Giving lots of Thanks

Wow I am so bad at posting. Last one Harrison was 7 months, now he is 8. I vow to be better.

It's Thanksgiving. We are stuffed. But I am thankful for so much AWESOME food.  David said if we add presents to this holiday next year, it will definitely be his favorite day.  Todd and Kristi are asleep on our couch. David is watching the Cowboys game. Harrison is napping. I am left to my own devices.

This is the third year we have fried a turkey.  This year's came out THE best.  A variety of things made it awesome: the pulley system David rigged up, perfect oil temperature this year, the right size bird, perfect blend of seasonings for the injection.  It was moist and delish.  Harrison liked it too.  That's pretty good coming from a harsh baby critic.

I put up our Christmas decorations and tree already. David indulged me this year and let me put them up early. I am so excited. Probably because this is Harrison's first.  We aren't going home this year which stinks.  Last year was so hard! We flew home, rented a car, drove to Austin, drove to Waco, drove to Frisco, drove back to Houston, drove to Dallas and flew home. Never doing that again. Sometimes I wish David and I were from different states so we could see one family at a time.  Because our families live relatively close, but not that close, we can't justify going to see one and not the other. Especially because we don't go to Texas very often anymore.  Next year we will have to go home.  Many of our family haven't met Harrison.  He'll be so big by the time we get there!

He has one teeth poking through his gums. It's adorable.

He crawls all over the place.

He really likes playing with the football. David is very pleased about this.
                                        

He says "ba ba ba" all the time, spits with his tongue, and says "da" and "mommmm" sometimes.

 Golden and beautiful

 Todd and Kristi look comfy

7 1/2 months

At 7 1/2 months Harrison....

--babbles all day long saying "da," "mammm," "ba," and alll other random noises

--can do a push up/belly flop to "crawl" around

--loves drinking water out of a cup

--has NO teeth, 2 seem to be appearing but not there yet

--rubs his blanket in his hands while drinking his bottle, so cute

--loves going upside down 

--is charismatic and loves everyone he meets (and they love him)

--except he is afraid of big old men who try to talk to him

--loves his daddy

--is pointing and poking at little cereal puffs, workin' on that pincer grasp!

oh we love him.

I tell him I be doin' like pilates, make me sound more educated

Things I have been schooled on at school

At the beginning of the year I thought I had been handed the easiest most well behaved students ever. My rose colored glasses broke about a month ago. All of my classes really go just fine until I get to 6th and 8th period. Holy cannoli. I thought I had good classroom management, but I honestly have no flipping idea what to do when it comes to 8 (yes 8) BOYS who all gang up on me and act ridiculous.  They truly seem to have no respect for adults.  It's not just me they are like this with, their others teachers deal with it too.  I have lost my patience with them, which a teacher cannnooot do. But I did. You have to be an actor and be "on stage" all the time. They have seen my weakness and now exploit it. Oh Rachel why did you do that.

 I'm slowing getting back the reigns.  Luckily I have an empty classroom co-joined with mine through my storage closet. Each day this week I have made one of the lucky students go sit in there by himself the whole class. Finally...peace. Well "peace" is a loose definition for that class.  But I'll take what I can get.

On Tuesday I had an inner meltdown at the end of class. My first year of teaching I never even had one. This week I did. I wanted to kick them in the rear as they left my room. I was literally on the verge of tears in front of them. But I kept my cool.  When I got home however my mind was racing with all the things I wanted to scream at them.  So angry! Arrrrrggh!  Plus it didn't help that my house was a total wreck.

Thankfully I have sweetest husband ever. 

On Wednesday he took SUCH good care of me. He says he didn't do it for the thanks he'd receive and shushed me when I tried to thank him. So I won't go into all that he did for me. Just that it completely and utterly changed my attitude.  I felt like I could breathe normally again.

Classroom management is seriously more than half the battle with teaching.  If you've got a good plan, things will run like clock work.  

Yep this week I got schooled.  I pray for patience. 

 

as of lately...

Over the summer, August loomed over my head. I knew I had to go back to work and so I waited til the very possible last second to change my calendar to August. Then I refused to look at it.  Now that I have been working for about a month now...I have to say it is...livable. I am learning how to do things fast and trying to slow time for the important things.  Harrison's picture is my background on my school computer and I honestly get teary eyed almost every time I see it.  However I am very grateful to have good people to watch him for me.  It's hard enough leaving your kid, so having people you trust makes it so much better.

For now we seem to be in the swing of things.  I wake up, get ready, get harrison up, feed him, and then get to play with him til 8:30 when I drop him off.  Thank goodness for those extra hours in the morning.  They have saved my sanity and my health.  David is still working at the MTC as senior missionary training coordinator. He loves it.  He goes to school in the afternoon and is doing an internship every 3rd weekend at the hospital. Last weekend was his first shift and he came home smiling.  He works with patients who have just had heart attacks.  He is loving it.  It has helped light the fire again for the path to medical school (which has been long and grueling). 

David is still serving as ward clerk, which keeps him busy all Sunday and Tuesday nights. I am a counselor in the Young Women so I am gone on Wednesday nights for mutual...after a long day working. I am so jealous of stay at home moms out there. Enjoy the peace of being in one place and of being with your children.

We are honestly busier than we have ever been in our whole life.  Add a kid to the mix and life gets interesting. These have been the hardest weeks...ever.  But as busy and stressful as it is, it has been the biggest blessing in our lives to have our little Harrison. He is pure joy.  We love him.  

In other news, my sister is coming this week with her little mymy. I know she is coming to see her husband's family, but I don't care. I'm just glad I get to see her period =) I sure do miss her.

Oh have I mentioned I am illustrating a book?! So excited. It's one of my life goals so I am pretty pumped.  It is for my dad's cousin.  I've only done one illustration so far, but it is grrreat. Add that to my daily list of duties and I have no time. But it's ok!

Harrison does this funny sucking in of his bottom lip now. I love it.

 He is not into solids anymore, he barfs them up. But if I let him play with his spoon first his seems much more into it =)

 He is sitting all by himself now! I know here the chair is supporting him. But I had to get a picture of this.  This green chair is the puss on the face of our living room. It is gross and ugly, but David got it for free helping a guy move.  He wanted a "man" chair. It reclines and yes is comfortable, I'll give him that. But it is hideous and I don't know how to save it. I will live with it for now until we give it to another guy and his poor wife.

  

Harrison's tricks

Didn't I just give birth? What happened.   Harrison has some new skills now to boast. He is growing quite perfectly. Next post I'll try not to talk all about him, but no promises. He's basically my life.

 I started teaching again today. Wahhhh. Leaving him is SO so sad. I am trying to have a good attitude, but honestly I'm not good at it yet.  I try to put on the brave face but all I want to do is go home and snuggle with my baby.  Especially because his life seems to be happening in light speed. How does one find the balance of working and taking care of your family? Hopefully I don't have to do this long.

Until I get some other alternative, I will try to enjoy every single stinking second of this precious little boy.  He is honestly a very good baby.  He rarely cries and if he does it's for good reason.  He is a charmer and a flirt. It's EASY to make to smile and laugh. It's music to my ears.

He hasn't yet mastered sitting on his own, but he is oh so close.

 He's eating solids, namely rice cereal and carrots.  He does NOT like squash.

 He has figured out how to roll over, but I still haven't caught him in the act.  Usually it's at 2 in the morning and he's crammed against the side of the crib on his tummy.  But hey, he's doing it sort of.

 Usually he's twisted like so.  He's very good at the twisting.

 Expert at smiling, seriously...gerber baby much?

 This is his 5 month picture below...ahh sigh. He makes my heart melt.

shadow box memories

In the hospital the nurses gave us prints of Harrison boy's feet, the tiny blood pressure thing for his arm, and a host of other things.  At the time I thought, what am I gonna do with the tiny blood pressure thing? Ah ha! Shadow box!---> with all his little hospital things I don't want to part with.  This project took me literally like 5 minutes total.  I just used doubled sided tape and pins to hold everything in place. Easy and I plan to make one of these for all our future kiddos so I can stare at it and try to remember how little they were when they are old and getting married.  It's on the wall right outside our bedroom and I love it.  It's just missing a picture of him in the hospital and then I'll be happy.

 the little card they put in his crib with all his info

 his sweet little beanie and shirt which is actually 6 month size

 the blood pressure cuff, so tiny!

 I love this scrapbook paper, 12x12 to fit perfect in my 12x12 frame

 his hospital bracelet, chinn baby =)

we have a son.

Wow we have a son? Like a kid??? Sometimes it hits me when I'm in public and other people stop to coo at him, and then I realize they're doing it to my own kid! Ya, love those moments.

Little H is getting so big.  My arms get tired trying to hold him.  He is a hungry hungry boy.  We're going to try rice cereal with him soon and I have a feeling he will LOVE it.  Everything that gets into his hands ends up in his mouth.  Especially his clothes.  He grabs his shirts and pulls them in his mouth.  His mouth is a musical instrument.  He makes lots of noises and babbles to himself. I love it.  He is such a happy baby.  When he's not eating or sleeping, he's smiling and giggling.  Such a flirt with anyone who talks to him.  Being his mom is so awesome.

 and yes he does fuss like any baby, and I love his "fuss face" too. Cracks me up.

I love how he looks when he's sleeping.  I go in and spy on him when he naps.

Last Saturday we heard his first real laughter.  He had the giggles. Luckily we caught some on camera!  Flying in the air is his all time favorite game.

Reading

I thought I would have more time in my life when I wrote my last post.  Now that baby boy doesn't sleep all day like when he was a newborn, I find myself busy most of the day with him of course.  However I have found time while he's napping to make him a book to look at.  I've wanted some good baby books for him, but I haven't got around to getting any.  At the BYU bookstore I found they have lots of blank books! So I bought one that's perfect baby size and has hard pages so they can be chewed on etc.  It was only 2.60! So I started drawing in it with a black sharpie.  I really had no plan in mind I just drew random things in it.  I drew a picture of him, some lollipops, a whale, a lion, a shirt with buttons, a mother deer and fawn, and then a page with them all together.  It makes no sense, but he loves to look at it!

projects

I can't really stand to sit around and do nothing.  I've always walked fast, even if I'm not in a hurry.  Just feel like I gotta get somewhere and do something!  However I slowed down while being pregnant, and now with my little guy it makes me a little slower too.  Now that I find myself at home full time until the fall (when I teach again)...I'm wondering what to do with myself.  I've decided to make the most use of my time that I need a bucket list of things to complete before summer's over and a basic routine every day.  I've already finished some projects I'm excited about, but so many others I'd love to get started!  I used to have a chronic problem of starting things and not finishing.  I've mostly gotten over that habit, but there's still a few things I've delayed: in particular a painting of the Manti temple for my mom.  Started a long time ago and meant it to be a Christmas present.  Boy I suck. I'm gonna finish it mom I promise!!!!

things to do:

go camping
go to a rodeo
SWIM
go to a drive in movie
go to the hogle zoo
blow bubbles
fly a kite
read harry potter (never read them)
lay in a hammock
go to a play
go to yellowstone
be outside A LOT

PROJECTS to do:

finish my mom's painting
painting for Sam
finish harrison's room
paintings/pictures for our bedroom
work in our garden
Harrison's baby book
change our front door wreath
make cool awesome things for my art classroom:

• fabric banner
• painting for bulletin board
• felt flowers
• collaged pots for supplies

I did manage to finish one project: a mobile for Harrison's room.  It's just a ball of twisted aluminum wire that I started wrapped around a basketball.  Then I just twisted and turned wire around inside.  I cut out little bird-plane things from stiff orange felt and then hot glued them around it random places.  It hangs from fishing wire.  I've got to make it super secure so it doesn't come crashing down in his crib and poke him in the eye or something, but I love the way it turned out. WOO project complete.

I want him to know...

Having a baby kinda makes you look at things.  I think about what it is I want him to learn, how I want him to learn it, what sort of mom I want him to remember me as when he's an adult.  I don't want to be the mom that yelled, but said his full name when he was in trouble, with that serious mom look. My mom used to get our names mixed up and call me every name in the family until saying, what's your name again? Still makes me laugh =)

I want him to know my feelings about my faith.  The things I want him to know end up centered around what I believe as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I want him to learn about Jesus Christ. I want him to have a relationship with his Heavenly Father.  I want him to have strength and faith to do things that are hard.  I want him to love nature, appreciate tiny little flowers and funny looking bugs.  I want him to treat women like his dad treats me: with LOTS of love, hugs, and kisses. I want him to pray all the time, not just when he needs something.  I want him study the scriptures.  I want him to live the scriptures.  I want him to listen to and follow the prophet.  I want him to listen to the Spirit and follow what he feels and not just what he thinks or what his friends say. And, I want him to be a missionary all his life.

This list is not exhaustive of course, but those are key golden nuggets.  Everything that makes me happy and makes our little family work is because of what we know.  I know people who think we're crazy for getting married "young," while still in college, and having a kid before David reaching graduation.  If we didn't believe what we believe, ya maybe we would be crazy.  But because of what we know, our life is happy and awesome.  We know what life is about and we let that guide us instead of what the world says.

I love my little family.  We're in for an awesome ride together.

And just cause, a picture of Mr. Harrison

for more on my beliefs, visit the pink box link on the side of my page that says: my faith

We are so in love.

How Harrison got here (warning long post)

daddy chinn

Dr Judd

After months of anticipation, Harrison is here! I keep looking at him and thinking, oh my gosh you were just inside of me. How is that possible?

The whole process of him coming here is truly incredible to me. How a person's body can go through all of that, involuntarily, and produce a human being is a testament to me of Heavenly Father's love and power. We were so blessed with everything that happened with Harrison. It all worked out perfectly, well with a few snags, but mostly perfect.

I had my permanent substitute start on Monday the 19th whether he had come or not. Turns out since I'll be on maternity leave til the end of the school year, I'll be missing several meetings. To make up my meetings, I had to do some observations that morning. So I went into the school, on my due date, and observed a couple teachers. Since 5am that morning I had been having some mild contractions like an hour or so apart. I thought...is this labor? I had one other sign of labor that morning that made me think he would definitely be coming this week sometime.

I left my observations early because MAN was I uncomfortable. Sitting 9 months pregnant in those stupid metal school chairs is lame. But I got done what the school district required of me. Then I had a doc appt at 2:45. At my appointment, ol' Dr. Judd said, "well good news your cervix has changed, I can induce you on Thursday." Having the end in sight was encouraging, but I was thinking, am I gonna have these tummy aches (contractions) until then?

So thinking we had more time, David and I went to tour the hospital and pre-register. I felt silly at first...touring labor and delivery. Do people really do that? But it got us so excited! Plus I was grateful we did later.

We came home, I made dinner and berry cobbler for dessert. We played banana grams with my mom, twin brother and his wife. Pretty normal night. Almost as soon as I got ready for bed and laid down, the contractions got stronger. I kept thinking, everyone I know of goes through most of their labor at night. What's the deal? Mom says it's because of the moon. I don't know if I believe her.

I kept watching my clock as they got closer and closer. I REALLY tried to sleep, but no use. Eventually around 2am I thought I couldn't take it anymore. I woke David and he jumped out the bed and got all our things into the car. We started driving to the hospital, but then I thought...what if they turn us away? Plus once in the car my contractions seemed to suddenly slow down. We decided to go back home and wait until we were really for sure.

So David gave me his phone to watch my contractions and use the lap setting on his stopwatch. He went back to sleep while I huffed and puffed my way through. Each time I pressed the lap button, I thought they were getting further apart. It kept saying 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, etc. I got all the way to 16 laps but dummy me didn't realize that 16 laps did not mean 16 minutes between contractions. I'm retarded. Luckily my mom was upstairs listening to me and was timing them as well. She peeked over the stairs and said, hey guys I think you should go to the hospital, they're 2 minutes apart. I'm glad she knew what she was doing.

We got to the hospital smoothly, not without stopping on the sidewalk for a contraction or two. I was the only one to come in so they got with me right away. The nurse checked me and said "You're definitely in labor, you're at 6cm!" Holy cow didn't I just see Dr. Judd a few hours ago?! Unfortunately because the anesthesiologist was busy with other patients, I didn't get an epidural until an hour and a half later. Ugh. When he gave it to me, he poked something that jolted my right leg out like a giant funny bone attack in my leg. My right leg suddenly got very heavy while my left felt pretty normal.

Thankfully he fixed it, I was afraid I'd only be numb on one side of my body. Once the medicine set in, things felt dreamy. I was finally able to sleep, sort of. I drifted in and out for a while. David never really slept since the couch/bed thing they had was rock hard and I kept asking for ice chips.

I have to say, David was and is amazing through all this. He is such a wonderful dad and has taken excellent care of me. He never complained and even though he was exhausted, kept wanting to do more for me.

I had progressed to 7cm an hour or so later, but after that it stalled for a few hours. Harrison also was posterior so the nurse tried to turn him a little herself. They decided to give me some pitocin as well try to move him and maybe help me progress. It worked, later Harrison was facing the right way and we were making progress.

Then at around 11:30 the nurse said I was fully dilated and would be able to push once Dr. Judd came! Yay! Dr. Judd's showed up around 12:5o, checked me, and said..."well Harrison decided to turn posterior again. So you can either stay pregnant for 2 more weeks or we can use the forceps on him. What do you say?" Dr. Judd is not a serious man. He made jokes through the entire delivery. I'm grateful we had him. He has the lowest c-section rate in Utah. So rather the c-section me, he used some good old fashioned elbow grease.

What a bizarre feeling to be numb but be able to tell what's going on! David held my right leg (which fell off the stirrups) and loved every minute of it. The nurses kept asking if he was ok, cause I know it wasn't pretty, but he would have done it himself if they would have let him!

So I pushed, doc pulled with the forceps, pushed some more, thought my eyes were gonna pop out, pushed some more, doc cut me to make some more room, and then finally his head comes out! It was strange him being part in me and all the many nurses and doctor talking to the baby since his face was up looking at everyone...

A couple more pushes and he was out! I cried. Partly because I felt elated it was over, and then overwhelmed with feelings of love for this little guy we were meeting. They were going to do the "skin to skin" but took him to get him to cry more. Nurses checked him while doc sewed me up, still making jokes. Eventually the nurses got concerned. His oxygen levels were low and he had "nostril flaring." They were worried since I had just gotten over my "walking pneumonia."

He was taken to the NICU to further monitoring. They let me hold him for about 2 seconds to take a picture before whisking him away. Earlier when we were at home, David gave me a blessing. He had blessed me with peace and trust in the Lord. When they took him to the NICU, all my motherly instincts were to worry. But I felt peace. I knew he would be ok. 4 hours later, he was out of the NICU and into our recovery room with us. He had recovered and was breathing well.

He is beautiful and we can't stop staring at him. I can't imagine him being bigger. He's so tiny and most of his newborn clothes are too big! We love him and are so grateful to have a healthy little boy. oh my gosh we're parents.

rocking chair re-do

At DI a few weeks ago, it's like a local good will megastore, I found an old rocking chair. Yes the fabric was stained, gross, ripped, and the chair itself was dirty and sticky. BUT it had potential. It works great, just needed a facelift. Plus it was only 15 bucks!

I ordered fabric and got way more than I needed. I didn't use a tutorial or anything, I pretty much made it up. Because of this...I didn't measure right and ordered double the fabric I really needed. I should have only ordered about 2 1/2 yards, but I ordered 4 yards. Oh well more fabric for another project!

First I cleaned up the chair and gave it a few coats of white lacquer spray paint. To make the cushions I used a seam ripper to undo the existing upholstery and saved each piece to make a pattern for the new fabric. I saved the foam cushioning inside to resuse as well. To do the seat it really only took be about 2 hours and about 2 hours for the back cushion. Not a bad investment if you ask me! And now it's exactly how I wanted. Totally worth it so I can rock my baby boy. Love!

living the life

Now we finally have internet so I can post pictures! I feel so spoiled living with all the modern conveniences that in Wymount I lived without. Life changed. I literally have hours more in my week and day because I don't have to hand wash dishes or drag laundry 400 meters up a hill. I feel like a grown up owning our own washer and dryer and having a backyard. Ya I'm almost 26, about to be a mom, am a teacher, but still don't feel so "grown up." Once David is done with school maybe I will.

This place is a step up from our little one bedroom that didn't have a dishwasher or counter space. We really loved Wymount and miss it, especially the people. We made some wonderful friends there. But seriously life easiness has improved living here. I love it. Here is the new pad:

the kitchen

the kitchen...with countertops and a dishwasher?! I am so lucky =)

our living room. I made those pilows with leftover fabric from making his carseat cover, I'll post that later.

the living room

oh yes, a backyard. The neighbors have rabbits running around their yard.

And possibly my favorite...a laundry room!!!!

bathroom downstairs

the stair gallery...I need to add more

our upstairs bathroom, notice a countertop and drawers?!! Ya we didn't have that before.

our bedroom, we have space to walk around!

baby's room...in progress. Yes I should be done by now, but I'm not.

I'm hanging pictures of the men he came from on the wall, except they're awesome old photos from when they were little boys: my grandpa, david's grandpa, david's dad, my dad, david's stepdad, and david of course!

I made the whale painting, the pillow, AND the rocking chair. I'll show the before some other time. It was a nasty old chair I re-did, pretty proud of myself for that.