Family Picture

Below is our recent Family picture. The picture of Brad is from his 5 year pictures that we did in June, and the ones of Gabi and Sam are their 3 year and 6 month pictures! This is going to be my last family picture in my twenties!

Sam

Our Sam or as Gabi likes to call him (Sammie Whammer) is getting so big so fast! He is crawling around the house and not just crawling...he is zooming. In fact if crawling was a competitive sport, I am pretty sure he would have a gold medal. It is like all the sudden a force unknown to man is propelling my sweet, cute, adorable, yummy little guy forward at a pace not even a mother of one could keep up with...let alone a mother of 3!

Just today I found him in the bathroom twice, the hall once (scary), and he even scooted into the kitchen while I was doing stuff in there today.

He has discovered cords in outlets and has made best friends with them. He likes to tug on them and try to put them in his mouth. I promptly move him away and try to distract him, but ladies...you know what its like to have a man on a mission and they are not easily swayed. Sam is determined to hang out with those cords and no toy is going to satisfy that hunger!

It makes me remember all those trips to the park with Brad that involved me chasing after a little boy who couldn't decide what to play with next and constantly moving from one end of the park to the other. I daresay I am about to be one busy momma! I can only pray he crawls for a long time and doesn't decide to walk anytime soon. Although I just can't seem to stop smiling when I see him or hold him and think we are so incredibly blessed to have this little motor butt propelling around our home!

At the request of Lynnette I am posting some more pictures of my little guy. I sure wish you all could see him, because in person he will make you melt...you can't even begin to stop smiling when you see those cute cheeks, blue eyes and old man hair...I would bet anything on it!

I promise to update more about Brad and Gabi but it is late and I have to do some work, but please rest assured that the things that come out of their little mouths and minds is constantly keeping us in stitches. Seriously, I think my kids may be the funniest people I have ever met in my life!

Love to all!

Catching Up

Okay so it has been TOO LONG since I updated my blog. I have been reading other people's blogs and keeping up with all of you because I love and miss all of you very much, but I have not kept anyone updated on what is going on with us.

First, Gabi is 3! I mean how is this possible. There are too many things to love about Gabi to possibly list out here, but suffice it to say she is still sassy and sweet and we love her so very much. Last night we were saying things that make us happy and Gabi said, so sweetly, "I am happy when daddy is home!" I guess that tells you how much we see Brad! He is working hard for our family, during the week at his residency and then on Saturdays at another pediatric dental clinic so our kids are missing their time with daddy! It was so sweet.

Gabi has started preschool and the 1st week she liked it, but then she was over it. She cries and cries when I leave her and she actually almost ripped my hair from my head yesterday when I dropped her off. I am seriously considering not taking her next semester if this keeps up, because it is breaking my heart. She says/screams "I want to stay home with you and Sam!" Its not like I am doing anything...so she could be home with me, we just thought for socialization it would be good, but 2 days a week for 2 hours is proving difficult. She is happy when I pick her up so I will keep this under evaluation.

Gabi is also in gymnastics again and she likes it. It is a small class of kids and she has a hard time walking away from me, it takes a minute, but then when she is sure I am going to stay and watch she does better. I think it is really strange that my children have no problems leaving me to go with their dad or go play at Mrs. Welsh's but if I leave them anywhere, that is a completely different story. Gabi really struggles with this. I feel bad for her.

Brad is in a 5 day pre-k program at a really good program called Footsteps. He is doing so good and making alot of friends. His teacher seems pretty great and he comes home with tons of stories about his day! This is a first for me to have Brad so talkative about school. He tells me what they did and what they made and he will even get upset if he doesn't have any crafts or worksheet in his bag to show me. The school is very big on positive reinforcement and Brad is really thriving with all the positivity he is getting! I think he is such a pleaser, he loves to help me around the house or to hear that he is doing a good job. He does get upset if Gabi gets praise for something she does, and immediately will try and either do the same thing or do something different to try and get it equal praise.

Brad is really a good big brother. He and Gabi do fight, but if anyone else had the nerve to mess with her, he would be all over them. Even us...if she gets in trouble for something he just looks at us as if he is going to pounce on us at any moment.

Sam is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO stinking cute! I mean seriously, I can't believe he is 6 months old and in so many respects I wish you could have your 3rd kid first. I look back on the things that stressed me out with Brad and think how ridiculous I was. I stressed and worried and was tired about everything with Brad...and it wasn't Brad after all....IT WAS ME! Poor Brad...he will always be the trial and error kid I guess...but we do love him so, and I pray we do somethings right!

Sam is starting to get on all 4's and rock back and forth...I don't know how I feel about this. I don't know what 3 kids will be like once he can walk/run from me. Right now it has not been bad. It is more work, sure, but I don't know how to describe him other than just yummy and sweet and we are soaking up every minute of his yumminess! He has a smile that will literally just make your heart smile wide and big!

I have noticed more with Sam how for the most part, people love babies and can't stop smiling when they see them. When I take the kids to the store, normally Sam is in the bjorn and people just make over him, or will give me a smile and tell me how sweet my family is. Of course, there is the occasional 'you are crazy look' or 'your kids are too loud' look, but I normally just ignore those! He really is such a sweet baby and it makes me sad that our family doesn't get to experience our kids moments because I can tell you they are the funniest people I have ever met in my life hands down. Being their mother is pretty wonderful. Although as any mother knows, having children can feel like a contradiction, because while you love them to pieces there are moments/days when you can't seem to get away from crying/fighting/screaming/fits and the bliss of motherhood is harder to feel! As you can probably tell it is quite in my house right now so I can really relish in how happy my kids make me, the trick is trying to remember that when they are screaming! :-)

All in all we are doing well. We are liking our new townhouse and the area. It is getting colder and I do not look forward to the winter in the next couple of months, but nothing beats the Fall. I would live in the North forever just for the Falls if I could transplant our family up here with us.

So there is our update! Much love to you and your families!

Cute Huh?

This is Sam 99% of the time. He is 4 months already and so stinkin cute, who knew how much fun a 3rd baby would be!!!! :-)

We are moved, YEAH!!! Now we just have to get used to sleeping in a new place...funny how all our stuff is here, but it doesn't quite feel right just yet. Everyone is doing good, we are trying to find parks and stuff to do closer so the kids and I are busy with that!

My brother and sister in law came up to help us move and it was so much fun...they were loads of help and we had a great time. I plan on posting pictures and about our trip to NY soon.

I think my days as a poem composer are over, although we do get to move again in 22 months so I might get the creative juices flowing around that time again.

Moving

So we are in the process of moving, and I thought I would take the opportunity to write a poem about my thoughts, feelings and experiences with moving 1 hour down the road. I hope you enjoy it and get the full scope of how I feel about moving.

Moving
By: Katie Harris

It Sucks!

In the Family

This is Sam looking so stinking cute! He is a great baby and we love him so much. Brad and Gabi love him too and it is really fun to see them play with him. The love to make him laugh and smile and coo...and as a mom its so fun to see my kids get excited like I was excited when they did those things.

This is Betsy and I at Bounce U watching our kids bounce! I am going to be SO sad to move away from the Lees Family. They have been such wonderful friends to us and it makes me sad to know we won't be able to hang out with their family as much! We love the Lees!

Tonight when we got home, I was closing the blinds and when I came back upstairs, Little Brad had put on his daddy's scrubs and shoes and was running around pretending to be a Dentist! He thought it was so funny and then Gabi wanted to do it and after I took their picture, we put scrubs on Sam and got a picture of all 3!

I am one blessed wife and mother!

We are moving and Gabi and Brad are ALL about helping me out. I felt so bad for Gabi the other day because she was trying to help and I had just asked her to not pick up a certain box and when I walked back in she had picked it up and when she saw me she dropped it! It happened to be fragile and so I yelled, 'Gabi, I just asked you not to pick that up' to which my poor emotional roller coaster daughter started crying and said, "I just wanted to help mommy!" Now seriously, how can you stay mad at that...I felt so sorry for her.

So I am trying hard to let them help me...and for me to have more patience with them because they do really want to help out and they are just kids, but it is frustrating when I could do it so much faster without these little hands. I guess when they are teenagers I will long for the days when they wanted to help me do everything, so I am going to try and take it all in stride!

Child Abuse, Sam, & Swimming Lessons

So below you will see pictures of my poor son who looks like he has been beat up. The poor kid had a rough few days and his face and body have the marks to prove it. We started out with a goose egg just below his eye when Gabi punched him on the trampoline!!! That's right my sweet little Gabi hit him in the face. She admitted it without hesitation and I am not sure if that is because all the kids had already said she did it or if she did not think it was that big a deal. Either way I have no idea how she managed to give him a black eye, but she did. Then she bit him the following day because she wanted a toy he had and he told her she couldn't have it. that was on his stomach!!! Then I scratched him taking a piece of paper from him, in the nose, you can't see that mark, but its there right in the front part of his nose. My thumb got him. Then the last instance was also yesterday when he was pretending to be a horse with Gabi and he ran into the wall. He came to me crying and said the wall hit him...then I saw the big slice on his nose where he lost the skin! He has really been thru it the past few days. I told Brad at swim lessons everyone would think he had been beaten!!! His eye looks so bad now that it is bruising up...I think this may be his first black eye. I figured if one of my kids would give the other a black eye it would have been the other way around.

I just wanted to add a few pictures of Sam. He is smiling all the dang time!!! He is such a sweet little baby. He coos and makes noise all the time now like he is talking to us and laughs in his sleep. It is a cute little chuckle!

We started swimming lessons today and both the kids did great. I was a little worried, but I think there is safety in having your sibling there. Gabi was totally fine and walked right over with no hesitation and Brad did the same. It was fun to watch them. Gabi wanted to be by Brad and they both have friends in this class this year. Ben and Belle are twins and Brad and Gabi have been very fortunate to have made friends with them this year. They are great kids and we have had lots of fun with them so it is nice to have them in our swim class as well. Gabi is in a tiny weenie yellow polka dot bikini, but tomorrow we have to wear a whole piece because her shorts kept falling off of her!!!

I think they looked hilarious in these goggles at the house!

Time for an Update

Well so much for keeping pictures of my every changing, yummy, and sweet new baby Sam on my blog! Life with 3 is busy so normally when it is bed time for the kids I am running around trying to get done everything I didn't during the day. Here's a little update of the Harris Family!

Sam:

Is 2 months old!!!! How can this be! The picture of him in his diaper is from his 2 mo check up. He was 13 lbs. 9oz! He is bigger than both Brad and Gabi at this point. he is really filling out and I love a chuncky baby!!! Cute as can be. Not a great sleeper, but yummy little cheeks and a smile that will literally brighten your day no matter what is going on. He makes us laugh when he crys, when he poops, when he just lays there doing nothing. We love this little guy.

Brad:


5 years old!!! That is right my little baby, my first, our trial and error child is 5! He wanted a Lightening McQueen themed party so we did a lightening McQueen cake and race track with cupcakes around it! It turned out pretty dang cute and Brad kept telling me while I was icing it, "mom this is wonderful, I love you, thank you." Nothing makes me happier than to hear this from my kids! My good friend Betsy Lees did the party favors and sign for the party and they were so stinking cute! Thank you Betsy you are AWESOME!!! We had races outside for the kids and played a little baseball at his party and served the infamous Brad Harris hamburger and hotdog on a grill! Brad is getting so good at grilling and I love it because he is cooking and I'm not!!! :-) Brad is done with pre-school and we are excited about Pre-K next year. Hard to believe my baby could be ready for pre-k next year...where is the time going?

Gabi:

She loves to get her toe nails and finger nails painted. She first had this done by Mamaw and then Mrs. Welsh bought her all kinds of paint and so now she is constantly asking me to paint them. I really like doing it even though anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a girly girl. So far we have done purple and pink in the last week and she is so stinking cute about it. Gabi is what I would call the perfect girl. She can kick butt but she still wants to be cute doing it. She takes nothing off of anyone, and she trys to keep us all in line by telling us what to do, how to do it and when....she will also let you know if you didn't do it right! We love our Gabi!!! Our house would be so dull and quite without her.

Big Brad:

3 weeks left of his residency at Sacred Heart and then he starts his Pediatric Residency at Temple in Philadelphia! He is really excited to get started and it feels so good to know that in 2 years we will be done with school and Brad will have achieved his dream of being a Pediatric Dentist. He turns 32 tomorrow and so me and the kids baked a cake and took pizza to his office today to surprise him. He looked confused when we got there, but he was really happy with his birthday surprise. Brad has been working on getting his license in PA, he has his license activated in Texas, but now he is trying to get it here in PA so he can moonlight while in his residency. There is so much paperwork to fill out and fees to pay it is hard to keep track of it all, but hopefully he will get approved when the Board meets in July without having to take the NERBS.

Me:

I am trying to keep up with my kids! Take them to the park, get them lunch, dinner, bathes, read with them and my favorite time of the day is bed time! I love bed time!!! I get to hold Sam without anyone asking me for something and kiss on him until he finally goes to sleep which at this point is whenever he feels like it. I look forward to a schedule for him. I am working on developing a new course at Arcadia, getting ready for Audit and Intermediate Theory in the Fall (these are 2 of my favorite classes to teach so I am so excited to get started in the Fall), teaching for Becker CPA review a couple of times this month and several times in August. I try to do my work at night when the kids go to bed, which means sleep is like a long lost friend, but it keeps me active in my field and I get a small break from my kids 1 or 2 nights a week which is a win win for everyone. I love teaching and each time after a class I have a stronger desire to go back to school and get my PhD, but then I come home and play with the kids and I think...it can wait...my kids are growing fast and I don't want to miss it...and school will always be there right. Plus with Brad in school it's not the right time...but I digress.

I hope everyone is doing well. I see alot of you are facebook now, and I am not facebook savy...but I am going to try and check it to see what everyone is doing.

Our 3 Kiddos

We had pictures of the kids taken when Sam was two weeks old. He looks like little Brad with blonde hair although I do see my dad in him as well!

The kids did so good for the pictures it was almost dreamlike...I was worried no one would cooperate, but all was well! I think the pictures were super cute and wanted to share.

We are doing good adjusting to life with 3 kids. I think we mainly just move alot slower and are a little more tired, but he is a good baby and it is fun to have a baby again. It is funny to me how different it feels this time. It's like the crying, diaper changes, and sleepless nights are not as big of a deal. I guess because you have done it before. The biggest challenge for me has been figuring out how to be a mom to a newborn and still keep the other two entertained. The kids are doing great with Sam so that helps.

Brad has said several times that he is so happy that Sam is here and not in my belly anymore! He also says, "Mom when you eat alot and get big again with a baby, can we name him Brad because we need another Brad!" I have no idea why he thinks you have a baby when you eat alot because he has never asked how we got Sam in my belly...he just came up with this on his own and I am fine with his logic as long as he is!

Gabi loves to kiss him...constantly! She wants to hold him or kiss him! She tells us, "Sam is cute or Sam is crying, or mom Sam wants you to give him milk!" A little mommy already!

SAM

Our baby boy arrived 3/26/09 at 6:22pm. He weighed in at 8lbs 7ozs and was 21 inches long! He had BLONDE hair which was a first for us and he is sweet and cute and wonderful!

Misc

This week on Thursday I went out with Betsy to see the movie Bride Wars. It was showing at the Emmaus Theatre, which is the really cool old timey theatre that shows movies for $3 and only one at a time. I love it....anyway I digress. So Betsy gave me some gifts for Sam all of which were wonderful, but one in particular was so cute I still can't believe she made it. She knitted some cowboy boots for Sam and they even have his initials on them. They have an S on the side and an H on the top. So cute!!! Thank you Betsy!!!

Then on Saturday we took the kids bowling for some family of 4 fun before Sam gets here. No telling when Brad and I will be able to get out with 3 kids. We are pretty slow on the parenting thing so we figured some fun was in order before we lose the ability to function. Little Brad was actually a very good bowler and Gabi used the ramp and lost interest very quickly. She was more interested in playing in what little make-up I had in my purse. She was all about the powder and lip gloss. She does not get this from me...anyone who knows me knows I am nothing like a girly girl. I find it very cute that she is into it though and it makes me wonder where she got it. Somethings in that child are me all over, but this...I don't know.

Here are a couple pictures/video of our fun at the bowling alley. I don't know why we don't bowl more, it is really cheap and the kids have lots of fun

And also this week we got some baby gifts for Sam from Mamaw Harris. She made his some blankets and I can't put pictures of all of them on here, but here are a couple of our favorites, which I know Sam will love as well. thanks Mamaw.

Also, just a follow up to my last post, Brad did great for his talk on Sunday. His daddy read the talk, and he held up the poster and Brad said he was totally happy to hold his sign. I printed off coloring book pages with all the actions we were talking about and he colored them and glued them to the poster board (it was a small poster board). He was even excited last night and we kept praying with him that he would be okay. So he did GREAT! Our first talk in primary was a success.

My mom is flying up this week on Wednesday and should get here around midnight or 1am. She is staying 2 1/2 weeks and considering she only gets 3 weeks of vacation at work, this is no small gesture on her part. She has been working late every night and all day on Saturdays to make sure she gets her work done and doesn't leave anyone in a bad spot in her absense while she is here. Thank you mom for always being willing to help. The kids are super excited to have you come up and be here with them and it will be EXTREMELY helpful for me to have you here and to have an adult to talk too for a change.

So lately we have been doing lots to get ready for Sam. As ready as you can ever be for a baby. All the clothes are washed, the bed is ready, there are diapers and wipes, swings, and carriers, bottles and pacifiers waiting for him and 4 people who can't wait to love him are eagerly anticipating his arrival.