getting ready for visitors

A couple weeks ago my parents worked on getting the house ready for the first guests who will be arriving tomorrow. My whole family (my parents, my brother Taylor and his wife Sarah, my brother Lucas, and his girlfriend Laura) will be here this weekend. It has been WAY too long since we have all been together, so I am glad Harlow could make that happen!
Here is a glimpse of the upstairs of the grandparent house...project...money pit...whatever you wanna call it.




*beds and bedding are from IKEA.
*upstairs needs paint too!

The Legend

I was worried that now that my dad has so many projects in his new house that he would never have time to work on my house (he's helped us out with a lot of stuff at our house including our kitchen update). Today that proved not the case. Love having my dad around! Free handyman!

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

playdate

My awesome friends (three adults, a 7 month old, and a 6 week old) flew all the way from Michigan to meet Harlow. We are hoping the three baby girls will be bff's (their moms have been friends for a looooong time). Luna will have to stop that hair pulling habit though ;=)
Harlow, 4 weeks. Luna 7 months. Leighton 6 weeks:

bojangles and basketball

It was nice to spend an evening with Harlow and hubby!

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

one month young

since most of her family is 700 (or more) miles away, the poor child is going to have to get used to lots of 'photo shoots'!

Pretty in pink

I'm not a huge fan of really girly stuff, but Harlow seems to have a lot of pink clothes :). This is what she is wearing today and STiLL got called a 'he' at the grocery store today! (sorry for crappy iPhone pic) also, she is totally in awe of these fish above her head.

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

traveling with a 3 week old

This weekend, Mark was playing in the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, so, the whole family of three went. All I can say is good thing we got a BIG car before the baby was born. It was packed with baby things including our newest life saver; the mini swing. Oh and not to mention Mark was playing the Contrabassoon and had to bring it from UNCG, and that thing is GINORmous. The Symphony put us up at the beach in a room with a mini kitchen and living area. While Mark was at rehearsal, Harlow and I watched a lot of basketball. The three of us walked on the beach with the Bjorn and went out to a nice dinner. It was a very successful weekend!

Here is a random picture from the internet to show you how big the Contrabassoon is:

I was itching to get some pictures of Harlow in natural light, so here she is at the pool (in the shade of course).

Our next big road trip will be to Michigan in July, so I hope it goes as smooth!

chillin

Harlow chillin at her grandparents house

Consignment furniture

My parents have been here all week and they decided some furniture was necessary since my whole family will be staying there in three weeks. There is a fairly new consignment furniture shop in town called "Still Great Furniture" and they have some great stuff! My mom has a great eye for decorating and picked out these pieces for the living room:



Living room before:

Living room progress:

They also made a trip to IKEA and got beds and bedding for the bedrooms (will post on that another day) Now if we could just get some paint in there...it would really be coming together! (hint hint dad ;).

Maternity leave TV

I admit, it is my favorite hour of the Today Show. There I said it...

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

minor surgery

Can you guess what happened to this chunk of stairway railing?



Yup, it ended up in my dad's hand.

It was the first reno injury and of course it happened merely walking down the stairs.

My dad spent 4 unsuccessful hours at an urgent care yesterday, while everyone else was watching MSU vs. OSU (go green!). This was after plenty of discussion about DIY surgery at home with a "clean" razor. Ultimately we ended up here today and I think (know) it was for the better:

Harlow got to witness her first minor surgical procedure. (I am secretly trying to push her into a career in medicine like her mama). She was a champ at the office. Now if only she would sleep AT NIGHT...but that's another story.

Round two was a piece of cake:


Thanks Dr. Kingman! Now grandpa legend can get back to reno and to holding Harlow.

Spring has sprung

The weather here has been so warm and Mark is on spring break so we were dying to get outside with the babe. Since we don't have a stroller yet (it just came in today, but that is a whole other story) we decided to try out the Baby Bjorn. Good thing baby girl likes to eat so she met the 8 pound requirement (she has gained a pound from her birth weight at 2 weeks old!). We got the traditional Bjorn as a gift, but exchanged it for this lighter weight version since it will be getting most of its use in the summer months. So far so good I think, but time will tell.
Spring:

Bjorn:

floors

Mark ran over to the 'grandparent' house today (not hard since it is 1 mile away) to check out the progress this week of the finishing work and the floors. He snapped this photo with his iPhone.

It seems like wide boards for wood floors are in vogue right now (I know this from watching hours of HGTV since I've been on maternity leave) but the original wood floors in this house were narrow boards and I happen to love the look. What a difference refinishing makes!

new parent surprises

New parent surprises of the day:
Mark's: The "velocity" of her poop (and it doesn't stink)
Mine: She can sleep through anything: dog barking, vacuuming, bassooning etc...I hope that lasts beyond the newborn days.

Chubby Cheeks

Harlow has an appetite like her daddy! If anyone else knows any professional cyclists, you know what I mean!

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

Yawn

This is a bit how we're feeling today...

Mark thinks this shirt looks like a straight jacket. He thinks she should just sleep in a diaper and a blanket. We have compromised on this shirt, very simple for night diaper changes...
Today she is sporting just a onesie though since it is going to be 77 here in NC. Welcome March!