We survived.

Well, it's back to "normal" in the McGowan household. The last of the company left yesterday after a week of overlapping visitors. First Bryan's Mom from TN and then my family from ND for the big birthday party. And when I say big, I mean BIG. Surprisingly almost everyone RSVP'ed yes. So, in light of a rain out day and space we moved it to Bryan's office. We were originally going to have it there but with the recent economic downfall we weren't sure we could bank on it. Turns out all was well and it was the perfect venue. I think every birthday party should not be at home. It was awesome getting in the night before, decorating and prepping in a area that didn't mess up a daily flow. The party was fun and now Harrison is exhausted! Instead of his 10 AM nap today he was ready at 8:30! He is a bit of a mess. It will take some doing to get him back on schedule after his party, baseball games, shopping, eating sugary snacks, etc.




On Harrison's actual birthday we decided to open a few gifts. He wasn't so sure of the whole thing and decided it was time to show off his crawling up the stairs skills. Needless to say he was NOT happy about sitting in one place, thus the unhappy face. But he came around once he opened Jordan's gift of the Little People Barn Set.

Bryan's Mom came to visit during all of this chaos. She lives in TN so this was actually the first time she got to meet Harrison in person! They seemed to have a good time playing and riding the wagon up and down the driveway. She also got to partake in a "Fly In Pancake Breakfast" with Bryan one morning. I'm not sure her vacation was such a vacation. We kept her busy!

It's also been a busy couple of weeks due to me working. It hasn't been a lot so far but we had to travel to ND to cast The Wizard of Oz. I think we had about 100 kids audition and not as many roles to fill so it was a lot of work and 3 days of auditions, meetings and casting. I took a day or two off to finish up my ND trip and then have been back at it upon arriving back in MN. There is a lot to do when maintaining a cast of 70! I've been doing a lot of paperwork, organizing, and communicating with my students and their parents during the day. Let me tell you it's not easy keeping an eye on a VERY mobile baby. He isn't walking yet but he can crawl pretty darn fast and loves going for the stairs. I honestly don't know how work from home parents with no extra help get anything done!!! He is FAST!

My trip to ND was wonderful. It was good to reconnect with Bismarck and explore. My travel companion, Michael was the best help a woman could ask for. Seriously, he could make a mint as a nanny. I wish I could afford to pay him because he is amazing with kids! Seriously, Moms out there. He is the BEST. I also recruited Michael to design the sets for the shows this summer. Not only is he great with kids but he is a wonderful artist. We worked together in the past at Sleepy Hollow. It was fun to work on that level again together. We are a good team, able to finish each other's thoughts, etc. That makes it wonderful to work with him.

Michael and I got to visit with the Kyes' family quite a bit too. Lisa and the two of us went out for margs at Fiesta Villa, watched the HBO "Grey Gardens", hung with the kids, etc. It was a dream to have so much time to hang out. Honestly wonderful.

Well, I seem to have worked in reverse here. I have no idea what happened before ND so I can't go back any further.

Spring is here!

1st First Birthday Party

I'm a little late at getting this out but better late than never! Harrison and the rest of the kids celebrated their first birthday together at the Chaska Community Center the first weekend in April. We did this to avoid the pressure of getting to and inviting each other to each birthday party. I think this was a good plan and hope we do it in future years too! Anyway, we ate, played, and ate some more. Needless to say by the time we got Harrison loaded into the car he was EXHAUSTED! He had a great time playing in the ball pit with Daddy and the other kids and tried to eat a birthday cupcake but didn't seem to care for touching and eating the frosting.

However he did manage to wipe it EVERYWHERE! We had to strip him down and change his clothes completely, thus the 2 different outfits in the pictures.

It's been a wonderful experience to see the kids grow and develop together and to have such a great group of women to share our experiences as first time moms to infants. I feel pretty lucky to have such a solid supportive system in them!

Where did the time go?

Well, it's official. I have now let almost a year go by without putting ANY photos of Harrison into a photo album. New goal: get some printed and put in albums for his birthday party. Ugh. I'm a terrible Mother for not keeping track of photos, writing down important dates, or funny stories. It all just happened too fast!

Let's also not forget that this is also Jordan's last year of Jr. High. He will be going to the SENIOR HIGH next year! I always joked that he was 14 going on 35 but now I've passed another year with him. It was about this time 7 years ago that I met him. I remember it clear as day. I was invited for dinner, over to Bryan and Jordan's house in Shakopee. I didn't see him sneak up behind me and then, all of the sudden he was there. Before I could even react he looked up at me with a smile and said "hello" in his most assertive 2nd grade voice. The rest is history.

Since I am talking about history I believe it was in January or February that Bryan took me out on a super secret, surprise date to the St. Paul winter carnival, to see the ice sculptures and the Conservatory. I recently visited the Conservatory where I took baby bump pictures of the Selbys. When asked if I had been there before I reflected on our big date and how when we toured the Conservatory I knew Bryan was "the one". I even specked out the place as a possible wedding location. I believe I wasn't the only one thinking about it. We were clearly in love. It was so nice to suspend reality and be in that state of love. Below is an actual picture I took from that day. Anyway, that date was followed up with dinner at the Carousel restaurant that spins on top of one of the downtown hotels, tickets to "A Prairie Home Companion" and a stay at The St. Paul Hotel. It may have been one of the best dates...actually it was the best date I have ever been on.

Ah, reflecting on Harrison's first year certainly brings up a lot of memories that seem to have flown by. It makes me love and embrace each day knowing these guys are in my life. How lucky am I?

Cantankerous Harry

This week seems to be filled with ups and downs for Harrison Robert! He seems to be in a new phase. I'm not quite sure what it is but he has been a little "off" for days now. Maybe he's growing, maybe he's teething. I think I can see new teeth coming in but it's hard to tell on a very squirmy baby.

His nap times are coming into question. They were once so easy and now it's a fight every day. He is CLEARLY tired yet fights before every nap. But once he is down he is zonked out! This also includes bedtime but some new routine there might be the solution. It's the nap times that are freaking me out. It's my one period of time I can get some things done for me like take a shower. One should never take shower time for granted until you have a baby! Also playing into this week are the earlier waking times. It's ranged from 6-6:30 as of late. Who voluntarily gets up that early??? I thought 7-7:30 was early before! I'll take that back anytime now! It doesn't matter what time he gets to bed. I have tried to get him to bed earlier AND later and neither one is a solution. He is still up and at 'em bright and early. When he wakes up there is no adjustment time. He is AWAKE. And we all know I am a night owl so it's rocking my world. Luckily Bryan will trade off with me. Thank god for good husbands!

I called him cantankerous because he really has been cranky this week but the below video will say otherwise. It's really one extreme or the other. I'll take the overly happy baby first!

On to other McGowan news. I am gearing up for STATE FAIR. I'm producing the show and now Assistant Stage Managing the show so things are about to get really busy for me but I think it will be good to have an extra curricular activity for a little while!

Jordan is in a badminton tournament called "March Badness". Today was the first day of going to school early for the tournament so I guess we'll see how it went. He was super pumped. He also finished his Oral History report in which he interviewed my Nana. She has a full index of stories ranging from Chicago gangsters to living on the ND prairie. He is very proud of it and it will also provide as a great piece of documented history for the Lundberg family!

Bryan is busy taking flying lessons on the new Cessna with retractable landing gear. He is super pumped about how nice the ride is and how much less time it will take to get places. Especially Bismarck this summer when everyone but him will be working at Sleepy Hollow. Hopefully it will allow him to visit more often since I know we will all miss him. Especially Mr. Plug.

Mallrats

Well, as you can see I'm still trying to get the hang of this blog program. I had meant to return to post the Children's Museum pictures but forgot. They are now on the previous blog. I'm getting there!

Last night was the church Youth Group Ridgedale Mall Scavenger Hunt. Jordan brought Jadine along for the fun and from the sounds of it they had a good time! I think we will adopt Jadine even though she didn't seem as impressed by the song "Space Olympics" as the rest of the McGowan clan was :-) The scavenger hunt consisted of a "shopping list" of items from around the mall. There were things on there as simple as bringing back a paperclip to finding seashells. But it was the other items like singing a song from a musical to at least 2 other people in an elevator and applying makeup on the group that really stuck out in their memory. Needless to say Jordan is still recovering from the BRIGHT RED lipstick he had to put on. In the below picture his lips are stained from said lipstick. Jadine really seemed to love that task!

While the scavenger hunt was going on we were banned from hanging out with Jordan and Jadine for obvious reasons so we "hung out at the mall" . I haven't done that since early high school. It wasn't all that it was cracked up to be anymore. At least not with a not interested in shopping husband and a baby that wanted to be held the whole time ;-) This is a picture of a TV they ponied up to at Gymboree while Mama shopped. Please note: I didn't buy a single thing!!!!

10 months today!

Well, to mark Harrison's 10 month birthday he learned to suck a milkshake from a straw! Needless to say Papa Mike is proud. Not only has he sucked down milkshakes he is now onto the kids menu wherever we go. Bryan had the day off Friday so we decided to visit our friend, Tim who works at the Children's Museum. We first met at the St. Paul Macy's for lunch. I had no idea the restaurant was such a St. Paul institution. Old school, indeed. It was wonderful and Harrison loved his Chicken Pot Pie, cookie and juice. In this case Nana would be proud.

The Children's Museum was not what I was expecting at all. Man, do they know what toddlers love! Harrison is still a bit small but still LOVED to crawl all over, look out the windows at the cars driving by, and watch all of the other kids. We could have stayed for hours! I know the video is on it's side but it's the very first video I've put up on the internet and don't know how to change it. I used our point and shoot to capture it which is why it's on it's side. Again, I'm getting there!

I think we may get the award for the most over-photographed kid ever! Below are some examples. He loves bath time and his new shark towel poncho is the best thing ever!

We also had a mini snow day where Daddy was out snow blowing and we watched. Harrison was very concerned that he could see Daddy at all times. We later joined him in the snow. This time the snow wasn't as traumatic for Harrison.

This past week has been pretty busy. On Sunday we had a few friends over to watch the Oscars. Bryan set up the big screen and we got to watch it larger than life. Harrison was especially excited to have baby Ingrid over for the first time and for Ally to play with him. He was up too late but had a blast. Jordan also joined in on the fun and invited his girlfriend, Jadine over. He and Brad shot some hoops while she watched and then came in to hang out with the Oscar watching crowd. Fun for all!

As I was saying it was a busy week. The day after the Oscars I hosted Moms Club. Everyone was able to attend which is rare as of late. Thank goodness nobody was sick! It can be a vicious cycle of sick babies! Anyway, we had a good time playing and I was truly tested on baby proofing which I still have quite a bit to do as I found out again. What Harrison doesn't get into before the other kids arrive he gets into after they leave. He is quite the learner but he STILL won't do "so big" or wave. ARGH! At one point during the afternoon I just had to sit back and laugh. All the kids went a little hog wild and were talking, crawling or in Jack's case walking in every which direction and in areas we had yet to discover. This next stage is going to bring us in over our heads if we weren't already :-) Below are some images from the day of Moms Club.

Old posts from our website.

Here are some posts from our website: http://www.mcgowanlegacy.com/ I'm trying to round it all up so it's in one place. Again, I'm not great with the organizing.

9th grade
Well, summer is almost over and we are preparing for new adventures. Jordan just got back into town after a wonderful summer in Bismarck, ND learning about technical theatre. He got back into town just in time to leave again for a week at Boy Scouts camp. When he gets back he will only have 2 weeks until he starts 9th grade!
Aug 10, 2008 10:26 PM

Almost 2 months old...
Well, time flies! It's already almost been 2 months. It's amazing how surviving day to day goes fast when you don't always know what you are doing. It's been a huge learning curve and a whole new world. Jordan is learning the joys of being a big brother by learning new things like changing diapers and yes, he has already been showered upon. He has also learned to feed the baby with a bottle and how to burp him. He is catching on nicely and sure is a loving brother. Mom and Dad are just trying to figure out a routine and still don't have that under control. Hopefully we will get one going and and then we can only pray that Harrison will sleep longer periods at night!
We are anxiously awaiting our 1 month old pictures taken at Target. BTW we do NOT recommend using Target for portraits. The photographer didn't seem to have a lot of ideas and the process to get the pictures is ridiculous for how advanced we are in technology of photography. The only reason we went there is to get family pictures and to free us up to get the baby to pose, stay happy and focus. We learned it's not as easy as we thought when we tried it at home. Oh, well. I'm sure we will figure it out eventually. Anyway, Target Studios had technical difficulties recently and our pictures are still not done! We've been waiting to send out thank you cards with our birth announcements and now it's getting later and later!
Well, we are off to bath Harrison and put him to bed after his final feeding of the evening hours. Hopefully we will all catch some shut eye soon.
Jun 16, 2008 9:54 PM

9cm...
Almost fully dialated! New baby will be here soon! For the moment, you can email us at bryanandmelissa@hotmail.com or IM mcgowberg@yahoo or inetgood@AIM to get a current update.
Apr 24, 2008 11:29 AM

And then....
I believe the rock song sums it best: "Up all night, sleep all day (morning at least)". Melissa went into the beginning stages of labor around 2am. The doctor provided an epidural around 4am which caused her contractions to slow down. At about 7am, the doctor administered the first pitocin. Since then, we've been in a holding pattern. I've been trying to catch some Z's as I think today might be another long day. Out our window its raining, but inside we're waiting for sunshine.
Apr 24, 2008 10:28 AM

To the Hospital
After 9 months of waiting, it is time for Baby McGowan to make its appearance. The doctor said that we cant wait any longer, so we packed up and headed to the hospital. Melissa is scheduled for induction at 7am on the 24th and we hope to have a new baby soon after. So far, Mom and baby are doing great. I am taking the little bit of downtime to get the web site setup. And hopefully, we will both find some time to get some sleep tonight.
Apr 24, 2008 12:50 AM

admitted
Apr 23, 2008 6:03 AM

First Post
Yep, it's our first blog post. I'm not gonna lie to you, we will rarely post things here. Also, the things we post will be boring to 99% of the people who might stumble upon this blog. Oh, and some it will be ignorant, incomplete of just plain wrong. But hey, at least we're honest!
Apr 9, 2008 11:25 PM