Harrison & Nana on Christmas

Harrison's First Christmas

Can you tell Adam is making a horse sound?

Wrapping Paper Bliss!

This hat is perfect for our Colorado weather!

Christmas Day was full of lots of fun. He opened presents, played with wrapping paper, and played with wrapping paper. Did I mention he played with wrapping paper? Fortunately, we all knew he would show little interest in gifts, so no one went overboard for him. My mom actually wrapped up a used paper towel roll. We also went up to my grandma's house where our entire family gathers for Christmas festivities. I am 100% sure that Harrison was overwhelmed by the noise level at that house. Here are some pictures from Christmas day. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures after we left the Brantley's house, so all of our pictures are only from Christmas morning.

Naturals

We got to spend time with Adam's sister (Amanda) and brother-in-law (Billy) over Christmas. We really enjoyed it because we moved to Denver a month after they got married and we haven't had too much time since then to spend with them as married couples. We feel very fortunate to have them as a brother and sister (as we do with all of our brothers and sisters). So let me cut to the chase, we are kind of depending on them to provide Harrison with a cousin in the near future. However, they have made it clear that it will be a while, which I totally understand. But seeing them interact with Harrison makes it clear that they will be naturals as parents. Until they have one, we will just let them borrow Harrison for practice.

Boating & Boys

One of the great things about Charleston is that it is almost always boating weather. We went out on the boat a couple of times over Christmas and it was a little surreal (considering we live in Denver). Harrison really loved the boat. I was holding on to him as tight as I could, but he was pretty persistent about wanting to touch the water. I didn't let him go, but he definitely was trying to reach it.

On another note, I just love to see Adam interact with Harrison. Adam gets so excited about introducing him to new things, and I never imagined that he would love on Harrison the way that he does. Harrison definitely knows his da-da. He says "da-da" about 98% of the time he is babbling. The other 2% is reserved for "mama" when he is whining and tired. Gee, thanks Harrison! Sorry there are so many pictures of my boys, but I can't just pick one that I like. Oh, and the jacket that Harrison is wearing was Adam's when he was little. I just love that! Thanks Nana for saving it!

Back & Running from Christmas 2008

I have to apologize to our regular readers that I haven't posted in almost 10 days. We went back to Charleston for Christmas and were having so much fun, it never occurred to me to post to the blog. There were plenty of great moments from Harrison's first Christmas and I plan on filling everyone in on ALL of them. Well, not all of them, but as many that I have photos to support.

When we arrived, we stayed at the Brantley's house and Nana had Harrison's Christmas gift. We decided to give it to him before Christmas because we were leaving Christmas day to spend the rest of the time with my mother. Harrison got a pony that was the cutest thing ever. He really loved it. He can bounce or rock on it. Attached is a video of him riding it for the first time.

Harrison and Santa Cow

I took Harrison to Chick-fil-A today to get his picture with Santa Cow. Before us in line was a little girl who was screaming bloody murder when she saw the cow and Harrison just stared at her like she was crazy. When the Cow held Harrison, he absolutely loved it. He was clapping his hands, playing with the cow's fur, and smiling at everyone that was looking. He absolutely loved it. Unfortunately when we were trying to get our family picture he was clapping his hands and smiling at all of the people looking at him (not the camera).

9 Month Check-Up Update

Oops! I forgot to include his latest stats in previous post:

Height: 30 inches (85th percentile)
Weight: 21lbs 3.5 ounces (70th percentile)

9 Months Old!

It's official...he's been out as long as he was in! I can't believe it! When he was in (the womb), that was the longest nine months of my life. Now that he is out, it has been the quickest nine months of my life. I keep on asking where this year has gone and then I look at Harrison and remember.

This has been a really exciting month in the life of Harrison. Here are some updates:

1. We are officially pacifier free! I realized on Thanksgiving that we were giving Harrison a pacifier out of our convenience and not for his need (we originally gave him the paci for some non-nutritive sucking that he needed as a baby). We woke up on Black Friday and decided to quit cold-turkey. And it worked. He hasn't missed it since. We actually tried to give it back to him when we were on a plane recently and he wouldn't have it!


2. We are bottle free! I have read and heard that a lot of parents have a hard time weening their babies from bottles, so when Harrison decided this month that he likes drinking out of his sippy cup, I just started giving all him all of his formula in sippy cups. Now we don't have to worry about weening him off of a bottle! Hooray!
   
3. Harrison is army crawling. I have just decided that he is going to do everything late, which is okay with me. His army crawling is so darn cute. He can get anywhere and get there fast. He loves cords, electronics, and tall pieces of furniture (i.e. bar stools). You know, he makes a bee line for all of the items in our house that could harm him. I am starting to think that you have to have nothing but pillows in your house to baby-proof it. As of recently, he can be found trying to chase the dogs down, trying to put their dog tags in his mouth. As you can imagine, this presents a problem since the dog tags are attached to collars around their necks.


4. Harrison is pulling to a stand position. This would be cute, except that he has already received a couple battle wounds trying to get out of the stand position.


5. Harrison moved to a big boy car seat (see post on 12/7).

I was hoping to add that Harrison got his first tooth to this list, but no such luck. When I was at the doctor yesterday, I asked if he was sure that Harrison wasn't going to need baby dentures. He thought I was crazy. He did inform me that I will probably experience the joy of him getting them all at one time. Fabulous!

Attached are pictures from a Christmas party that we had with our friends last night. Harrison got to open his first Christmas present. He was much more interested in the paper, which meant that Adam and I were constantly fishing down his throat for pieces of paper. He also got to hang out with all of his friends (other babies). Notice that he is the only boy among many girls!

To Make It Worse...

This is a PS to the previous post. Adam gave Harrison a ball of aluminum foil to play with. Sounds harmless, right? Well, not if you know me. I absolutely loathe aluminum foil. There is something about it that makes my skin crawl...almost to the point of nausea. Anyway, Adam thought it would be fun to let Harrison play with it at the table tonight. And worst of all, he let him put it in his mouth. As I am typing this, the thought is making me cringe...ugh! I don't know how I managed to take a picture of it, but I did. All that talk about in the previous post about my husband being so great...I must have had temporary amnesia about the aluminum foil incident.

Like Flipping A Switch

Harrison has been a handful the past couple of days. His schedule is all thrown off, he is fussy/irritable all day long, he has a snot face, and I can't get him to stay happy. It really isn't that bad. But for him, it is just so out of character. It could be because we have been traveling with him a bit recently, but I just have to think that he is cutting a tooth. I have never seen him like this before and he just seems like he is in pain. Anyway, today around 5:45, I called Adam to inquire when he was coming home and ask if he could come home a little early, because Harrison was getting a little difficult for me. Adam agreed (what a great husband) and was home before in an hour. The minute Adam walked in the door, Harrison flipped a switch and was the happiest baby in the world. He played with Adam like nothing was ever the wrong. I am sure that Adam thought that I was crying wolf. I can't quite figure out why he was so happy to see Adam, but I couldn't do anything to make him happy for longer than 10 minutes today. One day I think he realize that he needs his momma. Until then, I am praying that these teeth come in soon! For now, I thought I would include a short video of how much fun they were having.

Harrison on the Piano Video

Okay, so I figured out that I could just upload the video to YouTube of Harrison playing the piano. So, click the link for the video that I mentioned in the posting prior to this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Kg54JPRS4

Harrison is Baby Beethoven

When we came home from out of town yesterday, Santa Puff's (also known as Puff, Grandma, my mom etc) goody for Harrison had arrived. My mom told me that she was sending him a piano, but I had no idea that it wasn't just a little kiddie piano for him to bang on. I think he gets the banging-on part down. Anyway, we got some footage of him the first time he played on it. Unfortunately, it won't upload to the blog. I think it may be too long. It is hilarious. The pictures don't do it justice.

Straws & IceDream

What can I say? Harrison loves his IceDream. He has had it a couple of times now. I don't think that I am supposed to give it to him yet, but he really likes it. He actually threw his first temper tantrum this week when I took it away from him. I am not surprised that he likes it. I think I ate IceDream from Adam's store every day for about 5 weeks while I was pregnant. I really couldn't get enough of it. Harrison also really loves straws. I realize they are a little dangerous, but we keep a close eye on him when he has one. I love the picture of him sitting in a high chair with his leg propped up, straw in his mouth. It really cracks me up. Adam said this is a picture that we will show at his rehearsal dinner one day saying that he was this laid-back from his infant days.

Christmas Tree Shopping

We thought that we might not buy a Christmas tree this year because we were going to be in Charleston for two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, I am pretty confident that I have never gone a Christmas without having a tree. We even put Christmas trees up in college when we weren't allowed. In addition, this is Harrison's first Christmas, so I just couldn't do without. We did decide to buy a smaller one as to be more practical. Anyway, attached are some pictures of Harrison and his first Christmas tree hunt. I think Adam may have had more fun than anyone. Notice the picture of Adam trying to put Harrison on top of the tree like he is the angel (the man at the tree stand thought Adam was nuts). I also included a picture of our stockings because I think it is so cute!!

Big Boy Car Seat

I finally had to break down and buy Harrison a big-boy car seat. I was trying to hold out until Christmas, but I just literally couldn't put him in his infant seat any longer. As it got colder out here and jackets were required, I really couldn't buckle him in anymore. So here are pictures of him in his new seat. I think his face dictates how he really feels about it. I'm thinking once we can turn it around (1 year) and make it forward-facing, he'll like it much better.

Who Is That?

Harrison was playing with one of his toy mirrors the other day and I think he discovered himself. It definitely isn't the first time that he has seen himself in a mirror, but it was different this time. He kept on leaning down and putting his mouth on it. It was too cute.

What A Difference a Year Makes!

Last December I had a 3D ultrasound done on Harrison. He wouldn't show us much during the ultrasound, but he did do something quite often. He sucked his toes. It was too cute to see him do this. Well, it has been just over 11 months since the ultrasound and look at what he is doing. You know they say that what your baby does in the ultrasound is indicative of what he does outside of it.