Wordless Wednesday- One of our first dates

Wordless Wednesday- Hubby in Afghanistan

Hubby's First Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best dad I know! Thank you for sacrificing for our family and for our country. Harrison is incredibly lucky to have you for a father, and we CANNOT wait until you come back home!

Memorial Day

It’s the soldier, not the reporter who has given us
Freedom of the Press.

It’s the soldier, not the poet, who has given us
Freedom of Speech.

It’s the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the
Freedom to Demonstrate.

It’s the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the
Right to a Fair Trial.

It’s the soldier who salutes the flag, serves under the flag and whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who gives the protester the right to burn the flag.

~Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC

Happy Memorial Day to my husband, and all others who currently/have served!

Gymbucks!

If you're a mom, you've heard of/purchased from Gymboree. Great clothes, affordable (I still pretty much only buy sale items =)). Gymbucks is an awesome way to get some money back- for every 50 bucks you spend, you get 25 "Gymbucks" so that the next time you spend $50, you can use 25 Gymbucks towards that. Essentially 50% off! Even better, you can get 30% off EVERYTHING May 14th-17th! Full price & resale items. Who says kids can't have adorable clothes for cheap??

Use this code at checkout: GYMCIRCLE

Enjoy!



Harold comes home in 160 days!!!! That's not so long, right?

Big HP

Tonight is the hardest night I have had yet. I am missing Harold so much it is indescribable. I miss him on a level I have never experienced before- and I've done my fair share of long-distance (if you consider hours long distance) relationships, including while Harold and I were dating. Not to mention picking up and moving 1200 miles away from any family or friends. It is a feeling that could be medicated simply with a phone conversation. But I can't call him. I cannot pick up the phone to contact my husband. It is such an awful feeling.

Adding a child to this mix makes everything infinitely worse. Harrison is a constant reminder to me of his father. Everytime he smiles, or learns something new, it just breaks my heart that Harold has to miss it. Running to grab the video camera only soothes me a little bit. I am so grateful that I only have to do this for 6 months- but right now it feels like a lifetime.

The internet in Harold's room isn't working- I had gotten used to being able to chat nightly (before work for him) and not getting that makes a huge difference in my day and my mood. There are so many women in this country going through the same thing that I am- I am even one of the fortunate ones. My husband is behind 15-foot walls and guards- not everyone gets that feeling of security.

I need him simply because he is my best friend. It doesn't even matter what I am feeling sad about, the fact that I can't talk to him about it is the devastating part. All I can do is send an email. And wait. Who knows when he'll even get time to write back? His only internet connection right now is when he's working.

Thank you for listening to my ranting. I am aware of how infinitely blessed I am, and how this is just a little bump in the road of a wonderful life. It just feels like a huge mountain right at this moment.

Last Night

We leave Thursday for our big trip to KS & MN! It's 1 AM and I can't sleep... I'm a little sad because this is the last night we have here at home together. Harold is going to Tennessee tomorrow to surprise a friend and go to his change of command ceremony. Then Thursday it's road trip time! We bought a tablet DVD player (the screen lifts up to put the dvd in) so we can rig it so Harrison can see it in his rear facing car seat. He really dislikes the car- we went out to dinner tonight and he cried the whole way there and home. Hopefully a little "Baby Einstein" will do the trick.

The whole thing is so bittersweet- I'm overjoyed to be getting back to family and friends in MN, but sad about being away from HP for so long. I'm sure it will go by fast, I'll be busy. But the first few weeks will be hard!

Harrison is almost three months old- he coo's A LOT (although really tough to get on camera) and smiles constantly. (well, if he's not hungry or tired that is) Still "going to the gym" as Harold says to kick and squirm like a maniac. He is not a cuddler- he refuses to lay on your chest. While it's a little sad, probably a good thing for the long run. He's not a "hold me" baby. I feel so blessed to have everything in my life the way it is right now. My husband and baby are perfect =)

Can't wait to see a lot of you soon!!

He made it!

The little guy is here- Harrison Gage Price was born on January 3rd, 2009 @ 10:31 A.M. Everything with the birth went well- my water broke at 11 A.M. on the 2nd while out for a walk (not the best thing that's ever happened to me) They had to induce me and I was in labor for about 15 hours and pushing for 1.5- everything went well except for the epidural running out approximately 3 pushes in. But thank goodness for the lovely brain that blocks out the pain, because looking back the whole experience was really good, fun almost. Harold was an amazing coach and the nurse we had during delivery was great too. We were in the hospital for 48 hours and took him home exactly a year to the day that Harold and I met (January 5th). What a year! =) Things since then have been amazing- he's grown and changed so much, as newborns do! He's already got quite the feisty personality. We had Harold's mom, his friend Ken & family, and my parents here to stay (not at the same time, haha). All visits went well and everyone was in love with little hp, especially Ken's son Kaden, who talked about "Baby Hawison" all day long. Harold left for Ft. Lewis last Tuesday for 4 weeks. Harrison has changed a lot even in the short time he's been gone- he started smiling a lot more and is more alert and content just laying on the floor and kicking. He's started to look at toys and objects. I'm already dying for Harold to get home and see all the changes. He did get to watch Harrison roll over- it was pretty exciting because we were all just staring at him.

We found out about 2 weeks ago that Harold is deploying to Afghanistan in April. =( Not the best news I've ever recieved, but as far as deployments go it works out pretty well. It's good for his career, and for money. I get to move back to Minnesota (during the summer!). We also talked about how if you had to miss 6 months of Harrison's life, these months are pretty good. He'll be almost 11 months when he gets back, so just starting to walk and talk. And I'm very thankful he didn't miss the birth!

7 Months, 1 Week, 4 Days

Back again- I guess I got lazy for awhile, but I thought I would pick this up again. Mostly because I don't really know what to do with myself here in MN. HP is in Tacoma, Washington doing some rather important testing and I'm here at 10th and Cedar pretty much doing nothing but relaxing. So far so good. =) I've been working a little bit, which has been great. The feeling of actually contributing to society does a body good. It's still a little bizarre to me that Harold has to support me right now. I've spent the last few years not being able to lose even a week's pay, and here I am making little to no money for months. So far so good on the married life =) I miss him though- He says it looks like he might be here as early as the 1st which is NEXT WEEKEND! It's like I've gotten so used to being here and being apart from him, I can't believe that we're actually going to be reunited soon. And I get to go home and NEST! Yay!

Sunday is my baby shower here- I'm rather excited. Jan is going all out, it's touching. She is really good at that stuff tho- She can throw a mean party. I know the girls are working hard as well.

Went to the DR. last week- things are great! We've been so blessed with this close to perfect pregnancy. No nausea, good blood pressure, no gestational diabetes, his heart rate has been perfect, he's moving like crazy, I've been measuring perfectly... Praise the Lord! I can't believe how soon he will be here- I know it won't be real until we bring him home. And luckily, we have plenty of places to put him! =) (Harold things we have too much "stuff"... bouncer, exersaucer, pack&play, glider, swing... ok maybe we do, but this is my first baby!)

13 Weeks

I'm at Harold's for the weekend- He's being amazing. I think we're going to find a way to slide into domestic partnership pretty well. Laundry, dishes, meals, cleaning, etc. We're (and by we, I mean me) looking around the house for ways to make it more "family" friendly and less like a bachelor pad. I have a large list of things I want so it's Harold's job to convince me of whats most important. The folding chairs for dining have to go, however. Not to diss his skills, he's done a pretty good job with this house. Just needs a little women's touch. We're enjoying some hardcore chill time, since soon we won't have too much time to just sit and be bored...

12 Weeks 1 Day

I have decided I want a girl. I saw a "Deluxe Walk-in Kitchen" and wanted to play house IMMEDIATELY! I also would love to see Harold with a little girl. I don't think it would be hard for her to get him wrapped around her little finger. Only 8 more weeks until we can find out! Harold went to a wedding this weekend, and will be in Georgia all week. I miss him! I'm getting excited to move in.

Sara Wagner came to visit this weekend and we had so much fun. It's always good to see a friendly face! She also has been through this whole pregnancy thing 4 times!

I've gained weight, and at this point just feel fat and not pregnant.

10 Weeks 3 Days

I just got a pregnancy journal... it's a perfection. It's the most wonderful thing I've ever purchased. I actually felt a wave of calmness come over me after going through it all and putting sticky notes on all the really important pages. It has lists for EVERYTHING! I really had hoped to be prepared before even starting to try for a baby, but this makes me feel better and feel as though I will get everything done in time.

I also got a blanket... White with big orange polka dots... SO excited. It's kinda a peachy color though, hopefully it's a girl =).

I've started packing up some of my stuff. I'm not entirely sure where I'm moving yet, I just know that I'm moving. Scary. I have too much junk-

I found out that I can't get any pre-natal coverage from Harold. This means a whole nother year of school... BOO! The new year will be filled with a full load of classes, a full-time job, and a NEWBORN! Am I crazy?