Harfst family reunion September 14, 2009

Better late than never, I guess!  We had a Harfst family reunion, oh, a month ago now up in Saugatuck, MI.  It was a great time!  We had really nice weather, the area was very cute, and we had 100% attendance!  Even my cousin Greg was able to make it, and I haven’t seen him for about 18 years or something crazy like that.  John obviously had never met him.

The first day we hung out at the pool while we waited for people to arrive.  Uncle Bill and Aunt Marilyn had made a fantastic gumbo that we had for dinner (and consequently one of the cottages retained the delicious smell for the rest of the weekend!).  There were 3 cottages side-by-side that we were pretty confined to in the evenings since Hayden had to go to sleep in the early evening.

The second day we went to the beach.  I was really perfect weather, and we all enjoyed catching some rays and shooting the breeze.  In the evening we took a cruise out into Lake Michigan, then had another delicious meal prepared by Uncle Bill and Aunt Marilyn.  Sunday we went out to breakfast and headed home.

It was about a 3 hour drive for each family (apart from Greg, who had flown in from New York).  Hayden did pretty well on both journeys.  We had gotten him a little portable DVD player in the hopes that it would entertain him the whole trip.  He would be into it for a few minutes but that was it.

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Happy Thanksgiving! November 27, 2007

Boy did I have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I actually got four Thanksgivings.  That’s not bad for my first time!  The Sunday before Thanksgiving one of Mommy and Daddy’s friends, Hollie, had some friends over for a Thanksgiving meal while watching the Colts game.  (Speaking of which, what is going on with Adam Viniteri?  When did he become such a lame-o kicker?)  Then on Tuesday my day care had a Thanksgiving lunch and parents could come have lunch with their kids.  Mommy and Daddy came to the lunch and they sat in the infant room with me and ate their meal.  It was funny because they had to sit in these little kid chairs at a little kid table.  So silly!  Then Thursday was real Thanksgiving and we went to Grandpaman’s and Grandma G’s.  Mommy’s cousin Mandy came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.  I love when she comes to visit because she has these fun nursery rhymes that she sings to me.  She brought all these photos of Mommy’s and her grandparents when they were young adults.  They had a great time looking through them all with Grandpaman and hearing stories about what my great grandparents were like.  It turns out my mommy looks a lot like my great grandma!  Mandy gave Mommy a beautiful picture of Great Grandma Harfst that she is going to scan in and put on this site soon so you can be the judge.  Daddy thinks Great Grandma Harfst was a hottie!

So back to all my Thanksgivings… Friday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Hammond’s for my final Thanksgiving.  I got to see my cousins Jesse and Robby and my aunts and uncles.  I had a lot of fun.  It won’t be long before I am causing all kinds of trouble with my big cousins!

Mommy’s friend Emily is in town from San Francisco, so last Monday she and Daddy went out to dinner with her, Reena, Sunil, Tom, and Tracy.  I stayed home and Grandpaman and Grandma G came over.  Mommy put me to sleep before she left, and I stayed asleep for about 45 minutes.  Then I woke up and it was time to PARTY!  Oh, they tried everything to get me to go back to sleep, but I laughed at their feeble attempts.  They thought I was going to sleep when I had my grandparents over?!  That is far to exciting for sleep!  We hung out; I made sure they didn’t steal anything.  It was the best!

This weekend we put up the Christmas tree and decorations.  I love looking at the twinkly lights on the Christmas tree.  Mommy says I have to be really good so Santa brings me lots of presents.  I said to her, ‘Mommy, haven’t you been paying attention?  I’ve been the best baby for nearly 4 months now!’  Sheesh — what is she like! 😛

Mandy November 9, 2007

My cousin Mandy came to visit last weekend.  It was the first time she had seen Hayden.  She is by far the busiest person I know.  She teaches middle school Spanish full time, is getting her masters, works part time at a hotel, and is doing an internship.  I need a nap just thinking about it all.  So it was very nice of her to come from the Chicago area to visit with us.  It was a really nice weekend.  Because she is so busy she didn’t mind just hanging out, catching up, and playing with Hayden.  We went on a nice walk in the afternoon and had a lovely meal out at a place we hadn’t been to before.

We started Hayden on a bedtime routine this week.  We tried this a few weeks ago but he wasn’t really ready for it then.  He’s taken to it pretty well so far!  We started on Monday.  He gets a bath, then baby massage, then feeding, then if he is still awake he gets a story.  But he has only gotten a story one night so far as he keeps falling asleep during his feeding.  Fine with us!  Daddy is in charge of the bath and baby massage.  He loves his bath but cries his head off when he gets out because he’s cold/tired/hungry.  So baby massage might get phased out since he doesn’t really seem to enjoy it – he just wants his pajamas on and to be fed!  Anyway, he’s done brilliantly so far.  For the last three nights he wakes up about 20 minutes after he’s put down and needs to be rocked back to sleep, but then he stays asleep until he needs to eat again.

I don’t have anything more to write about Halloween, but I just had to get a picture on here with Lucy in her outfit.  She just makes me laugh!  Too bad Abbey wouldn’t stay in her outfit long enough to get a pic of them both dressed up together.  They are two peas in a pod anymore.  The sleep in Lucy’s dog bed together.  It’s hilarious.

Gemma October 29, 2007

Gemma was here last week.  She got here on Saturday and left Wed.  Unfortunately we picked her up from the airport about an hour before we had to say goodbye to Jude.  I can only imagine how she felt walking into that situation.  She was very kind though and watched Hayden for us while we went to the vet, and then gave us big hugs when we got back.  It was really nice to have a close friend here during that time.  I probably would have spent my days moping around, but because she was here we got out and walked around Indianapolis, shopped, ate, and went down to Bloomington, my old university town.  She definitely helped us feel better.

We’ve been so lucky having so many visitors.  We love that so many people from England and other parts of the US have gotten to meet Hayden already.  Just need to get Jono and Maz and Helen and Wyn over now!  And Faith, are you still coming in Dec?  And of course John’s dad needs to see him still.  My cousin Mandy is coming in from Chicago this weekend to meet him, so we are looking forward to seeing her.  Then that’s it until Christmas when John’s sister comes out.  So if anyone else fancies a visit we have openings! 🙂

Today was my first day back to work.  I am working from home three days a week throughout the end of the year, when I am supposed to go back full time.  I am still working for IBM although for a different department that has very limited travel.  Even though I work out of the house, Hayden still has to go to daycare so he can get proper care while I’m working and I can likewise actually get work done.  I don’t think it would give my clients a lot of confidence if I had a crying baby in the background during conference calls!  Fortunately there is a day care center with infant care just down the road from our house.  It is literally about a 40 second drive from our driveway to the center.  It is an easy walk as well but I don’t know if I will ever not be in such a rush to see him that I would take the extra time to walk.  Anyway, it is so near that I can go feed him during my lunch time.  That is huge while I am adjusting to being apart from him, because it only ends up being two 3 to 4 hour blocks of time without him, instead of a long 8 or 9 or 10 hour stretch.  I don’t know if I will always go there for lunch, but it is perfect right now.  I went today and he was so tired he was completely zonked out while he was eating and probably didn’t really register that I was even there!  Oh well, I know I need to see him more than he needs to see me.  I never knew I was such a wuss. ;-P