Tormenting Jack

One of Harris's favorite hobbies is to chase Jack around the house. When Jack wants to get away, he has no problems doing that. However most of the time Jack allows Harris to grab him and lay on him. Jack craves attention, so this seems to be an outlet for that.

Here's a link to a video w/ Harris and Jack:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=M2U00194.flv

Big hug for Jack.

Belly Laughs

Harris is doing well these days. He went on an eating strike for what seemed like well over a week. The last two days though, he has been eating much better. His first two molars on top have broke through but there is still a good ways for them to go. I think the teething may be connected with the poor eating. He still is drooling constantly. The bottom molars are not far behind. I can see his bottom gums swollen where they are located. Loads of fun for him and mom & dad.



Here's a link to a cute video of Harris cracking up. I'm not sure what was really so funny to him, but hey - you take the good when it comes.

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=M2U00191-1.flv

Harris loves to watch his movies. Just watching the one video of him cracking up starts the giggles all over again.

Our Latest News

I think most of you who would be reading this probably already know, but we are expecting another baby. I'm over 10 weeks along and things seem to be going ok. I'm still having nausea and it's getting very old. It seems with this pregnancy it started early and has been stronger than with Harris.

One thing that people may not know is that we had a slight scare at the first ultrasound. When I had my first ultrasound (u/s) at about 7 weeks, they said that it showed that there was an abnormally large gestational sac. During the u/s, the tech mentioned it but it didn't seem like a big deal. Then at the end of the appointment she explained what it could mean (fetal development could stop) and it may be serious. I was told to come back in two weeks when another u/s would be done and see how things were going.

So for two weeks, we fretted and tried to keep positive. It was always on my mind though and kept me up some nights. Anyways, about two weeks ago I had the 2nd u/s and everything looked great! We were so relieved. She gave us a 4D picture from the u/s and you can see the beginning of arms and legs. The baby measured 2.3cm (a little less than 1 inch). Even though it is that small there is still lots of detail. The picture is below.



From the u/s measurements, they are putting my due date at March 2, 2008. I'm sure time will go fast.

Indiana Dunes

For a family vacation with Brian's side, we went camping at the Indiana Dunes. We left on Tuesday evening after Brian got off of work. We arrived around 8 and had enough time to set up the tent, pack 'n play, and the air mattresses. Harris was put down around 10 (which is only about a half hour past his normal bedtime) and only fussed for a couple minutes then was fast asleep.

In the middle of the night, I realized the mattress I was sleeping on had a leak. I could feel every hard lump of the ground in my back and hips. Brian said he would switch mattresses with me for a little while. I then was able to get about 3 hours sleep. It stormed that night and we were amazed that Harris slept through the whole thing. The rain drops hitting the tent were so loud!

Around 5am, I gave the good mattress back to Brian and went to the car to try to sleep. It didn't go well in there either, but a least I didn't feel the lumpy ground. Needless to say, Brian and I both got very little sleep while Harris slept like a baby.

We decided that we were not going to spend another sleepless evening in the tent, so we made arrangements to pack up and leave after dinner. After lunch we went to the beach and enjoyed several hours playing in the sand and swimming in the lake. That was so much fun that it seemed to make up for the night before. Lots of pictures from that afternoon are below.

We left for Fort Wayne around 7:30. Harris had been so good at the Dunes, that both Brian and I were talking about how much of a good baby he is. Then the car ride home changed that. He cried and fussed from Wanatah to Warsaw (~60 miles). I was so ticked off with him. He refused to sleep, kept throwing his bottles on the floor of the car, and would not stop screaming. I think the lack of sleep on my part made my fuse so short that evening. Finally in Warsaw we dug the laptop and power inverter out of the back seat which was cramped with crap from camping and put on a Teletubbies movie. He quit crying and watched the movie the rest of the way home. We arrived at home around 10 and went straight to bed.

Shortly after midnight, the fan in our bedroom quit working and the silence made me realize that we had lost power. Crap! It was storming so hard. Last year our basement flooded twice and cost lots of money and time to restore it. Those looming memories always lead us to panic whenever the power goes out. Anyways, Brian was very quick to act. The battery back up sump pump kicked in and the alarm was going off. Brian then set up the generator outside and had it running with an extension cord to the basement powering the main sump pump all in about 15 minutes. I went to the gas station to fill up a spare gas can in case the power would be out for a long time. That was a pain in the ass since the first station I went to lost use of the pumps although the power was up. The second gas station I went to was easy and I was in and out in a couple of minutes.

We never required the extra fuel. The power was out for about 2.5 hours and the main supply lasted just fine. The generator did awesome. It's quite loud though and I'm sure we might have annoyed our neighbors. I think it's worth it though. Our new neighbors across the street were not so lucky as their basement flooded. They asked Brian if he could supply power to their sump but by the time they had enough length of extension cords, the power had come back on.

So we are glad we decided not to camp another night and were home to take care of the house. Now we just plan on catching up on sleep :)

Video link to Harris at the beach:

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=b432e06c.flv

Harris only ate a little sand. The evidence can be seen below. He didn't much like it so he didn't attempt to eat too much. The adorable outfit was given to Harris for his birthday from his great grandparents.

Kayla's Birthday Party

Yesterday we attended my niece Kayla's 8th birthday party. There was a slip 'n slide, a balloon toss, a pinata, cake and ice cream. For the most part, Harris just wanted to watch the older kids play on the slip 'n slide. However, Brian couldn't resist giving Harris a good toss down the slip and slide. It reminded me of turkey bowling. Anyways Harris didn't appreciate it at all. Pictures are below.

Of course any kids party wouldn't be complete without some spitting, screaming, and crying.

Some spitting (My cousin's girls MacKenzie & Carly)

Some screaming


and some crying (my nephew Hunter)


I volunteered to make the cake. Kayla wanted a Bratz cake so I did my best. The Bratz girl was made with melted chocolate and by tracing a coloring picture of the character. Lots of fun to make.


The birthday girl and her mom.


My cousin Hailey.


My cousin's daughter Jillian.


Brian and Harris relaxing.

Striving for Independence

Harris has finally decided that he's had enough of Mom and Dad feeding him. He refuses to take bites from our spoons. We now just have to put the food on the tray and let him do it himself. It's awful really, but I'm sure it will be good for us later when he does know how to properly feed himself. It's also hard in the sense that Harris is never in a hurry to finish eating. I'd say a meal takes about 40 minutes to complete.

Spaghetti night will coincide with bath night.

Here's a link to the spaghetti night dinner movie:

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=2873e0b4.flv

4th of July

We had a nice 4th of July this year. We enjoyed playing together in the afternoon. In the evening Harris went to his grandma & grandpa's to enjoy their company. Brian and I went to dinner (very nice and quiet) and later to the fireworks. We didn't think Harris could handle the fireworks. Plus w/ daylight savings time they didn't start until 10:15 which is way past his bedtime. Brian and I parked at Northcrest by Kohl's. When the fireworks started we couldn't see them because a building was in the way. We had a good laugh about it and then left during them. Oh well. It was just nice to be out.

I found the outfit that he is wearing below at Babies R Us quite awhile ago so cheap on clearance. I wasn't sure if he could fit it by the time the 4th came around, but it turns out that it was a bit snug. I do love a good clearance sale.

Walking

Harris is now a walker. Walking makes up the majority of his mode of travel. He started to really try around his 1st birthday. Now only about 2 weeks later, he's mastered it pretty well. No major boo-boos yet :)

Here's a video of him walking.
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=M2U00159.flv

St. Louis Trip

Harris and I arrived in St. Louis on Monday evening about 6pm. We had a great trip out here with help from a DVD player during the last leg. We are staying with our friends John & Kim who have 3 kids Trevor, Connor, & Logan.

Trevor was kind enough to let us sleep in his room. I enjoy looking at all the reptiles and dinosaurs staring at me when I wake up. My favorite one is shown below. I think his name is Tiny. Love the sweater.

Yesterday we went to the zoo. It was the hottest muggiest weather I have ever experienced in my life. We stayed as long as we could handle it and probably only got through 25% of the zoo. It is quite large.

Here are the boys ready to go in the parking lot. From left to right is Connor, Logan, Trevor, and Harris.

We finally went to the reptile room to try to cool off. We let the boys out of the strollers to stretch their legs.

We are coming home on Friday. Harris misses his Daddy very much, so we look forward to seeing him soon.

Father's Day

Father's Day was very nice for Brian. Harris said the word "Dadda" plain as day to him while Brian was opening his card. It was very special.

We were thinking back on the last Father's Day when Harris was only 4 days old. Last year I had purchased matching NY Giant's jerseys for both Harris and Brian. The one for Harris was huge on him because it was a 2T size. Anyways, we decided to bring out the jersey again and put it on Harris to see how much he's grown this year. The pictures are below:

Harris only 4 days old:

Harris now 1 year old taking big boy step:

We also played in the sprinkler in the evening. For a birthday present, Harris received this giant beach ball sprinkler from my cousin Tonya. It was a great hit. He was fascinated by the fine streams of water that squirted out. It doesn't seem to use that much water either which makes us feel less wasteful.

The 1st Birthday Party

Harris had a wonderful 1st birthday party on Saturday. The turn-out was great and even though it was hot, there was no rain which we were glad.

Lots of pictures to show. The theme of the party was Baby Einstein since he loves the videos. The videos also helped Mom & Dad enjoy a quiet dinner several times during this first year so we love them too :)

The cakes turned out great. I came up with the idea for this cake from two different websites (Cake Central and The Coolest Birthday Cakes). It was kind of a collection of different things I liked from others and just put it all together. It was lots of work but I was very pleased and happy with the results.


The cupcakes have music note picks which I found at Country Kitchen.


The birthday cake has Tootsie Pop suckers for antennae and fondant eyes, cheeks, and smile. The tail is a frosted sugar cone. The cakes were made with a circular cake pan that comes in two pieces. The yellow and blue segments are white cake and the purple, red, and teal segments are chocolate cake. The grass is made from coconut that is dyed green.



The smash cake for Harris is identical to the party cake. It was made using a mini round cake pan mold. The antennae are Dum Dum suckers and have fondant eyes, cheeks, and smile.



Next came present opening. Harris didn't really seem to get into unwrapping the presents much. Brian ended up opening the majority of them. Harris received so many great presents. He's definitely a very luck boy.




Harris received this great birthday card from aunt laura and uncle eric which goes perfectly with the theme. Awesome!


The lawn mower was the big hit with all the kids and especially Harris.

Next came the birthday cake. We all sang Happy Birthday and I had to blow out the candle. I then took all the facial features off of the cake so that he won't choke and then Harris went at it.

"Is all of this for me?!"


Taste pretty good!

The final product.

Straight to the bathtub we went :)