Comparing

I am talking about my kids - of course! I don't think about it until I actually do it. However I have been comparing them since Austin was born. I would say, oh Logan was bigger, Logan wore this, Logan never wore that, Austin smiled before Logan, Austin eats better than Logan, Logan slept with me - but not Austin. Austin is more laid back, Logan was more into TV, Austin gets into everything, Logan seemed more in tune with people, ETC. Well this list goes on and on, from their pooping to their playing. I have been known to obsess about how Logan reached a certain milestone before Austin has. Just two weeks ago I was saying to a friend, "I am worried about Austin. At one Logan was saying several words and Austin only says mama and sometimes dada." Of course my wise friend reminded me that ALL babies are different, all babies do things at different times, all babies will reach their milestones when they are good and ready. However me being me I still worried. That was until Friday. I was sitting on the floor coloring with Logan and Austin toddles over. Well I just figured he was coming over to see what we were doing or to put a crayon in his mouth. I reminded myself that Logan wouldn't hold a crayon or even try to color until he was 18 months or older so surely Austin wasn't going to sit and color. Boy was I wrong. My sweet baby boy sat down next to me, picked up an orange crayon and began to color on the paper with the biggest smile on his face, reminding me that I can't compare my boys and I need to stop. They are two different babies that will grow into two different boys. They will have different wants, different needs, different likes, different dislikes and that everything they accomplish and do will be different from the other but just as wonderful.

Happy Halloween from Woody & Buzz Light Year

OHHHH I love me some Halloween! It is by far my favorite holiday! For one, Brian and I had our first date on Halloween 8 years ago to a Haunted House! I love the relaxed, fun, creative, dress-up, candied filled holiday sooo much! Logan was Woody and Austin was Buzz - Enjoy the show or as my cowboy, Woody would say "Giddy Up" and if my Buzz could talk "to infinity and beyond!" Oh we have gone Toy Story crazy over in the Harris house!

Austin's First Birthday Party

On October 11, 2009 we had a big first birthday party for Austin! A lot of love went into this party for our sweet boy. Cupcakes was the theme, blue and green were the colors, and lots of smiles, love, laughter, family, friends, and fun was what was had by all who were able to make the party. It was a great day. 100 family photos were used as banner decorations, 50 balloons, 50 cupcakes, hot dogs, hamburgers, mac n cheese, and presents galore! As everyone arrived the birthday boy was playing in the playroom. Then not to rearrange his schedule too much he ate a hot dog and some mac n cheese. While we were in the eating mode it was cake time! True to Austin form he enjoyed every bite of cake and smiled the entire time. Then it was gift time. He put on a show. With each gift that was opened he laughed, smiled, and wanted to play with it right away. I made gift bags for the kids full of yummy goodies and candied apples for the adults. It was a great party. Lots of help from my parents and Brian with the cupcakes and food and decorations. Thank you to everyone who was able to come - Enjoy the slide show!

Happy 1st Birthday Austin!

We celebrated Austin's first birthday last Sunday the 11th with a big cupcake party! I have a ton of pictures to post to the blog, but I wanted to make sure this blog was up for Austin's first birthday. 365 days ago I was settling into my room at Northside with Brian as we anxiously awaited tomorrow (the 15th) when I would be induced. Time has gone by too quickly as it usually does when you just really want it to slow down. However I can look back on this first year of Austin's sweet life and know that I held him every second I could, got up with him night after night knowing that time would go by and he wouldn't get up every 3 hours, I nursed him and enjoyed that time to sit down and look at my baby (and as a bonus my other baby - Logan would climb up and sit next to me and hold my ear), and loved him more than I thought I could. I was in love the moment I saw him; though I was worried we wouldn't bond because of the emergency c-section where I was put to sleep, but that didn't stop us from being in love! I just finished writing his birthday letter, I have mentioned it before but my friend Lisa told me that she had wished she wrote to her kids on each of their birthdays so that when they left for college she could give the letters to them. That inspired me so on each birthday I write a letter. At 7:10pm tomorrow October 15th I will take Austin's picture. That is something else I do, each birthday at the time my kids were born I take their picture. Although Logan's 2nd is a picture of him face down because he didn't want his picture taken (imagine that)!

Austin, thank you for picking me to be your mommy. You bring sooo much love and joy into our lives. Logan equally adores you as much as you do him and your daddy loves coming home each day to find you standing next to Logan at the window waiting for him. You have been walking for a few weeks so you are often a bit too busy to be held for long stretches of time, but sometimes when you are sleeping I pick you up out of your crib and sit with you in your rocking chair where I hold you as long as I want. I love you little bit!
Mommy

I am a proud daughter!

My mom was asked to model/represent a local gym where she trains. Her picture and ad are located on two bus stops. Here are the pictures. She is one hot mama/mimi!

End of September

Wow where did September go? As October is approaching I wanted to give a quick update on what has been going on around the Harris House...

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY....We sang that for days around here. We are blessed that the rains didn't cause damage to our home or hurt anyone we know personally. Thank you God for watching over our family and friends; please keep the families that were effected by the floods in your prayers. The weather has changed and sunny skies are here again. A cold front is coming through which will be a nice change as well.

Ok on to other news...So the other night I gave the boys their nightly bath. Put them in their diapers and left them in their playroom and leaving Logan with a sippy cup of apple juice. I went to each of their bedrooms to get their pjs. I was probably gone 2 minutes. I come back to lots of giggling and Logan acting as a fountain spitting his juice all over himself and "his baby's" head and body...back in the tub they went. Never a dull moment.

Went to TJ MAXX with my sweet children. They were less than excited to be there but I had a return and they had no choice than to be there:) So while they carried on I did my return and then a woman comes up to me and says "I don't think they want to be here." WOW - REALLY! I didn't say that, just thought it as I walked away. She must not have two boys aged two and almost one.

Logan went to see Elmo live and he LOVED it. Logan is one lucky little boy to have grandparents who love him soooo much. It rained the entire day of the Suwanee Fall Festival so we didn't go this year. But I did get to spend the day with my sis-in-law Julie and mom. We had a fun lunch and a great time shopping!

We went to Carter Kisgen's 1st birthday party. It was sooo much fun. His mommy, Stephanie did a great job. She is an excellent party planner! Sailboats was the theme. All the kids got sailor hats and cute buckets filled with goodies including the double stuffed oreos on a stick dipped in white chocolate. I hid them from my hubby and children. I needed that treat much more than they did! It is just a great time to catch up with our friends and see our kids play together. Looking forward to Louie and Lauren's wedding in October to spend the weekend with the Kisgen's, Wagoner's, and R. Dunlap. Should be LOTS of fun. No babies, they will be missed but a weekend away will be great for us all!

The week seemed to be filled with rain. We stayed in more than out. Went to the gym and to MOPS. I was ready for the weekend for sure.

Saturday I spent the day shopping for Austin's bday party. Brian kept the boys, oh it was soooo nice to be able to run in and out of stores without a stroller and diaper bag and snacks and bottles etc. Then Brian's sister Donna came over and we had date night - WAHOO! Great day. Then yesterday we didn't do A N Y T H I N G. It was weird. We thought it would be nice just to be at home in pjs, but by dinner we were climbing the walls. Brian and I said that we wouldn't do that very often. Football was on and I made soup and grilled cheese for dinner.

Today we cleaned out the garage and prepared for the weekend garage sale we are having. I went to the grocery store ALONE (yippy), had a play date with Elijah and his mommy, and I made a promise to myself not to go to bed until I posted on our blog.

No pictures - camera is in need of repair or we will be buying a new one before weeks end. Hope everyone had a great September.

11 Months Gone By

Our baby boy turned 11 months yesterday, Sept 15. In one month he will be blowing out one little candle on his first cake. Oh that sweet little boy. I could seriously spend all day planting kisses on his chunky legs and listening to his giggle as I tickle his sides. So much love from such a little person will forever be a gift from God.

I Locked EVERYTHING In the Car!

Oh my goodness. So for a while now we have not had an official home line. We use our cell phones. Basically to save money (or we thought until recent Verizon bills started rolling in). We decided about a week ago to get a home line. Out came Charter to set up the new line and Brian brought home a phone from the Alpharetta pub. Well the phone didn't work. Charter came back out to check the line, turns out it was the phone. I decided that the next day (Friday) that the boys and I would trek over to Walmart to do our grocery shopping and purchase a phone. Well we make it to Walmart, spend more money than I would like to say on God knows what but we did leave with a phone. From there we headed home to have lunch and take afternoon naps (of course the Walmart trip caused Austin to miss his morning nap so he was a bit upset). I remember pulling into the driveway looking at my pots with dead flowers thinking to myself "I meant to purchase pansies (which I later found out are not out yet) or mums while I was out." Irritated I pulled into the garage. I pulled my keys out of the ignition and threw them into my purse like I so often do not to forget where I put them. Then As I am climbing out of the driver's seat telling the babies I was coming to get them, I locked the doors. Yes ALL THE DOORS! I went to each door hoping that one was unlocked. So my purse with my cell phone, car keys, and children are locked in the car. Well I have a new home phone now, oh that's right I locked the new, working, just purchased phone in the car also. I ran to the neighbors both were not home. I had no way to get in touch with anyone. So what do I do beg Logan to unhook himself and unlock the doors. He looks at me and says "NO!" Austin at this point is screaming his head off. It is getting hotter. I am beginning to panic. I know I need to call for help 911, a locksmith, the local bar, someone, anyone! However I CAN'T! Again I try to coax Logan into unlocking his car seat, and he just screams "NO!" What's a girl to do at this point? Run upstairs to the computer and log onto Facebook to see if anyone I know is on that I could tell to call for help (I swear I did this) and of course only 3 people were on and I haven't talked to them in like 10 years. I wasn't about to admit to locking everything in the car at that point. So I run downstairs again try and talk to Logan about getting out of his seat, again hearing "NO!" So I go back inside and get a clothes hanger (the one that comes home with dry cleaning), not sure what I am going to do but know I have seen cars unlocked with hangers before. I straighten it out and insert the hanger into the top of the window. No luck. I begin to cry. Then I decide that I should insert it near the actual lock (bottom part of window). After 5 minutes miraculously I hit the lock and the door unlocks. I finally breath a sigh of releif. I get the sobbing Austin out and then Logan who says "mommy you got keys?"
I had the keys, the kids, the new phone, the cell phone, and then a little breakdown as I replay in my head the last ten minutes of my life.

Too Quiet, But OK!

Tonight after giving the boys their bath and putting them in their pjs I left them playing in the playroom to finish up the dishes. It got really quiet and I got really worried. I quickly put the dish down and headed to look for them. Here is where I found them


That was a nice surprise. Just sitting around reading (aka to them looking at pictures) together. Taking that one picture started an impromptu photo shoot where Logan wanted to give his big cheesy closed eye grin and then take a picture "by me" (alone).

Picture of Austin taken by Logan - not bad for a 2 year old!


Now when a camera is around Logan grabs his "baby" and says cheese! I Love it!








Then came the trouble - playing under the train table meant someone was going to cry. However tonight they were all smiles. Love these boys!!!

First September 2009 Weekend

Oh, how I love fall. It is my favorite season for more than one reason! I met my husband 8 falls ago! We met in September 2001. I thought I loved him then; eight years, two babies, and a blessed life together later I realize that our love just keeps growing. I bet eight years from now I will look back and say "and I thought I loved him then."! More reasons for my love of hall other than my sweet husband: football, halloween (candy), apple picking, fall festivals, Austin being born, leaves changing, cooler weather = UGG boots will be worn soon,and I heart all fall decorations. I am now up to my neck in all my fall decorations; rearranging, reusing and possibly more buying!
So that is why I love fall...here are the little peeps that make fall even sweeter!





So that was our little Georgia photo shoot while watching the first Georgia game - Logan would say "GOOOO Dogs" and "hut, hut, hike" and "run faster!" He knows some plays from playing with his daddy! Why is it everytime I take a picture one of them is looking away!

Sunday we went to our friend Ryan's birthday party. That was fun. Daddy took care of the babies and mommy had a beer or two:)

Monday was Labor Day. The boys and I spent the morning hitting all the local Labor day sales - that was well worth the many "No Mommy" I heard everytime I entered a store!
Then we headed to my parents for an early afternoon dinner.












Tomorrow the boys and I head to MOPS for the first time. Very excited and a little nervous about leaving them in someone else's care. They will be seperated for the first time. I know they will be fine, I think I may shed a tear or two (but not infront of the babies)!
Saturday Brian's parents will come over to watch the boys so we can go out. Before that we may do a little furniture shopping (YAY!!!). Sunday if it is nice maybe the Yellow Daisy Festival or maybe just hanging around the house. Brian has been working A LOT and could use some down time. Next weekend Logan will attend Sesame Street Live with his grandparents, Suwanee Days is a festival that we will go to on the 19th, and then the Kisgen's will be in town to celebrate Carter's first birthday on Sunday. So excited to see them. Love getting our kids together. The fair starts next week also, something we will for sure go to this year, not for the rides, but for the animals. Before kids I would have never gone to see the stinky animals, but the joy on their little faces will make the smell worth it!
Oh and fall TV is gearing up and that makes me a happy girl! The last weekend of the month will end with the Duluth Fall festival and the Chili Cookoff (Brian loves this and we missed the last two years). I will post pics of my fall deco soon. Oh here is my new favorite wall (thanks mom for making this wall possible)!

Happy fall, Go Steelers, Go GA Bulldogs, and War Eagle (for Mike, Kevin, and Bailey)!