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Monday, October 31, 2016

JMU Homecoming 2016

This past weekend we hit the road for JMU Homecoming 2016! It was our first adventure as a family and it was such a good time.  We really have such a great little man that makes traveling so much easier.  Homecoming now is definitely different than it was in the past, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 


We stayed at an AirBnB in Staunton with some of our best friends Conner, Jaci, Carleigh and Bradley! When we arrived on Friday afternoon, Harrison had to check out all the chickens.  He's never seen chickens or roosters before, so he was pretty interested and loved being on their level. 


Friday night we drove into Harrisonburg for a memorial service for one of the guys on the JMU baseball team that passed away earlier in the year. It was a very nice gathering of teammates, friends and family that all were there to celebrate his life.  We grabbed a late dinner afterwards at Capital Ale House.


Saturday morning came early after Mr. You-Know-Who didn't have a good night sleep.  But we drove up to JMU around 10 to go to the AST Brunch.  It was good seeing a few people I knew, but most of my friends didn't make it to homecoming this year.  We met up with the group at the 1983 JMU Baseball Team's tailgate.  They were the only team in JMU history to make it to the college world series.

Harrison had a blast hanging out with Ella, but Ella wasn't too fond to hang out with Harrison!! She was such a little cutie and it was great having parent friends there with us! 


His favorite toy right now is any and all water bottles!


We scored some great seats, thank to Brad, and ended up leaving the game at halftime because JMU was killing Rhode Island.


After we left the game, we decided to stop by the park to let Harrison have some fun for a little bit.  The rest of the group waited for a table at the restaurant. Big boy is seriously loving the outside and looking like such a big boy these days!




That fall foliage though.... SO PRETTY!



And there is nothing better than seeing your husband throw your son up in the air and hearing a big belly laugh at the top!! <3 SWOON.


Monday, October 3, 2016

6 Months || Harrison Cole



Big H,

How in the world have you been here for 6 months already?! What did we do without you?! This has been the best month yet! You are always rolling around, loving every jumping toy we have for you, playing with your voice and absolutely loving your thumb. We are both SO excited that Daddy is home now.  It makes a huge difference having an extra hand all the time.  You get to spend all day with him until I get home and we seriously cannot get enough of you.  The best part of every day is getting you out of the crib in the morning and coming home from work and seeing your big smile.


6 month memories: 


Weight and Length: 19.2 oz and 28 inches long! The doctor was impressed that with his extremely long body and such big head that he can roll and sit up like he does. OH!! And your cut your first tooth! Dr. Joyce saw it first - he said "did you know he has a tooth!?" I WAS LIKE, WHATTT!!!?!?! 

Diapers: That tiny hiney is fitting nicely in 3's. I prefer the pampers brand. We had lots of issues with Huggies.  You peed out of those almost every time you wore them.  I don't know why I kept trying to make them work.

Clothes: All 6 month clothes are packed up! Unless they are jackets and things I think you may be able to wear in the fall/winter.  But all shorts, t-shirts, jammies, onesies and bathing suits are gone! I swear you get bigger every day.  I finally took the time to organize all your clothes into bins and store them in the attic.  I was just waiting for daddy to get home to help me get them in the attic! Some things you can even wear 12 months!

Sleep:  It's crazy what one month difference makes.  I'm so glad I've been blogging and keeping up with your monthly posts because I would never remember.  Well last month I reported that you love the Merlin.  Now you are officially sleeping in big boy jammies and a sleep sack that zips up.  You are 100% capable of rolling and alternate between sleeping on your back, belly and tummy - whatever makes you most comfortable! 


You are still waking up every three hours, but for some reason it doesn't seem that bad anymore.  Maybe because Daddy gets up and gets you and brings you to me then puts you back in the crib when you are finished! You are not up more than 5 minutes, but it's still annoying.  Oh well.  You also seem to have had your first nightmare or dream.  You woke up crying, but then fell back asleep right away.  


Daddy has been able to calm you down when you make noises when it's been less than three hours.  You still have bad nights here and there, but you are getting consistent with sleep again.  

Napping has gotten a lot better too.  You are able to nap in your own crib, which I think makes a big difference.  You are taking two 2 hour naps on average per day. 

Food: YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE FOOD! And you still love mommy's milk, so it's the best of both worlds! Since you added food to your daily routine, you have dropped a bottle during the day.  I'm pumping 2-3 times a work per day - just depends on when HC ate last at home if I do that last  pump during the day.  You are such a big boy and can hold the bottle on your own now.  We are looking into starting a transition cup at some in the next couple of months.

You have loved every food you have tried.  First food was sweet potatoes, then green beans, squash, peas, carrots, bananas, apples and peaches.  I still need to try avocado, but I'm sure you will love it.  I gave you a pouch of sweet potatoes the other day for the first time and you did pretty well.  Still figuring out the sucking concept of baby food, but those will be life savers in the future! 

Pacifier: You don't hate it, but you don't love it.  And we are fine with that.

Other 6 month memories:

Your favorite sound is ma ma ma ma and I'm counting that as your first word, even though I don't think you associate the word with me, but oh well!

You love bath time, but you are in such an awkward stage with baths.  The tub we have isn't the best because you slip all over the place right now.  You need a little more practice sitting up and then hopefully we can start using the big boy tub without the rubber ducky bath tub we have. 


You are seriously the best natured baby.  Your are always happy, travel well and can just go with the flow (for the most part...unless you are super tired and missed naps). Two of mommy's friends got engaged recently and we spent some time at Surf Rider catching up and you were perfect.


You had your last day at Melissa's and your face says it all.  So sad! They were so great to you.  We can't wait to ask the girls to babysit one day soon.


 College football month! You got dressed in all your favorite college football teams kickoff week and Gigi had a blast with it.

 We had a play date with Jack and Emily over at Nana's house.  Nana was married to Emily's grandfather and it was so fun for all of us to get together.  Nana had so much fun seeing her two great grand babies play together.  Jack turned 1 in May, so he is quite a bit older than you, but I could see the wheels turning in your head trying to figure out how you could do what Jack was doing!



Saturday well spent out at the Wilson's house in Virginia Beach.  We watched the Blue Angels air show from their front yard and found you the best jersey for Homecoming at JMU in a few weeks! Crazy to think that Liam wore that shirt when he was 2 and you can wear it at 6 months!


This was the first time I had you in an umbrella stroller and you did great! And your cousins also introduced you to the iPad and all the fun baby apps they have. We may be in trouble!


We are both ready for JMU homecoming!


Your 5th month on Earth, you figured out how to roll over.  You mostly go from back to belly and now push yourself up onto your arms.  Once you figure out your legs you will be on the move.



And on the last day of the month, you figured out how to sit up like a big boy! I cannot believe how fast things click for you at this point. It's pretty amazing.


 You still love all your sitting toys.  I think we need to move this one up a notch, but you are so much more into the activities and the other jumping thing we have you are jumping up and down like no other!

The Akron Rubberducks won their league championship and we were able to make the trip up to Trenton to see them win! And with this trip in the books, your official state count is up to 7 - VA, MD, PA, OH, CT, NC, and NJ.  




 On our way home from Trenton, we stopped by the Brown's for the weekend. We watched Jayden play soccer,  hung out at Amy's house and played some pick up football! 


You still love the wrap and the Ergo.  Gigi and Grandpa Bieber also have the backpack that they love (and daddy too).


Mommy and Daddy celebrated our 3 year anniversary this past week and you got to hang out with Gigi for the night! Our first date night since D.J. got home! 




And at the end of the month, we took a trip to see Erin and Ryan get married in PA.  It was a crazy trip, but I could not be more impressed with how perfect you were.  No crying in the church, you let us stay at the reception for longer than I thought you would, and we only had to stop one time each way on the road trip up there to feed you.  You seriously are a road warrior!!