RISE AND SHOUT THE COUGARS ARE OUT!!!!

So you know it must be bad living in Utah County when first thing this morning, I'm still laying in bed and I hear my 6 yr. old daughter in first grade tell her brother "You better where blue and white today for BYU". I don't think she even knows what football is and Nate and I haven't been talking about the BIG game in front of her so I know she got the hype from school. Anyway, at least she got the the right colors and the right team! GO BYU!! I don't care what the teams records are right now or who has a higher ranking in poles or whatever it's called. All I know is that this game is always so exciting and we will always be Cougar Fans!!!
RAH, RAH, RAH, RAH, RAH GOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!!!

Weekend Fun!

Lucky me and the kids!!! Nate took all the kids (except the baby of course) to play and ride all day Saturday. They all had so much fun. I see the pictures when Nate gets home and I almost can't believe them. Noah's skills have increased so much since I last saw him ride I had to ask if the pictures were real. I can't believe he is only nine and his dad has him jumping things most grown men would pee their pants over. And then there's Nate. I have a mild heart attack every time I see him. I have to remind myself that this is his favorite pass time in the entire world and not to ruin it with my doom and gloom outlook. I am a bit of a worry wort. That being said, they did have fun. Grandpa Jim came with the Razor and took Parks and Addison for rides and as you can see, kind of, Parks is in Heaven. He has been waiting patiently for the time when he could go ride with the big kids and not stay home with mom. This weekend was great for them, I don't know how many more "snow free" Saturday's we will have here in Utah but I'm sure Nate will take advantage of all of them:)

FINALLY!!!!

WHITMAN JAMES HARWARD finally made his BIG entrance into the world on Nov. 7th, 1:02 p.m. weighing 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 19.5 in. long. His 10 min. delivery (yes that's right 10 mins.) was the worst, most excruciating pain I have ever been in. I can honestly say that I would never want to expierience natural labor agian. It was not by choice but be accident really. We got there, I was still not in labor and at a 6 like I had been for 2 and half weeks. After being admitted the doctor came by to break my water and asked if I wanted an epidural. I said yes but would wait to see how bad the contractions were. I said I would let the nurse know in 15 mins. or so. He and the nurse left the room and the door had barely shut when the first contraction hit. It was so hard and hurt so bad I screamed for the Nate to get the nurse back to order the epidural. He looked at me like I was Jekyl and Hyde. He laughed like "Are you serious?" He couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe it. Then they kept coming every 20 second or so. I started thrashing around in the bed in pain. The nurse came back in and I yelled "I feel alot of pressure!", she hurried and checked me and said, DON"T PUSH, just then the anethesialogist got there and started to give me the epidural, the doctor was back and rushing to put gloves and stuff on, the nurses were getting the bed ready all the while I was screaming like a crazy person. My legs just started to get numb and I was pushing, next push and he was out.
Like I said, worst pain of my life. Words to live by- if someone asks if you want an epidural, just say Yes, now please. What was I thinking? Nate has now been there for 4 live, vaginal births and this one went so fast he didn't have time to help me count or get the camera out or even breathe either. He said, "That was just like the discovery channel!" I don't know if I would ever do it again but it is ALL WORTH IT!!! We are all healthy and home and I can breathe and sleep (kind of) again! The human body is amazing! It is still so strange for me to look at my perfect little boy and think just days before he was growing inside me, now he's a part our lives forever! Birth is truely an amazing miracle and after all this I will still say I am glad I'm a woman and more important a MOTHER! I feel so blessed and just thank my Heavenly Father everyday for what I have.

Halloween Night!!

So we weren't soooo creative this year. In fact, this was all Nate as you could probably tell. We were a motorcross Family for Halloween. I was just glad that my jersey still fit, somewhat so I could be included. We had a neighborhood party at the park with soup and rolls first. Next we went to the church parking lot for the annual Trunk-or-Treat and then Nate took the kids trick-or-treating around the block while I passed out candy. I was extremely tired by the end of the night. I can't tell you how glad I was that Halloween was on a Friday so we didn't have to get up for anything the next day. Plus, if I have to hear the words "You haven't had that Baby yet?" from another person I am going to kill someone. People will tell you anything when you are pregnant. Someone actually said to me the other day "You don't look bad, you just look ready." HELLO!!! You might as well have told me I look miserable and fat and swollen and you feel so sorry for me for even existing right now. That's how sensitive I am. I'm sure it's just hormones getting the best of me but come on. I don't need to hear, "This is the biggest pregnancy you have had isn't it". I couldn't make up these quotes people. As always, I'm hoping it will be this week. Stay posted:)

A shout out to Fathers!

My good husband has been doing his part lately with my inability to keep up with the kids and the house. I just wanted to thank him and the rest of the family for stepping in and helping out. You guys all ROCK. I just thought this video was so cute and I had to share. GO to the bottom of my blog to pause the music first so you can hear it, it is so funny!!!

The Labor that wasn't!

So late Monday night I was feeling weird but no big deal right? I went to bed as usual. I kept having this shooting pain in my front that went down my right leg. So I waited to see if it would go away and being anxious I worked myself up and couldn't sleep. So I told Nate just stay asleep, don't wake anyone up yet, let me just go get checked at the hospital, I will call you when I know something. Long story short I got to the hospital and was dialated to a 4. They watched me for an hour and I went to a 5. So at 2 a.m. they admitted me. I wasn't quite 36 weeks which is considered pre-term. So I was having contractions, however not painful or regular. I waited and waited and the Dr. came and checked me at 7 a.m. and I hadn't really changed so he said let's wait 1 more hour and see if you change. So at 8 a.m. I was at a 6. You would think I was in LABOR right? Still no pain, no active contractions. I stayed that way all day long. The nurses kept saying, we can't send you home at a 6, because I was dying of hunger and boredom and my tail bone hurt from the bed, I just wanted to go home. Finally at 10:30 p.m. the Dr. came back and checked me, still at a 6. He gave me a few choices, stay and have the baby which they would break my water and start me on pitocin, however because I am pre-term they didn't want the liablity if something was wrong with the baby so basically I had to sign something saying I wanted to deliver and take all responsibity. Next choice please... I chose to come home, risking the fact that I could go into hard labor any minute. I'm so glad I came home because look, it's now Thurs. I have to be on slight bed rest trying not to have a baby for at least one more week. Let's see if I can do it, Ha Ha. I can't sit still and watch my mom and mother-in-law do all my chores, it's weird. So stay posted, see how long Katie Harward can stay in LABOR with-out delivering.

Halloween Fun

We took the kids to CornBelly's at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday. I forgot my camera so the only photo I got was this one my mom took. There is so much to do there. It was a totally fun place for little kids. They had a tractor train ride through the corn fields, jumped on the big blow up pillows, walked through the monster, (well half way, Parks was too scared and we ended up coming out near the creatures rib cage) They did the face painting which was a highlight and by the picture you can see that it was a lot of paint. I had to bribe Parks on Sunday just to get him to wash it off before church. If you are trying to find something fun for the Fam go here. There is soooo much to do and you don't have to wait until dark.