Pictures that did NOT make the Christmas Card this year....

By now all 109 of you should have received your card. The Christmas Card Elves have officially left the building. There will be no more Christmas Cards printed, put together, signed, stamped and mailed unless you ASK and then I will give in and reopen the Christmas Card Factory of 08. So please enjoy just a sampling of the 147 pictures we took of our poor child over a 2 hour period which required changing him in and out of this outfit 3 times because MaMa just KNEW she had at least 1 picture this time........ I don't think any one person can have as many pictures of their child NOT looking at the camera, removing the bow from the package, removing the ornaments from the tree and eating them AND trying to get Curious George (AKA Patron Saint of Sleeping Through The Night, but that is another post).

We should have filmed the event because it included Trey and I singing every song including "Five.......$5........$5....Foot Long" which worked for all of 0.5 seconds and did not result in a picture. It came on the T.V and was a catchy little ballad, so we went with it. If only there was a camera in the T.V. and you pressed the remote to get the shot. Maybe next year they will think of that! If they do I want some sort of kickback because it was MY idea! Maybe I should just head to the patent office now and not post my idea for the entire world wide web to steal and patent themselves because seriously my T.V already has way more features than I would ever be aware of but it really needs just a few more to be worth the price we paid for it....

Anywhoo! By the time we were done we did have our photo and our son smelled of the wonderful winter goodness that is a live Frasier Fur in the living room. Only because he fell backwards and sat in the branches before we could retrieve him. He thought it was hilarious, we nearly had a heart attack and almost sent you a picture of someone else's kid for Christmas because well.....while you would have been madder than a bunch of wet hornets that the cute kid on our card was not Beau, we decided that a HEAD INJURY and $50 copay to the E.R was not worth the Christmas Card. The cards already cost enough, along with the special Christmas Card outfit, postage, picture prices and ink for the printer. Yep, spending another $50 was not in our Christmas Card budget! So lets look at the pictures that did not come with the card.....

ARRRRRR This FAKE Candy cane that I plucked from the tree is tastier than it looks and I am going to eat it. (And stab myself in the mouth with it.....yes my parents should NOT be allowed to have me in their possession. Shout out to Child Services who should arrive on our door step bright and early Monday morning)

Bad lighting because it was Mr. Harlow's brilliant idea to shoot without the flash because......well you know......the Tree looks so much more lovely without the flash and we know you ALL are really watching your mailbox for the picture of our tree with all 2200, yes 2200 lights and not the picture of Beau. In this picture he has officially removed the bow from the box and it is heading to.........his mouth.. Because we are still at that age where we have to make sure everything is NOT a food source so we might as well keep Ole MaMa around for her dairy bar benefits and the ability to mix up a mean bowl of whole grain organic oatmeal flakes with organic pears.. YUM!

This was NaNa Joy's favorite picture but all we could see was the red spot on his forehead from his earlier bonk on the head when his changing table got in the way as he was trying to pull up on his cowboy drapes and eat the cowboys. It also highlights the cuteness that is the bottom of his darling Reindeer shoes which scream.....size 2......made in China. A bit of Trivia: If you open your card up you will notice in the picture we chose we went shoeless since all you see of the shoes is the bottom.....
We also loved this one. Here he is with one hand firmly grasping the Christmas Tree and the other holding tightly to the candy cane ornament he swiped from the branches in order to stick in his mouth. It gives his fingers a break. Notice the Mischievous Twinkle in his eyes....That's My Boy!

And our personal favorite. I think this is some sort of Star Trek sign. Or some gang sign which would be more appropriate since I don't think he has ever watched Star Trek but has been out and about in the streets of our city chilling with the locals. I am glad we live in such a culturally diverse and enriching place because then our child would not have these benefits. From Our House to Yours Merry Christmas! We hope you Enjoy your card and this behind the scenes segment of the making of your card!

***(no child was actually harmed in the making of this card)

Thanksgiving 2008

Beau got to spend his first Thanksgiving with his Pappy & DiDi. We had a HUGE lunch at Uncle Tommy & Aunt Brenda's house. Let me tell you there was FOOD FOR DAYS! I think they invited half the county. There were more family and friends there than ya'll could shake a stick at.............seriously! I should have taken a picture but there were about 50lbs of every casserole you could imagine plus ham, turkey, and more dessert than any one person should be allowed to choose from..............unless you are at some huge casino buffet.... or something. Believe it or not we all could have gone back for thirds and there still probably would have been leftovers. They usually have one of those "all day singing with dinner on the grounds" Thanksgivings and people come all day and again for dinner to eat, shoot guns, ride Polaris, enjoy family and just be together and be thankful. It was a really fun time and Beau had a lot of fun even though he didn't get that Turkey bone to teeth on that Sterling kept promising nor did he get to ride any ATV's or shoot any guns.
Here is Beau prior to heading to the feast with his Pappy.

Beau did get to participate in one time honored tradition and that is the Thanksgiving Table Cloth Of All Thankfulness. Each year those in attendance get to forever etch the things they are most thankful for on fine linen & lace with a selection of variously colored permanent markers. Beau added a hand print. His Uncle Justin has been known to be thankful for a wide variety of things most importantly "not seeing Uncle Myron naked..." Here is Beau's hand print. I guess you can tell he was the picture of stillness as his hand was traced on the Table Cloth O'Thankfulness.

We had a really good time! Shout outs to all those who brought food it was very, very tasty!

Sunday November 23rd

So since we did NOT get to stay and enjoy the lovely reception and visit with all the
family we really lucked out when we got to go to MiMi's house on Sunday for lunch. The Bride and Groom even came! I did not get a chance to get their picture. We should just hire photographers at these events. Here are some photos I did get of Beau with his family.
This is Beau with our cousin Anna and her son Kelso being held by our cousin Jill. Beau and Kelso are going to be lots of fun because they are only a couple months apart. Lord help us now because I think Kelso is as much ALL BOY as Beau!

Here is Beau and his cousin Max who is growing up way too fast and is SO TALL!

Of course here is Beau with his MiMi.

Ahhhhh the good life

So I got a little carried away with that last post. I apparently had grandiose plans to actually get all my posts together and uploaded which obviously did not happen. What did happen was 104 Christmas cards to sign, seal and insert picture into along with stamp and mail. A HUGE Thanks to Mr. Harlow for getting the envelopes printed after I finally succumbed to the digital age and entered my addresses into one neat little file instead of having them all in an address book, and on various scraps of paper and envelopes stuffed into said address book. Right now I am resting with a mild case of Mastitis. Fun Times. I am also lounging around eating bon bons as my house is thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom. The lounging and Bon Bon part is a farce the cleaning part is not. Dad and Joy very generously sent over a cleaning crew since I have been a bit overwhelmed here lately. I can't THANK THEM ENOUGH! Especially since Trey's department will be coming over Saturday night for a Christmas Party. We are also going to try to go on an actual date to celebrate our 8 year Anniversary which was on the 9th. Joy and Megan have graciously offered to watch entertain Beau for a couple hours. So while I am sitting here trying to stay out of the way of the cleaning ladies I will try to get a couple posts updated. In the meantime keep an eye out for your Christmas Card!

Hang with me LOTS of catching up to do!!

Hey all those out there in Blogland, just be a little more patient as I will TRY to update our lives sometime this weekend. Between my month end for work, Beau's reflux really acting up until we switched and got acclimated to Prevacid, my computer crashing (thank goodness for Shutterfly or all of Beau's baby pictures would be gone) and just living life I have not had time to do anything with the Blog or Shutterfly. Check back through the weekend and I should be caught up. Love you all!!

Grandparent week continues with Great-Grandparent Weekend

So Grammy left on Friday, November 11, 2008 . We had a really fun time and hated seeing her go! Especially since she did lots of laundry, cleaning and ORGANIZED MY MASTER CLOSET!! I did at one time have my master closet organized but then we decided to redo the hardwood floors in our room while i was pregnant with Beau. So we dragged everything out of our room and closet and I moved in with Dad and Joy and I was way too tired to re-organize the closet prior to Beau. Thanks Mom for taking on that task!! I have no idea where anything is but it LOOKS GREAT!!! On Saturday Beau and I headed down to Mississippi to spend the night with his Great Granny and go to our cousins wedding. Congrats Ken & Jen ! I did not get a picture of them as Mr. Beau was not feeling so well so we had to leave right after the wedding. He did however pose with 2 of his Great Aunts. Aunt Sherry and Aunt Judy. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and so was the reception. So Elegant!


Beau really enjoyed his playtime with his Great Granny. He also got to sleep with me in the big king bed. He was a sweet little snugglekins! I think these fuzzy star blanket pj's are my favorite pj's right now.

Did someone say........cookie.....

Beau officially became a cookie monster on Thursday

Look at my cute caboose

We started Wednesday off with story time with Grammy.


We then went to the Pediatrician's office for a weight check. Beau weighed 14 lbs 10oz. A full pound since last month. Yea Beau! And now.....that CUTE CABOOSE I promised you as he slept for 3 hours when he took a N..A..P..

Is it Grandparent week at the House of Harlow?

Before you swear you are experiencing Deja Vu. Take a closer look at this picture.......Same baby, baby in same outfit, same chair.........different Grandmother (ignore dog butt). So NaNa left Tuesday morning and Grammy rolled in Tuesday afternoon! It has been a barrel full of Monkeys......errr.......Grandparents around here this week. We have enjoyed all the company!

Beau & Grammy checking out Beau's Blog. Wonder if they noticed I haven't posted lately...

Bye Bye NaNa

NaNa left on Tuesday morning! We were all sad to see her and Granddaddy head home to KY. Beau enjoyed spending lots of time with his NaNa! Tara if you are out there doesn't Beau look handsome in his outfit you and your Mom got him! He is also VERY cuddly in it!

5 months old Monday November 17, 2008

To celebrate he teethed on Mammy John's finger. I mean Granddaddy's finger... (yes....sneak peek of the kitchen.....)

Fun With Green Beans

Sunday night we painted Beau's face with green beans. I mean we fed him some green beans. I do think some actually made it inside his belly. He would make a face and his whole body would shudder but then he would grin, open his mouth and take some more. It was hilarious!!

Sunday Suprise

Papaw, NaNa & Aunt Megan came by this morning to visit Beau and see his new tricks. We all went to breakfast at Brother Junipers. YUM! Beau and Papaw had fun reading all about Minky Monkey while waiting for our table.

Beau sat in my lap while we ate and at one point when I was almost done he squealed. He couldn't understand why that fork wasn't headed towards his mouth. We have been giving him food again this past week. No more than half a serving of fruit, Bananas & Applesauce. He had a tiny bit of rice cereal in his bananas last night. Again, like I mentioned before he seemed gassier and now almost constipated. He is a really regular guy but I still know most babies his age don't go every day so when he missed a day recently I thought nothing of it. But lately he just seems a little uncomfortable here and there and a little fussy which is unlike our Beau. Could it be reflux, teething, gas, constipation???? So of course I turned to Dr. Google. I have a truly fabulous relationship with his pediatrician and we talk and email ALL the time .(I also do her billing and not a conversation goes by without her asking how Beau is) BUT, I feel really guilty bugging her for every little detail when my child is perfectly healthy and happy so I consulted with Dr. Google this weekend and apparently there are three things when you start solids that will constipate your baby and we have been shoveling 2 of them into him. Bananas & Applesauce. Rice cereal is the third but I haven't really given him any of that(no time to pump lately). I swear, if there were a manual of things to NOT do it seems like we must follow that book to a "T". Here I was thinking fruit was good for regularity. Apparently pears and prunes are. So I suppose we will try veggies and pears. I am still not going to give him any more than what he will eat AFTER he has visited the dairy bar as I know that is the most nutritious and high calorie meal he can get right now BUT he LOVES the daily snack he gets so there you have it! And SURPRISE, just like that this post of family fun turned into a dissertation on my child's BM habits, Ha! After breakfast Beau showed all his tricks. He bounced in his bouncy seat and rode his horsey and sat up.

After spending quality time with Papaw, NaNa & Aunt Megan, Beau's Na Na came to pick us up to go shopping at Carriage Crossing in Collierville. Can you say Gymboree, Baby Gap, Swoozies, Children's Place & Dillards. Na Na was too generous! Mr. Beau will be stylin!

After that he slept through a trip to Michaels and Debe's friend Gloria's house. Can you say TUCKERED OUT! Well I won't reveal any pics just yet of the kitchen. The cabinets are painted inside and out and the contents of my kitchen have now been moved back into the kitchen with the exception of 2 large boxes for Goodwill. We do have hardware. We just decided on in stock hardware once we realized how many pieces we needed. Yikes! Now we just need to do the touch ups and order the wall paper. Yea! It looks amazing though right now. So much brighter! Thanks Honey!

NaNa & Granddaddy Came to Town, Ride a Little Horsey, & I Can Sit Up Now!

Beau's Na Na & Grandaddy came today from Kentucky to spend the next couple days visiting us.



They had a surprise for Beau. A little rocking horse that moves his head and makes, well...... horsey noises. Giddy Up Cowboy!

Beau had a little surprise for them too. He can sit up! He started doing this Thursday night but I didn't think it counted since he was still using his hands but today he is sitting with no hands! Yes, the first thing we did this afternoon was lower the crib. Because if he is sitting today who knows what he will be doing tomorrow. I want to know what has happened to my BABY. He is growing up way too fast!!

Little Man is wore out! He did not take a nap today so when we took Na Na to the hotel he was asleep when we turned off of our street. Night Na Na, sleep tight, see you in the morning light!

What's for Dinner??

See Dad.....I did NOT have Trey redo my kitchen so I could take a week off cooking. We had spaghetti, french bread and salad for dinner last night. I did have to step over Trey as he was painting the cabinets under the stove while I was making the sauce. Luckily, I did not get sauce on Trey and he did not get paint on me. Fair enough trade off, right? So, we will not live off take out this week just because the entire contents of my kitchen are now residing in my dining room. I think we are having chicken enchiladas tonight if anyone wants to stop by. :o)

Daddy aka Jungle Gym

Two Tired Tuesday

No that is not a typo. I did spell the title of this post correctly! I have TWO tired boys and I am posting these pics from last night on Tuesday. III is tired from a LONG day of painting our kitchen. IV is just tired from his long day hanging out at the dairy bar, practicing crawling, bouncing, playing with his toys, pulling his dogs hair, eating his bananas, taking his bath, being held, cuddled and kissed. Once Daddy FINALLY sat down last night Beau decided to nestle right on up to Daddy and go to sleep. It is so hard being a baby around here.

Melt Your Heart Monday

Ok. One big collective AWWWWWWWWW! Little Man was worn out after some bouncy time Saturday night! Now if that doesn't melt your heart you must have a REALLY cold heart. Brrrrrrrr!!

Well Deserved Time Off

So as of Friday afternoon my hardworking hubby is officially on VACATION!! For an ENTIRE Week! So with an almost 5 month old in the house I bet you think we have lots of leisurely days planned, or at the very least nothing planned at all. Just a week full of nothing. Well then, you don't know us very well do you. Ha! Here is a sneak peek so that you can take a stab at how he plans to spend his well deserved time off from the daily grind.

What is that you say? Are we hosting a tag sale? Auctioning off the contents of our kitchen cabinets on Ebay? Getting everything out to host an all you can eat buffet? Or is it that I am planning on cooking tomorrow and actually using EVERY pot in the house and not just kidding about it this time? NOPE, Nada, No. Actually, None of the above would be correct. On my Dear Husband's week off he is going to transform my glorious 70's kitchen into my Dream Kitchen.

Well, my "For under a $1,000 Dream Kitchen." He is going to paint my cabinets and all the hardwood paneling a bright creamy white. No more dark, drab, not light enough, not dark enough, weird color brown stain kitchen. We will still live with the Old Man Stripes wallpaper for a little while and we may actually not have hardware on the cabinets for a little while. These were my ONLY two tasks. Narrow down and order the wallpaper and order the cabinet hardware. I have known this was coming for quite some time. BUT, at least I have picked out our hardware now and we have 4 wallpaper books somewhere in the dining room under the contents of 2 (yes just 2) kitchen cabinets. Depending on the time of day since yesterday I have no fewer than 5 different favorite wallpaper samples. So one day it will be finished. But after this week the hardest part will be over.

I meant to actually take real before pictures. As in BEFORE we actually do anything but then the paint brush started calling my name and I just wanted to see what a little paint looked like here, and here, and over there, oh, and just a splash here and then I got bored with that and decided to empty out another cabinet. Good thing Trey doesn't have my ADD. So enjoy our "sort of before" pictures for now. Maybe we will have some AFTER pictures before we ring in the New Year! Thanks Baby!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Proving Momma Wrong

O.k........so I am well aware of how kids tick. I simply thought this did not apply to the infant set......The fastest way to get them to accomplish anything is to say they can't do it, aren't allowed to do it, shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't do it....well, you get my drift. So last Sunday I happen to post to the entire world wide web that Beau isn't crawling. Should have kept my mouth shut.....errrr.....my fingers off the keyboard! He isn't ready for the Infant Olympics (today anyway) and he won't win any speed or grace awards BUT our little tumbleweed can crawl. As of last Sunday too. Go Figure! He is TOO CUTE up on all fours rocking back and forth, all you with kids know this stance. Precious! Don't forget the little mini push ups, the real kind, not the wimpy knees on the floor ladies version. Then a scoot backwards 3 or 4 feet, up again rocking on all fours then forward 2-3 crawls, tumble over, Repeat! This is complete with lots of shrieks, squeals and giggles. Of course his furry friends are like the carrot in front of the horse. The cats are figuring out to stay at a distance because IT can move now and those little hands are QUICK! Enjoy these pics of Daddy and Beau on our bed. Yes, that IS Mitzi on our bed. She was taunting Beau enticing him to come get her across the bed but when the camera came out she decided to get some much needed tummy time!

Oh yea. Growling is sooooo laaast weeek! This is the week of blowing spit bubbles while blowing raspberry's(a more polite way to say he constantly is making farting noises with his mouth) Our little man's Favorite time to do this continuously is on his changing table. What more appropriate time is there for a boy to make those sounds other than during diaper changes might you ask? Well glad you did! Hopefully some fellow economic stimulators walking in front of us this week at various local places of business such as the mall, grocery store, etc will read this blog so I can be redeemed. There is nothing like toting around a cute tot only to have someone walking in front of you when out of the blue comes a rip roaring tooting noise. Just one, loud, realistic sounding, imitation tooting noise. Of course the stranger turns around to see ME and my little cherub who is now smiling an angelic smile, complete with halo. Wonder who they think passed gas...........It is like walking around with a whoopee cushion. ALL BOY! Those that know me know I love Calvin & Hobbes and I hoped to have a child just like him. I think I am getting my wish!