One

Beau turned 1!!  Wow, does time fly.  Our little bundle of joy has grown into a squirmy, ball of energy.  He was 22 lbs (46%) and 31.5 inches tall (92%).  He also started walking just after his birthday!  The first couple of weeks of his new found toddlerhood started out rough.  He got an upper respiratory infection, a stomach bug, topped with an ear infection. 

On our way to his one year check up I heard a noise that sounded like he threw up.  I thought I had imagined it, but soon I started smelling what he had for lunch.  Thinking/hoping it was only spit up I wasn't too worried.  I parked and opened his door and saw the mess!  He had thrown up all over the back seat, his clothes and the car seat.  I toweled him off the best I could before I strapped him in the stroller and headed to his appointment.  We checked in, got called back, weighed, measured and put in our room.  I sat with naked Beau on my lap trying to keep him from getting down when all of a sudden he threw up again.  This time it went all over my purse, the floor, my cream sweater and my jeans.  Did I mention it was green?! Ya, he had green beans for lunch.  I tried to clean up a little and then went to find a nurse.  She helped clean until the doctor came in.  He saw what was going on and started to help as well.  The nurse left and then we tried to carry on with the check-up but Beau continued to throw up again and again...and again.  The doctor finally just said you need to get out of here and we'll check him another time.  I bagged all of our dirty clothes and zipped up my jacket all the way to leave.  As I opened the door I saw a hazmat team waiting to clean the room as soon as we left.  He continued to throw up until 6pm and fell asleep in my arms and was out for the night.  Luckily I didn't have to get up during the night.  He was better the next day.  Unfortunately, what he had went through the rest of us.  I spent the next night getting up every hour or so to throw up and felt horrible the next day.  Travis never threw up (grrr), but he felt pretty crappy for a day or two.  What a great way to start off the new year!

I wanted to throw Beau a big party but Travis refused to let me invite anyone else other than family.  Oh well, hopefully next year.  I printed out pictures from every month and made tissue paper pom-poms.  We had cookies and cupcakes.

Here's Beau on his BIG day!

He enjoyed his cupcake!  He was getting a little too messy for my liking.

I do have to say that I am loving this stage!  I love seeing his personality blossom and all of his quirks. He can say and point out babies (pronounced dede).  He loves smashing blue berries with his pointer finger before putting them in his mouth. He takes the DVDs, one by one, from the entertainment center and brings them to me on the couch (if only he could put them back).  He likes racing up the stairs to get us to chase him and bring him down.  He loves using his teeth to take lids off of containers and then puts the lid back on to do it over and over.

Happy birthday big guy!  We love you!

Christmas Time

This year was a Harrison Christmas.  And we didn't have to travel! It was nice to not travel, but it also didn't feel like vacation and it didn't help that Travis decided to make December his busiest month ever so he didn't have any extra days off. 

Beau was really good about staying away from the tree and presents.  Every once in awhile he would go up to the tree and pick off the tiny red ball ornaments that were in his reach to try and eat. 

Beau was really good about ripping the paper off, but he wasn't great about not eating it. He did enjoy his toys and started playing with them right away.  After we opened our presents we headed over to Travis' parents house to open more.  The first Christmas that I spent with the Harrisons, I remember present opening happened all at once.  It felt like it lasted 2 minutes and I thought it was very anticlimactic.  This year was so much better.  Everyone took a turn opening their presents so everyone could watch and enjoy.  It lasted A LOT longer and I thought it was a lot more fun.  I hope we keep it up.

   {Don't get too excited Buddy! I don't think Dad is going to share his rootbeer with you.}

Later that week we had planned on going to a cool park with all the Harrison clan, but at last minute the plans fell through.  The 3 of us still wanted to go to a park so we walked to our neighborhood's park instead.  Beau was so excited when Travis was getting him out of the stroller...

...but then Travis put him in the swing and pushed him a little too hard.  He was not very happy about that.

Beau also tried the slide for the first time and seemed a little scared over that too.

The Month That Lasted Forever

Did anyone else feel like the month of January was never going to end?  We started the new year off by everyone getting sick.  Celebrated Beau's first birthday.  Beau got an ear infection.  We all got sick again.  Celebrated Travis' 30th birthday.  Got snowed in.  Celebrated my golden birthday (turned 27 on the 27th).  And then somewhere February decided to show up, thank goodness.  I was starting to get tired of January.

The holidays are such a busy, hectic time.  And luckily we waited for all our guests to leave to throw up.  More about that though in another post.

But lets back track a little bit since I haven't been very good at this blogging thing lately.  My parents and younger brother came into town for Thanksgiving.  It was so nice to have them here.  We went into DC a few times, ate at all our favorite places, had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, played a successful game of Prize, and took a family picture.

For Christmas we stayed here and all of Travis' family came to visit.  We enjoyed great food every night, saw Tangled, played games, and...took more family pictures.

Ok, I promise to catch up!  Look back soon!