Harrison is One!

I can't believe that my BABY is one today! It was so sad to put him to sleep last night knowing he would wake up a one year old. It went by so fast. It feels like yesterday that we brought him home, and the last year is all a blur. What I do know is that it has been the most amazing year. I didn't think that anything could beat the feeling of bringing home our first baby, but bringing home our second and watching the relationship of brothers develop might be an even better feeling.

He is very, very active. I thought Drew was active, but I think that I may have found someone who can top him. The twist here is that he is a climber. Just today I found him standing on the toybox leaning against the window. That central air is looking more and more desireable. He is very quick and he is pretty stable on his feet. Doing things like unloading the dishwasher and opening the oven are olympic events at our house. Usually I drop him in the farthest corner of the house and sprint to said appliance to get my task accomplished. He does not like having things taken away from him, mainly because his brother always snags stuff from him. This makes it quite challenging when I need to retrieve a remote, jar of peanut butter, mountain of bras he has pulled from the dresser etc, etc. He has taken to throwing tantrums, but I am counting on that just being a phase.

Harrison says a couple words: mama, dada, da (Drew), goggie (doggie), hi, ahh dun (all done), no, NO, NANANA (no again), ya (yes). I am pretty sure he has made some attempts at other words too. Drew has conversations with him that always make us smile. One recent example is Drew in the bathroom with Harrison sitting patiently outside the door. Harrison calls to him "aah"....Drew respons "sorry bud, I'm going potty"..."aah"...."sorry bud"...."aah"...."I'm sorry you can't come in here". This went on and on for the entire duration of his business. It was so sweet and funny. Drew often jumps in the way, smothers Harrison, and tries to cause trouble, but there are many times when I am quick to jump in and push him off only to see that he wanted to give him a kiss or a hug or say something incredibly sweet.

We love Harrison so much, I can't remember life without him. I never really had the fears that I wouldn't love our second as much as the first, and of course we immediately loved him more than life itself. The big difference with the second is that you don't have the same awe and amazement over the fact that you could possibly love another being so much, because we already had gone through that set of emotions. So he came along and we saw him and said "yup, its still amazing." The awe and amazement that we feel now is when we watch the boys together. And it is getting cooler and cooler every day. Our family is complete...ok maybe I am 98% our family is complete.

Happy Birthday Harrison! (aka Harry, Har, Harris, H, #2)

Easter

Last Weekend

Last weekend we took the boys to Breakfast with the Easter Bunny and then to the town's egg hunt. They had fun and made me begin to get very excited for Harrison's first Easter. It is also a little sad because it will be his last "first" holiday. It should be his second Easter, but I don't need to reminisce about the postponed induction (cursing out my poor brother in-law when he stopped by right after I got the news they canceled us), Drew's ear infection, going...not going...going to Thomas Live while about to give birth. So much for not reminiscing. This Easter is going to be much, much better. Now, Harrison can do the egg hunt on his first Easter!

The Easter Bunny just hopped over to our house....that was right after the Red Cross stopped by with our disaster relief supplies. Oh, did I say this Easter was going to be much, much better? OK, maybe next year. But the boys will sure look darn cute in the outfits I got for them!! So here are the pictures from last weekend. Hopefully I will have Easter photos up by Memorial Day :)

Spring!!! Finally.

To say that I have been a little tempted to pick up and move to a warmer climate the last few months would be an understatement. A New England winter with 2 very active little boys is pure torture. We live to go to the playground so we can burn off some energy and 3-4 months without access is not easy. And trust me, I am the last one at the playground at the beginning of winter and the first one back at the end. This year there was still ice on the ground for our first trip back, but we just had to get outside at the first sight of the sun. So, this last week of beautiful weather has brought me out of the winter funk and got us moving outside. We played in the yard, went for long walks and spent most of the week at the playground. It was heaven!

We had a great week enjoying the weather, and an even better weekend enjoying more of the weather and each other. Andy has been traveling quite a bit, so time together is precious (and so is Mommys time to get out!!). Saturday was busy for me with some appointments in the morning. Andy took the boys for most of the day and went to Starbucks (where else?) and the playground (again, where else?). We are quite predictable. If you can't find us, look at those 2 spots and we are bound to be there. We decided that it had been way too long since the two of us got out alone, so we called in Grandma to babysit and had a great night together. On Sunday morning, after homemade waffles, Drew and I went to church...can you take a guess to where Andy and Harrison went? Yup, Starbucks. I was a little nervous bringing Drew to church. I started going back to church when I was pregnant with Drew. We kept it up for a while when he was an infant but once he got mobile, it was nearly impossible. Of course he has been a few times over the last 2 years, but not on a regular basis because we wind up outside for most of the service. I decided it was time to try it out. I was beyond proud. He didn't talk too much, and when he did he whispered. The only exception was when we were waiting to recieve communion and he asked loudly, "where is everybody going?". He snuggled with me and sat quietly the entire time. He kneeled alongside me with his hands folded. At one point I looked down at him and got choked up. I have to admit, there are many times after very trying days that I question myself as a parent. I question if I am doing a good job, or if I have created an unhappy little terror. I usually talk myself down and remember that he is 3, and 3 year olds are tough. But watching him today reinforced the knowledge that we are doing it right and raising a happy, well mannered little boy. I guess I am proud of us too.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

We celebrated early this year because Andy was away on Weds. I made a boiled dinner and Drew and I made some cupcakes for dessert. Drew ate the corned beef. I was shocked! I guess it is pretty salty and he sure does love salt. Of course he dipped it in ketchup, just to add a little more sodium to his diet.

Harrison sampled the cupcakes....he approved!
Andy said it was ok that the boys are Irish for one day out of the year, as long as they are Scottish for the remainder. HA!

So Big

I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up. Harrison is almost one and it feels like it was just yesterday that I was pregnant. It went by in the blink of an eye. He is developing his own little personality and it is full of pure happiness. He is such a good boy! Although he has recently learned how to get heard in our house (by screaming at the top of his lungs), he is almost always happy.

He loves his big brother and wants to do everything he does. Not much can stop his determination. He is tough as nails and will shake off most of the falls that he takes. Even when he cut his mouth open on a table, I only realized it when he crawled over to me with blood on his mouth and hand. He didn't cry one tear! Harrison dances like a maniac and Drew encourages it by finding toys that play music and sticking them in front of him. He is walking like a pro now, the only problem is that he tries to go too fast. He also likes to pull up on moving objects like the dog, Drew, or even will jump onto my legs as I am walking by. Before he could stand on his own, I knew we had a climber on our hands and I was right. He climbs on anything he can. He loves to pull himself onto the baseboard heater and look out the window. If I leave a package of paper towels on the floor he jumps right onto it. I am sure it won't be long before I find him on the dining room table!

Something I am not very proud of is his love for Thomas. Drew was closer to two before he fell for that silly blue train, but Harrison has been bitten by the bug rather early. I don't like that my 11 month old watches tv, but what can I do? I can't keep it off all of the time. He cheers when Thomas comes on the screen and has started yelling "cah" at the tv. Surprisingly he hasn't learned "choo-choo" yet, so car will have to suffice.

You can see how happy this kid is in the photos below. When he scurries over to me, clings on and blows raspberries on my face, no matter how tough my day has been, it is pure heaven.

3 Years Old!

I still am in shock over the fact that I have a 3 year old. A little person, with his very own personality. It seems like it took only minutes to go from bouncing (quite literally) baby, to smart, energetic toddler, to sweet, big personality pre-schooler.

I am so proud of my "big boy". Although he has his moments of jealousy, he is a very proud big brother and even when he scolds Harrison for taking a toy, he does it with love. ie. "That's not yours buddy, ok, ok, you little trouble maker, ok, ok, thanks buddy". See, eventhough he grabs toys from his brother and calls him a trouble maker, he still lovingly calls him "buddy" and thanks him. In all seriousness, I don't think he could have any more love for his baby "brudder".

Drew has had many developmental milestones this past year. He moved to a big boy bed on his 2nd birthday, he gave up his binky (in exchange for a bike!) at 2 and a half, at 2 years and 10mos he was potty trained (took only 3 days with no public disasters), and at 2 years 11mos he started "practicing preschool" and has been doing a great job. The days of Drew wearing a diaper, sleeping in his crib with a binky in his mouth seem so long ago. Although it can be difficult sometimes going up against a 3 year old, looking back at how time flies makes me want to savor each and every day even more.

The most amazing 3 years of my life have past and even though I am sad that my baby is no longer a baby, I am so looking forward to enjoying what comes next! Happy Birthday Drew!

Too Bad, So Sad

Drew thought it was quite funny that Harrison was locked out of the living room and from going up the stairs. Then, he must have started feeling bad for him because first he pushed open the living room doors for him and afterwards I found Harrison swinging from the open baby gate!