Starting Solid Foods

When we visited the doctor last week, we were given the green light to start Dana on solid foods. Of course the rice cereal comes first. She's been doing ok, but I really wonder how much of the food actually makes it into her tummy. She still spits quite a bit out, but I'm sure it'll take some time before she gets the hang of it.

Harris is interested in what's going on whenever we feed her. When we first started he would stand on the side lines and says, "Bite, bite" as though he was asking for one. Brian gave him a bite one time and Harris just made a face. Yeah, it's pretty gross stuff. He hasn't asked for a bite since but still likes to watch her eat adding the comments "Ewww" over the mess she makes.

I wanted to mention that I received my free prize from the Enfamil contest that I played online. I was excited to see that it came so quickly especially since they gave the impression that it wouldn't be until December or later. We still haven't watched it yet, but I hope to put it on soon and see what it's all about.

Our Outdoor Pet

There's a baby bunny that has been hanging around in our yard quite a bit this summer. Actually I think he might be living underneath our porch. There's a concrete slab for our porch, but the dining area has a small bump out that overhangs this. Everytime I go out while he's in the yard, he dashes for the area under the bump out. It's cute to watch him and Harris enjoys him quite a bit. The bunny likes to eat all the weeds in our yard which may be the reason favors our home since our neighbors have emalucate lawns.

Here's a picture I snapped at the beginning of the month when he first started coming around.


Zooming in on the little guy.

This morning I saw him out again and decided to try to get closer to him for a better picture. Can you see him off to the left of the table?

He let me get pretty close to him before he took off.

Harris' 2nd Birthday Party

On the 14th was Harris' 2nd birthday. We celebrated by having a Thomas the Tank Engine themed party. About thirty people showed up, so it was a very full house. Fortunately the weather was beautiful, so we were all outside most of the time.

The night before I made the cake for the party. I had done all the baking a couple of weeks before and then wrapped and froze the cakes. Then on Friday evening I made all the icing, frosted the cakes, stacked, and then decorated. It was my first tiered cake and I was very happy with the results (meaning I was glad it didn't collapse). I got the idea for the cake and learned a lot about tiered cakes from a great website (http://www.cakecentral.com/) which I love. I've gotten so many ideas from there and the photos are great.




After everyone ate dinner, Harris opened presents. He received so many great gifts. I know they'll keep him entertained until Christmas when the next batch will arrive.

After presents, we all sang happy birthday and he did a great job blowing out the candles. We were practicing the day before so that he would know what to do.

In fact, he blow them out so fast I couldn't even get a picture taken in time.

Afterwards the kids all played until the mosquitos drove everyone away.

All in all, it was a great day. We were exhausted by the end and we even had lots of help from family setting up and watching the kids. Thanks to everyone the day so special for Harris.

Dana's Four Month Checkup

Dana had her 4 month checkup today. She is doing great developmentally. She's also steadily gaining weight. Dana received her rotavirus, polio, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.

Here are her stats from today:
Weight: 14lb 0.5oz (46 percentile)
- previously @ 2 months: 11lb 13oz (58 percentile)
Height: 24.5in (45 percentile)
- previously @ 2 months: 23.5in (74 percentile)
Head: 16.4in (60 percentile)
- previously @ 2 months: 15.6in (56 percentile)

Here's Dana's 4 month picture that I took. I had wallets made and also gave those out at Harris' birthday party on Saturday.

Harris' Two Year Checkup

Today Harris and Dana had their checkups at the doctor's. Harris is now two years old and is doing well. His communication skills have increased and he's now in the normal range for his age. Yeah! He's also steadily growing and very healthy.

Here's the stats from his checkup:
Weight: 26lb 12.5oz (33 percentile)
- previously @ 18 month: 24lb 10oz (31 percentile)
Height: 35.25in (77 percentile)
- previously @ 18 month: 33.5in (79 percentile)
Head: 19.9in (89 percentile)
- previously @ 18 month: 19.31in (80 percentile)

Here's the pictures that we gave out at his birthday party on Saturday.

Dana - Random Picture & Updates

Dana is rolling over like crazy these days. When she goes to bed at night, I lay her on her back. Almost every morning though, I find her on her side or tummy. She's also getting to be a chatty little thing.

One morning a couple of weeks ago, I laid her down on the floor after her morning bottle. After a few minutes, I walked by to see how she was and she had rolled to her side and fell asleep. It was the sweetest thing. Her hands are in a praying position.




We bought her a Bumbo chair about a week ago. When I first brought it home, I set her in it and watched as she enjoyed the view. When I finally turned my back for a couple of minutes, Harris walks up with the bumbo on his head and says, "Hat....hat." I was like, "Where's the baby?!" She was laying on the floor, looking around. I don't know if he picked her up or dumped her out, but she was fine.

We still use the bumbo several times a day. It's been great for us. Here's Dana in her chair the first time.


This baby has the biggest eyes I've ever seen.


Here's a picture of Dana when she's really gabbering at me. I seem to have caught the lip curl at just the right moment.

It reminds me of the Bill Murray character Carl in Caddyshack though.


Sorry sweetie, just kidding around :) You're beautiful!

Here's a video of Dana rolling all around.

Here's a video of her in the Bumbo jabbering away.

Harris - Random Pictures & Updates

I'm attempting to get caught up with blogging. I need to get all the pictures and videos from June up. So here's a post about Harris. I'll save his 2nd birthday photos for another entry.

Here's our little man working the computer. We sometimes go to pbskids.org and click on the sesame street characters. There's some fun games to play with him and also some of his favorite video clips with Cookie Monster.


The laptop has his first Christmas picture up when he was 6 months old. I'm not sure if he realizes it's him, because he just calls it Baby.


Brother Harris in the house! He likes to put on sunglasses and calls them Eyes.


Harris is now done with speech therapy. His therapist Peggy is moving out of state. We felt that Harris was almost right where he needed to be for his age so I didn't see that it was necessary to bring on another person only to have it end in a month or so anyways. I know Harris will really miss playing with Peggy. We had our last session at the zoo last week. He had a good time but was mostly interested in the pony ride.

After the session, we had the packed lunch that I brought. Then I put some swim trunks on him and let him splash around in the little frog pond.

Here's a video of Harris with his sister Dana. Thought it was cute how every time I pull out the camera to try to get Dana, he wants to be in the show.

The First Zoo Trip in 2008

I'm so behind on blogging right now, but I hope to get caught back up soon. There's just lots to do with Harris' birthday coming up on Saturday.

Two weeks ago we all went to the zoo. Brian took a half day of vacation in the morning so that he could join us. It was still somewhat chilly that morning, which I loved since I'm not a fan of the heat. There were a ton of buses already at the zoo when we arrived shortly after nine. The place was packed with school kids on field trips, but it made it more interesting for Harris to watch all of them.

We started at the barn yard since I thought Harris would enjoy this most of all. He knows a lot of the farm animals and their sounds. They had baby goats to brush and they were so cute. They kept chewing on Brian's shorts.

He kept calling this bird an owl and saying "whoo-whoo." Clearly it's not an owl, but still cute.

The alligator was so close this time. It hardly moves though so it's hard to tell it's alive.

They had just released the kangaroos when we arrived at the Australian Adventure. They all took off hopping for their preferred area of leisure.

I absolutely love this picture. I love how you can see his face in the reflection of the glass. He looks so sweet there.

Of course Harris had to go on the choo-choo train. He's all smiles here.

Harris and Brian watching the monkeys.

He loved the pony ride. He kept saying "horse....neigh."

Dana slept the entire time.

This kid loves hats.

Brian kept wrapping his arms around Harris before the ride started.

Harris did not like that at all. He kept pushing Brian's arms away. Finally Brian gave in and let go.

Harris had to point out all the features of the orangutan's face. "Eyes, nose, mouth."