I'm Outta Here!

It's been a heck of a week. Courtney's been a little under the weather. Clay's busy with work. And it's parent conferences at school which makes for REALLY long days. Luckily, I have Friday off because of conferences. So what do I have planned? Sleeping in? Running errands? Getting that much needed pedicure? No, no and no. I'm flying to NYC to see my friend, Natalie, get married to her oily beau hunk (i.e. Travis...not Jake Ryan for all you 16 Candles fans...such as myself). My sister Tiff is coming with me to be my playmate in the Big Apple. Clay is staying behind to man the fort (Hey, I asked him to come and I quote, "I don't have a desire to go back."). He can't screw up Courtney in 4 days can he? We shall see... :)

I'll post pics of my NYC playtime when I return. That is after I find my way through all the laundry and school stuff!

The Best Things in Life are Free (or Cheap!)

Ike took a hike out of Oklahoma today and left us with beautiful weather. So we took the opportunity to visit a nearby park. Clay goes there weekly work on his disc golf game, but had never been with me and Courtney to the playground area.

First we put Courtney in the swing. She liked it for awhile until a big gust of wind came through. That girl does NOT like wind!

After the wind she no longer liked the swing and so it was off to the green pig (don't ask my why it's green).

After our adventure at the park, we headed home. I was at the Dollar Tree earlier in the day and bought some fairy wings. I know they're not practical, but hey...it was only $1! Courtney enjoyed "flying around" the dining room.

Holly looked envious of the fairy wings. And who are we to deny Holly some fun? So we put the wings on her. She didn't like them after that, but Courtney sure looks happy at torturing her furry friend!

We decided to make things fair and put the second pair on Courtney. It looks like she can dish it out, but can't take it! And here's my new favorite of my two girls. Yet another one for my desk at school. It's becoming quite the gallery of pictures!

Hope ya'll enjoyed your weekend. Let's hope this next week is low key. After last week we need a break!

Courtney is 7 Months Old and Catching Up

Courtney turned 7 months old this past Wednesday. She's still trying to crawl which is a lot of fun to watch. She's also becoming more vocal and can say Mama and Dada (when she want's too). The cutest thing is that she has made friends with our dog, Holly. She loves watching Holly walk around. Fortunately Holly is pretty laid back with her and let's Courtney tug at her beard. It's that or she can't see her since she's blind! Without further ado....our ladybug at 7 months:

Here's a picture of Courtney and her new pal, Holly. Is this not the cutest pic? I now have to find another spot on my desk at school for this one!

Last weekend I went to a wine tasting party with some teacher friends. Before I left I planted a big smacker on Courtney's face. And one again...too cute not to take a picture of it!

Courtney is going to Mother's Day Out 3 days a week with her Kelsi and her Nana who is teaching in the pre-school. It works out really well for everyone and Courtney loves it. They play a little, go for rides in the big red stroller outside and get lots of hugs from Miss Suzy and Miss Kari. Suzy and I have grown up together so I feel very comfortable having her take care of Courtney. She gets VIP treatment. Well, Suzy is an OU bandwagon fan and apparently moans everytime she sees Courtney's OSU or TX Tech pacifiers. So being..well...me, I dressed Courtney up for OSU Spirit Friday in honor of their first game last weekend. Miss Suzy got a good laugh and then laughed even more later that day when Courtney threw up all over her outfit. Is it just me or do you think Suzy made that happen?

And now it's time to brag about my nephew, Brandon. He recieved the Student of the Month in Music beating out everyone else in the 1st grade. Every class at school has a flag that each class designed (we call them guide-ons). We have them posted outside our rooms and carry them with us around the building. Whenever the entire class or an individual in our room wins an award, we get a ribbon attached to the top. Brandon has one with his name on it that he'll get to take home at the end of the year. It's a HUGE deal to the kids and Aunt Farm, Mama Wilson and the rest of the family are pretty proud of Brandon!

So that's it from our house. I'm trying to nurse my lower back so it feels better. For those of you that don't know, it went out on Sunday. Thanks to my chiropractor, Lee, it's feeling much better! Clay's been busy with work and glued to the TV watching football as I type this. I'll be a single mom until January!

Labor Day

In honor of Labor Day, it's about...well, labor. And not the kind you get a day off for, either.

How long were your labors?
9 hours.

How did you know you were in labor?
water breaking followed by the worst contraction EVER.

Where did you deliver?
At Mercy hospital. Where the drugs are.

Drugs?
See above. Oh my stars, YES. I was counting the minutes until I got my epidural. It took three attempts before the needle finally went in. And once it did it was smooth sailing. Until my left leg went completely numb. Not just a little. A LOT! So much that it took 2 people to get it up into the stir-up.

C-section?
Nope. And didn't tear either. WOO HOO!

Who delivered?
Dr. Reisig. I could have probably delivered earlier, but we had to wait on her until she finished up at church!

Out With the Old....

After sleeping all summer in the pack-n-play, Courtney finally got her new crib. For those of you wondering why we bought a new crib it comes down to one word: recall. The beautiful crib we bought for her was recalled back in June. We had to register are old crib, wait for a kit to come in the mail to send back the hardware and then wait AGAIN for the credit voucher. Yes, it took all summer, but we finally got the one we ordered in, up and she's sleeping in as I type this. Yesterday after we (and by we I mean Clay) got it up, we let her play around in it. We thought it would give her a chance to get used to it. But really we put her in so we could clean up all the packing junk that comes with a crib! Here she is enjoying her new crib.

Here she is stretched out. She's into crossing her legs at her ankles lately. Such a little lady! A little ladybug as we like to call her!
In other news, football season is here and Clay is as happy as a kid on Christmas day! We have an OSU cheerleader outfit that I found at a local consignment store, but it's for when she's bigger. So for now we had to get creative.

One day she grabbed Clay Tech hat to play with it. Is this a sign?
Courtney has also made the rounds at some birthday parties too. Her boyfriend (and future husband) Trey turned one on August 12th and we went to his birthday party to help celebrate. Unfortunately, in a mad dash out the door, I forgot my camera. I'm waiting on some pictures from Ms. Vicki and Grandma Vaughn. We did snap a few pics of the two kiddos in Trey's crib. They really could have cared less, but the 6 adults standing over them squealing with delight sure loved it!

Courtney also went to the Cobb girls, Jamie and Jacey's, first birthday too. I did remember my camera this time. The girls had a great time eating yummy cake that their mom, Jill, made for them. And boy did they rake in the loot! The girls were adorable trying to open gifts and clapping when then loved something. We got a pic of all the future Tri delta legacy's and their mom's. I can't wait to show this too all of them when they pledge the house!

On the front row are the birthday girls, Jamie and Jacey, on the back row from left is Sarah holding Claire, Me holding Courtney, Jill (the twins mom) and Kelly holding Morgan.

We also got a new car (well, new to us). My camry was looking more like a pack mule with a stroller filling the entire trunk, Courtney in the back seat and trying to find room for her diaper bag and all the stuff for school. Clay's dad found us a great deal that was hard to pass up. So now I'm driving the new family car, Clay's taking over my Camry and we're selling the town car. Yes, it's true. The Harstad's will be sans town car/business tool. You can all shed a tear now.

Other than that, we're watching Courtney trying to crawl everyday. It's going to happen soon. Too soon. She's starting Mother's Day Out this week and will be in the same room as her cousin, Kelsi, and all the other new crawlers. So it's just a matter of time. We'll keep you posted!

We hope all of you had a great Labor Day weekend. I just told Clay it's been a glorious three days of not hearing "Mrs Harstad! Mrs. Harstad!" all day long. :)