Let's Play Catch-Up

My, my, my, how time flies when you're having fun!!

Harrison is now 6 1/2 months old and more fun than there are words in the dictionary!!  He is growing so fast and learning so many new things each day.

Since my last post, a lot has happened...let's begin:

Christmas came and went so super fast!!  My mom came down for Christmas, and that was such a special treat.  We attended Christmas eve service at our church which was really nice...the theme was Christmas through a child's eyes.  It was very sweet to see the little ones singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!!  It was also a great service!!

Jeff, Harrison, and I spent New Years with our good friends Brett & Kelly Jones.  They are expecting their first baby in March, so Harrison will have a friend very soon.  Miss Emily Claire Jones will be here before we know it!!

My sister, Stephanie, came from Boston for a visit from Jan 5-9.  Having Steph here was so awesome; I miss her so badly and wish that she and Thomas lived closer.  However, she and Thomas are up to some good things up in Boston.  They are opening The Friend Street Hostel in early April along with Thomas' good friend Matt.  It's going to be a great thing for them and for Boston!!

While Stephanie was in town, my mom also came back for a visit, and so did my dad and step-mom.  It's always great having family in town.  Time always seems to go by way too fast, though.

On January 11, my mom got married to her long-time beau Kevin.  I am so happy for the two of them.  They had been dating for close to 8 years, and it was time for them to take the plunge. 

The biggest news since my last recap is that Harrison is now 6 months old.  Harrison turned 6 months old on January 23rd.  He is growing up so fast; it's hard to believe that he's already 1/2 year old!!  So, now let me tell you about all that he's been doing:

• Harrison began eating solid food (oatmeal and oatmeal/banana cereal) since mid-December.
• Harrison began eating "real" solid foods in mid-January, just before his 6 month birthday.  We've given him carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, bananas, apples, pears, and peaches.  His least favorites are green beans and peaches.
• Harrison offically began rolling over about a week ago.  He had rolled over several sporadic times since he was about 4 months old, but it wasn't until last week that he really took off with his rolling skills.
• At his 6 month check-up, Harrison weighted 17.1 lbs and was 26.5 inches long.
• Harrison is wearing mostly 6-9 month size clothing, but he does wear 12 month size in some clothes.
• Harrison really enjoys his bath time
• Harrison can now sit up, but he is still a little wobbly if he leans too far to one side or the other.

At the end of January, I travel solo to Boston to visit Stephanie and Thomas.  I was so excited to go see them, but I was very sad to leave Jeff and Harrison.  Jeff had Harrison all weekend while I was away until my mom came to help out while I was at a conference in Rhode Island.  I had a blast around Boston with Stephanie and Thomas.  Steph and I had a nice dinner on my first night there...it was a tried and true Italian restaurant...to the point where I could hardly understand our waiter.  He was from Rome, Italy.  The second night, the three of us made homemade pizzas.  Steph and Thomas live in the North End of Boston and are literally walking distance away from everything.  We got fresh veggies from the Haymarket, freshly ground sausage from the local butcher (for our Sunday a.m. breakfast casserole), fresh pizza dough from the local bakery...it was really cool.  The weather wasn't horrible, but it was definitely cold!!

This past weekend, my friends Liz, Courtney, and Alyssa, hosted a baby shower for our super cute friend Kelly that's expecting baby Emily within the next 3-4 weeks.  Time really got away from us and we didn't even start planning this shower until about 3 or 4 weeks ago, but it worked out perfectly.  We had fun games, good food, and the guests showered Kelly, Brett, and baby Emily with super fabulous gifts!!  It was a very fun day.

Jeff and I had a very nice date for Valentines day.  We went out on Friday night and had dinner at 310 Lakeside at Lake Eola.  This was the location where Jeff and I had dinner the night that he proposed to me; although at the time, it was a different restaurant.  It was nice to get out and have a date, but we were both excited to pick Harrison up!!

Well, that brings us to current day.  I have pictures from the various events over the past two months, but I'll do a separate post for them.

Oh, one last thing.  I have started my weight loss journey...I'm down 3.6 lbs in the first week!!  Only 36.4 to go!

:-)

Catching Up

Life with a baby seems to be so much busier than it was before baby came along...imagine that, right?!?!?  I can't believe how fast most days seem to come and go.  It's not that taking care of Harrison is hard or anything, but by the end of the day when he's down for the night, I just don't feel like blogging, so that's the reason for my absence.

Anyway, since my last post, there's been a few events to note.

1. Harrison slept through the night for the first time on October 10th; one day after his 11 week "birthday."  He's slept through the night since then, and I'm praying he continues to do so.
2. Harrison moved into size 2 diapers on October 11th.  They're still a little big on him, but he was busting out of the size 1s, so it was time to move up.
3. Harrison met his great-grandmothers this past Saturday (10/16).  It was such a wonderful day for us as we were really excited to introduce him to Grandma Hull (Jeff's maternal grandma) and Grandma Holmes (Jeff's paternal grandma).  All of the rest of our grandparents are deceased, so this was a special day. 

Here are some pictures from Harrison's visit with the great-grandmothers:

Harrison with Grandma Hull and Daddy

Harrison and Grandma Holmes

Until next time...

10 Weeks

Harrison is now 10 weeks old and making new discoveries every day.  In the past week, he's discovered his hand (9/30) and started sucking his thumb/hand (first noticed by me on 10/1).  While I was out of town for three days last week, my mom was here babysitting, and she said he started trying to put his hand in is mouth then.

Another first for us this past week was Harrison's transition from bath time in the sink to bath time in his "big boy" bath tub.  He loves his bath time, and always smiles the biggest toothless grin when I run water over his head.

Harrison is such a joy in our lives, and people always say that once a baby is in your life, you wonder how you ever lived without them before...that's so true!!  I can't imagine life without him now!

Here are a few pictures of the little guy...

First bath in the "big boy" bath tub

Sucking his thumb...oh so cute...for now anyway  :-)

Ready for church directory pictures

Playing with mommy and daddy

All clean and ready for bed

Oh yeah, he now weighs 12.5 lbs.

Two Months Old

Harrison turns two months old today...so crazy how fast time has gone by.  I will probably say that with each passing month!!

Harrison is such a good baby; I feel so blessed!  He is not yet sleeping through the night, but he typically only wakes up once.  He loves his bath time.  We have established a nighttime routine that starts with bath time; we then give him a bottle, and once that's finished, we swaddle him and lay him down, and he goes off to sleepy land.  Sometimes he still has some energy and doesn't want to go right to bed, though.  He is absolutely adorable when he's wide awake at night; it's as if he knows he is supposed to be asleep, but he thinks it's so funny that he's awake; precious!!

Harrison is currently taking 5 ounce bottles and typically goes between 4 and 5 hours between feedings.  Several times in the last week or so, he's gone 6 hours between his feedings (this is at night when he goes to sleep after his nighttime bottle and bath...something about a warm bath that seems to make him sleep longer).

In the past month, Harrison has really taken off with his sounds.  He coos and ahhhs a lot, and his little toothless grins are simply adorable.  While he doesn't have complete control of his little head, he has really good control of it, and I think it will only be another few weeks before he's 100% in control of his head.

A new development that has really "taken off' in the last week or so is Harrison's drooling.  He will completely soak his little outfits.  Earlier this week, he soaked an outfit even with a bib on...I think he may be getting teeth earlier than "normal" based on this fact.  Jeff says he was a heavy drooler, so maybe Harrison just gets that from him...is drooling hereditary??

Here's a few documentary pictures to round out this update:

Two Month Check-Up

Harrison had his two month check-up today (he'll officially be two months old next week), and got a very good report.  Here are his stats:

Weight:  11 lbs, 9 oz
Length:  23 3/4 in
Percentile:  55th

Now that he is two months old, Harrison has to start getting his immunizations.  Today was the first time for the shots, and it was very traumatic for me (and him). 

Today he received vaccines for Polio, Pneumococal Disease, Diptheria, Tetanus & Pertussis (DTaP), Rotavirus, and Hib.  Thankfully, he only had to have two shots (the Rotavirus vaccine is oral, and one shot contained three vaccines).  When the nurse administered the first shot (pneumococcal disease vaccine), he only cried a little.  The nurse warned me, however, that the next shot would make him really cry.  She certainly knew what she was talking about because the instant she stuck his little leg, he belted out a cry so loud it made me shreek.  Then he cried so hard that I had to blow in his little face to get him to breathe...it must have REALLY hurt him.  It made me so sad...he cried "real" tears...they were actually rolling down his precious face. 

I'm thankful that he doesn't have to have shots every day, and I'm even more thankful that we live in a country that has these vaccines available to protect him from these serious diseases.

On a happier note, here's a picture of Harrison at 7 weeks old:

Check out that red hair!!

I'll leave you with this little video of Harrison; enjoy!!

Little Flirt

Today, while at a new mommy luncheon at church, it became very clear to me that Harrison is going to be a ladies man!  There were five new babies at the luncheon; three boys, two girls.  When Harrison was "introduced" to little Charis, he just smiled and cooed and giggled at her non-stop; it was really cute!! 

I guess Jeff and I will have to keep our eyes on him from now on or else he'll have a girlfriend and we won't even know it.