Peek-A-Boo

When Harrison has a big smile, he'll scrunch up his nose...too cute!

Does the drool give away the fact that he is cutting 4 teeth right now?

Harrison loves to play peek-a-boo. My guess is all kids love to play peek-a-boo. Sometimes I get so into it with him, that I actually get a little startled myself. And he can play it anywhere. This afternoon, we were in the grocery store when I bent down in the aisle to get something off the bottom shelf, I looked up at Harrison and he flashed a smile, and then disappeared. That's his signal it is peek-a-boo time. So I stayed crouched down until my thighs started to burn, both of us giggling like crazy in the aisle, and then continued on with shopping. I bet the passers-by shot us some looks. It's funny how you don't care about that stuff after you have a child. Well, we played again when we got home and I captured some of it on video.

Harrison & Marley

Harrison practicing his downward dog
He's learned how to be gentle. We've only said the word "gentle" a million times.

Hopefully I have a good solution to Marley's depressed state that she has been in for the past 11 months. Since Harrison has come along, the dogs don't get as much attention as they used to. Marley has been quite dramatic about it spending many hours perched on her dog bed. Harrison really started to take to Marley when he was about seven months old. At first he was really into Chewy (I think it was all of her hair), but I'm assuming he realized that Chewy couldn't care less for him. Anyway, Harrison loves Marley and I think Marley likes him too. I remember going on a walk a couple of weeks before I had Harrison, and I saw a little boy romping around his backyard with his chocolate lab. When I saw him, I immediately thought of my unborn son that would be playing with Marley in a couple of years, and I got a little choked-up about the thoughts. Clearly I was slightly emotional during the last couple weeks of pregnancy. Anyway, I think my vision for them being best friends is coming to fruition. If you listen carefully to the video, you will hear me say that Marley is giving Harrison kisses. Well, as soon as he heard the word "kiss," well, you can guess what happened.

Lots of Personality

Last night, I decided to take some pictures of Harrison since it had been a while. He seemed to be in a great mood, and five minutes later...not so much. I think the four teeth that he is cutting right now might have contributed to the rapid mood change. One thing is for sure, he is developing quite the personality. He is a little mischevious with a little bit of sweet on the side. One thing is for sure...he is all boy. It is crazy that boys and girls can be SO different at this age.

Harrison's Preferred Stance

Harrison loves to stand these days. He really likes to push his high chair around the kitchen while toddling with it. Of course, he can't do much without his beloved monkey, as you can see.

It Has Been A While

Adam and I went on two different trips with a less than 24 hour layover at home which didn't provide enough time for me to blog. I know what you are thinking..."wow, Mandy must have been really busy to not have taken 10 minutes to blog." Well, your thoughts are right on...I was too busy. But I'm back with a vengeance.

Adam and I arrived back home early this morning and we had to say bye to Grandma, who graciously agreed to take care of Harrison while we were away. I know that Harrison had a fabulous time with her. When my mom picked us up from the airport, she informed us that he had learned how to crawl most of the stairs, flush the toilet, and drop his monkey out of the crib and cry for someone to come pick it up (just after this she let me know that she thought he is about to cut four teeth at once...lovely). "You know," I thought, "those were just the milestones that I hoped he would hit while we were gone." She did teach him other things, but the aforementioned ones just kind of stick out. Anyway, Harrison is growing like crazy. He seems like a little boy now. It is amazing what a big difference a week will make right now.

Oh, and did I mention that mom washed his hair with sunscreen while she was here? She saw a picture of a baby and "no tears" and thought it would work! Guess I can't blame her, but it was too funny!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The funniest thing happened yesterday. Well, let me back-track. I have to preface this story by saying that every time we put Harrison down to sleep or when he wakes up, we hear him rambling to himself. I guess he could be talking to his monkey, but either way, he just babbles. Well, yesterday, Harrison and I had been out for a couple of hours running errands and on the way home, he was just babbling like crazy. Dadadad, babbaba, lalalal...you get the picture. He kept on looking out the window, looking at me, and then I noticed his eyes were getting heavy. He was also yawning and talking at the same time. Just a minute later, I looked in the back seat and his eyes were closed and he was still talking. Eventually he faded off, but the gist of it is that he talked himself to sleep! I couldn't believe it. It made me start thinking if he does this every time he goes to sleep. Either way...now I know he has a little bit of me in him. I talk Adam to sleep all of the time!
Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there. Spread the love, but don't talk 'em to sleep!

Just Having Some Boy Time

Last night, Adam took Harrison upstairs to get ready for bed and I heard both of them laughing like crazy. I yelled upstairs, "what are you doing to him." Adam's response, "Oh, just having some boy time." I decided to sneak in on their "boy time" and capture it on video. I am convinced that a baby's laughter could foster world peace.

Standing on Everything

Now that Harrison has figured out how to pull himself up. He will pull himself up on anything. He tries to get to the standing position in the most peculiar places, including the middle of the floor. He can't stand on his own, so he just forms a bridge. Now that he can stand, I feel like he is a lot older. I know it doesn't make sense. However, it seems that he is just a bit more independent. His independence also means that he is relatively all over the place. Puff is coming out here to stay with him for a week and a half and she has her hands full! I hope she has been exercising because Harrison is going to give her a run for her money.

Anyone Need a Plumber?

Sing With Me!

Harrison has quickly discovered a fondness for hearing his own voice. Great...just what I was hoping for, a child that likes to hear himself make noise. I am hoping this is a characteristic of all small children. It didn't take him long at all to figure out what a microphone does. When I say not long at all, I mean, I did it once and then he did it.

Back Home with My Boys

What a long week. I missed both Adam and Harrison tremendously. Without a doubt, they had a blast without me. Harrison is doing all sorts of new things. He is no longer stuck when he pulls himself up. He has figured out how to get out of the standing position and is even doing a little creeping around furniture. Apparently, Adam also let him play with the remote control. He played with it so much, that it no longer works. Adam knows how I feel about letting him play with it, so clearly, he just waited until I was out of town to let him play with it. Now, Harrison picks up the broken remote control and points it towards the TV...I'm really not sure how I feel about this. Actually, I am sure. I hate the idea of him playing with a remote and control and then knowing that it works with a TV. Harrison has also gotten really into giving kisses. He gave me a big smacker before I left on Monday morning and I thought about it the whole week. This morning, I caught him giving his pony numerous kisses. As you can see, they are crazy, open-mouth kisses.

Ole Blue Eyes

I know that I have posted a lot in the past couple of days, but I am about to go out of town for a week for work. Harrison is getting harder and harder to leave. While I love my job, it is getting much harder to say bye to him. As I was gathering things together today, Harrison kept staring at me with those blue eyes. I really wanted to put him in my suitcase and take him with me. I do enjoy getting to go out of town and I know Adam really enjoys getting to spend some QT with Harrison that he probably wouldn't do if I stayed home all of the time. I am going to ask Adam to take pictures of Harrison when I am gone, but I'm not really counting on it.