Ty and Steph

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Baby Jordan

Jordan Meikle Harris was born on April 9, 2010 at 10:15 AM and we couldn't be happier! He weighed a whopping 4 lbs 14 oz. and was 18.5 inches long.

I went to have an ultrasound the day before to make sure the baby was head down. During the ultrasound, it was discovered that I was low on fluid, so they sent me on the hospital, much to my shock. Ty eventually believed me when I told him we were having our baby that day and rushed down from Wyoming to join me at our hospital in Colorado.

Unfortunately, we are still in the hospital. Jordan turned blue during our initial nursing and was whisked off to the NICU. He was having problems keeping his blood pressure stable. They put him on IV medicine for it, which he is now off, and his blood pressure has been great. However, he became jaundiced during this process and we have had a hard time getting his billirubin counts under control. He has improved greatly but still needs the lights. The docs think he probably has my blood disease, but that shouldn't affect him much during life, and these initial problems should be resolved soon.

The worst part of all of this was that I couldn't hold my sick little baby and comfort him during the first couple of days. Although we still have to keep him under the lights as much as possible, we get to hold him for feedings, which are going very well. He is the cutest, funniest, sweetest, toughest little boy ever and we are really glad he's here!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

This is what the computer says...

.... our baby will look like.

Hopefully the real thing turns out better.

We'll find out April 28, 2010.

(Yes, this is an announcement!)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

WyOOOming

Yes, we are alive in Wyoming. And what different lives they are. You know you are somewhere special when the clink-clinks of spurs can be heard as cowboys and cowgirls walk down the aisles of Walmart, the heart and soul of the city.

The day we arrived here, several members of the Elder's Quorum met us to help unload our truck. As they drove away, the president got out of his pick-up (the unofficial vehicle of Wyoming) and said, "By the way, I forgot to tell ya'll. We've got an Elder's Quorum activity tomorrow mornin'. We're gonna be shootin' skeets. Don't worry about bringin' your guns (because naturally, everyone has their own guns), the guns will be provided." I thanked him kindly and walked behind the truck so he didn't see me burst into laughter. It was an all too perfect introduction to Wyoming.

Even though it is a very funny, small city, we are very happy here. We are thrilled with our new house (someday it will be all decorated and we will post pictures), and Ty loves his new job. I got a job soon after we moved here managing the Cheyenne branch of a nonprofit organization that provides support and education to families of children with disabilities. All in all, we feel pretty dang blessed. We laugh a lot here, and I still giggle when I say "Cheyenne, WY" when giving our address out, but things are good.

Despite our random location, we have had our fair share of visitors. The week after we moved into our house, some friends came with their kids, 9 in all. We went to Frontier Days, the big summer festival here where the population increases by 100,000 for 10 glorious days. We went to the parades, rodeo, and just enjoyed watching the very interesting crowd, including the elderly saloon ladies. At night, all of downtown is fenced off and turned into a massive outdoor bar. There are apparently multiple brawls and arrests each night as people get drunk on their horses. Needless to say, we did not participate. Although it might have been interesting to see, it seemed like a bad idea in a place where it's still legal to have a gun holstered in plain view.

Shawn and Lauren, our cousins and friends, have also been up to visit with their 3 girls. So fun to see them! My brother Michael also came up for a last hurrah before going into the MTC last week, headed to Everett, Washington. We were able to go to Utah for a couple of days to see him off with the rest of the fam.

We are gearing up for the winter and the wind. We came home earlier this week to see our neighbor's grill picked up and thrown about 10 feet off their porch, along with our heavy iron patio furniture. We are in for a special treat.

Here are some pics from good ol' Wyoming. We miss our friends and family in UT and are sorry for not keeping in touch so well--we will do better!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Home on the Range.

That is what we have. Really.

We found out last Wednesday that Ty would be starting work on the 22nd. Yes, June 22nd. Not a lot of notice. So we hopped in the car and headed off to our new home town. After several days of searching, we learned that home buying is not as fun as it looks on HGTV. Despite several setbacks, with some very obvious help from above, we finally went under contract on the home we wanted today. 2 1/2 stories, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and my favorite part--a 2-car garage. After living in our little one-bedroom apartment for 4 years, I'm not sure we'll know what to do with ourselves.

We are very excited to have a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and antelope play.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Bowling....

...the way the bowling gods intended it.

Bowling is much more fun if you have to do it on one leg, bowl with your left hand, bowl sitting down, bowl backwards, or, my personal favorite, bowl like cat. MEOW!

See for yourself.