Very Brief Update

Well, considering it's 1:20 AM...this will be short. I'll post again with more details, but wanted to say all is going well. I didn't have to be in the hospital on Christmas, we convinced them to release us on Christmas Eve. We have another beautiful little boy, and are SO blessed. I have much more to show and write, but this will have to suffice for the time being. However, Janie has posted a couple of pictures from the hospital. You can link to her blog listed as the "Pace's". It is no longer the newest post so you'll have to scroll down.

Happy Holidays!

Tomorrow is the Day

Somehow I managed to get everything out of order, but don't have time to change it. You'll know what I mean.

I don't have much time to post, but wanted to do a little update since life is going to get crazy really soon, tomorrow, to be exact. I'm officially 37 weeks along today! Whoohoo! I made it farther than I did with Cameron, and am considered full-term today. However, my blood pressure has remained high and been a concern. In addition to that, my baby is growing at an ALARMING rate. I was already measuring very large, but between weeks 35 and 36 he grew approximately 3 weeks worth! WHOA! So after being at the doctor 3 times last week doing many nonstress tests, much blood work, ultrasound, and discovering I was already dilated to a 3 at the end of the week... I am being induced tomorrow. Needless to say my fear of being in the hospital on Christmas day is most likely going to happen. Oh well, there are worse things right?

My life is in transition is many ways. I can't believe Cameron is so grown up. Here are a couple of pictures of him as a baby. It's weird to not think of him as my baby anymore, but he certainly is not. I guess we'll know soon enough if my two boys resemble each other at all.

So, tomorrow is the day. It's odd to know when it's going to happen. I thought it would be a relief, but I've actually been a little anxious about it. Anyway, it'll probably be a while before I post again, so Merry Christmas everyone!

Random Pictures

Cameron loved moving the cows with his dad, and on his very own horse he named Charlie. It was the final move before we sold them. I think it was sad for Wes and Cameron, not so much for me. It's not a joy being this pregnant and chasing cows back in the field every single time Wes went out of town! The last picture is Cameron in his new suit before church. He really likes it, and tells me "My handsome" everytime he wears it. For some reason he chooses not to say "I" most of the time and instead uses "me" or "my". It's cute though, so I rarely correct him. He often says, upon leaving the new house, "Let's go to me old house". I guess I should have dressed him as a pirate for Halloween.

When it rains, it pours

Doesn't it seem like when things get crazy, they get REALLY crazy? That's how it is in my life anyway. I think describing our lives as crazy might be an understatement though. So I guess I'm giving my excuses again for never posting. :)

Anyway, I'm 34 1/2 weeks along now. I'm feeling pretty well and can't complain. Although the realization (and slight panic attack) hit me at my last doctors appointment that I never made it to my 36 weeks appointment with Cameron. If I delivered as early this time around I'd only have about 8-9 days to go, which doesn't sound all that bad (if he's healthy), except...I don't have my Christmas shopping even close to done, my house is a wreck, we're getting to crunch time on getting the house done (choosing carpet, furniture, etc)--so I should not only be cleaning but at least starting to pack a few things. I also want to do a bunch of other things that would be easier to do now than with a newborn, like go to the temple, get Cameron's picture taken, get my hair done, use my giftcard on a pedicure before it expires, etc. etc. Besides the usual--taking care of a two year old, grocery shopping, making dinner, paying bills...you all know the drill.

On top of all this my blood pressure keeps creeping up, so even if I don't deliver early I'm paranoid I'll be put on bedrest. Wes reassures me that everything will be fine, but I just don't think everyone wants giftcards or cash for Christmas, at least not the kids! Did I mention I happened to somehow wash a diaper with a load of laundry today? Yuck! At least it wasn't a dirty one, but a washer full of wet/gel bead things is no fun!

Things aren't as bad as I make them out to be. I'm so excited for the house to be coming together. It is such a blessing to be in a situation to get into our own house, and getting to choose how I want it to be. It seems like it has been a long process, but we really only got started the first week of July, so it's coming together really quite fast. Thanksgiving was great! We got to eat twice! What's better than that? Especially since I'm gaining weight no matter what I eat, so what's wrong with eating pie twice in a day?

Cameron is excited for the baby to come. I think he understands more all the time. We're clueless about a name, but Cameron has been confident in his choice for about 6 weeks now--never wavering! Without any input from anyone he has chosen the name Pickle! Yes, Pickle. Pickle Harris to be exact. He's only come up with two other names on his own, but they were both short lived. Rob, which I assume he chose because he ADORES his uncle Robbie, and Buddy was just out of the blue.

**Quick story about how Cam loves Robbie. He loved watching Robbie play football, and if possible, is even more excited to watch him play basketball. Cameron loves all sports and often says, "When I get bigger, I'm gonna play _________" fill in the blank with all the major sports and "bolleyball" on down to tennis, golf, and bowling. Toward the end of football season Robbie broke his arm in a football game and Cameron started saying, "When I get bigger, I wanna hurt my arm playing football!" It's a good thing Robbie is a good example because Cameron wants to be exactly like him.

One last thing about the baby. I had my last ultrasound about a month ago and the tech pointed out hair! You could see this little guys hair floating above his head. I thought it was so cool! Now it will be interesting to see if he is a little toe-head (SP?) like Cameron or have coloring like my family. Time will tell I guess.

So I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season, and will excuse me for my lack of future posts as I will likely be attempting to complete all of the above in about a week. Wish me luck!!!

Gardner's Village Outing

We went to Gardner's Village over UEA. It was a lot of fun. Cameron loved all the decorations and witches walking around. His excitement makes the holidays so much more fun. We then HAD to go in the petting zoo, which consisted of very few animals--kind of disappointing, and then had a pony ride. Cameron loved the pony ride and was really quite patient waiting for his turn for about 45 MINUTES! Wes could not believe we waited in line to ride a pony when we have at least 5 horses he could ride at home. Oh well. He loved it. He's definitely an animal lover. I wonder where he got that from??? :)

Pregnancy Diaries

I went to the doctor yesterday. I'm officially 30 weeks along. So my body has this way of not really showing for several weeks, then suddenly, I mean SUDDENLY showing a large pregnant belly, and gaining weight like CRAZY! It's pretty depressing when you go to the doctor and she looks at your chart and says, "Is this weight reading right? You really gained that much last month?" I didn't really pay attention to the scale, but figured it was right. I pretty much make the same food choices I always have, but do eat larger portions. I don't know...I just don't feel like I should let myself be hungry either. Oh well, I did the exact same thing with Cameron. So I guess I won't fret too much.

A month ago, our little guy grew 5 weeks worth in 4 weeks. So I have been measuring 4 weeks ahead for 2 months now. Maybe he's just having a major growth spurt. I don't really have pictures of my pregnant belly, but here's a shot from Labor Day when I was 21 weeks along. Then below are some odd shots of my belly (the way I am bending over does make it look huge!) just 6 short weeks later at a Halloween Party.

Other exciting, well maybe stressful news...since I had Cameron so early my doctor said we'll celebrate if I make it to 37 weeks. So she got out her little chart to see when that is, and it is December 22!!! I really do not want to be in the hospital for Christmas. Everybody keep your fingers crossed that I have him later than that!

**Cameron normally loves pinatas. He was extremely grumpy in these pictures.

Cameron Story

I just didn't want to forget this story, so here goes...

Cameron likes to run around in just his diaper, sometimes less, but still refers to himself as naked even with the diaper. One night when he was "naked" and playing and Wes had had a particularly stressful day I said, "Cameron, tell Dad not to be so stressed." to which he jumped up pointing to himself and excitedly exclaimed "Daddy get naked like me!"

SO EXCITED!

To some, this might not seem very exciting. However, in my mind this is cause for celebration! Hee, hee!

Old Navy has made a Tall department!!!! Gap has had one for about a year and half now, and it must be catching on. Not only do they sell longer inseams (because longs just will not do!), but they adjust everything to be proportional and add length in the sleeves too! WOOHOO! Haven't really bought anything except some lounge pants, because although they're catching on to people being tall, they still haven't figured out that tall people have babies too.

Excuses, excuses

I know I'm a huge slacker in the blog department, I admit it. In fact, I admit that as of late I'm a slacker in many other departments as well. I finally have a few pictures to post, but haven't downloaded them yet because...you guessed it...I'm a slacker! So here are my excuses:

1- I knew I spoke to soon on the headache issue. That very next day I got a scary bad headache. On my drive home after exercising I got this weird blindspot, then later my left hand and forearm went numb. I chalked it up to being really tired until the numbness happened, so I called the doc. They made me run get my bloodpressure checked. Everything was fine, it was just the precursor to my killer migraine that decided not to strike until several hours later and lasted through the night.

2- After a couple more headaches that week, I seem to be past them for the most part...knock on wood! However, because of my past preterm delivery issue, Wes was giving me weekly progesterone shots (kind of scary, I know!). After the fourth shot I seemed to have developed an allergy to the oil the hormone is put in and had severely itchy legs for about 2-3 weeks. Like keep you awake in the night itchy! So less sleep attributes to grumpy mom, and prone to more headaches, and more slacking.

3- Now I'm a little freaked out about overexerting (SP?) myself while exercising and so I haven't been to workout since then. Which totally fits in to my new slacker lifestyle, but not the part of my brain that says, "You are paying for time you are not using, and that is NOT okay!" So I'm in a little turmoil over this one.

4- This excuse has nothing to do with my excuses really, just the pregnancy, but I wondered if anyone else has experienced this. So I've never really been clumsy, never slipped where I actually fell on the ice or anything. I've always felt rather in control of my body and balance. When I read books about people saying they feel awkward or clumsy, like Bella from the Twighlight series, I just don't feel like I can relate, I don't even really have memorable embarassing moments...until now. I assume it's the pregnancy, because I've had the weirdest experiences where I feel like out of the blue time suddenly moves into slow motion and I see myself falling and there's nothing I can do about it. The worst one, I was even wearing gym shoes, was when Cameron and I walked out of the sandwich shop in Kamas on Main Street with a sack of sandwiches. I clicked for the truck to unlock right before I stepped off the curb when all of the sudden I was falling. My mind had plenty of time to think several things, like "I'm glad I'm not holding Cameron right now", and "Oh look there is the truck handle, I'm going to be able to save myself". Then just as my hand reached the doorknob and my body was spiraling to the ground "Oh shoot I just unlocked the doors!" as the door flew open, and instead of falling straight to the ground projected me backward where I rolled up on my upperback, now back on the sidewalk and against a telephone pole. Somehow managing to nicely set the sandwiches on the sidewalk. Fortunately Cameron didn't decide to head into the road, because frankly I couldn't have stopped him if I'd wanted at this point, but instead he burst into tears. No serious damage was caused, but lucky for me there were plenty of bystanders to squeal in horror as the pregnant lady almost killed herself on the sidewalk and tramatized her child. To this day, if I talk about falling down Cameron gets upset and says, "No falling down, Mom" or "Jody" as he normally refers to me. He understands most things, but apparently doesn't understand that I would never do that on purpose.

Well, now that I've done plenty of rambling I'd better get to bed. Maybe now that I've admitted I'm a slacker I can start the road to recovery.

Not Much Going On

Not much is going on right now. Well, except for having a HORRIBLE cold for, I don't know, the last 12 DAYS! I completely forgot how inconvenient it is to be pregnant and not be able to take any medicine. Other than this, the pregnancy has been going pretty great. I haven't gotten a migraine in a while now, and have been feeling quite well. In fact, I've been feeling so well it seems I'm enjoying food far too much lately. What I'm going to eat next seems to occupy my mind way too much. My camera is currently out of commission so I don't have any pictures right now, but I'm almost 23 1/2 weeks along and have rather suddenly began to show in the last 2-3 weeks. The upside to this is people realize I'm not just getting chubby! It's always awkward to see someone you haven't seen in awhile and feel the need to throw "I'm pregnant" into the conversation.

Cameron is growing like a weed and talking more than ever. He cracks me up everyday with the things he says. I need to do a better job of writing these things down, and since I'm not doing it on paper I should at least do it here. Today he started enthusiastically waving as I was loading the truck with groceries, so I asked him who he was waving at, thinking it must certainly be a relative to receive such a wave. His matter-of-fact response, "Women". I couldn't believe it. I chuckled and said "You're waving to women?" and he said, "Women in cars". I think I might be in trouble with this little guy and the ladies!?!

He also had some sort of flying insect chasing him outside (I didn't really see it, but heard it buzz) and was pretty upset about it. So I casually said just shoo them away with your hand. He immediately began waving his hands and singing, "Shoo fly, bother me No! NO!" He apparently only caught on to part of the shoo fly song.

Lastly he has started responding to any mildly bad news, such as you have to sleep in your own bed, with "Oh DEAR!"

House Update

Here are some shots of the house. It is finally becoming a reality! We've just finished all the plumbing, heating, electrical, etc. and have our 4-way inspection tomorrow. We're keeping our fingers crossed, because if we pass tomorrow we'll be ready to insulate right away. The first picture is the back of the house that looks out over the valley. The bottom pictures are the view from some of our (dirty) windows. The view is the only thing that makes up for the road up to the house. We'll probably get moved in just in time to really put our 4-wheel drive to use, and with our utah/kamas weather it will be good-bye to having clean cars!



Cameron absolutely loves 'his new house'. He knows how to get there and directs me as we drive "go dis way to my new house" and when we hit the bumps in the road he'll say, "Easy Mom". He loves to play in all the dirt and rocks, and work on the house with all the tools. It's a little boys dreamland. It's going to be a shock for him when we move in and he can't beat on the walls with hammers and run around all muddy! :) My favorite part is his enthusiasm about it all. He shows everyone his room, which according to him changes all the time, but I love it most when he very excitedly says, "My weendows!" Who knew he'd get so excited about the windows!? Anyway, we decided not to general contract ourselves, and it has been so wonderful. Mike McNulty is doing it, and he has done a fantastic job!

Memories

Okay, so I've seen this before and thought it would be fun. I hope you play along. Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory about Wes or me. It doesn't matter if you know us a little or alot, just anything you remember.
2. Next, re-post the directions in your blog and see what memories get left for you.
If you leave a comment, I'll check back to your blog to see if you've decided to play along so I can leave a memory for you too.

We know what we're having!

The Wedding

The big day came and went. The temple was HOT (101 degrees) but still very nice. My parents' yard looked magnificent with the huge tent and blooming flowers everywhere, the new deck and fabulous desserts along with live music by Kalai made the night a lot of fun. I actually spent much of the night hauling food in and out because the kitchen crew just couldn't keep up with the crowd, but it was still fun. Cameron was surprisingly very excited to wear his new dress clothes for the wedding. The tie is his most prized possession for the time being.


I never have pictures of myself to include. So here are a couple at the temple.

Cameron and Baylee trying to escape. They were done with the pictures and heat.
Grady with all his nephews. Only Logan and Cameron are from our side.
Here's a shot with Janie. I have a few more pictures I'll post in a while.

July

July is one of my favorite months. We always have so much fun with friends and family during the 4th and 24th holidays. My mom has pictures from the 4th so I don't have any to post right now, and those are my only two from the 24th. We did the usual...parade and rodeo in Oakley, family barbeques...rodeo and derby in Kamas. I can't believe July has already come and gone. I'm always a little sad when July ends. Cameron was really well behaved at all the events and really enjoyed the parade. He sat nicely, ran for candy, and enthusiastically waved to everyone that passed. The top picture is Cameron waiting patiently for Wes to saddle the horse so they could go for a ride. He's sporting his favorite truck shirt and cowboy hat--he's getting really into his cowboy gear, including boots with shorts! The second one is what I saw when I pulled into the driveway after the Kamas rodeo. He was exhausted after staying after the rodeo to watch Wes in the slack.

What are we going to get?

Yep, we're going to get a baby. We have to be very specific in saying 'we' are going to get it. If we say 'Mom' is having a baby Cameron usually yells, "NO! My baby!" Oh the joys of 2 year olds! Cameron seems very excited, though I'm sure he doesn't really understand. His prediction from the start has been the same, so I guess we'll see. I know this is old news to several of you, but thought I'd post it anyway. I'm just past 15 weeks. Due date is January 12th.

Peter Potty

Meet Peter Potty--the flushing potty training urinal. I believe this will be our families next purchase. I never even knew these existed until recently. Cameron has continued to show enthusiasm to be potty trained. Not everytime he needs to go, but he is going several times each day. Apparently after going twice in one day, after my last post, Cameron felt pretty confident in his abilities. He refused to let me take him to the potty all that day, but decided Daddy could take him as soon as he got home. Wes followed him, with me close behind, to the bathroom and upon getting himself undressed proceeded to STAND over his potty chair! He didn't even make a mess! Since then he has shown immense interest in going outside and has done it successfully a couple of times now. It's a little bit of a battle to get him to sit on his potty chair now, which I'm beginning to demand because his success at aiming into his little potty chair has been very hit and miss! :)

What a boy!

A few things...

On an exciting note: well, probably not to anyone else but me, Cameron has decided to use the potty! YEA! He's not trained yet, we're still in the very beginning stages. However he went last night before bed and twice today. I would so LOVE to be done with diapers. So if any of you have any good potty training advice I'd love to hear it because I have no idea what we're doing, he just decided to start going. Although he doesn't tell me everytime, so I'm not sure how ready he really is?

All of the puppies except one are now gone. We had a lot of fun for a week or two and then having 5 puppies maul him all the time was more than Cameron wanted to deal with. Here are a few shots of the puppies and Cameron. I think I miss them more than Cameron does.

Cameron has been in his "really independent" stage for awhile now, and as a result of this stage he took quite a bad fall on the concrete at Grandma Sandy's house. This picture is 2-3 days after the incident and he still looks pretty bad. His goose-egg was enormous and then he got two black eyes. I think it was worse for me than him though. The sad part is, I'm sure this is only the beginning!

Cameron is absolutely loving the summer weather. I usually have to take him kicking and screaming into the house, or else have a very good bribe. He just wants to be outside all day long. I'll get more pictures of him with the his new favorite love -- horses. He talks about riding them everyday. He is definitely his father's child.

About Us Part 2

I'm finally doing a little catching up, Wes is out of town and Cameron's asleep. So here goes part 2...
Wes and I got married and moved to Ogden in a very scary area along the Ogden river. I look back now and wonder "What were we thinking?" Wes had just come back from Brazil and thought it was a great place. It's rather amazing we made it through that place with only minor things such as the starter stolen off the truck. (We lived just down the street from where all the gay men met up at all hours on the side of the road, and the scent of marijuana was always present in the hallway.) We both went to Weber and worked. Wes also began to college rodeo on scholarship. Andy Woolstenhulme and his wife were also rodeoing so we traveled with them and it was a lot of fun.

Luckily we moved to a better area in Ogden, a gated apartment directly behind the Ogden temple. Wes continued going to school while I student-taught at Roy Elementary. After I graduated we moved back to Oakley and Wes commuted to school. I got a job at South Summit Elementary teaching 1st grade and loved it. During school Wes worked at the Grand America Hotel as a bellman, then worked for the S Bar S Ranch as a horse trainer, and then on his own as a horse trainer. He became an even more accomplished horse rider and trainer. Besides roping he entered the new arenas of reining and cutting. He also became very intrigued and educated about horse bloodlines and breeding. He even got quite skilled with horse ultrasound. (He could tell Cameron was a boy before the ultrasound tech could even tell us just because of his experience.) This is why we have 4 broodmares and a stud (stallion) horse among our 15 somewhat horses. We also have 40 cows and 2 dogs. We are definitely downsizing our animal numbers this summer. There's just not time for them all.

Wes really considered being a vet. He easily could be one, he already does everything a vet does, but we were led down a different path. Before Wes graduated he got a job in Orthopedic Sales and then graduated from Weber. He still carries the first line, but also works for OrthoPro, based in Salt Lake.

So there's part 2. Not much left for part 3.

Race for the Cure

Well, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures, but my family (Mom, Amber, Amber's friend Kate, along with a cousin and another friend) did the annual 5k Race for the Cure. We have done it for, oh, about 5 years now and it has been such a wonderful experience--rain or heat. This year started pretty cold, but ended up being beautiful for such an event. I take Cameron in his stroller so I can haul everyone's water bottles and jackets. There were 17,000 people participating this year. I saw one survivor being pushed in a wheelchair by her elderly husband across the finish line. There are just not words to describe the emotions this event brings.

We do it in memory of my mom's mother Beverly (Grandma Bevy) who died from breast cancer at the young age of 55. She was such a remarkable woman, that much was clear to me even though I only knew her until I was 8.

A little behind!

I wish this blog were about me having a little behind, but it's NOT!

Okay, so I'm a lazy blogger. I've gotten a little behind. Isn't admitting it the first step? I will update very soon.

Also, for you blogger friends that have sitemeter and such, if it ever shows that I was viewing your blog for an excessive amount of time, I just want to let you know I get easily distracted (Cameron, telephone, etc.) and then leave the blog up for awhile. I swear I don't obsess about some of your blogs. Just thought I'd throw out my random explanation.

Updates

Happy Birthday Cameron! Cameron turned 2 this past week. I can't believe it was 2 years ago that Wes and I decided (with a little help from Lara) that perhaps it wasn't false labor after all. So without telling anyone we took a Sunday afternoon drive to the hospital, still in denial that our little boy would be born that day, 4 weeks and 2 days early.

Cameron has been such an easy baby and little boy. He is so fun. He idolizes his dad and tries to be very helpful to his mom. He is quick to give hugs and kisses. Loves all animals, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents very much. He has brought so much joy and meaning to our lives. We have been so blessed to have this little boy, and we are so excited to watch him continue to grow.

Here are a few pictures from the party, and also of the cake I made. The candles pulled some of the frosting off, also I got pretty hurried and got a little sloppy with it so don't look too closely. :)

The newest members of the rather large Harris Animal Clan. Our dog Kate, much to our surprise, became pregnant and had puppies Sunday afternoon. Then one more Monday afternoon right when Cameron and I went out to check them. (5 Total) I guess we've started the 'miracle of life' education rather early with Cameron! No, luckily I don't think he really noticed anything, he was too busy anxiously awaiting a game of fetch with Gus.

Now for the guessing game of who the puppies' dad is?

Our first foal of the year. She's a cute little philly that loves to run in circles as fast as her little legs will take her.

Can you say CHEESE!?!

Cameron has learned from the BEST (Logan and Baylee) to give a nice cheesy grin to the camera. Grandma Sandy thought it would be fun to snap some pictures of the them together. This is just a sample of the fabulous cheesy smiles she got.