I cannot believe that Harrison has already reached that 6 month mark. He is the perfect little boy weighing in at 17 pounds. We are 50% in weight and reaching back into the heritage of his great-grandfathers in somehow acquiring 75% height. Of course, his head 95% because he is a member of this family. We hear that baby cousin, Wallis, is also a member of the extra-large hat club. I think we have Grandpa to thank for that gene. We left our visit armed with three different eczema cream prescriptions and the green light to eat solid foods.
Every other Friday, we have to leave the house so that the maid can come and clean. It is a challenge sometimes to occupy Harrison and Spencer for four hours while Alden is at preschool without going home. (I know, poor me, right?) We spent the first half of the morning running every drive-thru errand I could imagine, the middle at the doctor getting poor sick baby Harry's respiratory virus checked out, and then I wanted to take them to lunch. I kid you not, I had to try three places and drive around for 45 minutes to find a place to park! Both kids fell asleep in the car which is not ideal since we want them all three to sleep together when we get home with Alden. We finally park, wake up Spencer, sit down, and Harrison wakes up. It is way past time to feed him and he starts to fuss. I think, well, what better time to see if you can eat a cracker. And there you go. First cracker got me through Spencer's little lemonade and pizza. You can tell he is the third child when he gets a cracker before smashed up potatoes and peas. He did great.
A little backwards, but we introduced the infamous first food, rice cereal, that afternoon. A pro!
Even tried to feed himself.
Very happy with this new experience!
In other news: We suck our thumb.
You will not believe it but it snowed! It never snows here, and my poor children have been crying for snow all year. We found we were expecting the best kind of snow. A good three inches or so but none of it sticking to roads. Alden's teacher took them out at mother's day out as soon as it started. Spencer's teacher told me she was old and not into that. So, how fun was it to pick him up and walk him outside into his first snow (that he could remember)! He was so excited. I decided to really treat them and went through the Starbuck's drive thru on the snowy drive home for hot chocolates. I will remember that forever since Alden spilled it all over my mini-van.
Baby in his first snow.
As soon as we got home, it really started coming down. For us, it was like a mini-blizzard because we don't know any better. I realized at that point that naps were just not going to happen. We just jumped out of the car and ran into the snow.
You can sort of see how hard it was coming down.
What a treat! I started texting Joey photos of the snow in our yard and the boys and told him he should come home. Turns out, he already had that idea. Early dismissal for the whole family. He and the boys stayed outside until dark.
Baby Harry perched safely inside watching the white stuff. It was a little too cold for the sick baby to stay out for more than a photo op.
The funniest thing was how they didn't realize the snow was so cold. I made them come inside a few times to warm up, their little hands red and frozen, but they just wanted to go right back out. I got their gloves but they quickly became wet and icy rendering them useless. Spencer kept wanting to wear them anyway; they would fall off and he would run in crying to have them put back on telling me his fingers were cold. At one point, however, I caught him outside in the sandbox, barefoot, gloveless, and digging through the sand and snow. I guess once the hypothermia has set in you have lost feeling altogether.
Speaking of cold hands, my sweet husband adopted all the neighborhood kids and built snowmen with them. He did loose the feeling in his hands because he had made the wise decision to put the only gloves he had in the Hannah Home give-aways the weekend before. Alden ran inside asking for carrots and raisins for nose and eyes and then ate most of them. The original snowman was knocked over by a little brother, and a few big brother tears later, Daddy and Alden rebuilt the "Snow Octopus." It also did not last very long.
We took the boys to the circus. We had this brilliant idea that we would make it a surprise. So, we get them dressed and tell them we are going someone special and have them guess. They were not even close. Alden starts getting kind of nervous so we assure him that we are not leaving him anywhere by himself and that we will all be together, but Mr. Independent will not let go of his Mommy's hand. When we entered the arena and Joey takes him to the restroom on the way to our seats, he just melts down. He wants nothing but Mommy and tears are welling up no matter how hard he is trying to hold him back. I decided that it was time Mommy should tell him where we were. He smiled, but it took him about 30 minutes in before he would speak or relax and enjoy the show. We learned a little lesson about Alden: he does not do well with surprise. Spencer was just along for the ride as long as there was a snack and a train. There were both.
The great thing about having small kids is when intermission hits you just pretend that the whole thing is over and only have to stay for half of the circus. Mommy and Daddy were starving...but I think we wore them out too much to eat.
Alden loves doing his chores and getting his allowance. I told him to pick up the books in his room and he tells his Daddy that he has to get dressed first. With all seriousness, he has to dress like a dinosaur to clean up his room.
I prefer this charmer.
One Saturday, we had an impromtu trip about thirty minutes south because Joey found a Groupon for kids clothes. We ate lunch and spent not one but two Groupons worth of clothes for the boys. After sitting through a white table cloth meal and shopping, the boys deserved something just for them so we headed to the community park. Harrison had his first sway in the park swing. He is my first baby boy that loved to swing. I can't wait for Spring and more Mommy park dates.
The best part is the big, giant choo-choo. When we got in bed that night, Spencer wanted me to tell him the story of putting rocks on the train and baby Harry spitting up in the choo-choo.
To make the moment even rarer than Joey taking an impromptu shopping trip and coming up with the idea himself to take his boys to the park, Mr. Paleo/Gluten Free/Organic takes the cherubs to Krispy Kreme and buys them not one, but two donuts a piece. This is Spencer's territory.
Eat sugar until you pass out. Sidenote: Notice the pacifier he had stowed away somewhere in his car seat that he knows he isn't supposed to have. I had a discussion lately with him about the 3 year old cutoff less than a month away. I asked him what he was going to say when his dentist took his paci away. He says, "Bad words."
Oh, Spencer. He is a mess. We can't keep him out of the kitchen. We took away the stool, he drags the dining room chairs and trash cans to get to the cabinets; we locked the cabinet, he has learned to climb the refrigerator; we put up gates, he breaks in. We have an addiction on our hands. A junk food addiction. One afternoon, I made the mistake of letting him roam the house while I helped Alden with Legos. I discover the kitchen has been robbed and follow the trail of chocolate pudding cup, applesauce, trail mix, and two greek yogurts to find him holding yogurt cup number two digging it out with his hands watching Nick, Jr. on my sofa. Hey, at least it was all certified Whole Foods organic junk food.
Somebody likes to play with the big boys. Alden and Spencer built Harrison a "fort" in our bedroom while Mommy was getting dressed. I had to make a few rules like no fort parts on Harrison's face and no manual swinging of the baby swing, but Harrison was loving every single second. He laughed and even figured out how to turn on the music on the baby mat they threw on top of him. I have started to become aware of the wonderful moments Mommy gets when they entertain each other, however, I am also very aware that whatever time I gain during their brotherly boy fun will be lost in the giant mess that will face me when it is all over. But I cannot express how entertained this only child is by sibling interaction. Baby forts...bridges built with mattresses from one bed to the other...Lego everything...or the new favorite, dinosaur versus army man battle complete with a hospital train track and an army of cars available to carry the wounded (in my kitchen floor every night at dinner time).
I read a fascinating article about how they have proved that dinosaurs were killed by a giant asteroid. I got all excited when I saw this on Yahoo news. I am becoming one of them...
