Merry Christmas!

I've been busy this Christmas Eve shopping and baking, and can't believe it's already almost over!  Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and enjoy time spent with family and friends.

cranberry upside cake and rum cake...yum

Merry Christmas!

Out with the old in with the New

I found an picture of one of our old cars and had to share it with you.  I'm happy to say we're coming up in the world...

37 weeks

So I am officially 37 weeks 2 days pregnant.  I still feel pretty good, actually.  Nothing to complain about, because any discomfort or pain I've had is because he's dropped and is so low in my pelvis - which means he's getting ready to be born!  Steve and I had a low key weekend.  We hung out with Ford Friday evening so his parents could enjoy a Christmas party baby free, which was lots of fun.

Ford was asleep, Steve was nearly asleep, and Beau nervously
watched over them...lol

Saturday we lazed about all day, which was marvelous.  Steve had a massage at noon, so I went and "worked out" at the Alaska Club (if you can call what I did working out lol).  Then we came home and hung out on the couch the rest of the day.  I took a three hour (!) nap around 4:30, and woke up just in time for our friend Jesse to come and pick up our two recliners he bought from us.  It is so nice to have so much open space in our living room!  And just in time for baby to come and clutter it up with his stuff lol.

We watched a movie, during which I utilized my rather large protrusion for practical purposes...

Steve looked over and had quite a laugh at my expense...secretly I know he's just jealous he doesn't have a built in shelf lol.  He "had" to take a picture, and I thought I'd share, since I haven't had any other recent belly pics to post.  So happy 37 weeks to me and happy Monday to you!

Is he really 5 years old?

On December 4th, my oldest nephew Corbin turned five.  I honestly cannot believe it!  He is my first nephew and my parents first grandchild, and has always been special for those reasons...and because of who he is of course!  Sunday was his birthday party, and it was crazy to see him running and playing with the other "big kids" - he's not even close to being a baby anymore.

It's exciting to see him grow up and experience new things every day, but it's also bittersweet - he'll never be that sweet, happy baby again.  I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm a super emotional 9 months pregnant lady, but it's so hard to watch my nephews grow up.  I simply cannot imagine how it's going to be with my own baby, who's not even born yet!

Corbin's hospital picture - born December 4th, 2006

1 year old, getting his first haircut!

nearly 2 with his new baby brother

3 years old and adorable as always

crazy 4 year old :)

5 years old!
At his birthday party Sunday - December 11, 2011

We love you Corbin and can't wait to spend many more birthdays with you!

keepsake

Today I got out the box of keepsakes my mom saved for me and took out some things which are gender neutral to use for Rowan.  It is so special to have some items that are not only from me when I was a baby, but also from my dad and my grandpa.

here is his cradle with the bedding from my dad's bassinet.
It looks so good!  I cannot wait to have a picture that includes
my little Rigglet :)

So soft and snuggly...

A picture of another extremely special keepsake item will have to wait until my little guy is actually here, dressed up in the handmade cap, gown, and booties that my great-grandma made for my grandpa to wear when he was born, which makes the little outfit 88 years old!!

10,000!!!

Can I just give a big shout out to everyone who stops by to read my blog? I just noticed I have now had over 10,000 views!!!  10,016 to be exact...so thank you everyone for coming on by to read my meanderings, it sure does mean a lot  :)

Weekend Warriors

Steve and I had the most productive weekend ever, and it feels so good to have gotten so much done! The weather wasn't exactly the most motivating, but we got everything we planned on done anyway.

Last week we decided to stop talking about getting rid of our futon and recliners and actually do it. We sold the futon the day we posted it on Craigslist and sold the recliners to some friends of ours in Homer. It was a relief to sell everything so quick, but it meant we had to go search for new furniture, which was fun and overwhelming all at the same time.

Friday Steve got off work early and so we used the time to head out searching for a couch-like piece of furniture to fill the space. We also wanted to look into an Ekornes Stressless recliner for Steve, so we went to Scanhome first. He has always wanted one, and I felt it was pretty important for him to find a comfortable chair due to the chronic back pain he has. They are on the pricier side, especially compared to our Costco recliners, but we decided to go ahead and order one for him. Merry Christmas to Steve!

It won't be here for a few weeks, but these are the color choices we went with.
I can't wait to see it in person, it's going to looks so, so nice! :)

Then we headed over to Sadler's and found exactly what I was looking for in a sofa. It's grey and has a chaise lounge-like side for me to stretch out on. Plus we will be able to seat more than just two people, which is always a plus :)

We picked up the couch Saturday and got our living room all set up. It is SO comfortable and fits perfectly. There is only one problem: I feel like it clashes with the current paint colors, so I told Steve there might be some painting in his future, which I'm sure he's pretty excited about...

This is what our living room used to look like...

...and now it looks like this! Quite a big improvement :)

Sunday we woke up to high winds and pouring rain and decided it would be best to stay put for the day. Our circle and road was glare ice and there was debris from the high winds everywhere.  Steve was happy to snuggle into the new sofa and play Call of Duty the entire morning. He had his headphones, his dog, his coffee and some chocolate chip cookies, so he was good for a few hours.

I was filled with a burst of random energy and decided to deep clean and organize...the entire house! I started on Steve's desk, which really was a completely unorganized mess. I cleaned out and went through every ding drawer, the entire surface and everything that was under the desk. I also went through the shelves above his desk and reorganized them when I was done.

I got rid of two full black garbage bags worth of trash, and moved onto my next project, after vacuuming all around his desk and starting a load of laundry. This involved washing the dishes from the evening before and making a nice brunch for us to eat: eggs scrambled with cream cheese and pigs in a blanket.

I switched loads of laundry, cleaned the entire bathroom, and got everything laid out for Steve to replace both fixtures in the shower and re-caulk nearly everything in the bathroom. He finished his last game and got to work. While he was busy in there, I deep cleaned the kitchen in preparation for him to replace the faucet there when he was done with the bathroom.

The bathroom was a piece of cake for him, but the kitchen faucet was a different story. After TWO trips to TWO different home improvement stores due to no fault of his own, I might add, he finally got the new faucet all set up in the kitchen.  I made dinner and some cookies for Steve's lunch tomorrow, and cleaned up the remains of the faucet project in the kitchen.

It was so nice to get so, so, so much done this weekend and even though I'm exhausted now and ready for bed, I can't wait to finish cleaning and organizing the house tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend and has a great Monday!

Happy December!

We have had beautiful winter weather all of November, with the third snowiest November in history.  Now it's December, and this is what we get:

Statement as of 9:41 AM AKST on December 03, 2011

... Freezing Rain Advisory in effect until 3 PM akst this
afternoon for lower elevations...

The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a Freezing
Rain Advisory... which is in effect until 3 PM akst this
afternoon.

* Location... light freezing rain is expected at lower elevations
throughout the Anchorage bowl as temperatures will remain at or
below freezing.

* Ice accumulation... light ice accumulation less than one quarter
of an inch is expected on exposed objects and bare pavement.

* Timing... the freezing rain threat should end later this
afternoon as surface temperatures rise above freezing.

*Impacts... icing on Road surfaces and sidewalks will make travel
           difficult.


Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Freezing Rain Advisory means that periods of freezing rain or
freezing drizzle will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for
slippery roads. Slow down and use caution while driving.

Happy December Everyone! LOL

30 days?

As of today I am 35 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and only have 30 days until my due date!  I cannot believe it!

here is me at work yesterday
I don't think many people expected a pregnant
lady to greet them at REI lol

Other than my little episode at the hospital on Saturday night, things have been going great!  I feel really good, despite the random contractions I've been having all the time.  Lots of pelvic discomfort, pressure and occasional pain, but definitely could be feeling a lot worse.  I'm actually pleasantly surprised at how great I feel, and hope it continues.

His favorite activity is to see how long he can stretch out his legs, pushing his feet against one side of my belly and his bum against the other, which isn't the most comfortable for me.  But other people love to feel his little feet protruding from one side of my belly or the other (and of course I do too).  He does this all day long, along with other general "floaty" movements.  It's pretty obvious that he has dropped and has also run out of space to do any bigger movements, but he's still very active all day every day.

Saturday I will be 36 weeks, and he will supposedly be nearly 6 lbs and about 18 1/2 inches long, according to Baby Center.  I believe it about the 18 1/2 inches; it feels like he's longer, since he's always wanting to stretch out further and further.  I can't wait to see what he looks like and what all his proportions are when he's born!

At my appointment today, my midwife Barbara said that he had dropped and that she thought he was closer to 7 lbs than to 6lbs...which should surprise me, but it doesn't.  She said if he goes to 40 weeks she expects a nice 9 lb baby. I'm hoping to get him out while he's in the 8lb range, but we'll have to wait and see what happens!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  It was probably one of the best Thanksgiving's I've had in a long time - even though I was pretty tired and cranky on Thanksgiving day.  Wednesday my little sister and I shopped nearly all day and then I went over to my parents in the evening to spend what I thought would be one night or two at the most (so we could leave early for black Friday shopping).  Thursday morning I woke up early and made muffins and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  It was delicious!  But that was a lot of time on my feet, and I was definitely feeling it by about 10am.

I had made one of the dishes I was responsible for the night before, so Thursday I only had to make the ham and the mashed potatoes.  Around 12 noon, I realized I forgot everything to make mashed potatoes at my house, so my family was nice and let me make the natural instant mashed potatoes from Costco.  By the time 3pm rolled around, everyone was arriving, and I was at my crankiest!  I made it through the meal, eating only some squash, creamed corn, mashed potatoes and a little stuffing (no meat at all) and then went downstairs to take a nap as soon as everyone else was done eating.  I came back up after about an hour of resting, but still just sat on the couch sort of staring off into space.  As you can tell I wasn't the best company.  But it was great to see all the family and the food (that I actually ate) was fabulous.

Friday, I woke up at about 3:50am to go Black Friday shopping with Beka.  It had snowed (of course) so I was glad I had gotten up a little early.  We warmed up the car and cleaned it off and were at Fred Meyer waiting in line by 4:55am.

in line at Fred Meyer...can you believe it's 5am?

Fred Meyer has always been our favorite Black Friday stop and this year it didn't disappoint.  The funny thing is we each only got about two bags each of stuff but the experience was fun.  We ventured out later in the day to Costco's Black Friday event and got a lot more stuff there.

me resting at my parents with the poodles between black friday stops 

We ended up staying the entire weekend at my parents, which made the weekend a complete blast (we felt like we were moving out when we had to go back to our house for the week lol).  Steve went snowmachining on Saturday so I didn't want to be home alone all day.  He had a great trip, except for the part when he hit a rock that was hidden under a layer of snow and bent a part on his snowmachine - but the weather was great and it's an easy(ish) fix.  It was really hard to steer on the 20 miles back to the truck, so he was exhausted when he got home around 7:30pm.

where they were riding; the Willow side of Hatcher's Pass

see how the ski is four inches or so further back than the other?
Yeah that can make steering pretty difficult...

He ate a huge plate of food, and at that point I figured he was ready to hear my news.  I had been having contractions for the last hour or so, and they were beginning to be time-able.  Poor guy, I think he had really been looking forward to relaxing before bed.  Instead after another hour and a half of contractions (what I thought were braxton hicks) about 5-6 minutes apart, I called my midwife and she sent us off to Labor and Delivery at the hospital.

We got there about 9pm and stayed until midnight.  I was having contractions which were regular and pretty strong when I got there, so me and baby had to be monitored for a few hours to make sure I wasn't progressing.  I was about 1-2 centimeters dilated and 40% effaced (she said my cervix was very soft), he was at -1 station.  Luckily after the first hour my contractions became irregular again and she said no progress in an hour meant I could go home.  BUT, I have to be really careful now not to "over-do" it and if I have time-able contractions again for an hour I have to go in.

So we had a very eventful weekend but I'm happy to say that baby is still inside where he needs to be for at least another week and a half :)

to sum it all up...

DAY EIGHTEEN - TWENTY TWO:  I know you might think it is cheating to lump five days together, but really, it's not, I promise!  At least not this time.  For the past five days I have been so thankful for family being back together!  I wish I had gotten a picture of all of us, but this about sums it up:

Beka got home from college very late on Friday night and everyone is very happy to see her.  At Costco yesterday, Corbin didn't want me to push "his" cart.  "I want Beka to push my cart!!!"  he proclaimed.  And every time I got to close to the front of the cart, he reminded me rather forcefully that she was pushing his cart :)

I am very thankful to be spending time with her, but mostly I am just thankful to have family all together again!  This has been a little preview of what Christmas will be like, and I am now even more excited!  We will truly all be together then, including all the Skinner girls, our Grandpa Wes, and our Aunt Connie and Uncle Doug!  I simply cannot wait!!

finished!

This weekend I spent the bulk of my free time hand sewing the binding on the yellow brick road quilt I made for Riggs.  It took me about two solid days of sewing, and I finally finished it! I am so thrilled with how the quilt turned out, and I can't wait to see my little guy snuggled in it.

So far it has been a big hit around the house, Beau loves it and was laying on in it my lap most of the time I was working on it.  Steve has also been using it in his recliner, and now feels jealous.  "Where's mine?"  he asked when I took it away.  Luckily I am working on a Christmas themed yellow brick road that will be for him, so he won't be jealous for too long lol.

He was a good "helper" lol

I love how all the fabric came together

the minky looks and feels SO cozy!

patience

DAY SEVENTEEN:  Today I'm thankful that God has given me a healthy dose of patience.  I need it right now!  I feel like I'm just waiting for everything, from the more immediate to things that should happen, oh in about 7 weeks.  I never thought I would be this calm and patient about so many things, and I have to say, I'm very thankful that I am!  I know it will make the day, weekend, and month so much more pleasant :)

best dressed

Who is going to be best dressed in the Harness household?

...it will definitely be Riggs!

all the clothes in his closet are just the 0-6 month sizes,
and his drawers are full of those sized clothes too!
He's a lucky baby :)

heated garage and eggo waffles

DAY FIFTEEN:  Yesterday I was thankful for the heated garage at my parents house and the opportunity to go thaw out my car.  I'm sure my car was thankful too!

DAY SIXTEEN:  Today I'm thankful for eggo waffles (actually, I think they are kirkland signature - costco is the best!) and real maple syrup.  Yum!

Baby Shower!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, Friday evening was my baby shower, hosted by my sister Kelsey, mom, and my church.  It was so fun and we got truly spoiled by an outpouring of love from so many people!  I am truly, truly blessed to have so many people who are so full of love for me and for my unborn baby.  This post is going to be a photo bomb, so I warn you in advance!!

Food table with "woodland food" :) Pretzel sticks, mixed nuts, chicken salad

sandwiches, strawberries, ants on a log, cherry tomatoes, PB&J sandwiches,

apple slices with sharp cheddar, and cornbread crackers.  It was so yum!

Dessert table:  pirouettes, colorful licorice, carrot cake cupcakes, "acorns" (kisses,
nutela, mini nutter butters or mini nilla wafers)

lots of babies at the shower!

all the guests filling out their baby bingo cards :)

opening gifts, SO many good things :)

more presents :)

This picture just shows how weird my face looks when opening presents lol

My wonderful mother, me and my oldest sister Kelsey.
They were amazing!  We missed our youngest sister Beka, but
luckily she will be here for my other shower at my parents house :)

weekend catchup

DAY ELEVEN:  Veterans Day is a special chance for every person to stop and think deeply about the sacrifices soldiers past, present and future have and will make for our freedom.  I am so thankful for those who are willing to fight for my country and my freedom.  My family is full of veterans, and I thought I'd share a few pictures of some of them.

Grandpa Wes
Air Force (33 years!)

Grandpa Clarence (and Grandma Elaine)
Army

Uncle Leo
Army

Cousin John
Marines

Brother-in-law John (with my sister Kelsey)
Navy

DAY TWELVE:  I was especially thankful all weekend for my amazing family and friends, who have made my pregnancy even more special by celebrating with me and generously gifting me and Riggs with so much!  My church baby shower was on Friday night, and it was so much fun!  I felt unbelievably blessed to have so much love shown towards me and baby.

DAY THIRTEEN:  Sunday was full of exciting surprises and hopes and dreams and I'm always so thankful to God for how he provides in my life.  That's all I can really say about this subject for now, but it was an amazing day and I am thankful for it!

DAY FOURTEEN:  Today I am thankful for the amazing care I recieve from the Midwives at Geneva Woods.  Steve was able to go with my appointment with me today (for the first time yay!) and it was so exciting sharing yet another great experience there with him.  Plus he got to see the birth center and meet one of my favorite midwives there, Barbara.  

I am also thankful and excited to say that I am back on for a birth center birth unless something drastic happens!  This is great on two levels:  1) because it means I get to at least try and have the birth center experience and quick homecoming I was hoping for and 2) because it means my heart is doing that much better.  

Today I am 33 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  Barbara caught me by surprise today when she mentioned that my due date was less than 7 weeks away.  How did that happen?!  Time is just flying by!  My Rigglet is just where he should be, head down with his little butt up in the air :)  I am measuring right on track externally for where I am (34 centimeters to be exact) and feel great!  My waist is now officially 15 INCHES bigger at a whopping 44 inches, but I don't really feel huge at all yet.  The numbers seem much bigger than I feel, which I think is a good thing.  Especially in the mornings until about 4pm, I feel pretty dang spry! 

I took pictures from both angles this morning when I got home from my appointment, to give more of an idea of how my belly is looking all around :)

Anyway, hope everyone has a happy, happy Monday!!

there whenever I need him

DAY TEN:  today I am very, very thankful for Steve.  He is my best friend and always there when I need him.  He works all day out in the cold, and comes home and takes care of me physically and emotionally (which if you know me can be quite a chore; I can be described as just a little emotional, and that's when I'm not pregnant ha).  He made my day today, and it's so, so nice to know that he is there for me every other day too, no matter what.  I truly thank God for him and at the same time pray for him everyday.  I couldn't have a better friend, and that makes him an amazing husband.