The Harrison Crib: January 2012

and got myself an iPhone :) I knew I would love it once I could get past the frustration of texting with a touch screen phone. It just took some getting used to but I've only had the phone 2 days and I'm already used to it and loving it!

Jeremy and I had a sitter on Saturday night and went out on a date so that was fun. Lincoln came along with us but that's still pretty much a date since he's so little :) We got some delicious Thai food and then headed over to Novi to walk the mall and then stopped in Brighton on the way home to get my phone. The Novi store was out of the white iPhones which is what I wanted. We had a nice time out and the kids loved playing with the sitter too :)

Last week Weds I woke up with the motivation to paint our bedroom. I got my Sherwin Williams color strip out and found a color that matched the blue color in our comforter. I taped everything off while the kids were playing and then painted while they napped. It took me 2 days and 2 coats but we absolutely love it! My hubby had no idea I was doing this so it was a total surprise when he came home Weds night to half the room painted. He was quite impressed, as am I :) I still have a portion to do but ran out of paint and haven't had a chance to run out and grab it yet. It's mostly done though and it looks so great. Here's the before and after :)

Other than my new phone and our freshly painted room there isn't too much new. Gracelyn is still sick with a cough and cold which has been almost 2 weeks :( She's never been sick this long before so it's sad to see. Praying she is better soon. The germs spread to the boys and Lincoln has been sick for the past 4 days and Ethan started getting it just yesterday. All have colds and the croupy cough and Lincoln has a bit of wheezing too. I cannot wait until they are all healthy and back to themselves! Hard on the kids and mom and dad when little ones are ill...especially all three.

My girlfriend who I had a baby shower for a few weeks back had her baby girl this past Monday. She was a month early, which they knew would most likely be the case as her last 2 children came at 35 weeks too. She was born and needed to be on oxygen, iv and a feeding tube. Despite all those things she was doing well but still needed prayer. 4 days later when my friend was going home baby girl Vada got to go home as well! Many of us were praying as well as our church and it was such a wonderful testimony to see how God answers our prayers. She is doing great and I'll be photographing that sweet little one soon and I cannot wait :)

Little Lincoln is crying so I gotta go....enjoy your day and stay blessed :)

Love,

I'm one month pregnant.

Kidding. Did I get any of you? ;)

What I was going to say is it's been a month since I've blogged. Life is busy, what can I say...that's my only excuse and I think a good one. While I've missed blogging more regularly it's not top on my priority list. My kids and husband are...so sorry :)

So, what's new? Let's start with our oldest.

Ethan is almost four and it's so hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday he was born and he'll be four in just a few short weeks. We love him so much. He's really starting to become like a little adult these days (minus the tantrums and throwing things at times...oh wait...adults do those things too sometimes...unfortunately!) and he cracks us up. He's at the fun age where he has a mind of his own and says funny things all the time. He also will start laughing at something he thinks is funny and it just cracks us up. I feel so blessed to have had almost 4 wonderful years already with our boy. He's such a sweet and sensitive kid and really is a lot of fun. He loves going to church these days, which is so great! He was going through a very long period of having separation anxiety but is finally on the other side and it's so wonderful. As parents, we both were very sensitive to that and never forced him to stay in sunday school without us...we knew it was a season and we wanted him to feel secure and comforted and knew eventually he would love it. He does. In fact, a couple weeks ago when I dropped him off to his class I went in to give him a kiss and he then told me to leave :) Well then! Ha! Praise God :)

Gracelyn....wow...she sure is growing up also. She's a little over 2 and a half and there's nothing baby about my baby girl anymore. She's talking constantly and mimicking mostly what her big brother says. She makes us laugh all the time with her silly facial expressions and her silly self. Her hair is finally long enough that mommy can put it back into a pony tail and boy is she cute! She wouldn't let me touch her hair for the longest time but has been better about it lately which I've so loved. I was just looking at her this morning, thanking God for her. I thank God for all my kids on a regular basis...but this morning I was thanking God for her specifically. I just love having a daughter and know we will have so many special moments and memories together...us girls. I can't wait! She's a bit under the weather right now with a cough and cold but is slowly starting to get a bit better.

Lincoln is going on 5 months here soon and needs to slow down :) I am enjoying the baby stage so much and don't want it to go by so quickly. He is such a joy and wonderful addition to our family. We are pretty sure he is our most smiley baby. He's almost always happy and smiles so easily. He's stinkin' cute too - oh how I love my little boy! He's been having some bad skin issues for the past couple months that we've been trying to figure out. To make a long story short, he's been to the pediatrician, dermatologist and allergist all within the last couple weeks to really try and figure this out. The good news is he is not allergic to dairy, soy, wheat or chocolate (Thank God!) and that is awesome awesome news. As he went to the allergist to get 4 separate pokes the nurse told me he was going to cry...but he didn't!! He did so good! I was extremely happy to find out he wasn't allergic to any of those things. It seems the verdict is that he just has severe atopic dermatitis. Really senstive and dry skin basically. So, we are trying to keep it under control with a few different creams - which help most days. Some days his skin is more irritated and itchy and it's obvious he's uncomfortable. He's doing well though and we believe he will outgrow it and we continue to pray over him.

There you have it, an update on our sweet babes :)

I've hosted/planned 2 baby showers this past month as well as helped plan a good friend's 30th birthday. It was all so much fun! February will be busy also as we are hosting our 6th annual Super Bowl party, Ethan's Birthday party the following weekend and then also I am having a Scentsy party towards the end of month as well. If you aren't familiar with Scentsy, you should come to my party. They are wickless candles...and they have all these cute warmers you put them in and there are tons of awesome scents you can get. My party will be at 6:30 on Thurs the 23rd of Feb. so mark it down if you would like to come!

Some other good news is that we have finally found a babysitter, outside of family. This has been a big deal for me....as we have only really left our kids with my mom and sister and my in-laws a couple times. We've needed to find a babysitter for awhile though as family isn't always available and we need date nights and other things that come up. So anyhow, I've been praying about it for awhile and just finding a great girl that we can trust and so far we like her. We left the older 2 kids with her a few weeks ago while Jeremy and I and the baby had a date night, dinner and a movie. It was really nice for us and Lincoln even slept through the 2 and a half hour movie :) So great! She goes to our church and some dear friends of ours recommended her. Anyhow, she's great and the kids loved her and were talking about her throughout the week. It was cute.

Well, the kids should be up from their naps soon and it's 3pm and I have yet to shower. I think I'll try and get a hot shower in real quick and then off to start getting dinner going :) Homemade Chicken Pot Pie....yum-o!

I'll leave with a couple cute pics of our little Lincoln. He's a doll!