Little Underwood, Big Harte

Welcome Grandma Jo! We are excited to have her here to meet Zoe! And ... are we thankful for the help ... two kids, meals, keeping the house together and yes there is still packing to do...thank goodness for our parents! Zoe is doing well still. She has some fussy periods and mostly her witching HOURS (yes more than one!) are 7-10 p.m. She  tends to overeat and then throws up on us, but we are all adjusting and figuring it out. After that we get a good 3-4 hour chunk without her nursing if Stefan hangs out with her in the living room. He tries to snag some sleep, and I can get some rest before I take her the rest of the night which consists of usually feeding her two more times. Z is about to wake up, so a fairly quick post, but I wanted to share our recent pictures. Check out our latest happenings >>

All is well and we are adjusting to being a family of four (and little sleep again). A huge thank you to mom and dad Harte for all their help while we were at the hospital and when we brought Zoe home. It has been so appreciated to have the extra hands around. We are managing through this week on our own and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Grandma Jo this weekend! Check out lots more pictures below along with several adorable videos of the kiddos! Pictures and videos from Zoe's first and second week>>

Zoe Joelle's Birth Story Born Sunday, April 3 at 12:01 a.m.  7.17 oz, 18.5 inches On Saturday, when I was 39 weeks, I was having some light contractions in the morning but had similar ones Thursday morning so still didn't think she would come that day. At my appointment the Monday before, I was dialted 3 cm but the doctor said that wasn't uncommon for a second pregnancy. My doctor suspected I wouldn't make it to our due date of April 9, so Mom and Dad Harte arrived Wednesday to be around to watch Gavin while we were at the hospital and to help when the baby arrived. Saturday morning we walked around downtown and the Jazz Festival before having lunch. Later, Stefan made a nice dinner and we thought it would be a normal evening. After Gavin was in bed and I had my shower, I sat down to fold some clothes around 8:15 p.m. When I stood up to get the remote control I felt a twinge in my lower abdomen and commented on it, then I noticed my water had broke! The e...

We hope everyone had a great Easter! Although it was rainy we celebrated with an indoor egg hunt on Saturday and church then brunch with friends on Sunday. This was our last weekend just the three of us before Mom and Dad H come down, so we spent time together and did a few final preparations for the baby's arrival. Putting the bucket car seat back in made it feel extra real!  I had an appointment last Wednesday and again this past Monday. Things are moving along! I have been off my medication for Factor V for about five days now, so he/she can come anytime! If the little one doesn't make his/her appearance by early to mid next week, we will likely be scheduling an induction so I'm not off the anti-coagulant for too long. I'll be 39 weeks this Saturday if I hang on that long. Overall feeling pretty great still just a bit fatigued and tired - so I should be used to it when the baby comes, right?! Some photos to leave with you... Easter coloring 37.5 Week...

Updates from the last post coming at 'ya. We made it - Stefan is done traveling until after the baby arrives! He has also officially started his new role and is very excited for the new challenges. We are so grateful this opportunity came when it did. Although a cross country move right now is definitely going to be challenging, the new role will allow so much more flexibility with his schedule and reduce the travel burden so the timing is turning out to be perfect (doesn't that tend to be the case once you process things like this?!). On Stefan's last trip, he made some headway on the areas we want to live in Phoenix and helped narrow down the daycare options. He'll be going back in April, after the baby is born while I still have help, to find a house and sign a lease.  We are pretty happy about Daddy being home for awhile! On the baby front, I'm 37.5 weeks and have a gameplay with my doctor taking into account the medication I take for the Factor V Le...

Stefan is almost halfway through his second work trip in the last two and a half weeks, and then we have a short three day trip next week for him to get through (this one by choice) so he can start looking at areas to live in Phoenix and visit some daycares. Then we get him home until Baby U #2 arrives - yay and phew!  On his five days home we fit in lots of fun! We got a sitter and went to an amazing Fish House dinner with two of our awesome Indy friends while they were down here for a quick anniversary trip (and of course they came here so they could see us before we move ;) ). Then on Saturday I got so spoiled by my dear Libby at a beautiful baby "sprinkle" followed by a pedicure - seriously she makes life so much better by being in it! The boys got to hang at a MSU/Auburn baseball game at the Blue Wahoo's stadium (yes, totally random MSU was here at this tournament with all other SEC teams). It was a beautiful warm and sunny day. Gavin loved it but Stefan says ...

Nine years folks - they are in the books! Stefan and I celebrated our nine year wedding anniversary this past weekend. Thanks to one of our great sitters, we enjoyed a tasty seafood dinner out just us at one of our favs, the Grand Marlin (we expect to miss local fresh fish when we move to the desert!!). We also checked out the little theater in Pensacola for the Short Attention Span Theater show. It was an easy, nice evening out for the two of us. Sunday we were bummed to miss some of our Indy buddies while they were in Destin (poor kiddo got sick!), but we made the most of the day and did a family trip to the aquarium instead. Not sure why it took us that long to go there. It is right on the water and we got to see a dolphin and a sea lion show. Gavin took awhile to warm up, but then seemed to enjoy it. We packed a picnic lunch so after enjoying that in a perfectly placed gazebo outside the facility, we drove back thinking our little no nap at home 3-year old would fall asleep in th...