Healthy Big Boy

Harrison got a clean bill of health from his pediatrician today. He checked in at 24 pounds, 1 ounce and is 2 1/2 feet tall! He's already gaining on his sister! The pediatrician said he looks great (although Harrison didn't have quite as many nice things to say about her!). He survived his three shots and was fine by the time we left the office. Reagan was very impressed by his band-aids and is looking forward to her check up next month (we forgot to mention to her that she gets to go in a couple weeks for a flu shot!).

Big Girl...Big Wheels!

Sorry for the delay in updating this. We had a pretty ugly weekend around here. Harrison and I both got some sort of stomach bug and kept Dad & Mom pretty busy doing laundry, sanitizing everything, and just keeping us happy. Then Mom woke up with it yesterday. Today everyone is all better and we're looking forward to staying healthy for a while. Speaking of...stay tuned for a report on Harrison's 1 year check up tomorrow (it got pushed back because of our trip last month).

The big news is that it's officially been over a week since I've had any accidents! I guess that means I'm potty trained. I really made it easy on Mom & Dad...it took a whole day! Anyhow, to celebrate I got to go pick out a new toy and I got a whack-a-mole game for Harrison and me to play. We love it (and so far haven't decided to use the hammers on each other!).

The other big news is that I mastered my big wheel...well, the pedaling part. Apparently I still need to work on the steering part. I'm still prone to running into the grass, a curb, or whatever happens to be in my way when I start veering off course. I even gave Mom a few tips on how to do it and made her ride it (despite her best efforts to convince me that she didn't fit!).

Harrison got a haircut on Sunday afternoon so we took before and after pictures of him. Unfortunately, he wasn't a huge fan of the event so the lady went with the quickest route and buzzed the clippers all around his head. He didn't end up with very much left!

That's it for now. We'll try to update tomorrow with Harrison's stats from his doctor's visit.

Happy Birthday!

This weekend, Harrison and I took Mom & Dad out for a birthday party at a place called Incredible Pizza. We had a blast (and I think they did too!). They had go karts, bowling, miniature golf and toys and games and all that good stuff. We did it all (except the bumper cars because we're too little). Mom wasn't sure I'd be allowed on the go karts because you have to be 36" tall, but they stood me up against the "you must be this tall" sign and there was no question -- I'm actually about 38" tall!!!! Wow! Harrison was very sad to have to watch from the bleachers...And even better than being tall enough was the fact that Daddy and I came in first place and got a ribbon!

We had a fantastic day playing and then ate dinner and were having a lovely time UNTIL...

we found out the ice cream machine was Out Of Order. Have you ever seen a sadder face than mine??? Luckily, the sad face worked magic and Daddy took us to get some ice cream on the way home. What a fun afternoon!

Last night, Mom and Dad went out to dinner to celebrate their birthdays just the two of them and had a really nice dinner. The waiter even brought out two desserts with candles!

Back to Normal

It's been a pretty quiet week since we got home from our big trip. Harrison and I both started back to "school." I was thrilled to be back with my friends, but Harrison is still adjusting to the part where he has to say goodbye to Mom & Dad. He cries a lot when they leave, but stops before they're even at the end of the hallway...and then he seems a bit disappointed to see them at the end of the day because he wants to stay and play!

Harrison had a new toy waiting for him when we got home (thank youAunt Jen & Uncle Kevin). Unfortunately, I decided to give it a test drive before he got a chance to play with it. Luckily he liked chasing me, so technically he was having fun with it too, right?

I helped Mom bake some cookies the other day...as you can see I was very good at keeping a watchful eye on them to make sure they turned out just right!

I've also been busy getting back on track with the potty training stuff. I'm going to be very upset with Dad for taking these pictures, but they find it pretty funny. Apparently, I like a little privacy when I'm in the bathroom, so I've taken to putting a blanket over my head! Mom & Dad decided just to go with it since it seems to be helping!

I'm also working hard on my drawing skills and made a portrait of Daddy the other day. Don't you think it looks just like him?

On a sad note, Harrison got his first band aid today. He managed to snag his finger on something and it just kept bleeding, so I shared my Curious George bandaids with him. We had to keep a watchful eye on him though to make sure he didn't eat it! He wasn't sure what to think of the whole idea, but I did an excellent job playing nurse and helping feel better by giving him juice and toys to distract him. And I held his other hand while they bandaged him up and told him "it's okay, Harrison, see, it doesn't hurt so bad..." So sweet...

And my final funny story (no picture)... I really like to put my hand in the holy water when we go to church and Daddy has been trying to teach me to make the sign of the cross when I do it. So today, I reached in and got my fingers wet and proceeded to do "head, shoulders, knees and toes...." I think God understood what I meant though! Have a good week!

Monumental Fun

We're still out here in DC enjoying time with the cousins. Bobby came over to play the other day and stayed long enough to play in the bath with us before we got ready for bed. We really have a fun time playing with Bobby.

Last night Abbey stopped by to say goodbye (Amy & Scott are going to a wedding this weekend and Abbey is going to her grandparent's house, so we won't see them again before we leave...sad). I really love making Abbey smiling and talking my own dialect of high-pitched, gibberish, baby talk to her. I think she's really starting to like me too!

We picked Daddy up from a meeting yesterday afternoon and headed over to the new Air & Space Museum -- it's a satellite museum for the one on the National Mall that has more room to display lots of aircraft and displays. We saw Daddy's plane and the space shuttle and got to ride in a simulator and see the IMAX movie -- Fighter Pilot. I loved every minute of that place (although Mom & Dad thought it was funny that I got the most excited about pushing the buttons and riding the elevator!). Harrison managed to fall asleep during the IMAX film, but enjoyed everything else.

Today was our first day all to ourselves -- no meetings for Daddy. So we headed downtown to see the monuments. We walked around the WWII memorial and got to go up inside the Washington Monument. We waved at the White House and saw the hotel where Mommy & Daddy got married.

It was a very fun day and we were exhausted. But we did stop on the way home to see the Exorcist stairs. Since the little girl in the movie has the same name as I do, they decided to take my picture on the steps...

Wish you were here

Well, we are over halfway through our big trip and Mom is realizing there is a lot to catch everyone up on...so here goes with lots of pictures and a few stories. We flew up to South Dakota and spent about 10 days visiting Grandma and Grandpa. It was such a fun trip. Mom and Dad spent a few days relaxing and then got to work looking at houses and jobs and all that good stuff. The best part of that was that we got lots of time with Grandma, who was more than happy to watch me and Harrison. Grandma found us pretty entertaining -- Harrison is on the go all the time now and you really have to watch him because he doesn't seem to have any fear or sense of danger and he loves electronics! I played all sorts of games with Grandma & Grandpa -- tea parties, cars, horsey, and (the one mom and dad found funniest:) Target! Apparently I would help Grandma make a shopping list (typically consisting of milk, grapes, cheese, chicken nuggets and toys/presents) and then we'd pretend to push a shopping cart around and buy all these items. Everyone thought I was pretty cute...

One highlight of my trip to South Dakota was when they took me fishing! When Grandma picked us up from the airport, we stopped on the way home and she told me to pick out my very own fishing pole. I, of course, picked out the princess one -- it is pink and purple and it came with stickers! When we got home, Grandpa gave me some lessons on the porch on how to cast my line and reel in the fish. Then we practiced fishing in the bird bath -- which led to us kids discovering the bird bath and wanting to play with it! Harrison tried it out as a wading pool and I got a spoon and started pretending like it was my big kettle of soup and I told everyone I was cooking! Everyone was very interested to see how I would react when there was an actual fish on the end of the hook... Turns out, I love to fish! And I'm pretty good at it too! My first time out and I was able to reel in the fish all by myself! And I didn't scream or squeal when the fish came out of the water either -- I was pretty proud and I even touched it! (but there was absolutely no chance that I was going to touch a worm!) We had a perfect afternoon fishing. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Aunt Christie came to town to visit us one night and she brought me an early birthday present. It's a very cute purse which happens to look like a puppy! She was trying to find one that looked like Bo, and this one was the closest she could get. So we took a picture of the two of us with our respective dogs. This is my favorite purse right now. I even took it with me to church that Sunday!

We enjoyed the great fall weather while we were up there and spent a lot of time at the park down the street from Grandma and Grandpa. I'm even starting to get the hang of the sliding bar!

Grandma's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, so we had a little early celebration while we were in town. All week I had been talking about chocolate cake (that was another make believe game I played -- Allison's birthday -- where we had to pretend to shop for presents and eat cake with Allison - can you tell I'm missing my best friend???). Anyhow, so I helped Mommy make a cake for Grandma. I picked out the flavors myself - chocolate cake and pink icing with sprinkles! I was very proud of my work and was kind enough to take a few licks of icing off the cake to make sure it turned out okay!

We were so sad to leave Grandma and Grandpa's house but excited to come see Pops and Gams next. We got here on Friday and had a great time on Saturday at my cousin Abbey's baptism. Isn't she beautiful????
Amy and Scott had everyone to their house afterwards to eat and watch ND football (let's just not talk about that part of the day, though!). Harrison and I loved playing with Abbey and with Bobby (who we somehow didn't get a picture of...probably because he and I were so fast running all over the place!).

Now Mommy and Daddy are busy again looking at houses and jobs. They came on this trip hoping to figure it all out and I think they're getting more torn and confused in the process! The good news is that there are lots of options for them wherever they end up. So we'll leave you with this final quote: "My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades..."