I'm Back

I can't possibly even try to explain my absence...boys. therapy. snow. christmas. new machines. pity parties. no tv. lack of sleep. freezing my booty. no electricity. toddler training..... Let's just say its been a crazy fall/winter and leave it alone at that. Trust me, no one wants to hear my whinning soapbox!
Now, to today, we are cruising along here at the Harris household. V is talking more and more each day. L is pulling up and my guess is that he will be walking this summer (which would be HUGE!).
V is 2 and a half, and L is 14 months. I can't believe they are so big! And there isn't a baby in my house, which kinda feels strange.
I got an embroidery machine for Christmas! TA-DA! I love it! I'm learning a whole whole lot. Its kinda like learning a different language. Slightly frustrating at first, until you hit your groove. 
But back to kiddies, the boys had a blast playing together last night. I'm fairly certain, that its the first time in 14 months that V has not only allowed, but even enjoyed L touching him. So fun!

Okay, I know its short for being gone for so long, but....keep loving me :) I'll be back in a flash

For John

Both boys are napping, and instead of doing laundry, cleaning house, or any other necessary chore, I am sitting down to blog. Only for you, John, ONLY for you ;)
Well....the boys are great! V is at a fun age where he seems to learn something new everyday. And L is finally getting to try table foods, so that has been a (messy) blast too!
V is off of his paci, and it was such a non-issue, that I still (2 weeks later) can't believe it wasn't any harder than it was. The only time I miss it is when he is throwing a TEXAS size tantrum and I can't cork him with it :) Other than being mad for the first 3-4 minutes, he's really done great without it. It is a wubbanub, and one of the awesome things about that is, he still gets to carry around the little giraffe for the familiar comfort his paci use to give him. Whoever invented the WUBBANUB was a genius! LOVE IT!
Okay, so we are off the paci, and also off the tv. As in, there has been no tv in this house for over a month now. No cable, not even a single channel. Honestly, I missed it for about the first week, and only at night when I wanted to watch one of my shows. But after that, I'm 30 thousand times more productive and I do like that. Side note: we still use the tv for dvds for the kids often! I'm not against tv AT ALL. But it was one small thing we could cut back on, and I kinda liked the challenge of it. So that's kinda cool. And one more note: this is sooooooooooooo NOT permanent. amen?!
What else is going on with these Harris'?....We did get back some stinkin precious Christmas pics of the boys! A sweet friend took them for us, while she was in town. I love them! I will try to upload some but right now, its been working on uploading 2 pics for 15 mins, so I'm not going to lie, it probably WON'T happen.
And...I've been keeping pretty busy with sewing projects. that's been awesome. Made a couple outfits, some bags, a dress, some Christmas hand towels and a blanket. Learned that I'm horrible at putting zippers in bulky material. BUMMER! But made some money none the less :) I am just loving all this sewing, however I'm so NOT good at the business side of things. Like I should totally be taking nice pics and uploading and redoing my website and adding my new stuff, but all I want to do is just sew. I need someone else to do the business side of it, and then I can just sit behind my machine! I'll get around to doing it myself eventually!
John is busy boy, with stories to tell all. Gag. Blood. Guts. Nastiness. He comes home with blood on him all the time, and the more there is, the better the story he has. PUKE! I'm just thankful he's enjoying it.
L is doing great! Crawling around everywhere, eating anything, and only giving me a hard time about drinking from a sippy cup. And that, I can handle! (not fix, just 'handle')
Vscares L on a daily basis. Usually by his scream/laugh, but sometimes from a simple-but-effective blow to the head. blocks, balls, dinosaurs, V isn't picky. And now that I have said that, I must follow it with the improvements V is making in his behavior! Really, he's doing great! I can take them both in a store without strapping them in, and I know V will (75% of the time) stay close and obey me. KNOCK_ON_WOOD!
Okay, nap time is over, I will upload/update more when I can! Love to my loyal readers :)

13

It has been 13 days since I have had a working washing machine!
OHMYLANDS, 13 days!
And what if I hadn't kept up with the laundry completely before.....that means I have 13+ days of clothes from 4 persons.
We are waiting on parts that have been ordered. Now, everyone say "hooray" for ten year warranty on the EXACT parts that are needed. "HOORAY, HOORAY" Finally, a warranty that actually warrants something I need :)
I wouldn't suggest real snuggly hugs to any of my Harris' boys....or even me :) Although we do TRY to shower regularly, we are officially OUT of clean clothes.
I love you, dear LG washer, but my love is wanning as I wait out for some new parts for you...Please return with a fury.
Smell ya later-

Fall

And somehow it is already nearing the end of October! Crazy how that happens...
We had a pretty good weekend! The Doc was on call Friday and today, but that still left us some of Saturday with him, which is always a good thing :)
We went to Wildwood Park and just walked around. It was beautiful and perfect. The weather was nice and the big kid had a blast being out in nature.
We also got to go over to Sydney's for dinner, and we all had a good time...and REALLY delicious burgers!

The big kid is still, most certainly, in every aspect, a RAT. I think that's the best word to describe him right now. He is into everything, super dramatic, and always testing his boundaries. PHEW, just thinking about the child makes me tired ;)

And the little guy is wonderful. Really starting to get around with his fully-funtional army crawl. He is less than 2 weeks away from being 1! Holy moly, has my life changed in the past year! But he's doing great right now, and I'm praying we stay out of the hospital through the winter months! Can I get an amen?!?!

Oh, me? You want me to talk about myself? Well, I really don't like to...but just for you, I will. I'm doing good. I'm still rejoicing over the end of summer. I have big lofty goals for myself- like getting on top of the laundry, cleaning the house up, organizing closets and such that keep me busy in thought...but not in deed.... However, I stay physically busy pulling things out of little guy's mouth, taking away toys that have become weapons to the big kid, responding to 50 thousand "UH OHH'S" a day, and attempting to feed one of the 3 males in the house every hour of every day...
Little guy's therapies keep us on a schedule, and I am so thankful for that. Otherwise, we'd probably never get dressed. It amazing how much more productive you are when someone is at your house every day of the week :) (honest sidenote: what I consider dressed is probably not exactly what the therapists would agree with but if the babie have on pants, and I have on a bra, I'm sticking by that that's DRESSED to me :)

Okay, my pictures from my phone aren't uploading...ridiculousness! Here's the lame ones I actually have on the computer...

ignore the bulging thigh.....

 melts my heart!!!

looking at pictures reminds me...I should start doing the big kid's hair...haha yikes :)

And now, I'm off to be mad my myself for finishing my book today b/c now I don't have a book to read in bed! NUDGE NUDGE...Yep, I hear that God. I take it back, I'm happy I finished that book, so I quit wasting time in my fictional world. Also, I hear you have a really great book out too... I'll read that tonight..

Pumpkin Patch

I think this series of pictures is the cutest thing!
When this guy is 16, and wanting to ask her out on a date... (Syd, when I say 16, I really mean 32...promise ;)
I'm going to have to remind him how long he's been chasing after her...

We sure had some fun at the pumpkin patch and I actually took pictures, but uploading the rest is taking forever. So I'll just leave you with those for now!

Hey Friends

Hello world wide web :) I finally bit the bullet and have taken down all my previous posts. Bummer, I know, you all loved spending your day reading my lame and old posts...but just so you know, they are now gone. I haven't updated in a while. I have been on the fence about what I can share and what I shouldn't share, I didn't want to go private, because I secretly like it when strangers happen upon my blog... Anyways, solution, is final (hopefully). Previous posts with names and important personal info are gone. And now, I can get back to blogging anytime I want about any info I want, just using nicknames or 'assigned names'. Perfection! Thanks P.S. Yes, I do realize this is the 3rd of 4th time I've tried to do this.... buuuutttt I'm thinking its going to stick this time :)

The Harris Family

Happy Fall!! This family is crazy busy, and also not so busy, but most importantly, we are doing great!
I STINK at being consistent in updating .....sorry friends.
Moving on.....
Let's start with the head honcho- The big man, is doing good. Staying busy, like usual. He is working up at the Children's hospital right now, and loves it. He is also doing......wait....nothing. Yep, he's busy enough as is, no time for anything else. So. that makes for an easy update!
Me? I'm doing good! SO ridiculously happy that the fall schedule is here, with bible studies, community group, new tv shows, and less heat, how could I not be good?!?!
However, it has been a LONG week here at the house. I had a stomach bug friday night, V got it sunday night, and J kinda dodged it, but suffered minor symptoms tuesday night. BOO for the stomach bug. That was NO FUN. And thank the Lord, L made it through the week without ever getting it! YAY!! But, needless to say, I am looking forward to the weekend (even though J works Sat 7am til Sunday at 7am).
I have been semi busy with some sewing projects, which is totally fun. I put off housework anytime I can, in order to sew :)
V is his normal sweet and sour self. We are learning boundaries, but he's learning to be a good sport about it (I think). He has been enjoying L a bit more lately. And he has LOVED the nice weather this week. He is outside as much as possible. Although he's a bit stong willed, he's oh-so-sweet when he wants to be. He still loves being held, doesn't know a stranger, and gives kisses by the dozen.
L is all sugar! Busy with therapy 6x a week, but doing great. We are oh, soooo close to sitting up, and I can't wait til he can go in a shopping cart without his whole carrier! He is doing a fabulous army crawl, loves to get his hands on his brother's hair, or my phone!  He had very minor surgery on his tear ducts about 3-4 weeks ago, and recovered well from it. Not sure exactly how successful it was, b/c there may be some scaring that has occured in the past few weeks. But regardless, he is doing great...and he's precious too.
So a lame update, but it had to be done, so that I can try (once again) to stay ontop of the blog!!

Mercy Project

Hey friends! Happy Labor Day!
I know I've been horrible about blogging lately. Life has been full! But today I wanted to post some info about a group called the Mercy Project (http://mercyproject.net) that is working to end child slavery and trafficking in Ghana near lake Volta.
There is a large amount of poverty in Ghana and often, the mothers make decisions to sell their children to people who promise food, shelter and an education. But these children are not given all that, and instead they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week on the lake. They are lucky to be given one meal a day, and a dirty floor to sleep on.
Unimaginable, isn't it?! I can't even begin to imagine my boys living under those conditions.
But the Mercy Project is freeing their first group of children this month! They are not only working to free these children, but also to stop the cycle, by helping the villagers to learn sustainable, and efficient fishing methods. Working to fix the root of the problem, the Mercy Project is going to make a difference in Ghana.
I know we are all busy, but if you can, take 10 minutes and watch this documentary.



And then you can follow them on facebook http://www.facebook.com/mercyproject
and on twitter http://twitter.com/mercyproject
I, for one, can't wait to hear about the first group of children that are freed :) and I'm pretty sure you will too!


And I promise a life update on the Harris family soon!