Family at the Harris House

Quick post but wanted to share these cute pictures. On Sunday, Drew's cousin Annie was in town from KC so Drew's Gram came up from Bonne Terre for lunch. Cole and I were originally supposed to go to lunch then have them over but we got busy working with my parents so they ended up just coming over after lunch. It was Annie's first time meeting Cole which is always fun to introduce Cole to a new family member. And it was also so fun to show them our new house, ugly wallpaper and all!! Cole loved Gram's scarf...This was the only pic where he wasn't eating it.

and Kylee's ponytail...(See Cole's left hand. Kudos to Kylee for maintaining a smile while her hair is being pulled.)

Sure would have been nice if I had at least taken a shower before these pics!! Oh well. Was a woman on a mission to get things done around the house.
On Saturday my Aunt Barb and Uncle Dick stopped by which again was fun to show them the house. They gave Cole his first jean jacket so now he matches his Grandpa Bruce.

Wanted to save this picture too- Cole loves his dogs! He even gets fussy sometimes when they walk away so they come back over to him. So cute.

And let me get a quick AMEN in for technology! Drew and I have been able to talk almost everyday including video calls so he gets to see Cole and the house all the time. Not to mention we get to see him. :) One more for good measure...A-M-E-N.

On the Move

The Harris Family has been on the move. Drew safely made his way to Afghanistan after a longer-than-Drew-would-have-liked layover in Germany due to plane issues then a few short days in 'K-something-stan' as Drew's boss calls it. He then spent a little bit at a bigger base before heading to his remote location. This deployment will be a little different in that Drew has to be pretty tight lipped about his missions and his location. He is working closely with Special Forces so opsec (or operational security) is high. We'll likely not see any pictures because they have to be approved by a board of people before even his boss can send us a picture. But there is good news! He has internet! Not in his room but he is able to go to the room with internet almost everyday! We have been talking on the phone and exchanging emails but yesterday we were able to video chat from his computer to my cell phone which was fantastic. I was able to walk him around our house to show him everything and he spent a ton of time watching Cole play with the dogs. I am so thankful for technology. Quite frankly I'm still amazed that Drew in Afghanistan can call my cell phone and we can see him like he is in the next room. AWESOME.
Another thing I am thankful for is our all-star family. Seriously, I sound like a broken record with my thank you, thank you, thank you, thank yous. I feel like my quantity of thank yous is making me lose quality of thank yous but how do I not say thank you all the time for all the great work everyone is doing?? Drew and I feel truly blessed and so THANKFUL (there's that word again) to be surrounded by great family. Don't know what we would do without them. Drew's parents spent four, full straight days at our house cleaning the basement and garage, cleaning up the front yard (which is a huge under statement because there were leaves everywhere), then if that wasn't enough, they peeled the wallpaper in Cole's nursery then painted it. Rock stars!! Our extended family was AMAZING on Saturday too with cleaning windows (Jen the Windex Queen!), unloading the truck, and fixing the electrical issues. I think we could start a home repair business with our many trades! We added to the move craziness with throwing a wave of the flu into the mix too. Somehow I avoided the plague by only getting sick once on Friday then starting to rally but my poor mom was down and out for move-in day Saturday. My Dad made it through move-in day then got stick at the end of the day and has been sick since. Bill then had it Monday night. I then moved into a relentless cold... So far Cole is a happy camper so I'm hoping we missed the sickness but we'll see. Here I thought Cole starting daycare would make him sick but instead all of the adults are getting sick!
Cole is loving school as we call it. His teachers always say how happy and content he is which is great to hear. He even showed everyone how picture day was supposed to go by sitting and smiling pretty. Too cute.
Backtracking here for the pics:
On Saturday, 2/11 Cole and I flew home while my parents drove our truck home. Cole is an old pro at flying now. It helps too when the flight is empty and we have our own row!

Later that day Jeannie and Bill watched Cole while I started shopping for the house. Cole loved the ball Gigi got him and even started pushing it back to give the ball back to Pop.

Then Monday it was the first day of school and SNOW. All day I watched the clock anxious to go pick him up but of course when I get there he looks up at me, smiles, then returns to playing. Sigh of relief. :) My mom did great scouting out the place for us while we were in GA.

Cole's new little friend Cooper.

Having fun at Brophy Ranch in the make-shift bath tub.


Buds. Happy to be reunited. (The dogs had been at my parents house since Christmas while we were busy packing in GA.)

Tuesday, 2/14 we closed on our house! Such a big and exciting day! We immediately started by having the hardwood floors refinished. They look great. Huge improvement. Then Saturday was move-in day. Yet again, our family is amazing. We had the truck unloaded in a couple of hours. So grateful! Kylee made a great babysitter! :)

Now Drew, Cole and I are settling in to our new spots and looking forward to the day when we are all in the same spot.

6 Month Stats

Drew and I took Cole to his 6 month well baby appointment on Thursday. He was 6 months on 1/25 but we are a week off with his appointments because we were in St. Louis when he should have gone for his 4 month check up and you have to have his immunizations at least 60 days apart. Just a little info which I'm sure you were not wondering. Anyway, Cole is doing great!! He is now 19lbs 13 oz and 27.5 inches long. He is right on track with his growth curve and he now lands in the 71% for weight and the 77% for length. His head circumference is 77%. Great news all around! It was fun too that Drew was able to take off work on Thursday and come with us. It sounds funny but we are excited that Drew was able to be here for his 6 month check up. When we decided to try and have a baby we were hoping he would at least be around for the first couple of months. We are thankful for the time we have had.

We tried distracting him with other toys but nothing was as exciting as the crinkly paper he was sitting on right at his fingertips!

At six months he continues to be such a happy baby. He rolls everywhere, grabs every toy in sight, and is really trying to crawl. He can move forward a foot or two with some manipulation but is still in that rocking forward/belly Army crawl attempting stage. Once those little knees engage he'll be off and running. He also is enjoying all the fruits and vegetables he has tried so far. No surprise he likes to eat.
I should preface these pictures with a reminder that my virtual work team hosted a surprise baby shower for me. They gave me team gear from where they are located hence the SF and ATL gear.
Cole's furniture is also in transit to MO so he is sleeping in a pack and play in an empty room. He's obviously happy with his living situation, especially since now he has complete rule of the family room considering his apparatuses/toys are the only things in the room!

Not sure if you can see the apple remnants all over his shirt but don't worry we were headed to bath time. :)

Another crazy week ahead but looking forward to it. Drew right now is still in route.

Deployment Day

Well we have made it through the tearful goodbyes and Drew is heading to Afghanistan. Drew said bye to Cole at our house which was hands down the hardest part. We love being together as a family and it tears at our heart strings knowing that Drew and Cole won't be together for a little while. In the same breath we are so damn proud of Drew and he has a bigger job to do. We can't wait until he is home safely and our little family is together again! We knew it would be a lot of waiting around so I dropped Cole off at Tracy's (our friend and nanny) while I took Drew.
Pic from this morning before we left. Cannot wait until I can take their picture again.

A few more from this past week.



Drew is going to be with a good bunch of guys.
Chris (right) deployed with Drew last time and is in his company. Strange (middle) is on Drew's small team. They actually make Drew look short!

SSG Sparks- Drew's squad leader. Drew is a team leader then reports to him. We had dinner with him and his wife Sarah last Saturday. They are a riot!

My favorite soldier. Love my big man!