Baby #2...Its a...

We decided to do a gender reveal photo to find out the gender of baby #2. Anyone who knows me, knows that not finding out is NOT an option! So, we enlisted the help of Aleah and Erin Jane (funny side note- Erin Jane and I went out for dinner the night before and decided to do a coin toss to see if the fact that I thought it was a boy had any validity...The first 7 tosses said boy). We are VERY excited to announce that Harry will have a little BROTHER!!! Though this was not a surprise, we are happy to now know what to get ready for!

Harry, you are going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!

We found out the end of June that we would be welcoming another baby into our family!!! Harrison has been around a few friends who have younger brothers and sisters, so it has been fun to see him around them. We know that it will be a whole new bundle of joys, and challenges, but we are more than up for it!

For the record, on most days, Harrison is convinced he will have a little sister. We will find out sometime in October if he is correct.

Harrison- Summer Fun 2013

My big boy!!!

I have been taking FOREVER to post this. Partly because I have been busy, partly because I couldn't figure out a good way to split up Harry's year, and partly because I began to feel overwhelmed about the prospect of having to do this for baby #2 (who, by the way, is coming in the end of February). Which brings me to the real problem... when I should have been blogging, I was probably napping. So, here we are. One GIANT post on Harry's summer happenings, which will cover from June, July and August- or SUMMER!

Entertainment: Our summer started off with a journey to get to baby #2, which left me both drained and unable to do a lot of physical activity with Harry, just what every three year old wants to hear when his mom is home for the summer :( He was TRULY a trooper! We went to almost every movie that came out in the month of June, as it was something to get us out of the house with minimal stress. Bryan was definitely the"fun parent" for the month of June, spending many more hours running and chasing in the backyard or at the park. It was nice that Harry was old enough to not need me right at his side at many parks, splash pads and wading pools, which we did spend a lot of time doing, too.

This summer we went on our first camping trip with Harry, and he fell in love with camping. We used my parents 80's pop-up camper, that we had done a little work on, and it seems to be the perfect thing for our family. We took the trip with aunt Erika and uncle Kevin, and his cousins Jeremiah and Carson, too, so I am sure that is another aspect of camping that he loves. Lets be honest, what three year old wouldn't love having campfires, playing outside and using glow sticks/lanterns at night! We also took a trip to South Dakota to visit dear family friends (see next post for photos on that vacation). We always enjoy this time, as they had kiddos very close to Harrison's age, as well. Other than that, we took a few weekend trips for family weddings (on of which was Harrison's debut as a ring bearer) and that pretty much filled our summer with outings and vacations. Luckily, Harry travels well :)

Food: We have turned some major corners in the food department at our household. Over the summer, Harrison tried (and completely LOVED, might I add) his first bite of pizza. We typically made him a quesadilla on the nights we had pizza, because he was so unwilling to have anything to do with it. We were getting ready to eat one evening, and I had just taken a very veggie-loaded pizza out of the oven. I was talking with him about what he was going to have and he pointed at the pizza and said, "I'll try some of that." The book-reading parent in me was trying to remember how to no sabotage this moment, so I didn't reply... I simply cut him a piece and the rest is history!

Lodging: We had a power outage in June, that I believe officially lasted just shy of 5 days. The first few nights were fun. We all "camped" in our bedroom in the basement, since it was cooler and I didn't want Harry to fall down the stairs in the dark coming to find us :) The adventure portion of the outage was short lived, and Harrison and I headed for grandma and grandpa's. He, however, to this day, still talks about when he got to sleep on our bedroom floor and how much he really liked sleeping in the same room as us.

Communication: Harrison's personality has really popped out over the summer. This, I think, included an expanded vocabulary that allows him to express himself in new (and usually hilarious) ways. He has also created/starting using quite a variety of facial expressions to explain his likes, or dislikes of something (see images below). He is growing into such a little boy. I try, desperately, to hold on to that last little bit of baby fat he has on his cheeks. People will say things like, only 13 more years until he gets a drivers license and I cringe...mostly because it is going by so fast.

Transportation: Speaking of drivers license, harry has become a much bigger fan of riding his bikes and scooters. I think he is a bigger fan partly because he finally has the skill sets necessary to successfully ride them, but also because he has just become more fearless (if that was even possible). We talk about how trusting he is on a daily basis, and keep an extra eye on him when out. He is not, however, ready to have a serious stranger-danger conversation, just yet. I tried to talk to him about it before we went to the park one day and he ran to me 10 minutes into the trip screaming, "see, mom, they didn't take me." Parenting fail #3,465.

Apparel: The number one apparel item that changed over the summer was the loss of diapers!! I was thinking to myself, after finding out I was pregnant, that it would be really nice to only have one kiddo in diapers. We attempted to potty train Harrison in late June. He was interested, so we bought some underwear and I almost lost my mind. It was not training Harrison, or I, in anything other than where dirty underwear goes. Everyone told me to stick with it, but just as many people told me it could take months. MONTHS- this is not worth it. After a giant mess out one night, I put Pull-Ups back on and we went on with life a we knew it. Parenting fail #3, 457.
Then, in the end of July/early August Harrison said he wanted to try underwear again. I was a little less exhausted, so I figured it was worth a shot. In the first 5 days he only had 2 accidents. We kept him in Pull-Ups at night to start with, but two weeks into wearing underwear, he asked to have them on at night, too. It was a success. It was so much easier this time, and I chalk it up to him just being ready.

Potty training was like many other things with Harrison. When HE is ready, HE will do it. As he gets older, we are finding that his independence is showing thorough. He has a very definite plan in his little blonde head, and he knows what he wants in the end. We are learning to channel this "tunnel vision" and communicate with one another when the plan doesn't fit our plans. He has always been a fairly agreeable little boy. When he asks about something, if he gets an answer, he will usually say, "O.K." and move on, but we have started to see some of the "why" and "no" sides to that. I guess that is just what three is.

When I think about the timing of Harrison's sibling entering our family, I feel that it really could not have been more perfect. We THOUGHT that we wanted him to have a brother or sister earlier in life, but realize now that God obviously had a more perfect plan. Even more importantly, Harry is a much more willing participant in the whole sibling thing, and I think his personality really needed a chance to develop solo before becoming one of two kiddos. 

We went to Storybook Land in Webster, SD when Harry was a ring bearer in Bryan's cousin Charlies' wedding. He was a trooper through most of it, except the train ride at the end. See those facial expressions I was talking about :)

*** I will add wedding photos soon!!!***

 

Harry and Mary!

Photos of my handsome boys at Dave and Carrie's wedding!!

Face painting at Como Park- Could they get any cuter!!??

We met uncle Eric for his birthday at Choo Choo Bob's and had some cupcakes after a yummy lunch celebration.

Impromptu park date with Grace and Alex!!

 At Canterbury watching the ponies run!!

One of many car shows over the summer, after the car was fixed.

 "No, I will not put Lambie away. If he gets dirty, we can wash him!"

Harry taking a sip of his first Caribou smoothie. It was a keeper :)

Harry's first corn dog was at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market! Another item added to the menu of new foods tried this summer.

One of many super fun play dates with miss Mary, and her baby sister Molly over the summer. 

 I loved cow #7!

We went to Iowa for the weekend to camp with Bryan's family and meet his cousins new wife, Chelsea. They had just announced they were expecting in January... It was fun to have a little secret, too :)

Another fun visit to Kyle and Christy's farm! Harrison would have lived on the trampoline if we let him, but we were able to get him off for things like tractors and hayrides. Oh, how this city kid would love living in the country!