9 Month Check-Up

Harrison was sad at the doctor's today because he was tired and got a shot. Dr. Merrill said he is growing really healthy. He is still the same percentiles on the growth and weight charts. He weighs 21 lbs. and is almost 30 inches long. He's almost half my height!

This evening we went to my sister's house after the doctor's appointment and he was so funny climbing all over this trike. Then, when his cousin wanted to ride on it, Harrison chased him around so he could get the wheels. So funny!

Project Baby: 41 Weeks

Thoughts this week:

• Harrison walks along anything he can. He stood up for the first time last week for a couple seconds without holding onto anything, but that is a rarity. He isn't confident enough yet to stand on his own.
• Yesterday, he tried to stand up by himself from sitting in the middle of the room. He is definitely not strong enough to do that yet.
• He ONLY crawls now, no more army crawl.
• This kid loves to eat meat! He ate his first pieces of chicken and was gobbling them down over the other food on his tray. He also had his first pieces of beef last night and LOVED that too! He couldn't put the beef in his mouth fast enough and we couldn't supply him with little bits of it fast enough!
• Speaking of eating... this guy loves to eat. He seriously wants to eat anything that we are eating. And, if he is having a hard time, food (usually) makes him happy!
• He HATES having his face wiped off after eating and hates having his hands washed, because all he wants to do when having his hands washed is grab the handles of the faucet.
• Harrison also HATES getting his diaper changed or getting dressed. We play a little game of trying to give him some new "toy" every time we change his diaper before he can roll over and crawl away. Sometimes he crawls away right after I get his diaper off and it's so funny to see this naked bum crawling across the bed away from me. When this happens, we jokingly call out, "Escape from Alcatraz!" It cracks us up!
• Harrison realized this week he could climb on the dishwasher. He was so proud of himself when he climbed on top of the door and held on to the top rack of the dishwasher. It made him so happy!
• First the past few weeks, he has been loving turning knobs, wheels, etc. on everything. He loves it! I was so surprised when he figured out how to turn this little teeny wheel in these two books from Germany I have. He is so smart!
• We had to drop down his crib mattress by a few inches this week because he LOVES standing in it and is getting too tall! We'll probably have to drop it down some more pretty soon at the rate this guy is growing!
• Harrison is really starting to mimic words and actions that we say. If we turn our heads to the side, he does too. If we growl, he'll growl. He does so much to try and mimic us. It's adorable!
• He loves crawling into boxes and tight spaces. His favorite place right now is under our bathroom sink, but as I write this he is crawling under the bed in the guest bedroom and is so happy under there! He will crawl into the cupboard under our sink and just play under there for a while. He can't quite figure out how to eloquently get out and sometimes just kind of falls out or lets me get him out. It cracks me up to see him in that cupboard!
• Funny enough, Harrison is afraid of the drill (he was crying last night as Evan was putting up cupboard locks... we were joking that maybe it was because of the locks not because of the drill) but loves the vacuum. Maybe he'll be a clean guy?
• Last thing... Harrison has been sleeping like a newborn again and it has been driving me to insanity! I am so exhausted. Thankfully, I had Spring Break this week so I didn't have to work, but Evan worked full-time this week (12+ hour days) so I didn't get any help from the teething/growing baby. Harrison and I had a good time any way and went on a daily walk, worked in the yard, and went over to my little sister's new house to help a little bit too.
• Tonight, in the shower, Harrison totally just cuddled into my shoulder the whole time. He has never really been a cuddly baby, except more recently when nursing. It made me so happy to have him just lay on my shoulder while I was showering him off. Love this boy!

Cousins in the bath... sisters side by side with their boys (dark and light)

All three little boy cousins in the bath together... my sisters came to help me in the yard and I ended up bathing all of these guys. Harrison got dirty and his cousins wanted to play in the water too!

Picking rhubarb with dad... he was being so funny putting it in his mouth for the picture

Trying to get Harrison to do the standing the hand trick... not yet!

Evan was putting in child-proof latches and Harrison was watching intently/crying when Evan was drilling. Our joke was that he was crying because he knew that we were locking those bad boys up!

Harrison's first time wearing this (a?) tie. Loved his outfit! He is such an adorable boy! :)

Love these two!

Eating pears

This cracks me up so much! Every time we go on a walk and Evan has Harrison on his shoulders, Harrison uses Evan's ear as a hand hold. So funny! 

Crawled right through his high chair. He's so funny!

Wind

Harrison and I were just driving back from the library when I heard him laughing in the back seat. This is definitely unusual because this boy hates the car! I looked back to try and see why and I saw his hair whipping around. All the windows were down and he loved the wind in his face! He's done this a few times when we've been outside together. It cracks me up that he loves the wind. Love this boy!

Sunny Spring Day

It's amazing what the sun in Washington can do for one's morale! Today is such a nice, sunny day and it makes me so motivated to get out and do! Already, I went this morning out to weed in the yard and a walk in the afternoon with Harrison. So grateful for the sun this week for my Spring Break!

Project Baby: 40 Weeks Old & a 9-Month Birthday

A funny story from this week: On Saturday morning, we ate breakfast together as a family for Evan's birthday (it was a second birthday breakfast because his birthday was the day before and he had to work). I made waffles with strawberries. Since we started giving Harrison food at 6 months, he has only spit out two things: his first bite of avocado and a couple strawberries I gave him this morning. Who doesn't like strawberries?! He had eaten them before, but, for some reason, decided that he didn't want to eat them any more. Well, the funny is thing is later in the day, we got sushi. Harrison LOVED the sushi and kept trying to eat more but didn't like the strawberries from the morning! Funny guy prefers savory over sweet just like his mom. :)

New this week:

• Harrison turned 9 months old on Monday! WHAT?! How did my little baby get to 9 months?! I'm still in shock.
• Harrison realized this week that crawling was way better than scrabbling around (army crawling) on the floor. 
• He ate his first sushi on Tuesday when we went out with our friends from Germany and he LOVED it! In fact, he made the HUGEST disaster with rice everywhere (all over both of us, the bench, the table, etc.), but that was the only way we were going to keep him happy!
• Harrison learned to climb up the stairs this week! His initial time going up one step he was baited by a cheerio. The next time, he went up one step to crawl into the bathroom. A few days later, Harrison was really quiet and when Evan went to go see what he was doing, he found Harrison 5 stairs up the stairs! He caught on video the last few stairs. Funny guy! He just decided to climb up on his own!
• In general, this guy is such a happy baby. I'm so grateful for such a little sweetie pie!

We sat him down to take his 9 month pictures and he was SO angry that we were trying to keep him still for more than 1 second!

We had a little '99 GAPP reunion like we do every time! It was so fun to have dinner together. :)

This sequence seriously cracks me up! So proud of himself when he took all the books out of his shelf, angry because the book fell on him, happy again because he found more books to take out! If this guy is sad about something, usually it's not for long and we really try to discourage him crying if he bonks his head or something little happens.

He decided he was going to walk along my dresser!

This guy cracks me up! He suddenly realized he could climb INSIDE my bathroom cupboard! He had so much fun playing in there even though he could stand up all of the way!

Loves going outside and even looking outside... I guess even the thought of going outside makes him happy! I don't mind the dirty windows because I know it makes him happy.

Someone found a plant from my grandma! I tried to keep him away from it using this box. He was too smart and just decided to go around it. Silly mom! You can't keep me away from anything anymore!

A friend from church gave us this baby gate for our downstairs this weekend. It's funny how the forbidden suddenly because SO interesting! He loves holding onto and playing with this baby gate!

Harrison climbs the stairs like a champ now!

This is a common scene at our house! Harrison crawls away the second we lay him down to change him! 

He loved playing in this box that I put him in... for about 5 minutes, that is! Babies sure have short attention spans, don't they?!

Playing piano with daddy... I hope Harrison grows up to love music like I do!

We had my little sister, her husband and their son over for dinner on Sunday. Harrison LOVES his cousin, Benjamin, but Benjamin is a little shy. Although, they did love taking a bath together! It was Benjamin's first bath with anyone other than his parents.