still waiting for a baby

on the 18th, my doctor sent us to winnie palmer for an ultrasound to be sure that janie wasn't getting too big (since i've been measuring two weeks ahead consistently). everything looked great and the doctor there estimated that she was weighing in at about 6 pounds 4 ounces, which they consider normal for where i was at that point. my doctor also thought it was average, but insinuated that she hoped or thought things were going to move along pretty quickly from that point. this is what she's looking like these days. we think she must be pretty bored and ready to eat some real food if she's resorted to nibbling on her toes.

over a week ago i started having kind of regular, but painless contractions, and as the week went on some other things started happening, which in all of the books we've read signal labor is right around the corner. we packed our bags and scrubbed the house top to bottom so that we were ready to go whenever the moment came. ten days later, it still hasn't happened. apparently, i am experiencing nearly every false labor symptom, and a few true labor ones, but no pain or discomfort. each time i start to have contractions, i tell myself that if i can sleep through them, it can't be labor. lucky for me, i am still able to sleep soundly through the entire night, no matter what the muscles in my stomach are doing. yesterday at the doctor there was no further progress really, but she did decide that if janie doesn't make her appearance by next week, they will induce me on the 6th (assuming there is availability at the hospital). we will see what happens between now and then, and promise to let you know as soon as she's here!

christmas fun

the holidays were so good to us. starting a few weeks ago, we managed to fill almost every day of our calendar with holiday parties, dinner with friends, and time with family.

we met luke for the first time when joel and lizzy were in town. it was quite a memorable experience. he came over decked out in the camo onesie that andy picked out a while back, and he took the title of first baby janie ever shared her toys with (which is good practice since they will be sharing many more things once the prearranged marriage is final). he even brought a photo from his first bath to be sure that as soon as she is seeing more than 12 inches away from her face, she will be able to look at her dresser and fall in love with luke. he is an awesome little guy, and joel and lizzy are really great parents. sometimes new parents enjoy sharing all of the negative stuff about the first few weeks, but joel and lizzy make parenting look easy and were able to put a positive spin on all the usual horror stories about labor, sleepless nights, and screaming babies. we are so glad to have friends like them.

our summit connect group just recently grew from eight people with two kids to twelve adults and five and two half kids, if you include the ones in bellies. we had our holiday dinner and white elephant gift exchange the week before christmas and i learned that our friends are wonderful cooks and even better gift givers. among the most coveted of gifts were a dog snuggie and an authentic russian fur hat.

i also attended my first cookie exchange at bri's house. while it was great to spend the evening surrounded by sweets and good friends, the preparations for the event were not so enjoyable, probably due to my missing ingredients in multiple recipes. in short, i made enough dough for 180 cookies and ended up with approximately 50 edible ones. bri has already decided that next year she's stepping things up and we will be required to bring 8 dozen cookies, so i'm starting to practice now.

i hosted my second annual gift wrapping party the next day, so a bunch of ladies came over and we wrapped christmas gifts and ate lots of dessert together. i was quite impressed by the wrapping skills of the majority of my friends, and was proud to have improved my bow making from last year. It became very clear to me that people with kids have much more challenging shaped items to wrap, santa should never use the same wrapping paper as mom and dad if you have observant children, ikea has surprisingly fine quality wrapping paper, i have no self control when it comes to chocolate mint brownies and the delicious pretzel/rolo/pecan treats that shannon left behind at my house, and i am so blessed with a great group of girl friends.

we wrapped up the week at the summit staff christmas party. i'm pretty sure that summit has claimed the greatest 40-something people to make up their staff. i truly don't think there is one staff member or significant other who isn't completely awesome. i am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve alongside of all of them, and to watch what god is doing in our community through summit year after year.

on christmas eve both of our families came into town and we went to christmas eve service. it was my family's first time at summit on christmas eve, and it surely was not a disappointment. a few years ago, we had just moved to connecticut and didn't really know of any churches in the area, so we randomly chose this cute little methodist church in the center of town to attend for christmas eve. well, there were about 20 people in attendance (they were all one family), the pews were about six inches deep (i thank god every sunday for the nice, cushioned seats at summit), the service lasted for 3 hours (and there was no sneaking out), and didn't really touch on the christmas story much at all. i was so glad that this year was the best music and christmas sermon i have ever heard, and was even happier that my entire family agreed.

christmas day was shared with both sides of our families, great friends, and an extreme abundance of food. i'm not sure who we thought we would be dining with, but we cooked enough to feed an entire football team. it was a good day.

progress

after months of hard work on everyone's part, a lot of (or a lack of) patience with furniture companies, and three amazing showers, janie's nursery is complete! we have been so blessed with great family and friends who have helped us to make all of this stuff come together. we spent most of last night moving tiny little outfits from one drawer to another and sitting in the super comfortable glider while admiring our work. i think that room is my favorite one in our house, which i hear is a good thing, as i'll probably be spending the majority of my time in there over the next few months.

i'm already finding that parents will do really crazy things for their kids. we would have had very little motivation to get that room done had it been for any other purpose than our sweet little girl. andy spent countless hours pulling rodent and termite poop infested insulation out of the walls, repairing wood floors that had holes big enough to reveal the dirt underneath our house, sawing/sanding/routing wood to frame doors and windows, and lots more. i, with the help of andy's mom, even learned how to sew (sort of) to make roman shades for the windows, something i thought i had no desire to ever learn. we both were excited to consider the new yellow minky dot glider our christmas present to each other, and can now easily pass up a dinner at our favorite restaurant if it means janie gets another cute little outfit, hairbow or toy. we already know, we are going to be in big trouble once she arrives.

here are a few pictures of the room!

here's a reminder of what it looked like before.

and after...

i'll leave you with a few great pieces of unsolicited advice from strangers, all of which start with a phrase similar to, "if i could give you one piece of advice, it would be...":

1. "buy a baby bjorn carrier so you can nurse the baby where ever you go" this was followed by an in depth description of exactly how you go about completing such a task while grocery shopping, doing dishes, or going for a walk.

2. "eat a lot of slippery foods if you want her to come early." this is not a joke, someone really said this and believed it to be true.

3. "don't let your kids out number you..they're vicious."

4. "get some blue things too, in case it's a boy."

5. and this, from husband and father of the year: "don't be expecting your kid to be the cutest thing you've ever seen...my baby was really funny looking until he was about 6 months old. i think that's why my wife had that after birth depression thing."

seeing horses in a new light

those of you who know my sister lindsay and i, know that perhaps our biggest difference is her love of horses and my desire to keep my distance from the animals. lindsay has been riding for for 15 years and has owned willie for about 4, and the closest i come to touching him is about like this...

i think he is scared of me too. growing up, every time lindsay got to choose what to do for a birthday or special occasion, we could all bank on going to see horses in some form...arabian nights, birthday party at a stable, donkey rides, and other things and places that really stink. i cringed on the inside, and maybe sometimes on the outside, plugged my nose, and went along for the ride.

well, this month cavalia came to atlanta. it's directed by the same guy who helped get cirque du soleil going, and incorporates horses with all of the other crazy acrobatics that make the show famous. since i did dream of being an acrobat at one point in my life, and since lindsay wouldn't miss any local event that involves her equine friends, mom and dad took us all to see the show at the big top last night.

it started out a little slow and i (and i'm pretty sure andy and dad) were feeling a little skeptical, but before long, acrobats were flipping on the backs of cantering mustangs, flying down from the ceiling and landing in the saddle, and amazingly bouncing around the ring while artfully missing the piles of poop that were being produced by the stars of the show. i didn't think it was possible, but for the first time in my life i have decided that horses are really quite pretty and brilliant. it's impossible to explain how talented some of these trainers, acrobats and horses were but here are a few photos so you can get an idea...

this was my favorite part, but since we couldn't take photos, this is the best i could find.

this girl, sylvia zerbini, somehow got 8 horses to all walk in formations together like the rockettes, using her pointer finger and horse language. she was amazing.

after seeing the show, i feel confident that we can have a family act traveling the world...lindsay can do the horse training and i'll work on my acrobatics. andy can sing, dad can set up our tent and mom can sell water during intermission and make trips to publix to get apples for the horses. i think it will be a great success.

welcome to the 21st century

a few months ago we made enough money at our garage sale to purchase a new television. the one we have in our house is about the size of a refrigerator, and somehow the screen is only 19 inches. we were really excited about our new piece of technology, watched our entire dvd library (which consists of the chronicles of narnia, zoolander, juno, fever pitch and how to lose a guy in ten days) in it's entirety at least two times, and got completely caught up on all five seasons of the office. after much debate and many nights at the harmon's watching lost, we gave in a got cable this weekend.

i think the final decision was made on wednesday night when we were watching the magic game via espn.com's gamecast. this is not actual video footage of the game, it's x's and o's on a court that shoot little bubbles out every now and then to tell you about a rebound, foul, or timeout. it was working really well for us, until we realized that it was about as reliable as listening for the cheers and boos coming from the bar down the street to get a real time idea of what was going on. so on wednesday night andy made friends with the man on the other side of the phone at direct tv, and scored not only an awesome deal on cable, but also 2 free $100 visa gift cards!

so far, we have thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of cable. yesterday i learned how to make an entirely deep fried thanksgiving dinner, thanks to paula deen, and we also refreshed our knowledge of wwii events with a documentary on the history channel. i thought we were missing out on much greater things. maybe there will be better stuff on during the week. until next time, if you have any questions regarding the american's sneak attack on the japanese military at guadalcanal on august 7, 1942, you can feel free to give me a call.

happy tuesday

today is a good day for a few reasons.

• starbucks released their christmas drinks and red cups. when i finish writing this, i am walking to starbucks to have a white peppermint mocha with caroline on the phone. despite the fact that she lives in north carolina, we will always drink our first seasonal beverage at the same time.
• we had an ultrasound and got to see janie at a much fatter stage than the last time we saw her. in fact, seeing her size (3 pounds 12 ounces, which is far ahead of where she should be at this point) gave me hope that she may have a chance at surpassing a height of five feet.
• the weather is cool, which means for the first time in quite a while, i am not sweating.
• a lady told me i looked nice, which really beats the rest of the comments i've received over the past few weeks. some of them include "you're enormous!", "that's gonna be one HUGE baby!", "has your doctor mentioned anything about you gaining too much weight?" and many, many more.

this weekend we traveled up to atlanta where the summit christmas album was mastered. it is a masterpiece indeed, and i can't wait for everyone to hear it. all of the folks that contributed to it (including the hand clappers) are so super talented! luckily, we returned home in time for halloween with some good friends. here are some photos to document the evening.

juno and paulie bleeker...we went into publix dressed like this, and the helpful store clerk told me i should be sure not to drink any alcohol wherever i was going, then laughed and said, "i'm just kidding...i know it's just a costume". apparently my stomach looks fake. we fooled him, alright.

this is simon simon, explaining all of his eagle scout milestones. he earned badges for saving lives, tying knots, catching fish with his bare hands, and wearing worlds greatest knee highs, all before his eighteenth birthday.

you're probably thinking, 'this costume wins the contest hands down. she even brought her own horse to the party!' turns out, it isn't a costume at all. my little sister lindsay rides on SCAD's equestrian team and had a few shows this weekend. of course she came in first in all of the events she rode in, which has led me to ponder if it's too late for me to excel in some form of an athletic event. lindsay informed me that the "ribbons" i won during my days on the swim team were merely honorable mentions given to make the losers feel like winners. with that heartbreaking news, i have decided that once janie arrives i am going to challenge myself to rightfully earn a real award by training for (and completing) a half marathon. anyone with me?

butternut squash

this week marked the start of the third trimester! i've been getting mixed reviews about whether the next 11 weeks will fly by or be the worst two months of my life (thanks, to those of you who suggest the latter). currently, janie is the size of a butternut squash...about 15 inches long and 2 1/2 pounds. we are so excited to meet her, and the preparations are coming along nicely. i found out last week that the crib and dresser won't be here until late november, which i reacted very irrationally to. in fact, it was so absurd, i'm not even sure i can blame that scene on pregnancy. anyways, i've come to my senses and realized that there is no need for a crib until january and managed to turn my anger about that into excitement about these wall sconces and chandelier that we found on super clearance at lightstyles down near lake ivanhoe.

here are a few of my favorite janie things...

this is one of my favorite little outfits.

lauren found these adorable little shoes on etsy!

clearly, andy's child must own a pair of cowboy (or girl) boots. thanks mom and dad!

our friends monica and brackston bought these awesome headphones so janie can accompany her rock star dad to shows and recording sessions, and have her little ears protected.

as you can see, janie already has what it takes to be a pretty awesome little girl. andy's hoping she takes after me and spends the majority of her first 15 years playing baby dolls, swimming with floaties, and showing little interest in boys. for her sake, i'm hoping that she is way cooler than i was and finds something better to spend her babysitting money on than babies r' us gear for her dolls. no joke, i really did that.

alright, i'm heading to drop my computer off at the apple store to be fixed, so don't be expecting any exciting updates for the next week or so. i'm flying up to boston in the morning for my shower. despite that fact that i will probably be freezing from tomorrow at noon until sunday at 2 since i don't have a single jacket that will button over my belly, i'm really looking forward to seeing everyone. sadly, andy will not be joining me because he is opening for the blues travelers with mike dunn and the kings of new england tomorrow night at house of blues. in closure, this is the wife of a rock star, signing off.

hello, delaney harmon!

5:45 am - i'm practically typing this with one hand, as i keep my phone in the other, anxiously awaiting tim or shannon's phone call...at 12:30 this morning she called to say they were on their way to the hospital because shannon thought (though wasn't positive) that she was in labor. all i know as i write this is that delaney downey harmon is here!

the last time i had such intense butterflies in my stomach was the night before our wedding. if you know me, you know that it is a real stretch for me to stay awake for a movie or television show in it's entirety. well, over the past 6 hours i have watched approximately 8 seasons of the office. that should be a good indicator of the level of excitement i'm experiencing.

in between jim and pam's romantic love story (i'm still on season 4), i found myself having a conversation of sorts with god. events like this always lead me to be reminded and amazed by the fact that he knew, well before anyone even considered our existence, the exact moment that we would enter into the world, the exact number of hairs that would reside on our little misshapen heads, and the journey we would take throughout the rest of our days on earth. we hear it often, but i think the past 6 months have made it a much more real concept, being able to apply it the the little girl that is growing inside of me.

welcome to the world, delaney! you are so loved, and until janie arrives, you are my favorite little girl on the planet!

3:37 pm - yep, favorite little girl indeed. i just got home from the hospital and can assure you that delaney is one of the best looking babies i have ever seen.

"for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, i know that full well. my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in the secret place. when i was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." psalm 139:13-16

my 23.333333rd birthday

i should start this blog out by introducing you to some of our great friends, brianne and eddie kaufholz.

brianne is a coupon cutting, free food finding, mall madness winning, green element driving superstar. and she is hilarious. her husband eddie is a beer brewing master and has been featured on many great blogs. he is commonly referred to as an angel here on earth. well, i'd like to give eddie a break from the spotlight and focus in on his other half, bri.

last friday evening was a night worth writing about, and we owe it all to brianne and her coupon cutting skills. striving to be a good steward of all that she has, bri purchased a $50 gift certificate to SEA Thai for just $4. (if you're as interested in free things as brianne, you should check out her blog). upon printing out the coupon, there of course, was fine print which read "$50 off a $100 purchase". most people (me) would be super frustrated that they got tricked into such a deal...after all, what two people can consume $100 worth of pad thai and praram? bri's optimism and generosity led her to view the mishap as an opportunity to invite joey, lauren, andy and i along for the great coupon redemption. surely six of us could reach the $100 minimum. if you aren't familiar with SEA Thai, you should know that this is what it looks like...

as you might imagine, i was quite hesitant to enter into this place to eat, especially since it would be my first thai food experience, but eddie and brianne have never let us down.

turns out, the inside is really nice and it was totally packed. we finally got a table and our waitress, K, asked us immediately what the occasion was. in not-so-perfect harmony, eddie and brianne answered, "oh, no special occasion" and "it's her birthday!" (while pointing at me). i'll let you guess who's response was who's. great. we've started out on a good note. after the wave of embarrassment subsided, we enjoyed a 2 hour single course meal. the food was great, service not so great. or so we thought...

we had asked multiple times for our check, but to no avail. just as we were losing our patience, the whole kitchen crew came parading out to our table with a platter of birthday treats, complete with a candle glued to the center and "happy b-day" scrawled in chocolate sauce, just for me. i was serenaded by the SEA Thai staff and good friends and then consumed more fried bananas and thai donuts than one could imagine. it was the best birthday i've ever had 2 months after my birthday. thank you bri, for making it all possible.

and then there were two...

for the past 6 months i have enjoyed being pregnant with two of my favorite people on earth, lizzy and shannon. well, today, october 14 2009, lizzy moved on to bigger and better things, leaving shannon and i counting down the days until we join her as ladies with babies outside of our bellies, rather than in. fortunately for shannon, her countdown is just 12 days.

luke joel hunter made his grand entrance into the world this afternoon, and boy, is he good looking. we are really hoping that janie and luke fall in love and get married.

congratulations, joel, lizzy and luke! we love you guys a whole lot and can't wait to meet your sweet little man.

one room becomes two.

this is what the back room of our house used to look like:

actually, it looked even worse than that with awful carpet and peach paint

still one room, free of all the drywall and insulation that rodents and termites called their bathroom.

this is how you build a wall

future home of the washer and dryer

i don't think i meant to take this picture, but i'm glad i did. this is what was underneath the carpet

after seeing white painted floors at door sixteen, i was determined to make it happen in the nursery. luckily for me, andy is really patient and good at sanding, so janie will now have awesome white hardwood floors in her room.

this room is really difficult to take pictures of, and my photography skills don't help the matter, but here's an idea of what it looks like today.

so there you have it, without moulding, furniture, or a baby. all of that should be coming soon. i'll keep you posted.

it's not easy to blog from your phone

(for some reason this didn't post when i actually wrote it...probably because i attempted to do so from my phone, so here it is, a few days late)

a few months ago i thought i really wanted a dog, but yesterday morning, when i spontaneously decided to drive up to atlanta with my mom, i realized that andy was absolutely right in his decision to not get an animal.

my cousin chris ended up in atlanta on his way down to pensacola for some hockey business, and so i thought it would be fun to get to hang out with him for a little while before he turns into a professional hockey player. chris and i spent the majority of our childhood years together writing literary masterpieces, organizing extravagant carnivals for our siblings, fighting for what we believed in (which came in the form of chants and protests when we thought we deserved to go to the mall or disney) and making plans to start businesses like "come and eat a fajita" and "241 sports". so in memory of the good old days we spent our 24 hours together talking about chris' real business plans, carving pumpkins, and winning a nintendo wii. if i weren't already a member of my family, i would definitely pay to join.

sassy cat and moon cricket (the pumpkins, not chris and i)

i am almost positive that my mom is looking at this and cringing at the open cabinet in the background.

i just boarded the plane and got kicked out of the exit row seat for being pregnant...i have yet to experience the benefits that come along with carrying a human in your belly. at least i still have three more months. i'll be in tampa in about an hour, just in time to catch rob bell on his "drops like stars" tour. super excited.

welcome fall!

this morning i woke up to a slightly chilly tile bathroom floor , which means fall is here...even if just for a few hours. in anticipation of this "cold front", the girls from my summit connect group came over last night to make apple pies. katie's family recipe proved itself to be one of the best apple pies that i've ever tasted. i'd post the recipe here, however, i'm pretty sure the only thing we actually measured was the flour and i wouldn't dare let someone else's family secret loose. :)

apparently green was the theme of the evening...hello, shannon's belly.

katie brilliantly suggested making mini pies for us to test before digging into the big ones. my belly somehow snuck into this one, and conveniently matched as well as shannon's.

this is my masterpiece...i think it's almost worthy of publication on cake wrecks. thank goodness katie is a professional pie baker (see below photo for proof) and came to the rescue.

worst looking and best tasting apple pie ever.

i still have patty griffin's "making pies" stuck in my head after singing it all night long. i'll leave you with this...after making my first pie from scratch, i learned that a lot more work than you can imagine goes into it, so next time someone gives one to you, be sure to express lots of thanks. happy fall!

first blog ever.

well, i have been contemplating starting a blog for a while now and have finally decided that enough has happened in our lives over the past year that it was worth writing about. in a nutshell, here's what has been going on with us since we got married last august:

we purchased our first home...a 1923 arts and crafts style bungalow in downtown orlando with the interior painted entirely pink. needless to say, we (andy, our dads, and manly friends) have spent about 80% of the past year working on painting and other major and minor construction projects. more on that later...

before :(

after!

we took an awesome trip to seattle last january with some good friends. it became my new favorite city (2nd to boston, of course).

on june 18, 2009 we became aunt ashley and uncle andy to david palmer mcswain. we spent seven hours in the colorful waiting room of manatee memorial hospital waiting to meet this precious little guy, and fell in love with him instantly! i had his pictures all over my computer, facebook, phone, etc., until i got tired of people asking me if he was my baby. so here he is, our nephew david, though i'd claim him as my own any day.

andy was ordained as worship pastor at summit church.

i have continued to enjoy working as a wedding coordinator with eventfully yours.

i am on month 10 of my successful 2009 new years resolution: to correspond with more people via snail mail. grammy and i agreed on this together, and she has well surpassed my quota for the year, however, her gift of writing about the mundane in such an exciting way is partially what led me to start this blog. i think that sort of correspondence is becoming a lost art and i'm determined to hang on to it.

perhaps the most exciting news of the year for us is that we are expecting a sweet baby girl in january 2010! (although we really wouldn't mind if you arrive in december, little janie...). i have been blessed with a super enjoyable pregnancy and have a lot of friends who are also expecting which has made the journey even better. in fact, janie's best friend (little girl harmon), future husband (luke hunter), and cousin (baby de pena) should be arriving any day now. some of the preparations we have made include:

• nearly filling our guest room closet with little pink outfits and shoes
• turning the so called in-law suite (more like a large, useless room) into a nursery and laundry room
• studying our family trees, baby name books, and naming technique websites to arrive at janie (after my mom's mom). we are leaning towards caroline for the middle name, but andy has the final say on that
• learning about the endless amounts of equipment required for a 7 pound human

janie is this big today and moving around a lot!

i think that brings you up to date on the simonds' for now. i'm planning on posting some of the nursery pictures soon. it's still a work in progress, but i'm expecting all of her furniture and bedding this week!