Guest #2: Grandma Mitchy

We were lucky to have Grandma Mitchy come and visit the Boise area for three whole weeks! She is currently residing, non permanently, in West Virgina, so her trips out are not frequent enough. She spent a few nights at our house, and Andi took advantage of it!

We spent a few afternoons pool side. Andi with (one of) her Aunt Ali & Aunt Abbey:

Snack time!

Great Grandma Berna also came up and stayed a night with us. It was fun for her to get to spend some one on one time with my kids. My kids loved it and played with them as much as possible. Plus she gave them each a dollar to go get an ice cream cone!

The Grandmas also watched our kids one night so that Jefferson and I could go see a movie. It was wonderful to have a date night!\

Ashlee and I took the kids to the zoo one day.

And let them ride the carousel! Aren't we good moms?!Carter & Teage playing:

We did a lot more things with Teri here, but just failed to document it with photos. We had a lot of family dinners, sprinkler time at our houses, and just hanging out. For the last day Grandma Mitchy was in town we had a big bbq at my BIL's dad's house. The kids swam and we all ate entirely too much.

Prepare yourself for some eye candy...

The shorts were bought as a joke from DI, yet they continue to make appearances at family functions... hmmmm....

Yes ladies, he's all mine!

And so is he!

Taytum loves the water:

Kaleeya & Tay:

Ladies in black:

Grandma Mitchy & Tay:

Andi relaxing with Aunt Abbey:

The gang:Thanks for a great time Grandma Mitchy! We loved having you here!

Guest #1: Aunt Abbey

Aunt Abbey came home from serving an 18month mission for our church in Kirtland, Ohio. The kids all made signs to hold at the airport to welcome her home.

The men:

Taytum with her Aunt McKayla:

Here she comes!

Aunt Abbey meeting Taytum for the first time:

The five Harmon sibs:

After the airport we all headed out to lunch and got to be there when Abbey was released. That night we had a big family dinner at Jefferson's Grandma's house. It was a welcome home Abbey and goodbye farm dinner. Grandma Berna just sold her farm and she wanted to have one last hoorah with all the kids and grandkids before she moved. They all have a million wonderful memories of that place. She definitely knows how to go out in style. There was way too much food, true to Harding form, and there were tons of field games that everyone enjoyed. There were prizes for everyone, homemade fruit leather and homemade kettle corn to munch on. It was good old fashion fun!

Hello 2nd Trimester

I just wanted to record a little bit about this pregnancy. It's been a little different than my previous three and slightly unexpected. For about four months, or maybe more, I have occasionally had those feelings that someone was missing. I would be sitting at the table with all three of my kids and feel like someone was still upstairs napping. I would be holding Taytum, and Carter and Andi were playing in the living room, and I would look on the floor for another child. I have heard of people saying that they have felt that before, but it was/is such an odd thing to experience myself. So, I knew that we were bound to have another baby pretty soon.
(Sorry if any of this is TMI...don't feel obligated to read) We weren't trying to get pregnant, but we weren't not trying either. In May I was six days late and thought maybe that I was pregnant, negative pregnancy test, regular period, nevermind. Then I had a cycle smack dab in the middle of my cycle. That, plus an abnormal pap last September made me think that maybe it was about time I go in for my repeat. Got that scheduled and was a little nervous that maybe something really was up with my body. I also kind of had a feeling that maybe I wouldn't get pregnant until the fall, for whatever reason. Then I was in Klamath for girls' week in July and was about five days late. I told Jefferson to bring up one of my pregnancy tests I had stashed at home, but not really thinking I was pregnant still. He came up at the end of the week, I took the pregnancy test and those two little pink lines came up immediately! I was so surprised! And excited! And I cried... for a couple of different reasons.
I was pretty nauseous for the first few weeks. I tried to play down my symptoms as much as possible on our family vacation to Sunriver the next week. I forced myself to eat things that did not sound good at all. I couldn't eat as much as I normally would have. A few people may have picked up on some of those hints....
Then from about 8-12 weeks I would have random bouts of morning sickness. I would feel absolutely fine, and then all of a sudden breakfast was making a come back and I would feel sick for a few hours after that. I have thrown up a total of 2 times in three pregnancies and have thrown up about 6 times with this one alone. I'm not complaining, because the rest of the time I feel fantastic. But this pregnancy is markedly different.
Until that first ultrasound I kind of felt uneasy about the pregnancy. Again, I'm not sure why. But as soon as we had that ultrasound I felt at ease and relieved to see everything was okay in there.
We are super excited for this baby. It's not the usual giddy excitement I feel like I've had with my last three babies, but more of a calm excited. Maybe because it's baby number four and everyone just kind of expects it, or maybe because I'm not sure how four kids at home is going to be. Did I mention I'll have four kids four years old and younger for a month! It's going to be a crazy first year, but a good one.
The kids are so excited for another sibling. Andi constantly says to Jefferson, "Dad... Mom has a baby in her tummy." Kind of like she's letting him in on a little secret or something. She also always wants to "feel the baby" and she'll just place her hand on my tummy, even though there's not really a baby bump to feel, and certainly no movement to feel from the outside yet. Carter is more intrigued with the growth of the baby and how the baby is not ready to come out yet. He talks about how the baby needs to grow more and how it is still red. We showed him a picture of what the baby looks like right now developmentally and it has a red hue to it, so that's what he thinks. Plus with the transparent skin on the baby, it really is probably kind of red. Taytum is clueless. :)
I forget I'm pregnant quite frequently, but get excited when I remember. We should find out mid/late October what we're having. We can't wait to find out if it's a girl or a boy, but don't care either way. He/she will be loved!
PS... the pooch has officially arrived as of about two days ago.

The 1st of many firsts

Carter's first day of preschool was on Wednesday. Let's just say he was way more prepared for it than Mom was. I kind of talked it up, afraid that he might have second thoughts about it once he realized he had to go by himself, that Andi or Mom wasn't coming with him, etc. Nope. We drove up to preschool and I said, "Do you want me to walk you up to the door?" And Carter said, "No, I can do it. Bye Mom! Have fun at joyschool Andi!" And he closed the door, turned around and waved and ran up to the door for preschool. I started to cry immediately. When did he grow up and become so independent?! I was not prepared. I know it's just preschool. It's 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours, but this is the beginning of first days of school for forever now! He might as well be going off to college! And if you are a mom, I am sure you know what I'm talking about when I say, I hate not seeing him do and learn new things. I love seeing my kids discover and explore. I have a hard time dropping him off at a birthday party because I don't want to miss anything. I don't even have to be involved, just let me be a fly on the wall.

I digress... Carter loves preschool. He had tons of fun things to say about it. After his first day of school, I bought donuts, so we all went home, had donuts and milk and talked all about school. I loved it.

Carter's first day also happened to be Andi's first day of joyschool. We are rotating houses between five kids once a week. I was so glad Andi had something to look forward to that day. I am realizing one of the downfalls (if not the only one) of having kids this close in age is that the youngest one is always one step behind the older one. No preschool, no primary, no booster seat... yet. Andi also wanted to walk up to the door by herself and be Miss Independent. She is super social and just had a great time at joyschool.

That meant that Miss Taytum and I had the morning to ourselves. We went grocery shopping and enjoyed a little one on one time. This school thing is going to be great!

Out of date?

This picture was taken just weeks ago, aren't they so stinkin' cute?!

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Too bad it's already out of date!!!! That's right, we are expecting Harmon baby #4 in March 2011!

I'm 13 weeks along and feeling fantastic! This little one is just busy bouncing around in there like a little pinball. The ultrasound tech couldn't believe how busy this little one already is. We are in for it. The verdict is still out on whether it's a girl or a boy. We have 2 votes for a girl and 2 votes for a boy in our household. Taytum can't vote to swing it one way or the other. Let us know what you think to the right!

Welcome little one!! We cannot wait to meet you!

Mommy Moment

Carter: I love you Mom.
Me: I love you more.
Carter: I love you more ten times. That's a lot.
Me: (teary)