Since There's No Place To Go

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow
I slept from 8:45-7am last night only waking up 2 times to eat! We all feel so rested for our day in the house!



After breakfast this morning Mommy read me a book, she likes to play the Bible Question and Answer game some mornings. She wanted to test out Daddy's skills (he is snowed in as well)! To her dismay he was pretty good, I promised I would not tell anyone that Daddy knows more of the answers than she did!

I was also able to show off my muscles at tummy time!

Daddy is so funny!

It was very important to get pictures of me in my first snow!

I was so tired I thought I would take a nap!

Harry Heaven 6 week Update

Harry's first nap in his big baby bed!

Harry Heaven is still going well. I absolutely love playing with him all day long! I crave the days when I do not plan anything and am able to just sit at home and soak up his sweet scent, looks, and sounds! We are snowed in today and tomorrow, YIPEE!

Harry is becoming very active!

Harry LOVES bouncing in our laps. He is contantly kicking up when we are holding him. I know when he is old enough he will LOVE the Johnny Jump Up and the Jumperoo! Harry will be a great jumproper one day!

When he lays on his play mat(he likes it much better than the swing, he can move more); I will sometimes look over and he is laying on his side. I haven't really kept up with the milestones chart but, I was not expecting him to be able to move from his back to his side so early.

He loves to play on his mat and move his arms and legs around;another reason we must swaddle he moves so much he wakes himself up when he sleeps).

He smiles quite often when we sing or talk to him in a high voice. Chad's Grandma received some jolly grins yesterday at her house! Can I say, I don't care if the Queen of England said I was perfect, or if Simon Cowell told me I was a star....Harrison smiling at me gives me a joy I have never known!

Harry has tried to hold his head up since he was born but now he is really good at it. he can hold it up for long periods of time, especially when he is looking over our shoulder. Sunday in church he was giving the back row googlie eyes! He even gave a big grin in church! Church has become much more fun!

He follows certain things with his eyes: toys, me, and Chad are his favorites.

His favorite time of the day is bath time. Ever since his cord came off he has absolutely adored bath time, almost as much as us! I know that babies don't get dirty but, since we all love it so much we have made it part of our night time routine!

He stares certain people down, like he is studying them. He loves the leader of the Tuesday morning ladies bible study we have been going to. I was very hesitant about bringing him, but he either sat in my lap sleeping or listening, or he laid on the floor looking around gurgling and grunting!

He is a very calm baby. He is very happy wherever he I take him. This is a good thing for being a mom on the go!

He likes caffine! I don't know if this is the reason but, I drank 2 big Diet Cokes at lunch the other day(I know, totally pushing the envelope) and he did NOT sleep all day! I mean his longest nap was 15 minutes long! I will not be overdosing on the coke for a while!

He doesn't mind playing dress up! I change his outfit an average of 3 times a day, sometimes we just try on outfits to see if they fit! He is a great model!

He has really got on a routine. I planned on starting a routine as soon as he turned 2 weeks but, I just don't have the discipline I thought I would.

He is always so happy during the day! At night he fights going down but, once he is down...he is out for a good 4 hours.

He wakes up and goes right back to sleep at 12:20, 2:30 and 4:15 on average. We are really working hard on dropping the feedings but, once again I am not disciplined enough to fight him on taking the pacifer instead of eating.

On a different note, Chad and I have made the decision for me to go back to work full time next year and put Harrison in child care full time. There are many reasons why we came to this conclusion, but please pray God is leading us on the right path. We want God's will for Harry and this is what we feel he wants us to do. I know that God has the perfect plan for this baby and I desire to listen to his will, I just sometimes feel like I want something different. The program we have Harry in is top notch. There is a 2 to 1 ratio with only 6 infants in a class. The waiting list is 2 years long and it is totally a God thing that Harry got in. The facilities are a block away from my school. It is a mommy's day out program that has extended the hours that cater to teachers. We feel so blessed that Harry was able to get in. As a teacher, many of you can relate to knowing too much about various child care programs in your community. I was obsessed with seeking out the very best place for my baby to be and God lead is to the hot spot!

Attention All Mothers and Fathers

before he read his shirt

after he read his shirt

Stone and Slade Turn 2

Stone says that Harry is the best playmate, he won't steal his toys!
Dezi is so cheesy!
Harrison found his favorite spot, Glamma is jealous!
Glamma and Grandbo had to play tug-a-war with Harry! Grandbo won!

Harry loved cuddling with his Grandmother and Granddad!
Stone and Slade know how to throw a good party! Their favorite part is opening the presents! The guests of honor at the head of the table! These are the only boy cousins Harry has! There is no doubt they will be the ones to teach him how to tackle and wrestle!
Grandbo, Harry, and Grandad! Harry is already learning how to watch a ballgame!

Harry wants to play with the big boys, Stone doesn' t look too interested!

Harry's First Party

Harry went to meet and visit will all of our neighbors! Some of the couples in this picture have moved to a new neighborhood but, we all still keep in touch! Harry slept the whole time, he is such a "party pooper" , literally! We had so much fun hanging out with our friends from the block! Eli and Cindy(who is now blogging) are the best hosts!

Photo Shoot

Chad was first in line to try out the many photographers we have been referenced too! Which picture is your favorite?

Carseat Drama

As many of you, I threw a fit about having a car seat on the Consumer Report "default" list! Chad heard me complain numerous times and he did not really take this whole report seriously considering he is a Consumer Report fan. He has researched Consumer Report on everything from cars to diapers to strollers! He recieved the following letter yesterday from Consumer Report to pull their report! I can now sleep easier knowing that Harrison is a bit safer on the roads! By the way, I went to the police station (the fire station sent me there) to get our car seat base tested and what do you know, Chad did an excellent job! They did tell me I needed to make sure I put the handle down after I put him in the car! Thanks for the tip Lauren!



Dear Chad Ware,
By now, you've probably heard the news about my decision to withdraw the infant car seat report featured on ConsumerReports.org and in the February issue of Consumer Reports magazine. I took this action when we discovered a mistake in our side-impact crash tests.We always strive to be accurate and fair, and I regret this error. Going forward, I want to make sure that our actions are as thorough and transparent as possible so that we preserve your trust as we continue to test, inform, and protect consumers. To that end, I'm writing you and the millions of other Consumers Union members to tell you what I know about the situation and what we're doing about it.Here's what I know so far: One of our tests was intended to simulate how infant car seats perform in a side-impact crash at 38 mph. That's the speed at which many new vehicles are tested in side crashes by the government's auto safety agency. But upon reevaluating our data, we believe our tests simulated crashes that were much more severe than that.Some of the questions I've heard involve our use of an outside lab to conduct the crash tests. While the vast majority of product testing by Consumers Union occurs in our own labs, we sometimes use outside contractors that have special test equipment or other expertise that we don't. This enables us to inform you about the safety, reliability, and performance of important products that we couldn't otherwise test.That said, we expect all our testing to meet the same high standards, and our own staff oversees all projects. The board of directors and I are appointing a panel of experts to review this incident and determine what went wrong.We're also retesting the infant car seats featured in our article as thoroughly and quickly as possible, so that we can publish our findings and help parents who are making this important buying decision. I've directed that we suspend the article's Ratings and other recommendations regarding specific car-seat models until this retesting is completed. In any case, I again stress the importance of what we say in the article: Any child car seat is better than no seat at all.For 71 years, the staff of Consumers Union has worked hard to earn the trust of members like you and to build the stellar reputation we have enjoyed. We test more than 3,000 products each year, and errors like this one are rare. I apologize on behalf of Consumers Union and I promise you we're working hard to ensure that such an error does not happen again.
Sincerely,
Jim Guest
President

Just Another Day in the Life of Harry

Harry had a great lunch date with Kiera today even though he slept the whole time! Kiera's mom, Rachel G, is so fun to hang out with.

Harry played with Mimi for an hour while Mom went to a meeting at school. He had so much fun staring at her and looking for the Christmas lights! Mom took the Christmas lights down and ever since he has been looking for them! Harry LOVES his play mat already! I think he is already getting annoyed with his mom because, if he gets fussy he immediately gets happy once he is on his play mat. He can lay there for minutes on end! He ended up taking a cat nap on his play mat! Harry's mom is learning that she needs to let him lay on his own instead of constantly holding him while she stares! Harry is weaning her off!!

Tuesday with Harry

Favorite Spot!
Peek A Boo
Harry says forget the bows when you can wear a hat!

I love my hat from Papa!
I also love my hat from Grandma!
Bounce Baby Bounce

Harrison is 5 weeks and 3 days! He stayed an hour and a half with his Mimi today. This was the longest time he and I have been apart. It was all I could do to not give her detailed instructions and call every 10 minutes. I refuse to be "that" mom. She raised 3 fine children on her own, who am I to tell the professional exactly what to do with a baby! They had so fun, they ate together, played, talked, sang, cuddled, checked out the place and Harry took a cat nap! Harry slept all the way home, he had so much fun at Mimi's house!

Harry has really been focusing on different things besides lights lately! He stares at Chad the most, he will follow him across the room with his eyes! He also loves the reflector on his swing.

He is more alert but, still falls asleep during some of his feedings.

Night time is getting a little better but, not like we hope. We are really enforcing the Baby Whisper theory with the cluster and dream feeds. He doesn't cry when he is awake, he grunts and moans. He makes sure we know he is there! The worst time is 3:30am and on, we usually give in and let him sleep with us or Chad takes him to the couch. I have heard of parents putting a little rice cereal in a bottle with breast milk, I just don't know how safe that is. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My favorite thing he does is BOUNCE! He will lay on the floor and move his legs like he is bouncing! We took a video of it today but, of course I am not good at that high tech stuff!

Harry and Brooklyn Finally Hang Out

She's Cool
Oh NO!


Just Chillin'

James + Harry= BFF

Lean on Me


Too Cool for the paparazzis

Harry says" James is Goliath on Vacation"

Harry loves Aunt Lauren!

Kickin' IT