Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The big baby

As we have been preparing for Stella's arrival by pulling things out of the attic, reassembling, and washing covers, porter has been re-breaking them in...
















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Sunday, November 27, 2011

How tall is daddy?

And I quote, "His head is kind of little."









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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Decorating the Christmas Tree



 When we opened the box with the stockings Porter asked if they were his Santa Claus clothes.  And then he put them on.







 Finished product...


 And again he had to put on his "Santa Claus clothes."





Wednesday, November 23, 2011

"Is it poop?"

Quote of the day from yesterday.
One of my friends gave us some books about having a new baby in the house. We have been reading them and talking about being a big brother a lot lately so that maybe the transition won't be a huge shock to porter's little world. Last night we were looking at one of the books that is more "graphic" and "scientific" than the others. No nudity or anything, but there is a picture of a newborn with its umbilical cord stump still attached. The book addresses it, so I did too. We haven't been just reading it because the language is above a 3 year old level. I just told him that baby Stella would have a little brown thing on her belly button when she first came home, but that it would fall off. He pointed at the picture and said, "That?" I said, "yes." He said, "Is it poop?"
Also big news at the Harden house.... Our elf has returned. Last year he was essentially unnamed and went only by "elf" but once he made his return this year Jared read him the book that accompanied our elf. In the book it talks about naming the elf and has a long list of names. When Jared asked him what he wanted to name our elf, porter pointed at one of the names in the book and said, "That one." Jared said, "You want to name him Markel (the name that porter had pointed at)?" Porter said, "Yeah, Markel" in a matter of fact voice. Like he had read through them all and picked that one. So Markel watches us and tells Santa every night if Porter was good that day. And porter watches Markel. He is constantly cutting his eyes over to see what he's doing while we are watching TV. One time he cut his eyes over at him and then looked at Jared and whispered, "He moved!" He also likes to talk to Markel and tell him what to relay to Santa. Things like he ate all his supper and he wants a jeep or gator like nana and papa has at their house. He looks for him in the morning and is so excited about finding him. Now I know why some people's elves show up around Halloween, or hang around after Christmas for a little while to get a head start for next year.


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Monday, November 14, 2011

I am the very proud wife of a doctoral student in nurse anesthesia!!!!!

Jared has been accepted to anesthesia school in the doctorate program at TCU and will be on the Pensacola clinical campus!!!!




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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Bye Bye Bouncy

We had to pack it up and take it back to "the bouncy store" this afternoon.  We had one last hoorah before it was over.  And to clarify the we--Porter and Jared jumped.  I observed and took pictures.  I did get in the bouncy, but did not do any bouncing.











Ok, no more bouncy pictures.  I promise.  But seriously, we will find a reason to rent again, especially if we are able to keep it for 2 days.

Bounce, bounce, bounce

Porter slept for almost 4 hours after his party!!! When he finally woke up it was dark, but not a problem. Turn on the flood lights and fire up the bouncy!!









iPhone doesn't take great action shots....
Later he tried out all his new toys, including his hot wheels wall tracks set.









He had such a good birthday. We will be renting a bouncy again at some point. He enjoyed it so much.
He was bouncing at 7:00 this morning.



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Happy 3rd Birthday Porter!!!

Our little fireball turned 3 on November 12th!!!  We had a big backyardigans birthday blowout with a bouncy house, and had friends and family over to celebrate.










We only had one adult bouncy crasher (during the party)..... Katie got her workout for the day!!!

 Porter was obsessed with his cake.  During the party my mom caught him inside trying to pull at the box.  We almost had a cake disaster....
He wanted cake, but he did not want anyone singing to him.  He is very shy about that, and pouted while we sang.


 His cake was specially designed by the wonderful Sugar Rush Bakery.  It's theme is "Chichen Itza Pizza," which is a backyardigans episode that we have seen a time or two (hundred).  The cake is regular vanilla, with caramel icing on the top layer, and cream cheese icing on the bottom layer.  It.  Was.  Fabulous.  And still is!  Of course I ordered for more than we expected. ;)


We had a Pablo pull-string piñata.  Swinging large sticks when little boys are involved is not the greatest idea.  Because of a piñata experience at Sylvie's birthday party a couple of months ago, Porter is under the impression that most everything is filled with treats.  Porter was convinced that the pumpkin that we carved for halloween was going to have candy on the inside when we cut it open.  It is a wonderful idea that most things we stuffed with candy, but unfortunately he has been disappointed many times by reality.
And let me just say, while we are documenting this party, that I am 34 weeks pregnant, and feel every bit of it.  I look huge!!!  And apparently it has not gone unnoticed by almost everyone.  And I'm so lucky to have such honest family members that tell me how big I am.  ;) 







 Porter insisted that he did not have cake on his face.....

 Mr Rudy and Mrs Jonelle (our neighbors) were able to celebrate with us.  They are such wonderful people.  We couldn't ask for better neighbors, and Porter adores them.  He loves to go visit their house all the time.


Porter wanted to stop after opening the first gift and play with it.  He didn't really have any concept of having multiple things to open (at least in his short memory), but he caught on very quickly.  We are set on Cars and Hotwheels merchandise.  But he has certainly enjoyed all of them.





 Conversation before this pic: "Porter, if you say cheese I'll open that car for you."
Oh, and he still said he didn't have cake on his face.

Thanks so much to everyone that came out to celebrate Porter turning 3.  He was truly surrounded by the people he enjoys and I know that was just as big a deal as any cake or gift he received.  When we were talking about having a party, the people that were going to be in attendance was what he was most excited about.  What a great day!!!