How Did I Get Here?

10 Months

My little man turned 10 months old today.

10 months.

I still can't quite fathom that I have a second child.

I feel so very blessed to have these two miracles in my life. 

I wonder if I would feel this way, if I hadn't had the heartbreak of 5 miscarriages.

I'd like to think I would.

So here he is, Mister-I'm-10-Months-Old-and-I-Can-Do-Everything:

He's standing!!

He climbs on EVERYTHING.

I'm not kidding.

The walls, even. 

Stinker. 

And who can resist a cute little chubby baby in a tub?

He's so sweet.

And loud.

Can you hear the scream?

And... he has to be one of the happiest little peanuts ever.

Oh! And did I mention? He has teeth. 2 on the bottom, one on top.

At 10 months, he: 

• eats finger foods (puffs and the like)
• waves bye-bye
• says "ma-ma-ma-ma" constantly
• definitely knows what he doesn't like and lets you know it
• mimics us as we talk - I swear he tried to say "night-night" the other evening
• takes amazing naps 
• sleeps soundly from about 8pm to 7am
• loves to throw balls
• will spin anything that spins (car wheels, steering wheels, etc)
• is already developing a love of cars
• thinks his big brother is HILARIOUS (still) 
• shakes his little shoulders when I sing 
• thinks peek-a-boo is the funniest thing ever 
• and many many many more little things I can't think of right now....  

So that's it..

Harry Baby at 10 months.

He'll be a year old in no time... I am so blessed.

(and as an aside, I'm thrilled to announce I've lost all of my Harrison weight PLUS about 8 more pounds... for a total of about 73 pounds since his birth.. and I'm still going strong!!) 

Oh, Hello There...

Ok.... so I was doing well on the blog and then...

pffffft.

Who would have ever thought I would fall off the blogging train?

Oh well.

I'm learning to get over it.

A couple of weekends ago, I took the boys to the park. 

My first outing to the park with just myself to keep an eye on Connor and stay by Harrison's side.

That was interesting. I did a lot of "CONNOR RED!!" shouts... just to keep him remembering I needed to be able to see him. Harrison was just a happy little clam in his stroller: 

Then, last weekend, Jon and I packed up the kiddos and headed to Cincinnati, to the Newport Aquarium. They have a "no stroller" policy in the summer... so Jon got to wear the baby bjorn ;)

I really should have brought my Rebel instead of my purse camera.

Oh well, next time.

As you can see, Harrison LOVED the frogs. 

Connor was all about EVERYTHING. From petting sharks to spotting stingrays...

he loves the aquarium.

This next one may be my favorite picture of the day: 

And I just had to take another picture of Con next to the "measuring" shark:

The little man has grown quite a bit in a year :)

And for my last batch...

a couple of weeks ago, I decided to comb Harrison's hair into a fauxhawk..

just to see how he'd look. I like it. I think he did too:

From the Mouth of Connor...

....comes some pretty funny stuff.

I've been jotting down the things this kid says, because I really don't want to forget them. 

"Mom, I'm sorry you don't have a willy and can't pee standing up"

"Mom, why did God make me a little boy, and not a dog?"

"Dad, I think I'm going to barf. Wait. Dad? What does 'barf' mean?"

"Throw up."

"Ew. Nevermind. I don't have to barf."

"Girls are always friendly to me... I don't know why...."

Gosh, I do love this kid. 

Two in One Week!?

What is going on here?

Clearly, I'm trying to be better about the blog biz. 

Ok, first up, someone graduated from preschool today: 

Of course he's waving at us :)

He did so well. Singing and sign language... behaving on stage. I am a proud mom. 

Next year, Kindergarten. LOOK OUT.

Also today, I decided to videotape the process of getting Harrison up from his nap.

He's such a happy little baby. I love him so. 

I swear, just having him smile when he wakes up in the morning or from naps is such a great pick me up.

Don't mind me in the video, just focus on the cute baby: 

I'm Sorry

I've really been a horrible blogger.

Let me make it up to you.

And so... the comparisons continue.

If it weren't for the eye color, I'd swear this was the same baby. 

Well, and if it weren't for the fact that I know better :)

So what has happened in the past month?

Um...

Jon and I went to see The Killers.

Loved them.

Let me repeat that.

Loved. Them.

If I weren't in love with Brandon Flowers before...

I am now head over heels.

This would be Jon and I, tired and waiting for the sun to go down and the band to come out: 

And then... They took the stage, and blew us away: 

I found myself wishing we had brought Connor with us. He really loves The Killers. I'm sure it's my influence, but there were so many moments where I turned to Jon and said "Connor would LOVE this!!"

Especially this part: 

After that...

Jon, Connor and Harrison went to the Blooms & Butterflies exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory.

And finally, to honor our dear friend, Heather, Jon and I participated in the Race for the Cure this last weekend... and sported our pink wigs as part of Heather's Team: 

And we weren't alone...

Check out our view as we were walking down High Street toward the finish line..

Behind us: 

And in front: 

And here's our official "team photo":

It was so amazing to be part of something so full of hope, and inspiring...

it was such a fitting tribute to Heather, it was hard not to get overwhelmed. 

She is really missed. 

Ok, that's my update for now.

Thanks for reading and sticking around....

Again... I'll try to be better... I promise!

Football and Funny Faces

Connor had his first flag football game today and it was an experience.

I got home and realized I took 100 pictures... most of the good ones came from practice before the actual game, because I could get close. Next week, I bring the zoom lens :)

Connor really liked to run.. tonight I called him my football guy and his answer was "I'm not a football guy, I just like to run"... clearly. 

As evidenced by this picture... he doesn't really care which direction he runs in... those would be his coaches, pointing the right direction for him to run. (He may have some Forrest Gump tendencies)

We're definitely going to need to work on catching... this was his first "run, turn, catch" drill... needless to say, there was a lot of running, barely any turning and no catching whatsoever.

Game face. Bring it.

Serious flag football business... Tammy pointed out, even when he's seriously playing ball, he still has that goofy Connor grin going on. He totally does!! Silly boy. 

Finally - game time. Connor got two "tackles"... this would be his victory pose. 

The 49ers won the game. It was hilarious to watch the little ones run and fall and run the wrong way. Connor really enjoyed himself and so did we.

 

Oh, and this little guy: 

He behaved wonderfully. Ate his dinner at the field, giggled and played with my blackberry. Was generally adorable. :) 

Speaking of adorable...

the other day, he was making these goofy faces while I fed him so I grabbed my little flip camera and caught a few minutes of him giving me a piece of his mind. Take a look: 

Dear Authors Everywhere...

Please stop writing books I want to read. 

I cannot keep up.

The latest came out this week: 

It Sucked and Then I Cried... By Heather Armstrong of dooce.com fame.

Stop this!! I still need to read both of Chelsea Handler's books and I'm pretty sure she's writing another.

I am now on book 4 of  bazillion in the Sookie Stackhouse series...

My sweet co-worker, Sarah, just gave me "P.S. I love you" to read. 

I'm listening to the twilight saga on my ipod on my way to and from work (yes, I just admitted that. I read the books and now I'm listening to them).

My goodreads.com "to read" bookshelf is about to buckle from the weight. Seriously.

I guess I could have worse vices... I mean... I love to sit and read. It's not like I'm addicted to a bottle of wine a night or anything- right? 

The Theater

Last night I took Connor to the theater for the very first time... we went to see the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang... Our seats were in the very front row... talk about up close and personal.

Connor was in awe the minute we set foot in the Ohio Theater...

he loved the orchestra pit. Some of the musicians stopped warming up to chat with him, and he thought that was great.

Once the show started, he was a bit fidgety, but focused.

At one point he said to me at a loud enough voice "mom, I thought the car flew!" and I had to quickly hush him.

At intermission, I tried to fool him... thinking I could make it an early night and get him to bed before it was too late. So when the curtain came down, I said "so did you like it? are you ready to go?" and he shot right back at me "mom. There's more play to see. We need to see how it ends." DARN IT. Outsmarted by a 5 year old. I thought for sure I could fool him, after hearing Tammy's stories of being able to pull it on Mason when he was a little guy - but no. Connor paid way too close attention.. and he knew the story wasn't over.

So we stayed, and it was good... I'm glad he wanted to see how it ended. And he appreciated the singing and dancing and the fact that we were so close to the action. He wasn't an angel, but he wasn't horrible by any means. I think I may have a pretty good theater date for the future... providing it's appropriate material for a little man. :)

Family Portrait

I was on the Rock Band website tonight and noticed they actually make pictures of your characters and band.

So this is our band, Dirty Harrison, made of myself, Jon & Con.

I think Jon's living out his "full head of hair" fantasies...

and I'm the readhead I've always thought it would be AWESOME to be...

Who knows where Connor gets the hippie look from... but he won't let me change it. :)

Maybe one day Harrison will be in our band... instead of being the inspiration for the name. 

xoxo

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I took these pictures this morning, before we bolted out the door.

Connor was not pleased with me, because I informed him we could not stop at Tim Horton's before heading to the sitter's house. I think I got him to laugh by saying something about stinky farts. Hence, the weird grin on his face. 

I spent my time on twitter today posting Irish blessings... I felt it was my feel-good duty to spread some St. Patty's cheer. Because I sure feel blessed with these little men :)

May God be with you and bless you.

May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortunes

and rich in blessings.

May you know nothing but happiness

from this day forward.