Harbert Family News: 2011

Better late than never right? If we're lucky, you are reading this before the New Year. Maybe next year we will get this thing done before Xmas.

Well, it's more than two years into our marriage, and Shannon informs me that we are finally a "family" with the addition of our baby girl this fall. I argued that we were a family even before Penny arrived. After all, this IS the Harbert FAMILY blog, and has been for at least a year, right?

Let's not get hung up on definitions,... here's what's going on with our FAMILY.

The NEW Harbert Family

Penelope Rain Harbert:

Sepia makes anything special

She arrived three weeks early, weighing a mere 5 pounds 13 ounces, with a full head of hair right out of the proverbial chute! Those of you that have received our letter in years past know that we have been planning a family for some time. We took our sweet time with it, but a with a bit of elbow grease, myriad of ovulation sticks, and a relatively smooth pregnancy (says the man), Penny was born on October 11th, 2011, at 10:11 am.
Shannon likes to play dress up with Penny and has maxed out her hard drive with the photos she has taken. I look forward to weekends when I get to sleep in with Penny laying on my chest.
Penny likes to watch Netflix, stare into the middle distance at illuminated objects, and get passed around like a flask of mead at parties.

Exterior: Shannon's belly. Interior: Penny the fetus

Pregnancy:

Since we spent most of this year pregnant, most of our are adventures reflect this fact. That said, we pretty much did all the same sort of stuff we did before pregnancy. Camping, floating, sledding, swimming, etc. Shannon suffered no morning sickness, and to be honest things went pretty smoothly up until the very end. Pre-eclampsia signaled the abrupt end of the pregnancy, and doctors decided it was best to get Penny delivered for mom's sake. Anyway, the pregnancy was easier than either of us expected, and we were able to stay active, same as always.

Penny was born via C-section about 1 hour after this photo was taken

Maggie the cat snuggles Penny

Animals:
Cats and chickens. 10 total. The chickens have been in a bit of an egg laying slump, maybe battling some seasonal depression or something. The cats don't lay eggs or produce anything of tangible value so I refuse to devote to many words to them here. We were a little concerned about how the cats would deal with Penny, but so far there's been no problems, so I have allowed them live.

From left to right: Roxy, Buffy, Sally, Cally, Gerry. Sally is our newest addition as of this Spring

Careers:

Shannon quit her job at the community college late in the pregnancy. Her plan is to take a few years break from any sort of full time job so she can focus on raising babies. She still keeps quite busy with private tutoring, and will teach an online math course this winter.
I still engineer electrical stuff, mostly wastewater treatment plants. In a world of ever expanding privatization, the latest trend is for my firm to win huge contracts to design, build, AND operate treatment plants. For better or for worse, it's exciting, fast paced work that I'm fortunate enough to still enjoy (on most days) even after nearly 10 years.

Our families:

In a year were the family was blessed with addition of Penny, we also mourned the loss of Shannon's Aunt Shari, who passed this year. My grandad (mom's side) did manage to surprise us with his continued vitality, spending some time this year para-sailing in Hawaii and hot air ballooning around the northwest. In his early 90's. I guess the secret to longevity is to never stop doing cool stuff?

First bath with Daddy

The conclusion:

Life is good. We smile a lot with Penny around. Shannon still makes yummy food that makes me look forward to each and every day. We hope that all of you are finding joy in the simple things as much as we did this year.

Enjoy the pictures below, and remember you can follow us on Shannon's facebook!

All the best,

The Harbert FAMILY