Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas everyone!! We are going to be in Spokane so if anyone wants to see us give us a call :)

I love Christmas...in fact after my birthday it's my favorite holiday. I love everything about Christmas...
Holiday light displays
Fun decorations
Christmas carolers
Christmas music on the radio
Goodies from neighbors and friends
The giving attitude everyone has
Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel (especially this year since I cry during the commercials...I officially have turned into my mother)
Watching White Christmas (I usually watch it with my sister but not this year...)
Hot cocoa and cider
My mom's pumpkin rolls and caramels
Making goodies for friends and neighbors (although I didn't this year)
Holiday parties
Gift exchanges
(a little bleep real quick...Gretal is sitting on my lap talking like she's telling me what to type)
Christmas pictures
and much more...but most of all I enjoy spending time with family and friends. It is so amazing to know that you are loved and cared for by so many people. We are so grateful for everyone of you and we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Ok so now for the real reason you look at my blog :)

Thanksgiving

This year we have a lot to be thankful for. A lot has happened this year. We found out we were pregnant, John got laid off, we moved to a whole new place, we had to sell our house, Megan and Ivan moved to Germany and that they were also going to have a baby, my mom and I went to Germany to take Megan's cat's to her, we bought a house and had an amazing beautiful baby girl both within two weeks. We are thankful that John found a job that he really enjoys and that he can support us so I can stay home with Gretal. We are thankful for our families for helping us through the crazy and tough times of moving, having a baby and so on. We are thankful for our friends who have supported us in our decision to move and told us that they will come visit :) We are thankful for each other because without the support and love from each other we would not have been able to do everything we have done and be happy about it.
I love the holidays and I am excited to experience them differently this year. We are staying here in SLC for Thanksgiving and spending that time with Janene and her family and Grandma and Grandpa Vance are coming too. For Christmas we are going to drive to Spokane for a week and celebrate with both of our families.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Pictures from our Spokane trip

We are home now. We had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and family.

Spokane

Being a mom is the most wonderful feeling in the world (except at night) :)
Here are some pictures of our Spokane trip so far...

I will be in Spokane for 3 more weeks! So look for more pictures. ( I actually have time to post stuff since grandmas and grandpas are holding Gretal).

September 10th, 2009

Bridgey's a little busy right now because we have a girl that is very hungry so she asked me to step in!

It all started on Thursday morning when Bridgette woke up at about 2:30am with some irregular contractions. At first she wasn't sure if they were real or just false labor, so she went out to the living room with a watch and began timing them. At about 5:00 am they started becoming more regular and a bit more intense, so she woke me up.

Since they were still pretty far apart we decided I would go into work and she would go to the doctor as soon as they opened (about 9:00am) to see if she was in false labor or if this was the real deal. As a result I went to work and wasn't able to focus on anything until I received a call from Bridgette at about 9:15 saying that her doctor sent her down to the hospital and that she thought it was the real thing. Then she called her mom and told her that if she wanted to see the birth of her first granddaughter she better get on the next plane to Salt Lake City. So Jackie got to the airport all lickity split and moved her flight from 9/16 to 1:00pm on 9/10.

In the mean time I drove far too fast to the hospital and found Bridgette to see how things were going. Because she didn't think she was really in labor she did not take along our hospital bag and Gretal items so once again I hopped in the truck and drove very fast to the house and back. By this time it was about 11:00 and her contractions were starting to get intense and she was dialated to a 4+.

Over the next couple of hours we tried to eat when we could, relax whenever possible, and just let the contractions get closer and closer together. We paced up and down the halls, bounced on the pilates ball, and rocked in the rocking chair to see what positions were most comfy. During this time Aunt Janene, and cousin Emily also came to help support her. Jackie ran into the hospital room at about 5:00pm and was very grateful that Gretal hadn't come out to meet everyone yet.

At this point Bridgette was in a lot of pain and my hand hurt a bit as well. Her contractions were coming at about 2 minutes apart and lasted 45-60 seconds. She was dialated to a 6 now and was starting to hate life :). Her nurse Katy though was very supportive and encouraged Bridgette to stay calm and keep breathing through the contractions because she was doing so fantabuluous!

Another hour passed and contractions started to fall one right after another and Bridgette started to scare the people in the neighboring birthing rooms :). At this point the nurse said she was at about a 7+ and we would still likely have another 3 hours before Bridgette could start pushing. Bridgette and I decided to go with an epidural at this point because we both wanted to be able to enjoy the birth expereience, not have nightmares about it. After the y put in the epidural it was like hitting a light switch and the pain began to go away.

After about another hour the nurse said Bridgette was at a 9+ because she got to relax and process sped up signficantly. At this point because we were about ready for pushing the doctor, Dr. Loewen, wanted to check the position of Gretal to make sure she was ready to go. Come to find out during the labor process Gretal rotated around so that Bridgette was in back labor, which apparently is pretty painful. If you'd like more details on the pain I'm sure Bridgette would be willing to elaborate :). Because it was back labor, the nurse and doctor were pretty impressed that Bridgette made it all the way to 7 without any medication.

After the epidural the labor went fairly quick. Bridgette was able to relax enough to have the energy to push. When pushing time came Gretal's heart rate fell everytime Bridgette would push so the doctor thought that maybe the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Bridgette would push through one contraction and then wait for a few to give Gretal a break and thankfully it helped. Finally at 10:30 pm Gretal made her way into the world at 6lbs 9 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. The cord was wrapped around her neck but because the doctor knew that it was they cut it right away and she was fine. I was happy too because I got to cut the cord after the doctor.

We are so proud, happy, excited and a little tired :) I love being a dad and I know Bridgette loves being a mom, this is what she always wanted to do.

Introducing Gretal Amelia Harris

I will post the story later, but for now here are some pics of the newest Harris addition.

We are now Homeowners...again.

Last Wednesday we got the keys to our new house and by 11:00pm Thursday night we had everything moved in, with the help of My aunt Janene, uncle Paul, Ben, Emily, and Christopher. John took a few days off work and we pretty much had everything put away by Tuesday night. We were obviously excited to be in a house again :) The puggles love the yard and the stairs...maybe Kaiia will lose some of the weight that she gained at the apartment :)

I'm an AUNT!!

I can't believe it, I'm an aunt! I feel so happy. Megan had Anton Marijan Alandzak on Thursday morning at 12:30 am (Germany time). Megan was laboring for almost 2 days after her water broke, and the baby was getting stressed so they ended doing a c-section. Both Megan and Anton are doing great. Megan is really tired and sore but she is thrilled to be a mom. Anton is the cutest little boy I have ever seen!!...Don't you think...


*I know everyone has probably already seen this picture, but if my mother would send more I would post a different one :)

Our New Home

WE FOUND A HOUSE!!!

After looking at over 30 houses and in all areas of Salt Lake, we finally found a house we think we can live in for awhile. Our closing date is set for 8/24/09 and we will be moving in our stuff that weekend. I can't wait!! Then about two weeks later we may be having a baby :) At least we are getting into a house before the baby. The house is in Sandy, which is where we wanted to be because we are only 5 minutes away from my aunt Janene and about 3 minutes from my cousin Emily. YEAH!!

On Friday night we put the offer in on the house and didn't expect to hear anything back until Monday. We offered 10 grand less than their listing price. Then on Sunday afternoon we got a call from our realtor stating that they accepted our offer and the house is ours!! We were stoked, they didn't even counteroffer. Things worked out pretty well for us. We are lucky.

House Hunting

Well we officially started actually house hunting here in Utah. Last Saturday we went around to some houses with our realtor, 6 houses to be exact. We didn't find anything we really liked. There were two house we kind of liked but there are major flaws in both of them. One of them is righ next to a major highway so it's loud and noisy, plus the house itself is kind of small. The other house we sort of like is in a great location, on a culdesac, has a huge yard but the house is very outdated. I know we are being really picky, but we don't want to have to move again in a few years. Anyway we are going with our realtor again on Wednesday so hopefully we find something that we like.

If anyone is interested here are the MLS#'s of the houses we kind of like. Keep in mind that the other houses were either really bad or there were major flaws in them as well.
The one by the highway: MLS 888027
The one with the big yard: MLS 891485

1st Week in Utah

Well yesterday marked our first official week of living in Utah. We were extremely busy. Since it was the 4th of July on Saturday and John only works four ten hour days he had Friday through Monday off, which was great. All weekend we looked for houses. We looked in four different suburbs of Salt Lake: Sandy, West Jordan, South Jordan and Draper. I bet we looked at (and my looked at I mean drove by and checked out the exterior of the house and the neighborhoods) probably 40 different houses, and out of the 40 we decided we wanted to tour the inside of 12. People can do crazy things to make their house look good on the internet :) Hopefully this coming up weekend we will be able to tour some of the houses and hopefully put in an offer...I really want out of this apartment!
During the week while John was working, I ran errands and cleaned and pretty much did "house-wife" stuff :) My cousin Emily and I (and Bennett, her baby) hung out a lot, we are actually becoming great friends! I am so lucky to have family here, otherwise it may have been a little more of a challenge moving away from my parents and everyone I know. Don't get me wrong it's hard, especially with a baby on the way, but with my aunt Janene (who is my mom's older sister and they are a lot alike) and Emily it's way easier to adjust.
The puggles are very depressed :( Tucker has not been eating, and Kaiia has been eating slowly and sometimes will leave her food unattended. Now if you know the puggles, you would know that they love food and Kaiia usually is done within seconds of me putting her food bowl down. I think they are depressed because they don't have a yard to play in and Rocky (my parent's dog) isn't here to play with anymore. I actually have no idea if that's why but I know they are depressed. We actually took them house hunting with us (they rode in the back of the Jeep) and they seemed to be pulling out of it...hopefully. Anyway I had to update everyone on how the puggles are doing :)
Overall our first week officially becoming Utards, was a pretty good one. I can't wait until we get a house and have everything all set up, so we can concentrate on more important things, like our baby :)

Germany

My mom and I flew to Germany about 2 months ago for about 10 days to deliver Megan's cats. It actually wasn't bad at all flying with the cats, they were pretty good the whole time. When we got to the airport in Germany we waited out front for Megan and Ivan to come pick us up, and we waited, and we waited. Finally my mom said that we should call them (our cell phones don't work there, so we had to call from a pay phone),$100 later we got a hold of Ivan. We drove from Frankfurt to Megan's house (about 2 hours) and dropped the cats off, then got back on the road for Austria. It was a long day for sure but it was well worth it.





Austria is amazing! We were only there for a day and we could have stayed longer but we still had a great time. We went and toured a castle...

The Castle




The castle up close.
A view from the castle






We took a Sound of Music Tour and saw where the movie was filmed...


This is the mountain where they are hiking to get away from the Germans...which actually didn't happen in their real life.





The Gardens where they are playing in their new play clothes.






The steps where they sing DO RE ME.




The place where Leisal sings and dances with the mail boy.






The tunnel where they sing DO RE ME.





We also toured the city of Salzburg, which is where the castle and Sound of Music was filmed...






This is big building that is connected to another big building, which is also connected to anther big building.

There are pretzel stands everywhere in Austria.






At the base of the castle there were horse drawn carriage rides.





Salzburg from the Castle.
Ok when we were leaving..it was on a Sunday and everything is closed so we decided to go to McDonald's :) This is the McDonalds...it's pretty crazy inside. They have a salad bar, a cafe, and the kids toys are basketball games, and dance dance revolution (not balls and slides).





We drove back to Megan's house on Sunday, which was a 6-7 hour drive on the autobon (so we were going at least 90 the whole time, and people were cruising past us, it was awesome!) At one point two Ferraris and an Aston Martin passed us.





On Monday (Tuesday and Friday too) Megan my mom and I went to Triar, the oldest city in Germany, we actually went to Triar 3 times because we loved it so much. We saw some of the oldest structures in Germany.






The main Square in Triar, this picture was acutally taken from the Porta Nigra- which is the oldest building in Germany.






We saw the Porta Nigra...












The Roman baths...











The old Roman arena...






and went into an old cathedral that was still being used (we had to leave early because the service was starting).

This is the ceiling, way cool!












We also went to Luxemourg one day too. We saw another castle there...











We spent some time in Bitburg (the closest city to Megan's house) and did some shopping and eating ice-cream. Overall the trip was awesome, I did not want to come home. The funny thing is the whole time I was in Germany John was in Spokane making arrangements to sell our house and move to SLC. I'm glad I was in Germany :)