A Korben Funny

This morning I was getting Korben dressed and when I took off his pajama pants he was NAKED underneath! I was really worried that maybe I had forgotten to put a diaper on him last night before bed. With as scatterbrained as I have been lately this was totally plausable. He doesn't know how to put his pants on by himself, which means he hadn't taken his diaper off by himself...

The mystery was solved when I came downstairs and found a used diaper sitting on the couch. He must have undone the diaper and let it work its way down one of his legs. Silly boy. Thank heavens it was only a wet one. :D

Yearly Pictures

I finally did it. After all of the craziness lately I actually made a portrait appointment for the boys, kept it, and got some decent pics of them. Now if only we could get a family picture done we'd be in good shape.

KORBEN MICHAEL HARRISON - 3 YEARS OLD

He wouldn't look at the camera, so we only got the one shot of him straight on. I decided beforehand that I wasn't going to get frustrated with him and that I would just go with whatever happened, because that is just how Korben is. As a result, I was pleased with the outcome.

LOGAN SPENCER HARRISON - 1 YEAR OLD

Logan was all over the place so I was surprised at how many pictures we did get of him. The photographer would get the camera all ready and I would set Logan down and run so that she could get a shot in before he bolted. That's why his shirt is all crumpled up in all of the pictures- it's from me picking him up and setting him down over and over again. :)

THE HARRISON BOYS

This is the only picture we got of the boys where both of them are looking. With the two of them running in different directions at this point, I was happy to even get one.

Overall I was pleased with how they turned out and am glad that I don't have to worry about it for another whole year. WOOT!

The Birth Of Kylee

On Friday, Jake called to let me know that Jess was going to the hospital. They asked me to bring a few things to them and I thought that that would be it for me until I went to visit them after the birth. I was surprised and honored to be asked to stay and help through the labor and delivery. It was mostly to take pictures and video of the occasion, but I would like to think that I was able to help Jess and Jake in some way by being there.

The labor started out with lots of laughing about how far along Jess was (she was at a 5 when she arrived). After the doctor broke her water, the labor progressed to what I remember labor being like...pain that slowly increases and becomes unbearable (at least for me). Jess really was a trooper, but her contractions were just huge so she got an epidural. I tried to remember all the things I had learned in my breathing classes to help Jess until the epidural took effect.

The whole of the afternoon after that was spent waiting. Waiting for the nurse to tell us how she was progressing, waiting to hear that the baby was ready, waiting, waiting, waiting. The nurses kept coming in and telling Jess that she was having crazy contractions and that if she was on pitocin, they would turn her down...I guess Jess's body knew what it was going to take to get Kylee here. Weighing in a 8lbs 14oz and 22 inches long, it's no wonder there were some crazy contractions.

At one point the epidural stopped working and Jess was in extreme pain. At that moment I had a few thoughts run through my head...one, I was glad that I have c-sections, two I wanted so badly to take the pain away from her, and three I wished that I could someday make a career out of helping people deal with that pain...so who knows, maybe someday when I am done having babies, I can help other people have them.

Finally the time arrived for Kylee to come. The room in an instant went from waiting and boring to a rush of people prepping things and getting dressed and yelling a whirlwind of instructions. I felt rushed, so I can't imagine how Jess must have felt going from just waiting, to being told it was time to push.

And so, as I recorded Jess working to bring a baby to the world (by the way she was totally quiet and controlled during her pushes...nothing like the movies) I got to experience a "real" birth for the first time. It was a very beautiful experience and one I will not soon forget. It was so sweet to see a baby be born and take her first cries, but it was even more sweet to see a new mother and father meet the child that they had been waiting for for so long, for the first time. It was a sacred moment that I feel very blessed to be a part of. Even though I have experienced all of those emotions, it was a totally different experience to be the outsider in the situation. I'll admit that a tiny part of me was jealous of this natural birth. Some things like having the baby immediately put on my tummy, and having Mike cut the cord, are things that I will never experience - those things don't happen after a c-section- and I was kind of saddened by it. I guess I didn't know what I was missing until now.

I also learned some things about a childbirth...things like how much fluid there is, and what placenta looks like. I don't tell this to gross anyone out, it is just simply something that I have never experienced because of having c-sections. I also got to witness how a baby is cleaned and measured etc...another thing that I have never been able to watch (Mike always gets that privilege). And it wasn't weird at all to be there...something that I was a little worried about. I was able to document the birth very well for them (in a clean, appropriate, can show to people kind of way :D), and all the while it felt comfortable to be there.

So thanks Jake and Jess for sharing your moment with me.
I love you guys.

I also need to thank Kathy for keeping my boys ALL DAY without complaining a bit. Love you too!

I already put a lot of pictures on Jessica's blog, but for the sake of those that don't see her blog, here are some pics of baby Kylee.

Logan's 1st Birthday

Logan celebrated his first birthday on November 1st!

Time has definitely flown with this little character.

For his birthday, we had the Rasmussen family over as well as Jake and Jess. Logan (with much help and prodding) opened a few gifts and then we ate cake and ice cream. The first gift we opened was from Kathy. As luck would have it, the Elmo remote that they got for Logan was the exact same remote that Kara had sent in the mail earlier that week. I guess Logan's auts both knew what he would like. :D Kathy had the receipt to hers, so we took it back and got Logan some little cars. Thank you both for your thoughtful gift!

Here are some pictures of Logan's big day:

As you can see, he was satisfied with the first gift and didn't want me to take it away.

This is him trying to escape from Mommy.

This gift is from Grandma & Grandpa Harrison. They gave all of the grandchildren books with their family tree in it as a start to their geneology. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

This next gift is one that I found on craigslist in FEBRUARY. Logan was only 3 months old, but I still picked it up planning to give it to him on his birthday. It took some serious perserverence on my part to not give it to him when he started walking and getting into everything.

He loves his little table...

And of course one of the first things he had to do was test out how sturdy it was. :D

His last gift was actually just the little Pooh airplane that was Korben's. We thought it would be fun for him to open another gift, so wrapped it -which was silly since he didn't care, but he sure loves this toy.

After gifts, we moved on to the cake. I made one for Logan to destroy and one for the rest of us to eat.

Logan started out really tentatively and ate one m&m at a time...

Then he got into the swing of things and realized just how yummy that brown thing really was...

Cheese!

Logan loves bath time, so was totally stoked to get a bath after his cake fest. He wasn't very happy that I was making him wait for the water to run, however, so he tried to take matters into his own hands.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Trick Or Treat!

For Halloween this year, we went to our ward trunk-or-treat and then went trick-or-treating with Kathy, Jed and their kids, and Jake and Jess. Korben actually grasped what we were doing this year, so didn't try and eat every piece of candy as it was given to him. He even said "trick or treat" at every house, and then "thank you" after he was given candy (we had a bunch of practice runs so that he would know what to do). Logan didn't have a clue what was going on, but he was cheerful and so stinking cute the whole night.

We had a really great time dressing up and acting silly. Yay for Halloween!

Here are some pics of our costumes:

Logan was a race car driver. He refused to keep his hat or sunglasses on long enough for a picture, but with a grin as cute as his, who needs 'em?

Gavin put the hat on him backwards to make him "cool".

The back view...

Korben picked out his own costume this year. He was so excited to be a monkey like George.

By the end, his bucket was so heavy he could barely carry it. Isn't that the cutest little back end you have ever seen?

I dressed up as Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter. After a few Goodwill runs and some fabric searching, I found a pretty good ensemble. Jess sewed the head wrap for me (thanks Jess!) We had a hard time getting decent pictures because of the glare on the glasses, but you get the idea.

This is me in a "trance" similar to the one she had in the first movie.

Mike dressed up as a beekeeper. He got lots of compliments on his costume. How handy that he just picked it up off of a shelf at Terminix...free costumes are the best!

Yeah, I know we are total nerds, but we sure have a lot of fun. :D

This was my favorite picture of the night. Korben sure loves his Daddy. I hope that this tradition of dressing up and being silly and spending time with our boys continues for many years to come.

Pumpkin Carving 2008

Last weekend we carved our pumpkins with Kathy's family. It took a lot of schedule manuevering and vigilance from Kath and I, but we were able to get together to keep the tradition alive. It was fun, as usual, and we have some great pumpkins to show for it.

Here are our family pics (Kath will blog her family pics):

THE CARVING:

Logan playing with his pumpkin. Poor little guy had a runny nose and a mom that didn't wipe it, so sorry for the snot! :S

Korben picked out his own pattern and sat on my lap for the entire process of poking the pattern into the pumpkin and then cutting out the "shapes". This is a huge feat for him since he usually doesn't have that great of an attention span.

What would a pumpkin party be without Mike's lazy eye?

THE FINISHED PRODUCTS:

We chose a winking cat for Logan. He is waving hello in this picture.

Korben chose an "angry face". Every morning he checks on his pumpkin to make sure it is still on the porch, and every night he makes sure to help us light it.

I chose a pattern that I have wanted to do for a few years, but it said "challenging" so I was always afraid to attempt it. I think she turned out pretty sweet looking if I do say so myself.

After much thought and searching online, Mike decided to go with a simple emoticon. :)

This is our little family of pumpkins all lit up on our doorstep.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!