Bittersweet

The past few days have been bittersweet for me. Yesterday was my due date with the baby we lost. It's been hard for me and really sad. While I'm so thankful for the new life God has blessed us with, I miss that baby and wish he/she could have been healthy and part of our family. Losing a baby is such a hard thing to go through - it's just such a deep feeling of loss. I'm thankful for God's love and that He's carried me through. He is so good.

As far as this little one growing in my belly, I'm 17 weeks today and baby is now the size of an onion :) We find out on Thursday what we're having and I'm looking forward to my appt. My appt. is early in the morning but we won't be able to post our video until after Jeremy gets home from work that day so Grandma's, you'll have to be patient until then :) I'll be sure and post it on the blog when it's up and email you once it is so you don't have to check every 3 minutes :) All I'm praying for is for baby to be healthy and for everything to look good with baby.

I'm pretty sure the past few days I've felt the baby moving and kicking a little bit so that's been fun. I love that feeling and love being pregnant :)

Saturday I went to visit my cousin Tara and see her new baby boy Dawson. What a sweet baby, he's really cute! I did a little newborn session for her and started working (aka editing) some of the photos last night. I got some precious ones and can't wait for her to see them all. Here's a little sneak peek :) Isn't he adorable? It made me anxious to meet our little one and meet him/her. I can't wait!

Nothing else too new with us. We are still waiting on our appliances, and washer and dryer so we've been living out of a mini fridge for over a week now. It's getting old :) I'm ready to start cooking again and not eat out so much. It gets expensive when you don't want to eat fast food.

We went ahead and ordered the carpet for our basement stairs this weekend. It will be a couple weeks before it's in but it will be so nice and safe for the kids. I was surprised how much carpet/padding costs for just stairs but I guess it's harder and more time consuming to do then just laying a big roll in a room down so that's why it's so pricey. Oh well, it will be worth it!

We are loving our new home and so are the kids. I'm so grateful to God for this new home of ours and blessing us with an amazing home to raise our kids in. It's perfect.

Hope you are all well and that you have a great week!

Stay Blessed,
Momma Keri

Our address changed :)

It's official! We moved in to our new home this past weekend and we are slowly starting to get settled. We absolutely love it and feel God has really spoiled us! It's an absolute dream home to raise our growing family in and we just love everything about it.

The move itself went great, thanks to my hubby, dad and brother for working so hard all day. I've been busy unpacking boxes and getting things organized. I've been having fun making multiple trips to Target buying some little things to make our house a home and it's really coming along so cute. My dad was over yesterday and hung most of our pictures so that was nice. One of our dear neighbors at our old house that goes to our church came by to see it and said he would paint the family room for us as a housewarming gift. So nice! We are only wanting to paint one wall to bring some color to the room but still - so very nice of him! He'll probably paint sometime next month - I can't wait :)

The kids are absolutely loving the house. They have so much room to play and it is so nice to have carpeted stairs again. It's also nice to not have to worry about Gracelyn on the stairs. She does great on them and seeing as they are carpeted and there's just 5 or 6 stairs, a landing, and then another set it's perfect with little ones! No steep wooden stairs like our last place.

The basement has also turned out to be one of the kids favorite places to play. I had the idea to bring in their outdoor cars/bikes and they absolutely love riding on them in the basement. It's not finished so it makes it fun for them to play on the concrete with their bikes. They love it and it's nice on the cold winter days in Michigan or when mom doesn't feel like chasing them down the street outside.

I went to Home Depot today to price out getting the basement steps padded and carpeted. It's something we want to do since they are going up and down them so much and they aren't real safe for Gracelyn. They are coming out to measure on Thursday and they said it will be a few weeks to get the carpet in. So, it will be nice when they are padded and carpeted for the kids.

We are waiting on our fridge, double ovens and washer and dryer to get delivered...hopefully by the end of the week. We are living out of a mini fridge right now and I'm ready to be able to cook again and not eat out so much! The house is coming together though and we just love it!

I turned on our double sided fireplace yesterday (all by the flip of a switch!) when the kids were napping and sat by the fire, watched a show and ate a few oreos with a glass of milk. It was wonderful :)

In other exciting news, we find out if baby Harrison is a boy or girl in just 9 days!! I can't believe it. It's coming up so quickly - I'm getting excited to know! I've been feeling girl lately...and had a dream that we were at the ultrasound and the tech told us it was a girl. We will be thrilled either way and continue to pray for a healthy baby.

Just wanted to post an update on the move....I'm off to fold some laundry and unpack more boxes. Thanks for reading friends!

Momma Keri ♥

Quick Update!

We are supposed to be closing tomorrow at 11am. We're hoping it's for real this time because we are getting so excited to move into our new home. We plan on moving in Saturday but moving in smaller things throughout the week. I foresee daily trips with the kids starting Wednesday to the house to drop things off and start organizing a bit. Will be fun :) The kids are gonna love the new house and all the space to run and play. I can't wait to be completely settled and make our home cozy :)

My brother actually just closed on his first place today also! He has the keys and is on his way to Home Depot to buy paint and get going :) I'm so excited and proud of him. I can't wait to see his place, I've only seen pictures online so it will be fun to see his new bachelor pad :)

I'll be sure and keep you posted on how the house is coming along and how the move goes. I'll be pretty busy the next couple weeks so I'll try and post when I can.

Until then, I'm thanking God for all the wonderful blessings...a new home to call our own, my hubby, my kids, family, friends, health....and this little one who is 15 weeks along and now the size of a navel orange :)

Blessed beyond measure,
Momma Keri ♥

Gorgeous Gracelyn

She couldn't be any prettier. I am so in love with this little girl. Isn't she amazing??



And here are a couple I took last weekend. The 5 minutes in her life that she let me put a hair clip in her hair! Ok, well really she just forgot :)



She's 21 months today. I can't believe she'll be 2 in just a few more months. Time is going by so fast.

No news on the house. We were told we were supposed to close this week....but it's Wednesday and we still haven't heard. I'm guessing it's not happening this week. We'll see. Those banks really know how to play with your emotions! Ha.

Blessed,
Momma Keri ♥

My first newborn session ♥

As I mentioned in my previous post, yesterday I did my first newborn session. Baby Drew. What a sweet and adorable baby he is. He did so great for the photo shoot and I was pretty happy with the results of the photos. I came home and right away started finding the best ones, deleting the others and then editing all the keepers.

I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you. The first one is my absolute favorite, although I have many. They are all so sweet!


All so precious.

In other news, our sweet pea is now the size of a lemon :) I'm 14 weeks today! I'm getting closer and closer to feeling this baby move and kick and I can't wait. I felt Ethan for the first time at 19 weeks and Gracelyn at 17. Maybe this one in another week or so? We'll see. It's one of my favorite things about pregnancy. It's just so amazing and I want to cherish every milestone.

I've been thinking about the baby we lost a lot lately. I was due in March. In just 20 days actually. It's hard to think about. It helps immensely that we have another little one on the way but I still dream and wonder about the little one we lost. It's such a feeling of loss. I wish that baby could have been a part of our family so badly. I know one day I will see my little one in heaven and it will be beautiful.

I hope you all have a blessed week. We are anxious and excited to hear what day we are closing this week -stay tuned :)

Much Love,
Momma Keri ♥

News on House and Baby...

We are so excited to have found out a couple days ago that we close on the new place next week! Yay! We don't have a definite day just yet but it will be one day next week. We will most likely move in next weekend if our appliances can get delivered by then but if not we will start moving smaller things in once we officially close.

I truly feel so blessed by God that we are getting this home. He hears our prayers, knows our desires and longings and He simply cares. He loves us. This house is far more than I could imagine we would get to raise our family in....at least not until a few more years so I feel really thankful. Really really thankful. The next couple weeks will be busy - I have lots going on even besides the move - so my blog may be put on the back burner a bit but I'll be sure and update when I can.

As far as news on the baby....well, get ready to do a happy dance Jude (my MIL) because I decided I want to find out the gender! I've been going back and forth about it for a couple days and while I know it's really not a big deal I wanted to think it through. I do think the surprise would be awesome BUT what I've come to realize is I am such a planner and organizer that I feel I would feel more stressed about not having things in place, having clothes washed, etc before baby comes. I asked Jer if he cared and he said he didn't either way. He just thought it would help me get through labor (oh how I don't like to even think about it) and he knows I love surprises.

I feel much better now. I can't wait to know!! Only 26 more days until we find out :) The countdown has begun! I'm still thinking boy more than girl but really we don't feel confident either way this time. We'll be completely happy either way. I would love another little boy but I would so love for Gracelyn to have a sister too. We will know soon enough :) We plan on doing a fun gender announcement video like we did with Gracelyn. My appt is at 8:15 in the morning but Jer is going to work afterwards so it probably won't be posted until late that evening because he has to come home and have a chance to put it together. So, you'll have to practice some patience :)

Other than that, not too much else new to report. A sweet friend of mine had her baby boy this week (after a long 3.5 years of trying for a baby) and I get the pleasure of doing a newborn session for her. I've never photographed a newborn yet so I'm excited about it. It should be fun and we all know how much I love babies so I'm looking forward to it! I'm going over there tomorrow to spend a few hours capturing little Andrew's sweet moments.

My cousin is being induced on Monday and I plan to do a newborn session for her little guy also next Sunday so like I said, it's gonna be a busy few weeks! Lots of fun and exciting things going on though!

Well, seeing as we haven't packed 1 box yet I think I know what we'll be doing today. Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Much love from the Harrison's,
Momma Keri ♥

Baby Appt ♥

Yesterday I had my dr. appt to check on baby. It's been a month since I've been to the doctor's so I was looking forward to going in and hearing that heartbeat. All is well with the little one and heartbeat is strong. Thank you Jesus! She said I gained a whopping 1 lb in the last month, 9lbs total so far and that wasn't much. Good to know :)

It was a quick appt...checking the heartbeat and seeing how I was feeling. I go back in 4 weeks for my next appt and my ULTRASOUND. March 31st at 8:15am is my big ultrasound. I immediately could feel myself caving, thinking I'm just not sure I can wait and not find out the gender. Finding out the gender has always been my most exciting day of my pregnancies...so it's hard to politely decline that! Either way of course I'll have my ultrasound to check on baby and make sure all is well and growing right but I couldn't believe we could find out this month.

I came home telling Jer how I'm not sure that I can do it, etc. but he really wants to wait. He knows I love surprises and thinks I'll be disappointed if we find out. He may be right but I love knowing because I'm a planner. I like to call baby by name, buy gender specific items and have clothes washed and ready...but, waiting to find out really would be such an amazing experience. So, I guess if my hubby can keep me strong, we'll be waiting.

We also went to Music Class yesterday. Ethan absolutely loves going! He follows all the instructions so wonderfully and listens to the teacher and copies everything she tells the kids to do. Hand gestures and such that go along with the songs. He's the only kid who's in the middle of the circle dancing and so excited the entire time. I love it :) Gracelyn is starting to warm up a bit more. The first week we went she sat on my lap almost the entire time. This week she did in the beginning and at different times but for the most part she was getting the different instruments and having fun too. For a dollar per kid a week - it sure is worth our time and money!

I'll leave you with a cute thing Ethan said to me a few days ago. I was cleaning the kitchen counter tops and he came up to me and in complete sincerity and seriousness says to me, "Good job cleaning mom." It was the cutest thing ever. He makes my heart melt everyday - oh how I love that sweet boy of mine. He's precious.

That's about all for now. Just wanted to post and share that all is well with baby. I'm so thankful.

Much Love,
Momma Keri ♥