Springtime is here...early!

Today marked Patrick's and my anniversary.  I can't believe it's been 6 years of marriage.  It seems to have flown by and our lives are so different now than they were 6 years ago.  They have been the most amazingly life changing 6 years of my life and I'm excited for what the next 6 years has in store for us!  We celebrated our anniversary with dinner out at Bar LaGrassa last night and had a steak dinner tonight followed by our first Blizzard of the season.  Overall, a very nice way to celebrate!

The first time Emily played with her dangling carseat toys

Last week I had spring break.  Emily went to daycare 2 of the days because I had my gall bladder out.  Apparently in a small amount of pregnancies women can develop gall stones and I was one of the lucky few!  The surgery went well and I'm relieved that I will not have to experience any more gall bladder attacks.

Emily in her first summer outfit

During the time Emily and I had over spring break we went shopping, to the zoo and to visit family.  We had a great time and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL spring weather we had.  The temps were in the 70s and sunny all week!!

Another sleepy zoo day

Just in time for bear play time

Saturday was St. Patrick's day and we visited Emily's friend Abby, and our friends Stefanie and Josh.  We had a great time and it was fun to see Abby scooting around trying to get her toys.  I'm excited for Emily to do some scooting of her own!

Tired out after all of the activities

St. Patty's day with Abby

Our spring flowers that we normally don't see until May have also started blooming. We have tulips, lillies and hostas appearing and growing quickly!  It's nice to see that sign of spring so early in the year.

That's it for now, but as always...
More to come!
The Harrisons

Snap back to reality...

This past week was back to work for me, which was a bit of a slap in the face.  It's going fine, but I am looking forward to spring break next week.  Yikes!  Don't know how I'll do it after break : )  Emily began attending "school" as well!

Emily's first week in her new routine was successful as far as we can tell.  The staff seems to like her a lot and she was one tired girl last week!  I was kind of nice to get 2 or 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep.  Friday night/Saturday morning brought a flu virus to the Harrison household, however.  We're very lucky to have our families close by and were even luckier to have Grandma B spend the day with Emily so that we didn't pass along the sickness to her.  Emily had a great time playing with toys and watching TV Land with Grandma B : )  Thankfully, it appeared to be a 24 hour bug because Patrick and I are feeling back to normal today.  Unfortunately, we missed Grandma Val's birthday party but heard that she had lots of fun anyway!

Thanks Grandma B!

Emily's second week of daycare was equally successful and the staff seems to really like her!  She received her first birthday treat this week as well.  It was one of the older babies birthdays and she brought in goldfish crackers for a treat to share with everyone.  Emily's bag of crackers was enjoyed by myself and Patrick : )

I'm 3 months old!!

Since I last wrote, Emily has turned 3 months old and is continuing to amaze us every day.  Her 2 bottom teeth can be seen right below her gums so we're thinking that it's only a short matter of time until we see those pearly whites!  Emily also got to open 2 gifts that we received a while ago but we thought she was too young until now to really appreciate.  She is now very entertained and interested in both toys.  Lastly, Emily joins us at the dinner table every night as part of our evening routine that we're establishing.  She seems to enjoy being with mommy and daddy and sitting in her high chair like a big girl!

New toy #1: "Butterfly spinner"

New toy #2: Owl

Patrick, Pat and I also got to go to a place called the Wildlife Science Center (thanks for the recommendation Val!).  It was a really cool place that's a sanctuary for wolves, foxes, mountain lions, lynxes, bears, falcons and more!  It costs $6 for the hour and a half tour and worth it!  I highly recommend it to anyone who's in the Ham Lake area! While we were there, Grandma B got to babysit Emily : )

Emily with Grandma B

Emily enjoying Grandma B's house : )

So you fancy huh?

Tough guy

A red fox

That's it for now.  I am on spring break this week so we're looking forward to lots of fun activities in the great weather that's forcasted!

More to come!
The Harrisons

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling down the river!

Alright, so Emily is not rolling down the river but she has seemed to figure out how she can roll from her tummy to her back.  This morning she rolled over 5 times in a row before she got tired of it!  Below is a video of one of her rolls.  Enjoy!

More to come!
The Harrisons

Smirks and Smiles

I love Emily's little smirks and smiles.  Take a look!

First road trip!

We have had a busy couple of weeks!  Last weekend we celebrated my birthday with our families.  We had a lot of fun and I can't image starting my 31st year any other way!!  We also went to the zoo to celebrate and bought a membership for the year.  Emily and I are super excited to make the zoo a regular destination as the weather gets nice!  Check out Emily's first trip by reading her blog post!

Family photo on my birthday :)

Emily: super excited for my birthday celebration!

Last week Emily got to meet my friend Laura and see Lesley and Griffin again!  It was fun to get out and have a "girls night".  (sorry Griffin: )  )

We also finally got a chance to go to uncle Greg's house and meet his kitty, Bonnie.  She and Emily got along great and it was so fun to visit with Greg.  We live close, but it seems like we all get busy and don't see enough of each other.

Bonnie loved the car seat!

Fast friends : )

Chilling at Greg's house!

Emily's "seriously, I'm done...put the camera away" look.  Ha!

Over the weekend we went to Chicago to visit aunt Karen and uncle Marcus.  We had a great time and Emily loved her first visit to Chicago.  We were able to cram a lot in to our weekend visit beginning with the drive there.  Emily did GREAT on the road.  She was a sleepy girl with a couple of happy awake times.  I, on the other hand, ended up in a Wisconsin ER.  I was driving along and started feeling weird.  The feeling increased and intensified and ended up feeling like a heart attack.  So we stopped at a hospital and got a full work up...x-rays, ultrasound, blood work, IV, you name it.  Turns out it's gall stones which can appear after pregnancy.  Luckily, it wasn't considered an emergency so after 3 hours in the ER, we were back on the road!

Emily's position for most of the ride...thankfully!

Killing time at the ER

Being discharged

After the hospital, we stopped at Culver's so all of us could eat!  Emily loved her first Culver's trip : )

"I'm as cute as a butterburger is delicious"

Once we got to Chicago, 11 hours after we left the cities, we got in some quality hang out time with Karen and Marcus before Emily went to bed.

On Saturday, we all went out for brunch at a restaurant called Tweet.

We then went to the conservatory to see lots of beautiful plants from many different places!

Pooped : )

On Saturday night Marcus made short ribs for dinner served with polenta and salad...delicious!!  I would go as far as to say they were restaurant quality!  Sunday morning we had brunch in, strolled the city a little and ended with a great meal of peking duck and fancy desserts!

Peking duck dinner.  Yum!

Our feast!

My cherry chocolate cupcake!

We has a great weekend culminating with a great drive back.  We made it back to Minneapolis in 7 hours with no stops at the ER!  Today is Valentine's Day and we look forward to spending time as a family!

I'm looking forward to spending the next 2 weeks with Emily before going back to work.

More to come!
The Harrisons