Holy cow I am raising a GIRL!!!!!

Do not allow this cheesy smiling, tomboy acting, spitting image of her daddy fool you. She is indeed a girl! Today has definitely caused me to realize that I am headed down a road full of unbalanced emotions, tears, and craziness! Yesterday we had such a fun day filled with laughs, smiles, happy baby moments.....today on the other hand is as if a switch has been flipped and the evil emotional Harper has risen. Goodness gracious the tears are coming from literally NOWHERE! I can not leave her side for more than 2.5 seconds without an emotional breakdown coming out of this super cute little 21 pound being. Now its not the cuddling kind of day where she doesn't feel good and wants to be sweet. It is the crazy kind of sad that reminds me that the teenage years are going to be looooooooong! All that being said she is still of course the cutest little thing ever and when I do get those brief moments of smiling or laughter when tickling her it makes all the craziness okay. But just for the record... women are crazy! =).

Well gotta go, the monster has woken 45 minutes early from her nap =).

Change

Change in all things is sweet
- Aristotle

Over the 3 years of marriage and 4 years of being together, Josh and I have endured a lot of change. Some expected, some unexpected, some wanted, and some unwanted. However, through all the change it has brought us together and stronger and more in love. Although change is inevitable in everyone's lives it is really how you adapt and react to it that creates who you are. I tend to think of myself as open minded and ready to take on new adventures. Yet, I am not as quick to adapt as I would probably tell you I am. I do take time to get used to the ideas of something new (especially if it is unexpected) but altogether I always look for the positive side of things!

One of the biggest changes I had to adapt to was realizing that I was going to be a stay at home mom. This was a decision that Josh and I came to together and I am ever so grateful that I have had this opportunity. However, it was a very difficult adjustment to me. I had my first official job when I was 15 years old, worked throughout college to pay for my bills & started a career immediately after graduation. Working was something I knew, something I was good at, and something that I felt defined who I was. 99% of my friends who were already moms were in fact stay at home moms. I will admit that I was judgmental to the point of not understanding why some of them had house cleaners or went out and shopped like crazy when they were not bringing in a paycheck. A huge part of this was ignorance on my part because I obviously did not know what it was like to take care of a newborn. I also did not think about how not everyone has "a perfect baby" who sleeps on a schedule, is never sick, and does as they are told! I never realized the time and patience it was going to take to raise a little one...especially the patience it took to raise a little one who had acid reflux! Anyway, I am getting off track a bit but my point is that being a mom is a difficult job, but at the same time a very easy job. I get the chance to teach her things, I get to be the one to comfort her when she falls, I get to be the one who dances around the living room being extra silly and making her full bellied laugh all day long.

Now if you ask me if I miss my job the answer would be yes. Some of you may be surprised by this answer because my particular job I was not in love with. I did however love being responsible for projects and teaching people how to complete tasks or how to become stronger in the business world. I did obviously love bringing home a paycheck and being an equal contributor in the household. I did love all the relationships and friendships I created with those I worked with. Those are the things I miss but I would not give up one second of the time or the days that I have spent with Harper over the past year.

The other change that has been difficult for me to adjust to is the fact that in 8 days my little girl will be one year old. ONE YEAR OLD? How in the world did that happen?! She has gone from this helpless little bundle of 7lb7oz 19 1/2 in. long who could not even hold her head up to this 20lb 27 in long giant personality. She has opinions and thoughts (although they are simple) and she has the ability to melt hearts! I am so amazed that an entire year has passed by but I am so proud of the little girl she is and I think that Josh and I have done an absolutely phenomenal job raising her thus far. I can only imagine how much faster things will go when little Paxton arrives to add to the craziness. I will make sure to stop and cuddle him every moment I can because once they become mobile, the cuddling stops! I know it will come back some day with Harper but we find ourselves cherishing the sick days when she lays her head on our shoulders and is a bit more needy.

Last but not least the change that has gone along with my 3 years of marriage has been the best change of all. From my very few first initial interactions with Josh, I knew my life would be ever changed by him. There was something different about him and something different about myself with him. He made me more bold, more confident, and more in love than I had ever imagined. As each experience has been thrown our way with change, it truly has only made our marriage better. I am not saying things have always been perfect or that we have never had our down times. What I am saying is that we really do grow together more when we face a hard situation and realize that sometimes we are the only things we have to lean on to get through a rough patch. I am thankful to have him as my husband and partner. I am excited for the future change we will experience together. I am excited to teach our children to embrace the unknown and sometimes there really is a silver lining in those dark cloudy days. My life is not perfect but I know that I have all I need to keep going with a smile on my face!

Speaking of change, little Paxton is now big enough where I can feel him kicking in my belly. Oh what a good feeling it is! =)

Update on the Pluids

In 13 days our little girl is going to be ONE YEAR OLD!! I just can not believe how fun and crazy and unexpected the whole experience of being a parent has been. If you have read my blog posts before you will know that it has not necessarily been the easiest journey but it has by far been the most wonderful thing I have ever done! I have a fun party planned on the Sunday before her birthday to celebrate with our family and and a few close friends and am hoping that she will have fun and not be too overwhelmed by the madness! I will take lots of pictures and share the day of the event after it passes =).

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and we have recently found out that we are HAVING A BOY!!! I thought Josh's jaw was going to hit the floor he was so shocked! I can not believe that we are lucky enough to have one boy and one girl! I am due January 4th but since I had a c-section with Harper, I will be having another one with baby boy Pluid and will most likely have him right after Christmas around the 27th or 28th. Kind of a crummy birthday but I am very excited to be big and pregnant during the fall/winter with boots and leggings and sweaters instead of in this ridiculous heat. Plus I will not feel guilty (as if I do anyway) stuffing my 8/9 month pregnant self with all the yummy holiday food!!! Josh and I have been having a difficult time deciding on a name for this little boy! I had about a million girls names that I had on a list but for some reason boys names are not peaking my interest as much. The name that we both like the most is Paxton Joshua Pluid. I like the alliteration of the P's. Paxton Pluid....cute huh?

I can not believe I am only 2 weeks away from being 1/2 way finished with being pregnancy. Yet this go around has been much harder on my body. I have gotten sick 3 times from strep throat, colds, throwing my back out, etc. which is very uncommon for me. I am never ever sick! The past few days I was having terrible stomach issues but fortunately today I feel back to normal....yet Harper is now sick with the sneezes & snots! It's always something isn't it?

Lastly I will give an update as to what Harper is up to these days. Mostly for my benefit so I can remember since I am oh so good at updating my blogs hehe =)

*Last doctors visit she weighed 20lbs 7oz and was 27" tall
*Loooooooooves books.
*She now hands things to us and gets great joy out of it, unless its something she really wants and then she plays a sneaky game where she holds it out and then snatches it back as I go to grab it.....she thinks shes pretty funny.
*Plays peek-a-boo by bobbing up and down or hiding under her blanket
*Starting to put together words that we can understand such as: bye bye, baaa (sheep sound), bow wow wow (dog sound), night night, mama, dada, nana (banana), wuv woo (love you), hahahaha (mocks my laughing) & screeches with joy anytime she sees a picture or actual animal.
*She can point to when I ask her where it is: her belly, foot, leg, head, closes her eyes, heart and on occasion her ear, and waves byebye.
*She is obsessed with this Step 2 kitchen my dad & stepmom gave her and plays in that all the time
*She loves it when we chase after her to tickle her and she tries to scurry away
*Cruises all over everything & crawls like a mad woman. She has not had much interest in walking since she has become so confident in crawling
*Eats just about anything & everything

Well that is about it for now. I am sure there is much more but I won't make this post any longer than it already is!

3 years of wedded bliss

On our 3 year anniversary at The Arcadian Inn Bed & Breakfast!

I had the pleasure of planning Josh & I's anniversary fun this year. Usually he is the one that comes up wit a plan or surprise but I asked to take over this year and I feel as if it was a success! We wanted to do something fun & simple so I asked my mom to watch our sweet little Harper for the night and booked us a room at the Arcadian Inn Bed & Breakfast. Neither of us had stayed at a bed & breakfast before so it was a fun new adventure! When we arrived to check in they had a chalkboard out front welcoming us with our names on it. Then we went to check out our room and it was so pretty & quaint. We got dressed & ready for our dinner reservations I made for us at Signature Grill. We had been there one time before and it was such an unbelievably yummy experience! It is definitely a special occasion type of restaurant with the prices but for foodies like us, it is well worth the money! We sat and talked at dinner for quite some time so we ended up calling it a night after we ate. The next morning the owners of the Inn brought in the most delightful breakfast ever!!

I had one more surprise planned for us & had a couples massage scheduled to come and give us the massages in our room at the Inn! It was a perfect way to end our small getaway celebration!

Growing Pluid Family

my little water bug

This summer is hot! I know that it is hotter than normal & my apologies go out to all my friends who are 7 months pregnant and due in August because I am SO thankful that it is not me this time! However our big news that we did find out recently is that I am actually pregnant....AGAIN! Yes I said it. I am with child and due January 4th 2012. This was a very unexpected surprise and honestly I was in denial in the beginning but once we finally go to go to our doctor here in Duncan and see our little Lima bean on the ultrasound I fell in love all over again. Now I am not saying that all my nervousness has been thrown out the window because it definitely has not. Especially over the past few days while Harper has been dealing with 3-4 new teeth breaking through and has been extra fussy, napping poorly, and more accident prone it makes me realize everything I will be having to face again. I will have to be up in the middle of the night, working on cry it out to establish a nap routine, starting to breastfeed all over, work extra hard to get the baby weight off. There are a lot of things that I would not necessarily say I am looking forward to BUT then I think about how every morning I wake up so excited to go in Harper's room to wake her up and have her quickly scurry to the crib and pull herself up and to see that sweet goofy big tooth smile and my heart melts yet again that morning. Overall I am very excited & I know it may be a bit crazy for a year or two but it will be so fun to have them hopefully be best friends and close to each other since they will only be 16 months apart!

My sweet Harper is 10 months old now and is learning and growing so crazy fast. Some of the things she is doing now is:

Cruising all over the furniture
Waving bye bye
When I ask her she can point to her leg, belly, heart, head, ear
Can put her arms up when asked
Can sign to tell me she wants "more" or "all done" when eating
Pulls herself up on any and every piece of furniture possible
Learning to say bye bye, duck, and baa (what a sheep says)
Always says dada and mama
Obsessed with books. I read the same 3 books probably 10 times a day...at least
Loves watching her Your Baby Can Read video
Eats pretty much anything
Feeds herself peas,bananas, bread, green beans, etc.
Knows how to ham it up to strangers
Talks/yells/babbles constantly. She loves to hear herself
Pets the animals

Well I have so much more I wanted to say but looks like those teeth are bothering her again and she has woken up early sad from her nap so I will cut it short this time and hopefully write some more this week.

making a blueberry mess sucking on frozen blueberries to help her sore teeth =(

time stopping moments...

perfection.

Ok so just to forewarn you I about to get all mommy gushy & emotional on you. I am sure you all have those times where you really stop and soak in the moment you are living at that very second. It seems as if I never really remember doing this until I met Josh and we fell madly in love & even more so now that we have Harper. I just had one of those moments and I realized how happy I am with my life and I am so lucky to have all that I do.

Harper and I decided to drive and have lunch with Josh this afternoon. We went and had some Mexican food which is my favorite. Especially on a gloomy cloudy comfort food kind of afternoon. Josh works about 30 minutes away from where we live so it gives Harp and I some girl time in the car. On our way back home I looked in the mirror that is attached to her headrest so I can see her since she has to sit rear facing. She was just as happy as a clam playing with her stuffed blue frog that her Mimi bought her. I thought to myself that not too long ago she could not even stay awake for the entire drive to or home in the car. She would always fall asleep. However, she is now 8 months old and such a big girl and can keep herself entertained for the entire drive. One of her favorite things to do is to turn her head up and to the side so she can see what I am doing. I am usually singing to the latest weeks performances of American Idol and she doesn't mind that I may or may not be a fantastic singer =). Anyway, on our way back I saw her looking up at me and I reached my arm back towards her car seat so I could touch her. When I did this, with her tiny little soft hand she grabbed my fingers and just held on. This was when I had that time stopping live in the moment kind of feeling. Her tiny little hand made my world pause and realize how amazing it is that this little girl is mine, how special she is, how much I love her and how fast she is growing up. Only a month ago she could not stay up for the drive, two months ago she was just starting to sit in a highchair during lunch and four months ago she would have been asleep in her car seat during all of lunch!

Now, I loved Harper from the moment I looked at the little stick and saw a plus sign indicating I was pregnant. I loved her a little more the first time I found out she was a girl, heard her heartbeat, saw the little lima bean on the ultrasound, or met her for the first time in the delivery room. My love then however, was nothing compared to what it is today. Now that she has her own personality, her deep raspy voice, her crazy wiggles of excitement, her love for animals & her dislike for most green foods. Now is the moment that I love her more than I thought I could ever love anyone or anything in my life. It is unimaginable. It is indescribable. It is perfection.

J's 30th birthday

My handsome hubby with his birthday cake!

We kicked off the month of April celebrating Josh's 30th birthday! We invited some of our close friends and spent a weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tulsa gambling and partying the night away! We had such a fun time and it was also the first time we left Harper to stay overnight with my mom for a few nights & she did fantastic. Josh was able to take off 10 days for a little R&R vacation/birthday time so after we got home from the party weekend we spent the rest of our time hanging out and doing a small celebration on his actual birthday. It started out with a home cooked breakfast with blueberry pancakes and bacon. Then we went with Josh while he golfed (which was not a great idea to bring a baby on a very windy morning......). That afternoon J took me out to the gun range so I could experience and learn to shoot a gun. OH MY GOSH it was so emotional. I don't know why but the second I took my first shot I just started tearing up. It was loud, it was powerful, it was overwhelming. Don't get me wrong I am a moderately emotional person but I am not one to just break out in tears for no reason. I told him that I didn't want to shoot it anymore but I decided to put on my big girl pants and tried firing a few more rounds. I became a bit more comfortable the more I shot but still, guns are scary to me. I am not about killing anything, even if you are going to eat it. I am not a vegetarian either but just the though of actually killing something makes me sad. I remember the first time J went to buy a rifle at Bass Pro Shops. The salesperson who was trying to explain the different bullets pulled out this super pointy one. He explained that it would be good to shoot dogs with. The second that sentence came out of his mouth I again just started crying. Now I am not sure if he meant actual dogs or if he meant coyotes or something else but the thought of an actual pet dog getting shot broke me down. I literally had to leave Bass Pro while he finished up his purchase. Wow I kind of went way off track with my gun stories but oh well!

After the gun adventure we went by the meat market to pick up king crab and steak for dinner and it was sooooo delicious! I had not eaten crab legs since the beginning of my pregnancy and it was amazing. I was glad that I didn't ruin it for myself because the smell of crab when I was pregnant grossed me out so much and I never wanted it at all. I also baked a delicious strawberry cake and bought our favorite champagne Sophia. This champagne is what we drink every time something special goes on in our lives! We had a really fun day and I am so glad we were able to spend the entire day together because I am a sucker for birthdays. =)