VROOOM!!

Harrison is now officially walking! He woke up on 12/28 (Auntie Jen's birthday, Happy Birthday Jen!) and just decided he was going to be a walker now. He took his first steps two months ago so I was beginning to think it may never happen!! Derek posted a fun video of him walking on facebook, check it out!!

He says "vroooom" sometimes too when he is scuttling along. Hee Hee!

We also visited his God cousin (Becky and I made that word up) Connor. They were so adorable. Connor was one day shy of his 10 week b-day and he WAVED at us! Also Harrison gave Connor a kiss, totally on his own. I have been teaching him kiss but so far he has only given me kisses. I didn't try to prompt him and it was so unexpected. He sure did love his God cousin, aww!

He has also oficially said: dad(dy), mom, uh oh, hi and bye, kitty, and doggy.

I am such a proud Mama!!


Happy New Year everyone, 2009 kicked my ass and I am not sad to see it go.

Cheers to a better 2010! and Happy Birthday Grammie!


Love,

Mama Panda

Santa

Here is Harrison with Santa

Thanks to Derek for making the picture work on here and Facebook!!

Here are pictures of Harrison the first time he saw the Christmas tree


The real present was that my Dad and Mom came home from California! My Dad had an aortic aneurysm on November 20Th. He had been working in CA since last spring. He was able to get to the hospital and the surgeon that was on did emergency surgery. I could go into all the details but I won't. Let's just say Dr Gibson said it was the hardest surgery he has ever done in his 20 year career and the word "miracle" was used on numerous occasions to describe my dad's survival. My mom was very determined to get him home by his birthday which is Monday 12/21 and they surprised us by returning on Thursday 12/17.

I went to see him and my mom that night to welcome them home. My sister Shannon and I had cleaned the house and put up Christmas decorations the weekend before so they would come home to a nice, welcoming house. I am glad Shannon and I could be there to welcome them home, it meant a lot to us all!! Family comes first over everything in these situations, am I right?

My Dad is pretty much Superman.

So Happy Christmas to all. He is indeed our Christmas miracle. 2009 has been pretty crappy but I can't help but be thankful as this year comes to a close.

I am chipping away at my list of things to do. I finally completed my master's (ya!) and I finished Harrison's Baby Book/Scrapbook of his first year. My plan for January is to spend as much time doing nothing as I can!! Famous last words though right? How many times have YOU out there blogger land said that? HA! Well, it is worth a try anyhow.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Mama Panda

Pictures

Here is a link to pictures we had taken a couple weeks ago. There are a lot of mushy ones-you can skip those and look at the ones of Harrison. Use the password amandaderek.

http://clients.melissaoholendt.com

Be prepared to say "awwwwww"!

Also, thanks to everyone that made it to Harrison's first birthday party. It is too bad I could not be there but I was in California with my family spending time with my Dad. I appreciate all your help making Harrison's big party special!!

Love,

Mama Panda

Here is the address to some of the pics we had taken for H's first birthday and our ten year anniversary. You can also see them on Facebook.


http://blog.melissaoholendt.com/schille-family-lifestyle/



Love,

Mama Panda

The Case of the Disappearing Cupcake

H's first birthday

Love,

Mama Panda

Happy 1st Birthday Harrison

Everyday for the past year I have experienced joy that cannot be described. I have genuinely laughed, genuinely smiled, and felt complete gratitude for life. Thank you for being you, dear Harrison. Mom and Dad love you more than you will ever know...

P.S. Thank you for having your Daddy's smile.

Love,

Mama Panda

Jennifer Garner Quote

“I do know moms who pull it together every day. I am not one of them.”

I ran across this the other day. It makes me feel much better.

Love,

Mama Panda

ten year anniversary

Once upon a time two crazy kids met while working at Ragstock. A friendship and some mild flirtation had developed. She had pink hair and he had purple hair. On November 12, 1999, on what seemed like a normal day at work, he kept saying, "man I am hungry" then a few minutes later he would put his hand on his stomach and again say, "I am sooo hungry!"

This went on all night.

She thought, "why doesn't he just shut up and get something to eat then?" It was getting a bit annoying for our pink haired girl.

After the store closed these two crazy kids (she was 18, he had just turned 20) were walking out to their cars.
He said, "man I am really hungry."
She almost punched him in the stomach but instead replied, "Why don't you get Subway, they are open late!"
"Subway? Gross! I was going to go to Figlio"
"What is that?"
"Oh, it is in uptown. "
"Uptown?? Your going to go to Uptown by yourself at this hour? "
"Do you want to come with me?" he asked slyly.
Her heart jumped and she asked, "Really?"
He said, "I'll drive"

The little pink haired girl spent the next few hours giggling uncontrollably while they drank cherry coke and ate tiramisu. The little purple haired boy did not have the nerve to kiss her goodnight. (although he told his friends he did)

She found out later he had been wanting to ask her out for a few weeks and had hatched a plan to make it seem spur of the moment. He also asked to use his mom's car that night so he wouldn't drive the little pink haired girl in his Festiva.

She would not have cared what car he drove and was completely fooled into thinking the date was spur of the moment.

Figlio is no longer in Calhoun Square but this little romance blossomed into something very special. It led to this....

and of course to this...
and only time will tell what else...

Love,

Mama Panda

Happy Halloween!

Here is what we did today, what did all of you guys do?

Halloween 2009

Love,

Mama Panda

11th Month Birthday

Derek referred to Harrison as being a year old today. I very firmly reminded him he is NOT a year yet, he is 11 months;-) Time is flying by quickly enough without him rushing it more.

We are preparing for his one year birthday party though. I bought some decorations, including an adorable hat. since our camera is broken Jeremy and Beth came over and took pictures of him for us for the invitation. They. Are. Adorable. I will post the invite when it goes out, hopefully early next week. We moved the party to the Saturday after thanksgiving to accommodate out of town family that will be in town then.

We will be sending invites to all out of town family and of course we understand that you can't come, but we want to make sure you know we are thinking of you! And since it is a holiday weekend I am sure that some people won't be able to come, we understand that too:-)

Here are some pics I took today to celebrate his 11 month birthday

He is resisting walking. Only does it if he has both of our hands to hold onto. He also still won't stand on his own if he knows he is doing it. Seriously if he is playing with a toy while standing and lets go of the couch, he will stand all on his own BUT if he realizes he is doing it he drops to the floor. Silly boy.

Otherwise, let's see what is new? Well, I have had my master's paper officially approved by my advisor so I am one BIG step closer to completing that. Just some paperwork and the oral exam to do.

Yes, you are allowed to laugh at the phrase oral exam.

I have officially returned to working casual on st 77. Need the extra $$$$! The first day I was back I was talking to one of the patients (this is a mental health unit for those of you that don't know) and another patient kept interrupting. I was like, "I will help you in one minute but I am right in the middle of something" I am thinking "what is her problem? She is being so unreasonable" but the patient kept interrupting. After a minute I remembered OH YEAH! She is mentally ill! Dang, that's right. I need to resharpen my skills a bit!

I have gotten a really bad cold and have been sick for a week. It must be some mutant strain. I had to call in sick to work then a week later I was STILL sick. Hacking and coughing like crazy. My boss was like, "do you need to go home?" I said "NO! (cough, cough) I'm fine!" they kept telling me to go home but I wasn't having any of it. Then at about five (I get done at six) I had another desperate coughing fit and declared "I am outta here!" I think they were relieved.

So far Harrison has not gotten sick, thank you Sweet Jesus!

Ummm what else? Harrison has a new friend that was born a few weeks ago. He is Jeremy and Beth's nephew/Godson Connor. I believe that makes them related some how. Godson in laws? Something like that. I look forward to play dates once Connor can hold himself up and , you know, he realizes he is alive and stuff.

I have this fear of Harrison not having any friends so I cling to any baby that is his age. Derek is great at making friends but me, not so much. I hope he takes after his Dad!

I ,right now, am looking forward to completing my oral exam (insert laughter here) and getting through the holidays. It has been one hell of a year for us and I am exhausted! Can't wait for January when I can relax a bit before I take on a new challenge.

Oh and I realized something. Jeremy watched Harrison for us the other day, all day. I was feeling very grateful then I realized that he should be grateful! He gets to hang out with an awesome kid all day, bring him to have lunch with his wife, then send him home to us AND he keeps all his money and still gets to sleep late. Crafty bastard. I knew I didn't like him for some reason.

Actually, okay, I am grateful to our babysitters (Grammie especially for all the hours she has put in) and I know I am the lucky one to have such a great kid, BUT, I think I may slip a $20 out of Jeremy's wallet the next time I see him anyway....

Love,

Mama Panda

Four Year Anniversary!

Hey Everyone!

Today is our wedding anniversary! Yesterday was also Sheri and Dan's three year anniversary, congrats to you guys!

AND yesterday was my Aunt Sandra and Uncle John's wedding anniversary. I wish I new how many years they have been married. 37? Anyway congrats on the anniversary of your happy and successful marriage!! Here they are doing the Polka

Love,

Mama Panda

Two big events!!

So here are the pics from Derek's 30th birthday at the Gastoff on 9/19.

d's 30th

Derek is NOT okay about turning 30 but he had a good time so that is what matters. Thank you to everyone that came! I will share a very funny story. I had to drive my very drunk husband and his even drunker brother home that night. They were telling stories of video games, obscure movies, etc. (You know the usual) We decided it would be a good idea to get some Gatorade for them so they would hurting less the next day. I pulled into the local Snyder's drug store and Conrad started unbuckling his seat belt. I whipped around and said "where do you think you are going?" I was definitely NOT going to deal with a drunk frat boy in the local drug store at midnight. He pouted a bit that he couldn't go in then started putting his seat belt back on. He said. "well I guess I will put this back on since SOMEBODY won't let me have any fun in a Walgreen's tonight" As I was getting out of the car I hear Derek say, "Yay, and do you know why that is? This is a Snyder's!" I thought that was pretty funny. So happy birthday Derek! Even though you are old your mind is still sharp!

On 9/25 Jeremy and Beth got married! Yay! Harrison knocked our camera off the table so we have to get a new one. I tell you this because we only got a few pictures.

j and b's wedding

I had seen a picture of Beth's dress and I knew she was going to look AMAZING! and she did. One of the most beautiful brides EVER! I was surprised at how emotional I got. I love weddings and stuff but this one really means a lot to us. I felt like I was watching my brother marry my sister-in-law. Beth was radiant and Jeremy seemed a little vulnerable. (He likes her a lot!! )I asked them to dance to the song Book of Love by the Magnetic Fields with us. It was our wedding song and so I thought it would be sweet for us to dance to it all together. I guess that may be corny but that is me most of the time.... Anyway, congrats guys!

Harrison turned ten months old

He has stood by himself three times! He only does it when he doesn't realize he is doing it, once he sees we are not holding him up he gets scared and drops to the floor. He has six teeth and says both mom and dad. mostly dad but sometimes mom. That makes me feel very special!

Okay thanks for reading! I probably forgot something but oh well. talk to you all soon!

Love,

Mama Panda

back by popular demand!

Or back by my mother-in-law's demand. She requested an update for great-grandmother Hall so...
Here is H on his nine month birthday!!

He pretty much won't sit still at this point! When we were trying to get pics we just had to chase after him and these are the best two we got. He has FOUR teeth now and two more are starting to come in. I was going to bring him to get a trim the last time I got my hair done but I decided to let it grow a bit more. I might wait till he is closer to a year, which is coming up pretty soon!

I had to put my vacation request in to get his birthday off, my manager was like "my goodness that was fast!" yeah tell me about it! H will be turning one on Monday November 23rd
( that is about ONE YEAR after he was born, yes I realize that but I just REMINDING you all!)
We will have a small gathering Sunday afternoon on the 22nd, so for those of you that are out of town that might be able to fly in (I am speaking to the aunt and uncle in North Dakota) here is your heads up! For all other locals consider this your save the date. It is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We will send out cards to everyone with a birthday picture and message, so keep your eyes open for that as the day gets closer!

For me his nine months birthday was a bit of milestone as that was my minimum for breastfeeding and I am still going strong! I get very funny looks when people find out that I am still breastfeeding. Geez people he is not even a year yet, do you also want me to make him get a paper route? I also gave birth without an epidural and most people didn't think I could do that either! So suck it!!!!

Okay Okay I'll calm down. Life has been a bit more exciting for me lately. I am still trying to get another job and I have like 2 1/2 leads right now. I should be able to go back to St 77 but I haven't heard for sure yet. If not I may still land a job at Riverside. I don't ever really count on anything being for sure so I am still in limbo as far as that goes....

We are preparing for the wedding event of the year, Jeremy and Beth of course. I went to a super fun bridal shower that was Mad Men themed

(The bride is in the floral dress.) AND I got to go out for her bachelorette party. I don't have any pics because the batteries in my camera went dead. Sad.

We are also excited for Derek's 30th birthday party at Gastoff! My brother is flying in for this and for the wedding, I am very excited! It will be lots of fun. If your reading this you are invited so don't miss out!!

One last thing. We took our annual pilgrimage to the Fair. Harrison was in my belly last year and I remember thinking how we were going to have a nine month old at the fair the next year and here were are!
H with his junior state trooper badge Jeremy got him.

H with dad and some cows.

Going to the fair made me realize that I have had this blog for over a year now. So thanks for reading everyone and I plan to keep it interesting for you.

Sometime next year we may have another BIG announcement you will want to know about!!
****wink wink****
(how is that for a cliffhanger? not so subtle huh? Well I grew up watching Melrose Place so I don't do subtle very well!!)


Okay, I'll post soon with pics from the party and the wedding, so enough for now. Harrison says Hi to everyone, especially Great-Grandmother Hall. He loves you very much!!

Love,

Mama Panda

Bowstring

Derek, Harrison, and I headed up to Bowstring to attend our cousin Michelle's wedding. That is where NaNa's parents live and we stayed with them.I must say we were pretty excited to go to a country wedding. The wedding was in Squaw Lake, way up north, on a farm. We were trying to guess how many people in jeans we would see and I must say it wasn't as many as we anticipated. Those of us that came up from "the cities" were the most dressed up, of course, but it just goes against my nature to not get out my fancy shoes for a wedding! All the food was homemade and YUMMY! they did a great job of decorating the outside tent. It had a real homey feel to it. Good job guys! Here is our trip...

We made some progress with Harrison at the rest stop. For some reason he has been TERRIFIED of grass. He usually doesn't like things the first time or two that he does something new, of course, but he gets over it pretty quickly. Well, he had an aversion to grass that has lasted up until this picture was taken...
All of a sudden he was loving walking on the grass! He is starting to try to steps on his own, which he can't do yet, but I think he may be walking long before he is one! He will stand holding on to something then try to let go. He fell face first once onto his hands. He just shook it off and kept on truckin!

Here he is with Nana and his Great-Grandparents at the wedding
Here is the bride with a beer and the bride with Harrison

Good times with family! We got to see all the cousins, great-aunts, and great-uncles! It is weird because everyone I know is too young to be a "great" but there ya go! I leave you with the required funny baby picture...
Thanks for reading!


Mama Panda

Change is in the air...

Well maybe the economy is starting to turn. That is what I am telling myself anyhow. If the news continues to report that the recession may be over then it will come true. Cuz really life is just about perception, isn't it? Things seem to be changing, some new events are appearing on my calender that I was not anticipating. I think maybe the silver lining is peaking through now....

I am hoping to find (and yes I said HOPE which is a word I swore off a couple months ago) another part time job at Fairview so we can get some more cash coming in. Wish me luck!

Harrison is crawling and I can see him working on walking now. Golly it happens fast! He turned eight months and I took his birthday pics.
But I like the one I took the day before his birthday better
so I think I may cheat and put this one in his scrapbook instead.( Shh don't tell anyone I am such a bad mom)

I have made some progress on my paper that I put on hold with all the new mommy and house stuff we went through. Bu I am plugging away at it again. Whew! I might just complete my master's after all!

We are going to a wedding in two weeks up north and I am SOOO excited. I love weddings! and it will be great to get away for the weekend. We are going to stay to Derek's grandparents and Harrison will get to meet his Great-Grandpa Mertes and see Great-Grandma Mertes again! Plus we will get to spend the weekend with NaNa. Oh it will be a good time.

My friend's husband was involved with the Redbulls that recently died in Iraq. They were the soldiers from MN that were buried at Fort Snelling recently. Those were his men and it happened five feet from him. I am telling you this because Lillie still has her dad which is very good news to share. I hope (there is that word again) he comes home safely to his family. I know they want another one as soon as he comes home!!

Auriana came over to play with Harrison. They were so cute!! They crawled around and played with each other. They even sat and laughed at each other for a while. SO FREAKIN CUTE!!
We have a busy fall coming up! September is Derek's 30th birthday and Jeremy and Beth's wedding. October is our four year anniversary and Harrison's 1st Halloween. November is our 10 year dating anniversary and Harrison's 1st birthday! PARTY PARTY!!

Okay! Thanks for checking in everyone! Hope your lives are going well! and maybe, just maybe, those of us that have been struggling will see a turn around soon!

(p.s. I still feel like I have little holes in my brain that information falls through. Eight months after having Harrison my mind still hasn't recovered even though my body is in tip top shape!! )

Love,

Mama Panda

Those little moments...

There are those little moments in life you try to capture as they happen because you know you want to remember them forever. You may not have a camera ready for that perfect picture but you may find yourself staring intently trying to ingrain the moment into your mind forever. Most of the time this is not possible, or course, as most of the time I try to ingrain something into my brain (get butter at the grocery store, get the butter at the grocery store, get butter at the grocery store!!) I end up falling short. (Damn It!! I forgot the butter!)

So here are a few moments of motherhood I hope I remember into my ripe old age.

1. most importantly I hope my mind never goes so far that I forget the look on Harrison's face right after he was born. I always want to remember those black eyes staring at me so confused when they laid him on my stomach. His furrowed little brow and that look that said, "what the heck just happened?"

2. The rubbery feel of his skin after he was born.

3. looking at Derek holding him for the first time. (don't tell him I told you this but I saw him wipe a tear away from his eye)

4. I hope to remember the joy Harrison has when we lay him down in his crib for bedtime. When he sees the blanket being laid on him he reaches up and grabs it, pulls in up to his chin, and turns onto his side to get all snuggled in. It is so comforting. To me home is where you go to relax and feel safe. When I see him snuggle into his blanket I know that Derek and I provide a safe and loving home. It doesn't get any better as a parent than that.

5. I'll share one more. Harrison is quite the crawler now. He likes to play with the vents. He cut his finger one day so we keep him away from them now. Well, we try to keep him away. Today he was crawling towards the vent and I called out "Harrison!" he stopped, turned, and looked at me. I started to get up to grab him and he saw me coming. He took off crawling the fastest I have ever seen him go! He was trying to get to the vent before I could get to him! I grabbed him just before he could get there. What a stinker! Damn!

He is just like his father.

And his mother.

Shoot.

we. are. so. screwed.

And of course we'd like to remember all the good stuff and none of the bad so here are some of my favorite laughing pics of Harrison...





Hope you enjoy.

Anyone that wants to leave a comment about the moments in life they hope to remember forever, please do. I would greatly enjoy reading them.

Love,

Mama Panda

Harrison and Avery

Here is an adorable of pic of Harrison and his friend Avery. She is Bree's youngest and is 7 months older than H.

My friend Bree watches H for us sometimes when I have to work. Thank God for her! It is tough making it work. Even with me being part time it is hard to find daycare for him! We struggle every week. So thank you to Bree, my sister Jen, Melissa and Jeff (Grammie and Grandpa) and my parents (Grandma and Grandpa) for all your help!

Other funny pics

Jen, Matt, and Abby. The family having a laugh.

H on his 7 month b-day

This pic was taken right after.



Yup he is falling off the couch. (no worries I had my hand on him and caught him before he hit the ground)

Thanks for reading!

Mama Panda

Gone Boatin'

Happy Summer to everyone!

It actually arrived last weekend for me. I had the weekend off with no plans! The weather was great (especially considering last weekend I wore a turtleneck and sweater to work) I ended up having actual FUN! Like real fun, just like I was a kid again. I hardly remember what it is like.

One great fun activity was going on my sister Shannon's boat. Now I don't have fluorescent white legs anymore! Yippee! Harrison did really well on his first boating trip. He is such a trooper.

Here are some highlights...

My sister Shannon and Harrison
The Fam

That's us!

Shannon had the great idea to bring this mesh fruit feeder thingy to put ice cubes in to keep H cool. He could hold onto it and suck on the ice. It worked great! Good job Shannon! Nobody got burned, which is amazing. It was a great day!

Also, Harrison has officially cut his first tooth! He has been teething for a while but one teeth has finally broken through. I used to know someone who's teeth never grew in. Ever. She had to have fake teeth put in cuz she never grew her own. It is weird things like that I worry about at times. I never worried about SIDS or dog bites or infection, but not growing teeth worried me. This is why I drive Derek crazy.

You can tell the tooth hurts his sometimes. We did give him some Tylenol the other night because he was having a hard time sleeping. It was the first time we gave him any medicine so I had to go check on him afterwards to make sure he was OK ;-). He was just fine, obviously, and we haven't had to give him any since. How did we end up with such a great kid?

Shannon said our baby is the "pro having a baby" kind-the kind that makes people want to have a baby. Then there are the "birth control babies". We rolled the dice and got lucky I guess! It is about time, D and I have certainly had our bad hands dealt to us.

Wait. Dice. Bad hands. Oh crap, now I am mixing metaphors...


Thanks for reading!

Love,

Mama Panda