Zoo + Grand Haven

It has been a busy couple of days. Starting with Baby's 2 month check up where he was weighed (13 lbs) measured (23.5 in) and laughed at the doctor. She gave him homework of more tummy time to work his neck but was happy to see him smile and laugh, which he is doing a bunch now.

Then the shots came :( 3 pricks to the legs and a oral injection for rotavirus. Poor baby was looking at us with big eyes and crying when it was happening. Killed me :( I'm so glad Jon was able to be there too. 

Sadly Baby H developed a fever that afternoon and freaked me out with some really weird high pitched yells. I've called the doc twice and she talked me down. Luckily we were with our buddies in Holland at Mandy's house. Glad not to be alone. 

The next day Baby was feeling happier. Mom took work off and we met up with my aunt, uncle, cousins and second cousins at John Ball Zoo. I think H liked the capybaras, although he decided to sleep the whole time :) 

I was so happy to finally meet Baby Parker and see how Lily has grown, almost 3 soon. They both looked at Harrison but not a whole lot to say at this point. 

Petting Zoo! Next year Harrison is going to love this, and the camel rides :) Stef and Lily got to ride the big camel together, looked fun. 

How cute are you Parker? 

Lots of family on my mom's side rented a house in Grand Haven for the week. We went there after the zoo and got to relax and chat. Lots of baby show off time too :) By the end of the day Harrison was worn out, but happily his little fever has dissipated, hopefully for good. 

Hugs :)

A great thing about our current living situation is the BIG support of the following; holding H when I really need a shower, tickling him when I really need to eat dinner and don't want to spill anything hot on Harrison's head (crumbs I'm not so much worried about!), and allowing Jon and I to go out on a date now and then :)

Saturday we went to see Inception- loved it! I want to see it again soon. On a side note- how cute is Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

Thanks padres :)

Slice of Life

It's 6:30 am. Baby is still sleeping, Jon's alarm didn't go off so he ran to work "late" at 6, I am awake watching HLN and drinking coffee. Baby was a real sweety last night, after some fussiness upon bedtime he fell asleep by 9p. He didn't need me until 3! What?! And he's still cribbed and just beginning to chatter.

In recipe project news: Grilled Veggies, corn and...

limoncello cake! 

Okay, the grilled veggies didn't require a new recipe, but the cake did. 

When I did my solo 3 week tour of England and Italy (2005, right after my spring semester in Finland ended) I stayed with my sweet friend Nadia in her town outside of Milan. We went to a bar where her father played drums in a band, ate large flat pizzas and drank limoncello. It's a whiff of strong lemon that's for sure. 

 

It was a success! I was in a nostalgic mindset and pulled out my Finnish coffee mugs which I had sent to my parents. What a nice walk down memory lane while baking :)

Playing House

My friend Mandy bought a house in Holland! It is way cute and I must say has a bunch of projects for her and her husband! It was the first time that I ever experienced House Envy! For real. Honestly, owning a house scares me more than having a baby, strange? What can I saw, Mandy's house just spoke to me :) I especially enjoy the back sunroom, as did Baby H.

I got to try my hand on Project Weed! Happily Harry was content enough to supervise without being fussy.

I sure gave that a haircut! 

Project Weed had a good start :) 

Kellie Visits the Homeland

Kellie came home this weekend. It was the one time that I felt I had just seen her- which I guess we had :) I wish she would always come back monthly! We fit a lot in to the couple of days she was here. A lot of babytime, Harrison was all cuddles and coos.

We started the day early Saturday to see Dad off on his bike century in Holland. We immediately wanted to join in and grab one of the amazing bikes we saw. Dad is becoming a gear head and will soon upgrade his bike to clips, sweet.

After that it was a quick trip to Lake Michigan where the water was perfect! We had to contain ourselves or we'd surely have stripped down and jumped in.  

 

And for a little nostalgic exercise Kellie ran the dune. We didn't roll down instead we opted for the tunnel

Later that afternoon Mom and Kellie found Dad 

Sweet Victory 

Kellie was home in part for her big 10 year reunion. Her best friends from the four corners of the world all descended on Jenison and proceeded to fall in love with Baby H :)He of course loved it and returned their affections with giggles and grins. 

Everybody loves a sleeping baby :) 

Parks Parks and More Parks

We decided to take a nice long walk to Hager Park, Harrison slept there and back but played for awhile when we breaked for lunch on the greens.

Tuesday Harrison and I had the car so we took advantage of it! I hit up Bagel Beanery for a delish sandwich which I then took to Millenium Park and devoured while going for a nice long HOT walk.

Harrison tends to snooze on our walks. But I'm confident he enjoys them :)

This boy LOVES the Tour de France ;) I really can't wait til he gets his neck control down so we can get a burlee for him and I can jump on my beloved bike again. The past two days I had designs on going for rides when Jon got home, but by then I want to talk to him and read my new book (the Girl who Played with Fire).

In other news,
1) his sleep schedule is kind of working!
2) I am happy that Groupon is now in Grand Rapids- today they have coffee at Sparrows for $3, I think I'll do it!
3) I've begun to actually make proper dinners again ( I tend to recycle weekly dinners- mac'n'cheese, fish, chix, BORING) yesterday was baked ziti and the day before was peanut butter noodles
4) my sister is coming to visit this weekend- hooray!
5) the first friend I met in Jenison (3rd grade) had her baby last week! Yay Jenny and baby Jayden
6) tomorrow the little one is 2 months old, wow

Bedtime for Harrison

I have been trying desperately to update my blog! Harrison is not having it :) Also I'm experiencing issues with uploading his first video of his smiles and baby conversation. It's pretty cute, so I'll keep trying.

We were supposed to go to our free class of Stroller Strides this morning at 9:30 but we were too tired! His bedtime routine has officially started for real. It looks something like this (ideally):

7p: bath or stroll around neighborhood 

8p: last call for dinner! and a diap change 

8-10: convincing him to go to bed in his crib

1:30 midnight snack

3a: snack attack and diap change

6: breakfast

8: wake up for the day 

This might appear tiresome, and it can be, but I'm told it really could be much worse. So we'll take what we can get :) 

Baby is a Wolverine :)

Jon had the fabulous idea of packing up and going on a spontaneous day trip to Ann Arbor. Harrison was an all star car rider both ways. He really likes rolling along :)

The entire care ride was spent planning where and what to eat! First stop was IKEA however to pick out a few fun things. Lunch was from Potbelly's followed by a pass out in the Diag. Even Harrison was sleepy.

Then it was on to Stucchis where after careful consideration I chose Key Lime fro yo, yummy!

At that point Harry was Moby'd and chilling comfortably.

i

Big stretch! 

He wanted to look professional so he choose to wear a tie.

Harry wanted to grab a baby tee to sport his maize and blue. 

Then it was on to register for his future classes :)