Just a quick hello...

Not too much to report here so I just thought I'd share a few pictures.

Last week while eating his morning snack, Harrison decided to show off a new trick. He thinks it is funny to pull his shirt over his head so that his stomach is bare. He can get it back to normal by himself, so he'll just occasionally do it to make me laugh.


On Friday we went to Target to get a few things including a birthday gift for a party we are going to this weekend. As we went through the toy aisle, Harrison shrieked when he saw Curious George. He starting making his monkey noises and pointing. So...I handed George to Harrison and he was thrilled. I really don't want to be that Mom who gets her kid something every time they go to the store, but this was just too cute to say no to. Look at him hugging George. It just made me smile!





Harrison's new favorite place to play is on our bed. He absolutely loves to climb up on it and roll around in the pillows. I changed the sheets the other day, and he checked out the bed while it was stripped of everything. He wasn't remotely interested. But, by the time I got the comforter on he was helping me throw pillows up onto the bed so he could climb up and play.

Today we spent 30 minutes just buried in the pillows, using them as ramps for his little cars. He would laugh and squeal as I rolled the cars down the pillows into his lap, and we did it over and over. Works for me...it's too hot outside to spend the afternoon out there right now!

Here he is today playing in the pillows:


Harrison hasn't added any new words lately. He is saying "ba ba" but we can't figure out what he is referring to. He does seem to be adding more signs each week. Now we have signs for rain and thunder, and he loves to do thunder. And, he points to the window and signs rain...so we keep explaining that we can't just make it rain.

He saw someone with a big box of pears in their cart today at Costco and signed pear, so that was fun. He also loves to sign "cold" and pointed to the cold room at Costco where the produce is today and signed cold.

So even if he isn't expanding his verbal vocabulary he is at least learning another way to express himself.

Just a quick update...

Look who is ready for college football season!


We had Harrison's 18-month check up last Wednesday. He hated the shots, that's for sure. Other than that he was fine. He ran all around the room in his diaper while the doctor tried to check him out. Thankfully they were smart enough to keep all of the cabinets empty except for a few kids books and magazines so he couldn't do too much damage.

He has grown quite a bit! He is now 34" tall (90%) and 25lbs (40%).
He's happy and healthy so we are very thankful.

On Thursday we went to play in the sprinklers at The Domain for a bit. Harrison had a good time, but it was pretty freaking hot so we didn't stay out too long. He still thinks it is funny to get hit in the face with the water when it shoots up at him.

We went to the park on Sunday as usual after our run. While playing on the playscape and walking across the little bridge, Harrison fell off. It was so sad, I was just on the wrong side of the bridge and couldn't catch him in time. He fell back and landed head first on the left side of his face. It was really torn up from the mulch but has healed remarkably well already.

Today we spent the afternoon at home since it was so incredibly hot outside (it was the hottest day in Austin so far this year).

While we were upstairs he found the phone and decided to push all of the buttons, then put it to his ear and started saying "da da da da". It was as if he thought he was calling him.



Then while we were downstairs Harrison climbed the kitchen counter high enough to get the sponge off of the sink and decided to clean. He wiped down the table and refrigerator. It was so cute!

Next he spent about 20 minutes using the little hand vacuum and took it all over the living room floor and under the kitchen table. I tried to turn it off a couple of times and he threw a huge fit so I just let him keep going. Then, it finally ran out of battery power...and boy did he throw a fit then! He stomped all over the floor until I finally got him to take a break and look at pictures on my phone with me. I found it humorous but he was seriously mad that it wouldn't work anymore.

Not much else to report for now, but who knows what fun the week will bring. It's always an adventure with Harrison around!

Eighteen Months Old!

Hi everyone! Here is your favorite 18-month old. Isn't he cute?

Today we went to Mayfield Park to take some pictures and check out the grounds. It's a beautiful little nature preserve in the middle of the city down by Camp Mabry. There are ponds with lilies in them along with turtles and fish, and peacocks roam all over the grounds. There are about 20 peacocks and we checked all of them out multiple times.

Harrison had a great time chasing the peacocks, although they didn't really seem to care that he was there. He could have grabbed several of them he was so close to them but somehow he showed restraint.

He also really enjoyed walking around all of the ponds and looking into them for fish and turtles. At one point he had one foot in ready to go after a giant white koi fish (I think that's what it was), but thankfully he stopped.

We were out there in the mid-afternoon heat and he lasted about 45 minutes before his face was just beet red and we had to leave. Overall it was a good way to spend an afternoon. Harrison was worn out when we left--45 minutes of chasing birds in the heat will do that to a boy.

Here he is with the peacocks. He has a feather in his hand and is trying to give it to them.



I got him to sit on a bench for a split second before he saw more birds and pointed at them.


Here he is chasing some birds:



Look at that red face! Time to go...

I captured Harrison's new trick for you today. He is able to climb up into my bathroom sink. He wants to wash his hands. Should I applaud him for his cleanliness? Hmmm. That's a tough one...

His new favorite activity is to play with the light switch at the bottom of the stairs. He likes to watch the lights go on and off.


When he gets tired of that he sits at the printer and pushes all of the buttons to hear the noises they make.

He likes to get things out of the drawer under the oven. That's where I keep the cookie sheets, and he found the silpat that goes on one of the cookie sheets. He decided it would make a good dance floor, so he threw it down and did a little jig on it. Too cute!

Here we are on Sunday. Harrison found Mark's goggles and decided he wanted to try them on. He thought it was hilarious!

We have his 18-month check up tomorrow so I'll report back with his stats. He has definitely grown since his last visit!

We are still here...

Well, I've been trying to put together an update for over a week now, but technical difficulties on the blogger side have prevented me from uploading any videos. So, I'm starting again and am just going to have to post pictures only. Quite disappointing this time because I actually have a few fun videos to post, but we'll get to those some other time.

Harrison has figured out how to climb up onto our bed. I used to be able to leave things on there, i.e. folded laundry, my purse, other assorted things I didn't want him to touch--you get the picture. However, now that he has learned that he can use the foot board for leverage and hoist himself up onto the bed, nothing is safe. My neat piles of folded laundry were his first casualty.

From there, he jumped over all of the pillows to grab the phone off of the headboard. I put it there because he would take it off of the charger and run around with it laughing and pushing buttons. Speaking of the phone, he loves to push the "play" button for the messages on the answering machine and listen to them over and over. He has also erased our greeting several times, so don't be surprised when you call if you just get the standard computer-generated voice instead of a friendly message.

About a week-and-a-half ago I took Harrison down to the main Austin Public Library branch downtown to rent some Signing Time videos. He wore the monkey harness, and got quite a few looks from the lunchtime crowd. They were very entertained by his leash. He wanted to run everywhere except where I wanted him to be while he was inside the library. Once we got back outside he tried to chase all of the birds into the street. It is definitely still easier to put him in a shopping cart or stroller but I keep hoping he'll start to realize he can't just take off running and learn to stay with me as we keep trying to use his monkey.

Harrison loves to watch the signing videos but he is getting sick of the only three we have. Even though he really only watches one 30-minute video a day he has picked up on quite a few signs. Mark and I try to sign things with him to help reinforce the show, but there are things we've never signed for him, like "fish" that he just shows up with randomly. He has his own versions of the signs, but we know what he means. His new signs are fish, bird, apple, bath, hot, and airplane. And...we made up a sign for beer and he knows it! If we show him a beer or ask him how to say beer he does it.



Harrison is also getting good at following directions, at least when he wants to. We can ask him to put something in the dirty clothes and he takes it right into our closet and puts it in the bin. He is good at taking things to people, and will also (sometimes) go to his high chair when asked at meal time.



He can now climb into his high chair by himself, so I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't do that and then decide to get down, because he can't get down on his own yet.

Today he figured out how to open the refrigerator. I was not pleased! He stood there looking at it like he couldn't believe his good fortune and then grabbed a package of sausages and tried to run away with them. What a nut.







This past weekend Harrison tried a lemon. He really wanted it off of a water glass, so we gave it to him. Here is what he thought of it:

And, he even went back for more after that! We were so excited that Mark's sister managed to capture that expression on her camera. That face is just priceless!

Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks:

Having fun in the sand at the park. This picture just screams "boy" since he's surrounded by all of the trucks.


Our awesome neighbors the Bellinos are letting us borrow their train table and track. We have been working on setting up a track but that is hard to do with Harrison as a helper. He keeps picking up the track pieces and moving them all around. But he is having fun with it because it is just the right height.


We were a little stir crazy one afternoon. Harrison was running through the upstairs opening all of the closets. He found a pacifier in his room and decided to chomp on it for a while too.


Hopefully we'll get the video posting capabilities back soon because I have quite a few to post!

A monkey, more cousins, and other fun stuff

Harrison is pretty independent. For the most part he doesn't want to hold your hand, except if he wants you to come with him. Normally that's just so he can show you a piece of trash on the ground that he wants you to pick up for him...not my favorite activity.

So, when we go to the grocery store, Costco, etc. he is either in the shopping cart or stroller. It would be nice to just be able to have him walk in with me on a quick errand and not squirm to get down and then run away.

Because of that I finally caved in and bought a harness. Yes, I am now officially "that" mother. The one who has her kid on a leash.

But, he doesn't seem to mind it, and definitely likes his freedom. His first experience with it was at Lowe's, and he just ran as fast as he could down the aisles. We passed through one with little bins of small parts all along one side, and of course he couldn't wait to grab one of everything as we went by. I attempted to put things back where they belonged but I am sure someone will end up with an ecru light switch cover when they swore they picked one from the "white" bin.

So, the lesson learned is that we will not be utilizing the harness anywhere like the grocery store, or that could be a disaster. But, it is good for quick outings and places like the zoo. Here he is on his first adventure with the monkey.





Speaking of the zoo we went to the Dallas Zoo on Saturday. We had gone up to visit Mark's parents, and his sister Alison and her family were there as well. Despite the fact that it was over 100 degrees out, we decided to go to the zoo. Harrison's poor cousins normally reside in a more temperate climate in Washington state, so they were really hot. But, they all had a good time checking out the zoo, and even posed for a picture with Harrison.

Here are Aaron, Makenna and Maicie with Harrison:


Checking out the new giraffe exhibit:


We have a new obsession around here, and it is golf balls. If you heard him say it, you would know what he was looking for. Anytime we go into the garage now he looks for the golf balls. I won't let him bring them into the house because he could cause some serious damage the way he throws them. I really don't want to buy any new windows or a new TV anytime soon.

But, he does enjoy playing with them in the grass along with his little golf clubs set his Aunt Amy, Uncle Steve and cousin Clarisse got him for his birthday. Thankfully the clubs are plastic, because he has gotten a hold of a real club and it is dangerous to be near him with the way he swings that thing around. He will definitely need some lessons if he is going to pursue this sport. Here he is outside last week:




Harrison gets a wild hair every now and then and decides to go crazy. Apparently he thought it would be fun to drag the bin with his diapers and diaper trash bags around the room. Then he threw all of the diapers out and unrolled twenty trash bags. Why do I even attempt to keep this place in order? Argh.




And here he is climbing at the playground. Harrison has been working on climbing this for a while and seems to have it down now. He even did it with a golf ball in each hand, so I was impressed.




We tried coloring last Wednesday since it was so hot out. I was looking for an indoor activity. It went great until once again he bit the tips off of all of the crayons. I thought we'd be safe with these little crayon holders, but nooooo. I know they say non-toxic, and hopefully at some point you can't ingest enough colored wax for that to change.



And last Thursday he didn't make it through his show to bath time. He soaked his shirt spitting water on it at dinner so I took it off him. As I was cleaning up the kitchen I noticed he wasn't commenting back to the TV, so I peeked around to take a look...

Seventeen Months Old

We are all now recovered from Harrison's illness. It was a virus and didn't have any lasting effects. He did have quite a rash for about a week, so although he wasn't contagious after Tuesday afternoon he sure looked bad until about Friday.

I got sick Thursday afternoon and it hit me for about 36 hours but thankfully that was all. By the end of last week we had quite a case of cabin fever from the combination of the rain and all of the sick days.

So, after a long and boring week last week we were very excited to have visitors this week. On Tuesday my sister, her boys and my mom arrived. Harrison was just thrilled to have little people here around the clock!

We had a fun week, going to the park, pool, museum, bookstore and just hanging out at the house. He had lots of hugs and kisses for everyone. He would randomly grab Jeffrey or Charlie for a hug and/or kiss multiple times each day. It really seemed like he was just so glad to have them around to play with him.


Harrison's words are coming along slowly. Aside from mama and dada, we do have a few that we can understand and quite a few that we think are something but aren't always clear. He seems to be able to say ball, bubbles, water, golf ball, umbrella, grover, that and nana.

He uses his version of "that" quite a bit while pointing at things to get you to tell him what they are. He differentiates between ball and golf ball while playing with Mark's golf balls outside. He knows that we have umbrellas on our back deck and when he sees them in his books or out and about he gets very excited. He knows grover from his diapers and likes to point him out to you. And, he uses nana to apply to apply to people and things he knows but doesn't know the word for.

He is using signs quite a bit thanks to his friends Alex and Leah from his favorite show Signing Time. He signs for milk, water, eat, book, more, all done, and now cheese. He was pretty excited when he signed cheese at lunch the other day and we knew what he was signing and gave it to him. So, as annoying as the songs are from the show, I can definitely handle it if he is going to keep learning!

Here are some fun pictures from Harrison's visit with his cousins:

Kisses for Jeffrey


Running to the park

Harrison and Charlie playing at the Children's Museum

Climbing around at the pool

Our Visit to Dell Children's Medical Center

I always envisioned our initial visit to Dell Children's would be due to Harrison's affinity for climbing. I didn't expect it would happen this weekend for a fever.

To make a long story short, I realized Sunday that Harrison had a fever. After treating it at 104.3 degrees, the fever went down and then spiked back up to 105.1 degrees. At that point I decided it was time to go to the ER.

Luckily we have a fantastic children's hospital here. Dell Children's is the only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in Central Texas and one of 17 in the entire United States. We are SOOO fortunate to have this resource here.

Harrison and I were there for about two-and-a-half hours before Mark arrived to join us--he had driven up to Waxahachie that morning to visit his parents and had to drive all the way back from there. During that time we were assessed, given a private room (with a real door and walls...much different than my experiences in an adult-centered ER) and Harrison's treatment was started.

They gave me a little hospital gown to put on Harrison, which was a size medium! It made me sad to think about the poor babies that are small enough to wear the small or even extra-small size.

The nurses that took his blood and urine samples were just great. The little needles and catheters are so tiny, I don't know how they are able to do it.

Harrison was totally frustrated when I put the hospital band on his wrist, so you can imagine his delight when they took his blood and left an IV line in his hand in case it was needed.

The nurse taped a board on his wrist to immobilize it. She said some patients try to pull at the IV site, so she could put a sticker on it to distract him. That made me laugh, because as she was saying this, he was using his mouth to try and bite the line out of his wrist. So, she ended up wrapping it with gauze and tape and then putting a sticker on top of that. He was still frustrated but at least couldn't rip the line out.

He was so upset after all of this, and it was so hard to help hold him down, but I knew this was the only way we would find out what was wrong with him. He fell asleep in my lap and it was just so sad to have this limp, hot little body there just helpless.

Finally Mark arrived and was there when Harrison woke up. He was so happy to see Da Da there too. We had to wait about an hour-and-a-half for the results, which showed that it appeared he did not have a bacterial infection, and that things were most likely viral.

During this time he developed quite a rash on his torso, and after checking it the doctor said this was a strong indication that things were viral, so there wasn't anything they could give him. We could treat the fever and just keep him comfortable. They gave him some Motrin, put about 30 minutes worth of a saline solution into his IV, and watched him for a while longer to see if the rash changed.

By 9pm although his fever was still high (103.5) they gave him a final dose of Tylenol and told us we could take him home.

We ended up home at about 9:45, so it was a six-hour adventure. Poor Harrison was so good during the whole ordeal and was just exhausted. I had to wake up at 2am and check to see if he had a fever, but he felt cool enough that I just let him go until morning.

We saw our pediatrician this afternoon and she said he looked remarkably good for where he was yesterday, as he was his usual crazy self. Aside from the rash still being present along with a low-grade fever, he seems just fine. His appetite is back and he was kissing his image in the mirror this afternoon :-)

We are so thankful that it was nothing more than a nasty virus, and so happy to have our crazy boy back. Here is a picture of Harrison and Mark from the hospital yesterday. Somehow despite feeling horrible he still looks so cute in his little gown .



Oh, and he's growing like a weed!! He was 33 3/4 inches long and 23lbs 12oz today at the doctor vs. 32 inches and 22lbs 8oz at his 15-month check up.

The Pool

I love the pool.


Why?


Because Harrison loves the pool.


He has a great time there, and totally wears himself out. He will go bonkers if we stay home all day. He can only last about 30-45 minutes at the park in the afternoon because it is just to hot. But we can make it for an hour and a half a the pool with a few breaks for snacks during the 10-min adult swim time.


Here we are after coming home from the pool on Wednesday.
Mission accomplished--he is worn out!





And here we are on Friday eating snacks at the pool. He tried to drink his bowl of blueberries. He was pretty hungry because he swam between the steps and me for what seemed like an eternity.

Yesterday Mark was able to come with us, so I was able to have a free hand to video for a minute. Harrison LOVES the slide and will go down over and over!

Beach Trip

We are back from the beach, and I've finally found time to sort through the pictures and find a few to post. We had over 700 so it took a few days :-)

We headed to Rosemary Beach to meet up with my mom and my sister and her family the week of June 12-19.

Harrison was an awesome traveler. It took us 13 hours in the car each way, and we left at around 3am both heading there and coming back so that he would sleep for the first few hours. It made the trip so much easier! We only had to stop twice each way, which definitely helped speed things along. I spent a lot of time in the backseat on entertainment duty.

The beach was clear the whole time we were there--no oil issues for us at all. At the end of the week they started work on trenches and berms to contain the oil when it finally does arrive. So sad...the beach is just so beautiful and it is hard to think of it being ruined. We felt so fortunate to be able to enjoy it without any issues.

When we arrived Harrison was greeted by his cousins who were off to the beach. We unpacked the truck and then while I put away the stuff Mark took Harrison to explore. They stopped by the little playground that was just a few doors down from us, and after that they went down the boardwalk to see the beach. It was low tide and pretty empty, and Harrison had no issue with marching right out into the water in his clothes. He loved it! Here are some pictures from his first experience with the beach:





His cousins joined him in the bathtub that night...he was surprised to have other kids in there with him but had a lot of fun with them.


The week was just great. Harrison got to spend a ton of time with Mark, which was just great, because with everything going on, they haven't had a lot of that lately. He was so excited to have Da Da around all the time. It was really fun to watch him play with Mark.

We had great weather all week and were able to hit the beach and pool every day. It did get pretty hot out down at the beach, so if we went during the later part of the day Harrison only lasted about 45 minutes before we bailed for the pool. But, he really did enjoy the mornings at the beach when it was not crowded, the water was calm and it was still relatively cool. When it was like that he enjoyed going out into the water with us and splashing and watching the boats, other people, helicopters, planes, and especially the birds.

He fell in love with the birds this trip and was just so excited to see them hop along the beach and peck at the crumbs, float on the water, and run around town. He got SO excited when we would see a bird he almost couldn't contain himself.

The pool right by our house was great for Harrison because it had a ledge all the way around the inside of the pool that he could walk or sit on, and then one whole side of the pool was really wide wade-in steps.

He started out the week playing on the steps and being in the water with us holding him. By mid-week he was swimming between Mark and me and laughing about it, wanting to do it again and again. On Friday afternoon he started lunging and jumping off of the side ledge and swimming to me from there, and then wanting to swim back to the side. Granted, we are not talking about anything more than a few feet, but it was just so great to see him progress like this. He has really turned into a water baby!

Overall it was a really great trip for all of us, and Harrison had a fantastic time. He got to play with his cousins, watch them fly kites, dig in the sand together, climb around the playground, explore the town and just be silly in the house.

Here are some more fun pictures from our week:

Harrison loved digging in the sand at the water's edge:


Family photo :-)


Harrison was full of kisses all week!


He almost fell backwards watching his cousin Jeffrey fly a kite


Here are my mom, Mark and Harrison enjoying our spot on the beach:


Harrison must see a bird down the beach


On our boardwalk:


Climbing at the playground:


Look at those pink cheeks! It was HOT outside!


My mom got the boys matching shirts with their names and initials on them:

Here we are enjoying an afternoon in town:

Monkey face!