Wordless Wednesdays: Enjoying Christmas Toys

From Week 19

Time to do some serious eating...

We gave Harrison rice cereal for the first time last night. He was really excited about the whole experience (until he decided that he was disgusted by the whole thing at the end). I should have known that Harrison would enjoy eating "solid" foods. He was really interested in putting the spoon in his mouth and instantly opened wide for the incoming food. Since then, we have tried eating cereal two more times. He is not quite a cooperative about the whole thing now that the novelty of the spoon has warn off. I am not too concerned though. I am sure he will be excited about it again soon.

Four Month Check Up

Harrison's four month check up went really well. He really enjoyed the exam table, the extended naked time and the mirror in the exam room. He had to get more shots but he didn't seem too bothered by the whole experience. Truthfully he fussed more about having to put his clothes back on. Silly little boy!

The doctor and I talked a lot about feeding since he will start on solids this month (we are going to try to start solids tomorrow night - Sam wants to be there to see the experience). We also talked some about Harrison's spitting up and gas. Based on a few baby books, I was thinking that he might have acid reflux. Dr. Miller agreed that it might be a problem so we are going to try giving him Prevacid. Hopefully it will help cut down on the spitting up and his discomfort.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 17 lb 6 oz (90 - 95%)
Height: 26 in (75 - 90%)
Head: 44 cm (75 - 90%)

He is still a big boy!

Sam was really sweet and (unexpectedly) joined us at the doctor's appointment. It was really nice to have him there with me for moral support and baby assistance :-)

Harrison has been sleeping since his appointment at 10:10. All the stress of the outing along with the shots really wore him out!

Happy New Year!

From Week 18

Harrison (and his parents) had a wonderful New Years Eve. Our friends Gary and Teri Smith threw a kid friendly New Years Eve party. I think every age group under 6 was represented along with quite a few expecting moms. Harrison fell asleep around 10:00 and slept right through the new year. He was a really good guest and seemed to enjoy all the attention he received. We were so appreciative of the Smith's for inviting us...we assumed that we would be ringing in the new year at home. This was MUCH nicer!

The Greatest Sound of All

This time last year Sam and I saw and heard Harrison's heartbeat for the very first time. Just thinking about that moment brings tears to my eyes. It is hard to believed that little thump has turned into our sweet little chunk!

This was Harrison a year ago today:

Four Month Post

Harrison is four months old!

From Week 15

Sorry this post is a little late but Christmas made it hard to post on time :-)

From Week 18

Favorite Things: Blowing raspberries (a very messy hobby), laughing, screaming as loud as possible when he gets excited, kicking his feet, playing with his Grandparents, being naked, taking baths, and eating his hands, blankets, stuffed frog, burp cloth, clothing…basically anything that he can fit in his mouth

From Week 14

Least Favorite Thing: Putting clothes on, being put in his car seat, being sleepy (it is a fight to calm him down when he is sleepy), when something doesn’t fit in his mouth

From Week 13

Tricks: Still working on rolling over (he gets over to his side but doesn’t seem motivated to roll all the way over), sitting upright when supported, blowing raspberries, making lots of funny sounds, laughing at things he thinks are funny, finding his knees and feet (it won’t be long till they are in his mouth), producing 3x his weight in drool

From Week 17

Big Events: This has been the month of travel. Harrison has taken two car trips down to Fairhope. He sat on Santa’s lap twice and was very well behaved for both Santa’s (most of the time). He saw lots of Christmas trees and lots of Christmas lights. He visited both sets of grandparents, met his aunt and uncle, and LOTS of cousins. He visited his very first “farm” at the Johnson’s house and got to see chickens and the adorable miniature donkeys.

From Week 14

Sleeping schedule: Harrison finally got on a schedule this month. Just like magic Harrison decided to start going to sleep at a reasonable hour. Most nights he falls asleep around 9:00. We have started a nightly routine (of sorts). Around 8:00 we take a bath. After the bath we usually play quietly and read a book or two. After the book (sometimes during the book) Harrison has his last feeding of the night and then we rock and sing until he goes to sleep. He usually sleeps between 8 and 10 hours (we have even had a few 12 hour nights mixed in). Of course every now and then we have a bad night but overall we feel incredibly lucky to have such a good sleeper!

From Week 16

Evil nemesis: Teeth (Harrison started teething towards the end of this month)

Happy (Belated) Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I hope to catch up the blog soon. We had a great Christmas down in Fairhope/Mobile/Pensacola. We did a lot of traveling (Harrison was such a good traveller!) and we saw a lot of people. Both sets of grandparents did a wonderful job spoiling him. Harrison really enjoyed meeting his Uncle Matt and Aunt CJ. He also enjoyed spending time with all his relatives in Mobile. I am going to have a really hard time keeping him happy after all that attention. Luckily, he received a lot of really nice toys for Christmas so we will have lots of fun items to keep us busy now that we are back in Memphis.

Traveling Again

Sam, Harrison, Lilly and I are getting all geared up for our trip down to the coast this weekend. I feel like we have packed up the whole house. We have quite a load between all the Christmas gifts, our suitcases filled with clothing, Lilly's special food and medicine, and all the baby stuff. Luckily I left a few things (pack 'n play) down in Fairhope last time - I probably should have left more. I am having crazy bipolar packing dilemmas. I tried to rationalize everything before packing it but I keep debating one minute if I should add a few things and the next minute if I should take a couple of things out. Other than the last minute things we all need, I am going to try to leave everything as it is.

We are taking the truck since there is no way we would all fit in my car. Of course there is rain in the forecast. Since we don't have a cover for the bed of the truck (and that is where most stuff will be packed), I am ready with giant storage containers and huge Ziploc bags. Hopefully everything will stay dry.

We decided to take the dog down with us this year. I think she will really enjoy hanging out with all of our family (she is incredibly social) and I am really happy we don't have to board her. She can get a little high strung when traveling (don't we all?!?) so we have a sedative she can take. I know it is wrong but I really wish they made a baby and mommy version!

After our trial run a week ago, I am feeling much more confident about traveling with the baby. Harrison was so well behaved on the trip back to Memphis last week. I really hope we can have a repeat performance.

Hope we all get down there in one piece!

Wordless Wednesday: Harrison the Chubby Reindeer...

From Week 16

While I have been gone...

I am sorry for the lack of posts recently. Between the trip down to Fairhope and getting ready for the holiday, there has been very little time for anything other than family time.

It seems Harrison is growing bigger everyday. He is starting to look a little small in some of his 6 month clothing (he just started wearing them a few weeks ago!) and he just moved up a size in diapers. It is sad to think that he will be in big baby diapers soon. I will really miss the super soft swaddlers. He is also doing new things daily. It seems like once one development milestone occurs several others follow.

Harrison learned to blow rasberries right before our trip back from Fairhope. It was really funny driving back to Memphis and hearing the buzzing of little lips in the backseat. Thankfully (for many reasons) my mom was in the backseat cleaning up the spit that accompanies rasberries.

Harrison also seems to be teething. He is putting everything in his mouth and has started biting down hard! I think we are going to be in big trouble once those little teeth come in.

Harrison has gotten so much more alert in the last few weeks and he has also become much more mobile. He is constantly moving his hands and has found his knees. He started grabbing at his feet today so I am sure they will be in his mouth before too long. He is rolling over to his side and comes so close to rolling over. I am almost certain he could roll over if he wanted to.

Harrison is also learning to vocalize his feelings. When he is happy the house is filled with laughter, babble, and lots of squalks. On the flip side, when Harrison is unhappy he has learned that yelling at the top of his lungs is really effective. While I am sure they will get old really fast, these little tantrums crack me up.

As you can see, Harrison is keeping us really busy but we are having a lot of fun. I totally understand why moms say that their children grow up way too fast. At this rate, I feel like he will be walking and talking before we know it!

Santa Visits Harrison!

This has been a busy week of firsts. Harrison really laughed (versus the shrills he has been doing regularly) for the first time this week and I think he is getting really close to rolling over on his own (back to front). In addition to all the major milestones, Harrison also met Santa for the very first time and had his very first Santa pictures taken.

From Week 14

The photographer was really nice and let me take some pictures. This picture is one of mine but we also had some professional pictures taken. The Santa was so beautiful, patient and very kind. We were so happy that he was in Fairhope this weekend (he is also going to be in downtown Fairhope next Sunday as well). We also took a bunch of pictures for the Christmas card. Hopefully we got a cute one!

Traveling

Harrison and I are in Fairhope visiting his Grandparents.

From Week 14

I think we are still recovering from the 7 hour drive down! Harrison was a really good boy and is loving all the attention he is getting. We have been busy visiting family and friends. I will be back on to post more sometime in the next few days. Sorry I have been neglecting the blog!

Busy Momma

We have been keeping ourselves pretty busy this holiday weekend. I hope to get on at some point with a few more updates. Until then...I thought you might enjoy a baby's first Christmas sneak peek.

From Week 13

If only we could all be filled with such wonder and excitement!

Three Month Post

Harrison is three months old today!

In honor of Harrison’s monthly “birthdays” I thought it might be fun to document monthly baby milestones, important activities, like/dislikes, etc. To see the two month post click here.

From Week 11

Favorite Things: Talking (our house is constantly filled with baby talk), riding around in the moby wrap, putting things in his mouth, making spit bubbles, sneaking glimpses at the football game on TV, being sung to sleep by his mommy or daddy

Favorite Songs: Mr. Sandman, Blue Heaven, Sweet Baby James, Godspeed, Beautiful Boy, We Are the Boys (University of Florida Third Quarter Stretch Song), Boom Boom Ain’t it Great to be Crazy **Favorite song selection changing nightly!**

From Week 10

Least Favorite Thing: Having a cold, getting tired, being put down to sleep before he is completely passed out, Lilly kisses in the face or ears (this will probably be a favorite thing one day)



Tricks: Holding his head up, kicking really hard, getting close to rolling over, lots of “conversational” talking, falling asleep while playing with his toys (really big deal to parents of a baby that normally fights falling asleep)

From Week 10

Big Events: We have been very social this month. Harrison has gone to a few parties and even hosted a few small parties of his own. He is very social right now and loves being around different people. Unfortunately with all the extra exposure to people we also experienced our first cold this month.

From Week 12

Sleeping schedule: Harrison is a night owl just like his mommy. He is an excellent sleeper and usually sleeps between 8 and 10 hours a night. Unfortunately his bedtime is still a little unpredictable. On a good night he may fall asleep at 10:30 but most nights it is closer to midnight with a few 1 am nights here and there. He will sleep for at least 8 hours and then get in bed with mommy for a morning feeding and a nap for another hour or two. He usually takes a 30 minute nap several times a day and about once a week he will throw in a two or three hour nap.

From Drop Box

Evil nemesis: Nasal Aspirator

Getting Peed On...

Maybe it is the cold making our reflexes slower (yes, we all have the cold now) or maybe Harrison is getting faster but we have been peed on a lot this week. Actually I blame the new diapers. I thought I would save a little money and buy bargain diapers (Luvs) this week rather than our normal Pampers. The new diapers are a little smaller in size (even though the weight range and size is the same) and they are a little more complicated to open and put on quickly. This has resulted in a lot of little accidents this week. The other night I actually got peed on twice! You would think I would learn my lesson the first time?!?!

Pampers have been working great so why mess up a good thing? Normally I buy diapers in bulk but Harrison is on the verge of going up a size in diapers and Target didn't have a small container of size 2 Pampers. I thought this would be the perfect time to try the bargain brand. My first impression of Luvs is mixed.

Positives:
Really cheap
Cute illustration of dogs and cats (not really a quality factor but it makes me smile)
Blue tinting that turns bright when wet
Don't smell like pee when the diaper is really wet (after the morning nap)
No leaks so far even with super stinky diapers

Negatives:
Not as soft as Pampers
Feel plastic on the outside (makes me worry about diaper rash - we haven't had any with Pampers)
Doesn't seems to wick away wet as well (see diaper rash)
Smell more perfume-y than pampers
Not as roomy as Pampers (hard to get on a squirming little boy)
More complicated to open (results in baby boy sprinkler)


I think we will be sticking with Pampers for now. We have tried the Kirklands brand (sold at Cosco). Based on our very limited testing I think it is the best of the bargain brands. Once we get a Cosco membership we might switch over.

Wordless Wednesdays: Beating the Cold and the Cold Weather

From Week 12

Harrison's First Cold

Poor baby boy is sick today. I guess we over did it this weekend. Last night I noticed that Harrison's nose was a little congested and his eyes looked a little watery. I was pretty worried when I put him down to sleep that we were going to have a long night but other than a short crying spell at 2am he slept really well. He sounds really pitiful but has been in pretty good spirits considering he probably doesn't understand what is happening to him. He hasn't had a fever so I think it is just a cold.

I have been trying to keep him as happy as possible. I gave him a nice warm bath earlier (I always enjoy that when I am sick) and have been keeping him wrapped up in soft cuddily blankets. We also went out tonight and got a humidifier for his room. We have been using saline spray and the aspirator. The latter does not help with the happiness factor but is a necessary evil.

Hopefully the little guy will start feeling better. I really hate seeing him like this!

Wordless Wednesdays: View from a Walk

From Week 10

From Week 10

From Week 10

From Week 10

Let there be sleep...

I am almost scared to post this since it is probably one of those things that is easily jinxed but I am going to go ahead and say it anyway. Harrison has been a REALLY good sleeper for the last few days. He has been taking nice long naps and then sleeping at night for up to eight hours at a time. I think Sam and I are better people as a result! It is amazing how much better we all feel with a full night sleep.

On Saturday night (after a really busy day) he fell right to sleep at 10:00 and then slept until 6:30. At night he sleeps in his crib but we usually bring him into our room when he wakes up in the morning. I fed him in bed and then put him in between us for a couple of hours. We slept on and off until about 9:00. It was heaven! I thought it might just be a one time thing since he was normally only sleeping about 6 hours straight but he has been following the same schedule all week. Maybe he is just going through a growth spurt but we are going to enjoy it while it last!

From Week 10

Good night and sweet dreams to all!

Wordless Wednesdays: Couch Potato

From Week 10