11 Steps!

Harrison is getting closer and closer to "full on" walking after a couple of weeks of taking steps here and there. Here is a video from this weekend of him taking some steps. And doing some trademark pointing...

Best Year Ever

It's safe to say that Harrison's first "birthday week" was a success. Harrison is incredibly blessed to have such an amazing group of family and friends to help him celebrate this amazing year. In order to celebrate with everyone, we ended up with about four little celebrations. He is so thankful for all of the fun gifts he received and excited to try his new toys out! And, Harrison had his first taste of sugar and we're afraid there is no turning back now. Ice cream is an official favorite! We've posted a bunch of pictures from the past week and hope you all enjoy!

Happy First Easter

Harrison had a very busy and fun schedule this past Easter weekend. On Saturday, he had so much fun hanging out with Johnny and his aunts and uncles for a party in honor of Annie and Mike's baby girl, due this summer. This little girl is going to have lots of "big brothers" looking out for her! Harrison and John were very helpful to Annie when she opened her gifts!

On Easter, we spent the morning with Tom's dad and his siblings after discovering Harrison's first Easter basket. We attended a beautiful mass in Lawrence before resting up for Easter dinner in Topeka with Amy's family. It was a big day, but so much fun! Lots of new pictures from our holiday weekend. Enjoy!

Dinner is Fun!

With the people watching, music, and Cheerios, Harrison was VERY happy at dinner this evening. This funny video shows him bouncing t the music and chomping on some O's.

Finally, an Update!

Well, we are entirely embarrassed by how delinquent we have been in posting these last two months. Work, winter, illness, traveling, and of course, Harrison has kept us very busy. While we have tried to keep the flickr pics updated, we are definitely overdue for an update!

February brought us Harrison's nine-month milestone and our first family vacation together. We joined Aunt Brooke and Uncle Ryan on a ski trip to Aspen. As much as Harrison wished he could ski with Dad, Brooke, and Ryan, he and Amy managed to have a great time just relaxing by the fire in the cabin, sleeping, eating, and playing. It was definitely a much needed getaway for us all.

The other big development is that Harrison finally figured out how to crawl over the last week. He is having so much fun now chasing after Sydney, grabbing his toys, and trying to pull himself to a standing position on just about anything he can find. We have also noticed that when he is standing and music comes on, he starts to dance! It is so much fun to watch.

Unfortunately, the whole family has been struggling with colds and, in Harrison's case, ear infections over the last couple of months. Now that the weather is starting to warm, we are keeping our fingers crossed that we have passed the worst of it! We are all ready to start spending time outside, especially once Harrison starts walking!

We've added some new pictures to Flickr from our vacation and of our newly mobile little boy!

Almost There!

This video shows just how close Harrison is to crawling. It’s just too bad that after all this hard work, Sydney the dog got up and ran away! She still doesn’t know what to think about his mobility. In other fun news, Harrison has started to pull himself up to low couches, toys, and anything else he can get his hands onto (including people). He's so proud of himself, and does a very funny little bouncy dance every time he makes it to the standing position.

On the verge of crawling!

We have been saying for over a week now that it is going to happen anytime: Harrison is definitely ready to start crawling, he just hasn't put all of the necessary elements together yet! He is rolling like a champ, and he can get up on all fours for a few seconds at a time and rock. He scoots if he can push his feet off of us for leverage. This development has also led to another change, which is that he is very squirmy when being held! He still likes to nuzzle, but more often than not he is trying to reach for something or roll around on our laps. Also, no more waking up in his crib in the exact same spot as where he feel asleep. Invariably, we now find him in the corner of the crib in a little ball. Our little boy is becoming mobile!

Another big change over the last few weeks is Harrison's range of noises. He does a lot of screaching, but now that involves noises that sound like his own little language. We can make out "dada" and mumma" in some of these noises, but we think they are purely coincidental at this point (we can't help but feel our hearts skip a beat when we hear it, though). The funniest thing is this new sound that he has developed that kind of sounds like chuckling, but the sound itself appears to really crack him up. So he makes this sound, and then he really starts laughing! Hilarious.

It seems that everyone in our family is finally healthy, but we are ready for Spring! We hesitate to say it and jinx anything, but Harrison seems to have gotten past the ear infections. Between that and all of these snow days, we are ready to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air!