Wrapping up January

I can't believe that it's already the last day of January! Time has flown by this month. I spent half the month waiting for Riggs and the second half of the month living every minute with my baby. I'm so excited for what the rest of the year has in store for our little family.

Today we went on a walk with Beau, it feels so nice outside since it's finally warmed up. Riggs was happy in the Moby Wrap and I was happy with how comfortable it was. I had to take a picture because I was so proud that I tied it right the first time.

made my Monday

Riggs and I were cuddling on the couch this morning. I was reading something on my phone instead of paying attention to him and nearly missed this series of events:

I don't care if it was just gas, I loved that beautiful smile! He did this a few times, and I'm so glad i caught it on camera. It made my Monday, and I thought I'd share it to make yours a little brighter :)

Corn Casserole

While reading one of the many blogs I follow, I came across a recipe for a corn casserole.  It combined creamed corn and cornbread and sour cream - I decided I had to make it.  Let me tell you it was delicious!  It was so good I decided I had to share it with you.  I think it is originally a Paula Deen recipe, which explains a lot.  Type II Diabetes or not, I love her recipes!  

even better the next day

1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1(14 3/4 oz)  can of cream corn

1 (8oz) package Jiffy corn bread mix

1 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup of butter, melted

1 cup of shredded Cheddar

Preheat oven 350 grease a 9-by 13 baking dish or a large casserole dish.

Mix together the corn, Jiffy mix, sour cream and butter in a large bowl. Next, stir in cheese. Pour mix into greased baking dish.

Bake for 55 minutes, or  until golden brown , let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Sunday...Riggs is enjoying hanging out around the house after Church...

sitting in his boppy...

kicking his legs really hard...

and his favorite:  tummy time!

sleepy saturday

We had a cozy, sleepy Saturday today as a family and it was lovely.  I don't know if it's the continuous cold (-8 today nearly all day) or having a newborn but I just wanted to do a whole lot of nothing today.  Steve had a massage at 10am, so we ventured out for that.  Riggs and I went to the Alaska Club and Yogurt Lounge to hang out with Kelsey and the boys then we went home and all snuggled on the couch while Steve and I watched Dances with Wolves {one of my all-time favorite movies}.

wide awake this morning after getting dressed

napping with daddy during Dances with Wolves

napping on mommy's lap after eating
this is basically what we did all day :)

squeaky clean

Today I gave Riggs his first "real" bath in the tub.  He loved it!  I can't wait until he is a bit older and we can go swimming together.  That is one thing I'm really looking forward to about our trip to Seattle, swimming pools at the hotels!  I made sure every hotel we are staying at has a pool, since with an eight week old we will probably be spending more time than we usually would at the hotel.

just hanging out in my bathtub

all sudsy 

sad to get out of the bath and get chilly

happy again :)

10 pounds of love and 2 weeks of memories

Riggs and I went to the doctor yesterday, and I wasn't really too surprised to learn that he is up to 10 lbs 4oz, a whole pound bigger than his birth weight. He was down to 8 lbs 11oz the day after his birth, then back up to 9 lbs 3oz by 4 days old. He is a little milk guzzler and I'm happy to know he's thriving.

Ready for his pediatrician appointment in his warm winter boots :)

Hanging out at home on the couch after his appointment...I love my happy little baby!

We also made a trip to Costco to pick up some more photo albums and the pictures I had printed from Riggs' first two weeks. I always love putting pictures into albums and remembering all the fun things we have done, but it's even more special when we are putting away pictures of our beautiful son. I can't wait to take more pictures as he grows and we make memories together as a family.

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18 degrees

Yesterday it warmed up to 18 degrees. That's the warmest it's been in over a week! I decided to bundle Riggs up and head out into the "warm" temperature and sunshine for our first walk around the neighborhood.



It was his first time in his stroller and he seemed to really love it. He fell asleep before we even got to the end of our street and slept the whole time.



I hadn't used his stroller yet in the snow (I wheeled it around a bit on the pavement when I first got it around 25 weeks pregnant) and I loved how it did. We have a double BOB stroller too for when nephews and nieces are along or if we go for a longer walk (Beau sits in the other seat when he gets sick of walking). But the Britax is so nice for just quick trips because his carseat just snaps right in and out so easily.

We walked to New Sagaya, picked up some fresh fruit and veggies and then came home. It was the farthest I've walked since giving birth and it felt really good.



The view of Sleeping Lady was beautiful as we walked back home, although as you can see the sun was already starting to set at 2:30. It was so nice to be out and about and I can't wait to get out again, and I especially can't wait to get on my skis!

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babies don't keep

Riggs is only 11 days old today and I can't believe how much he has already changed. Everyday I know he is learning new things and developing new skills, which I am so excited about. Yet it's also bittersweet, because I know I'll never get these early days of his life back. I've been taking so many pictures and videos but there are things I can't capture to remember forever, like exactly how he smells and how it feels to hold him close and feel his little hand hold tight to my finger.






I found this poem on a blog I follow and thought I'd share. I know it brought tears to my eyes, but that doesn't take much these days :)

Song For A Fifth Child
By Ruth Hamilton, 1958

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due.
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo!
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait 'til tomorrow,
For children grow up as I've learned in my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep!





I'm making it a goal to take time every day to just hold my baby and cherish all the special things that he brings to my life.

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cold & sunny & one week old

My baby is now a week old as of yesterday morning. I cant believe it! We have had such an amazing week with him. Steve planned on going back to work on Tuesday, but it's been so cold that he ended up having the entire week off, which has been nice.

He has enjoyed the time off - its the first he's had since April. He has been working on getting his "new" truck fixed up - doing maintenance that needed to be done and even finding new seats for the truck that are much more safe (neck rests and modern seatbelts) for a great deal. This is the reason he bought this truck - bc it has good "bones", can tow what he needs it to and is easy to work on, which he enjoys doing.





Despite the cold, we didn't want daddy to be lonely, so we bundled up to go out and keep him company for a few minutes. Riggs was all warm and cozy in his snowsuit, in the Ergo, under a blanket to keep him from breathing the frigid air. But I uncovered him for a quick picture :)





It was nice to get outside, I enjoyed the fresh air and Riggs quickly fell asleep. We went in after about five or ten minutes and I spent some time on the computer while Riggs slept in his still much too big snowsuit.





I made Taco Ring for dinner, which was so good, as usual and then we all settled down to watch the news and the second night of American Idol, which was a little boring.

I am loving being a mother to my beautiful baby. For me, motherhood is really a dream come true. For as long as I can remember, I have looked forward to being a mommy. It is so surreal that I am now, I feel so completely blessed. Of course I am a little tired, but it is so worth it that I hardly notice. Steve and I both feel like Riggs has just slipped so easily into our routine and fits so perfectly into our lives. We can't imagine life without him and his silly little faces.





We had some newborn pictures taken of him on Wednesday and I cannot wait to see them! The ladies at PS Photography did an amazing job and we loved the entire experience. I'll be sure to share them here ASAP...

I've been working away at my birth story, but I really want it to convey my exact thoughts, feelings and experiences, so it's taking a little while. So for now, happy Friday, hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Family Pictures

I hung up our new family picture today, and love how my little family picture wall looks now!  I can't wait to add some professional pictures of Riggs outside of my belly after we do his newborn pictures tomorrow with PS Photography.

For now here is what my wall looks like:

Every one of this pictures was taken by one of my
oldest friends, Mitch Kitter, PropagandaAK

I love how it looks now.  Even though the pictures look
a little crooked in this picture, oops.

Riggs William Harness

I'm so thrilled to announce that my baby was finally born this morning at 5:10 at Geneva Woods Birth Center after five hours and nine minutes of labor. I will do a complete birth story later but just wanted to share the good news as soon as possible.

First picture is the last picture of me pregnant.

Second picture is of my 9lb 4oz 21 1/2 inch baby who I am absolutely in love with.

Pinterest, Polyvore and Planning

Lately I have been obsessed with clothes, and purses, and watches, and shoes.  I am so excited to get rid of this big old belly and wear normal clothing again!  In March we are heading down to Seattle to visit family and have a little time off together, and to go shopping, of course.  I am so excited! In preparation, I have been spending way too much time on pinterest and polyvore deciding what exactly I "need" or want to buy while I'm there.  I thought I'd share a few this morning...oh, and just for the record, yes I'm still pregnant.  When this little one arrives, you will hear me shouting it from the virtual mountain tops, so please don't worry that you've somehow missed it :)

I made this outfit this morning.  I love the contrast of
all the colors: red &gold/turquoise&grey/tawny leather 

This one I got off of pinterest.  I love how easy and comfy it is,
yet how great it looks 

I made this one this morning too.  I love everything about it, especially the
pocket watch necklace and floral Toms 

This one I got off of Pinterest.  I love this set...
Now I just need to go somewhere warm enough for shorts! 

this one looks like perfect for late winter - I borrowed it off
of Pinterest as well...

Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy Wednesday!

Ditch Diving Discouraged

Today I spent most of my day driving a route that should have taken about a quarter of the time, all to make my husband very happy. He found a truck he wanted - just his style: old, manual transmission, and easy to work on. AND it can tow his snow machines, so for him it was a pressing matter to make sure no one else bought it. "There's three other people who looked at it yesterday!" Steve reminded me urgently. I couldn't imagine that there would be people lining up to buy a 24 year old truck, but it was obviously important to him, so off we went in pretty snowy, icy conditions.

It had snowed about a foot over night and was still snowing. We went about 40 mph all the way to Eagle River (the speed limit is 65 for those who don't live here and most ppl go about 75-80) and picked up the truck.

Steve making cleaning the snow off the truck before hitting the Old Glenn

The way home was crazy. It normally takes 15 minutes to be back in Anchorage from Eagle River. Today it took at least an hour. We were at a standstill for about 15 minutes as the rest of the way was down to one lane from three. This was all thanks to the maniacs driving way too fast and following other drivers way too closely.

hard to see how deep the snow is that these vehicles are stuck in.
also hard to see that the berms/ditches are made of snow that has been frozen
nearly hard as rocks, so vehicles don't usually leave the scene without
quite a few dents and dings to show for their sojourn in the snow.
It also doesn't help when someone follows you into the ditch and then
rear-ends you there lol.

There was 3 cars off the road, buried in the huge, hard packed snow-berms/ditches on either side of the highway because they hadn't been paying attention and couldn't stop where traffic was at a standstill from an accident about a half mile up the road. That accident was a 10 car pile up that involved 10 totaled cars who had obviously bounced off each other (some looked like a few times) before careening at high speeds into the ditch. Once we got past that there was a continuous pattern of Police cruisers with flares out closing down two lanes of the highway while tow trucks were in the closed lanes trying to retrieve all the cars that were pale into the ditches.

about a mile worth of backed up traffic, on a day when most people should have stayed
off the roads...this part of the highway took the longest to get through

Overall we saw about 20 vehicles in the berms/ditches in a 3 mile stretch of road. It was crazy! And even crazier was the fact that people were STILL driving like maniacs, which is why the number of ditch divers was growing steadily as the minutes passed.

Needless to say we were happy to make it home safe! Steve cleared out some snow in our driveway with the help of the plow company, and then we headed over to my parents for a birthday celebration for our little Beka, who turned 20 today.

blowing out her 20 candles :)

I wanted to give here the best present ever, a little newborn to snuggle, but I guess he had other plans :( Poor Beka, she won't get to see him (other than on Skype) for two months. Now I'm especially glad we are heading down to Seattle in March for a nice getaway! Anyway, despite the stressful driving, it was another nice day spent with Steve and family and I'm sad it's nearly over...

Oh and PS: Aunt Connie surprise me with ANOTHER amazingly handsome and soft sweater for my stubborn little man. Its beautiful and so special because she created the pattern herself! He is such a spoiled baby already, now he just needs to come out to enjoy all his goodies :)

hard to see the rich color in this picture, I need to get a better one soon.
It's so beautiful!

Snow and Mermaid Tears

Today started out pretty bad. I was still pregnant (!) and had to go to my midwives office to get tests done on baby. He passed with flying colors, which is great, of course. My midwife said I would need to come in every couple of days to repeat the tests and make sure he is still doing okay I'm there. I have an appointment Wednesday where we will make some plans to evict my little guy. I really hope I go into labor on my own so I can go drug free, but I guess you can't plan everything.

Needless to say I'm a little emotional. I feel pretty dang good for being 10 months pregnant, the only problems I'm having are mental/emotional. I just want to meet my baby! I let that emotion get the best of me this morning and was pretty down. Luckily Steve was home to cheer me up and we went for a drive out to Palmer. It was so nice to spend time together and it was a beautiful drive with all the snow falling.

When we got back to Anchorage Beka and I went to get Pedicures. It was so nice and relaxing - I got OPI Mermaid Tears and I love it. So now I feel better and have pretty toes :)

waiting game

Happy Friday!  I'm checking in to reassure everyone - no baby yet, I'm still pregnant!  And although I'm very excited to meet our little guy, I feel great and know he will come when he's ready, so I don't mind waiting.  The only sad thing about him being much later is that both my little sister and grandpa will miss him being born.  Beka leaves the 9th and my grandpa leaves the 10th.  Thank God for technology like Skype, blogs, and Facebook to share video and pictures!

I have been keeping busy doing fun things and enjoying my last couple of days of complete freedom.  This week I helped my mom purge and reorganize all of the Christmas decorations at her house.  It was fun to look through everything, such good memories!  I know it felt good for her to get rid of about 4 boxes worth of things we never use anymore.  

I enjoyed a Costco shopping/browsing trip, probably the last for a while as well.  It was so nice to just wander around looking at what they had to offer. 

We went and saw War Horse yesterday, and while it was honestly the best movie I've seen in a long time (like, years), it was hard to watch.  I started crying in the previews (Titanic preview - will be back in theaters soon) and never stopped until the end of the movie.  Bring Kleenex if you decide to go see it!  Unfortunately I think I will have to torture myself and see it again because now that we know it's good Steve wants to go see it.  I don't want to give anything away about the movie, but I will say nothing can prepare you for what happens in this movie, and it is a good reminder of how easy we have it in our country.  

Other than that, I've just been lounging around my very clean and organized house.  

I finally ordered some new birkenstocks to replace my fave pair that finally
wore out.  I got two pairs - these Arizona's, which I'm wearing, quite
comfortably, right now... 

...and some more Gizehs to replace these old gems (on the left of course -
the Toms on the right are Briney's lol - and I need some more of those too...)

Steve's Ekornes Stressless recliner came in Monday, so he's been
enjoying that, and I've been enjoying our living room looking so nice
and cozy (and maybe a little more grown up than the old futon)

Riggs is still getting marvelous gifts, like this amazing sweater knit
by my Aunt Connie.  Now he just needs to come out and use them all!