The playroom is complete!

The playroom is complete! Well...almost. I would still like to get little plantation shutters for the 3 tiny windows but that isn't exactly a priority. The tent I have been waiting for from Restoration Hardware for 2 months finally came! Of course they completely forgot to monogram it "Harrison's Hideout". I am not surprised. I am done with them!!! What's important is that Harrison loves it. The playroom is like our little preschool!

He stuck his finger in my belly button and said "belly button" which was amazing. He says "Bite it" constantly and "Bite Daddy". He is starting to hit which apparently is common for 12 - 18 month olds. There isn't a lot you can do to stop the problem besides saying "No hit" and well...ducking. Time outs aren't effective until age 2. They can't start to make the connection until then. He usually does it when he is sleepy or frustrated. I showed him how to kick a ball and he says "kick it" and he will hand us a book and order us to "read it". So he definitely has some understanding of verbs at this point!

We have a rolling cooler (like the size of one of those carry-on pieces of luggage) that we have brought to some of the neighborhood parties. Harrison had decided he likes to go for rides in it. So I pull him around the house in the cooler! Whatever makes him happy. It relaxes him. Maybe I can start getting him down for naps that way! Adam says I can't take him for walks around the neighborhood in the cooler because someone might call CPS but I am tempted just to see the looks I get! :)

Day of Sickness

On the last blog, I told you that Harrison's fever went back down before his nap. He woke up again with 101.5 so the doctor told me to come in. She said his ears looked fine, so no ear infection (thank goodnesss!) She said that several viruses were going around that involved high temps. Her assumption was that it was Roseola and told me to look out for a rash that would indicate the virus was over. When I got him home from the doctor, his virus spiked to 103.2! Luckily after giving him motrin it went back down to 101.5 and then down to below 100 before bedtime. Harrison never gets sick and Adam never leaves town, but it just so happened he got sick when Adam was far far away in Boston! I know it killed him to be so far away when we had a sick baby. That night Harrison slept with me. I wanted him close to me so I could make sure the fever didn't spike again. But but morning his temp was normal and he seemed as good as new! I think maybe he had a 24 hour virus instead of roseala because we have yet to see a rash. Either way, our baby is healthy again! I have forgotten his grocery cart cover the last few times we went shopping and sanitized it with wet wipes instead. So I suspect the filthy grocery cart might have been the culprit. I think that is what gave me the stomach virus that landed me in the hospital when I was pregnant, so I just don't trust them!

Beautiful Baby

Jennifer Cota took yet some more beautiful pictures at Stella's birthday party! I will have to blow these up and frame!

The little one woke up at 5:15 am with a 101.5 fever. He was so hot. He has only had a fever like this once, so it kinda concerned me. He seems fine otherwise so I think either he has an ear infection coming on or he is fighting off a virus. I gave him motrin and got the fever down to 100. He is happily napping so hopefully the fever will still be down when he wakes up.

We had to miss our 9am playdate with little Stella. They had big plans for the baby pool! I had Harrison's beach bag packed and everything. But I don't want to get Stella or Sam (newborn!) sick and the hot sun certainly isn't good for a little boy with a fever. Hopefully we can reschedule soon because Harrison loves Stella. She was cracking him up at her party (see first picture)! I don't know what she was doing to make him laugh, but it was deep belly laughs. Nothing is better than that!

Toddle, Toddle

Harrison started walking today, exactly a month after his first steps on May 24! His motivation was getting to the radio. He took 3 or 4 steps and then repeated that about 5 or 6 more times this morning. Its so exciting! Especially since I was in the other room when he took his first steps (it crushed me). He giggles when he walks. He thinks its great fun. I am so happy!!!

Speaking of the radio, I don't know if I have mentioned on earlier blogs, but Harrison LOVES music. He dances when we say dance. He dances to music from commericals on TV, dances in the car, he'll bob his head to any beat he hears. And he has AMAZING rhythm, which Adam insists must come from him and not me! He loves all his musical toys. When I put him in his car seat, he immediately starts smiling and bobbing his head, because he knows the music is about to come on. I can't wait to start piano lessons in a few years! I think he will love it. His great-grandfather was a beautiful piano player, playing by ear. And his great-grandmother played cello in a symphony. Maybe he will follow in their footsteps! They have passed on but I know they would have just ADORED Harrison. His Granna plays piano and I play a mean chopsticks - ha! Of course if Harrison hates piano, thats ok with me. But I want to expose him to lots of different things so he can discover what he loves!

Harrison's First Haircut

Father's Day Weekend

Harrison is so lucky to have such a great daddy! We had a wonderful Father's Day weekend. Friday night we went to a party at the neighbor's house and Harrison met some more kids. Harrison had his first haircut on Saturday at Pigtails and Crewcuts. They put him in a cute little police car. He was good. He didn't LOVE it, but he stayed still and he still had both ears in tact when we left. I will post pix of that in the next blog. He is such a handsome little boy with his new haircut (not that he wasn't before). We showered Adam with some much deserved Father's Day presents Sunday morning and then later that day went with "Meemers and Poppers" to Flat Creek Estates. Its a winery near Marble Falls/Lago Vista. They had a band and the best burgers I've ever had. We walked out to the vineyard even though it was sweltering hot. Harrison loved every minute though and he even got to pick a grape off the vine!

Baby Love

People keep saying Harrison looks like me! With the sunglasses on, I finally see the resemblance :)

We had a brief rain shower this morning and as sunny as it was, I knew there would be a rainbow outside and there was! So this was Harrison's first rainbow. And we saw a helicopter which he thought was awesome.

This week Harrison has been pulling his big toe toward his mouth and saying "bite it". Also saying "smell" a lot for candles, food, and his scratch and sniff book. I need more of those! We keep reading the Christmas one. He says "bug" when we see one land on the window. He said "manana" for banana at breakfast yesterday. And he says "Ka-Ka" for cracker. He just keeps amazing us with not only the words he says but how much he understands of what we say! We have a book called 100 first words and he is getting really good about pointing to the picture of a word when we say it. Now if I could just get him to understand "Don't throw your food" and "Don't bite!". Because the only response I get is laughter. He chunked his sippy cup the other day and unfortunately it hit Adam right under the eye, so everyone at Adam's work probably thinks he comes from an abusive home!

He had a playdate with Parker yesterday which was very exciting for him. I think he is in baby love. Before she came over, he kept saying "Parka", which might be the cutest thing I have ever heard in my life. Then he started saying "Parka Birthday". Could he even possibly remember her from his party? I don't know, but he was saying Parka Birthday as clear as can be. Parker's daddy told me at his party that he said Parker, but I didn't believe it til I heard it myself! They both have the same blonde hair (about the same length since Harrison needs a haircut) and big blue eyes. They just looked adorable together. Neither one of them shares too well, but I don't think they are supposed to at this age. At one point, Parker gave him a little "love push" away from a toy she was playing with and Harrison looked at me and his lip started to stick out in slow motion and quiver and he was fighting back the tears, but he got over it pretty quick because last night, he was saying "Parka" and then making kissy faces. Such a sweety!

I made the mistake of telling him it was possible that there were mountain lions living behind our house in the greenbelt. So now every morning at breakfast, he points out the window and roars. Adam got mad at me for telling him this but a) it IS possible and b) he doesn't know lions are scary and c) its just so darn cute!

He woke up last night around 2 needing his mama. Adam finally brought him to me and he snuggled up to me in bed for awhile. I have no problem giving the boy what he needs!

OH! His crib FINALLY came. Of course they assembled it wrong. Adam had to completely take it apart and put it back together. But I think the restoration hardware nightmare is finally over. I think it was 3 months of nonsense with them?! But hopefully since this is a convertible crib, he will have it for many years to come. It really is beautiful. Thanks Adam for putting it together!!! Harrison and I can't wait to spoil him on Father's Day this weekend! We are going to a winery outside of Lago Vista for a picnic with hamburgers, live music, fishing, and well hopefully wine!!!

Pool Time and Party Time!

Friday night we met Kim and Gary (Meemers and Poppers) at Steiner Ranch Steakhouse for dinner. We got to hear all about new cousin Blaine. Harrison did very well. I thought it was a more casual place than it was, so I was relieved when he was on his best behavior!

On Saturday we took him to one of the pools in the neighborhood. This was his first time in a big pool. We put him in the mommy and me float, but I think he liked it when Adam was holding him more. He kept trying to leap from his arms and swim off though! He loved seeing all the kids and was squealing with delight. That night Adam taught him how to blow bubbles underwater in the bathtub.

Sunday was Stella Rose's first birthday party! Stella's mom and I were pregnant at the same time and took CPR, breastfeeding, and childcare classes together beforehand. So they have been buds since being in their wombs! Lucky Stella became a big sis to Sam on May 19 so we got to meet him too!

Harrison had decided that walking is BORING since taking his first steps on Memorial Day and hasn't walked since. But hopefully he will take an interest again soon. Then I will be chasing him I am sure! He said "pikaboo" last night. And yesterday he handed me my lip gloss and ordered me to "open". He continues to be what I call "particular" about food. He makes the cutest, most terrible faces at some food. He gagged like I have never seen anyone gag before when I tried to give him soymilk. But he loves his veggies and grilled cheese sandwiches still make him shiver with delight so as we continue to introduce new foods, he will survive on those!

Welcome Cousin Blaine!

Harrison's very first cousin arrived on the scene early this morning at 1:15 am. His name is Blaine Jennings Kimble and he was 8 lbs, 1 oz. Blaine and Hayley are doing well. And that is all the info I have as of now! We are going to wait until things settle down for Hayley, Logan, and Blaine before we go to Fort Worth for a visit. It will be a good excuse to visit the Fort Worth Zoo too! Harrison can't wait to give his cuz a hug and teach him all he knows!

One for the Road!

Harrison likes to chunk his sippy cup in whatever push toy he is pushing around. In these pictures he has thrown it into the trailer of his train. He will stop to take a swig and then put it back. He is so funny. And here is a pic of him in his cool lion shades. He loves them! He also loves to play with my cell phone. The other day he managed to put a video of himself as my wallpaper. Which is nice, since I had no clue how to do this myself. And then a couple days ago, he put something called "Mmam" into my calendar on August 7 at 5:30 in the afternoon. So I will have to watch out for whatever Mmam is!

I NEED MY MAMA!

I spilt coffee on my laptop so I haven't exactly been able to update this until now. Adam fixed it (yay!) but I am on thin ice now, so I must be very careful. I don't think my laptop has 9 lives!

Life hasn't been too eventful. Harrison and I spend our early mornings bunny and bird watching from the balcony and then usually head out for a walk with the wagon. If we do this before 9am, we avoid the heat. He has been waking up around 6 or 6:30 so there is plenty of time for that!

He has been going to bed around 8 or 9pm, and its not uncommon for him to wake up around 10 or so with a bad dream. Now that he is sleeping through the night, Adam gets up with him since Mommy = Milk and we are trying to slowly get away from that. But he was screaming over the monitor "I need my mama!" Now Adam will probably try to say that he was just saying "my mama". But I know what I heard! So I rushed in there and as soon as he got his mama he went silent and went back to sleep. I feel so loved and needed! He continues to get cuddlier and sweeter and gives us hugs all day long. He cuddled up to Adam this weekend and watched cartoons with him which I know must have felt wonderful.

He continues to talk up a storm. Sometimes only saying a word once, and sometimes saying it constantly! New words are book (more sounds like boka but he says it when he wants a book!), fountain, bathroom (says this a lot), balloon, night-night (says it when he buries his face into a blanket or pillow like in the picture), coffee, purse....There's more but thats all that comes to mind now. He loves to wash his hands and get his teeth brushed. Hopefully it stays that way!

Yesterday he was trying on his yellow sunglasses with the lion stickers on them (gave them as favors at his party). After he put them on, he picked up his little mirror and was checking himself out in it! He kept taking them off, putting them back on (with help) and picking up the mirror again to admire himself. It was so funny. I wish I would have had the video camera!

Bad Goat

Not much to report since the last posting. We took a road trip to Palestine to watch Harrison's Uncle Matt graduate from high school! Harrison got to hang out with his Grandpa's goats beforehand. He loved them even though one gave him a "love bite". Hopefully he won't have bad memories of goats like I have bad memories of geese from my childhood!!! :) Here is a pic that my mom sent.

Other than that, he can say "Baa" for a sheep, "Bow wow" for a dog, and "neigh" for a horse. He learned that from one of his new books called "Moo, Baa, La La La". When you say Moo, Baa, he will follow it up with La, La, La. Its one of the most adorable things ever. We have also discovered this week that he loves grilled cheese sandwiches. They make him shiver with delight!