Two Months!- December 29th!

Today Luke turned 2 months old! He is growing so fast!

Luke,

You are now 2 months old!
You love our soothie. I don't know what I would do without it! You are sleeping better- you have had several days now where you have napped for a few hours at a time, which is a huge improvement from your 15 minute cat naps that you were taking.
Last night you slept 9 hours straight! Praise God!
Sometimes when you sleep you stick your hands straight out in the air- like you are praising the Lord. It is so cute!
You have had your first Christmas- we were with your dad's family for Christmas this year.
You love your Bobba and Joey. They spoiled you so much this Christmas with all your gifts!
You are becoming more vocal- you will talk making vowel sounds, and you have the cutest little squeal when you are super happy. You also love standing up. Standing and looking around are defiantly your top things that you love to do.
You are liking your swing a little more, but still aren't a huge fan. You enjoy sitting up in your bumbo and watching everyone around you.
You are changing more and more each day, and trying to 'figure you out' is so much fun. You are blessing my life daily.

Love,
Mommy

Limo XMas Light Tour!

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law's anniversary was last Thursday and instead of going out by themselves and celebrating, they decided to rent a limo and invite friends to go Christmas light admiring. We went to an awesome neighborhood in Arlington that was covered in lights. Christopher, my brother-in-law, rented a blue hummer limo, named Goliath for 8 of us to ride around in looking at lights. My mother-in-law and a girl from church watched the 2 babies and my 2 year old nephew. It was so nice to get out and away for a few hours! On our way home we stopped at La Hacienda and had amazing dessert. It was a blast! I hope Christopher and Tiffany want to celebrate like this every year!

Andrew and I:

In the limo!

Christopher and Tiffany:

The group (minus Andrew- somebody had to take the picture!):

Craig and Leah:

Jon Mark and Keali:

One month!- November 29th!

I know this is a late post, but I though I would share pics and thoughts about Luke when he was one month old. I am proud of myself for even getting this posted at all, because some days getting dressed and brushing my teeth is an accomplishment!
I was told that Luke would consume all my time- man does he! But I love him- so it's ok! :)

Luke,

Now that you are one month old you are becoming aware of so much more around you! You love lights- especially the ones on the Christmas tree. You love to stare at them.
You aren't a big fan of your swing, but you love your lay and play gym/mat thing! You lay there for 30 minutes at a time just staring and squealing.
You have had your first cold. Daddy and I have been taking turns steaming you in the shower to help you breath better. And we have been rubbing you down in vapor rub to help you breath better.
You are sleeping about 5-6 hour straight at night and then waking up every 3 hours after that.
You are finally fitting into 0-3 month clothes! Yay!
You love to eat and are eating every 2 hour during the day.
At night you will squirm and squirm fighting me to go to sleep, and the second I hand you to your dad you are lights out. He must have some magic power that I don't, but I am so thankful that you have that bond with him!
You just met your new cousin Taylor Jo- she was born on Nov. 22 and y'all are 3 weeks apart. I hope that you and Taylor will be the best of friends!
For awhile you were having pain after you were eating, and we finally figured out that you have acid reflux, and you're now on Prevacid to help with that- and you take the meds. like a champ!
You aren't into napping much during the day- you love to take quick 20 min. naps making it a little difficult for me to get anything done.
I love your little smile! Every time you look at me with that smile I melt! It is just too prescious!

Love,
Mommy

Breakfast with Santa

Last weekend Luke went and saw Santa at church. I figured that this would be the least germy Santa that we could find! Luke, like the good child he is, asked Santa for diapers, his hospital bills to be paid and for hair on the top of his head. I hope Santa brings him all 3 for Christmas, but the hair might be a stretch. Right now he has the old man ring- hair on both sides and the back, but bald on top. He does have a little fuzz coming in and I am hopeful that it turns into beautiful hair.


His cousins even came and they got a group picture together! Brazos is the proud big cousin of Luke and even more proud big brother of his sister, Taylor. Luke and Taylor are three weeks apart- they are going to be best friends!

A Baby Story

The past 2 weeks have been very different from any other time in my life. Having a baby really does change your world. 2 weeks ago I was sitting in a L&D room waiting for Luke to come. Here is our baby story....
On Thursday the 28th Andrew and I went to my doctor because we were past our due date and Luke was making no attempt to show up. We really wanted to wait and let my body go in to labor, but after sonogram my doctor encouraged us to be induced on Friday morning at 5 am. Andrew and I were a little uneasy about this because I had wanted to do everything natural, but the doctor said that this would be in the best interest of the baby because I was loosing fluid. So Friday morning at 5 am and Andrew and I arrive at the hospital in hope of having a normal induction and labor process, boy were we wrong. When we got there the nurse got me checked in and took my vitals. My blood pressure was really high, so she said I needed to calm down and she would check it in a few. Well when she checked it again it was even higher (at one point during the day it was 168/116), which apparently is really bad, so she called my doctor. My doctor came up to the hospital and said that I would have to be on an IV drip of Magnesium Sulfate for my BP, but the bad part is that the mag. made me really sick with flu like symptoms. And the even worse part was that I had to be on it for 24 hours after I had Luke. So the entire time that I was attempting to have a baby and while I was trying to enjoy my new baby I had the chills, a headache, body aches, etc. lets just say it was AWFUL. Andrew was great about it all. I had him turn down the room temp to 60 degrees because I was burning up, and Andrew and all the nurses were freezing, but they never even told me!
Now back to labor, so here I am being induced which means pitocin is making me have contractions, and I am on mag. which is relaxes muscles so that I don't have a seizure because of high blood pressure. I came into the hospital wanting to do a natural labor (no pain meds.) but because of my BP issues they wouldn't even let me sit up in bed, go to the bathroom(which using a bed pan is an awful, but hilarious situation), or walk around, making it impossible to bear the pain of a contraction when you can't even move, so hesitantly I decided to get an epidural. My doctor also was encouraging an epidural because every time I had a contraction my BP would rise. Anyways the epidural saved me. I could finally sleep, and I didn't have to worry about going to the restroom. So I am thinking I am home free all I have to do is wait to push. Nope. All of a sudden Luke's heart rate starts dropping after every contraction I have, which concerns the nurses, and they were telling me if that didn't stop that they would be doing an emergency c-section. Well after moving my body, putting me on oxygen and a few prayers, Luke's heart rate got better, so we could continue to wait. Finally it was time to 'push' which lasted about an hour and Luke was born with the cord around his neck (the reason his heart rate was dropping). He was a little purple, but he turned red quickly. After a 14 hour crazy labor a beautiful baby was born and I love him more and more each day.

I now have this face to look at every day!

Luke Walling Harmon

Luke Walling Harmon finally arrived on Oct. 29th at 8:47 pm. He was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. I know everyone really says their baby is the cutest in the world, but we really think ours is the cutest baby in the world!

Welcome to the world Luke Walling Harmon:

Luke's Room!

Luke's Nursery

I have finally finished everything for Luke's room. We are now officially ready for Luke to arrive! Here are a few pics of the final product:

We decided to do a chic farm theme.

A closet already stuffed with cute baby clothes:

Changing area: I found the dresser at an antique store for a steal!

Love the little windows! It adds so much light to the room.

Remember these from a few posts earlier? The only thing missing is a chair that is on its way soon from Pottery Barn to go under these!

This is a little horse I found at a JBF sale. When my nephew comes over this is the first thing he runs to- he is always wanting to 'ride the horsey', so I know Luke is going to love playing on it!

A fantastic Garage Sale find that was cleaned, sanded down, and painted!

Our crib that we absolutely love! (Thanks Kristen!!)
And our farm animal bedding- loovveee Pottery Barn baby bedding!

I am a sucker for anything monogrammed, labeled, or named. Let's just say Luke is defiantly going to know his name and initials. Andrew thinks I have gone a little overboard, but I don't think so.

These are my ghetto curtains that I made. It is my first real sewing thing that I actually followed a pattern and made, so I am proud of myself, but also well aware that they aren't the best, but I made them with love for Luke, so that's all that counts right?? (I might be redoing these later.)
This is probably my favorite thing in the entire room. Andrew and I wanted to put something special above his crib that had meaning, and decided to read the book Luke (since his name is Luke..get it?)and pick a scripture from Luke to put on the wall. We found this and loved it! It really reminds me that Jesus has such a great love for children and we want this scripture to be a blessing for Luke. Andrew's mom has a very talented friend who came over one day and painted this on the wall for us! We love it! Every time I go into his room I read this.


One week from today is my due date...so Luke could come anytime now-- the sooner the better for me. I am getting pretty uncomfortable and I am very anxious to see him.

Crafty Things

I have been spending a lot of my time making things for Luke. Here are a few other things that I have done.

I ordered these online and painted them to match Luke's room:


Andrew has been working hard painting a rocking chair:


But one of our favorite things is Luke's coming home outfit. Andrew and I thought and thought about what we wanted him to come home in. I really wanted it to have some sort of meaning, and not just something cute. We decided that a little ACU outfit would be cute, comfy and something all our children, boy or girl, could wear home. Also when he gets bigger and has to choose where he goes to school I can show him that he was a wildcat since he was born, and hopefully he will choose to go to ACU. When we went to Abilene I went to the campus store to get something, and of course ACU doesn't make anything small than 6 months, so I had to be creative. I cut this paw and logo out on freezer paper and made this shirt.

Less than a month until Luke arrives! We can't wait!

Farm Art

Well I have been working very hard to decorate Luke's room and I have been working on several projects for him. One of them is that I made some farm animal art. I had been looking on ETSY and saw several different ideas, and I thought to myself "I can do that". Well I tweaked some things and came up with this:

First I got 4 canvases.


Then I painted them colors that matched his room:


Then I found animal shapes that I liked (I searched coloring book pages online so that the lines would be smooth and not so detailed) and I cut them out.:

I trace them onto scrapbook paper:


Once the animals were all made I glued them onto the canvas and coated the entire thing with Mod-Podge, and then Andrew hung them on the wall:


They are probably a little ghetto, but I made them with love, so I hope Luke enjoys them!

Drawer Liners

I worked on a project today for Luke's room. I had purchased a dresser several months back from an antique store, but the drawers weren't that great inside. I decided to cut fabric and line the drawers with the fabric so Luke's cute clothes would be stored on a clean cute surface. It turned out better than I thought.

Before:
I used liquid starch to dip the fabric in:

Then I spread out the fabric in each drawer and let them dry and I now have cute lined drawers!

Catching Up

Well I know it has been a long time since I have last blogged (sorry!), but a lot has been going on since my last post. The main reason is that we have moved again! We moved down the road to Colleyville into a wonderful home and I have been spending most of my time trying to organize/unpack/and decorate. We have been here since Aug. 15th, but we just got internet Tuesday- therefore I couldn't blog or do anything else internet related- it drove me crazy. I have spent 3 weeks using my I phone trying to order things for Luke, pay bills, etc. It was very frustrating, but thankfully now we are fully equipped with cable and internet. Instead of doing several posts to catch you up here is what we have been up to lately:
-We moved to Colleyville (I promise this is our last move for a while).


We have been cleaning out over grown flower beds.
Before:


After:

We took our friends out to the lake and had a blast on the boat.


We painted Luke's nursery.



I don't want to give to much away, but here is a sneak peak of the final color. When his room is totally finished I will reveal it all! :)

I found this huge spider outside my bedroom window! Any spider experts out there know what kind of spider this is??

I watched my adorable nephew one morning, and we had so much fun!

I have been learning my way around Colleyville, and I even went to the library and got a library card and a book to read. And did you know that libraries have current movies and tv series that you can check out for free, for a week?? I have been checking out House and Andrew and I are hooked. They also have story time and I can't wait till Luke is old enough to go- he is going to love books! I am getting settled and 'nesting' as they call it. Luke will be here in 6 and 1/2 weeks! Yikes! Tonight we are going to my little (I say little, but he is 6 '4 and an offensive lineman)brother's football game. Go Abilene High! I hope they make it to state so that Luke can go see his uncle play football!