31 and a half week update!

Whew! It's been so long since I've typed in this pretty little white box :) I've really missed it and I'm dissapointed because I wanted to be better about documenting the little things throughout this pregnancy.

Basically the last month has been filled with baby showers, family, and settling into our new house. Yep, we got to move! Now instead of our little trailer we have a two story beautiful home :) that has pretty much taken up all of my energy, I never realized how truly difficult being pregnant is, its exhausting! In a really good way though.  

A sign I loved in my aunt's house.

The fabric my mama and I picked for Bennett's bedding!

I got to travel up to Seattle and spend time with my amazing family and see tons of friends too! It was so amazingly refreshing. And I got spoiled rotten at both showers. Thank you to those of you who helped out and came! I am so blessed by you.  

Our adorable nephew, Logan.

Zach and sleeping Will.. a preview for when Bennett comes!

Zach's parents, sister & brother-in-law, and nephews got to come out to San Diego this month, and it was so great spending time with them. I fell more in love with our sweet nephews and grew so much more appreciative for my amazing inlaws. Seriously, I scored in the inlaw department.   Other than that, my life has been consumed with thoughts and preparations for Bennett. It's crazy that this little person has completely taken over and he isn't even here yet. I find myself daydreaming about what he'll look like, what his snuggles will feel like, and if he'll wiggle as much out of my belly as he does while he's in there :) I pray for him to have a good temperament and to be a joyful person, to grow up to be strong in the Lord and respectful of others, to have a sense of humor and to be confident. I already love this little boy so much, and I just can't wait to meet him!  

A progression of bump pictures from the last couple of weeks :)

Baby's size:  According to thebump.com, baby is the size of a pineapple! Sleep:  ...I'm sorry, what is that?
Maternity Clothes:  I've snuck in a few sweatshirts and vests that arent maternity, but I am carrying this baby completely in front so non-maternity tops are pretty much not an option at this point
Food cravings:  Still haven't really had any cravings.

 Symptoms I have:  Exhausted, achy back, cranky :)
Labor signs: None yet, although I should start feeling Braxton Hicks contractions anyday!

Stretch Marks: None so far, thankfully. I still attest this to Delighted Momma's stretch mark oil.

Swelling: In my face mostly. My fingers too, but not my ankles yet.
Doctor’s Appointment: I have one today with my ob, and go to a specialist in two weeks. I have a low platelet level so my ob wants me to see a hematologist and then a high risk pregnancy doctor just to make sure everything is alright and also to prepare for what could happen during delivery. Prayers appreciated :)
Movement:  All the time, seriuously this kid doesn't sit still ever. Now he's big enough I can see him moving which is just weird.

Belly Button:   Super flat, not looking like it will pop out though. Best moment of the week: Going through all of the baby things we've gotten, organizing, washing everything, and putting it away :) What I’m looking forward to: Getting Bennett's room painted and setting up his crib and dresser so that it looks like it's ready for him!

What I miss: Being able to bend over without groaning, and putting on my own socks and shoes haha.

Getting to See Family

Alright, so I brag all the time about how much I love my job, but what I don't always talk about is how much I miss my family. I've mentioned a few times just how blessed I am to have such an amazing family. I have nine (maybe eight? I cant count. Mom help!) a lot of aunts and five uncles and I honestly could go to anyone of them for support, advice, a smack on the side of the head if I needed it.. you get the picture.

All my aunties and me. I count eight! :) haha

Anyways, the majority of the family lives in Seattle area, so moving to California has been hard in that aspect! I am used to living within driving distance to like 17 family members. And I miss them,  a lot.

So the point is, my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jon were in Coronado this past weekend, and luckily we got off work early enough to go see them!! These two have poured so much into my life, and into our marriage. We are SO thankful for their influence in our lives and our relationship, for all the advice and all the laughs :) It was so refreshing to see them!

We met at Hotel del Coronado where they were staying (a-maze-ing by the way) and went to dinner at Miguel's (delish).

On our drive home that night, I was really quiet. As I was driving, my heart was so full of love and joy. I know not everyone is as blessed as I am, and I just couldn't stop thinking about how much I love my family. Like really, really, love. 


I am also blessed to have so many strong, positive, elegant, beautiful on the inside and outside, passionate, and FUN aunts! I have eight women to look up to (well more than that, especially you Mom!) but eight aunties who I look up to and strive to be more like each day! Hi Mimi :)

Don't know where this post is going.. besides sappy and thankful and missing my family. Love you guys, I hope I get to come to Seattle soon.

Me love her :)

Baby Will

This post is about a month late, but better late than never =)

William Howell Haunson

Our sweet nephew was born on March 15, 2012.

Congratulations Melissa and Trey, he is beautiful! We can't wait to meet him in October!

When big brother Logan met Will he said, "I like it!"

"I look just like my daddy"

And here are the cute onesies I made for the babe!

Maybe someday we'll live close to our nephews. It's weird that I've only been a part of the Harris fam for a little while, I miss them like I miss my own family.

Dear Logan and Will,

We might only get to see you a few times a year, but we love you just as much as if we lived on the East Coast too. We pray for you everyday and we love getting to see sweet pictures of you. It's especially fun to talk to you on Skype! We are proud to be your Uncle & Aunt. You are going to grow up to be pretty amazing young men, since you have such a great example in your daddy and such a great encourager in your mommy. We will be blessed to watch you each grow up and become little boys. Be sweet to your momma, and give your dad extra hugs when he gets home from work at night. Oh, and when you get to visit your auntie and uncle, give us extra snuggles since they have to last a long time, ok?

We love you guys so much! Love, Uncle Zach and Aunt Katie

She Made Me Do It

Some of you may know how I feel about ombre hair. I just feel like most of the time it isn't done well and ends up looking tacky. If everyone with ombre hair looked like Alex Hunter, my opinions would change, but until then, I'm picky kapeesh?

perfection : a subtle fade from dark to light
[source]

ugly : overdue for a highlight touch up
[source]

Anywayyyyyyyys my little sissy wissy poo has been begging me to do her hair ombre for months now and I finally gave in this weekend :) And it actually changed my opinion. When its a subtle fade, it's really pretty!

Before:

After:

So what do you think?! It's not that orange in person.. these are with my iPhone in direct sunlight. I wish I had better pictures!

After doing this, Lauren sent me a pic of her new ombre .. umm GORGEOUS!!

He Is Risen Indeed

I love Easter. It is the most meaningful holiday to me, as it symbolizes Christ rising from the dead, proving he is the Son of God.

This was our first holiday all by our selves, and I will admit I was pretty lonely for our familes. Zach's parents and grandmother were with his sister and her family, and my parents had all of our extended family over for dinner.

I had big plans for our first Easter as a married couple; at Target last week I tricked Zach into picking out his favorite Easter candy (ps. after three years, why do I still not know what it is?!) and also letting me buy Easter eggs. Z always goes to bed before me, so I was going to do a little egg hunt Saturday night for him to wake up to Easter morning. Welp, I ended up falling asleep on the couch with him so that did not happen! I'm actually dissapointed about it :(

Sunday morning, we drove to San Diego to pick up my sister who wanted to come to church with us. Church was not your typical Easter service. We did sing a lot of worship songs about Christ rising from the dead, but the sermon had nothing to do with Easter (??) I was a little surprised! At the end, they did cardboard testimonies, which I love! It's so meaningful to see how Christ has totally healed people!

After church we hung out at our little house, I worked on finishing up my garden outside, and later we had a bonfire outside. It was just perfect. We also got to skype with Zach's family and finally meet baby Will! We FaceTimed with my family, and Cara and I got to say hi to everyone there :) We even dressed up in matching Easter outfits...

hahaha cute I know!

And lastly, we hung a hummingbird feeder outside and it's pretty much my favorite thing in the world. It's amazing how much joy the little things can bring!

See him!? so cool!

Kitty Love: Norman & Hadley

It dawned on me a few weeks ago that I never formally introduced our kitties! Part of it was forgetfulness but another part of it was me feeling guilty for getting kittens only a month after we gave away our precious pup. I didn't want to feel like we were replacing him (we were not) with two little kitties (who could never measure up to the pup!).

I love animals. A little obsessed, some might say. Ever since moving out of my parents house, Zach had told me we could get a kitten when we got married. We ended up adopting Hugo instead, which is cool because lets face it, dogs are better than cats. But anyways.

When we moved to California, we decided we would get kittens after Christmas since we would be gone for a week and that would be the responsible thing do to. So of course, after living here an entire two weeks, I slyly suggested we "just look" at kittens after church on Sunday. For some reason, Zach obliged and we found the most timid little grey kitty. We decided we'd better take her home with us, because who knew if there would even BE kittens after Christmas, right!? So we told the Humane Society we were heading to Petco to get  all the kitten essentials, and we would be back that afternoon to pick her up.

We drove to the other side of town where Petco is, and when we pulled up to the door, would you believe what they had there?! Kitten adoptions! Instantly I spotted the most adorable white and grey kitty I'd ever seen! I asked to hold him and fell in love. We had already decided we wanted a girl kitty though, so I moped to the kitten aisle to pick out a collar, litter box, and food for our little grey kitten waiting for us. As we were looking at collars (I picked out the cutest white collar with a rhinestone bow) Zach happened to spot a tiny camo print collar. When he saw that, he didn't want to put it down - I reminded him we wanted the grey kitty at the Humane Society, not the white one here - and that's when he said those magical three little words,


"Let's get both".


To which I responded, "I love being married."


And that's just how the story goes :) Meet our children.

This is "Princess" Hadley. She likes to be around us all the time, but you can only pet her on her terms.  She is spunky, playful, and full of energy. She keeps us on our toes (mainly because we are always tripping over her!) and we love our little girl. Plus she has the silkiest fur of any kitty in the world! Her favorite perch is sitting on top of the couch looking out the window at the horsies.

 Meet Norman! "Stormin" Norman is kind of, how do I say this, special. He's pretty slow on the up-take, is really floppy, and spooks himself pretty easily. He is a total lovebug which captured my heart from day one. If he isn't cuddling with his sister, he's usually on one of our laps. He will play with Hadley about once a day, and he sleeps the rest of the time. He lets me pick him up and hold him whenever I want (well, for the most part) and oh gosh, how could I forget this, he purrs as loud as a lion! I swear! I am such a deep sleeper, and the dang cat wakes me up in the middle of the night. Hey, atleast he is happy. 

Best Friends :) We are so glad they have each other!

Logan's Quilt

If you follow me on twitter or instagram (misskatieh), you saw that I made a quilt last month! I couldn't post to facebook because I wanted it to be a surprise when my sister in law nephew opened it. I went on a total limb picking out fabric without her, which was super scary because I was afraid she wouldn't like it! My SIL is like the sweetest most accepting woman in the world, but for some reason I am afraid she will wake up one morning and decide she doesn't like me anymore. Ha! Anyways, enough about my insecurities.. love you, Melissa.

I knew Logan's "big boy" room had a transportation theme, so I went to fabric.com and picked the cutest coordinating transportation fabric I could find. I proceeded making my quilt and, let me tell you, I fell in love with quilting. When I say that, I feel like I'm a middle aged/old lady but seriously - I love it! Recently I've learned how much I love all things sewing [kindred hearts with Lauren].

Anyways, when Melissa posted pictures on FB of Logan's new room, I was PUMPED because I knew the quilt would fit in perfectly! Here is Logan's room..

Here is the quilt!

trains, planes, and automobiles!

super cute polka dot back.. I love polka dots :)

And here's the Logan-man in his quilt!! Cutest nephew ever? Yup! I can only say that for a few more days :)

I love that kid.

Can't wait to show you what I made baby Will -- as soon as Melissa sees, I'll post it!

PS: Baby Will, if you can read this, we are all waiting for your sweet arrival! Come out and play! I know your mama especially would appreciate that.

She Went Home

To start out this post, I just need to admit that I literally have the most amazing family in the world. Both my parents have lots of siblings; I have five uncles, and seven aunts. And tons of cousins. The best part is that at our wedding, you couldn't tell who was from which side of the family, everyone was dancing and laughing together. This weekend reminded me just how blessed I am to be a part of a family like this, where all 5 of my grandparent's kids jumped on planes to be with my grandpa in the days after my grandma's passing.

My High School Graduation. June 2006

Anger is a funny emotion. It sneaks up even when you don't understand why you are feeling angry. That's kind of where I am with my grieving right now. When I see things around my house that remind me of her, get a sweet text, or a sympathy card in the mail [don't get me wrong -- I so appreciate these] I simply feel anger that I am receiving these. I don't want to have to receive these. I just want my Mana back.

My Mana & Uncle Mark at our wedding. July 2011

My parents were already scheduled to visit us Friday night til Tuesday afternoon. We had plans to hang out at camp and down in San Diego as well. Obviously, things changed and we headed to Yuma bright & early (5 am) Saturday morning. When we drove into the RV Resort that my grandparents live at, it was so painful. We had just spent Thanksgiving down there staying in my grandparents' fifth wheel and I just can't quite swallow the fact that my energetic, seemingly healthy grandmother would not be there, that day or ever again. I still am just grasping to memories, wondering how this could have happened so quickly, missing her so much.

We brought our kittens to Yuma; Thanksgiving, 2011.

I am incredibly blessed that my grandma was so immersed in my life. Although she wasn't one to call often, I always knew that she cared about the details. I am the oldest grandchild on my mom's side, and for some reason this always gave me special privileges. The fact that I always included her in little things helped too. I know my grandma wanted to be a part of all the things in our life, but I don't think she knew how to reach out to us grandkids. Maybe fear of rejection, maybe just uncomfortable. It doesn't matter though. One of my first memories of this was in the 7th grade, my grandparents had come down during Halloween weekend and my mom and grandma came with us trick or treating. I'm an affection girl, always have been; and after 5 or so houses running with my friends, I turned around and gave my Mana a big hug and said, "I'm so glad you came with us!" and ran back up with my friends. The next day Mana could not stop talking about how special that was to her; even though I was having fun with all my friends I still let her know I was so glad she was there too. That's just how I am though. I was 12 then, and ever since, I have made a point to let her know how special she is to me.

Our Wedding, July 2011

At my bachelorette party last spring, some friends and I went wine tasting and then back to my parents' house for gifts and appetizers. [side note, I didn't even know we did gifts at bachelorette parties until my own! score! good thing mine was first, or I'd be really embarrassed when I showed up empty handed to friends'] So we get home and start opening gifts - which, by the way, is very uncomfortable for modest little Katie over here - and when I opened a floral ruffly backless top, my grandma says, in front of all my friends, "OOOH!! Can I borrow that for our cruise?!", and the room exploded with laughter!

Mana & Papa on their 50th anniversary cruise. October 2011.

Looking around my house I just can't stop thinking about her. She loved to spoil me, which is great, but now it is breaking my heart. From ruby earrings, to pink pajama pants & make up brushes, down to the marinade in my fridge, all her little gifts are making it impossible not to think of her. Last summer, I found a sweatshirt at Costco that I had to have. They didn't have my size in purple, so Zach and I were going to check three other Costco's in the area. Mana jumped in the backseat and drove around all afternoon with us, looking for that darn sweatshirt, totally content, just happy to spend time with us. Gosh I miss her already.

I've been told that just by being around us you can tell how close we are. My Mana was a special lady, that's for sure. I honestly considered her a friend, and I don't know how many people feel that way about their grandparents. I love her dearly. I will always love her & I look forward to the day we meet in heaven again. I know she'll be waiting for me with a big hug - arms open wide :)

Now that both my grandmas are in heaven, I've never been prouder to have my middle name. Suzanne Helen & Helen Jane -- I am Katherine Helen. I love my middle name, I wear it like a badge of honor. I pray I become half the woman that both these ladies were.

I love you, Mana. 

Restoration

Today was a no good, very bad, terrible, awful day. But thankfully, we have a God that restores our hope.

Seriously, today was one of those days that just sucked. It started off with me not feeling well, then everything with my grandma just hit me and I was super emotional, work was SO busy -- and not feeling good and being emotional wasn't really helping all that at all. 

Rewind to last night. I was working on my quilt I am making for our nephew, and getting frustrated. None of my rows are lining up right and they are turning out all crooked and well basically no one else will ever notice. I am such a perfectionist that it was making me crazy! Then I was thinking about it in the shower (where I do all my best thinking) that it kind of pertains to my life. Not everything in my life always lines up just right. Sometimes things turn out a little lop sided. 

But that's just how life is. And that is why we need Jesus. On our own, we cannot straighten our paths or align things just right. We can't make it through a hard day without crying. 

Being a Christian doesn't mean things won't get hard. And it doesn't mean that you'll always be happy. It means that I have someone to lean on, someone who loves me 100%. He will never love me less, He will never love me more. And He cares about my heart, He knows my grandma is sick, He hears the crying out of my prayers.

He gives me energy to finish a hard day. He gives me hope in healing. He gives me a sunset each night that says just how much He loves me, and He loves you too.

Yes we suffer. But He sees that. And He restores us. He gives us that hope & a reason to trust Him. 

I thank God for restoring my heart, because I know I definitely couldn't walk through this life alone.

Photo from my coworker Michael Keleher

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,

 after you have suffered a little while, 

will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

1 Peter 5:10

Follow Friday & a Request for Prayer

I am loving Hollie's idea for Follow Friday blog version!


I'm a little uninspired to post anything today. You may have seen this tweet  from me yesterday... I found out yesterday that my grandma (I call her Mana -- like mama but with an 'n') has ovarian cancer. She has been in the hospital for 2 weeks and got to go home on Tuesday & I thought that meant everything was a-okay. I was heartbroken when my mom called yesterday to say the doctor's called with biopsy results that showed ovarian cancer. 
My dad's mom passed away from breast cancer, and Mana has had breast cancer too, so I am just praying that God will heal her! She is so young & active & plus, she said being a great-grandmother is on her bucket list. I am not ready to make you a great-grandma just yet, Mana! 
Mana is so strong, I know she will fight this will everything she has. I am just a little sad today. 
I am not posting this for sympathy, but to ask for prayer. Please pray for healing for my sweet grandma! Thank you, friends.
“For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,” says the Lord. -Jeremiah 30:17

Here are my Mana and Papa, who've been married for over 50 years.
  I love you both so much and look up to you now that I am married. Thank you for supporting me through everything I've ever chosen to do, I love you dearly. Stay Strong Mana!!!
*******************************

And on a lighter note, don't forget to link up with Molly and me for Makeover Monday - Haircare edition! [my personal favorite] This coming Monday!

A Southern Christmas

For our very first married Christmas, we decided to spend it with Zach's sweet family. Originally, I was okay with this because I knew I'd be coming home to my family even if I didn't spend the actual Christmas Day with them.

Well, then we moved. So needless to say, I was a little emotional about being away from my family for the first time. I haven't seen my family for two months and I wont see them for another two months and I miss them. So much. But luckily for me, I am beyond blessed by my inlaws. I could never have dreamed of a better family to join!

So here's our week in pictures :)

Red sparkly Shellac manicure, Christmas lights, making homemade caramel, the stocking my MIL picked for me!

lots of sleeping, bonding with Logan, and a new tradition of Christmas Eve jammies!

clues to find hidden gifts, friends, and a book from my husband

our first married Christmas, southern dinner [!!], Zach and his awesome dad, and my beautiful Sister in law[who might slap  me for showing her belly..that I'm obsessed with]

Overall, it was amazing! I wouldn't trade last week for the world and I'll say it again, that I LOVE my inlaws!