All Things New

It has been a very busy few weeks for Harrison!  Last week it was confirmed that one of his lower bottom teeth has broken the surface.  Two days later, another one had broken through.  I had heard of babies starting to teethe around the 3-4 month mark, but it is very rare and even then most don't break through the surface for a few months.  Apparently this is not the case for Harrison.  At this rate he'll have all of his teeth by the end of the month! One thing I can be truly grateful about is that at least the teething portion of these particular teeth is done. 2 down....a lot to go.

Still chewing on everything!

Another new adventure is the beginning of solids.  We started giving Harrison rice cereal following his 4 month appointment with little success.  I tried to give him multiple opportunities to eat it, thinking that it may be the texture and eating in general that was putting him off.  After many tries, I gave up on the rice cereal.  Maybe he just doesn't like it.  Next on the list was sweet potatoes.  I busted out the Baby Bullet my sister Emily gave us for Christmas and I have to say, that machine makes making homemade baby food so easy!  It took me all of 3 minutes to make 10 days worth of sweet potatoes (all from one large $1 sweet potato mind you). 6 are in the freezer, 3 in the fridge and 1 consumed by a well satisfied customer.

More sweet potatoes please!

Harrison has also started flirting with the idea of crawling.  On a few occasions now he has positioned himself on his knees and bounced his butt in the air like he's trying to move.  Now if only he would lift his face of the blanket at the same time :)  We are in no hurry for him to start scooting or crawling however, one thing at a time!  That and I was hoping not to cross that bridge until we had moved out of our current place.  Doesn't look like that is going to happen!

Big Boy!

Today Harrison had his 4 month appointment.  I had my reservations about bringing him to his appointment alone again, his 2 month appointment was a NIGHTMARE.  Capital letters.  He screamed from the moment we walked into the exam room until we were back in the car.

We attended our ECFE class this morning so I had every expectation that he would either sleep through the entire appointment or be a big bear. It went a million times better than last time.  He smiled at the receptionists, smiled and giggled with the nurse, and was all-out belly laughing by the time the doctor came in. He was so friendly to everyone he saw.  Harrison's measurements were taken and he is now 14 pounds 9 ounces (25th percentile) and 26.5 inches long (92nd percentile...WHAT??)  His doctor was amazed at how much he's grown in length, over 3 inches just in the last two months.  --Apparently that growth spurt I mentioned previously was legit.--

His doctor also gave us the thumbs up to start solids.  Harrison is obviously growing well considering the height growth, but he's not putting on much weight (only 4.5 pounds since birth) because of his mobility and activity level.  He is essentially burning off all of the calories he's taking in.  In addition to his formula we can now give him whatever solids he likes (starting with the more gentle fruits and vegetables).  I had always been under the impression that you were to start with rice cereal for its hypoallergenic properties, but apparently this isn't really the case anymore.  I'm so excited to finally bust out the baby blender my sister got us for Christmas, let the experimenting begin!!

In other news, we decided to start sleep training Harrison a few days ago.  While he was going through his most recent growth spurt he developed some pretty bad sleeping habits.  Since he previously slept through the night every night, we knew he was capable of it and were hopeful that it wouldn't be too bad.  One thing I was seriously concerned about was putting him in his crib while he was awake.  Every night since he was born he has either been rocked to sleep, or left to fall asleep in his swing and then transferred to his crib.  The second concern: the hairdryer noise.  Harrison is used to falling asleep with the hairdryer CD, but we obviously don't have it playing in the bedroom once he's in his crib.  We discussed the need to have the environment he falls asleep in be the same if he were to wake in the middle of the night.  Lastly, now that Harrison is rolling over I've been a paranoid mess about him being swaddled at night. So out went the swing, out with the hairdryer, and out with swaddling his arms.

Tuesday night was our first night of sleep training.  We decided to go with the Ferber method of progressively waiting, simply because it was the one I was most familiar with.  I don't like to refer to it as "cry it out" because I definitely have my maximum that I will let him cry, I do not believe in just letting him cry forever.

Night 1 consisted of:  First wait:  3 minutes, Second wait: 5 minutes, Third (and subsequent) waits: 10 minutes.  10 minutes was even pushing it for me, but I decided to go with the flow and see how it went.  We started at 8:00pm after his bath, bottle and lullabies.  He was finally asleep at 8:45pm.  Longest 45 minutes of my life.  Every time I went in to soothe him my heart just broke when he would reach up for me to pick him up.  Ugh, it still makes my heart hurt.  The last 10 minute wait had me in tears with a nauseous stomach while Daniel tried to reassure me that we were doing the right thing.  I then had to go into the bathroom, shut the door, and turn the shower on to drown out the crying.  Every fiber of my being was telling me to run in there and pick him up.  That being said, he did fall asleep.  He slept until 2:30 am where I had to do one 3 minute check.  He fell back asleep and slept until 6:30 am (pretty typical for him).

Night 2:  Harrison was put in his crib at 8:15.  Nothing.  Not a peep.  I can't tell you what torn feelings I was experiencing from this.  A) "Our baby is a GENIUS!!" B) "Oh my God, what if he flipped over and can't breathe?!" It took everything in me not to go in there just to check that he was okay. (I know this anxiety is a little irrational, simply because he is no longer being swaddled and is able to lift his head with his body 90 degrees, and can roll over both ways....but still.)  45 minutes later, still not a sound from him.   When we finally went in to go to bed ourselves an hour after putting him to bed, there he lay: flat on his back with his arms above his head.  Out cold. He slept until 7:15 with no waking up.  There was a serious feeling of "This is a miracle!" to finally have a solid nights sleep again.  The two weeks without it were a definite reminder of how spoiled we were in the first place.

  Here's hoping that Night 3--and of course the nights to follow--are the same!

4 Months Old!

This past weekend we celebrated Harrison's 4-month birthday!  It has been a very busy month with a lot of new activities, new skills and a some new adjustments too.

Still loves his feet

 Harrison and I started attending ECFE classes every Thursday for a few hours.  It has turned into a great outlet for us both, getting some mommy time in for me, and Harrison is loving hanging out with all of the babies and playing with all sorts of new toys.   I love watching him take everything in and "interact" with the other kids.  Of course I use the word interact loosely, but its great how even at such a young age they are able to take it all in.

Harrison and Noelle at ECFE

 A few weeks back now I went back to work part time and am now working 2 days week as an RN.  I wont lie, I do enjoy the time away from Harrison and take advantage of having adult conversations.  That being said, by about noon I'm ready to go home and snuggle my little man.  While I'm working, Harrison has been staying with Diana and her 4-month old Noelle.  Those two babies are so cute together I can hardly stand it.  I love knowing he's in good hands and its obvious how much fun he has over there.

Harrison has had some major developments in the last month!  He finally conquered rolling over and is now able to roll both from back-to-tummy, and back again.  A few times he's actually log-rolled his way across the living room.   He is also laughing now.  His little giggles are adorable, but I have to say his out-and-out laugh is hysterical.  Mainly he laughs at random noises and faces, but we have discovered that he has a very ticklish neck.  All it takes is a little tickle or a raspberry to the neck and he laughs like crazy.

 Harrison has also started teething. Dun dun dun....  This has turned into quite an investment on my part.  From freezer toys, vibrating toys, Sophie le Giraffe, wet wash cloths, Orajel, teething tablets and Tylenol, nothing seems to quite outrank his finger.  It is very hard to see him in pain and I am anxiously awaiting for these little buggers to break through the gums.

Harrison and "Sophie"

The beginning of teething seemed to come just about the same time as Harrison's 4-month growth spurt.  He has been eating like crazy--upwards of 40 oz a day--and sleeping like...well crap.  He has forgone sleeping though the night (something that after 3.5 months, Mommy and Daddy had grown quite accustomed to) and will very rarely nap unless forced.  We're coping the best we can, but getting up multiple times a night without any real reason (not hungry, no dirty diaper...) is getting quite old.  I know part of this is due to the teething and the growth spurt, but part of me also feels that its because Harrison is never put to bed awake.  He is always asleep when we transfer him to his bed--and up until now, we didn't feel the need to fix what wasn't broke.  At this point I would love nothing more than to sleep train Harrison into going to bed in his crib while awake, but I've read some very mixed reviews on at what age it should be started.  Which of course makes me wonder....if I cant sleep train yet, is there anything I can do to get things back the way they were? Sigh.

Daniel, Harrison and I took advantage of the amazing weather we've had the last few days and took Harrison on his first walk outside.  We've had plenty of walks indoors, but there was something great about walking outside in the sunshine.  We also purchased a front carrier this weekend, I can't wait to start using it!

Harrison's first walk outside

Looking out the window at Nana's.

Harrison's 4-month doctor appointment was supposed to be this morning, but unfortunately doctors get sick too and we had to reschedule for this Thursday.  I'm excited to see how much bigger he is since his last appointment two months ago.  Not so excited for the vaccinations...yuck.  One thing I do know is that Harrison has gotten a whole lot bigger!  Its amazing how the transformation is so subtle and sometimes unnoticeable since we are with him everyday, but there is no doubt Harrison is growing up fast!

Monthly birthdays 1-4

1 Year Ago...

As I celebrated my first birthday as a mother this past week,  I couldn't help but think about what I did for my birthday last year.  Surely it had to be something exciting. Like going out for drinks, staying up late, sleeping in the following morning, etc.  As I thought about all of this I recalled that last year for my birthday we went out to La Casita's for their late night happy hour where I enjoyed 1 beer and we called it a night early and headed home.  I remember feeling so tired that I couldn't even bring myself to celebrate.  As it was, I would find out just 4 days later that I was pregnant.  Exactly 1 year ago today.

While it is not as grand and exciting as a 1st birthday, I cant help but feel a small celebration and reminiscence is appropriate.  Thinking back on my first reactions when I saw that second blue line, telling Dan the test was positive, demanding that he go buy me more pregnancy tests because I couldn't seem to believe the first one.  Those first few days after finding out seem like just yesterday.  But oh how things have changed.  I spent this evening laying on a blanket with Harrison, snuggling him, hugging him, kissing him, tickling him, and listening to him talk and giggle at me.  I still can't believe how lucky I am.  In one short year I have gone from living life day-to-day to "Mommy". I have transitioned from going out most weekends and sleeping in late, to weekends in and getting up early.  While there are some days that I'd love to sleep in past 7, I've realized that there is nothing as amazing and more precious than seeing that boy's smile. These days I'm loving nothing more than laying on the floor snuggling my baby.  Even when he smells like poop :)

3 Month Update!

I can't believe it has already been 3 months since this little munchkin-- "munch" for short -- came into our lives.  Looking back at the pictures from his birth, its amazing to me how much he has grown in just 12 short weeks. He is very quickly becoming his own little man. 

It has been a busy time for our little family, getting out and about has been really important to keeping my sanity!  I'm still at home with Harrison during the day and we've definitely settled into a routine.  Playdates and mini excursions have kept us both from getting too bored.  It was hard for me to admit at first, but newborns are fun for about 30% of the day. This 30% consists of feeding, talking, tickling, singing, bathing and playing with toys.  The other 70% of the day involves poop and staring at eachother.  As Harrison is getting a little older he is becoming much more of a participant in our playtime and conversations which has made the days much more enjoyable for us both!

Napping with Daddy

Harrison is most definitely a baby that needs to be entertained.  Not one to play with his toys on his own, he wants your constant involvement by making faces and singing in weird voices to him.  Sometimes just being in his sightline is enough.  Sometimes.  That being said, I can immediately tell when Harrison gets to the "okay mom, please leave me alone for a little bit" time.  I know this because of his dead-pan stare :)  We've started to encourage him to play with his toys on his own by lying next to him, but waiting for him to initiate play himself.

The more toys, the merrier

He has become quite the chatterbox.  Daniel and I love listening to him talk, sometimes it sounds like he is signig to us! Harrison is now talking to all of his toys, his newest "friend" is his new mobile in the crib (yes, you read that right! He is FINALLY in his crib!!)  I was really nervous about making any changes to his bedroom routine and therefore put off transitioning him from his bassinett to the crib for a long time.  It wasnt until I woke up one morning and saw Harrison smushed against the side of the bassinett with nowhere to move that I realized the time had come.  All of my worrying was for nothing, I'm not sure he's even noticed he is not in the bassinet anymore.

One thing that I'm starting to realize is that I'm a very concerned mother when it somes to safety.  That may be an understatement.  The bumper pads were converted into a blanket (thanks again, auntie Emily!), I freak out when someone tries to put his carrier on furniture when he's in it, the sight of somone bottle-propping THEIR OWN baby makes my palms sweat and I still poke him everytime I wake up in the middle of the night to make sure he's still breathing.  Oy.  I had thought these reactions would calm once he got a little older, but that doesnt seem to be happening.  Poor kiddo is going to have a nut for a mother :)

In other news, Harrison has mastered the art of raising one of his eyebrows.  Just like his Daddy.  I call this his "you fools" look.  There's definte judgement in that look!  He's also very very very close to rolling over without assistance.  Right now we're stuck at the half-roll.  This consists of 1) Roll onto  side 2) Get stuck  3) Get angry  4) Cry  5) Be rolled by mommy onto back again  6) Repeat.  Just a little more momentum and he should get it!    Harrison has also discovered his toes.  While sitting in his Bumbo chair the other day, a look of concern came across his face (complete with head-tilt to the side) as he stared at his wiggling toes.  Then a lightbulb went off and he seemed to make the connection that they belonged to him.  He's now obsessed with his  toes :)

3 Months

My Favorites

Lately, while spending my days with Harrison I'll find something about him that's just so cute I cant stand it.  I've decided to start a list of these adorable characteristics so that one day he can read about just how obsessed his mother is with him :)

* His feet.  This is a huge surprise to me, as in general I HATE feet.  Daniel and I have been together for over 7 years and I still freak out when his feet touch mine.  Its absurd really.  But there is something about Harrison's feet that are just so cute.  Every time I take off his onesie to change his diaper I kiss each of his feet. His little baby toes just make me want to bite them off :)

* This is kind of an add-on to the feet. Every time he gets a bottle, if you look at his feet he sits there and wiggles his toes until the bottle is gone. 5 minutes of just sitting there wiggling his toes. I love it.

* His pouty lower lip.  Simply stated, this kid can work the lower lip.  He is still discovering all of his facial expressions and it melts my heart to see his lower lip pout out (usually for no reason).  Its even cuter when he pouts it out and a second later he has a huge smile on his face. I have full confidence that one day he will begin using it to his advantage.  It has become my mission to capture a picture of it.

* The quiver. When Harrison sucks on his pacifier or bottle there is a pattern of suck, suck, suck, quiver.  You can see the whole pacifier quiver in his mouth.  If you're feeding him, you can actually feel it in the bottle.  He's been doing it since day one.  I have no idea why it happens, but it makes me laugh every time.

* His morning smile.  This little boy wakes up happy.  This in turn helps me to wake up happy :)  His bassinet is still located right next to my side of the bed so I quickly hear any change in his breathing, movements and have no trouble waking up to the sounds of him stirring.  We have a mesh breathable bumper pad on the sides of the bassinet--the bars are regulation so there's no real need for it, but we wanted something there just so he would have his own little space and could limit his distractions once put to bed.  Since it is a mesh bumper it is still see-through in the daylight, which means that each morning I look over to him looking at me with a smile. Melt my heart.

I'm sure there will be more to come :)

Shots! Shots! Shots! (and no, not those kind)

Harrison had his 2 month appointment last Thursday. An event I was both excited and scared for.  Excited in that I was anxious to see how much he has grown since his 1 week appointment, and scared because of the 4 vaccinations that were coming his way.  Harrison has been growing steadily since his last appointment, but has definitely slowed down in weight gain since he made his arrival. Daniel and myself both knew he had to plateau at some point, we don't exactly come from families with big/tall genes :)  He is now weighing in at 11 lbs 13 oz (25th percentile) and measuring 23 1/2 inches (50th percentile).  He is healthy as can be.  Everything from the straightness of his spine to reflexes checked out perfect. Another check off the list of a worrisome mommy! Harrison did not enjoy his appointment. Massive understatement.  Poor kiddo screamed bloody murder from the time we walked into the exam room until we were back in the car.  At one point the doctor and myself were having to shout questions to each other just to be heard.  Harrison also received all of his 2 month immunizations (TDaP, Pneumococcal, Rotavirus and Polio)  He received his Hep B vaccine at his 1 week appointment, so I had at least a little idea of what to expect, unfortunately that didn't make it any easier.  Unlike most parents, my fears and discomfort wasn't due to his reaction to the shots themselves.  I've heard many times about parents being in tears and not being able to watch as they're giving the vaccinations.  Not me.  Instead, my instinct to protect my baby skyrockets. I am watching that nurse like a hawk.  Every move she makes.  Instead of not being able to watch, I would actually feel more comfortable if I was able to give the vaccination myself.

I scheduled back-to-back appointments for him and myself--I was having my final c-section check up so I could be cleared to start working out.  That turned out to be the worst idea ever.  I have vowed never to bring him to one of my appointments alone again.  It was heartbreaking to hear the little man crying in his carrier (hysterically, I might add) and not be able to do anything.  There was actually a point while the doctor was checking my incision that I looked at him with "hurry the #@%! up!" look in my eyes.  Needless to say the moment the exam was done, we were out of there fast.  Harrison usually loves car rides, but this one required static on the radio the whole way home.  Poor guy :(  He was finally able to sleep and got to spend part of the evening with Nana. Thankfully, he was all smiles and chatter by the time we got home. Now we just wait and dread the 4 month appointment!

So sleepy!

2 Months