St. Patrick's Day

Hello Everyone!

I celebrated St. Patrick's day by getting together with some other mommies. Each one of us had a baby within the last year. Here we all are...
Bree is my old childhood I had not seen in four years, YIKES! her daughter Avery is on her lap. She has had TWO kids since I have seen her last. Through the magic of Facebook we started talking last summer and finally got together last week. It turns out she has been living down the street from me for three years! She had seen me driving a couple times but I had never seen her. Weird. She now has FOUR kids, Avery will be a year next month and her son Jake will be two next month. Her older daughters are five and ten.

Becky is next to her, I also had not seen her for four years. Her daughter Lilliandra (Lillie) was born on January 16Th. Her due date was January 1st and Becky was in labor for three days before she was finally born.That makes me think I had it pretty easy. Her husband Mike is in DC and will be heading to Iraq soon. Everyone send good thoughts towards his safe return!!

Mary is on the far right, her son Caelan was 6 weeks old in this picture. I had never met her before but she is a friend of Bree and Becky. All these babies are so damn cute!! Seriously, Lillie and Caelan are both practically newborns still and they are GORGEOUS!! I am not just saying that.

It was so much fun to hang out with some new mommies. It is really nice to get some advice and compare funny stories! Harrison isn't old enough that he really interacts with other babies yet BUT he was totally interested in Lillie. He was looking at her and reached for her. I think they are going to get married!!

I am not sure why I do this but I am OBSESSED with getting Harrison married off. It's like motherhood has suddenly made me Jewish. I'm all like, "When are you gonna get MAAARRRIED? " I have also decided he should be a dentist. See that, there I go again. Why am I Jewish now?!!!

Here are some more pictures...

So much fun!!

Harrison turned four months on the 23rd and had his checkup. I have chosen to do shots and he does really well with them!! His legs were a little sore right after the appointment but that was it. He 16 3/4 in long and weighed 14 lbs 2 oz. That makes him in the 94% in length and 35% in weight. LONG and SKINNY, hmmmmm...

He is rolling over, can hold his own bottle, and is super strong in head control and being able to push himself up. He is doing some 5 month things, like standing up on his own if he has something to lean on. He is growing up too fast, slow down buddy!!

Finally, Harrison slept over at Grammie and Grampa's last Saturday so Derek and I could do a Scrubs night with Bran-Bran and Amy. This is a drinking game we made up around the TV show Scrubs and it is super fun! I can't drink that much bc I haven't drank in over a year and I didn't want to get sick. Plus I am still breastfeeding so I have to pump and dump if I drink too much. It was super fun and Harrison had a great time with Auntie Turtle and his grandparents. Thanks guys!!It was Harrison's first sleep over, I missed him like crazy but I knew that he was in great hands.

Um okay, I think I am done. Happy Birthday Shannon!!

Love,

Mama Panda

Okay Okay/Happy (Kinda) Birthday

So Ssia politely informed me I haven't posted in a while. Derek and I have been dealing with the havoc the housing crisis has reeked on our lives. BUT Halima had a bridal shower and that was LOADS of fun!! I got to see the old station 77 crew.

Halima's party

Featured in this album are William and Emma. If you'll recall I posted Laurie's station 77 baby shower last September, William has gotten so much bigger and still absolutely beautiful! Also Molly's baby Emma made an appearance at my station 77 baby shower. She is also so grown up now!! I held her and thought "now I want a baby girl!!!" stupid hormones. Some other moms have given me the advice that it is normal to want another one right away and to work through it. Okay!

We also sent out a St. Patrick's day card,

It was fun for me to take these pictures because I found out I was preggers last year on st. patty's day. I still feel like that confused woman standing in the bathroom looking at those two lines on the pregnancy test saying "Oh my God, REALLY?" At first I didn't know what the two lines meant because true to form I didn't read the directions. But there was little diagram next to the window with the lines and sure enough two lines meant PREGGERS! I still felt a bit confused so I then checked the directions to make sure I wasn't reading the stick wrong.

Then I told the cats but they didn't care.

Funny story ALERT. So Derek goes out every year with Jeremy for St. Patrick's day so he wasn't home when I took the test. I tried to call him ALL DAY but he never picked his phone. By the time he called me at 11pm that night to ask me to pick him up I was furious with him! So I didn't tell him until the next morning. What a poopy face, huh? I got over it. He was terrified the next morning when I got up (cuz you know he is afraid of me when I get mad) so when I saw him he gave me sheepish grin and had a spoon full of cereal in his mouth. I told him I was pregnant and he was like "wait, what?".

It is amazing. Derek and I tried to get pregnant and we are certainly not the first couple to succeed but it still felt like a miracle. Even though billions of people have been born throughout history each and every baby is still a damn miracle.

So Happy (kinda) Birthday Harrison!! Mommy loves you and I feel blessed everyday that you are exactly who you are!!

Love,

Mama Panda