Harrison's First "Well" Baby visit

Harrison had his 12 month check up today. They call the routine check ups "well baby" check ups. But Harrison was never "well" for any of them. Today he was "well!" He weighs a whopping 22lbs 9 oz (42nd percentile). So he is a little small for his age but you wouldn't be able to tell that by his big belly. And he is 31 inches tall (80th percentile). He is very tall for his age which is hard for me to notice because William towers over him and he looks so little to me. He is doing great. He is probably behind in his vocabulary but that is ok because he has had so many health set backs that that is normal. His ENT said that he is hearing 30 decibels higher now and will really start to "talk." He babbles some and says "dada" but I think he just likes the sound. He doesn't associate the word to Scott. His ENT also said his ears are pearly white like they should be opposed to purple and filled with mucus like before (the tubes are working great)! I am so excited for him.

This weekend should be really nice. We have some plans for Sunday (more to post on that later-I will keep you in suspense). I hope everyone has a nice relaxing weekend!

"Bye Bye GuPa, GuPa and Auntie"

We just dropped off Great Grandpa, Grandpa and Grandma off at the airport. It is always a sad thing to do to say good-bye but hopefully we will all get together again soon. William calls both Great Grandpa and Grandpa Archer, "GuPa." And for some reason he has started calling Grandma Archer, "Auntie." We think it is because Scott's sisters were recently in town and that is their names :) We love having family visit and we got to spend some good quality time together doing different things. I didn't get to post pictures from our Santa Barbara trip because I left my camera card in my computer that day by accident.

Here is a picture from this morning with Great GuPa as it was the last wagon ride to the park. The boys have been spoiled and are going to have a hard time tomorrow when they don't get to play with Great Gupa, Gupa and Auntie. Thanks for coming and we definitely miss you already!!!!

P.S. I was just corrected by William when I asked him about Grandma. He said, "No, it's Auntie."

Happy Birthday Harrison!!!

He is ONE! I can't believe it. Of-course I have to post the cake I made for the little guy. But check out the difference a year makes....

January 27th, 2008

January 27th, 2009 (Today)Harrison has had such a rough first year with all of his ear infections, surgery and pneumonia. But this year has to be better on him health wise. Despite all of his health issues, he is a very energetic little boy with a contagious laugh. He is determined to do it all. He is a very smart and happy baby. He admires his big brother and tries to do everything he does. Our lives have been so blessed by having this little guy. I love you so much my Harry Bug. Happy Birthday!

We took the boys to ChuckECheese today for lunch. This was after Great Grandpa took William to the park for a couple hours. You would think he would be wore out but he made it the whole day with a ton of energy (I'm sure the sugar rush after dinner helped). They rode rides and played games and had a blast. We had a nice dinner in honor of Harrison's birthday (He is still on stage 2 baby food because of his throat issue so he didn't get to enjoy the food I made). After dinner we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. I of-course had a second cake handy just for Harrison to dig right in.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. I always take a ton! Harrison loved his Elmo air plane while Will played with the Mr. Potato Head accessories. :)

"Montey's hungry"

Grandpa, Grandma and Great Grandpa Archer are in town visiting. Harrison has been feeling much better lately and has become a pretty good sleeper. And speaking of sleep, these two little boys have been sleeping good now that we have company in town. Taking long naps and sleeping in in the morning. I am going to make our company move in so these boys continue like this. I will be so much more rested:) William is Mr. Talkative. And now when he wants something, he will tell me that his monkey wants it. So if he is hungry I will hear, "Montey's hungry." Same thing with sleep, thirsty, etc. And some days Monkey has to eat with him. I caught him a few days ago feeding "Montey" in the highchair so now I will let him sit with him.

William loves his wagon and Great Grandpa loves to take walks so the two (three if Harrison joins) are perfect.

Harrison update

Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers for Harrison. Boy it has been a tough year and it is only January. Harrison is doing MUCH better. He still has his moments and will be very whiny or tired but all in all, he made a 180 degree turn from Monday. And I love that he will cuddle with me in the rocking chair for hours in the morning (until Will wakes up). He has spurts of energy. And he has been sleeping through the night!!! He wakes up around 5am but still he is sleeping through the night. And he is taking long naps during the day. His doctor said his lungs sound good and his medicine is doing the job. Thank goodness. I am ready for healthy kids!

Poor Little Harrison....

Oh Goodness (sigh). What a long long day. All I looked forward to lately was Harrison getting tubes in his ears so that he could feel normal and not be in pain all of the time. Today he did not get that relief. He woke up whiny. His fever was 103.1. He continued to get worse over the morning. His ears started bleeding and he became very lethargic. I called his surgeon twice with no return call back until 4pm!!! By late morning, his fever was 104.7 and he couldn't lift his head he was so weak. I called his pediatrician and she said to wait for the surgeon to call me back. Knowing how bad off Harrison was, in the fact that he couldn't move, I took him straight to the emergency room. And if you couldn't tell, I am very highly upset with both his doctor and the surgeon. After arriving at the hospital, the little guy was put through the ringer. He had a LOT of blood taken. This was not an easy task seeing how strong he is. He was catheterized. He had Xrays taken. And it turns out that he has pneumonia in his left lung. The doctor said that the anesthetics will cause it if he was sick prior to surgery. So if that wasn't enough, he had a shot of antibiotics while there too. We were at the hospital for over 5 hours and this is not an easy task for anyone. But it was really hard on me seeing that I had to take William with. 5 hours in an ER with a two year old and a sick baby....not easy. But I am proud of the little guy for doing as well as he did. Tonight is going to be a long night for us. One of us has to stay up and watch his breathing all night. "No sleeping" doctors orders. If he start to have trouble breathing, we have to take him right in. He has a follow up appointment tomorrow to see how he is doing. Oh goodness. I just want this little guy to feel better. I have never seen him like this before. He is always so hyper even when he had ear infections. Now to see him barely able to lift his head brings tears to my eyes.

Happy Birthday Willliam!

William on his birthday. William on his 1st Birthday

William on his 2nd Birthday (today).

What a difference each year makes! The past two years have been the most rewarding years of mine and Scott's lives. Starting a family together is everything and more than I ever dreamed of.

Today Scott made William's favorite breakfast, pancakes and bacon. Then we headed to Burbank to Kids Castle. It is a bigger version of a ChuckECheese. We had a lot of fun and the boys were so tired afterwards. William played a lot of the big boy games. This evening we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. We had to make an emergency run last night to get a new present for William. The last three days all he could talk about was basketball. Of-course we had to get him a basketball and basket.

William weighs 29lbs and is 35.5 inches tall. There is an old wives tale that your height on your 2nd birthday is half of your adult height. That means he will be 5'11". He is a very affectionate and caring little boy. He has to give everyone a hug and kiss when they wake up and when it is time for bed. This includes Miss Belle. The nurses at the hospital thought it was cute when Harrison came out of recovery William ran up to him and gave him a kiss and hug without anyone asking. William amazes me everyday with all he is learning. I can go on all day about him.

I love you little William and regardless of your age, you will always be my little baby. Happy Birthday!

There's a new way to eat around here

We have a rule at our house. You can't have desert if you don't eat your dinner. Growing up I got annoyed when parents would let their kids pass on dinner but they still let them have desert. I remember my sister telling me that would change once I had kids. Well she must of forgotten how stubborn I am. So now it is a rule at our house. Tonight William would not eat his dinner (no surprise there- he goes in spurts). Well Scott got out the Oreo cookies and a cup of milk. William was so interested in how Scott was eating his cookies that he wanted to try it too. But instead of dunking his cookies in milk (because he hadn't gotten any), he dipped his quesadilla in his milk. We giggled and thought he would stop after one bite. Nope, he ate his whole plate of food this way. He dunked it all! And ate it all! So indeed, he got his cookies afterwards :)

After William and Harrison went to bed, I went straight to baking. William's birthday is tomorrow and I was excited to get ready. He loves Thomas the Train. Although buying a cake at the store is great and all (and we have done it that way a few times), we like to bake homemade cakes for birthdays around here. I can't say I am the most artistic person but I am pretty proud of my cake.

And now for the clean up............Ugh!

Harrison's surgery

Well we are home from the hospital already. It's been a long day and it's only 11am. The alarm went off at 4:30 this morning. With Harrison being so young, he was the first patient in for surgery today since he had to fast. Here he is in pre-op. For waking up so early the boys had fun playing with puzzles and being toted around in a wagon throughout the hallways of the surgical wing. Harrison's surgery went very well. He had a Bilateral Tympanostomy with Insertion of Ventilation Tubes. His surgery is a little different than just tubes as he also has concave eardrums. So after each ear infection he had (20!!!!- an no I am not exaggerating), the fluid could never drain. If he didn't have the surgery he would always have an ear infection. That is why every time he had his ears checked, he had an ear infection. So really he has had one ear infection that never went away his entire life. When they drained his ears during the surgery, it was like glue. Usually the fluid is a watery substance but his was glue. After surgery he wasn't too happy in recovery. He was screaming and crying and rolling around everywhere. He actually wiggled out of his cute little gown. He is doing much better at home now and they said he would be back to normal by tomorrow. Now with his ears clear he probably wonders why everyone talks so loud :) He obviously failed his hearing test during his pre-op appointment. I am excited to see how his little personality changes now that he is going to feel so much better. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Little Harrison is going to be so happy and healthy now!!!!

Santa Susana Depot

The weekend was nice. It has been in the mid 80's for about a week now. It has been nice but so windy that it is hard to go do anything. The train depot is walking distance from our house so we decided to take the boys there. They had a little museum with a model train. It was so detailed. Will ran straight up to the "dog" to give it a hug. It ended up being a statue. He is not afraid of large animals at all. I guess that is a good thing. Not much else going on here. Harrison's big surgery is Thursday. I can't wait.

He has another double ear infection right now (shock)! I can't wait for him to feel normal. I can't believe the difference a state makes. I feel like my dad complaining about money all of the time but seriously, it costs so much money to live in California. It is ridiculous. Everything is significantly more expensive. Grocery shopping is terrible. Anyway my point being is that not even one year ago we paid for the same surgery for William. His cost $1700 in Utah. Harrison's cost over $7000. That is before insurance of-course but still. Why such the big difference?!!!

Moving on. I can't believe my "baby" is going to be two years old on Saturday. Where did the time go? He is a little boy now. He repeats everything he hears. He can count to ten almost. He gets stuck on 7 and 8. He doesn't like those numbers but boy is he fond of 9?! He knows the tune to the ABCs and he knows a lot of the letters. He can say it to the letter H and then he has a hard time remembering but he knows the letters when you get to the fun parts of the song (P, T, W, Y ,Z). His favorite is W. I have to say that is my favorite too when I listen to him try to pronounce W. So cute.

And good lil Harry Bug is going to be one in a couple weeks. What do you get a one year old that has everything? Well he never gets anything new just hand me downs but they are practically new seeing we bought them only a year earlier. Seriously, if anyone has an idea of what to buy him for his birthday, let me know because I am stuck!

Clever little boy

Well this week has been a bit of a challenge. William has decided he wants to give up his naps. I didn't think this was normal for a 23 month old but what do I know? I haven't been through this before. So William has decided to play through his nap time. After I put Harrison down for his nap, I decided to check on William since it was quiet in his room. I figured I may need to put a blanket on him...right? No, I walked in to find him sitting on his couch watching "Barney and the ABC's." He turned the volume way down so I couldn't hear it from outside his door. That clever little boy! So this has gone on all week. And on Wednesday night William had troubles sleeping. He only slept 2.5 hours which means I only slept 2.5 hours. He woke up inconsolable. This has happened before. I think he has bad dreams. On Thursday, I was sure I was going to get a nap in. NOPE! He did the same thing through nap time. Since when did this kid switch with Harrison? All of the sudden, Harrison is the good sleeper. Can I catch a break? Anyway, the entire week has been this way. I knew today he was going to skip his nap when he asked me to put Barney in his DVD player right before nap time. Well I guess it has caught up with him. He finished his dinner before Scott and I. Then we looked at him and we found him like this!!!!!

Harrison's first haircut

So I think I caught up on all of my posts today:) Harrison got his first haircut today and William his second. Here is the before picture of Harrison.

He chose to get his haircut while riding a horse.

Here is the after shot. He actually looks almost the same. His hair was curling up over his ears so he needed a trim.

William really needed a haircut. He had a mullet in the back and when he wore a hat, it looked like he had a pony tail. He had to ride every thing including the pink Barbie Jeep but he decided to get his haircut on the same horse as Bubby. Don't ask what he is doing in this picture. It looks like he wants to raise a finger to the camera.
And here is the after shot for him. He looks so different to me!

Breaking of the Pacifier

The time had come to break William of his pacifier. I love parenting advice from other parents. When I was pregnant with William, Scott's former boss gave us a few parenting tips. This advice was one of the best tips we have received on little tricks. He told us that when he broke his kids of the pacifier, he would snip a little piece of the pacifier off each night. We thought we would give it a whirl. We took all of the other pacifiers and told William that they were Harrisons. Only the purple one is his. The first night we snipped a little piece off, he kept showing it to us and telling us it was broke. We explained that is what happens to pacifiers when boys get big. So after about a week, this is what his pacifier looks like. He obviously can't put it in his mouth anymore. He never cried for it and it was like he realized it was time to move on. He still likes to hold it before going to bed though. He says it is his teddy bears paci now. So his teddy bear sleeps with it next to him :) So cute! So I hope I pass this little tip onto the next parent who needs to break their child of the pacifier because it worked great for us!

2009

Wow! I can't believe it is already 2009. It really is true that the older you get, the faster it seems time flies by. Scott and I were sitting down the other night reminiscing. It is hard to believe that it was 9 years ago I was on my Outward Bound trip on a island wondering if something happened because of Y2K. 8 years ago we graduated from college. And we started dating 8 years ago.

2008 had its ups and downs for us. Scott's grandmother passed away. William suffered second and third degree burns. We lived apart for two months during our relocation. Harrison has suffered countless ear infections (over 15). But on the other hand, we brought a new life into the world. Scott was promoted. We get to experience different parts of the country by moving. We get to watch our children develop their personalities.

I look forward to 2009. I look forward to Harrison getting his tubes on the 15th. He is going to be so much better without all of the pain he feels and doesn't know that is not how life is supposed to be. I get to potty train William. I know that will be tough but it will be nice only having to buy diapers for one. And we get to save on formula since Harrison will move over to cow's milk next month. Anywhere we can save money will be great. William is almost broke of the pacifier. We had him almost broke in September but then he had his burn and we gave it back to him. He had gotten so attached to it that he would cry for it during dinner time and we knew it was time to say bye bye to it. We have a little trick and he is pretty much broke of it now. I will post the trick because you will have to see a picture of it. What else? I am just excited for 2009 and hope everyone has a great year!

Magic Mountain

Yesterday we took the boys to Six Flags Magic Mountain. I was really impressed with how many kiddie rides they had. Thomas Town was William's favorite. No surprise there seeing that Thomas is his favorite cartoon. He had to ride the train twice. Here are William and I riding the tour bus. He wasn't too fond of this ride because it went pretty high and went in circles. Harrison checking me out.

William and Scott riding in a big truck. William was driving of-course and Scott was just a passenger.

Look how little William is on this ride.! He is second from the right. He wasn't too fond of this ride either as it drops really fast.

Onto the rides he loved. He is flying the plane here.

Riding in a little train.

Trapped like Tweety. This one actually moved pretty fast but he still liked it.

Harrison got to ride a few rides too. This was funny because he was hanging of for dear life on the carousal. We have never seen him grip something so hard. You could barely pry his hands off.
Look at his face.

More fun at the park.

The boys love their wagon. It is funny because Miss Belle is a natural poser. We don't even ask her to sit for the pictures but she just sits there with her smile on. The boys have so much fun in the wagon. They sit looking at each other and Will makes Harrison laugh the whole time. He doesn't just giggle. It is full on cracking up. I had to post a picture of Harrison swinging because he sits in it like a recliner. He leans all the way back. We are having such a fun time this week with Scott off of work. I know Monday is going to be hard on me because the boys have woken up to having daddy home the last two weeks.