We Have a Niece!

I don't have any photos to post of her yet, but Jen and Roger had a little baby girl on October 31st - yes that's Harlie's birthday. So Mikey and I have a little niece named Zoey Rae, and Harlie has a new little cousin to share her birthday with. We are all so excited and I promise I'll get some photos on as soon as I can.

Be sure to read my multiple posts below.

Happy Harlie-Ween (Again)!

Well, this year was our third Harlie-Ween, and Har's second birthday. Here are some shots from all the festivities (in no particular order at all):

Decorating herself with a bow during gift-opening at her party

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Sporting her new shoes - the gift that got the best reaction of all. She wouldn't even finish opening the other presents until she put on the shoes. They did help complete her already wild and wacky outfit.
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Grinning from ear to ear while everyone sang "Happy Birthday". She LOVES being in the spotlight!

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Asher and Shawna. I can't believe he's getting so big already!

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Playing with her new kitchen - her birthday present from Mommy and Daddy. We figured it was worth the splurge because she'll be playing with it for years, and so will her sister.

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Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating. She just told people "more candy" to fill up her bucket!

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Taylor swinging at the pinata at John and Misty's Halloween party (thanks again, guys. We had a blast). I love the look on her face!
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Harlie and Daddy taking a turn

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Making a caramel apple at the party

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Mike got this adorable shot of her in her birthday outfit. She won't let me take her picture anymore. She has an emotional breakdown when I'm behind the camera. But if I tickle her Daddy while he takes her picture, it works great!

As you can see, she is usually sporting pigtails. I have to tell you all that they are not something I force on her in the mornings. She usually asks for them and helps me pick out what color ribbon to use. I tried to take them out before we went trick-or-treating so that her Minnie Mouse hood would go over her head easier, and she cried until I put them back in. She is a total girly girl!

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Wearing Mommy's witch hat and new boots

Bumper Crop

We had SO many spaghetti squash this year, I lost count. I'm guessing we had over 30. We gave a bunch away, ate a few, and froze enough to fill at least 15 gallon-size freezer bags. We'll be eating it all winter, all summer, and then some. It's a good thing we all love it in this house, although I don't even want to look at another for at least a month. Anyway, here are some pics from a day in October when we filled the wheel barrow with what we picked of the spaghetti squash, some zucchini, and some yellow summer squash. We picked some before that day, and we just picked a bunch more today, but these pictures are of the bulk of it. Crazy!

Anniversary Weekend

Way back in September, Mikey and I went away for two nights while Aunt Jenny and Gigi watched Harlie. I'm just getting around to the photos, so I thought I'd share them. Harlie did great while we were gone, of course, and I only cried twice because I missed her. I think that's pretty good considering I'd never spent a night away from her! Anyway, we stayed in the same room at Green Gables that we'd stayed in after our wedding, and it was nice to just relax and be lazy. I really wish I'd taken photos of our dinners at the restaurant, but I didn't, and I can't even describe how beautiful everything looked before we hogged it down. Definitely worth the money, but something we could only afford to do once a year.

Huddleson Court - Green Gables' little getaway area

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My handsome hubby

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Let's see... I was 17 weeks pregnant at this point. I'm even larger now...

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One bad thing about going away just the two of us? No one to take our picture!

Ultrasound Results

Well guys, we had our ultrasound today and I know you're all itching to hear the news. I will first tell you that we have to have another at my next appointment (4 weeks from now) because the baby kept its hands in front of its face, and they were unable to get a good look at the mouth and nose. From what they did see, they saw a small black line through the upper lip (they say it's probably a shadow from the umbilical cord, but they want to be safe and check) and they want to rule out the possiblity of it being a cleft lip. We're trying not to stress about it because the chance is pretty slim, and they really don't think that's what they saw, but we have to consider the chance. So please say your prayers that we don't have such a problem to deal with.

Everything else was perfectly normal and healthy, and we got to see the little GIRL moving all around. So we can all look forward to Jordan Brianne being born somewhere around February 22-27 (my dates are still a little off). Mike's worried that he's going to be run out by all us girls eventually. I keep reminding him that he has a boy puppy and two boy kitties on his side!

For those of you who care, and aren't grossed out by girly things, my placenta is in the front again, which explains why I haven't felt anything from the baby just yet. Most gals feel the baby around 16 weeks (especially in a second pregnancy) and I have yet to feel anything at 20 weeks. The placenta (when placed where mine is) acts like a cushion to the blows from baby kicks, making them feel (when you can finally feel them at all) like butterflies. With Harlie I couldn't feel a thing until about 25-28 weeks, and I didn't feel her strongly until I had probably only 6 weeks to go. It's sort of a frustrating experience, because you worry more since you can't feel reassuring movement, but it's all I know at this point, so I can deal with it okay, with only a small panic between my appointments.

We are so excited to have another little girl. We would have been thrilled by a boy as well, but now we know and we can start planning. It will be so easy, though, to just unpack the boxes we have of Harlie's things. We don't really need anything else, except of course the diapers we'll be buying countless boxes of, and the play yard we need to replace the one we had that was recalled. Of course we spent that money long ago on bills since we didn't know at the time whether or not we could get pregnant again, but that's an easy thing to pick up.

Well, I'm off to watch some Clifford with Harlie, or to avoid the show completely, whichever she allows me to do. They do become our bosses, don't they?!

Thanks for reading if you got this far. Love you guys!

Recent Photos

Here are some recent photos I wanted to share. I'll try to caption under each one. Excuse the order - I don't feel like fiddling with them.

Har at her Aunt Jenny's Baby Shower. She's chowing on one of my chocolate chip cookies.

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Jenny finally looking pregnant. Beautiful, right?

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Being a cow at the Cambria County Fair. She LOVES poking her head through those things!

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In front of the cows at the fair. This was one of her favorite activities this summer. She's definitely my kid!

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Shaking hands with a "cow"
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Petting a bunny rabbit - her favorite part of the fair. She went from cage to cage telling us all about the rabbits - "White bunny!" "Gray bunny!" "Bunny's water!" Who knew bunnies could be so exciting?

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Calling a goat to come see her

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Look Mommy!

Sweet Child of Mine

I'm headed to work at the church in a minute or two, but I just have to post quickly about Harlie. She has learned so much, and I'm realizing I can't sneak anything past her. She just told me "Mommy bite" (some cereal). I said I was full, and pretended to bite. She ordered me "Real bite!" so I had to do it. It cracks me up, but at the same time I think of all of the things she knows at this point. Every day she learns new things - she's starved for knowledge I swear. She's become quite obsessed with Clifford (the TV show) which she has on DVD. The other day she informed Gloria (her Gigi) that before they went to visit Gram and Pap she wanted to "watch Clifford first". Where do they learn to talk so much and so well???

I have a ton of new photos to post, and I hope to do that today or tomorrow. Also, Harlie has moved into her toddler bed. She informed us that she needed "more light" to sleep in it all night, so we moved her nightlight next to the bed and we haven't had a problem since. So I hope to take some photos of her now completed Tinkerbell room to share with you as well.

Have a good day!