Project Baby: 36 Weeks Old & Sitting Up in Bed

So, this week was a whirlwind! In fact, the past few weeks have been SO crazy that I'm writing this post 2 weeks late (today is April 5th). Because of that, I actually don't have a whole ton to write about the happenings this week, but I do have a funny story to share.

Early Saturday evening, I went to put Harrison down for a nap. This late afternoon/early evening nap is the hardest one of the day to get him to go to sleep! He is typically cranky and tired, but usually doesn't want to go to bed. Well, this day was no different. I was working SO hard to try and get him to fall asleep (yes, I still rock my baby. Don't judge.). He kept almost falling asleep and then would suddenly wake up and arch his back. He was clearly tired, but wasn't falling asleep. Out of frustration, I laid him down in his bed, said good night, and left the room. At first, he was crying for a minute or two. And then I heard him talking to himself quietly, no crying. I went into his room and guess what? The boy sat himself up from laying down for the first time. And, as is typical Harrison fashion, he did it when he was supposed to be sleeping! (This boy was the newborn baby that didn't sleep 24/7.) I actually started laughing when I went in there and saw that! It was hilarious and I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the fact that my little sweetie pie chose that time to sit up for the first time by himself. Love that boy!

By first carrot, I just mean that he had never gnawed on his own carrot before. You can tell he loved it.

This shot happened towards the end of our play time, but Harrison LOVES playing with that Easter grass! I was throwing it on his head and he kept trying to eat it. Good times were had by all.

This guy LOVES to play with/suck on cords. We have to watch out! I love his look in the picture below.

Evan was trying to mess with me to give Harrison a new hair style. 

Can you tell that MAYBE we should cut his hair?! :)

Family Sunday walk... this picture melts my heart. Love these two so much!

This face cracks me up!

Well, hello blue eyes! This guy is going to be breaking so girl's heart someday! I am so obsessed with this picture right now. I just found it on the camera and just can't stop looking at it.

Can you see how much this boy LOVES being outdoors?! This was post-walk. He seriously loves just playing on the grass/eating the grass. I love that face so much!

Yum! A leaf Dad gave me!

Evan started throwing grass on Harrison. Typical.

Project Baby: 35 Weeks & 8 Months Old

Thoughts this week:

• Harrison has decided this week that he wants to eat EVERYTHING we're eating. He opens his mouth and reaches for food every time we eat. We started feeding him tiny pieces of muffins, biscuits, potatoes, black beans, quinoa, even a little lightly-seasoned soup. He has been loving it! Since we make his own baby food and seem to feed him pretty much the same thing every meal, he has been enjoying the variety, I'm sure!
• He has a couple favorite books that I forgot to mention the past month. He loves this "Peek-a-who?" book that we have and a couple other peek-a-boo books. The two that are his favorite have a mirror at the end that he smiles at when we get to that page. It's so cute!
• He LOVES to grab handles and towel racks and door knobs and the blinds and power cords. Oh, and cell phones. Not old cell phones. He can't be fooled by that. He loves current, working cell phones. He also loves our point-and-shoot digital camera that we let him use as a toy (it's shock and water proof).
• He still loves to go on walks! He loves being outdoors!
• He is still nursing like a champ. He LOVES nursing and I don't anticipate him wanting to stop any time soon, which I'm fine with. At the beginning, I absolutely LOATHED nursing. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to nurse, but now I really enjoy it and sometimes feel like it's the most calming, peaceful part of my day!
• While Harrison nurses, he sometimes does this thing where he pinches my arm and then rolls the skin in between his index finger and thumb. OUCH! It hurts so bad. To counteract that, he sometimes is so sweet and rubs his little hand all around on my arm and my neck. It's so sweet!
• Harrison and his dad have had more time together the past couple of weeks since Evan graduated. The other day, they went on a long walk and Harrison stayed on his dad's shoulders the whole time using Evan's hair and finger as a handrail. Good times were had by all.
• He has continued waving bye/hello this week, especially when he sees us doing it. Today at church, he saw me wave to his cousin and he started waving too. It was adorable!
• He hasn't said "buh buh" or "all duh" again for a few days, but he definitely understands what we're saying and the routine of our lives.

I started feeding Harrison pieces of a banana and then he decided that HE wanted to do it himself!

I started taking pictures of Harrison one day and ended up taking a bunch because the lighting was so good in the spare bedroom and he looked so adorable!

Love those eyes and that face!

Reading in his chair

EIGHT MONTHS OLD! Surprisingly, I actually had hardly any good pictures from his eight month birthday. We tried to take so many, but they mostly ended up blurry because Harrison was moving around so much. That guy!

Loves trying to get the bears on his quilt

Harrison was wearing the same jammies he had as a newborn and I wanted to compare newborn to 9-month sizes. The picture didn't work out as well as I would have liked, but I love his smile! :) 

He loves the tag more than the monkey!

Project Baby: 34 Weeks & Baby Starts to Talk

Harrison hit a HUGE milestone this week! We realized he is starting to talk. I've thought for the past few weeks that he was saying "all duh" for all done. But, you know, I'm his mom. I know that every mother wants to her child is a genius. Needless to say, I was doubting what I was hearing. Well, I had it confirmed by a few normal skeptics (Evan's mom and Evan) on Tuesday. He doesn't do it all the time, but he does say it occasionally. He also starts waving this week (not all the time, but occasionally) and saying "buh bah" for bye bye. It's so cute!


The downside to all of this is that Harrison knows now what "bye bye" means, especially when his mother is involved. Even though I hadn't told Evan or his mom, I could hear Harrison crying after I said bye to him and shut the door. It is the hardest thing to do to just keep walking out the door and on to my teaching job! The poor guy just wants to be with his mom. He also has started crying when I get home from school (if he's with his dad) or when I pick him up from grandma's. He may have been happy before he sees me, but the second I walk in he remembers that he's hungry or he missed his mom and he lets everyone know it!

He is such an adorable guy! Every day, I thank my Heavenly Father for such a sweet baby boy to be my son. I just feel so blessed. I was on a little walk yesterday with Harrison and I was trying to hold back the tears as I told him that I knew we chose to be in the same family before this world began. We are kindred spirits. I chose to be his mother and he chose to be my son. There is so much weight and responsibility in that. I know that I am responsible to teach him and to raise him to be a righteous, kind man. I know that he is responsible for learning and growing according to the knowledge I give him. I love my son so much even during those hard times. Maybe especially during those hard times, because it reminds me of the sacrifice it is to be a parent and to love unconditionally even when someone isn't always capable of loving you back.

Thoughts this week:

• We went on a road trip on Saturday to go visit his other great grandma (Evan's mom's mom) so we could have 4 generations together. It was A LONG DAY. Harrison pretty much cried the entire 2+ hours up there in the car and then cried nearly as much on the way back. I was car sick the entire time. On the way back, we had to pull over because I didn't think I could take one more second in the car. It was horrible. That combined with the fact that I ate ricotta cheese for lunch (dairy isn't sitting well with me nowadays) made for a REALLY long day! I came home and just crashed. I'm glad we went, but it is not something I'd like to repeat in the near future!
• Harrison's second little tooth is poking through in the bottom. Both teeth down there aren't all the way in yet, but I can definitely feel them when I nurse him! Teaching him not to bite when nursing should be interesting! Hasn't come up yet, but I don't doubt that it will!
• Speaking of teething... Harrison sometimes has crazy amounts of drool. Poor guy. Sometimes he's just like normal, but sometimes it seems like there is a little flood in his mouth!
• Harrison seems to sleep better on the weekend or on days that he's home all day. The past two weekends (Friday/Saturday), he slept 8-9 hours in a row. It was awesome. I know I need to sleep train him so this can keep happening for me!
• Still loves sitting and standing best, but is getting more and more curious about how he can get all of the objects around him. When he is on his stomach, he pivots all the way around to get what/where he wants to go. It's amazing to watch the cogs turning as he's learning how to maneuver his world.
• Harrison is very observant. He knows and prefers certain locations in the house, specifically the bathroom. He reaches out for the bathroom EVERY time we go by it because he loves standing and holding on to the towel rack. If he's particularly ornery, he will start crying if we don't go into the bathroom as we pass by it. It cracks me up how much he loves the towel rack in the bathroom!

This picture of his naked bum is for posterity's sake. Harrison will thank me later... much, much later.

Favorite spot!

Look mom, I'm going to drop this toy.

Trying to eat grass

Harrison was SO curious as I was trying to vacuum the stairs.

Visit at great-grandma's house ... 4 generations!