14 months!!

Can she really be 14 months? She is not suppose to be able to reach the door handle! They really do grow too fast! Here she is being silly playing with Mamaw and Papaw. She loves her red rocket rider!

My little climber

For those of you that were concerned, we have actually been working on baby boys nursery this week AND I bought a few outfits for him so he won't be wearing all pink. :) As I was trying to clean everything out of the bedroom so we could paint, I turn to find this: (Please excuse the nudiness...we had spaghetti for lunch so Lila was only in her diaper cover.)

Matching Clothes

Does anyone know where to purchase coordinating/matching boys and girls clothes? I have not idea where to look and would like something for Lila and the new baby.

Just 10 more weeks?

Am I seriously already 30 weeks pregnant?!? I cannot believe it! Thankfully, I still feel really good and have been blessed to have such great pregnancies. I will say that I am starting to worry about so many different things. Sometimes I wonder if we really know what we are getting ourselves into. I mean, how am I going to take care of a baby while chasing a 16 month old? What am I suppose to do with Lila while I am trying to nurse? Is Lila going to feel neglected? This whole "I only want daddy" thing really has me bothered. I am so glad that Michael is an amazing dad and that Lila loves him dearly, but I am also thinking that I have such a short amount of time with just her before baby boy arrives. I want our time together to be really special and for us to spend a lot of quality time together before then. It is hard for me to think that it will never be just the 3 of us again. Although it is exciting to think about adding another, at the same time I worry if I have enough love to go around. I already worry that Lila doesn't know just how much I love her. Heck, I worry that my dog doesn't know how much I love her. Even with my friends and family, I have always felt that I don't spend enough time with them, or show people just how much I care about them. It is 10 x's more difficult when it is your own child. I know I will love this baby boy so much, but I never want Lila to doubt my love for her either. I already feel like this pregnancy as gone too fast and that I haven't done for him what I did for Lila and so that makes me feel guilty. I am afraid I will be really sad when it is over...it's like I haven't concentrated on him, talked and sang to him, or read to him like I did with her. I mean, the poor kid doesn't have 1 single item of clothing to wear when he comes out. I could dress a village with Lila's clothes. I know that everything will be fine, and that I should just be thankful that I can even get pregnant and have a family. There are so many people out there longing to have that, and I just have to remember that God chose us to raise these children and that they are his. All I can do it trust him and pray that we will be the best parents we can be. With that being said, I am getting really excited to meet this little guy! I know our world is about to be turned upside down, but I can't wait!

More Alaska

Notice the ship at the bottom of the picture. That is a BIG ship. Like over 100 feet long. It really puts it into perspective how big this glacier is.

Beautiful Talkeetna ended up being not so pretty. It was a gross, rainy day, but it really is a neat little pioneer town. Just as I had finally worked up the nerve to leave my child and fly in a tiny 10 seater plane around and over Mt. McKinley and land on a glacier, they canceled the flight! Michael was super bummed, and I actually was very disappointed that we didn't get to see Denali or the Mountains. I guess that means we will just have to go back! Anyway, I did come back with some great trinkets. There were all kinds of homemade goody's there. Baby Boy may not even have a onsie to wear, but he now as a super cute knit hat made from organic cotton from Alaska. I got to meet the lady who made it, which was cool as well! One of the stores had this cute little duck that sang and danced to one of Lila's favorite songs, "If you are happy and you know it." It flapped its wings when you are to clap and stomped its feet and moved around too. As you can tell...she LOVED IT!
Michael and I got to sneak off and do a little hike by ourselves. It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun just enjoying each other and God's beautiful earth. I do think Michael was a little worried about Bears since we had seen several on our trip and there were signs posted about recent bear sightings. We also heard some other hikers blowing their "bear whistle." We were suppose to take "Bear Deterrent" but we forgot. We just made a lot of noise and talked a lot while we were out. I thought this picture was funny of Michael looking up in the hole of the tree.
We meant to take this picture when we arrived, but were too anxious to get our luggage and get out of there. Here we are before leaving Alaska. Let's just say that an overnight flight with a sleep fighting 13 month old was NOT fun! She was more interested in blowing kisses and waving to everyone at 3:30 in the morning than she was in sleeping. There were actually 25 kids on that plane, but I was still worried about disturbing others. The lady beside me slept the entire way and didn't even notice Lila. If she would have just sat still for 2 minutes it wouldn't have been so bad. We were just exhausted and wanted to sleep and all she wanted to do was sit down, stand up, roll over, do downward facing dog, and crawl all over us! Needless to say, we didn't really sleep. Before we knew it, we had arrived in Cinncinatti for another 3 hour layover. I think I won the "Crabby Traveler" award for that trip back. I love the fact that Lila just wants to lay down in her own bed and go to sleep, but there are times, such as these, that I need her to lay her head down on my shoulder and snuggle with me and sleep. Even sleeping in the stroller would help, but she doesn't do that either. Like Mother Like Daughter..Nosey Rosey! We did make it home and Lila's schedule is still messed up, but we will get there. All the kids did great adjusting to the time out there. When we came home though, Lila didn't want to go to bed until 10 or 11 (7 or 8 in Alaska) and sleep until 10 or 11. She is at least going to bed at her normal 8 o'clock central time now!
I must say, I was so proud of Lila while we were there. I kept waiting for her to have a day where she just melted down because of change and lack of sleep, but she never really did. The worst was just the flight back. She woke up so happy every day and was super excited about playing with everyone. I think she is bored with just me now that we are home. She loved playing with Mason and Kaley and became super attached to daddy! I have majorly had my feelings hurt because it wasn't that she just wanted daddy...it was that she didn't want me at all!! What 13 month old doesn't want their momma?!? I even shed a few tears over it. I know she just isn't use to having Michael around this many days in a row, but it still makes me sad.

We did have some major milestones while we were there though. Lila took her first steps on July 14th in HOMER, ALASKA!! The great thing about it is Michael and I both saw it. She took two steps with her left leg and was almost going in a circle. Michael and I both yelled out loud. She then took a right, left, then a right, left, right, left! It was so exciting. She is still hesitant some, but is actually moving a little faster now than when before she would take a step and think about it before taking another! She also cut a molar while we were there. Poor thing...I didn't even know it. I knew she was teething because she was drooling pretty bad, but the next thing I know I see this ginormous tooth! Although she acted totally fine the whole time we were there, she had A LOT of dirty diapers...like 4 or 5 a day! I felt so bad for her. I still don't know if it is from teething or just from her schedule being messed up. We are back to our normal 2 a day now though! Anyway, she was just perfect and we had a great time! I will say that although I hate the humidity here, I am glad for the warm weather and sunshine!

Yes, we went to Alaska. Yes, we took Lila. And Yes, my doctor was totally fine with me going. :)

After our already long night back from East TN, here we are waiting to board our plane. Once we made it to the airport, we were delayed and then delayed once again once we actually boarded. That was NOT fun! We made it to Atlanta only to be delayed another 4 hours or so. The kids were amazing, so that we were thankful for!

Lila's first plane ride: I was really worried about how she would react to flying. This is the child who hates the lawnmower and the elevator. However, she actually loved flying. She even danced a little during take-off and landing. There were some really cute teenage boys sitting behind us on the flight to Anchorage and they flirted and talked to her and had her dancing the whole time. They were even taking pictures of her and talking about how happy she was. She did finally sleep for about...oh an hour. I was a little stressed during the flight. I think I was just tired, hungry, anxious, etc. Lila is a total wiggle worm and didn't eat very well during the day, so that did not help. Luckily, P &A were a great help to us! Oh, the reason she is nudy is because she jerked my water out of my hand and soaked herself and I did not bring a change of clothes.
We FINALLY made it! Here we are at around 2 in the morning our time. Note: It is about 11 pm in Anchorage...check out the sky. Even though we were exhausted, it didn't feel right going to bed with the sun still out!

After flying into Anchorage on Sunday night, we drove to Homer, Alaska on Monday. Here we are at one of the overlook sights. We noticed that my belly grew significantly over the 10 days. I wish I would have taken measurements the day we left and the day we came home.
Homer is the Halibut Capital of the world. Erin hates fish, so I thought this picture was funny. The boys went deep sea fishing, while we girls checked out the quirky little town of Homer. Some other men had just come in from their trip and these were their fish they caught. We stayed in an awesome cabin with a gorgeous view. The back of the cabin was just a wall of windows. Here is what we woke up to every morning. We also had 2 friends who came to visit us. These 2 bald eagles kept flying by, which was really neat to see them in the wild and up so close.
This is at the boat dock in Homer. One of the boats from the show, Deadliest Catch, ship from here.
The Gang!

Just the Harrell's got to drive to Anchorage from Homer together. All of the sudden, Michael whips it over on the side of the road for us to see this. I took lots of pictures, but I figure one of a moose and her calf is enough to post. We were literally directly across from them. I wanted to get out and pet them until Michael informed me that they attack more than any other animal out there. He is telling me this as I am hanging out the sunroof video-taping! Just being goofy.

In Alaska, there are not very many roads. On our way to a Glacier Cruise there was a wreck that had traffice stopped. Therefore, we got out and had a little fun. It was a beautiful day, so we wanted to take advantage.

We didn't make it to the cruise, but we did make it to the Wildlife Conservation Center. No, this bear is not in the wild, but we did see 2 on the side of the road, and 1 in Chad and Katherine's back yard! Now, that was exciting. Michael got a picture, but it was just the tail end of it going back into the woods. We actually set out some salmon up on their back deck hoping he would come back again. Chad and Kate have lived there for a year and half and have never seen a bear in their neighborhood, so I think it was pretty exciting for them too!We got a baby sitter one night and went out to a nice dinner without the little ones.
This picture was taken at about...11 pm. The sun never really completely sat there. The darkest it ever got there was when we drove through the tunnel on the way to Whittier! :)
I wish you all could have seen this rainbow. This picture just doesn't do it justice. It was the most vibrant thing I had ever seen AND it went from end to end. I was just too close to get the whole thing. You can't see it here, but it actually became a triple rainbow with one in between these two.
Here we are in the cute town of Whittier. There is only a one lane tunnel into this town. You have to catch it at the exact time on the hour if you want to get through. They allow 15 minutes for 1 direction of cars to go through, and then another 15 minutes for the other way, and then 30 minutes for the train. The tunnel is 2.5 miles and you are basically driving on a 1 lane train track. There are no homes here, just some condo buildings and these stores are only open 4 months out of the year. Except of the train and some other shipping stuff, the whole town is shut down 8 months out of the year.
We went on a Glacier Cruise of Prince William Sound (this a body of water). Just in the sound there are over 100,000 glaciers. We took a tour of 7. It was amazing!

We saw a piece of ice fall from this Glacier. If you look closely, you can chunks of ice floating everywhere. The crazy thing is there are people out kayaking and boating everywhere. A bunch of sea otters also swam right past us.

I think I have posted enough for today. I still have more to come!

Love is in the Air

Michael and I had two great friends get married the day before we left for Alaska. One of which Michael was born in the same hospital room 5 minutes after her, and the other who has been one of Michael's best buds since elementary school. So, we loaded up the car and headed to Gatlinburg for the weekend. In true Harrell fashion we rolled into the Park Vista for the rehearsal at the exact time it was starting. Michael literally jumped out of the car and ran in as I went and parked the car. We decided to pack all of our things in one bag since the rest were being used for Alaska. I will never do that again. We used Michael's old baseball bat duffle bag, which is longer than I am tall. So, here I am, pregnant belly and all, carrying Lila, our huge bag, (which luckily didn't take out any car windows on the way), Lila's diaper bag, my purse, food bag, etc. I am sure it was a site. I must say, I thought I was a little crazy trying to carry all of it, but our parking spot was a long way away, and I didn't want to make 2 trips. I honestly thought that someone would offer to help me along the way. Nope. Not until I was about to get off of the elevator to head towards our room did someone finally offer to help. I got lots of "bless your heart" looks, but no help. Oh well. We made it, and I got to work out my right bicep a little more since I carry Lila with my left. :) Anyway, Michael and the groomsmen were doing lunch the day of the wedding and hanging out, so I decided since the wedding wasn't until 7 pm that I would go visit my sister, brother-in law, and neices in Maryville for the day. Lila slept in a little longer than usual, so I didn't leave as early as planned, but I was still making good time. That is, until I drove an hour in the wrong direction up into the mountains towards NC with no cell phone service! I followed the directions Michael gave me from Mapquest, however he didn't put in the hotel's address, just Gatlinburg, so it had me going the wrong way. Yes, honey, I am still blaming you! :) I feel like I should have known better, but it has been a long time since I had been up there and I had not taken back roads to Maryville before. It was actually really pretty and I think that if I wasn't so upset I would have really enjoyed it. Here is the thing....I knew we were going to have a long day with flying the next day and would be traveling a lot in the car in Alaska, plus the drive to Gatlinburg, so I really didn't want Lila to be in the car for very long. Boy did that backfire! Plus, I wanted to spend as much time with my family that I could before having to come back to the wedding. I did finally realize that I am not going the right way, but there is no place to turn around. I also just got a new phone the day before that I still don't know how to use, so that was frustrating. Not that it mattered because I couldn't get any service anyway. Plus, everyone was driving 15 miles an hour! I finally get to an overlook and I am just crying. I see a tour bus and work up the nerve to go ask for directions. I dried up my tears before approaching, but as soon as I opened my mouth, I just started boo hooing. I don't really know why...hormones I guess! He finds a guide to help me who was super sweet. He gave me a map and told me to put my car in low gear and to not cry while going down the mountain. I finally did make it my sisters and back for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and I love to see 2 people so happy! Stephen is my boy, so to see him smile made it all worth while. Lila loved seeing her daddy in the wedding and kept calling his name while he walked down the aisle and stood up front. Luckily we were outside and the wind blocked her yelling, but it was still really cute.
Here is my dancing queen. Now, let me tell you. We sat in the very back, the furthest away from the dance floor. However, as soon as we would put her down, she made her way, crawling through all the tables to get to the dance floor. One girl was up dancing and Lila crawled right through her legs. She didn't know what to think. It was too funny! Here is Lila with sweet Becky. Lila loved playing with all her jewelry!

So, shortly after the reception, we loaded up the car and headed back home to try and catch some zzz's before having to be at the airport at 9. Well, it couldn't be that easy, now could it? This just happened to be the night that some oil rig turned over and spilled and they closed the interstate both ways. Long story, but after rerouting to Chattnooga we finally made it home only to sleep a few hours before getting up again. Still to come...ALASKA!!!