Rollin'...

Six Month Check-up...

The little man had his six month check-up this morning.  He's now 18.1 pounds and 28 inches. He grew 2 inches since his last appointment, two months ago!  He's tall and skinny (as his doc stated).  We've got one inch left before it's time for a new car seat.  He's also got two little teeth peering from his lower gums.  Those are growing steadily and seem to be causing little pain.  Harrison had a little bit of a rough week this last week.  Last Wednesday night he started vomiting and had a pretty high fever.  The next day he had a doctor's appointment that was (unfortunately) complete with a failed try at a catheter (in order to see if he had a UTI) and two attempts at a blood draw.  He came out of it all okay and without any major diagnosis.  Seemed he'd just caught some sort of stomach bug.  On Sunday a little cough turned into a bigger one and was accompanied with some sneezing and a runny nose. Despite the little cold, Harrison was in great spirits. To watch him talk and play you'd never know he had a cold.  So, needless to say, last week was a little tough but was a good learning experience for us first-time parents.

Some new thing Harrison enjoys - 

1)  He loves it when we sing "Yummy, yummy, yummy you've got (fill in the blank) in your tummy!"  It cracks him up pretty much any time.

2)  He seems to appreciate it when Mama sings along to "Hardly Speaking A Word" by Lori McKenna.  He quiets down if he's been punchy and smiles.  Actually, he seems to like any Lori McKenna song...probably because Mama gets really excited about it.

3)  He loves it when Papa plays guitar.  He really watches Jeremy's fingers on the fret.  He's takes it all in.

4)  Peek-a-boo!  is a new big hit.  

5) Schooching (is that a word? Guess not, anyway...) all over the floor and bed when he gets the chance.  It's amazing to see how fast he can move - simply on his back!  It's very fun to watch but also a little bit scary as we're realizing that we need to quickly get this apartment a bit more baby-friendly.  

6)  This isn't so much a fun thing for us, but Harrison has become quite active on the changing table in the last week.  Not only has he discovered below his belly button (a bit of a hassle when there's a poopy diaper involved) but he's often desperately trying to turn over and over while on the table.  He's making us work harder.  :)

7)  And most recently, he's starting to realize that bath-time can be fun.

The three of us are having a great time with each other.  Harrison is such an amazing, beautiful, and smart little boy. 

Best Friends...

Harrison and Madison have a great time together.

The Kid is Alright!

Proud Papa here...our handsomely beautiful amazingly magical King of All Babies had been running a temp Wednesday night and on through to Thursday morning and finally, after several hours of fret and a doctor's visit (and needles and an unsuccessful catheter :( on the boy) his tests came back negative for sickness and he's all healthy now!!! He's teething and, when you add the spring air and the chance for sickness from unknown sources, we had a bit of a scare (and a first for first time parents). But Harrison's mood and tone is back to normal - he's discovered peekaboo and how to act like you don't smell like poop while at Target (usually he gets a blank face like "Papa, I'm smelly 'cos I pooped my pants. What's your excuse?").

I know when your kid has a fever (and his spiked at 103.5) it's like the end of the world - and his hot spit up sure seemed like a harbinger of doom (especially when I slipped on it and almost cracked my head, to Tanya's laughing pleasure). But all in all, this is part of the great act of Life, and the King passed with cool breeze colors. I love him so much and even though he has to go through suffering in life, I'd rather be sick for him anytime. But I guess I'm good at fevers because I've had so many in my life.

He's the Best. I'm grateful for every breath and smile and new vocalization he makes. He's our Bear.

Not so much a fan of the apples (yet) ...

More photos from the weekend...

(These are all out of order, I couldn't figure out to put them in the right order. Anyway...enjoy!)

On the rocks at Halibut Point State Park (the site where we were married)

The men...

Family photo at the exact spot where we said our vows. It was a special place to be with our friends (all who were in our wedding party) and on Harrison's six month birthday.

Harrison seemed quite mesmerized by the ocean

Sofia and Ben in the distance...

Sofia gives Harrison a gift - Moonlight Bear

New best friends

Sofia leading the way to the cliffs at Halibut Point

Playground fun...

Harrison's first time at a playground

Kicking around in Gloucester...

This weekend our very good friends - Ben, Serapha, and their daughter, Sofia - came from New York to visit with us and our other very good friend Rachel. It was such a great weekend. We all had such a good time. The Ingalls family met Harrison for the very first time. We spent our time going to the beach(es), eating delicious food created by Rachel, and walking around town. It was perfect. And to top it all off, the weather was beautiful. What a way to welcome Spring!

Meeting at Stage Fort Park

Sofia pretty in yellow

Sofia loves to dance

Rachel finally gave in and held Harrison
(excuse his red eye...I did edit it some but it wouldn't totally go away)

Harrison is serenaded to by his little lady friend, Sofia...

We had a beautiful and amazing weekend with our friends Rachel, Serapha, Ben, and Sofia this weekend. Harrison made great pals with Sofia.




(More photos of the weekend to come)

His shirt pretty much sums it up...

Poor kid...

Sorry Can, I had to put this up.  Harrison is mesmerized by this video. He loves his Aunt Candace.

Some cuteness for the day...

He's discovered his tongue (again) and likes to use it whenever possible. Denim overalls are especially tasty.

Some more sights from Breakfast time...

Breakfast is serious business

Yum...rice

As per usual, Madison wants in on the action

Breakfast time

It's funny how the simple stuff (breakfast, for instance) is much more amazing and eventful with a six month old.

Not much hair left on his head...

This video is a bit old now but I love it - a family video (minus Dewey).

Harrison's first "solid" food

And also...

This kid gets a lot of attention. It's very rare to go and not have someone say "what a handsome little boy" or "look at those blue eyes, he's so big." The very first time we went out with him (on the way home from the hospital we had to stop at the pharmacy) he was commented on and he wasn't even doing anything other than sleeping. Anyway...this afternoon on the way out to Home Depot, we actually had a woman stop her car to look at Harrison and to chat with us about him. It was kind of unreal and almost a little scary too. When she stopped I thought that Jeremy knew who she was. I'm used to him knowing random people around town. But that wasn't the case. She was a complete stranger. The kid stops traffic.

Teething? Maybe?

Today was a little bit of a rough day for The Bear* (and for Mama Bear too). Harrison woke up in a great mood and enjoyed some tasty rice cereal without breast milk, mind you. All seemed peachy until about an hour after breakfast when it became very apparent that someone was in desperate need of a nap. Unfortunately by the time it was realized how needed the nap was, the window had closed and we we're stuck in the uncomfortable place of "baby is so tired, he's crazy." Even more unfortunate, Mama Bear thought that she'd be able to put The Bear into his own crib for a nap. He wasn't having it...at all. Eventually he was coaxed into taking a short nap on the bed. That seems to be his favorite sleep spot these days.

* aka Harrison

Keeping in touch

Since the little (big) guy is growing up so fast, we've decided to keep a blog so that all of our family and friends can keep in touch by checking in here when they're in the mood for a smile. We like to send photos by e-mail when we can but we realize it can be a bit tedious to download (upload or whatever, I'm not a whiz with the tech terminology). And since we don't have a photo-sending-manifest, it's very possible that all photos don't get to everyone. Hopefully we'll be able to keep up with this. Enjoy!