Thursday, May 31, 2007

Pirates...arrrr!!!



Today, for some unknown reason, Gabriel rediscovered his fascination with pirates. And not just any pirate ... but Captain Jack Sparrow. He's been enthralled with the idea of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies...which we haven't let him watch yet ... well, maybe only the non-scary parts ... but today, he decked himself out in full pirate gear (thanks to an old Halloween costume) and even wanted to wear the red sash in his hair "just like Jack Sparrow." He also spent time drawing a picture of Jack Sparrow, as seen in the photo. Nathan and I both thought he did a great job! Three cheers for pirate Gabe!!! Yo ho!!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Gret's Visit: Part 2








Here are a bunch of photos that Gret and I took of the boys in the park yesterday. My personal favorite is the one of the boys hugging a tree. Gabe was having fun hitting trees with sticks, so we suggested he try hugging them instead. He took us at our word, and proceeded to hug the nearest tree -- Asher quickly copied him and joined in the fun! I also like the photo of Asher with the hat on -- he stole it from Gabe and put it on all by himself. He likes to wear hats backwards -- with an attitude! :)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

A visit from Gretchen




This is the first post of photos from our visit with "Auntie Gretchen." My sister, Gretchen, made the trip to Wisconsin this weekend to spend a few days hanging out with us -- what a fun time!! These photos were taken yesterday, when we went hiking at Kohler Andre State Park and had a picnic on the beach. For some reason, I just LOVE the photo of Ash sitting in his little lawn chair munching on his PB&J sandwich. Man, that kid can pack it away! He ate more than Gabe.... an entire sadwich, a banana, and some hard boiled eggs...not to mention a hefty helping of cookies at the end of the meal! More photos to come!

Friday, May 25, 2007

"Hogzilla"


I can honestly say that this photo made everyone shriek in the newsroom today. I really don't know if this picture can be believed, but according to the AP, an 11-year-old boy shot this PIG 8 times with a pistol while hunting with his father in Alabama. Apparently, it replaces the former big pig, "Hogzilla," who weighed about 800-1,000 pounds. That's a lot of bacon!! What do you guys think? Hoax or not? They say it weighs 1,050 pounds and will produce 700 lbs of sausage. All I know is that is one scary-ass pig. And I can't imagine being in the forest with something that large charging out at me from behind a tree. I mean, if that sucker were standing, he'd be taller than that kid! Just one more weird thing in the strange world that we live in.
Photo courtesy of the AP. Check out the story here.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

First photos



For anyone who's interested, here are some pictures of "baby girl" Harrmann. She looks like she's doing some sort of yoga move in the one picture -- either that or the start of a somersault!

Monday, May 21, 2007

It's a ...

My sister and I were chatting on the phone today, asking ourselves "who are the 'old wives' who come up with these famous 'old wives tales' and how did they get to be so smart???
I was honored this past weekend to be the godmother of baby Olivia, my good friend Heather's baby. Heather and I have been friends since the 7th grade. Talk about a long-standing, awesome friendship! Well, when we were back at Heather and Carl's house for the post-baptsim luncheon .. YUM! ... when I was sitting at a table with some of the women in Heather's circle of family and friends ... grandmas, friends of friends ... etc. One of the women claimed to know a trick for telling the gender of a baby ... she said she's NEVER been wrong ... so she asked for my wedding ring and tied it to a piece of string, and proceeded to dangle it over my palm. Now, the ring is supposed to spin around for a girl, and sway back and forth for a boy. Well, the ring spun MADLY around in circles, each of the three times that she did it. Which had every woman in the house convinced I was carrying a baby girl.
Well today we had our ultrasound.
We asked the ultrasound techie to just put the picture on the screen and let us guess the gender. He laughed and said OK! So he did. I was sitting there, not really sure what the heck I was looking at when Nate said, with confidence, "It looks like a girl!" Pause. Pause. Finally the ultrasound tech said "Yes, I think you're right." And my doctor soon confirmed it.
Now I know there's always the chance that an ultrasound can be wrong -- but I'm pretty darn excited! I started to cry, right there on the table. Asher started shoulting out "Baby! Baby!" as soon as he saw the ultrasound on the flatscreen. And Gabe was pretty thrilled as well. (Althought he didn't see any reason to "find out" the gender since he had already "ordered" a girl!)
We are so completely thrilled and exited!!
And I must admit, as nervous as I am about "how to handle" a girl (I'm so used to hanging out with little boys!!) -- part of me is really very happy that Asher will still by my "little baby boy." I wasn't ready, I don't think, for another baby boy to come along and replace my sweet Asher so soon. (although I'm sure I would have adjusted just fine) And Gabriel ... well, my darling Gabriel is in a league all his own!
As Nate and I ate lunch together, getting used to our wonderful news ... slowly.. I suddenly spouted off all the reasons I'm so excited to have a girl "Just think of all the fun, frilly dresses, pink things, pierced ears, Barbie dolls, tea parties, princesses, makeup, prom dresses, boyfriends and the wedding!!" His eyes looked huge when I had finished and he quickly began listing the firearms he was going to need to buy posthaste to keep the boys away. Awww... my little girl is so lucky to have such a loving daddy!!! She'll be the apple of his eye, I'm sure of it!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Boy, girl? Girl, boy?

Ohhhh, I can't decide!!!
Nathan and I go in for our ultrasound on Monday afternoon, and I'm very torn. I can't make up my mind if I want to know the gender of the baby! Does anyone have any convincing arguments? One part of me really wants to know -- just because! The other part of me really wants to be surprised -- like we were with Gabriel. And since I already pretty much know the exact day I'm having the baby (c-section again, hurrah) it seems that a little bit of mystery might be nice. So I guess I'm leaning towards NOT finding out. Although a coworker of mine wisely suggested that we ask the technician to write the gender on a piece of paper, seal it in an envelope, and take it home -- so that if I change my mind in two months, I still have the option of knowing one way or another. I'm not sure if the sight of that sealed envelope everyday would drive me crazy -- or give me peace of mind?! But it sounds like an interesting idea!!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mother's Day Weekend





Okay, so Nathan and I have always spoiled each other on mother's/father's day. After you become a parent, you understand why all of this is necessary. Especially while your kids are young. For all the sleepless nights, early mornings, cleaned spills, kissed boo boos ... it's always nice to splurge and make the mother/father feel special on their special day. It's just plain FUN. But Nate went over the top this year, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to outdo him! :) When I came home late from work last night at about 1:15 a.m. and (dead tired) stumbled into our dark room -- I noticed a curious shape on the wall. A brand new flatscreen television for our bedroom! We've been wanting to do that for a long time, mostly so that we can enjoy SNL on Saturday's and fall asleep when it gets dull instead of sitting on the couch downstairs muttering sleepily to eachother "Why are we still up? We should go to bed!" The other reason is because with baby number three, I've decided watching a little TV quitely while nursing at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. would be a nice way to pass the time, instead of just sitting in the dark trying not to fall asleep. So this was a pretty groovy mother's day present. And I have it on good authority that the remote "IS MINE." How long do you think that will last ladies? :) As if that wasn't enough, when I awoke this morning, Gabe presented me with a "Map" to find my second present. The map directed me outside, where I found the gorgeous new hammock that I had wanted!! The whole family piled in, and we had fun swinging in the crisp spring afternoon. LOVELY!! I can't wait to sit there like a beached whale all summer with my big baby belly!! (I hope I don't get stuck!) Gabriel also painted a flower pot (complete with flower!) at school for me. This was the best gift of all, and made me puddle up when I realized how lovingly and painstakingly he had worked on the painting on the flower pot. He also made me a homemade card. Sniff!! So, even though it's not mother's day yet ... I've had quite a wonderful mother's Day Weekend! Thanks family!!!

PS: you might notice how nice and green our lawn is in the one photo -- I'm being totally snobby about it and I don't care -- because compared to LAST year ... if you will remember my scary dandelion post of last May, when the little buggers were taking over our yard --- you can see that things have improved MIGHTILY!! And I am deliriously happy about that. In fact, I defy anyone to find a single dandelion in that photo!!! I guess winterizing your lawn actually works! HUZZAH!!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Week 19


So, for anyone who is interested, this is what my belly looks like in week 19 of my pregnancy. I'm almost halfway done! (only one week to go!) My ultrasound is scheduled for May 21, and we're super excited about it -- we keep wrestling with the idea of whether or not we should sneak a peek at baby's unmentionables and find out the sex -- I think we won't -- it's so nice to be surprised after all! Anyway, when I saw this photo of myself I said "My belly looks so small!" which was astonishing, because to me ... it seems ginormous! :) The second photo is a picture of my lollipop boys at the park this past week. Asher discovered he likes DumDums. Well, what's not to like, really??