a Steeler fan yet.

You've got a friend

2011-02-06T09:23:00.001-07:00

They are my sanity. My lifelines. They know more about my fears and my marriage than most people. They talk me off my ledge when all I want to do is jump. They celebrate with me, they laugh with (and sometimes at) me, and I just adore each one of them. They are my girls.

(yes this is an old pic, but it's the only one I have of all 4 of them!)

We began having girls night about a year ago- just dinner and coffee, and TONS of talking. And we've made it not only a regular occurrence, but a necessary event that each one of us crave. We will all admit that we don't do it enough (kids, work, and life, and moving- grr, Ash- make it hard to all have the same night free), but when we do, it's BREATH.

We were able to get together for lunch the other week (tho we were down one since her little boy got sick), and as always, it was so nice to let our guards down and to express our challenges and our accomplishments. We ate home made mac and cheese while all our kids played together. I hope they all grow up to be as close as their mommies are.

Carrie was on vacation when Makaela was born, so this was her first time meeting her!

Introducing Makaela and Trey :-)

Gracie always giving me those sweet smiles. She is such a ham.

Love these girls.

A Birth Story

2011-02-02T11:16:00.011-07:00

It's my new years resolution. BLOG MORE. Thee end.

It's only taken me a month to get cracking. But January... it was a busy month :-)

Yesterday I was at this pretty lady'shouse, and she inspired me to blog more for the sake of the friends and family who don't live around here, and I am going to try my hardest to stick to it!

So so much has happened since my last post- most importantly, I got preggers and had a beautiful baby girl. Just in case you didn't know :-)

I was looking back at my posts about Harmony and her birth, and I absolutely love that I have her entire birth story all written out to have forever. It's only been three years, and I was surprised at how much I forgot about that day. So I thought it fitting that my first blog of 2011 is Makaela Reese Shipman's birth story.

Ever since we found out I was pregnant, Mike and I both agreed and were excited about the chance to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) since we had to have an emergency C-section for Harmony. It was a very hard recovery for me, and I did not want to go through it again. So we told our OB, and he was completely on board with it. THEN, I got gestational diabetes. No biggie I thought. Diet change. Checking sugar levels. No problem. The one snag was that I just had to have her very close to my due date. But as that due date got closer and closer, we realized that we needed a plan B. I was not happy about it at all. I avoided the word "c-section" my entire pregnancy, and in those last two weeks I heard it said to me dozens and dozens of times. It was very frustrating. I made an appointment with my doctor the monday before my due date (which was that Friday, January 14th), and he checked me out, and told me that I had not progressed AT ALL. He was confident that Makaela wouldn't make her due date, so I essentially had very few choices. You can't induce a woman who previously had a c-section, so that was out. And because of my GD, I wasn't comfortable going past my due date and risk anything happening to her. So I talked to my Dr (who is the most fantastic man ever- i recommend Dr. Tripp to everyone) about the issues I had in my last c-section, and he was confident that he could avoid all of them, so we booked an OR for January 14th, at 8AM.

The day before was one of the most emotional days I've ever had. I was scared, nervous, anxious, excited.... but mostly, all I could think about was Harmony. I felt like I was ruining her life by having another baby. I was afraid she would hate her. What if our relationship changed? I was a mess. I cried most of the day- all in private because I wasn't sure if anyone would understand how I was feeling. And I think Harmony could sense that I was not myself. She wouldn't let me go all evening. When I put her to bed that night, I cried, and she just stared at me, not knowing what to do with her mother. She was up most of the night, but so was I, so I laid with her for hours. We whispered secrets to each other, I rubbed her back, she rubbed my belly... and it was just what I needed. Those last moments with her as my one and only. It was awesome. I was dog tired by 5:45 when our alarm went off, but adrenaline kicked in quickly, and we were out the door and at the hospital by 6:15.

I was prepped and ready to go at 8:00, but they didn't get a chance to take me to the OR till 9:00. I got my spinal and all that jazz (which is what i was most worried about, but my anesthesiologist was AMAZING, and it was a cake walk), they brought Mike into the OR at 9:20, and got started. I began to have trouble taking deep breaths soon into the surgery, and it scared me a bit, but my anesthesiologist assured me it was ok, so I tried to stay calm, and concentrate on seeing my little girl. And at 9:28, she arrived! And she was mad! She cried and cried, but I didn't care. It was amazing, and she was beautiful!

They ushered Mike over very quickly to see her and to have him take pictures of her first moments. I don't have any from Harmony's delivery, so these shots are priceless to me. One of the nurses (who was there for Norah's birth- how cool is that!?!?) took the camera so we could have some photos with Mike in it.

I was wheeled into recovery soon after I was all sewn up, and I was so glad I could have Makaela the entire time. I didn't get Harmony for about an hour and a half after she was born, and that was a concern of mine, but they were awesome and I had skin on skin contact with Makaela the moment I was in our room. It was so nice for Mike and I to have such quiet moments with her, and we will cherish those moments forever.

Once the nurses had made sure I was ok, I was finally able to introduce her to my family! It was so awesome to have them there, along with Amy, Mattie, and Alana. My girlfriend Aimee was there for the birth, but had to go back to work before I was finished in recovery, but she in fact was there! Makaela was passed around, and ooh's and ahh's were heard, but the moment of all moments was when Harmony walked into that room. Mike and I just lost it. We cried and cried at the sight of our first love. It's so hard to describe how I felt. Makaela expanded our hearts the moment she was born, but Harmony was the little girl who CHANGED our hearts, and we were overwhelmed by her presence, and at her first meeting of her sister. I still cry every time I look at those snapshots because I am immediately brought back to that moment. It was electric.

The rest of the day was filled with visitors, with rest, and of course, filled with hours of staring at our sweet new addition. I adore everything about her, and I am so so enjoying life with my two daughters!! Here is the birth announcement for you all!

Our Typical Sunday morning

2010-07-18T06:44:00.002-06:00

Harmony keeps herself entertained while I get ready for church. Today, she decided to do a little drumming while she sang :-)

I'm so in love...

2010-07-02T18:29:00.001-06:00

For Christy-4583, originally uploaded by fotogirl14.

with this face.....

2010-04-15T19:09:00.002-06:00

The

cutest

little

jumping

bean

around

Tea Time!

2010-04-15T14:01:00.002-06:00

Cheryl and Denis Johnson got Harmony this cute little tea set, and she just went NUTS over it! Mike showed her how to use everything, and now she spends every morning having a little tea party. It's so funny. She still does't always pour very well (as you can see in the picture where she is completely missing the cup), so we put down a towel to save our carpets from being soaked. Harmony usually ends up with water all over her, but we really don't mind. She is using her imagination, and that's just awesome. :-)

Hi Grammie, Hi Papa

2010-04-09T17:28:00.001-06:00

So darn cute I had to share it. It's a video Bec took for our mom :-)

A life of Grace and Harmony

2010-04-07T19:40:00.002-06:00

The Kellers came over tonight for a wonderful evening full of good food and really cute kids. Harmony LOVES holding Grace, so I took a few shots knowing that I had this awesome quote that was perfect for the occasion. Love it.

Love them.

Like Father, Like Daughter

2010-04-05T14:06:00.002-06:00

Harmony LOVES Mike's iphone. When she wakes in the morning, Mike usually goes and gets her, then puts her in bed with us. Immediately she asks to "play game". Mike gives her the iphone, and not only does she play a game, she first unlocks it on her own, then navigates her way through the ridiculous amount of apps to get to the one she wants. It's this puzzle game where you drag certain shapes or objects to the spot designated spot. It's amazing to watch.

She is extremely concentrated when she does it.

Her favorite on is the train.

I'm proud to say she gets is right every time.

Smart little girl.

Happy Resurrection Day!

2010-04-04T09:31:00.002-06:00

What a perfect day to celebrate the reason why live in victory! Thank you Lord!

H and I went to the early service at The Fathers House, and then came home to spend a quiet day together. But of course, i had to get a few pictures of her in her Easter dress :-)

Excited

2010-04-03T10:34:00.002-06:00

Because of these things:

She becomes cuter and cuter every day

We are sitting outside on our porch with our coffee and iphones

Flowers are budding up everywhere in our front lawn

She is loving the space and all the exploring she can do.

I love spring at our new house :-)

Before and After

2010-03-28T07:49:00.006-06:00

Spent some of my morning editing a wedding I recently did, and I thought I'd share a few before and afters.
Editing is both so fun, and so time consuming. Probably because I have to do SOMETHING to every picture. Whether it's upping the contrast, or making it look vintage, or adding some 'pop' to the color. But i love it. I take pride in it. It's always fun to play. :-)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Love this face

2010-03-26T07:57:00.002-06:00

I love the faces she makes
The curiosity in her eyes
The little voice that always has so much so say
The ears that hear everything, and then repeats :-)
The smile that dissolves any bad mood

I love her zest for adventure
Her need to always "help"
Her energy- oh her energy....
Her determination to do everything by herself
The way she gets sooo excited when she succeeds.

It's amazing.

She's amazing.

Around the House

2010-02-26T10:00:00.003-07:00

A snowy day is the perfect time to get out the camera and capture LIFE at the Shipman home. And it's a good life.

Mike painted the fireplace white. We love it. It really stands out now.

Harmony bouncing around the house in her pj's.

a view of the snow from our front door.

this one just makes me smile.

she's very serious when it comes to coloring

She's a wild one. :-)

Little bubba wanting so badly to go outside and chase squirrels.

This is my house on our Friday's off. What's your house look like?

stream of consciousness...

2010-02-25T17:59:00.002-07:00

I'm stealing this blog title from this blogerwho i stalk on a regular basis. If you don't read her, you should. She talks about motherhood, marriage, photography, kids, yummy recipes, and just LIFE. i love it. Every once in a while she does a blog called "stream of consciousness...", where she writes down all she is thinking- there's no order, no objective, just what's on her mind at that moment. So i thought I'd give it a try.

Right now I have a sleeping toddler tucked away in (hopefully) pleasant dreams, and sitting in front of a fire with a cuddly dog at my feet, and I'm so relaxed. We are LOVING our new house. It's everything we ever wanted, tho I wish we had 2 full baths, but other than that, it's awesome. We have room to live. Harmony has room to run. Kemper has new places to hide from the torment Harmony brings upon him. Mike is loving the fireplace, and I'm loving the fact that I don't have to take Kemper out anymore-all i have to do is put him in our completely fenced in backyard. yessss. I'm looking forward to painting our family room and dining room- we're going bold and bohemian. it's going to be awesome. I'll be sure to post before and after pics.

I'm having better days with Harmony this week. Last week I was singing a much different, much darker tune. It was a rough week. I vented quite a bit to my family, and probably said things I didn't mean, but I couldn't help it. I felt totally defeated and like a complete failure. No part of my parenting "skills" were working, and I just gave up. My poor husband saw some ugly moments in my attitude, and poor Harmony had no idea how to handle me. There were actually times she looked scared of me. Ugh. It's a week I hope to forget very soon. no one warned me on the difficulty of raising a two year old. It's tough. really really tough. I actually have a really hard time talking to people about my shortcomings as a mom because I feel judgment. I feel like people leave my conversations thinking or even saying out loud to me "i'm so glad my child isn't like Harmony,", or "my daughter/son will never do that", or my personal favorite "maybe you'll get it right with your next baby". Really people? And I'm sorry if you are reading this, and you are actually one who has said this to me. i don't mean to offend, really I don't, but it's so hard to hear. Yes, I have made some mistakes as a mom, I will own that, but I didn't teach Harmony to be strong-willed. That's how she was born. It's who she is. Just ask Mike's mom. Harmony is Mike Jr. to the hilt. She inherited her father's disposition, and I can't do anything about that. But in all honesty, Mike and I say all the time that we wouldn't want Harmony any other way. She will grow up being a very decided woman, who will lead, not follow. Who won't settle for anything but the best, and she will do awesome things for The Kingdom- we just KNOW it. We pray it into her life every single day.

With all that said, I (well, WE) are doing much better this week. Thank goodness.

I'm gearing up for the very busy time that March will bring me. My first wedding of 2010, showering Becca ( a couple times) with lots of fun things for Norah, family portraits, baby pictures... kind of want to upgrade some of my gear before it all happens... maybe I'll use some tax return money... hmmmm. I've had my eye on the Canon 7D for a couple months. We'll see if the hubby gives me the OK.

Holy Crap, Norah is going to be here before I know it. I kind of feel like she's going to be another daughter to me, and not just a niece. I wonder if that is how Becca feels about Harmony. And speaking of Becca, she officially has pregnancy brain. Today in class she was reviewing the week with the kids, and she went completely blank. It was awesome. Really, I got a huge kick out of it because she was always bragging that she didn't have it. One word. Karma.

My husband is next to me, snaking on Harmony's cheese-it's. He'll probably finish the whole box. I'm going to make him explain to Harmony where they went when she asks for them tomorrow. She's gunna be TICKED!

It's making me hungry... what to eat....

Oh My....

2010-02-22T18:52:00.001-07:00

"mommy no! No picture, mommy!"

This is my daughter at her best.... :-)

Oh dear.

What a difference 2 years makes

2010-02-14T11:30:00.002-07:00

Valentines Day 2008

Valentines Day 2010

I see very little of that baby in her today.
Now, she's my little woman.
Happy Valentines Day!

Late night painting fest!

2010-02-12T06:23:00.009-07:00

Last night Mike and I were sitting by the fire, relaxing, waiting for 9:00 to come so we could watch The Office, but as we were chatting, we started to get the "itch" to finally change the face of our new place. Aside from unpacking, we've done nothing. Not one blind is up, and our curtains are hanging by thumb tacks, and all our pictures are stacked in storage. We had the paint already, so we said, "lets do it!". This was the paint we chose:

So our original thought was to just do the trim work. That way we could just roll the next day, and it would be easier to get done while Harmony napped. But of course, we couldn't leave the job half done! We were up till 12:30 getting it all painted! I admit I got a little cranky at about midnight- I was so tired, and H was up quite a bit with come congestion, so I knew it'd be a long night with her. But I sucked it up and stayed awake till every inch was painted. Aside from a couple trimming accidents, it was actually quite easy and fun! We're so pleased with the result!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Finished result!

One room down! Harmony's room is next!

The Curious Ways of a Toddler...

2009-10-02T08:06:00.002-06:00

Yes.
I Know.
It's been a while...
Forgive me.

Life has been about weddings these past few months, and every free moment that Harmony gives me is spent in Lightroom and Photoshop, and of course, Facebook.

So my blog has been super duper neglected, and since all my weddings are edited (aside from about 4 coffee table books), my work is pretty much done. But of course, tomorrow I have another one, and then 2 more this month, so I'll be running at warp speed to have them all to my clients by Christmas. But my goal was to have all my pictures to the printers by now, and I did it. Pat, pat.

Also on my list of things to do, it making some shower invites for some of my favorite ladies. And I guess i didn't put everything away because this is what i found H doing yesterday...

These are some jewels that I used on our favorite bride-to-be, Sabrina's shower invitations, and H got her sticky paws on them, and decided to make herself sparke.

So so funny

Even though i knew it would be mild torture to get all of them out of her hair, I let her do it for the sake of some pretty funny pictures.

She put every last one in her hair, and then went to our room and looked in the mirror.

Silly silly girl. But she's MY girl. :-)

Bye Bye Mazda....

2009-06-28T20:20:00.002-06:00

Alas our lease is up...

This is actually a very sad event for me. We've had our Mazda CX-7 for a little over 2 years now. We went out and leased it the same week we found out we were pregnant. It was what we considered a "family car". We loved it. Well, I loved it for the most part. For the first half of my pregnancy, the new car smell made me throw up. But other than that, it was an awesome vehicle.

It was the car that went on many road trips. We've jammed to many tunes, had tons of laughs, and on once particular trip with John and Becca, I almost peed my pants (I was preggers and John was being, well, John). Good times.

It was the car we brought Harmony home in. I think that's what is the saddest to me. I cherish those moments, those memories like gold.

Since we haven't sold our house in Pittsburgh yet, we need the extra money, so we decided to not extend the lease, and just be a one car family. I'm close enough to walk to work, and for Father's Day I got Mike a road bike, so he will ride that to work on some days too. I'm not to worried or stressed about it, but time will tell when we find it too difficult.

Farewell old friend.

Harmony helping me clean out the car

She helped me wipe off the seats too.

Wanting to wash the mats herself

But then found it much more amusing to play in the puddles

I recommend this car to anyone!

This and That

2009-06-18T19:54:00.007-06:00

I couldn't resist posting some new pictures of my cutie for all to see. My sweet, smiley cutie...

I was so excited to find some new hair bands for Harmony from this blog, who buys these for her little girl, and I just had to get them for Harmony. I love them because the flower can come off so you put a different color flower on the band. I bought four of them, and I am LOVING all the combinations I can use for her many outfits. And I got them all for under $30! And of course.... i took pictures.

Don't mind Harmony's wild hair- I can't control it. Hence the need for hair bands.

Enough about hair accessories...

I haven't updated you all about Harmony's health "stuff" in a while, so I thought I'd give you skinny (get it- skinny) on the latest.

The last time we went to the doc (about 5 weeks ago), Harmony gained a good amount of weight, which brought her back up to where she should be on her growth curve. But they gave me little time to celebrate because she was concerned about her head circumference. I guess her head hasn't grown in a while, so we began to talk more about harmony's development, which is more than fine. She's as smart as a whip, and learns more everyday. So once we explained that to her, she began to feel like it was an error on their end, that they may have written the wrong measurement, or something along those lines. SOOOO we have to go back next week for ANOTHER weight check, and also to check her head. If it's grown, case closed. If not, then we go see an endocrinologist. Blah. I have tremendous faith that it's fine, and that we won't have to entertain the thought any further. But still... I felt like we made "progress" (tho I think Harmony is just destined to be little, and that's that) with her weight, and that joy was completely ripped from me. But I know more than anything that my doctor is on our side, and that she too, wants to see Harmony grow healthy and strong. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tho Harmony is gaining (and according to our scale at home, she has cracked the 20 pound mark! Yippee!), she can still be a pistol when it comes to eating. I still, at times need to let her watch Monsters Inc. on TV while she eats, so she will sit long enough for her to eat a full meal.

Yesterday was one of those days, and Harmony just wasn't having it. My best friend, Jaime was here, and kept telling me that Harmony was too tired to eat. I was persistent because it was 11:00, and i didn't want her to go down for her nap without having lunch. So Jaime took pictures as evidence that she was indeed, just too tired.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

She rests her case... get it... rests. :-)

Bec came over, and we all hung out till Harmony woke up. And since Becca was a bad aunt, and decided to leave Harmony for a whole week to gallivant around Jamaica doing Lord knows what (yes, my jealousy is rearing it's ugly head), Harmony wanted to cuddle...

Awww...

What else has Harmony been up to...

She talks ALL. THE. TIME. most of the time we don't know what the heck she is saying, but to her she is telling us very exciting stories. Words that we do understand? She says:

Mommy
Daddy
Doggy
Hi
Bye
Night Night
Uh Oh
Ball
Drink
Ba Ba (for bottle)
Pa Pa (for Grandpa)
Amy
Aunt Becca
Ball
Happy
Sad
Na-na (for banana)
Nose
Eyes
Mouth
No
Yeah
Duck
Ready. Set. Go!
Juice
Up
Down
Thank you
Walk

And I'm sure I'm missing more, but I just can't think of them. For the most part she says "Daddy"- whenever she sees something exciting, or wants our attention, that's what she yells. And of course, Mike LOVES it. :-)

She climbs on EVERTHING- she is living up to her nickname (monkey). furniture, shelves, our bed, stairs... if there is a way to climb it, she figure it out. So far, no serious injuries. Knock on wood.

She is sleeping a lot better these days. She went two weeks with not waking up at all in the night, but after we came back from a trip to Lancaster, it stopped. Now she is up every couple nights wanting a bottle, but goes straight back to sleep. I don't mind it too bad on the nights she does wake up, because she tends to sleep in longer. So either way, I get my eight hours in. YESSSSS. Every once in a while she'll cry, but she isn't fully awake. i think she may be having bad dreams. All she needs is for me to hold her for a second, then she's back to sleep. But after the craziness of those few months, this is nothing! So THANK YOU for all of your prayers, your encouragement, and your kind words. They meant more than you'll ever know. It's awesome to know that Mike and I have so much support surrounding us.

Speaking of sleep, it's time for this lady to hit the hay. Blessings to you all!

I know I'm biased...

2009-06-12T06:24:00.002-06:00

But I think that she is the cutest 19-month-old around.... but that's just me :-)

2009-06-08T20:02:00.002-06:00

For some reason lately, I've been having this urge to look back at old pictures of Harmony, in desperate attempt to solidify as many memories of her at that age as possible. I never want to forget any moment of her first precious year.

And just the other day, I came across some pictures that my mom took of Harmony when we would visit, and I just HAD to show you some of them.

I'm telling ya, she was, and still is such a happy little girl, and as I looked through the pictures, her smile melted me all over again....

It's Hard to Remember...

2009-06-05T19:12:00.003-06:00

Was she really THAT little?

Where is that little baby who fit so perfectly in the nape of my neck?
Who would gaze around for hours, just taking in the world?
Who HATED baths but LOVED getting her diaper changed?
Who would snuggle next to me all night?

When did that little baby grow up to be so big?

Now she's my little girl who gets harder and harder to fit in my arms.
Who never stops and always explores the world.
Who LOVES baths but HATES getting her diaper changed?
Who would much rather her own bed to mine?

IT. GOES. TOO. FAST.

Dancing with Daddy

2009-05-19T19:06:00.002-06:00

Tonight we had John and Amy over for dinner and Idol, and while we were waiting for the show to come on, Mike decided to get his guitar out and sing with Harmony. She went WILD dancing and clapping, and I just HAD to get some pictures of it. She is our true Joy, and she gets better and better every day.

This is Me. Venting. Again.

2009-05-02T17:50:00.005-06:00

I'm not gonna lie- the past few months have been tough. Ugh.

Need. Advice. Please.

The never ending battle/process with Harmony's weight "issue" has officially become annoying. I know they don't know it, nor is it really fair, but every time someone tells me that my daughter is soooooo tiny, I want to scream. I feel (and what I feel and what is true isn't always the same, but let me vent) judged- like I made her that way, or that I neglect her nutrition. I know not everyone thinks that, but there have been some women who give me "the eye" when I tell them that she is 18 months old (she looks about 11 or 12- or so they tell me so matter-of-factly). Has no one ever seen a petite child???? BAHH!!! I go back to the doc this week to see how far she has come weight wise since she started the Pitocin, and I'm trying not to get myself worked up over it. Every time we have to go it for a weight check, I have so much anxiety. What if she gained nothing? What if they make me do more tests? I can't do more tests. I don't have it in me. We have to go for an upper GI (which is a lot like her gastric emptying test- drink a liquid, take pics of her stomach, throat, and all that jazz), and then at the end of May we meet back with the GI specialist to see what they think about the results.

Who knows where we go from there. Just depends on what the tests show.

They have me so paranoid. I literally think about her eating schedule all day. Am I giving her enough? How can I get her to eat more if she doesn't eat a whole lot? Can't force her for pete's sake. How many snacks should I give her? Am I giving her enough choices? How much independence should I give her when she eats? The questions go on and on. Never knew it was going to be this hard to feed my baby.

But there is a time when she eats (well drinks) really well.

Yep.

You guessed it.

Middle of the night.

Except for a couple nights here and there (like 5 tops), she has not slept through the night since September. SEVEN. MONTHS. AGO.

Seven LONG months of getting up AT LEAST once, and AT MOST 6 times. She slept better in her first month of life than she does now.

So here's the million dollar question.

Wait for it......

WHY!!!!!??????

What is the issue? Is it habit? Is she truly hungry?

Let me sidetrack just a minute and say that before the Pitocin, she drank maybe 6 oz at night. Now sometimes it's still just 6, but some nights it's 10-12, or on rare occasions, 14 oz of Pedisure- that is what she is on now instead of formula.

So if she is hungry, how do i get her to eat all her calories in the day and not at night? Or is she just waking up a lot, and the only way she knows how to go back to sleep is by having some of her bottle?

I'm gonna tell you this right now-
I'd do anything for that little girl, and if that means getting up 3-4 times a night then so-be-it. But it's NO FUN AT ALL. I don't function well on little to no rest, and the sleep deprivation is catching up with me BIGTIME. I'm no fun to be around.

Just ask Mike.

And to add a monkey wrench into things- wedding season officially starts next weekend, and Harmony's naptime (which is usually my naptime too) will now be filled with editing. hmmmmmmmmm

So here's where I need the advice. What the heck do I do? I see no end in sight, and I can't find a solution. My child is 18 months old, and should be sleeping through the night. Once again, I feel as tho I've failed...

Question: could the two be linked?
Seven months ago Harmony began to walk. Walking=burning more calories
About that time her growth curve plateaued. Hence the concern by the Dr- hence the testing.
Seven months ago- Harmony stopped sleeping through the night.
Makes me think.....

This is a question I will be asking her Ped next week.

Any advice would be great.

I know in my heart of hearts that this is all just a season we're, and she will eventually sleep well again, and that the testing will soon be over. I do really know that. But right now, it doesn't make the nights where I only get 4 hours of sleep any easier.

And I apologize to anyone who I may have been impatient with (sorry Mike), or rude too (my husband is a saint). It's the exhaustion talking- not me :-)

Promise.

My Little "Helper"

2009-04-17T13:55:00.003-06:00

Since we haven't sold our house yet (grr) a lot of our things are still in storage, including a lot of clothes that were given to us for Harmony. The little peanut is growing (slow and steady) out of her 9 month clothes (and yes, she is 17 months old), so I asked Mike to stop by the place where we store our things (thank you Rob and Missy!) to pick up her 12 month clothes. We are so so lucky that most of her 12 month clothes are for summer (she should have fit into them last year), so we now have this whole new wardrobe for Harmony. Seriously, it felt like Christmas here at the Shipman home. Mike brought 3 tubs worth of clothes back, and I spent a majority of the day on Wednesday washing the clothes, packing up all the clothes that no longer fit, and putting away the new ones. It was A LOT of work, but i was so glad to get it done. Harmony was awesome the whole time, happy to play in the boxes, helping me put away clothes, and of course getting them right back out. Here's a pic of her "helping". And that is a new dress she is wearing. :-)

Oh, and BTW, Harmony was put on some meds to help with her stomach issues (her belly empties out a little slow), and after 2 weeks of being on them, she gained almost 10 ounces! YAY!

Lists

2009-04-04T14:57:00.002-06:00

Last night as I was attempting to fall asleep (and failing miserably at it), I was making a list in my head of all the things I need to get done this coming week. And as I was doing this, I became aware of all the things I'm really not fond of doing, and thought I would share. This is me venting, so don't judge people.

I'm Tired Of:

Doctor's appointments. For me and for Harmony (Mike all but refuses to go so I don't deal with him much). If I'm not going to one, I'm scheduling one. If I'm not scheduling one, I'm researching doctors to find out what one I want to go to. Blah.

Laundry. There is nothing in me that enjoys doing laundry. I put it off (sometimes for 2 weeks) until Mike tells me he has no socks or underwear left. And even then I sometimes just do a load of those so i can put it off longer. Sad. But true.

Bills. They stress me out.

Not selling our house in Pittsburgh. You don't even want to know how much money we've spent on an empty house. Makes me mad just thinking about it.

Changing diapers. Is there such a thing as potty training a 16 month old? :-)

Being tired. I know some of it's my thyroid, but i know i would feel much more rested if Harmony would just sleep through the night. Ugh.

Having so much of my belongings in storage. Can't wait to get a house.

And even tho there are probably many other things I'm tired of, there are also things I'll NEVER tire of. Such as:

Naps. I'm a super napper, and probably take more than I'll ever admit. There is nothing better than a long Sunday nap.

Facebook. I'm addicted.

Harmony saying my name. Tho she says it A LOT now (and usually when she really wants something), I never tire of her little voice calling me to where ever she is, knowing I'll get her what she needs (but not always what she WANTS- hence the tantrums- oh add that to things I'm tired of. When will this phase be over?)

Kemper. My lovie dog who is the cuddliest dog EVER, and I love him so much. I admit my love changed for him when Harmony came along, but he still is my loyal pup whom I will never tire of.

Mike's jokes. Even tho i usually shake my head and roll my eyes at most of the nonsense that comes out of his mouth, i truly believe that he is the funniest man alive... and he's all mine.

Taking pictures. Even tho its my job, I always enjoy capturing both big and little moments in life, whether it's my life or someone else. And tho i dread wedding season (life becomes a little unmanageable at times), I get excited about all the memories I'm going to be a part of.

And speaking of work, I NEVER tire of teaching with Becca. I love seeing her every day, but even more, the kids we teach are AWESOME. They are so smart, and SO funny.

And lastly, I never tire of watching Mike and Harmony play. There are times when I am moved to tears as I watch them giggle and laugh together. Those are the moments that outshine every tantrum, every uneaten meal, and every sleepless night. I have the greatest little (quite literally) family ever.

Harmony's Baby Dedication

2009-03-29T18:01:00.005-06:00

Our sweet baby girl got dedicated yesterday at The Father's House, and it was so so awesome!!! Mike sang a beautiful song (and got a little choked up- so cute), and then each parent read a letter to their child (or children) as part of the dedication. We spoke a promise over Harmony that we would raise her in an environment where she can't help but know the Lord, and where we will pray her through whatever circumstance life will bring her. It was awesome to speak those words over her life, and to have family there to hear it and to keep us accountable to the promise we made.

We all went out to lunch for a celebration where Harmony decided to be the entertainment. She was so so silly the whole time, and it was just so much fun! And in true Shipman fashion, i posted pics. But I have to say that Becca took most of the pics (and the ones at the dedication Jaime took), and I totally stole them. So give them the credit if you like them!

Sad and Funny at the same time

2009-03-19T13:25:00.003-06:00

I was getting Harmony dressed yesterday and came across her I Love Daddy shirt and though it would be funny to see if it would fit (totally thinking it would be way too small). Um... yeah it still fit.

Her at 5 or 6 months

Her at 16 months

Off to the hospital tomorrow morning to see the GI and nutritionist. Pray.

More Doctors Appointments... More Good News!

2009-02-06T13:26:00.004-07:00

I promised to keep you all updated, so here it is:

After all the tests came back fine, our doctor wanted to do one other test to rule out Cystic Fibrosis (something that PA didn't screen her for, weird...), so on Monday we went in for what they called a Sweat Test. All we had to do is check for how salty her skin is (a symptom of CF) and also to put this contraption on her arm and put her in her winter coat and let her run around (and for those of you who know Harmony- this is not a problem) until we collected enough sweat to run the tests.

We went early in the morning (got to see our fav nurse ever -sorry Beth!) and were told the results would be ready by 2. So i called at 2. Not finished. Called at 3. Still not finished. That's when my mind went crazy and I thought it was going to return positive, and Harmony was going to be sick her whole life. I was in a panic by the time Mike got home, and it was not a fun scene. But he, being the amazing husband he is, reminded me of God's faithfulness, and that no matter what, Harmony was going to be fine. So i took a deep breath and called one last time, asking as nicely as I could that I really wanted to know the results that day, and that i didn't want to have to wait until the next day. So one of the nurses stayed late to wait for the fax, and called me to tell me the great news that it came back negative!! WOO HOO!

So what next? Well, we are still focusing on her diet. The girl HATES to eat. She is too much of a busy body to be bothered with it. I am so lucky that so many people reached out to us and gave us so much advice and encouragement, and I am forever grateful to you all! It's getting better, but no where near what i want. It takes me a good hour to feed her at meals, and most of that hour is spent waiting for her to stop throwing fits, and wanting to get down. We really want her to know that her high chair is where she eats, and setting up healthy eating habits. so we now make an effort to eat together, and to let her see us eat. It's been helping. Also, if she is really fussy, we put on her favorite movie and let her watch it while we feed her. This helps SO MUCH, but we hate doing it because that isn't something we want her to get used to. But for now, if she eats, I'm happy. I can correct the behavior at a later date, preferably when she isn't labeled "failure to thrive"! So don't judge!
:-)

I'm convinced that she is just going to be a peanut. But I am trying lots of new, fatty foods to bulk the child up. Her favorites are mac and cheese with hot dogs, meatballs, organic sausage patties, yo baby yogurt, ham, high fat cheese, buttered veggies (she could eat just veggies and not bat an eye- so NOT her father), french fries, and Pediasure (we have her off formula and solely on that-it's much higher in fat, but still has so many nutrients).

Other than that, Harmony is the poster child for a "thriving" toddler. She is so smart, so social, and so so funny. I need to start taking more videos of her craziness so you can see what I'm talking about. She now points to everything she wants (which is nice because now I know when she is thirsty, or what food she wants to eat. But now she also says "no" to me all the time. It was really cute for the first day, but now- not so cute. She LOVES to dance. We have a ipod dock in our living room, and when she wants to dance she points to it. There are certian songs she loves most, and if I don't play those songs, she looks at me like "you think I'm dancing to THIS?", and once a song she likes comes on she spins, claps her hands, she "drops it like it's hot"!, so funny, you don't even know!

She's still teething like mad... I can't wait for this stage to be over. She gets so congested and her mouth is so sore. I'm sure that doesn't help with the whole eating thing either... but she got her first tooth in May, and it hasn't stopped. I feel so bad for her- it must hurt so much.

That pretty much is what's going on in the Shipman home. Mike is tearing it up at The Father's House, and I am the proudest wife around. I'm LOVING teaching Pre-K with Becca, and my kids are amazing. Harmony loves going to her "class" for the mornings, and is now transitioning from the baby room to the wobbler room. Her teachers are so amazed at how well adjusted she is, and how independent she can be. She is only there for a little under 3 hours, only 3 days a week, but she gets so excited when we get ready in the mornings. She stands at the door and says "Bye? Bye?" until I'm ready to put her in the car. Love it. It makes it so much easier to put her in day care when I know she loves it so much.

Speaking of the peanut herself, I hear her playing in her crib- throwing every toy, and every blanket on the floor, so I must go tend to her.

Oh, and BTW- congrats to my blog buddy and friend, Beth on getting knocked up again! I'm so excited for you!

So much to update....

2009-01-25T07:33:00.002-07:00

I'm really not sure where to begin, so my apologizes if this post seems scattered.

Let's go all the way back to Christmas.

Mike and I were so lucky to have two whole weeks off for Christmas. In our entire marriage, we've never had that, and it was awesome. The Father's House doesn't have Christmas Eve services (which is also very new to us), so we took advantage! We packed our bags, and it was off to Canada for Christmas! I was a little nervous about the trip, just because we haven't had to take Harmony on that long of a car ride in a couple months, and I wasn't really sure how she would do. Let me just tell you, that girl was AMAZING. We only had to stop once, and that was for me to go to the bathroom. She was so content in her car seat (oh, and we upgraded to a big one- it's like sitting in first class for her now! It's a Britax Roundabout, and i HIGHLY recommend it!). She still sits backwards since she isn't 20 pounds yet... not even close, actually. More on that later. But she slept for an hour, played, watched VeggieTales, and then slept again. We couldn't have asked for a better trip.

We spent Tuesday through Friday morning at Mike's mom's house, and it was so nice to see the whole family! Harmony was a little overwhelmed by all the people, but she adjusted quickly. She wasn't too interested in opening gifts, but she really liked all the paper and the boxes. So typical for a one year old. But my favorite part of the trip was seeing my sweet baby niece, London, who is just growing up so quickly! Harmony was a bit jealous of her when i was holding London, so she would also climb up on my lap and put her head on my shoulder- just to remind me that she was there too. So funny.

Once all the Christmas festivities were over, and Friday came, mike and I packed up the car once again to make an even longer trip to my parents house for Christmas, Part 2. But once again, harmony was amazing on the trip. We didn't have to stop once for her. She slept most of the time, and when she was awake she would play and talk, and was so content. It was our little Christmas miracle! Once again, she didn't open many gifts on her own. She opened one, and proceeded to play with it for the rest of the time we all opened gifts. I would say her favorite gifts this year are her refrigerator letters and animals, a singing elf that dances (and the jingle will FOREVER be embedded in my mind) her Pooh cookie jar (that is the gift she wouldn't stop playing with), her monkey blanket from Christy, and her Elmo Live from Ashley. She got many many gifts that she just loves, but those are the most frequent toys she goes for.

After Christmas, Mike and I went on a mini vacation with Becca and Denis and 2 other couples to a house that we rented in Elmira, NY. My parents happily agreed to watch Harmony for those couple days, tho I think Harmony was happier- she LOVES going to grammie and grandpa's house! She gets so spoiled! Mike and I rang in the new year with some of our favorite people, and we had a blast just relaxing, eating Andrea's amazing food, sleeping in, reading, just doing nothing. it felt so weird to me. I actually would wake up in the night certian that I heard harmony crying. But it was a great time of rest and renewal for me, and of course I was DYING to get back to Harmony once Thursday came around! I must have held her for HOURS that evening.

We stayed at my parents till Friday, then headed back to Rochester and the real world that evening. We drove through a snow storm, and it was so weird because it's been years since we've had to do that- Pittsburgh spoiled us! Oh, total side note.... GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!! So so excited that they are in the Super Bowl!

Life got back to normal very quickly, and that brings us up to speed.

Now onto Harmony...

I've been really wary of writing anything about her for a while because I don't want to worry anyone. But I feel the need to share with the people I love (ie you guys)- plus I won't have to keep repeating the whole story. So here it is.

Mike comes from a medical family (his mom is an amazing nurse, and his step-father, Dr. Shipman has spent years in the Pediatric field, and is incredible), and Susan noticed while we were in Canada for the holidays that Harmony was still so so small, and that she really didn't have a whole lot of muscle in her arms and legs. But her belly is pretty big- which is a sign that something may be wrong. She suggested that Dr. Shipman come and take a look at her to see if he may know what we should do. He drove 4 hours to come see her (and I am so grateful for that man) he was also concerned about her health. He said that she may have what you call Celiac Disease, which is a fancy way of saying that she has a gluten allergy. He assured us that its 100% curable, and not to be upset. Yeah right. I began praying for her at that moment, and have not stopped. So when we got back we made an appointment to see her Pediatrician to get some tests done. We just prayed that she would listen to what we had to say, and to help us get to the bottom of this issue. GOD IS GOOD because our doctor specialized in Gastroenterology (hopefully I got that spelling right), which is exactly what we needed! Once she saw how small she STILL was (she is 14 months, and she isn't even 17 pounds yet- I stress STILL small because it's normal to have small kids, but it's the fact that she hasn't gained much since her last check-up in August- right around the time she went to table food), she also became concerned and would have suggested those same tests. She added a few more tests just to cover our bases, so she also checked out her liver, kidneys, and other allergies that she may have. SHE. WAS. AMAZING. We couldn't have asked for a more sensitive, kind, and patient doctor, because we threw a lot at her that morning. I think the hardest thing for me to hear in that appointment was that she had to put in her records that Harmony has "failed to thrive". What? My little girl- who is so smart, so spunky, so full of personality and beauty is not thriving? I almost broke down. But she looked me in the eyes and took my hand and said "but she is going to be alright. I want you to believe me when I say that she is going to be completely fine". And I chose to believe her. I still do.

So Mike and I did the hardest thing that we have ever done, and we took Harmony to get her blood work done. It was horrible. I know that I am dramatic sometimes, and i make things bigger or worse than they really are, but I kid you not, I thought I wasn't going to make it through it. Harmony's arms are so teeny tiny, and they kept missing her vein, and Mike just had to keep holding her down while i looked into her sweet face DRENCHED in tears, promising her that it would be over soon. I get emotional just THINKING about it. I just kept telling myself that we needed to do this to know what is wrong. That I was doing the right thing.

Once it was all over, all we could do was wait until our next appointment, which was made for next month. Our doctor assured us that if there was anything urgent in the results that they would call us right away. About 2 days later I get a phone call from her. And I was so so so happy to hear her tell me that Harmony is JUST FINE!!! THANK YOU, LORD!!!! I had Harmony in my arms when I took the call, and I just hugged her and kissed her, and squealed with delight that she wouldn't have to go through any intense testing, that she wouldn't have to deal with any diseases, any allergies, NOTHING. Every test came back normal, and the doctor just celebrated with me. Now that so many things are ruled out, we are focusing solely on her diet. I've been very health-minded since I found out about my thyroid issues, and I don't have a lot of fatty foods in the house. Now, harmony has never been a huge eater, and it's just getting worse as she gets older, but the food that she did eat wasn't high in fat. Actually, she is pretty set on just eating fruits, veggies, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! So the doctor gave me some tips on what kinds of foods to get that are high in good fats to see if that will help bring up her weight. So that is what I'm doing... or attempting to do. But this is the problem. Harmony isn't interested in sitting in her chair and eating AT ALL. I fight tooth and nail at every single meal to get her to eat SOMETHING. She will take one or two bites, and that's it. She is ok at taking her bottles, but she is even starting to not take those well. I'm really really stressed about it, guys. I thought that maybe it's just a phase where she hates her high chair, because she seemed to eat OK if I let her eat while she played. But now that isn't even working. Plus, I really want to teach her that her high chair is where she needs to eat. I've just gotten lazy in disciplining her to do that because I am so tired to fighting it. But I HAVE to get her diet under control, and I need help. Mike and I talked last night, and we decided that we need to seek out people who may be able to help. So this is my first step in doing that. I know that many of you are moms, or have been around young kids, and I would love to hear your advice. I truly believe that she will begin to thrive again if I can just get her to eat more. So please, if you know of any tricks or remedies to get her to sit and eat, AND if you have any advice on good foods for her to have, let me know. You can leave a comment, or you can email me at rachelannshipman@yahoo.com.

I also ask you to continue to pray for Harmony. We still are going to do a few more tests, and we go back to the doctor in a month to see if there is any change. I promise to keep you posted on all that goes on. Thank you, friends.

ONE YEAR!!!!

2008-11-20T08:51:00.007-07:00

This is a very bittersweet day for me. My baby girl has finished the first year of her life, and I am so unbelievably amazed at her transformation and growth. I've been looking through all her pictures today, and remembering every moment we've had with her, and I can't believe how fast she grew into her vibrant personality.

Her first weeks were filled with many ups and downs. It was difficult for me to heal from the C-section, and I couldn't have stayed sane if it wasn't for Mike and my mom. They were so patient with both me and Harmony as we adjusted to our new way of living. And after a few weeks we fell into a comfortable rhythm as a new family of three.

It wasn't long before she was showing us her beautiful smile and contagious giggle that made us fall even more in love with her.

She is the the type of baby who isn't afraid to show her many moods! She is strong willed (gets it from her daddy!) but also very sensitive (definitely from her mommy!), and she tells us exactly how she feels- as you can see from these pictures!

She has never been that shy with people- probably because we are so social and always have friends around, but she has an apparent affection for men. She bats her eyes at them and smiles this shy smile that will melt any heart. Here is a picture of her with her "uncle" Shane (who always wants to be the one to hold her- it's adorable), and as you can see, she is using her cute grin to wrap him even further around her little finger. Oh, and FYI, this was the stage in her life where she had crazy looking hair- so we were being silly and put a scarf on her head.

But the one man she adores most is her sweet daddy, who is her ultimate playmate. The moment she hears the door open she stops everything she is doing to go see her daddy. The other day we took her to the park for the very first time, and he was so excited to push her on the swings, and to take her down the slide. I was a very proud wife to see him love her so unconditionally. He is a fantastic daddy, and there is nothing that makes me happier than to see them have such special moments together.

My sweet baby is on her way to not being a baby anymore, and I am feeling very proud but very sad at the same time. Every day she becomes more independent, and more curious about the world around her. It's an adventure that keeps getting better and better.

Happy Birthday, Harmony Joy. You are the greatest gift we've ever received!

2008-11-04T08:48:00.003-07:00

It was Harmony's first Halloween, and I was obsessed with finding the perfect costume for her. Aunt Becca and i spent an entire afternoon (and harmony wasn't happy about it!) finding the cutest outfit, and this baby chick costume was the only one she didn't cry in! It was fate!

We went to Trunk n' Treat at The Father's House (Mike did an AWESOME JOB planning the whole event- you're the greatest, honey!) and Allison came up to help out with handing out candy to all the kids. Here is a pic of Harmony sneaking a taste of our candy!

Unfortunately Harmony didn't last very long and I ending up having to take her home soon after we started handing out candy. She just screamed and screamed. She fell asleep on the way home, so i guess she was way to stimulated with everything that was going on. Good thing Aunt Allison was there to man our car! You're the best, Allie!

My baby chick! I love this video because she really does waddle like a duck!

One Smart Baby!

2008-10-18T09:23:00.002-06:00

When I was at my parents house last week, we sang this song to her over and over one evening, and she went crazy over it. I guess we sang it so much to her that she started to know the words!

Finally got a video!

2008-10-13T13:03:00.003-06:00

She has been walking for over a week now, and has gotten quite good at it. I've been meaning to get a video for a while, but in the midst of the move I couldn't find it. But at three in the morning it came to me and I finally am able to show you how well she walks!

She has also learned a new trick from her grammie- when you say "SO BIG" she puts her hands high in the air. We've been trying to get her to perfect it for weeks and now she does it all the time!!

My Favorite Season

2008-10-08T11:30:00.004-06:00

Even though Harmony was born in November, I still consider this her first Fall season, and I am loving every second of her exploring all things autumn. And of course, I am trying to document as much as I can. Here are some pictures I took

This is her a couple weekends ago at my parents house- her first time playing in the leaves.

I am at my parents house this week while Mike is gone on a Staff Retreat, and while they were at work, Jaime and I took Harmony to Pumpkinville for the afternoon to let her explore. We took her out to a pumpkin patch to play, and she had so much fun walking (yes, I said walking!! She learned last week, and as soon as I get a video of it on my camera, I will post it) around and climbing on pumpkins. There was so much to do- they had a corn maze, hay rides, haunted houses, treats, crafts, and petting zoos. We had a BLAST! Here are some pictures from the day:

10 month Update

2008-09-21T09:54:00.004-06:00

Time for another Harmony update to let you all know how the little peanut is doing. She turned 10 months yesterday, and Mike and I are amazed at the sudden turn of personality we have seen her grow into these past few weeks. She has become an entertainer! But before I get to that, let me give you some basic updates:

1. She is a little less than 15 pounds now. I took her to her 9 month appointment right before we left Pittsburgh, and she was 14 pounds 2 ounces. She is STILL wearing 3-6 month clothes... insane. She is in the third percentile for her weight, but she always has been between the third and fifth since she was 3 months old. So before I get comments on how tiny she is, let me answer the questions i KNOW you are thinking:

YES: She is small for her age. And from what my doctors tell me, that is just fine. Mike and I are both small people, so she just may be destined to be small too. Seriously, if I got a dollar for every time I tell people how old Harmony is (they always think she is about 3 month younger than she really is) and they get this surprised/concerned look on their face, Harmony's college would be paid for...
well at least her freshman year.

YES: I feed her. She is purely on table foods now, and for the most part she eats really well. You can't put food in front of her fast enough, and if she even THINKS you are preparing her bottle she flies off the handle because she wants it and she wants it NOW.

Now that we have that all settled lets move on.

2. She sleeps great, for the most part. Her bedtime is 8 and she wakes up around 7:30, with the exception of her 5:30 play time in her crib where she proceeds to talk to herself for about 10 minutes, then goes back to sleep. But since we've moved, she is starting to get up in the night again. All she needs is to be comforted for a minute or two, and then she is fine. Sometimes it's only once, other nights it's two or three times. It's weird. I also think she is cutting another tooth (to bring the total count to 7), so that doesn't help. I'm sure the biggest reason is change. She isn't in her crib, and we aren't in our house, so that doesn't help things.

3. She talks up a storm now. She is constantly babbling, trying so hard to communicate with us, and it's adorable. She says, "ba ba", "ma ma", "da da" , and "uh oh". Aunt Becca taught her "uh oh", and now she never stops saying it. That is what we hear her saying after she wakes up from a nap. SO adorable. "Da da" is her most recent word, and it is by far the cutest thing that she says. She just lights up when she says it. She is very proud to finally figure it out. I don't think she associates it with Mike just yet, but she loves saying it.

4. She is starting to stand on her own, but only when she isn't really paying attention to what she is doing. We try to get her stand and walk and she just won't have it, but if she is playing or concentrating, she will stand on her own for 30-40 seconds before she grabs onto us or a piece of furniture. She is SO ready to walk tho. She is constantly on her feet, whether it's pushing her walker, or just using walls or furniture to get her places. I'm just waiting for the day she just takes off and never looks back. Then my life will officially be over. I can barely keep up with her when she crawls. She is a quick little thing, and she crawls EVERYWHERE. She has mastered stairs, and loves going anywhere she knows she isn't supposed to be (i.e. dog cages, toilets, pantries, DVD shelves- her favorite).

Life is most definitely NOT boring with her around. Like I said, we have seen her personality change so much lately. She is doing so much that she never did before. She waves (and by waves I mean hold her arm up in a "Hail Hitler" sort of way) to pretty much everyone in sight- so we've make lots of friends wherever we go- the store, church, the bank- anywhere. Once she gets there attention, she begins to flirt like crazy. she bats her eyes, she smiles, she giggles- it's hilarious. Becca says that she is the best way to evangelize. All Harmony has to do is real em in with her charm, and we'll do the rest... "yes she is a happy baby. It's because she knows Jesus. Do you?". She's going to be a fisher of men in no time (and I mean that in a biblical way people! No boyfriends yet!)

In the past few days she has learned to clap, and she is so very proud of herself for it. If you clap at her she will giggle and clap too. I LOVE IT! I do it all the time just to watch her. And when she gets really excited she starts flapping her arms like a bird and just squeals. I'm telling you, she can entertain a crowd for hours.

She has been awesome since we've taken up residence at the Keller Manor for the last couple weeks. We've only had a few little "mishaps" (she fell down the stairs, and she fell out of the screen door- both on mine and Mike's watch I might add, but luckily she didn't get hurt either time), but for the most part she has loved having two more people in the home to love on her, plus she LOVES Beckett, and shows her affection by feeding him food while sitting in her high chair. Naughty naughty. We leave on Thursday, and our time with John and Amy went by WAY too fast. I will be so sad when we move into our new place.

Obiviously, I'm LOVING having Becca only a few miles away, and we try to see her as much as her busy schedule permits, and one of those times was this past Friday morning when my brother came up to see some friends in Rochester, and carved some time out to have lunch with us. After we ate we decided to take some pictures (shock), and this was my favorite picture of the day:

Harmony LOVES when Mike tosses her in the air, and we thought we would try to get a picture where you just saw her absolute GLEE while being thrown in the air. I think we captured it quite perfectly...

Lucca Faye

2008-09-11T11:49:00.009-06:00

I've been meaning to write about the newest addition to the Blumbling Family for a while now, but with the move and all that entails, I've been lacking in time and energy. But we are all settled into the Keller Manor, and while Harmony is playing well with their dog, I thought I would steal a moment to introduce you all to my darling "neice", Lucca Faye, who was born September 2nd (on the exact day she was due, I might add) at 1:35AM. After almost 24 hours of labor (you are my HERO, Ashley), Lucca finally came. She weighted 6 pounds 2 ounces, and she was 21 inches long.

Mike and I went to see the proud parents that evening, and all were in great spirits. Of course I took my camera along!

Here she is! Lucca is so cute, and looks so much like her daddy!

Speaking of daddy, here is Ryan with his little girl. Isn't she so small!?

Ashley, the proud mama!! She looks TOO good for just giving birth!

One beautiful, happy family.

These three people are a huge reason as to why it was so hard for us to leave Pittsburgh. We've had so many amazing memories with Ash and Ryan. They are family in every sense of the word. Ryan and Mike are what Ashley and I call "boyfriends", when they would get in the hot tub together on Sunday nights after a good meal while Ashley and I would watch a movie inside and wait for them to finish their date. Ashley and I had so many great talks about babies, about husbands (that was the main topic, huh, Ash!), and just life. We share love for our daughters, for our joys and struggles, and for Kimora!!! All of us have had many adventures together, including:

Going to Vegas to see Celine Dion (and the boys lost some money along the way)

Going to the Spa and getting pampered by Billy the Butler!

The boys playing golf while us girls get burned by the pool!

and going to Pinehurst to let the boys have their ultimate golf vacation. Too bad Harmony was a BEAST that week (teething), and we hardly had a meal where one of us didn't have to take her out to walk.

We've had so many other memories, like our Sunday dinners, taking long drives to see Christmas lights, Hockey games, weddings, telling each other we were pregnant (they were the first to know about Harmony- Ryan just came out and asked me if I was pregnant!), and now we share all the stories and advice about having daughters! They are both peanuts who look just like their daddies!

We know a couple like them will never be out of our lives, and we look forward to making many more memories together. LOVE YOU SO MUCH, BLUMLINGS!!!! Kiss that baby for me!

New do!

2008-08-28T13:33:00.002-06:00

I've been contemplating for a while now on if I should cut my hair- and I keep convincing myself to keep it long since I can pull it up. But it's up ALL THE TIME, so what is the point of having long hair? So i talked to my "stylist" Ashley, and we decided that since I'm going into another chapter in my life, I should have a new haircut. So today I went into the salon, and chopped up 10 inches of my hair and donated it to Locks Of Love. Here is the finished product! You like it?

A Summer in Pictures

2008-08-20T20:33:00.006-06:00

So I truly do have an excuse for not updating my blog:

My life is out of control!

I feel like I have so much to tell you all, but I just don't know where to begin! Life is MORE than hectic, but it's good. I'll sum up what's been going on as best as I can.

1. Weddings are going great. I've loved every wedding I've shot, and I've just had wonderful couples to photograph. I have three more to go for the summer, and I hope they all are as positive as the ones I've already done.

2. We got to go on vacation in July! We went up to Ottawa for a week to see family, and we had a great time relaxing on the beach, and watching Harmony enjoy the water. We also got to meet our niece, London, for the first time. What a doll! I see Harmony in her (which doesn't surprise me since their dads look so much alike). She is PRECIOUS. It was Harmony's first trip to Canada, and she did great. We did a TON of driving, and she was just so great the whole week.

3. I've been not feeling myself for quite a while, and decided to go to the doctor for some testing. I've been dealing with a lot of fatigue(ugh), muscle soreness(double ugh), and weight gain ( triple ugh!), so I got blood work done to see what the issue is, and comes to find out that I have an under active thyroid. So now I have to go in and get frequent blood testing, plus have a lot of doctor appointments to get the results. I am SO happy to know why I've felt so crappy, but it's a pain to have yet something else to do in my already busy week.

4. Mike and I made a very exciting, yet very hard decision over the last month. At the beginning of September, Mike and I are moving back to Rochester! Mike got a job at the Father's House as the Children's Pastor! We were so taken back when the pastor called and offered us the job, and it was hard to tell our church family here at Crossroads that we were moving on because we are TRULY happy here. But we feel we are stepping out in obedience as we make this transition. SO, now I am in the throws of packing, selling a house, trying to find an apartment, and all while trying to keep up with my work, and most importantly, MY DAUGHTER!!

5. Speaking of Harmony, she is 9 months today! AH!!! She is a ball full of personality, and she is just the greatest joy EVER. Here's the skinny on how she is doing.

- She is now 14 pounds, 10 ounces.
- She has 6 teeth.
- She has learned how to crawl up stairs.
- She says "ma ma" and "ba ba" and a bunch of jibber jabber in between
- She seems to favor her left hand while eating and playing with toys... very interesting.
- She has yet to reach the all out clingy phase, which I'm grateful for since she has been with a lot of babysitters over the summer.
-She still takes 3 naps a day, tho she is starting to be able to go into the evening without her last nap.
- Her bedtime is 8ish, and she wakes up at 7 on the dot.

She is AWESOME, and I just adore this stage of her life.

6. I have gotten VERY LITTLE sleep this past week and a half, and I blame it all on the Olympics. I'm obsessed. A little TOO obsessed. As i type, it's 11:30 PM, and I can't stop watching the finals of Beach Volleyball (GO USA!). It's like a bad accident. I just can't turn it off. I don't know what I will do when they are done. I will go through some serious withdrawal.

I think that about sums it all up (at least that is all that I can think of at this late of hour). I will leave you with some pictures from the summer. There are some of harmony, some of London, and some of our trip to the beach. Hope you like them

Harmony and Beckett

2008-07-09T17:06:00.002-06:00

This past weekend I went up to Rochester for a wedding (pictures to come on my other blog), and since Becca's house is now in full capacity, I stayed at Heather and Tony's on Saturday night, and John and Amy's on Sunday night. I left on Monday, but I was glad to have the morning to spend with the Kellers. Now that Harmony is mobile, their dog, Beckett, isn't really sure what to make of her. When I was at the wedding on Sunday, Beckett got a little nervous, and went under the coffee table to hide from/observe Harmony from a distance. But Harmony just adored him, and didn't let him stay hidden for very long. By Monday, he had warmed up to her a little bit more, so Amy and I took the opportunity to document their play. Here are some pictures:

Harmony is quickly approaching Beckett, and as you can see, he's not really sure what to make of it.

Harmony then tried to crawl up onto Beckett which caused him to retreat. This is the face she gave when he ran away. So excited to have a big dog to play with.

He went to his "safe place" under the coffee table, but Harmony soon caught onto this, and joined him. (Picture taken by Amy)

This is about as far as Harmony would go before she decided that he probably didn't want to play at that time. (Also taken by Amy)

7 Month Update

2008-06-25T08:04:00.005-06:00

Time for another update!

Life is extremely hectic in the Shipman home, so I apologize for my lack of blogging. I feel like I've gotten so behind on letting you all know how Harmony is doing... I am so lucky to see Harmony reach every milestone, and I sometimes forget that you all don't have that same privilege. So I will try my best to fill you in more often.

Off we go.

I officially call Harmony my "Independent Woman". She now wants to do everything on her own, and on her own terms. About a month ago, she stopped wanting to be rocked to sleep at night. It was one of my favorite times of the day because she is not a cuddlier, and this was the one time she snuggled up and I got some good "mommy-daughter time" in. But now she just wants to be put in her crib with her binkie and blanket, and talks herself to sleep. I will admit that it's much easier, but sometimes I miss that cuddle time.

She also is getting a bit tired of her bottle. She will hold it on her own for a little while, but for the most part it takes me about 3 "rounds" to get her to finish it. She gets so bored so quick, that after about 2 ounces, she needs to take a break to play, and then she will get hungry again, and I feed her another couple ounces. Now, the only time that doesn't happen is with her 1st bottle of the day. She downs in in about 5 minutes, and then she is ready for the day.

We've pretty much converted our basement into a play area for Harmony, and she is more than happy to crawl around and play with all her toys for up to an hour. And like almost every baby i know, she also likes to play with mommy's and daddy's things. Our DVD's are right at her reach, so that's what she goes for first. And its so funny because she takes them out one at a time, and actually looks at the box like she is seeing what movie it is. Let me tell you, she has good taste in movies too! The first one she goes for almost every time is "13 Going on 30". She is a Jennifer Garner fan too! That's my girl! She also goes for the Lord of the Rings movies (grandpa would be proud). But after a while, she just goes to town and sweeps them all off the shelf and plays in the piles. So our solution was to empty the bottom part of our bookshelf and put all her books and toys in there, and now she hardly ever touches our DVD's because she is more than happy to take all of those off the shelf.

Like you saw in the video, she is crawling now, and she is getting quick. Before, I could have her in the main floor living room and let her play while I wash dishes or make dinner, but now she is crawling at lightning speed and I can't keep up. So on Monday Mike took the morning to put up her baby gates. So far we've only put gates on the stairs that go down, but as of yesterday we will have to put more up because she is pulling herself up on the furniture, and it's only a matter of time that she will be crawling up the stairs! I was at small group last night, and Mike and his dad (who is here for the week) were watching Harmony, and next thing they know she pokes her head up over the auto-man just a-grinning! They said the did it 3 or 4 times, and would actually scoot around while holding onto the side of the auto-man until eventually she fell back on her bum. The girl just won't stop! She JUST learned to crawl, and she was happy to be mobile for like, A DAY, and now all she wants to do is walk. That's all Mike and I do now- hold her hands and let her walk everywhere. She looks downright SILLY walking around because she is so small, but she just LOVES it. It's insane. She is just growing up WAY too fast- I feel like I can't keep up. I hardly ever put my camera away because I'm constantly having to document things.

Harmony is very proud of herself! I kid you not, i did NOT pose her like this!

As of her eating habits, she is doing well. She LOVES her carrots, bananas, and sweet peas, and tolerates her applesauce, sweet potatoes, and green beans. She doesn't like plums or apricots much at all, so i usually mix those in with some cereal and she is good to go. It's so funny to watch her face as she tries new foods, but I'm very lucky that she pretty much eats anything I put in front of her. Occasionally we give her "people food" as a treat, and the other day we were making a jello dessert with whipped cream, and Mike let her have the spoon. She LOVED it!

Yum Yum!

Since she has been able to crawl, she stalks Kemper around the house, and he has some mixed feelings about this. Some days he LOVES her as a playmate, and other days he just can't be bothered with her. But for the most part he takes is role as "big brother" very seriously and stays close to her.

Here they are together, watching the birds outside. It was sooo cute!

Mike and I count our blessing everyday, knowing that we are so lucky to have a house full of love. Thank you Lord!

Milestone!

2008-06-16T05:40:00.003-06:00

It's official! My baby is crawling, and now I will spend the next week baby proofing the house!

2008-06-04T13:15:00.003-06:00

I am so very behind on my posting it's not even funny. Ugh.

In the beginning of May, Mike and I were BLESSED to take a trip with our close friends, Ryan and Ashley, down to North Carolina. We spent 3 days and 3 nights at Pinehurst, which for those of you who golf, is a pretty amazing place.

It was a rough go of it getting down there because Harmony is not used to being in her car seat for so long, but once we got there, she was great. Actually, while we were there, she cut her first tooth! Very historical moment for us Shipmans.

The boys golfed of course, and us girls hit the pool. I have this little "pool-side pack and play", and Harmony hung out in there, took her naps, and while awake, we lounged in the pool. She was sooo good!

At night we would have a nice meal together. And by together I mean that I would eat with Ryan and Ash while Mike walked around with Harmony, and when I was finished, we would switch. Even Ash and Ry would take their turns walking her around. She just didn't like sitting at the table with us. She would kick up a fuss every time. Little pistol. The only time we all ate together was on the ride home when we stopped at Applebees, and that was because she was sleeping. But other than that, we had a wonderful, relaxing time in North Carolina. It was our official first family vacation, and I loved how much Mike doted on Harmony. He watched her a ton while I got to do fun stuff like get a hot stone massage and a manicure. What a great husband I have. I am the luckiest.

Here are some pics of our time.

This is where we stayed- it was so beautiful inside- so romantic... so..... southern.

The last day we were there, it was freezing, and Harmony was more than happy to be snuggled by daddy.

She LOVED the water (once she got used to it), and Mike loved letting her splash around. Isn't she so cute in her bathing suit!?

Everywhere you went there were these old fashioned bikes everywhere. Of course Mike and Ryan HAD to ride them. They looked mighty funny doing it!

The one thing I loved about Pinehurst was that it was all about relaxation. So on each side of the hotel we stayed in had these HUGE wrap around porches that had rocking chairs everywhere. So obviously we took advantage and spent a lot of our free time out there.

Harmony is her two piece, just lounging with Ashley.

6 months!

2008-05-23T14:04:00.004-06:00

I can't believe it.

I'm still in denial that my baby is .5 years of age. AH!

So many updates to fill you in on!

1. She is ALMOST crawling! She tries so so hard, but just can't seem to get the idea. She doesn't know how to use her arms and legs at the same time, so her only way of moving around is pushing herself backwards with her arms. OR she rolls every where. I really have to keep an eye on her now, because she will get herself wedged under things (her swing, the downstairs coffee tables, things of that nature). Plus she grabs for everything now. I have to keep Kemper's toys away from her because she thinks they are hers, and she wants to put them in her mouth. Sick!

2. She officially has TWO teeth! Her first one came in the day before Mother's Day, and the other came a week later. It's so cute! We never had a problem with letting her bite our fingers, but now it really hurts!

3. She now eats baby cereal and 1st foods (organic). Her favorites are peas, bananas, and pears. She also likes applesauce, but is not a fan of her sweet potatoes. I have yet to give her carrots and green beans- they are next. I'll let you know how she does.

4. She is obsessed with kids! Especially our new youth pastor's little girl, Kaitlyn. We were all at a wedding this past weekend, and Harmony would not leave her alone! Here are some shots of her and Kaitlyn together. She was screaming (in every sense of the word) with delight at the sight of her- she had us all in stitches. Hilarious!

What a beautiful face...

Wanting to be big too!

Kaitlyn was dancing, and Harmony was moving her feet up and down, trying to dance with her.

This was the look she gave when Kaitlyn came in sight. Crazy face!

5. Since she is such a mover, she gets herself in "predicaments" at night in her crib, and she screams out for me to help her. So at one time she was a 10-11 hour sleeper at night now gets me up at least twice to put her back in a comfortable position. Sometimes she just doesn't want to go back to sleep, so she can be up for almost an hour wanting to play (and obviously I won't let her). Gets frustrating sometimes. But for the most part, all i have to do it put her back in the middle of the crib, and she is fast asleep again.

6. She isn't as good of a traveller as she used to be. She is her father's daughter, and gets bored easily, and when I ride alone with her, I can't do much about the whole entertaining her thing, so she screams. Makes for very long trips...

7. She "talks" a ton now. I love listening to her babble on and on. It's so cute. One day she's just going to bust out a word, I just know it!

New blog

2008-05-17T08:00:00.003-06:00

Since I have so many weddings this summer, and this blog has become mostly about Harmony, I made a new blog just for my photography.

Click here to see it. My first wedding was Kurt and Lindsay. What a beautiful couple! WOW!

See more of there pictures in the new blog!

2008-05-07T07:42:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I'm out to prove that harmony in fact does have a little of me in her. I asked my mom to scan and send me a baby pic so you can all see. I know she is about 90% her dad, and I won't argue about that, but doesn't she look a little like me?

Denis would be proud

2008-04-21T08:45:00.002-06:00

In the last month or so, Harmony has increasingly shown interest in the piano. We've gone over to our Pastor's house (where they have a beautiful grand piano), and Harmony won't keep her eyes off of it. She's actually fallen asleep a couple times while Steve (our pastor) played for her. So Mike and I decided we needed one in our house. We looked for used ones, but found nothing we liked. We were at a friend's place one evening, and we mentioned we wanted one, and he let us borrow his for a bit to see if we would actually use it.

Harmony LOVES it! Mike plays for her, and she reaches out to play too. Sometimes she content enough with putting her hands on his, and just watches. It's so cute!

Oh, That Face!

2008-04-10T13:41:00.004-06:00

Harmony is going to be 5 months old in a little over a week, and she is turing into quite the character. I was looking through some recent photos, and some of them just made me laugh so hard, so I thought that I would make you guys smile.

Harmony is unhealthily obsessed with her feet. She will grab them, stare at them, suck on them, and giggle at them all day if she could. She was sucking on them one day, so i thought I would take the sock off- but then her ADD (passed down from her father) kicked in, and she no longer wanted the foot, only the sock. Yuck.

As some of you know, Harmony has a bit of a mullet, and it embarrasses Mike so bad that he usually puts hats on her when we go places. I was getting my hair done earlier this week, and we decided to be rid of the mullet (which was growing into a bit of a rat tail). So here is a pic of her very first hair cut.

We decided to have a little fun and put some hair pieces on her so see what she would look like if she in fact ever decides to grow any. Here is her as a red head!

I'm pretty sure Harmony is in the midst of cutting her first tooth, and she now sucks and bites on her hands constantly (when she isn't occupied with her feet, that is). She loves the two finger look.

She is on her way to sitting on her own! Yay! I love this pic. I'm the one with my hands in the air ready to catch her at any given second. She sat like that for about 5 seconds, and then toppled over (into my arms, of course).

Play date

2008-04-04T21:02:00.005-06:00

A couple weeks ago I stopped by a good friend's house to see how she was doing. She has a little girl named Abigail, who is three months older than Harmony, and we decided to stay a while to let the girls play together. At first they sat on our laps and just stared at each other. So we put them on the couch and out came the camera!

So pretty in pink

Abby got tired of sharing her space, and gave Harmony the stiff arm!

We put them on the floor since the couch was no longer a safe place! Once they warmed up to each other, they giggled and played.

Her very first play date!

YAY!!!

2008-03-29T07:56:00.004-06:00

Ashley and Ryan found out that they are having a GIRL!!!!! Harmony is going to have a best friend!!!! I'm so excited for them, I just want to BURST!!!

Giggle Giggle

2008-03-27T00:42:00.001-06:00

Isn't her giggle the cutest EVER!! I love that she barely stops looking at the camera!

50 Things about me

2008-03-16T10:42:00.004-06:00

I'm attempting to do this....

wish me luck.

1. Our 4 month old little girl was NOT planned.... but she is the most wonderful surprise we've ever gotten.
2. Mike's first words after I told him that I was pregnant was "your joking!". Indeed I was not.
3.I will NEVER again wait to tell people the name of the baby. A bad decision on my part.
4. John and Amy Keller were the first to know the name. She guessed it about a month before I delivered and she in turn told John. Boy did he hold that over Becca's head.
5. I have 4, soon to be 5 "nieces and nephews". My cousins from my mom's side of the family all of a sudden decided to have babies at the same time! Now combined they have Naomi, Kyler, Micah, and Emma, and the fifth is due in the summer. These are all grand kids of my mom's twin, Elsie, so she is WAY ahead in the grandchild department than my mom, who has only one. My cousin made a very good point that the first one to get married is the only one who doesn't have a kid.... get crackin, Becca and Denis!
5a. What, in fact do I call them? My cousin's kids... are they second cousins?
6. I will be an actual aunt in July because my sister in law is pregnant with a little girl! yay Tristan and Jennifer!
7. Mike talks in his sleep and I find it so funny. Sometimes I ignore him, and other times i talk back, and he says the FUNNIEST things. One time we were going have an all-nighter with our youth, and we were going to play laser tag. So in his sleep he was explaining the rules of the game. I woke up and listened to him for a little bit, and I asked him "what if i break the rules?". He replied, "I'll shoot you." Awesome.
8. I've heard some amazing engagement stories, but I think mine takes the cake! I think most of you know it so i won't write it all down. But I will say that Mike is the most ROMANTIC and creative man ALIVE.
9. I LOVE crab legs. When I eat them, nothing else exists but me and the crab. My family knows not to speak to me when I eat them. It's sad, I know.
10. On the night of my wedding, Mike and I decided to take a bubble bath. The tub was really big, so I put in a huge amount of bubbles, and next thing i know I'm standing next to the tub, and the bubbles are over my head. We spent TWO hours trying to get rid of them all. What a way to start my marriage...
11. When I was 15, I tore my ACL while playing soccer, and had to have surgery. It was awful. I got very sick, and actually lost so much weight that it was in the double digits. I went to therapy for MONTHS. And if I remember correctly, Ryan Kirnan went to the same therapist, and we sometimes were there together. Small world.
12. This is a very embarrassing story, but I'm gonna tell it anyway. I was at soccer camp one summer in Erie, PA, and a couple of my friends and I left a little early because i hurt my ankle (boy i got hurt a lot), and needed to get it checked out. We left Erie to go back to Allegany, and 3 hours later, the girl driving (who CLAIMED she knew how to get home) decided to stop at a rest station to ask for directions. I checked the map to see where we were.... The "you are here" arrow pointed to SYRACUSE!!!!! I was livid! What should have been a hour and a half trip ended up being 6 hours. All i have to say is IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!
13. Harmony is 4 months old this week, and she is STILL in newborn clothes...
14. 14 was my soccer number in high school.
15. I lead worship at my church, and I hardly ever get nervous. But when I have to sing a special, I want to throw up. Weird.
16. I hate to work out. I will find any excuse possible to postpone it.
17. The first time Harmony smiled at me, I thought that life couldn't get any better than that moment.
18. I was run over by a car when i was 3. I have burn marks from the tire on my left leg to prove it.
19. My very first memory was when i was in the hospital after that accident. i remember that my dad would bring me McDonald's fries after the doctor would clean my wounds.
20. I mess up words a lot. I've said "ovulating fan" instead of "oscillating fan". oops. I've called one of my old youth group kids' sternum a scrotum. big oops.
21. I am obsessed with re-runs of Will and Grace. I watch it every day from 11:00-12:00, and tape the ones that are on at night.
21a. Jack McFarland ( creator of the McFarland Method) is the greatest character ever created.
22b. JUST JACK!
22. I hate my hair being wet. That's the number one reason why I hate showering. Especially now that my hair is long, and I have NO time to dry my hair. But alas, it's a necessary evil.
23. Most people who see the movie "P.S. I Love You" find it to be so sad... just ask Amy and Becca, I laughed the entire time. They both claim that the baby not only took my brain, but she also took my soul.
24. I know every song, every line, and almost every dance move to the movie, "Newsies".
25. The greatest summer of my life was in 2001, when I counseled at Circle C Ranch with Jaime. With Wacky Wednesdays, Chicken Patti Eating Contests, and sleep walking campers! Ah, Memories...
26. The biggest thing I miss about breast feeding is caffeine! I miss my coffee, my Mountain Dew... I've had to give it up for a year now!
27. If I could change just one thing about myself, I would want curly hair. Like Taylor Swift curls. What i would give for beautiful hair like that!
28. The greatest feeling in the world is when I pull into my parents driveway. It will always be home to me.
29. I own every Nicholas Sparks book. Can't wait until the next one!
30. I get to sing a Sugarland song at church this weekend! How cool is that!?
31. When i cut with scissors, I clench and unclench my jaw along with the scissors. I've done it since I can remember.
32. I cannot in any way shape or form, stop my dog from pooping on the stairs. It's an obsession for him. It's on the same step, in the same spot, every time. AHHHH!
33. My last name gets made fun of a lot, and it drives me crazy.
34. My biggest regret growing up was not taking piano lessons.
35. My high- school English teacher, Miss. Little was my biggest inspiration for wanting to major in English in college.
36. Before graduation, John told me that all English majors say the same thing after they graduate. I then, regretfully, asked what that was. He said it's, "Would you like fries with that?" HA...HA...HA
37. Mike wanted to propose to me on my birthday, but I made it hard on him because i was dead set on spending the day with Becca. So he instead proposed the day before.
38. The date of our engagement is engraved on my ring, and our wedding date is on Mike's.
39. I hate drinking water. I would rather drink something with flavor. And I can't drink really cold water. I would rather drink it semi-cold, or even have it a little warm.
40. I have had acne since i was 13, and I have tried every kind of cream, cleaner, and astringent known to man, and have spent hundreds of dollars trying to find something that gets rid of it, and the ONLY thing that works is Dove soap. Weird.
41. When i was pregnant, I had major morning sickness, and I had a hard time with certain smells. The worst was the "new car smell" in our Mazda. I would open the door, and I gag. I had to hold my breath and febreeze the entire car before I could drive it.
42. The thing I'm looking forward to most this week is finding out if my friends, ashley and ryan, are having a boy or girl. I'm convinced she is having a girl. But then again, I thought for sure that i was having a boy, so maybe I'm not so good at this guessing game.
43. When Mike is gone on a trip, and I have to stay home, I barricade my door at night. I put me, Harmony, and Kemper all in my room, lock it, and then put a piece of furniture in front of the door. That is the only way I feel safe. True story.
44. My all time favorite American Idol contestant is Elliot Yamin. I cried when he got kicked off, and I've never forgiven America for it.
45. My husband knows every word to ice ice baby.... just ask Christy. Sorry about that hon.
46. I am a Mac lover. I will never go back to a PC ever again.
47. My favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice. The new one. I could watch the movie over and over, and never get sick of it.
48. Mike and I recently purchased Rock Band, and i thought i was amazing at the guitar until i played against Jaime. Holy crap, I really suck.
49. Harmony's laugh is music to my ears.
50. I love my life. Truly. Completely.

Success!

2008-03-13T09:57:00.001-06:00

On command and everything!

All About Me

2008-03-11T14:31:00.004-06:00

Since Harmony has been born, pretty much all of my posts have been about her- pictures, updates, even videos... but what about the mom behind the baby? I know I'm not as interesting, nor as adorable, but you're going to have to deal with a "Rachel Update". How have I been since I've become a mom? Why I'm so glad you asked...

Top 10 list of All Things Rachel

10. Sleep. I have fond memories of it. I'm beginning to get more and more as the weeks go by, but it's purely for necessity, and not for pleasure. I used to love going to bed on Friday nights, knowing that I could sleep in until the afternoon hours and not care one bit. Gone are those days. I now sleep to store up energy for the day, knowing I'll need every minute I can get. I also find that the sleep I do get isn't as sound. I hear Harmony cry in my head, which wakes me up and puts be in alert mode, and when i finally realize that she in fact is still sound asleep, it takes me a half an hour to fall back asleep. It's so completely annoying. Gr.. I really hope this ends soon.

9. Nothing seems to get done around the house. I do 3 loads laundry, only to put those three loads away, and magically, the baskets are filled up again that same day! I honestly don't know how it happens. And I swear to you, a great majority of them are Mike's. He must change his outfit 3 times a day to purely torture me. How can a man go through so much laundry?

8. I am now constantly aware of what I eat. In the first months of Harmony's life, it seemed like EVERYTHING I ate bothered her. She was (and still is) the never ending gas machine. I could not for the life of me figure out what it was that was making her tummy hurt so bad. I tried taking chocolate out of my diet- that didn't work. I tried taking out diary products, and even put her on soy formula for the times she was bottle fed. I took out peanut products, and still no change. I was literally eating chicken and granola. Just in the past month have I been able to introduce all of those things back into my diet and not have it bother her. Don't get me wrong, she still farts, but now she thinks it's funny.... just like her dad.

7. I have a new- found respect for my mom and my mother-in-law since I too have become a mom. I must have called my mom every day with a different question in those first few weeks. I was also calling my mom in law a ton too because she used to be a lactation consultant, and I had a hard time catching on to the whole breast feeding thing. They were both a huge help. My mom got to stay with me for two weeks after Harmony was born, and I cried every day in anticipation of her leaving me. It was awful. I really didn't know how I was going to do it without her. I was SO lucky that on the day she was leaving, I finally was feeling better, and I felt confident enough to take care of Harmony without her. I STILL think that there should be such a thing as maternity leave for grandmas. I totally would have loved for her to stay with me for 6 weeks. I must have told her every day how much I respected her for taking care of TWINS, plus a 2 year old at the same time. What a job! And I also respect my mommy in law, Susan for taking care of Mike.... I actually think my mom had the easier job..... :-)

6. I take every task one day at a time. My good friend, Ashley, recently wrote a blog that talked about how organized she was, and she as motivated me to try to become just that. Oh, and by the way, Ash, I remember like it was yesterday the day Ryan came up to me in the computer lab, wrote your name on my notebook, and said "what do you think of her?". From the look on his face when he talked about you- just even in the way he said your name, I knew that you guys would be married one day.

I digress...

I now make lists everyday of what i want to get done. I give myself three things every day to do. Whether it be laundry, or changing the sheets on my bed, or cleaning out the fridge, I stick to only those tasks so i don't feel overwhelmed about doing EVERYTHING in one day. So far i find it very manageable, and I'm not constantly stressed about housework.

5. I am on a mission to lose all of my baby weight and more, so I am now officially back on weight watchers. I've been doing pretty well (and Mike is actually doing it with me), and I only have 4 more pounds to go until I'm back to my pre-baby weight! But my main goal is to be back at my wedding day weight, so I still have a ways to go....

4. I will admit that I am mourning the "old me" a little bit... i miss going on dates with Mike, or staying up late with friends, or being able to walk aimlessly through target without worrying about Harmony pitching a fit in the middle of the store. And I miss being able to read.... I get hardly any time to myself, and it's been hard. Don't get me wrong, I love who I am becoming, and i cherish every second I have with Harmony, but I've had to give up a part of me, and that's not always easy.

3. I never thought that I would get so excited about little things, like being able to actually blow dry my hair instead of pulling it back wet because Harmony is crying, or sitting and writing this blog without getting up 5 times to put her binkie (or what Mike likes to call "the mute button") back in her mouth.

2. It's amazing what I have learned to do with one hand- such as put my make-up on, or type, or make a sandwich. I'm actually quite talented.

and the number one thing that I have learned or am in the process of learning....

1. PATIENCE! I have realized after many hard nights with Harmony, or arguments with Mike, or crying fits that I may have, that if I just take a deep breath, calm myself, and look at the big picture, life seems to be a little smoother, and Harmony is much happier. If there is any advise that I can give to new, or soon to be new moms is that you can't sweat the small stuff. I remember being so upset one day as I was grocery shopping, and Harmony decided that it would be a good time to just wail her lungs out, and I thought that my life has ended. i was soo upset, and vowed to never take her shopping again- that i would put her to bed at night, and shop at midnight if i had to. But once I calmed myself (and her) down, I realized that it wasn't a huge deal, and since then, I take her with me wherever I go, and 90% of the time, she is an angel. Why get so upset when all she was trying to do is communicate with me.... I just take everything day by day, and I remember to take in every moment, because she will never be this small again.

And before I go, I totally forgot to post a picture of her room when it was all furnished. I meant to do it months ago, but it just kept slipping my mind. I love the way it turned out, and I'm pretty sure it's my favorite room in the whole house!

harmony and daddy

2008-03-01T08:58:00.001-07:00

a couple more updates

2008-02-28T10:06:00.005-07:00

I was talking with my Amy's (Amy Keller and Aimee Dehaven) yesterday, and I realized that I need to keep up with my Harmony posts a little more often. I sometimes forget that not everyone gets to see her grow and learn new things as much as me, and that must be hard for some of you. So I am promising you all that I will write much more often to let you know what is going on with us.

Harmony is officially a rolling-over fanatic! Belly time is impossible now because she will roll back onto her back in about 2 seconds! Yesterday i was giving her some belly time, and she actually pushed up her butt and was on all fours! I'm not ready for her to crawl yet! AH! Thankfully it lasted only a second, and she was back onto her belly, just where I want her!

She is beginning to be able to grab and hold onto things. Especially my hair! Now i know why so many moms chop it all off! But I bought a little floor jungle gym for her to entertain herself in, and she loves grabbing and tugging on the little animals. She giggles and squirms the whole time she is under it. It's nice for me too because I can actually get stuff done while she is awake now, which is very very nice.

Harmony has been a little out of sorts this past week, and i've had a difficult time trying to figure out what it is. So i got online and researched her symptoms, and I am almost positive that she is teething! Already!? Now I'm not positive, and I will be asking the doctor about it on Monday when we go for her weight check. Harmony is a little on the small side (the 10-15th percentile) so I have to go in and make sure she is consistently gaining. I'm going to guess that she is probably 11 pounds, which means she has gained 4 pounds in three months- sounds normal, right? I'll keep you posted.

I don't remember if I've ever mentioned this on my blog, but Harmony's all time favorite thing to do is get naked! When I put her on her changing table, she just giggles and smiles the whole time! So this morning I thought i would let her spend some time in her birthday suit. And of course, I had to document it! What kind of mom would I be if I didn't get some embarrassing naked pics of her to show her future husband!? Enjoy!

holds her head of very high now...

she looks a little cross-eyed, but she's still cute!

3 month update

2008-02-25T13:24:00.003-07:00

Time for an update!

Harmony is officially 3 months (14 weeks) old! Holy Cow! In the past month she has had some milestones.

1. She rolled over! she was having some belly time with mike, and she rolled from her belly to her back! I missed it tho!!! I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed when Mike yelled from the bedroom that she rolled over. I came running in just in time to see her go from her back to her belly! I couldn't believe it. She hasn't done it since, but she did do it!!!

2. My mother taught her how to blow bubbles! Thanks ma! Now she is the drool queen because all she does is spit bubbles out! She thinks she is soo funny when she does it too.

3. She is kinda sorta starting to mimic. As I said, my mom taught her how to blow bubbles because harmony would stare intently at her and then a couple seconds later Harmony would do it. And if you make certain noises, she seems to imitate them. Not sure if she is really mimicking or if I'm just making it up....

4. She is very active. She loves to stand on my lap and exercise her legs. She giggles all the time now, and is very alert. We are watching her personality grow in front of our very eyes, and it's just crazy. I feel like I say it all the time, but I can't believe how fast she is growing....

The little munch-kin is getting restless, so i must sign off. But I leave you with a very special picture. Her aunt Becca has not seen Harmony in many many weeks, and I can tell that it's very hard on her. So for a special treat, I decided to post this pic just for her. I hope you like it Bec.

Harmony's First Valentine...

2008-02-15T08:40:00.003-07:00

This picture is what Mike was greeted with when he got home from work yesterday. I printed it off, and taped it to our front door so it would be the first thing he saw when he got out of his car. He had called me earlier and asked Harmony and I to be his valentine (how sweet is that!), so I dressed Harmony up in her little outfit covered in hearts, and took some cute pictures of her for her very first Valentine.

I wanted to do something nice for Mike because the poor guy is so sick (has a sinus infection, bronchitis, and asthma) and so stressed at work, so I decided NOT to go out since A) we have harmony, and B) I did not want to deal with the crowds, so i prepared his favorite meal (beef and broccoli stir-fry), his favorite dessert (chocolate covered strawberries), and his got favorite wine. How good of a wife am I? Thank you, thank you.

The only thing that spoiled the evening was having worship rehearsal, which meant that we had to take Harmony her babysitter, Amara... but she said she was very well behaved (which that isn't always the case in the evenings), and that made me feel much better. We got home at around 10:00, and we snuggled in bed as a family (along with Kemper) and it was very special.

She is just turning into this beautiful, sweet spirited, happy little girl whom we fall in love with more and more every day. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

Family Fun Time

2008-01-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Mike's day off is on Friday's, so we wanted to spend some time outside of the house with Harmony. We decided to go to Phipp's Conservatory in the city, which is this beautiful greenhouse that has gorgeous blown glass all throughout the building. Mike and I went a lot while I was pregnant, and we loved being able to share it with Harmony.

I brought my camera along so you all could get a glimpse of the wonderful day we had.

2 Months!

2008-01-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

I know I'm a couple days late with this blog, since her 2 month birthday was actually on Sunday, but Harmony has kept her mommy very busy these last few days! But my little monkey is fast asleep, so I'm taking advantage of my quiet time, and updating you all on how the Shipman family is doing.

Harmony is growing up in so many ways. She is becoming this incredible personality, and that doesn't shock me at all since she has such a crazy daddy. She will be sitting with you acting so content, and next thing you know she just lets out this high pitch scream, and then goes back to smiling. It's like she just wants to remind you that she is there. It's hilarious!

Mike just can't get enough of her, so there are times in the week where he will work from home so he can sneak in some daddy/daughter time. Here is a picture that i grabbed earlier this week during one of those times.

He is just so in love.... can you blame him!

Harmony is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings, and she doesn't want to miss a thing. when she is up (which is quite a bit since she decided that she doesn't like to take very long naps anymore) she is looking everywhere. She loves light, windows, and TV's. She will watch Mike or I walk around the room, or study Kemper as he runs all around the place. It's amazing to watch. She has always been a very observant child, but I amazed at how much more she takes in each day.

She has so many expressions now! I was able to capture a few of them for you to see.

This is her "coy" look. This is the face we get when she is about to do something- like fart, or mess her pants. No one ever told me that babies pass gas as much as Harmony does (and it really stinks!! I've actually gagged a few times), so when i see this face I prepare myself for the worst!

This is the look we get the most. A friend of ours calls it her "questioning eyes". She looks exactly like Mike when she makes this face, doesn't she?? We get this look when we are doing something she doesn't like, such as giving her a bath, or playing with her when she is tired, putting her in her car seat, or taking her picture when she doesn't want it to be taken. She does it so often that she already has wrinkles on her forehead!

This is my favorite face of all! Who wouldn't fall in love with her when she looks at you and smiles like that. Mike and i race for her in the morning because we want to be the one she smiles at when we look over the crib. It's the most incredible feeling to see your daughter smile at you- makes my day every single time.

Daddy's Little Girl

2008-01-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Harmony is smiling and giggling so much now, and most of them are aimed at her daddy. It's very heartwarming to watch her face light up when Mike comes home at night, or when I bring her into bed in the morning. It is soo adorable!!! I never thought I would see so much emotion come from Harmony this early, but right around Christmastime she began to smile on purpose, and not just from gas.

We've been here, there and everywhere lately, plus having company at our home, and today was the first day where life became normal again. I actually got chores done, and Harmony is slowly getting back into her routine. The madness of the holiday was both wonderful and exhausting. So crazy that the three of us actually took an "emergency vacation" (as mike and I called it), for a week to just relax. We told hardly anyone when and where we were going because we didn't want it to be a hectic trip. We went up to Rochester to stay with Becca and Denis, and it was so nice to sleep in, to veg out in front of the TV, to have some other hands take care of Harmony for a while, to play games, and to worship at The Father's House. So thank you Becca and Denis for taking us in on such short notice! And I apologize to everyone we didn't see or tell we were going up, but I promise that next time we will see all of you!

One Month Old!

2007-12-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is growing up, and I don't know how I feel about it! I want her to stay my tiny peanut forever! I look back at the pictures of the day we brought her home, and she looks so different now. She is getting bigger, chubbier, and looking more and more like her father every minute.

We are loving this holiday season with her. It's been a little hectic trying to get ready for Christmas with her here, but in the same sense, I love watching her stare at the lights on the christmas tree, and to watch christmas movies as she falls asleep in my arms. There is nothing better.

She and I are starting to get on a routine together. It's nice to know how my day is going to go with her- although she does like to throw me some curve balls every once and a while. The girl is a monster when it comes to eating! I'm surprised that she isn't chubbier than she is!

Can't wait to spend the holidays with my family! Miss everyone so much!

Three Weeks!

2007-12-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my little girl is 3 weeks old!!! She gets bigger and bigger everyday!

I was laying in my bed this morning with Harmony, and I realized that I never officially told the story as to why we chose the name Harmony. So here's the scoop:

Back when Mike and I were dating, Mike wrote me a poem for Valentine's Day called "The Sound I Have Waited For", and the poem said that I was "The harmony to his melody" and how together we made a beautiful song. Later he took that poem and wrote me a song for the night he proposed. The bridge to that song says this:

And as we get older
And our steps are slower
Harmony will grow stronger
We will sing the same tune

Harmony is another part in our love song- and she makes it so much richer and beautiful than I ever imagined. We love her more and more every day, and are truly is awe of the life we made!

So there you have it- the reason she is named Harmony. Her middle name is Joy, after Mike's sister, Alyson Joy.

So-
This week Harmony had her first official bath! Her belly button is finally healed, and we no longer had to give her sponge baths. I was a little nervous about doing it on my own, and since I didn't have my mom in close proximity, I called on her pseudo grandma, Linda Cordle, who is my pastor's wife. She came over, showed me the ropes, and Harmony did awesome. She really didn't know what to think of it, but she didn't cry at all. She scowled, as you can see in the pictures, but no tears were shed.

Doesn't she look so big!

Not really sure what she thinks about this whole bath thing...

She looks like mike when she scowls like that!

All clean and warm again. Big girl!

Two weeks old

2007-12-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that two weeks ago Harmony was born. On one hand I feel like it was just yesterday that I went into labor, but on the other hand I feel like she has been with me forever.

So how are things going with the Shipmans after two weeks? Well...

1. My mom went back home to Allegany on Sunday, which was really hard for me since i relied on her for advice and for help with taking care of Harmony since Mike had to go back to work. But I am lucky that I'm feeling a lot better, and that i can do pretty much everything for her now. It's still hard to go up and down the stairs a lot, so Mike is doing a lot of the chores around the house (and he just LOVES it....right honey?)

2. Harmony is finally on somewhat of a predictable schedule now. She wakes at 7 or 7:30, and eats every 2 1/2, 3 hours until bedtime. At night she only wakes up once for a middle of the night feeding, which is so nice! I actually don't mind getting up and snuggling with her for a half an hour or so. After she's done eating she goes right back to sleep.

3. Evenings are her fussy times. From about 7-10PM she doesn't like to sleep, and she gets SOOO overtired that she works herself up so bad. I hate it! I have to let her cry it out, and it's torture. Pure torture to listen to my baby girl wail. But she can't rely on me to rock her to sleep all the time. I hope this little ritual goes away soon!

4. When she first was born i thought she looked just like Mike. And she still does. but I'm beginning to see a little of me in her eyes, and unfortunately her nose! We swear it gets bigger every day! Poor girl!

5. She is so curious. She turns her head toward any noise (especially daddy's voice), and is always watching. She LOVES to watch kemper when he is sniffing around her. She'll be torturing him in no time. He's starting to get a little jealous of her now that it's just me and Harmony during the day. He's been whining a lot, and has been very needy- wanting to be near me all the time. I feel terrible when I'm feeding her and he is at my feet whimpering, wanting to be cuddled too. But overall he has been WONDERFUL around her. He loves to lay on the end of the bed and watch her sleep. It's so cute.

I really really love being a mom. She is such a good girl, so she makes it easy! I love our quiet time during the day when it's just her and I. We snuggle, we nap together, I sing to her and talk to her, and she just watches me. It's so wonderful to see this little life grow before your very eyes. On one hand i can't wait to have her walking and talking, and making us laugh, but on the other hand i never want her to get any bigger than she is now. She's my little cuddle bug, and I want to remember these first days forever. I can't wait for all of you to meet her!

The road to recovery

2007-11-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Recovering from a C-Section is no fun! It's been 10 days since Harmony was born, and I still am having trouble even getting out of bed, let alone take care of a newborn. I've been so lucky to have a husband who loves to serve me, and a mom who is able to give me so much advice about being a new mom. But it's been really frustrating to not even be able to pick her up from her bassinet, or get up at night to change her diaper. I'm trying hard to get up and move around everyday, but my incision hurts so bad. I actually went to the doctors today because I was afraid i had an infection. But they checked me out and said it all looks great. They said that i just have to take it slow, and that i won't feel like myself for about 6 weeks. That seems like forever!!!!!! Please pray for a fast recovery so i can start feeling like a mom!

Mom and I have been trying to get as many pictures of Harmony as possible while she is here, and i thought i'd share some with you.

She's Finally Here!!!

2007-11-25T08:58:00.001-07:00

Our precious little girl has finally arrived! We couldn't be more BLESSED to have Harmony Joy in our lives. I know all mom's say this about their children, but she truly is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I could stare at her all day long.

It all started at exactly midnight on November 20th. Mike and I had stayed up late to watch a movie together, and we went to bed at about 11:30ish. I'm always a little crampy at night, but when that first pain came, I thought "hmmm... that pain was a little different than what I usually feel." I don't know why i looked at the clock, but I did. Ten minutes later I felt it again. This went on for about 40 minutes, with every contraction coming 10 minutes apart. At around 1:00, the pain was a little more intense- to the point where i jolted out of bed because the pain was so surprising. They only lasted about 20 seconds, and this is when I woke Mike up to let him know that I was pretty sure I was in labor. I've had false alarms before, so he didn't jump out of bed or anything, but he defiantly became alert. During the breaks in contractions we started getting things ready- finishing packing for the hospital, printing of directions for my mom, and just cleaning up. At around 2:00 the contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart, lasting 45 seconds to a minute. The hospital doesn't want you to come in until the contractions are 4-5 minutes apart for an hour. I felt like it would take FOREVER to get to that point. Mike got a stop watch out at this time, and we could do nothing but wait. At 3:30 the contractions were so intense that i began throwing up after them. Now, I made the mistake of not going to any pregnancy classes, so i had no idea how to properly breath through a contraction. I was literally YELLING and squirming all over our bed until the contraction finished. NOT a good idea. My body was so tense, and I'm pretty sure that is why the throwing up began. I called my doctor right away, and she said to come in. At 4:00 we arrived at the hospital, and that is when I started calling family, and I sent out texts to friends.

They hooked me up to all these monitors that showed my heart rate, her heart rate, and the contractions. My doctor FINALLY got there at 6:00, and she told me I was only one centimeter dilated. Because of the tremendous discomfort I was feeling, they gave me some medicine to take the edge off the contractions, and allowed me to rest for an hour or two. After it wore off, they checked me again, and i hadn't dilated at all. They told me that I wasn't in active labor, and my only two options were to either go home or have a C-section. I didn't want to do either, and I got really emotional about it. I begged for them to give me another round of drugs, and then see if anything progresses. They agreed, and after another 2 hours they checked me again. I had finally dilated another centimeter. At this time they ordered an epidural, which is hands down the most WONDERFUL invention ever. A. it didn't hurt at all, and B. It started to work so quickly that by the time they laid me back down I wasn't feeling anymore contractions. My mom and Allison made it to the hospital at around 9 or 10, and were a great help during my contractions. Mike nor mom and allison were allowed in the room with me during the epidural, so when they were allowed back in, my nurse sent them right back out so i could rest for a couple hours. I think about an hour went by when my doctor came in and informed me that Harmony's heart rate had dipped twice, and she was a little concerned about it. She checked my cervix, and as she did I began bleeding a lot. This put everyone on high alert, and they began giving me oxygen and checkin the monitors very closely. They called Mike and told him to get back to the delivery room ASAP. About 5 minutes later her heart rate dipped again, and that is when they started to prep me for an emergency C-section. Mike walked into the room only to be thrown scrubs and to get changed as soon as possible, and then they wheeled me into the OR. Fifteen minutes later, at 12:57PM on November 20th, Harmony Joy Shipman came into this world weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce, and was 21 inches long. They had me strapped to the bed so they handed her to Mike. The first thing we noticed was her RED hair! We couldn't believe it! She looked so perfect lying in her daddy's arms. They soon took Mike and Harmony to the nursery while they sewed me back up.

Once I was out of recovery, I was taken to my room where I could finally hold my little girl. I couldn't believe how alert she was. She had her eyes wide open looking around. I love this picture, where she is looking right at the camera.

The rest of my day consisted of resting and learning how to feed Harmony. Becca didn't make it to Pittsburgh in time to see her that day, but you can bet she was there the moment visiting hours started the next day. Her aunts and Grammie gave her lots of attention while I rested. Mike and I had to watch videos about car seat safety, and about bringing a baby home. We had paper work to fill out, and I had to make sure I got up and walked around so I could begin healing from the surgery. It's hard work! I didn't think it would be as difficult as it is. I'm feeling pretty helpless as I am confined to my upstairs. I have yet to change a diaper because I'm not even allowed to pick her up. I try to walk around as much as I can, and sometimes it's easier, and sometimes I feel like I'm not progressing at all. I get my stitches out on Monday, and I CANNOT wait. My mom has had two C- Sections, and she says that you feel so much better when they come out. Let's hope!!!

Any hoo- I was released from the hospital on Thanksgiving morning, and it was the most exciting feeling to take her home!! They warned us that the first night is the hardest, and to be patient with her. Harmony was a little fussy at around 10, but once she was asleep, she slept until her next feeding, and then went right back to sleep until I needed to feed her again. We couldn't believe it. But even tho she slept a lot, i got very little sleep because I was in pain, PLUS every noise she made woke me up. I must have made Mike get up a dozen times to check on her. And speaking of Mike, he as been the most INCREDIBLE husband and father. I love my husband very much, and watching him with Harmony has made me fall deeper and deeper in love with him. He is so good with her, and he has served me so well since I can't do anything on my own. Yesterday I just held him and cried because I seriously don't know what I would do without him. I am sooo lucky.

We all are getting into a routine here at the Shipman home. My mom is here with us for another week, and I am SO thankful for that. She is doing a wonderful job doing all the things I can't- laundry, cooking, changing Harmony, and watching her while I rest. She has been a great encouragement to me during my breast feeding too, because it's been pretty painful. But I'm getting there...

Mike has made a website for Harmony, and I would love for all of you to see it. There are a bunch of pictures on it, and Mike has been faithfully journaling on her progression. The link is: http://www.totsites.com/tot/babyshipman

Be sure to sign the guestbook!

I leave you with a picture of our happy family!

Last Bump Update....hopefully.

2007-11-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'm officially 39 weeks today!! Becca MADE me get a bump pic for you to see. I thought it woud be fun to remember what my very first bump pic looked like.

Oh to be skinny again....

On with the update....

1. As of the last doctor appointment, baby and I are doing very well. We're both healthy and "on track" as they love to tell me. What that means, I have no idea. They checked my cervix, and I'm not dilated, but it is thinning, which is what happens before you start to dilate. I go back on Friday to see if there has been any progression.
2. I've gained a total of 33 pounds. Not bad, not bad. Hoping to lose it quick! I'm sooooo tired of my maternity clothes. Even those are not fitting well since my belly is so big. I have two outfits that fit. Everything else I wear is Mike's.
3. Her room is officially done! My mom, dad, and my sis, Allison, came down a couple of weeks ago and we spent all day putting it together. Allison got all of her 0-3 month clothes washed and put away while mom and I figured out how to organize all of her things in the most effecient way. I seriously have SO MUCH STUFF! I have more clothes, more bibs, more blankets, and diapers that i have room for! How blessed am I!?! Becca BETTER have a girl first, that's all I have to say! I promise I'll post a finised pic soon.
4. Sleep has become a thing of the past for the Shipman home. We've tried everything. Sleeping separate, together, in the same room on different beds. We put pillows everywhere, and nothing really seems to help, I've tried sleeping sitting up, and it doesn't really work. I've actually become accustomed to it. Good thing, cuz when she comes I'm never going to sleep anyway! :-)
5. I'm officially done with work! Yay! It feels so nice to be at home- tho i feel like I'm as busy as ever with finishing editing all my weddings, tying up loose ends so we have everything ready when she comes. I'm also trying to help Mike as much as I can with work because he's got SO much on his plate for Christmas. I'm having this baby at a very inconvient time for our ministry! What can you do tho!
6. Everyone seems so be on high allert when I call. They automatically assume that I am in labor and calling them to give them the news. It's so funny to me. I called Becca today to get her address and she was freaking out that i had called her 2 times in 5 minutes. I even called Denis and (shock), he answered! I think he thought the same thing. I'm just letting you all know that i have a mass text message going out to most, if not all who read this to let you know when I'm in labor. So until you get that text, assume all is normal. This doesn't apply to you tho, mom. You will be getting a phone call. So keep in on you at ALL times!
7. I've been lucky to not have swollen ankles, but i have it in my hands. When I wake up in the morning i can barely bend my fingers. It takes about an hour for the pain to go away. If i go to hard or do too much during the day, I feel it in the evening. I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring for a couple months now. If anyone has any suggestions on how to eleviate the swolleness, I'm all ears.
8. I think Kemper has an idea of what's going on. He is at my side almost all the time, and he loves to be near my belly. It's so cute. He has been such a good puppy for us. We couldn't have asked for a better pet. Amy and John, you are totally doing the right thing by getting Beckett. I remember many people saying that getting a dog was a stupid decision, but I've NEVER regretted it since the day we got him!
9. The female body does CRAZY things while pregnant! Men, you may want to skip this point in my blog.
One day I can't stop going to the bathroom, adn the next day I'm so constipated I want to scream! I get terrible headaches when i wake up. I get heartburn like MAD in the evenings!! Isn't there an old wives tale that says a lot of heartburn means the baby will have a lot of hair? Well if that's true, then I expect a shoulder length bob on this girl's head! Braxton Hicks are in full force, and I am having a hard time knowing what is false labor and what is real. They say you'll just know, but I worry.
10. Lastly, I am so excited for this little girl to be in my arms, you don't even understand. Seriously, i think I'll be singing praises when those contractions start. When I do truly go into labor, I would love for all of you to be praying. Pray for a smooth delivery, pray for my family's travel on the way down, pray that Mike doesn't faint! And most of all, pray that she will be a strong, healthy, beautiful baby who is shaped like a bullet so she just slips out! HA! Kidding kidding..... kind of.

MY Ashley and Ryan

2007-11-03T13:39:00.001-06:00

I have to clarify what Ashley and Ryan I'm talking about since I know two couples by those names. I call them MY Ashley and Ryan because the Ashley and Ryan from Rochester have been claimed by Amy and John; plus we always need to clarify what Ashely and Ryan we are talking about. BUT the funny thing about all 4 couples is that we all got married on Columbus Day weekend. Mike and I were first on October 11th, 2003, AMY'S Ashley and Ryan got married October 9th, 2004, Amy and John followed on October 8th, 2006, and MY Ashley and Ryan got married on October 6th, 2007. What a popular weekend... do Mike and I know how to start a trend or what!?

I was HONORED to be a part of their big day, and I wanted to share some pictures with you all.

Pregnancy Update

2007-10-18T08:53:00.000-06:00

Time for a baby bump update! Notice the lack of a picture- that was done on purpose. I am huge, that's all I'll say. And I haven't gotten up enough courage to see what I look like in a picture. Maybe at a later date I will expose the belly pics....but not today.

The biggest piece of new I have is not GOOD news per say, but it's news none-the-less. My dotcors have moved my date BACK to November 21st instead of November 10th. They said that she was measuring small for the original date, so they now expect me to have a Thanksgiving baby. I'll admit that I wasn't happy at this news. I don't want to be pregnant LONGER. I want her here now, thanks! But she will come when she wants to come, and many of my friends are proving that fact since everyone i know is having their baby before me!!!!! But I refuse to compain.....

Ok, so here are a few tid bits about my third trimester.

1. I have to apoligize to many people for my lack of correspondence latley. This trimester has officially made pregnancy no fun. I went back to full time at work, and by the time I get home I am in so much pain that I usually take my dinner to my bedroom, eat, and go to "sleep". Sleep is a relative term these days since I get little to none of it. I'm so uncomfortable ALL the time. I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, and he was concerned about how much pain i was in, and suggested to cut back on my hours at work- that I was giving no time for my body to recoop from the strain of work. And for those of you who may not know what I do, I work with 12-24 month old's for about 9 hours a day- that means picking them up all the time to either change them, soothe them, or whatever the case may be. I'm also picking up after them all day, which means I'm constantly bending over. It's painful. But work is not paying for my maternity leave, so i have to work as long as I can so I have enough money to pay bills. So for all of you who have called to check up on me and I haven't called you back, I sincerely apoligize. Just bare with me these next few weeks....

2. I finally got the baby furniture! Her room is FAR from being done, and the nesting mommy in me is going bonkers because of it. So on my day off this week I went to babies r us, and ordered a crib, a changing table, and a armore (i think that is how you spell it) for her. It's a beautiful dark cherry wood that goes so well with the quilt my mom made her. I'm so excited to put it together and have the room all set for her arrival.

3. I've offically gained 30 pounds now. Can't complain about that at all. If I go full term then I'm guessing it will be more toward 35 when all is said and done. As much as you know that it's all a part of pregnancy, it's hard to see that number rise higher and higher when you step on the scale week after week.

4. Ah, the dreaded words......Stretch marks. They have appeared on my once spotless belly, and I am trying my hardest to make them go away. They are are on the very underside of my belly, so i didn't notice them until recently. They are small, but still there. Grrr... Cocoa Butter is my best friend now, and I'm hoping it will do the trick. Everyone keep their fingers crossed.

5. My waddle is offically OUT OF CONTROL. I actually have people come up to me in the grocrey store telling me that I am in labor because my walk is so ridiculous. And like I said, I am in pain a lot, so I'm sure the looks on my face don't help. There are women who try to put me the carts that you drive around because they don't think it's safe for me to be walking on my own. It's annoying and funny at the same time.

6. My poor poor husband. I really don't want him to have to move into the guest bedroom at night, but I keep him up all night with my tossing, turning, moaning, groaning, peeing, and cramping episodes that he is a walking zombie during the day. I've just been really selfish with having him in the room with me in case anything goes wrong. So now we've put an air mattress on the floor so he's still only a few feet away instead of a room away. He's still not sleeping to well because I still make so much noise. I'm gonna have to suck it up sooner or later and let him reside in the guest room. Grr.

7. I'm tired of going to the doctors. I am now going for weekly check-ups, but on top of that we have tours of the hospital, epidural consultations, and all that jazz, so i feel like we have baby appointments every day. And to make it all even more fun, the check ups have become more.... intimate... so I don't look forward to them at all. Before all they did was check my weight and blood pressure, make me pee in a cup, and check her heartbeat. I still have to do all that, but.... i'll save the details since i know people of the male gender read this. to sum it up, it's no fun.

that's about all the details I can think of right now. If God shines his mercy on me and lets me have this baby soon, this very well may be my last update. I just cannot wait for her to be here, and for her to meet all of u!

Oh, and the baby name thing....

here are my hints:
1. Three syllables
2. Not biblical
3. A word name (like grace)
4.Not a uni-sex name

So far I've had one freind guess it, but she doesn't know she is right. Leave your guesses, and we'll see if I reveal it...

A Summer of Pictures

2007-10-11T18:46:00.000-06:00

So I've been going through a lot of my pictures from this past year, trying to choose some of my favorites for my new website that will be going up in the next month or so, and thought it would be fun to show you some of them. Some pictures I've already posted, and some I haven't. So I hope you enjoy all of them. The pictures are of:

1. Bethany and Aarom
2. Rob and Jesse
3. Matt and Meg
4. Matt and Beth
5. Rachel's senior pics
6. Nate and Kaila

Enjoy!

Her room!!!

2007-09-25T16:09:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, Mike left me for two weeks to go over to England with his father and brother while I was left at home to be miserable. So i gave myself a project. I decided to surprise Mike by painting the baby room so he wouldn't have to worry about it. And just to clarify, I personally did not paint it, my small group from church did it.

I wanted to paint it in purple, Mike wanted it pink, so i compromised and painted it "lilac rose". then I got all creative and put diamonds on the wall in a deeper purple. It was A LOT of work, but I was so pleased with how it came out! Mike was SOOOO surprised when he came home and saw it. We both love going into the room to just sit in it and imagine what it's going to be like to have our daugher in there! We have the letters of her name all set to go up on the wall, but obiviously I didn't take a picture of it! He he.... I'm so mean.

Matt and Beth :-)

2007-09-10T19:29:00.000-06:00

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of being at Beth and Matt's wedding. I've known Beth for almost 6 years now, and it was SOO good to see her again!

It was a beautiful day, and I had so much fun with the wedding party (thank you Ashley and Carrie for being so entertaining!).

I love you Beth! Hope you enjoy the pics!

Baby Bump Update

2007-08-27T19:58:00.000-06:00

Me at 28 weeks

So I'm offically in my 3rd trimester, and I thought I would update you all on how my pregnancy is going!

1. I LOVE having her with me all the time. She makes herself known quite often- she's a mover for sure (especially at 2 in the morning!). When we go to bed at night mike and I just watch my belly ripple... kinda freaks Mike out. hehe
2. I'm feeling good. Since my last appointment ( 3 weeks ago), I've gained about 12 pounds my entire pregnancy, and if I stay on track they expect me to gain about 23-25 pounds total. I'm ok with that!
3. I CRAVE friut and dairy! I want my watermelon, grapes, string cheese, cereal, and ice cream (my weakness). I'm pretty lucky that I crave pretty healthy stuff- aside from the ice cream of course.
4. When I gotta go, I GOTTA GO. There is no holding it anymore. Just ask John! But we're talking about a guy who's goal when i see him is to make me pee my pants! Literally. And he almost succeeded a couple times.
5. When I have to eat, I HAVE TO EAT. Becca calls me the mommy monster when I'm hungry. I get cranky. Quick.
6. I don't sleep anymore. I'm a belly sleeper, and obiviously that can't happen anymore. I toss and turn all night,(and by toss and turn I mean I literally have to get out of bed- move the pillows, and get back in to lay on my other side. It's a production) and I wake mike up every time, so he's used to not sleeping as well. guess we're ready to not sleep when she comes!
7. I walk funny. I have a natural waddle anyway,(thanks to the Shaddick side of me) but now is just down right funny looking. Mike laughs at me every morning as a waddle to the bathroom.
8. The baby has officially taken my brain. They say that a lot of pregnant women experience absentmindedness, but mine is just bad. I have trouble concentrating, and I forget what people have told me only 5 minutes before. Mike REALLY hopes I go back to normal when the baby comes. We all do, Mike. We all do...
9. I'm starting to nest. I just want my house to be ready for her so badly. Right now her room is a MESS, and it's driving me crazy! I need to start washing her clothes and organizing, but it's hard when there is no furniture for her. So most of it has to wait until my showers are over and Mike gets back from the UK (he's leaving me for 2 weeks in September....NOT looking forward to it AT ALL) since he's the one who has to paint.
10. The only thing i worry about is that I get very crampy starting in the late afternoon, and lasts till i go to bed. My doctor says it's normal, so i try not to worry too much. They do think that I have Restless Leg Syndrome, which is another big reason why I don't sleep. I've tried a lot of things- eating bananas, drinking a TON of water, and reciently my dad told me to put a bar of soap under my mattress. Old wives tale. We'll see if that works. I'll try anything!
11. WE KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW! Mike and I offically chose her name, but we are keeping it to ourselves until she is born. No, i will not give hints, and no, becca, we did not name her after you. :-) And Denis, I will try my hardest to have her on your birthday. I make no promises tho.

All I can say is that I CANNOT WAIT for her to be here. I want these next two months to go by slow so i can enjoy my last trimester, but I can't wait to see her, to hold her, to introduce her to all of you! She will be one loved baby because of you guys!

Our Finished Bedroom!

2007-08-25T15:34:00.000-06:00

Mike and I have been living in our Town House for almost a year and a half, and today we finally have furniture in our bedroom! Yay! Our matresses have been on the floor, our clothes in bins and shelves, and our end tables were old coffee tables from our last house. It was quite sad. But today we have changed all that! We finally have proper dressers, and a proper bed to sleep on. Kemper is getting used to the bed being so high. He is usually able to jump right on, but now he has to really concentrate to make it up. For most of the day he's actually been under it! I think he has a new hiding place!

Matt and Meg

2007-08-24T07:42:00.000-06:00

I personally have never photographed a more expressive couple than Matt and Meg! The way they looked at each other all day long oozed (yes, i know it's a funny word, but it's true) love and passion, and it moved me every time I saw it. But not only was it an emotional wedding for me, but one that brought so much laughter. Thank you Pete George! He was up to his antics again, and I laughed so hard!

Here are some pics from the day! Love you, Matt and Meg!

My poor baby....

2007-08-04T10:54:00.000-06:00

Since Kemper is a hypo-allergenic dog, he has hair and not fur. So every 6-8 weeks we need to take Kemper in to get groomed. We like Kemper really fluffy and furry because he's so soft, so we waited a little longer (like 11 weeks) to take him in. Well, we waited TOO long because his hair was matted on his ears and feet. So the poor little guy had to be cut REALLY short. Usually they cut it so his hair is about and inch - inch and a half, but this time it's about a quarter of an inch. It's so wierd looking!

He is so timid now- it's like he feels exposed or something! But I never realized how tiny he really is! It's like having a whole new dog in he house!

I think he is too funny...

2007-07-29T20:00:00.001-06:00

I'm a HUGE fan of the office, and of John Krasinski, and I found this video and laughed so hard. It's a bit long, but it's worth watching!

Farwell Old Friend....

2007-07-27T15:54:00.000-06:00

This week I offically went part time at work because of all the travelling I have to do for my wedding phototgraphy, so I only work Tuesday-Thursday. This weekend I don't have a wedding, so I spent a lazy morning in bed, and in the afternoon I ran a bunch of errands and had a photo shoot with a friend.

While I was running errands at our mall, my beloved video ipod AND the car charger were stolen from my car! I couldn't believe it! The car was locked- i made sure of it because I had my camera in the trunk and I always get nervous. BUT my mistake was that I left the passenger window open about 3 or 4 inches (obiviously a big enough crack for an arm to get through). I was in the mall MAYBE 10 minutes! I was in complete shock that I just sat there for about 5 minutes with my head in my hands trying to figure out what to do next. Should I call the police? Get mall security? I had no clue. I called Mike, who was golfing so he didn't answer (and as I write this I still haven't gotten ahold of him.... did I mention that it was HIS ipod?). So i called my dad next to see what he thought I should do. He said that the police couldn't do anything, but that maybe our home owners insurance would cover it. So once I talk to Mike ( and hopefully I'll still be married after I tell him) we'll figure out if we are going to be replacing it or not.

I'm so sad.... I loved that thing. I had many hours of listening enjoyment (and watching The Office) on that thing. We don't have a cd player in the Passat, so the ipod served as that. PLUS we had an ipod dock in our house where we used it ALL the time.

Sigh.....

Her First Picture!

2007-07-14T07:45:00.000-06:00

I can tell you right now that our little girl doesn't like getting her picture taken because we had to work HARD just to get this one!

We went in last Tuesday for our second ultrasound because the first time she was on her belly and they couldn't get any measurments for her face. The moment they got her on the screen we knew that it was going to take a while. She had her legs and feet in front of her face- the ONE place we needed to see. So they moved me onto my left side to try to get her to shift, but the thing that stunk about that was I could no longer see the screen. All I could do was watch mike ohh and ahh while i begged him to give me a play by play. But all he kept saying was, "wow, look at her" or "Rach, how cool was that?" Thanks, Mike. Every time I tried to look over my shoulder to catch a peek at what he was gushing about, i would be told to stop moving. SO frustrating. She finally got so tired of being poked and prodded that she arched her back and stretched out (so Mike says) and started to suck her thumb. And that is what she is doing in the picture. For those of you who haven't seen ultrasound photos before, our doctor has handy labels it for you. All you see is her profile and hand. I want to point out the obivious Freer nose that she has! Look at that thing! Thanks dad for passing on the genes!

Kristen and Adam's Wedding

2007-07-08T19:02:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics from this past weekend for all of you to see.

My friend Beth and I. We're two months apart.

Jaime hard at work.

One of my fav shots of the day

The lovley bride and groom

Classy pic of Kristen.

Congrats guys! I love you!

A gift for my daughter!

2007-07-03T18:47:00.000-06:00

Last night our friends Ashley and Ryan took us out for a celebration dinner, and when I opened the car door, I was greated with a beautiful diaper cake! It has not only tons of diapers in it, but lots of other little goodies for her! I was SOOOO excited! It's so wierd to see all this pink stuff- it's totally settled in that I'm going to have a daughter in 4 months, and I cannot stop smiling! Mike and I had a celebration breakfast together after the appointment, and as we did, we talked names. I'm pretty sure we've picked one, but no one will know until she comes! You guys have to be surprised about something!!!

Isn't it so beautiful!!

The little slippers were my favorite! It's hard to believe I'll have a baby so little that her feet will fit in them!

And the Verdict is......

2007-07-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

GIRL!!!!!

Yay mom, Sarah and Carrie for getting it right!

This morning we went to the doctor's, and about two minutes into the ultrasound she announced it was a girl. I truly was shocked. I thought for sure it was a boy, and obiviously so did many of you! My mouth dropped open when she told us. Mike grabbed my hand and we both got a little misty eyed- not because we were sad, but because our baby finally had an identity. I can stop calling my baby "it" and can say "she". Wierd! Exciting! I feel like I'm in a dream! I'm having a baby girl! AHHHHH!!!

My doctor said I should have known it was a girl because i showed up in pink from head to toe! Here's me after we got home from the clinic.

Baby Poll

2007-06-27T18:02:00.000-06:00

Time to guess what the sex of the baby is!!

Our ultrasound is on Monday, and we will FINALLY know the sex of the baby. Here's the time to cast your votes.

Boy or Girl

and

One or Two babies.

I'll anounce the winner on Monday!

I leave you with a pic of Kemper that Becca and Jaime took when they came down for the weekend. Too cute!

17 weeks and counting...

2007-06-05T17:42:00.000-06:00

Time for another chapter of the Belly Watch!

I was 17 weeks last Saturday, and all of a sudden i have a big bump! I literally woke up on Saturday, looked down, and said, "what's that!?" Craziness. But I'm feeling good. I had a good couple days last week, and i seem to be getting over all my nausea. Thank the Good Lord! I went to the doctor on Friday and he said that I am in great health, and on July 2nd we will find out the sex of the baby! Yay! Mike and I have thought long and hard about what we would like (obiviously not getting our hopes up) and I thought I'd share some of our thoughts with you.

Reasons we want a girl:

Mike can walk her down the isle one day
It will make my mom and Becca very happy
I LOVE girl's clothes
How cool would it be to have a mini me around!

Reasons we want a boy:

I hear they are easier to raise
I will forever be my dad's favorite daughter if I provide him a grandson
How cool would it be to have a mini Mike around! Way cooler than a mini me, I'll admit it.
I don't have to do his hair

But obiviously we will be so stoked no matter what it is. We just hope it's healthy, happy, and doesn't put me through too much pain and suffering during birth!