New Tricks

Somebody likes to play in the laundry basket!

Harrison has been up to some new tricks this week. He is doing a really good job mastering his pincher grip and has fun trying to pick up puffs off of his high chair tray. At dinner tonight he was able to feed himself eight puffs! Mark says he has 90% accuracy for getting them into his mouth. He likes to chomp on the puffs with his gums and seems so proud of himself when he actually gets one into his mouth. This video is from dinner yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon it was beautiful here so we sat outside and played for an hour. I just spread out a couple of blankets and put some toys down and let him loose. Of course he would rather be in the grass than on the blankets, and the first thing he did when he made it there was grab a handful of grass, rip it out of the ground, and try to eat it.

He also was not the least bit concerned about the pebbled driveway hurting his knees and proceeded to army crawl his way across it, scraping up his legs as he went. But he made it to his destination and was thrilled to finally get a hold of the hose. Go figure...who knows why these things excite him.

Mark came home while we were playing outside and when we put Harrison back on the blanket he pushed himself up on all fours and actually crawled a real crawl for a second! He did it a couple more times outside, and then again today he's been pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth quite a bit. Maybe we'll see a real crawl here soon!

As I said, yesterday was just beautiful here, although it started out chilly in the morning. For our walk I bundled him all up in his hoodie and hat and looked so cute. He didn't mind the hat at all and didn't even try to pull it off. He was especially cheerful and smiled at all of the other walkers we saw...I just had to take a picture of him. So cute!

Last weekend we let Harrison ride in the shopping cart for the first time. I bought a big padded thing that covers all of the cart area that he could possibly touch (imagine the germs he'd get when he tried to suck on the handle!!) and gives him a nice padded spot to sit. It even comes with a pillow attached to help prop him up since he isn't quite sitting up by himself yet. He loves riding in there! He thought he was the king of Costco last Sunday, and this week when we went to the grocery store he was so happy that I took a picture of him.

Baby Pull Ups

Harrison has been working on pulling himself up for sometime now. He tries to pull up to get into his toy bin all the time, but never manages to get his knees up under him to make it happen.

Well, today he finally managed to pull up. We were sitting on the floor in front of the couch and ottoman, and he wanted my shoes, so I put them on top of the ottoman. He reached up for them, and then inched his way to finally making it up on his knees! He had the biggest grin on his face and was so proud of himself.

He did it twice, so it wasn't just a fluke. The last time he did it he tried to get greedy and stand up, and promptly fell back down. Whoops.

Now we just need to get him up on his knees for a real crawl and he'll be unstoppable.

Thirty-two weeks...

Here we are, another week gone by and a few more stories to tell.

Last Tuesday we went to our friend Olivia's house for a playdate. She lives a few cul-de-sacs down from us so it was fun to be able to just hop in the stroller and walk on down there. Olivia is a sweet, petite little girl and she sits up straight with perfect baby posture. Harrison isn't sitting up on his own yet, but he had no problem scurrying about her living room, checking out all of her toys and occasionally grabbing one from her. I am sure he will get his payback from all of his little friends once they can move.

While we were there Harrison did his "pose", where when he crawls he stops and turns to the side. Mark and I have joked that he looks like George Costanza...so when he did his pose at Olivia's house and her mom Jeanne said, "Look, it's George" I just fell over laughing. See for yourself...Harrison almost has it down perfectly...at least for a baby :-)

On Thursday I took Harrison to the doctor to check out a small rash on the inside of his arms. Turns out it was just eczema and is almost gone already, so not a big deal. But, while we were there we measured Harrison because he sure looked like he had grown...and boy had he ever! In five weeks Harrison grew 1.5 inches!! He is now in the 70% percentile for height at 27 3/4". He was weighed with his clothes on (and a wet diaper...) and came in at 17lbs 9oz, so he's probably a little bit less than that in reality. That put him in the 30% percentile for weight.

Later that day our friend Shane came over while his mom ran to the dentist. The two boys had fun rolling around on the floor together. They are so cute...grabbing each other and trying to figure out what to do with another little person.

On Saturday we tried out the swing at the playground next to our house. Harrison isn't quite ready for it yet, he kind of sloshed back and forth in it. But he loves being outside so hopefully soon he'll be able to enjoy the swing.

Harrison still likes to eat! He loves his carrots, and now he's enjoying sweet potatoes and peas too. He loves eating bananas in his mesh feeder. It's a little mesh bag with a handle on it. You put a piece of banana in it and he can suck on the mesh bag. It lets him eat the fruit without worrying about choking. He tried a piece of peach in it over the weekend and seemed to like that as well. Today I put some blueberry puree in his baby oatmeal and he really liked that. And he is having fun eating rice biscuits and trying to get little puffs into his mouth. He actually got a few in tonight, so he's getting better, but is still a really messy eater as you can see.

Seven Months

Well, here we are, seven months old. It's really hard to believe that Harrison is already past the six-month mark and closer to a year now than to being a newborn. Time has really just flown right by.

He is getting much faster with his crawling, although it is still an army-esque crawl and not a full hands and knees crawl. That has not stopped him from exploring the entire first floor. I spend quite a bit of time just following him and seeing what new and interesting thing has caught his eye. He definitely has a few favorite spots, none of which are remotely baby-appropriate.

If given the opportunity he would climb into the fireplace, so that is currently blocked off by a piece of cardboard. His next stop is the volume knob on the receiver, so now we have to make sure to adjust the volume before turning on the TV. From there he grabs the basket that holds a few blankets, pulls out the top one and plays with the fringe.

Once he is finished with the living room he heads into the kitchen, where he likes to lick the glass door of the wine chiller. Guess the cold glass feels good on his mouth. Then he finds his way to the other side of the kitchen and plays with a big metal bin that we use to hold drinks for parties. Oh...and if the dishwasher is open he tries to lend a hand with the unloading.

All sorts of fun things for a boy to do!

He has also discovered that a new way to play with his exersaucer:

Harrison seems to enjoy eating his carrots quite a bit. Daddy feeds him every night when he gets home from work. Sometimes Harrison is just hungry and opens wide...other times he wants to help with the meal, which ends up just a wee bit messy!

On Thursday I took Harrison to the mall to have pictures made since he was seven months old and I had a coupon for the picture place. Not the best day, since it was raining (have you ever tried getting a baby out of a car seat and into a stroller with an umbrella? Not easy!) and they were running 30 minutes late. They turned out OK...not great. But, good enough that someday when I show his future prom date she will think he was quite a cute little boy :-).

Over the weekend his Grandma and Grandpa visited and they got to see all of his new tricks. He had fun playing with them!

Today Harrison had to get his last round of six-month shots...I split them up so he wasn't getting so many at one time. The nurse let him sit on my lap instead of making him lay down on the table, which helped a ton! He acted like he was going to cry after he got his shot, but then I turned him around to hug him and he looked at me and the nurse and started laughing. SO much better than all of his last shots!

Hook 'Em Horns

We spent today educating Harrison on what he'll spend the rest of his life (at least while he lives with us) doing during the fall.

Hooray for the start of college football season!!

We didn't actually take Harrison to the game, but did take him down to campus to tailgate for a bit. He cruised in his orange stroller and then hung out in the baby bjorn for a while. There was a lot to look at, and he seemed to have a great time just taking it all in.

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!