7 Months, 3 Weeks, 6 Days

Back home in Texas! It feels so good to be home- except for the large increase in responsibility. Having your mother do your laundry, dishes, etc is quite different then running your own home. But since this is my dream I'm happy. =)

My baby shower at home was AMAZING! My mom worked so hard to get the house ready and cook the food, Tori made an absolutely perfect cake (http://flickr.com/photos/joannamarieharris/3010421213/in/photostream/) , and Teresa's games and planning were awesome. Thank you to everyone who came, and for all the wonderful gifts. Harrison is a spoiled little boy already!

I was so lucky to get to see so many family and friends while home- sorry to those of you who I missed. I thought 5 weeks home would be plenty of time to make the rounds, but I guess I spent too much time relaxing in Alexandria. But I think just being at home with my parents is what I needed most. Harrison will be missing out by not getting to spend his first 2 years close to his wonderful grandparents. Either grandparents. The next time you talk to Harold, please subtly let him now how wonderful Minnesota is! =)

Harold got to meet a lot of my friends and family when he flew in to drive back with me- Even though his missed flight messed a few things up, we had dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory and got to spend time with a few special people. I love to show him off. =)

Our drive home was good- got to stay with friends of Harold's from college- Mark and Terra. They had a 5 week old little boy, Adler, who was so adorable. He was a little peanut, still weighing 7 pounds and some change. Holding him, of course, got me overly excited for our little HP.

Harold is at work today, but had M-TH off, and has M and Tu off next week as well for Veteran's day. It's wonderful to get to spend time at home! Even though we are so busy with various household activities. For those of you who heard the story of Harold's painting, the room is OK. It's not my dream of my first nursery, but it's bright and "boyish" as Harold says. I just wish we could go around and paint the whole house- the white walls are a little too much for me. But in the 2 years we'll be here, it's probably not worth painting them and potentially having to paint them back. I'm slowly but surely getting some changes done around here. I'm already looking forward to our next house. =)

Oprah would have been so proud of my shopping trip today- she did a show the other day about saving money. I went to Wal-Mart and wrote the total price as I put things in the cart. I also printed off coupons, and spent a lot of time making decisions about if we really needed something, and finding the lowest price. Saving money makes me happy. It also makes me feel better about all the things I purchase unnecessarily for this little boy. Kate Gosslin (Jon and Kate plus 8) once said that as a stay at home mom, her job is to make Jon's money stretch as far as possible. I'm beginning to take on the challenge. =)

ps- comments are welcome! =)