Preciousness

Today we were a couple of busy girls. We did some cleaning, got out all the Christmas stuff, played, napped and hung out. Zoey got to sit and watch me basically make a fool of myself singing Christmas songs, making funny faces at her while putting the decorations up. She laughed, so I think she enjoyed my humor.

Chris was gone most of today, so I decided to attempt to put our huge tree together. Last year we purchased a 12 foot monster. It comes in large sections. So I hauled up the sections one by one from the basement. Got 2 sections put together and realized the were in the wrong order. I stopped there. Chris had to fix it when he got home. Needless to say tomorrow we will be trimming the tree.

The other thing we marked off our list was getting the Christmas cards ordered. I've had them ready for sometime, was just waiting for the pictures. I hope everyone likes them. I so enjoy getting Christmas card pictures. Every year I get to update our wall with our family and friends. It's awesome to see how everyone has changed and grown!

Slowly, one by one the houses around us are getting lit up with the Christmas season. I LOVE this time of year! And can't wait to have many special quiet Christmas moments with my daughter.

Do we have to part?

Today was Zoey's first day of school. Wow was this a hard one. Still makes me tear up just thinking about having to part with her tomorrow again. Overall it went fine. I went with Chris to drop her off. I just stood there in the infant room holding her not knowing how to let her go. I finally handed her off to her teacher and began the trek to Lincoln. It was definitely weird not having her right by my side, her spitup on my shirt, her farting in my lap, smiling at me when I made a funny face or even a smelly diaper to change. Instead I got to go through a large pile of mail, many emails and voicemails. Luckily I have an understanding workplace who are allowing me to slowly transition back into the working world. Luckily it's only 2 days away from the weekend. Already looking forward to it.

The picture on the left is of this past Monday. I bought these adorable overalls for her at babyGAP. Love em! The second picture is of this morning and me kissing her before we went to school.

Now that I'm in the midst of motherhood I have this empowered feeling that I can do just about anything. A new appreciation for my fellow mother friends and family. And an understanding of a love that is so strong and infinite. It's a love different than you have for your spouse. Just as powerful, but different. I love being a mom. It's still weird to say. The other thing I feel is that there is this feeling that comes with motherhood that once you become one you feel you should write the "how to" book. Being a first time mom I studied up, or so I thought. But it's all the things they don't tell you that need to be written!

Harley Sunday

Today we ran a bunch of errands with Zoey so I decided we would ALL sport our Harley gear. She finally fits into this Harley t-shirt we got from the Prochaskas. It was the cutest outfit I just had to post the picture.

Zoey is growing out of her newborn clothes. It's so much fun to put her in new outfits!

This Tuesday will be 12 weeks. Which means I will be heading back to work and Zoey will begin "school". I call it "school" because it makes me feel a little better. This past week she spent a few hours at school getting to know the surroundings and teachers. Both times I picked her up they said she was a mellow and easy going baby. Which I'm taking as a compliment.

I'm sure this week I'll be a complete mess. Everytime I even think about it I tear up. But it's what we have to do and we'll get through it like everything else.

This coming weekend I'm planning to break a cardinal rule of mine. Putting the Christmas stuff up before Thanksgiving. Today we found new stockings! I'm so excited for Christmas and the spirit of the time. It's always been very special to me and now I have Zoey to re-experience all of those traditions with. And make some new one's!

What a gift.

This Sunday Zoey is having her Baptism. Her sponsors are my sisters Jenise & Tammy and Chris' brother Dan. This will be the first time we have both our families together at our house. I guess that officially makes me grown up! The picture is her in her outfit she will be wearing. She wasn't too thrilled with picture taking that morning.

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that it took us 9 years to get to this point in our lives. Our present is this smiling little girl in the picture. We are having my friend Shelly come and babysit while we go get something to eat. First time for us to be out on our own alone. I'm sure it will be a little strange, can't remember what our life was like before Zoey!

I'm the ......

So, since we have been supplementing formula with the breastmilk, Zoey's poos have been not so enjoyable for me. Talk about the gag factor!

The other day she went through a couple outfits so I finally put on this onesie. This is what we looked like when Chris came home that day.

We've had our fair share of explosions in the Harnly household! It's our rule that if you are on Zoey watch you have to change her! Any volunteers?

Our Little Pumpkin

We had a really exciting Halloween this year. We didn't have a SINGLE trick or treater, so we had to eat all the candy ourselves.

As everyone knows I am a huge Halloween fan. Well, our only decoration up this year was a single pumpkin that Chris got us a few weeks ago. Our treat was take-out! Here's a picture of how Zoey spent her first Halloween. Next year we'll get an actual costume!

Wassup Cuz....

Last week we had several visitors. On Thursday Grandma Harnly & Laken came to see us. Here is a picture of Cousin Laken holding Zoey.

When I was pregnant with Zoey and we didn't know what we were having Chris asked Laken what he thought it was. He said he hoped it was a girl and that we would name her Peanut Butter.

Well, he got the first part right. But we just couldn't go with the name. We'll use Peanut as one of her many nicknames though!