Eight Days Must Be A Record

Showing off his teeth These eyes still get me

I can't believe that I have gone so long without posting to our blog. The past eight days have just flown by. Nana was out here and taught Harrison how to come back down the stairs. This is one of those things that you never realize how important it is to learn until they learn to go up the stairs. It is sort of like once they learn to stand; getting back down seemed harder to learn at that time. It certainly involved more tears. I don't think learning to come back down the stairs required the shedding of any tears. He is also taking a couple of steps now. Nana taught him how to walk just holding onto one finger of our fingers. The past couple of days, I have been trying to walk with him like that around the house, but he soon grows impatient and just crawls. I don't blame him. I grow impatient and I feel like just picking him up and carrying him where he needs to go.
Let's see...we are also trying to work on high-chair manners with Harrison. He is starting to try to blow raspberries more while eating. It is so hard for me not to laugh. I have to look away so I don't smile right back at him. Frankly, it isn't funny when his food comes back out and on to me. That isn't funny at all, but I can't help but to laugh. Sort of like getting tickled. Not funny, but you still laugh.

Below is a video of Harrison playing with Chewy. It makes me laugh and Harrison just loves our dogs. Chewy got a major haircut today, so it seems that Harrison is more interested now that she seems more petite.

April Showers

Love these boys
Harrison climbing on the choo-choo train

Harrison doing the traditional crawl (not the "left-leg lopez")

Harrison and Nana

Did I say how much I love these boys?

Oh, and this is my favorite picture to date!!

So, it is April, and we just had an enormous amount of rain and snow on Friday and Saturday. Today was absolutely amazing. We all had some cabin fever after having to stay inside, so today was a welcomed change. Nana came in town yesterday to help with Harrison as Adam and I have a crazy work week.

Happy Birthday Aunt Amanda!

We miss you so much. We hope you have a fabulous birthday. Give Uncle Billy a hug for us!

All Boy

Doesn't He Look Like Such A Big Boy?

I really didn't want to post again today as I have posted consecutive days in a row. However, I just couldn't help myself this time. This is too funny to keep all to myself. In case you were wondering, he was doing this for about 10 minutes before I decided to capture it on video.

Well, one of us drives a cow car

About 4 and a half years ago, Adam and I were dating, and working together at a Chick-fil-A in Charleston. It was the holiday season and we were selling the infamous Cow Calendars. Well, Adam's mom came in and bought a certain amount of calendars that entered her into a drawing to win a Chick-fil-A pedal car. Well, she won, and at the time, we had no idea who would use it, and frankly, Adam and I were just dating. Kids certainly weren't on our mind, and marriage may not have even been on our mind then. Anyway, four and a half years later, Harrison got to take it for an inaugural ride while we were in Charleston last week. I'm sure this is the first of many rides.

Happy Easter

Harrison celebrated his 2nd Easter...I think this is the first holiday that he has gotten to celebrate twice. When you are a mom, you start thinking about silly stuff like that. Last year, Easter was earlier and Harrison was like four days old. His Nana gave him a sweet Easter basket last year and thankfully, I saved the basket (and grass inside too...I know, I'm cheap). Unfortunately for Harrison, he only received two monkey plates in his Easter basket and a toy that someone gave him for his birthday a couple of weeks ago that I decided to hide until today...hehe. I also cooked my first Easter lunch today and it was scrumptious. We discovered that Harrison loves mushrooms. Love is almost even an understatement. He would grunt in between mouthfuls of them. I would have never guessed that he would like mushrooms so much, but when they are covered with yummy sauce, I guess it does the trick.

We also went to church today in our best Easter garb that we could find for 40 degree weather. Our church is super casual, but I thought people might get a little more dressed up for Easter. I was wrong. We were the most pastel people at church. It looked like we stepped in Colorado from another country. I can tell you one thing, there was not one smocked outfit on any child at our church.

Standing Alone, Sort Of...

Harrison decided recently that he wanted to stand alone a lot more. Well, he still doesn't really know that he is doing it. We caught him on video playing with one of his favorite toys and well, you will see a lot more than him standing alone in this. I think it makes me laugh so hard because he is my son. We'll just have to see if our little demolition man makes you laugh too.

On The Verge...

Doing the "Coffee Table Shimmy"

This is where he circles the coffee table over and over again,

trying really hard not to touch the items that are off-limits

Practicing walking

The latest victim to Harrison's mouth...
...monkey's life has become exponentially better

I think Harrison is getting closer to walking. If you could hear me thinking, you would probably sense a bittersweet tone. For one, as I have mentioned numerous times, I'm not sure I like the idea of him growing up. Not that I prefer a Benjamin Button type child, but I am just not ready for him to be, well, grown-up. But more importantly, after this past week of chasing him around while he does his best "left-leg lopez," I just don't know how I will keep up when he is running. This week, he actually has stood for a couple of seconds on his own. I don't think that he knows that he is doing it. I certainly do. I have to admit, my first thought is to push him down (lightly, you know, I don't want to hurt him). I don't want him to realize that he is standing on his own. Everyone tells me that as soon as they realize that they are standing, they will just take-off. I know that trying to prevent my child from coming to this realization is not good parenting. And I don't think I would really push him down. But I'd be lying if that wasn't a thought that crossed my mind. I'm just afraid I won't be able to keep up with him.

When Does He Switch?

He loves his phone. He likes to talk, well, yell at whomever he is talking to on the other line.

By the way, where did he get that big mouth?
This is the cart that he likes to push around.
Monkey is definitely reaping the benefits. It sure beats getting pulled around by his tail in Harrison's mouth.

Is Harrison a Toddler? I am not sure when the exact transition occurs. I am reading a book right now that it about toddlers and it covers 12 months-40 months. One thing I am sure about is that I am not going to be able to count in months much longer. 40 months? I don't even know how old that is. I remember when I made the transition from counting in weeks to months. It was about 10 weeks. I couldn't keep track nor did I know what day it was, so it was hard to figure out exactly how many weeks he was. Back to the toddler question...is it determined by age or mannerisms. I am thinking that he is on the verge, if not already a toddler based on mannerisms. He is going through this clingy, exploration, keep-mom-on-her-toes phase. I know this is just the beginning, but, whew, it is exhausting. When changing his diaper, I have to pretend that I am wrestling an alligator to get the job done. My distraction tactics of singing and giving him something obscure (aka, not really allowed to play with) to hold on to, are going down the toilet. Monkey doesn't even do the trick anymore. He also is fussing a lot more. What happened to my sweet, content, and mellow baby? He may still be sweet, but content and mellow are hidden behind a little being that moves faster than a tiger. Right now, I am trying to teach him to deal with difficult situations. For example, when he pushes his little cart around and runs into something, he generally collapses and cries until someone helps him. So, I am trying to teach him to figure it out himself, preferably without the tears. Anyway, so I am going to keep on calling him "my baby," probably until he goes to college, but is he a toddler? I just don't know.