5

Wrestling with Gator

Harrison is 5 months old today.  The little dude is growing like a weed!  His activity level has tripled, he just doesn't want to be still.  It seems like he wants to start crawling, but hasn't figured it out yet.  His arms and legs are trying but his belly is stuck to the ground!  He has found his toes and loves playing with them.  A couple times this month we have gone in his room to check on him after he fell asleep and he had flipped himself onto his stomach.  He is not rolling over consistently yet, though.  We started feeding him rice cereal and oatmeal once a day.  It was everywhere the first few times, but now we've figured out how to hold his hands down while feeding!

I love you Aunt Ellen!!!

We went to the doctor at the end of February and he weighed 15 pounds, four ounces (60th percentile), but he is in the 90th percentile for his height.  His future as a head bustin' linebacker or ball mashing third baseman is looking good.

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary on March 10th!  It's crazy to think we have been married for 5 years already.  What an amazing time we've had, marriage definitely rocks.  To celebrate we went to N'awlins to kick it with the Schneiders and enjoy some of the Crescent City's finest.... crawfish and Copeland's.  A special thanks to Grand Nan and Pop for looking after H as we enjoyed our celebratory dinner.  I know it must have been tough. ;)  Harrison also experienced his first parade while we were down there.  He rocked out with the rest of us at the Cooney's, (who have an amazing home on the parade route, thanks for the invite!) enjoying the music and flying loot.  That reminds me, whats up with the throwing of cabbage, onions, carrots and oranges?   I really saw people with bags of food, which was hilarious.  Really, why go to Robert's Grocery when you can go to a parade to collect your vittles?

We also got to see Aunt Taylor...she held me until I fell asleep :)

This past weekend we visited La La and Paw Paw Jim in Seminary. It was good to see them and other family. Harrison got to see Uncle Mike and Aunt Debbie for the first time.  I think he really enjoys the country, I guess there's nothing like fresh air.

Rach has enjoyed being home all this past week with H.  He may have gotten a little more spoiled!  She says its hard not to spoil someone who you love so much.... I tend to agree.  A shout out to my job, thanks for allowing me to take Thursday and Friday off to spend with the family and cut the grass.

Our little buddy is four months.  He is such a happy little guy and we are so thankful for our sweet baby.  Here are some highlights from his fourth month of life...

He got his first ear infection at the end of February (ok, this was not a "highlight").  He really was not that fussy, even with an ear infection.  We took him to the doctor because he had a runny nose, a little cough, and a kid at Nana's had RSV.  Thankfully it was not RSV!  When we went to the doctor he weighed 14 lbs, 7 oz.  We will go back on Wednesday for his four month check up, so we're interested to see how much he weighs now.  This boy loves to eat. He can down some milk!  Jermaine kept saying that he wanted him to be a linebacker, but now he's thinking he may be a defensive tackle (played by a larger boy).  I just know that momma is having trouble keeping up with these eating habits!!

Harrison's dedication was also at the end of January.  Both of our parents came up to share in this special occasion. Psalm 127:3 says, "Children are a heritage from the Lord, they are a reward from him."  We are thankful that the Lord has given us this reward, but know what a huge responsibility He has also given us.  I sometimes feel overwhelmed when praying for Harrison- I feel like there's so much to pray for.  It's usually the same...thanksgiving, protection, development, etc.  I was so happy to find a calendar on Pinterest that has a different topic for each day of the month to pray over your children...so I'm very excited about this!

We moved Harrison to his crib this month.  We were apprehensive, but he did fine.  He actually slept longer than he had been in our room.  I guess we were waking him up when we got up.  Jermaine had to wake him up a few days so he had time to feed him and get him ready to leave.  He has been sleeping about 9 or 10 hours a night...glorious!  We are thankful for normal sleep hours again.  We still swaddle him, although he usually slips his hands out very quickly.

One of the last nights in the bassinet

Harrison has started rolling over from his stomach to his back, sleeping on his side, sucking his fingers (two or three at a time), and putting anything he can grab into his mouth.  He has been sitting in his bumbo, exersaucer, and jumper.

talk about stimulation! :)

he likes to eat...as you can tell

My mom and sister came to visit and keep Harrison when he was sick.  I am thankful that family is close enough to come up for a couple days- on a whim.  My mom came back up this past weekend and kept Harrison at home on Friday just to spend time with him.  It is a great feeling to know that our families love him so much!  Ellen left for Korea on February 6th.  She will be teaching kindergarten there for a year.  We got to Skype with her a couple days ago.  Her apartment is the tiniest thing I've ever seen, but she looks happy :)  I am thankful for Skype so that we can see each other and she can watch Harrison grow this year. 

playing with Aunt Ellen

he loves to read books

playing with Grand Nan

Jermaine's mom also can up to babysit Harrison allowing us to go out for Jermaine's birthday and Valentine's Day.  We celebrated at Mugshots and followed that up by watching The Vow.  It was really good for just the two of us to be out.  Grandparents rock!

3 months

As of January 18th, we have a 3 month old.  We have been loving our little guy so much.  He has been more interactive lately- smiling, laughing, and cooing.  Sleeping habits have been getting much better!  Thank the Lord!!  He had many 7 & 8 hour stretches, although Jermaine woke up quite often to check on him.  Harrison's two month check-up was at the end of December.  He weighed 13 pounds, which put him in the 80th percentile.

not the biggest fan of tummy time

but i love bath time!!

love that smile!

Grand Nan bought Harrison his first Christmas outfit...with a sweater vest like Daddy!

Harrison's first Christmas was spent at home. Jermaine's family came to Brandon this year. It was so nice to not be traveling on Christmas day- like we have done the past few years.  Here are some pics from the day...

cousins

We went to New Orleans for New Year's.  We got to celebrate Christmas down there also.  We also celebrated my mom's birthday.  She is such a wonderful mom and grandmother.  We are so thankful for her!!  My parents babysat one night while Jermaine and I went on a date!  It was great to spend some quality time with my hubby.

Aunt Ellen put H to sleep :)

January 5th was pretty rough- it was the day I went back to work.  I knew it would be hard, but I wasn't prepared for just how hard.  Being home with my boy for 2 and a half months was great.  I missed him so much!!  At least we know he's in good hands at Nana's. :)

We are so busy in the evenings now, the hours of 4-9 just fly by!  We feed H, cook dinner, eat, clean, bathe him, feed him again, and get everything ready for the next day.  I don't know how people do it with multiple children!!  Once again I am reminded of how blessed I am to have a husband who does so much and takes great care of us!