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.