Project Baby: 24 Weeks Old & A First Christmas

Christmas Eve and Christmas were great days, but hard days on Harrison. In fact, the past week or so since I've been out of school have been hard on him! On Thursday of last week, my sister, Nicole, and I went shopping to Target and some other places in the area after my chiropractor appointment. It ended up taking us forever! Harrison didn't nap the whole time (5 hours from his last nap... usually he doesn't go more than 2 hours in between naps) until he got so exhausted at the end, he just zonked out in Ben Franklin! Unfortunately, he only slept 20 minutes and then woke up SCREAMING in the car until I could nurse him and get him in his bed. Poor guy!

Well, the weekend was no different because we went to grandma's to make Christmas cookies on Saturday (December 22nd), Holly's birthday dinner at Evan's parents on Sunday (23rd), and then Christmas Eve at Oma's on Monday (24th). He took a late "nap" at Oma's house but didn't end up getting into bed until midnight at home. Evan and I were both SO exhausted! Christmas Day wasn't any better. He napped at 3 different houses and we were at 4 different houses, including at home. I felt so bad for the poor kid. He woke up 5 times in the night on Christmas night. That's why on Wednesday (which is actually the day I'm beginning this post), he was SO exhausted and has slept so much today! I feel so bad for him.

• Rolled over again this week (for the second time) on Wednesday from laying on his back to laying on his front. I was just changing him in his room and he was playing with his rings and was rolled to his side and surprised himself by just rolling all the way over. He looks so cute doing it!
• On Christmas Eve, Evan and I gave Harrison his first taste of food... an orange! He made the funniest, disgusted face when he first tried it, but then he ended up liking it!
• Opened his first present on Christmas at his grandma's house! As can be expected, he LOVED the wrapping paper the best. I bought him a book for Christmas but bought shiny wrapping paper for him in the dollar section of Target last week so he'd actually enjoy opening it! Maybe we're bad parents, but we didn't give the present to him on Christmas because I didn't get time/energy to wrap it up. In fact, we still haven't given it to him. Not like he knows the difference yet! :)
• The past few weeks, I've been letting Harrison gnaw on the "straw" part of  my water bottle. Well, on Wednesday, he saw me sucking on it and tried to pull the water bottle away from me and put it in his mouth. I can tell he is recognizing it was something he knows. It's amazing that he remembers it and knows he likes to suck on it!
• Thursday morning, I jumped in the shower and had Harrison lay on his play mat next to the bath tub. Every minute or so, I peeked out at him to make sure he was still happy. Well, I was surprised to find on one of the times that I checked that he had completely turned himself around and was facing the opposite way! Still not sure how did it... and so fast! But, he has been turning himself nearly sideways in his bed in the night. He wakes himself up because his head hits the railing of his crib! Silly guy!
• On Friday, I sat Harrison at my feet while I went to the bathroom and to my surprise, he stayed sitting up on his own! He kept doing it over the weekend and would catch himself with his arms if he started to lean. He hasn't perfected it yet, but sure is getting stronger and doing better!
• Harrison still isn't very interested in rolling over. Mostly, he likes to remained balance when he's doing his tummy time and when he's laying on his back, he doesn't mind laying on his side, but doesn't care so much about rolling over. Mostly, he just wants to play with his toes and suck on his toes! This weekend, he started sucking quickly back and forth from one foot to the other while I change him.
• One thing I forgot to mention last week is that he started doing this thing with his lips. He pouts out his lips, blows bubbles and complains a little bit. It looks so funny!
• Another funny thing Harrison is doing is gripping our arms/legs with his legs. If he is laying down and I put my arm on his body, he will wrap his feet around my arm. He also does this when he is sitting on our knees, sometimes making it hard to move him. Such a funny guy.
• Harrison new favorite thing is to stand up! He LOVES standing up now. He seems quite proud of himself when he stands up too. I can't believe how tall and big he is getting. I'm not tall, but it's amazing that my 5 month old baby is almost half my height!

This towel holder was empty and Harrison was eyeing it. Evan let him grab hold of it and Harrison held himself up!

First taste of food... an orange on Christmas Eve

With Oma on Christmas Eve

 My cousin's daughter, Maddie, threw up on Christmas Eve and fell asleep like this!

Harrison with his cousin, Megan, on Christmas day. Megan LOVES Harrison!

Opening his first present!

At the Blad's house

Playing with his Aunt Zaza

Another new favorite... sitting on dad's head or shoulders

Love this smile!

Pulled the blanket down on himself... he looks so adorable!

Project Baby: 23 Weeks Old

Love our little sweetie, even if he is being a stinker napping at his grandma's house! I feel so bad that he's struggling and I'm not sure what I can do to help him. Thankfully, I only had to work 2.5 days this week. It was still hard to know that my mother-in-law couldn't get anything done because he wouldn't nap AND it was hard knowing that my little sweetie pie is exhausted. That kid!

23 week thoughts:

• Harrison went in the snow for the first time this week! When I got home from work on Monday, I saw Evan and Harrison on the front porch (Evan got out of school early and picked him up for me at his parents) because the snow was just starting to fall and Evan wanted Harrison to see it! It was so cute that Evan was so excited about it. Well, it just kept snowing and the next morning, when we were all up at 5:30, we bundled Harrison up in his snow outfit from my sister and took him out into the snow for the first time! He even made his first snow angel. :) He wasn't super excited about it, but did like looking at all the white everywhere. He could tell something was different!
• Has been sucking in his bottom lip to gnaw on it.
• He grabs so much at EVERYTHING. He was already doing this, but now he is purposefully grabbing at things that get his attention.
• He LOVES sitting up! In fact, he will get sick of laying down and will start to get a little fussy. The second I sit him up, he's happy again! Funny guy. He also burps so much better while sitting up. Usually, I'll sit him up right after nursing and he'll burp immediately. YAY!
• One morning this week, I was changing Harrison's diaper and he was making a funny noise. I started laughing. He stopped making the noise and started smiling and laughing at me, which made me laugh more which made him laugh more... and on it went! It was so cute and hilarious. He LOVES when I laugh and smile at him. He smiles and laughs right back. It melts my heart every time.
• This boy LOVES to rock and roll from side to side. In fact, the past week or so he's been moving in his crib in the night (and not even just in his crib... anywhere really!). We'll lay him down to sleep and then when he wakes him, his head sometimes is against the crib rails instead of in the middle of the bed. It makes me laugh! Before we know it, this kid is going to be on-the-go getting into everything. So grateful we're not at that stage yet! My house still isn't quite baby proof.
• Speaking of rolling from side to side- I keep thinking this boy will roll over again from his back to his front. But, no! He only did it the one time on his 5 month birthday. I want Evan to see him do it, but I guess he'll be doing it ALL THE TIME before we know it!
• For some reason, the past week has been TERRIBLE for him sleeping at night. I'm not sure what the heck is going on, but I am exhausted. In fact, exhausted doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. He is acting like a newborn again waking up several times in the night. I want my 8-10 hours of baby free hours back. I'm thinking part of it is because of teething, but it could be a growth spurt or who knows what else! I'm seriously considering giving him oatmeal cereal at night before he goes to bed. However, he really doesn't seem super interested in food. He likes to watch us eat and is noticing that we're putting things in our mouths. On Saturday, he used both of his hands to grab my hand and try to force my sandwich into his mouth. So funny! I think he's doing it just because he wants to suck on whatever is in our hands, not necessarily because he wants to eat what we have. I could be wrong, though!

Celebrating my birthday with Evan's family at our house

I had to post this semi-blurry picture because Harrison's eyes look hilarious!

Harrison's first snow!

He looks exhausted and semi-crazy from this angel, but you can see the snowflakes on his head.

5:30am the next day... Harrison didn't know what to make of the snow!

I had to throw this one in because those are the eyes he makes after the flash goes off.

His first snow angel... he wasn't too pleased about this because snowflakes were going all over his face.

The after-math

That little sweetie face fell asleep next to me during the first couple of days of my Christmas break

Look at that adorable face! Can't get enough of it!

Yes, this one is slightly blurry, but I couldn't help taking pictures of this adorable guy trying to capture how perfect his little face is! Seriously, probably the cutest baby I've ever personally seen, not that I'm biased! :)

Crazy bedhead!

Loves grabbing his feet

I told Evan that Harrison needed a long-sleeve shirt on to go to bed. This was Evan's solution because he was too lazy to put it on under his pants. Ha!

Love this smiley, happy face! :)