Pudding Painting

In a moment of insanity, I thought it might be fun to do a little pudding painting with Harrison. Despite a few little mistakes on my part (I forget sometimes how mobile Harrison is right now), Harrison had a blast!

From Week 38

While Harrison was napping I fixed some instant vanilla pudding. Once it was mixed I filled three baby food jars with pudding and then added red, blue and yellow food coloring to each jar.

From Week 38

I set up a little painting area outside. This would have been perfect for an older painter but I should have just taken the high chair outside for Harrison’s painting. That didn’t stop us from having fun though; it just made it hard to contain a crawling baby once he started getting bored.

From Week 38

Harrison loved the texture of the pudding and shrieked with delight when I put his hands into the little mounds of color. He quickly covered the Kraft paper and himself in a mixture of color.

From Week 38

I won’t hold my breath on art scholarships just yet but I was pretty impressed with his first masterpiece.

From Week 38

Clean up was actually pretty easy. I just put Harrison into the sink (clothes and all).

Gasp!!!

From Week 38

I walked into Harrison's room this morning only to see a baby standing up in his crib looking back at me. I don't know why I was so surprised since he has been pulling up by himself for several weeks now. Regardless, there is something shocking about seeing a baby standing in his crib.

At least he usually has a smile on his face when he has pulled himself up. I love walking into his room to see my sweet little boy smiling back at me.

Eight Month Post

From Week 34: A Trip to the Zoo

Harrison is eight months old!

From Week 33

Favorite Things: Water, Feeding himself, Lilly’s toys, Lilly’s water bowl, Lilly’s food bowl, Shoes (as long as he doesn’t have to wear them), biting things, being outside, other children and babies, flirting with strangers, cell phones, remote controls, calculator that we gave him to try to keep him away from cell phones and remote controls, daddy coming home from work

New Foods tried: Shredded chicken, egg, rice, pasta, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, mangoes, corn

Harrison is trying a lot more adult foods these days and is feeding himself most of the time. It is messy but fun!

From Week 32

Least Favorite Things: Having his diaper changed, having his clothes changed, ear infections, teething, bedtime

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

Tricks: He loves to scream and does a funny growl like yell (we call it the Incredible Hulk), he is a lot more vocal these days – “dadada” is being used constantly, “illy” is another favorite, he also says “hi”, “bye”, “go” and “ba ba” (do you think that is close to “mama”?), he is a great little walker as long as you hold his hands, he can click his tongue on the roof of his mouth, he has perfected a crawl like move – he drags his tummy along the ground but he travels all over the house like this and is surprisingly fast, he is also getting much better at pulling himself up, he can open and close cabinet doors

From Week 31

Sleeping schedule: Sleep was totally messed up by the combination of teething and the ear infection. He is just getting back to a normal schedule again.

From Week 34: Baptism Gown

Big Events: Easter and two Easter egg hunts (he slept through one), baptism, first professional photo shoot, first trip to the zoo, lots of teething – he now has four teeth, first ear infection

Catching Up

Sorry I haven't been posting. We have been super busy around here but I am hoping to gather my thoughts and get caught up over the weekend. Here is a quick summary of some of what we have been doing this last week:

* Recovered from Harrison's first ear infection
* Harrison cuts his top two front teeth
* Grandmother Heacock (Nanoo) comes to visit for a week
* Harrison's first professional photo shoot
* Harrison is baptized at Germantown United Methodist Church
* Nanoo and I took Harrison to the Memphis Zoo (his first of many zoo trips)
* Cheered for dad at his first kickball game of the season (they lost but we all had a good time)
* Enjoyed a visit from my cousins John and Dora Hinkle as they passed through Memphis

I hope to post in more detail about these events over the next few days. Stay tuned!

Easter Egg Hunt

Harrison attended his second Easter Egg Hunt this weekend. His first Easter Egg Hunt was a little disappointing since he slept through most of the event. Being that he is only seven months old, we have very low expectations for these events but it would be nice if he would stay awake for some of the activities.

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

This Easter Egg Hunt was put on by our church. For all the Memphis readers with young children - I highly recommend the Germantown Methodist Church Easter Egg Hunt. It was very well organized and had plenty of activities to keep most young children occupied.

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

Harrison liked "finding" Easter eggs. There was a special spot for children under two but it was WAY too crowded. We decided to pick a small corner in the three year olds area to allow Harrison to hunt for eggs and take a couple of pictures. Kids will be kids of course and it wasn't long until the little three year olds were taking Harrison's eggs from him. Pretty funny...

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

He enjoyed the petting zoo. There was a cute little pig that made him laugh. He also seemed to like the duck (or at least the duck's cage). The other animals were interesting (sheep, miniture donkey, goats, bunny, chicken) but I think all the other kids were more interesting (distracting) than the animals.

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

There were lots of other activities (Thomas Train, Bunny Hop, and some craft areas). We stuck to the simple stuff like the bubble machine and the pinwheels.

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

We also paused for a quick photo with the Easter Bunny. Harrison was very interested in the Easter Bunny's fur and big pink nose. I thought their high five at the end was so adorable!

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

By the time we got back to the car, Harrison was exhausted and was practically sleeping on my shoulder. I don't think we even made it out of the parking lot before he was fast asleep.

From Week 32: GUMC Easter Egg Hunt

What a great day! We look forward to many more GUMC Easter Egg Hunts :)

Happy Easter

Wordless Wednesday: First Ear Infection + Teething = Lots of Rest Needed

From Week 32

From Week 32

From Week 32

Wordless Wednesdays: Time to start babyproofing...

From Week 31

From Week 31

From Week 31

Seven Month Post

Harrison is seven months old!

From Week 29

From Week 27

Favorite Things: Hugging his mommy and daddy, cruising in his walker (“wheeeeee”), baths in the sink (he loves splashing), Lilly’s dog toys, remotes and cell phones, talking – Harrison has been exercising his vocal chords this month - his favorite words so far are “hi,” “dada,” “uhoh,” “baby”

From Week 28

New Foods tried: Melon, blueberry, strawberry, plums, prunes, avocado, apricot, biter biscuits, cheerios, bread, apple juice from a sippy cup

Oh, and he is now eating solids three times a day...he is such a big boy!

From Easter Practice Shoot

Least Favorite Things: avocado (not a big hit), being put in his carseat, having something taken from him (like Lilly’s toys, the remote, or my cell phone), being put down (he has gotten a little more clingy this month)

From Week 28

Tricks: Sitting up on his own, pulling up into a standing position, walking with assistance, drinking out of a cup and feeding himself finger food (cheerios)

From Week 29

Sleeping schedule: Harrison is on a consistent schedule. He goes to bed each night at 8pm and wakes up at 7am (give or take an hour). I think we are all enjoying getting a full night sleep again.

From Week 28

Big Events: St. Patrick’s Day, a special visit from his great grandfather, his first extended weekend without his parents (big thank you to the Coverdale Grandparents!), trip to Nashville, staying in the nursery at church

Whew!

Wow, it has been a busy few days.

On Friday we packed up the car and headed to Nashville for the weekend. We stayed the weekend with our friend Josh. It is always fun to expose single guys to a weekend with a baby. I think he was probably unpleasantly surprised by the 7am wake up call each morning (sorry Josh!).
Saturday we attended a wedding shower for our friends Lisa and Danny. I was a little worried about Harrison since the party started at 6pm but Harrison was an excellent guest. He enjoyed flirting with the ladies and laughing at all the men. He even stuck with his 8pm bedtime (BIG SHOCK!!!).

He was a really good traveller but I can tell that he is getting a little more stubborn about getting into his infant carrier. He really doesn't like to be restrained. I am curious if he will be a little happier in a full size car seat?!? It probably won't be long before we have to upgrade!

A Little Time for Crafts

I love when I can find a little time in the day to do something crafty. This week I decided to make an Easter wreath for the front door. I found instructions on a fellow mom's blog.

The instructions were super simple and I think I ended up with a REALLY cute wreath!

From Week 29

Harrison helped by eating the eggs.

From Week 29

Baby Logic

Baby has a super soft rug to play on that is full of toys:


Baby ends up here:


Baby succeeds at thoroughly confusing his mommy!

Wordless Wednesday: The view from a springtime walk

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From Week 29

An Extra Special Visitor

From Week 28

From Week 28

We were absolutely thrilled to have an extra special visitor this weekend. Sam's Grandfather came through Memphis with Sam's parents this weekend. We loved the chance to introduce Harrison to his Great Grandfather. I think Harrison really enjoyed having another person to spoil him with love!

Hopefully we will be able to get up to Iowa sometime soon so he can meet his Great Grandmother.

Wordless Wednesday: The Little Chef

From Week 28

From Week 28

From Week 28

A Little Late

I back-posted the monthly milestone post (better late than never!)

You can either scroll down or click on this link to read the post: Six month post.

Packing

Harrison has been enjoying a visit from his grandparents this week.

Sam and I are getting really excited (and a little nervous) about our first mini-vacation! Grams and Granddad Coverdale came up to Memphis to take care of Harrison and Lilly Dog while we go down to New Orleans for a long weekend. We know he is in really good hands but it is always a little scary leaving your baby for the first time. I know this will be a lot harder on me than on Harrison. I am sure he will have a blast playing with his grandparents.

Our friends Angie and Pete are getting married this weekend in New Orleans. We are so excited for them and can't wait to celebrate with them.



We will be leaving for New Orleans tomorrow morning and returning on Sunday afternoon.

Church Family Portrait

We had our picture taken for the church directory a couple of weeks ago. Definitely not our best picture but I think it turned out pretty good considering our session wasn't until 8pm and we practically had to force Harrison to stay awake