Busy Week!

It was a busy week last week for Harrison!

Last Monday we took lunch over to our friend Leah and her daughter Hazen. Leah is pregnant with twins and resting at home. Hazen is two-and-a-half so she was a busy little bee, and Harrison had fun watching her. If I could read his mind I think he was wishing he could sit up so he could at least be a part of the action. But, he still had fun rolling around on the floor, and Hazen was very nice and shared her toys with him.

On Thursday Harrison gained another playmate. Our friends Chris and Heidii had their baby boy, Braden. So many little boys born this year, it will be lots of fun to watch them grow up together.

On Friday we went over to our friend Shane's house for Harrison and Shane's first real playdate. They see each other every week when Karen and I go to lunch, but this time it was all about letting them play together. They weren't able to do much more than roll around on the floor together and grab at toys (and each other) but it was still really cute. Shane is three weeks younger than Harrison and he'll be doing his army crawl any day now...he's so close. Since he couldn't chase Harrison, he just grabbed his foot as he went by, and the next thing we saw was Shane eating Harrison's toes. Quite humorous!

In addition to being able to to touch another real, live little person (as opposed to that elusive baby in the mirror), Harrison was able to see two real dogs. He was so excited! He loved grabbing at their fur, and laughed when they licked his face and toes. He was very interested in them and not at all scared.

On Saturday we went to dinner over at our friend Hunter's house. Hunter is two months younger than Harrison. They had fun laying on the floor on their tummies and looking at each other. When they saw each other earlier this month Harrison startled Hunter by grabbing at him. This time Hunter was ready and didn't seem to mind.

Do you think I should be concerned that Harrison wants to just grab at these other babies faces? Hopefully he is not going to be the crazy aggresive type on the playground!

Harrison continues to love eating rice cereal. Daddy feeds it to him every night and he just gobbles it right up as fast as he can. We tried carrots again this weekend, and he didn't spit any of them back at us. Maybe he's warming up to the whole vegetable thing.

Tonight when he was eating his rice cereal and carrots he thought he'd have a few toes with it too.

He is still in the 16-pound range, no major weight gains in the past few weeks. I think he's expending quite a few calories with his newfound range of movement. He is getting really fast at his modified crawl and covers quite a bit of ground around the house.

Another week gone by...

Well, here we are, another week older. It feels like nothing has happened because we haven't had any major events, but really every week so much is happening now.

As I mentioned last week, we have started solids and are introducing a couple of new things each week. Harrison seems to really like the rice cereal. He opens his mouth and smiles when you feed it to him, so we take that to be a good thing. We are still working on the vegetables and fruits to go with the cereal. He does enjoy drinking from a cup while he's eating. That has been fun for him and he's getting pretty good at it.

Harrison and I went to Whole Foods and bought one organic carrot and the smallest organic butternut squash I could find. My plan has always been to make his baby food. It isn't hard to steam a vegetable and puree it with some pumped milk. I thought the carrots tasted just fine--they were pureed really smooth and were very sweet. Harrison didn't seem too fond of them though, so we gave up on those after a few days.

Since he likes his rice cereal really thick, and is always grabbing the spoon, I thought maybe he'd like to have something with a little more texture and even try putting little pieces of something in his mouth by himself. So, I steamed some butternut squash for him.

I helped him put a little tiny piece in his mouth, showing him how to use his fingers. The face he made was priceless. He was SO unhappy with me for putting that in his mouth. I thought maybe it was the texture, so I tried a bite of the pureed portion. Um, no, it was just the flavor of the squash. I didn't think it was possible, but he made an even worse face with the spoonful of squash, and proceeded to spit it back out at me. His dislike for that was so strong that we abandoned that one right away and didn't try it again.

So, the score is Harrison 2, Vegetables 0.

Since he wasn't too fond of the vegetables we decided to try a fruit. Back to Whole Foods for one organic banana. Thankfully Harrison sure does like his trips to Whole Foods, probably because it's always busy and there's lots to look at. He chattered up a storm and made quite a few friends during this trip.

When we got home we mashed up some banana and tried that. The texture was much more like the rice cereal, and he didn't reject it immediately. He definitely liked the banana much more than either the carrots or squash, so at least we are on to something here. I did break down and buy some jarred baby food, hoping that I can find something he likes and then cook it myself. We'll see how that goes this week...

When Harrison is finished eating, he has a definite way of letting you know. Mark got the brunt of it this time!




Aside from food, the other fun thing we are working on is crawling. Harrison has gotten really quick with his army crawl, and he can cover quite a bit of ground. He is looking much more coordinated in his movements, but still doesn't have a true crawl working.



He is trying to pull up on his toy bin, but doesn't quite have the strength to do it yet. That doesn't stop him from continuing to try every time he's near it though!




He also has a new favorite spot to stop and play during his travels throughout the first floor.



One of his other favorite things to do this week is look in his little play mirror. He likes to babble at the baby that he sees there, which is pretty cute!

That's all for now...time to go wash all of those dirty bibs. Solid food sure does increase the laundry load!

27 Weeks

On Tuesday we had our weekly weigh in. Harrison tipped the scales at 16.45 pounds. He's starting to get some meat on his bones. His little thighs aren't so little anymore and his face is starting to look chunky. His hair is starting to lighten up and have blond highlights. So many changes. He looks more like a little boy than a baby every day.

We've continued offering Harrison rice cereal a couple of times a day. For the most part, he tolerates it but doesn't seem too excited about it. But on Sunday, Mark fed him some rice cereal and he couldn't get enough. He inhaled it--just kept opening his mouth wanting more. So cute!

Over the weekend we tried our first vegetable, carrots, and he was not too into those. He pretty much refused to open his mouth for them yesterday, so we are done with carrots and will try something else later this week, maybe some sweet potatoes or butternut squash. But he does look cute with the carrots all over his face.

His army crawl is progressing well and he is now moving more quickly and covering even more ground than he was just a week ago. It is pretty entertaining to watch him chase his toys across the wood floor...they keep moving away as he tries to grab them and he just motors on after them.

The jumper is a favorite toy this week...looks fun, doesn't it?

And here he is laughing with Daddy in the morning. Baby laughter is just the best sound!

Has it really been SIX months?

Happy Half-Birthday Harrison!

Wow. We have a six-month old! Although we started the year as just the two of us, today we can't imagine life without Harrison.

Tuesday he had his six-month well baby visit and checked out great. He weighed in at 16lbs 4oz, which is in the 25%, and he came in at 26 1/4 inches, which is 45%. So, he's long and lean :-). He had to get a couple of shots, which is definitely not his favorite thing to do, but he didn't cry nearly as badly as he did the first time around.

Harrison is truly a happy baby. Our days are filled with smiles and laughter. He greets us each morning with a big smile and lots of happy noises. On our walks every morning he is wide-eyed, taking everything in that passes by. Some days he has a lot to say, some days he just watches it all go by and takes a little nap.

He seems to really enjoy outings like trips to the grocery store, looking at everything going on around him and sometimes screaming loudly with delight at what he sees. Thankfully most everyone around us realizes I can't control the screams just yet...

When Daddy comes home Harrison is just thrilled. Lately he has become quite excited about shoes, especially Mark's running shoes. He will do his army crawl as fast as he can to follow Mark as he slowly moves away, chasing him to get his hands on the shoes. He is also loves chasing a big purple cup around the floor...who needs toys with entertainment like this around?

Harrison's cousins Jeffrey and Charlie sent him a half-birthday gift of a few essentials for his next six months. He loves the broccoli teether, and knew just what to do with the new sippy cup. Hopefully he'll like real broccoli just as much!

Over the weekend we started introducing solids to Harrison's diet. He seemed a bit unsure about the rice cereal the first few times he tried it, but warmed up to it when he had some today. We'll see how that goes, and start on some vegetables next week. Yesterday he thought it was hilarious when I was cleaning off his face...just made him laugh for some reason.

Monday night we met our friends Antoine and Kristin and their son Hunter for dinner. Hunter is two months younger than Harrison. Harrison was thrilled to see another little person and thought he'd just grab right onto Hunter and pull him a little closer. Not sure Hunter was expecting that...I think he was a little overwhelmed. Sorry Hunter! Hopefully he'll forget that by the next time we get together. And isn't that a cute picture of Harrison and his Daddy at dinner?

We feel so fortunate to have been blessed with such a great little guy, and are really looking forward to all the fun that is ahead of us.

Week 25 Update

Here we are, one week older and much more mobile! Harrison is twenty-five weeks old today (and 15.79 lbs :-).

The one-way log roll has officially been replaced by an army crawl. Harrison can now move himself forward and is thrilled when he makes it to whatever he is going after. His crawl definitely isn't perfect...sometimes he gets so excited that he just kicks his arms and legs and doesn't go anywhere. Then something clicks and he remembers what to do...and onward he goes! He is particulary good at scooting along the hardwood floor. His forearms seem to grip the wood pretty well and then he pulls and his clothes slide right along. It has been fun to watch this all develop over the past few days. Amazing how quickly things seem to change!

Last week we met up with our friends Ben and Karen and their son Shane for dinner. Karen and I see each other every week for lunch with the boys, but up until now they haven't really interacted too much. Ben and Mark stood the boys up on the table to look at each other and they were so cute! They just grinned at each other and then Harrison reached out to hold onto Shane's arm...he smiled so big and it was as if he couldn't believe he was really touching him. Here are a couple of pictures from dinner:

As many of you know, Harrison's bedtime routine includes a viewing of Baby Mozart before his bath and bed. On Friday he didn't nap much at all, and as a result was pretty tired in the evening. Mark and I realized he had gotten pretty quiet and didn't even react to his favorite parts. We looked over, and he had fallen fast asleep in his seat. So cute!