Passing the time

When the mornings are too cold - we get creative with tape.

Car Trouble

Jordan was in a car accident last week. Thank goodness he is okay - nothing a good chiropractor can't fix. But we are so so so very frustrated.

The other guy is claiming it was Jordan's fault (it wasn't).

His insurance is a joke - some mom & pop thing back east.

They are NO help to us (shock).

The guy that hit him was in a rental car - so his life has gone on as normal while we are dealing with rentals, tow yards, body shops, etc.

We find out today from our insurance if they deem it a total loss or if it can be fixed. The body shop guys told us they are certain it cannot be fixed (broken axle and all) - so that means car shopping (right up there on the fun list with job hunting) and a car payment.

So basically, the guy that was speeding down a one way and plowed into Jordan, has had to change NOTHING about his everyday life while we have inherited deductibles, injury, inconvenience, and a future car payment. Annoying to be sure.

A Snow Day

I knew the last week or so was too good to be true. The sidewalks were clear, grass (although gross looking) was poking through the snow, walks were taken, the backyard was explored and a small glimmer of hope that an early spring was coming consumed my thoughts.

But today we woke up to more snow - both on the ground and falling from the sky. Harrison climbed up on his look-out chair in the living room - his hopes dashed of another day outside. He just kept saying "snowing.... snowing......cold......cold."






So we tried to keep busy doing other things........we played with animal magnets on the fridge which he transferred from fridge to the salad spinner and back about 100 times........we watched a little Mickey Mouse...which he tired of in about 5 minutes........

He played with his beloved fire truck and he demonstrated his brave climbing and balancing abilities.....

He dumped the sea creatures from his Cubs bucket and proudly wore it as a hat most of the morning (including through snack time)...........

And stayed in our pajamas until 2pm. Loved it - but I will love my days even more when we can leave the house!

Happy Birthday to my Dad

I just love this picture of him. It was taken at some sort of activity at the church when I was in high school and Emily was in middle school.

I love it because he is a little teary eyed - and I don't know for sure why. But I do remember the way I felt that night - and I KNEW he was proud of me.

Now that I am a parent, I realize sometimes you just tear up when you look at your child/children because you just plain LOVE them.

And I just plain LOVE my Dad - and want to wish him the happiest of birthdays!

Harrison learned two special words for the occasion...."Haw Birfday!"

The Sick House

14 days of sickness. You name it....Harrison or myself has had it.

Pneumonia.
Ear Infections.
Coughs.
Fevers.
Chills.
Congestion.
Constant Nasal Drip.
Nausea.
Aches and Pains.
Insomnia.
Diarrhea (those diapers are awesome).

-all around misery-

Luckily Jordan has been able to ward off the sickness (so far) but Harrison and I are going stir crazy.

Oh yeah - and my entire house looks like this:

and Harrison can't get enough of the kitchen cupboards............

After two weeks of this, we are finally on the mend. I went out with Jordan last night to a Jazz game (wonderful), while Lizzy and Heath stayed with a sleeping Harrison. It felt so so so good to be out of the house. I am not 100% yet - but I am optimistic.

Oh yeah - I took down my Christmas decorations just a few days ago, and my child is now addicted to TV since that is about all we have had the energy to do recently. That about sums it up.

The Big Three

I have seen lots of kids who like to carry around something small in their hand/s at all times. My friend Kjersten's little girl Kennidy always carried around a plastic Barbie shoe. She never lost it - and always knew where it was. Harrison does the same (minus the Barbie shoe of course).

He has THREE things that at any given time during the day - he will have at least one of them clutched tightly is his chubby little fingers.

I give you the big THREE.....(all of which are wooden puzzle pieces).......

The Fire Engine (the most popular)

The School Bus (which is now beginning to peel away)

The Number 4 (the most recent addition now that he knows all his numbers)

It is so funny to watch. I will go into his room as he wakes up from a nap and the first thing he says to me is "fie ingin. Ah need it. Ah wan it. Fine it."

Occasionally he throws us a curveball and needs something else.....like one Saturday morning after Christmas we woke up to him yelling from his crib: "double-you! double-you! Ah can't fine it!" Over and Over and Over. Jordan and I just laid in bed cracking up. He loves his new letter puzzles and magnets and for some reason he needed the 'W' right then and there. He can now identify and name all the the letters in the alphabet and shouts them out as he sees them while we are driving down the street:

"E........F........X........D!!!!!!" as we followed a FedEx truck down the road. Precious to be sure.

He has also started to put little sentances together:
"Ah wan et"
"Chris es running"
"Take a bite"
"Ah wanna see em, Daddy - see em"
"Daddy.....where are you?"
"Cwaire.....where are you?"
"Jackson....has stairs n carsn twucks"
"Daddy! ah wanna westle"
and my personal favorite any time he drops something or falls over or whatever....."Ah jees."

It is hilarious. I love watching him try new words - and say them over and over until he gets them almost right. The best is probably Sesame Street. When he wants to watch it he says: "SeeSwee Stweet!!"

Enough is enough

We had had it with the snow. We had had it with the cold. So we left. We FINALLY went back to visit Huntington Beach after a year and a half. Oh how I miss the sunshine. We picked a perfect week to go - the Santa Ana winds were blowing and it was 80 degrees the entire 5 days we were there. I loved it.

Our friends Jan and Dave were so kind to let us stay with them - it was so nice to have a home base for Harrison and his VERY necessary daily nap!

After driving 11 hours on Wednesday - and arriving around midnight - we got up the next day ready for warm fun! We relaxed all morning - Harrison took a nap, and then we met up with Jordan's sister Kim and her husband and two little boys at Disneyland. We ate at the Blue Bayou - which is a wonderful place if you don't have kids - but ours were not at all impressed. It was a hurried, crazy affair that made us all vow to not return for at least 10 years.

We spent the afternoon walking around - all Harrison cared about was pushing the stroller he was supposed to be riding in. We took him on Pirates of the Carribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear - he LOVED it. We had corn dogs at California Adventure - and just enjoyed a beautiful day in the sunshine. The hi-light of Harrison's day was meeting Mickey Mouse who has recently captured his heart. He just kept touching his face saying 'MICKEY!' We returned the evening and crashed - I had one of my migraine headaches which never mixes well with amusment parks but we still had a wonderful time.

Friday was spent having lunch with some of our old co-workers and friends. Jordan went to TK Burger in Costa Mesa, and I went to the Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach. Harrison was the star of the show of course - no one had seen him since he was just a few weeks old - so it was really fun to see their reactions. I dropped Jordan off and then headed to my old workplace - Huntington Valley Healthcare - and met up with my dear friend Mary for lunch. It was fun to catch up and see my old co-workers. Wow - how my life has changed.

I spent the rest of the afternoon back at Jan and Dave's house letting Harrison play - he loved running around in the sunshine, opening and closing the screen door, climbing the one porch step, and NOT wearing shoes! Throughout the time we were there, Harrison became OBSESSED with Dave's truck. He was constantly asking to 'ride it', pounding on the front door trying to get outside to see it, touching the tires when he was near it etc. It was so cute - Dave was such a good sport and indulged Harrison several times by letting him sit in it. It is probably the most manly truck I have ever seen so I am totally okay with H thinking it is IT.

That night Jan and Dave were SO wonderful and stayed with Harrison while we met a big group of friends in Long Beach at Lucille's - an AMAZING smokehouse BBQ. We laughed and caught up with everyone - it was so nice to take our time with dinner and really enjoy it. I love my little Harrison - but mealtime in restaurants is much more enjoyable when he is safely tucked in bed.

On Saturday, my Uncle Peter came down from Hollywood to spend the afternoon with us. He is such an amazing and talented artist and fabulous uncle on top of that! We went to Wahoo's down on Main Street for fish tacos, then walked along the pier, watched the surfers, then went down to the sand and water. Harrison wasn't too sure about the 'dirty dirty' sand on feet at first - but he got used to it and had a wonderful time. He fell over into the water pretty much straight away but once his wet pants came off and he realized his juice was okay - he loved the water. It was really cold, but he kept inching forward daring it to come higher than his ankles. It was really cute to see. We sat on the sand, soaked up the sunshine, and had a wonderful afternoon. Peter coming down made an amazing day PERFECT!

That night we had a BBQ at Dave and Jan's house - of course I didn't take any pictures - but it was so wonderful to see old friends and have them get to know each other. Nanda and his wife Sumana came down from North LA, Ryan and Alison - our dear friends rode their bikes over (I love that), Jaquie and her boyfriend Jesse made an appearance (mainly to see H), and then us and Jan and Dave. Dave grilled up some delicious meat - and Jan put out quite the spread. After dinner all the girls went and saw Bride Wars - and the guys stayed and watched a UFC fight - and H slept through it all :)

Sunday we went to church and were able to see so many dear friends and catch up on lives that of course have gone on in our absence (sometimes I like to think time stands still when I am not there - this of course is never the case). We visited the Morgan family, took a walk on the beach, and finished off the evening with a visit with some of my dearest girlfriends (and Jordan). I love those kind of friends that even though you haven't seen each other in a while - conversation is easy and it feels as though no time has passed since you last saw each other. Melissa, Jen, Emily, Susan, and Julie are those kind of girls. Love them.

We capped off the night with a nostalgic game of Mexican Train dominoes with Jan & Dave. They were our game buddies when we lived there before - so it was a perfect end to a much needed vacation.

We drove home the next day - it seemed to take an eternity - as return trips always do, but I am so grateful we had the chance to go. Huntington feels like another home to us - besides who doesn't love picking fresh lemons off the tree in the backyard, walking along the beach, and year round perfect weather? We miss it - but it was good to get home. I guess that is how life goes.

So I don't forget.....

What Harrison is saying at nineteen months....

cruh-ler=color(as in...with crayons)
crans=crayons
neen-gers=fingers
yins=raisins
lie-vou=love you
ron-ka-ree= wrinkly (as in fingers after his bath)
twuck..ride it=I want a ride in that truck
da-wish-us=delicious

A funny story about 'delicious.' We went to our nephew Jackson's 4th birthday party where Harrison tried ice cream for the first time. He took a bite, his eyes lit up, he looked up at Jordan and I and said "DA-WISH-US!" My heart melted! I couldn't believe he actually knew what it meant. We had a good laugh - and Harrison continued to eat the delicious ice cream.

A visit from old friends to bring in the new year......

A few weeks after Jordan and I were married, we went to a beach BBQ hosted by some friends of ours. While we were there we met Dave and Jan. They had been married a month longer than us and we hit it off immediately. We got together all the time for game nights, football games, movies, etc. - needless to say - we miss them. Since we moved to Utah - we have of course kept in touch, they visited us here last October and then we were lucky enough to have them here for a couple of days just after Christmas. For the life of me - I cannot get my child to pose, smile or even look at the camera!

We ate food from our favorite restaurants (take-out mostly because lets be honest...dining with the H isn't always the most relaxing), the boys went skiing/boarding while the girls had a lunch with other girlfriends (which ended abruptly with a Harrison diaper blowout-very appetizing I am sure for the rest of the people trying to enjoy their lunch), we saw some sights downtown, and spent New Years Eve playing games, making homemade pizzas and brownies, and just enjoyed being together! We miss them - and can't wait to go back and visit Huntington Beach!

A Howe Christmas

Not everyone on the Howe side could be together on Christmas day proper, so we had a Howe Christmas a couple of days after. We got together at Kim and Tim's house again in Eagle Mountain, had an incredible Christmas feast, opened gifts, and had a wonderful time. The boys played together while the girls (and Jenn's boyfriend JP from Chicago) all saw a movie. It was wonderful.

I made the dessert for the meal - apple pie, cherry pie, and a traditional English trifle (my first attempt)! Everything turned our beautifully - and was enjoyed by all.