Our Monkey's First Birthday

Harrison had such a blast celebrating his first birthday with a party! Initially, Nick and I were going to just do very small and simple. However, we thought of a fun theme and it snowballed from there. While we did have some fun decorations, it didn't take too long to put it together. That said, we may go more low-key for #2. It took us a long time to recover. Well, more so our house....:)

We were so lucky to have lots of family and friends come to celebrate with us! Thank you to everyone for attending and helping with the big day!

Our theme was Curious George. We figured it was perfect since Harrison is extremely curious, climbs like a monkey and loves bananas. For decorations, we put out little candy bananas on the tables and pictures of Harrison throughout the year. The kids also had monkey masks waiting for them once they arrived. (However, I think they may have been scary to Harrison...) We also had guest sign, Curious George and the Birthday Surprise, to help Harrison remember who came to his party!

Nick took lead in desert. He found a woman in Cedar Rapids that made specialty cupcakes and cake for fun. I went in thinking, "Hey, they probably won't look super professional but were very reasonably priced." However, I was blown away! We loved how the cupcakes and smash cake turned out!

 Food was also top-notch but, unfortunately, not pictured. We went with sandwiches, pasta salads, and appetizers. We made sure to include Monkey Bites (credit: Aunt Nicole for the name): skewers filled with cheese cubes, grapes and banana chunks. Our monkey's favorite things! 

One thing for sure is that Harrison was not lacking in the present department! He was so spoiled and is having a blast playing with all his new toys! Our favorite part of the day was when he would crawl on top of his presents, clap and dance for everyone watching him open his presents. Someone is not afraid of the limelight ;) 

We ended the celebration with cake! We were interested to see how Harrison would react to all the attention he was getting while we sang to him. He didn't seem to mind one bit (should have known after the watching him open presents). However, he was not a fan of his birthday hat. Note for next birthday: no hat. He also needed lots of encouragement to try his cake and even then, he didn't eat much. Oh well!

Overall, we had one GREAT birthday party!

Family Photos

While the 12 month update is currently being worked on, I'm going to share some photos from our family photo shoot! I've been meaning to do this but life has been BUSY. We LOVED how they turned out! Hope you enjoy looking at them :)

Almost there...11 months!

Height/Weight:

We will have to measure again at his 12 month checkup!

Clothing Size:

9 month clothes are getting snug so we are working our way towards 12 month clothes. It's crazy that we are now starting to shop in the toddler section of stores!

Favorites:

*Food: Harrison is just like his momma, eating is his favorite! While he loves to eat, he has definitely become more opinionated. He will let you know if he doesn't want to eat something you are offering. At home, he shakes his head no and puts his hands in front of his face. At daycare, he just shoves the food he doesn't like onto the floor. Smart kid ;) An example is that he was having strawberries and grapes for dinner. They were cut pretty small so they looked similar. He felt each piece to make sure he ate every single piece of grape before moving onto strawberries. Grapes have replaced banana for favorite fruit. Green veggies seem to be his favorite and cheese is his ultimate favorite food! 

Harrison is doing really well with signing! He has been really exciting to watch. He signs "more" throughout dinner time. However, now that he knows "more" he feels entitled to everyone's food. As soon as he sees food (or anything that resembles food) he will start signing "more". He is starting to get the hang of "drink" and "all done". It's so fun being able to communicate with him!

*Book: He loves playing with books! He's starting to also sit and listen to short stories. We spent one day reading 4 books throughout the day. A Harrison record! :) We checked out an ABC book that featured babies. He loved it! We read it over and over and Harrison didn't take his eyes off the book.

*Song: It's technically not a song but a poem we learned this summer at story time. I'm not sure the title but we will call it, "This is Big". It goes over actions for big, small, short, tall, fast, slow, yes and no. While I was saying it to him, Harrison started shaking his head no! He remembered what was coming and joined along :) He can now shake his head yes and no thanks to the poem. Luckily, he doesn't quite understand what no means! 

*Toy: Harrison got an early birthday present. A little outdoor swing and slide! We gave it to him early so he can enjoy it during the fall weather. He loves playing on it! It's also made him accept crawling on grass ;)

*Non-Toy Toy: Do pictures count? I'm going to say yes. He LOVES looking at pictures of himself and our little family. We have framed pictures of our family in his bedroom. He wakes up every morning looking at the pictures and pointing to them. We also made the mistake of putting his pictures on our staircase. We can no longer walk up and down the stairs without taking a break to check the pictures out. Heaven forbid we don't take a break. Harrison lays down on the floor and whimpers, sits up and points to the pictures. Not dramatic at all ;) He gets the biggest smile when he sees the pictures so we usually end up caving!

*Time of Day: Any time of the day that involves eating! It really is his favorite. Bath time is a close second. When he hears the water running, he tries to climb into the tub (always under supervision!). He also starts making happy noises.

*Things to Giggle At: Still Daddy. That man is too funny ;) He did find giving foot high fives to be incredibly hilarious as well. 

Observations/Firsts/Milestones

This has been the most amazing month! Harrison has learned how to do so many different things. He can shake his head yes/no, he "waves" good-bye, points to what he wants and so much more! There is nothing better than having him learn something new. 

(Seriously, this kid)

Harrison has become our little vampire. His bottom teeth and "fangs" are all in. It makes for one goofy smile! It's also hard to capture on camera since his eye teeth are teeny tiny. 

(This is the best I got, haha)

He participated in his first 5k. We thought he'd fall asleep on the walk (notice how I say walk, not run...haha) but it was much too exciting. We got to end on Kinnick's field and Harrison loved sitting on the turf! 

Speaking of the Hawkeyes, Harrison went to his first tailgate and LOVED it. He enjoyed watching all the people. He was also a hit with the tailgaters. So many people came over to comment about how awesome Harrison and his attire were. He is a pretty handsome fella if I do say so myself ;)

Harrison is starting to stand up by himself! He can do it but is still pretty timid so he doesn't last long. We imagine walking won't be too much further down the road. He moves up to his next classroom in the next couple weeks. We think that once he sees that all his friends can walk he will be more motivated to join in. Lord help us when he starts walking. We will never sit again!

Harrison is starting games of peek-a-boo instead of just participating! He likes to hide behind the curtain and surprise us. Harrison just finds our reactions so funny. He tricks us every time ;)

Harrison has really started to grow into a little person. We can't even begin to imagine what he will be doing next month! The countdown to one is on!

10 Months

Height/Weight:

We will have to measure again at his 12 month checkup!

Clothing Size:

Mostly rocking 9 month clothing but fits in 6-12 month onsies. His wadrobe is limited for fall weather so it means more shopping for Mom. She isn't complaining ;)

Favorites:

*Food: Harrison pretty much loves food in general. Harrison has started eating table food at most meals so he has tried lots of different things! He has pretty much loved it all! One food item he does NOT like? Watermelon! Random, huh? He does seem to really, really, really enjoy bananas and string cheese!

Sometimes I miss my face...

One big accomplishment in our household is that Harrison is using a spoon and "cup" by himself! He has gotten really good at using the spoon as long as we put the food on it. He has been using a shot glass to practice drinking by himself. This has actually seemed to be more successful than a sippy cup. Though, we have moments where he decides to just dump it all over his high chair. 

*Book: Sitting and listening to a book remains a challenge (but I will NOT give up!). However, he sure loves eating his books and opening/closing them. One book he loves to get out and look at is his Ten Little Ladybugs book. A friend's son passed it on to Harrison and he LOVES feeling the little ladybugs. I hope one day we will also sit and read it :)

*Song: Anything with a good beat! He loves listening and dancing to music. He gets a huge smile when we pick him up and dance around the room with him.

*Toy: Balls! Harrison loves playing with different kinds of balls. We have been having fun practicing how to roll and throw them. Little does he know that this is the extent of Mom's athletic ability ;)

*Non-Toy Toy: His alphabet play mat. He loves taking out the letters and inside pieces. It's quite entertaining to take them out, eat them, and put them back for hours (okay, really minutes...but he will do this for 15-20 minute chunks which is eternity in Harrison time!)

*Time of Day: He is really happy as long as he is rested! That said, we are back in daycare mode so his naps have not been so hot. At home, he averages 3-4 hours of naps throughout the day. A typical day of napping at daycare is about 40 min of napping. Let's just say we spend a majority of our nights with Mr. Grumps once he gets home! Luckily, he's still pretty cute...grumpy and all!

*Things to Giggle At: Anything that Daddy does! Seriously, Nick can get Harrison to laugh unlike anyone else. Most of the time, it's doing something utterly ridiculous. Case in point, bonking their heads together. It's quite the party in this house!

Observations/Firsts/Milestones

We finally have a tooth!!! It took 9.5 months but we have a bottom tooth. (We actually have the start of a second bottom one as well) We were pretty lucky that Harrison hasn't seemed too bothered by them. He was also sick at the time so we weren't sure if symptoms were because of his tooth or his cold. If each tooth is like that, we will be one lucky set of parents! Fingers crossed!

(If you zoom in, you might see it!) 

Harrison said "mama"! It has happened twice but it still counts! Sure, he loves to throw out "dada" and "baba" all the time but those two "mama"s made my heart so happy! Now, to practice saying it while he needs me!

Harrison's newest obsession is crawling under our dining room table and chairs. It must feel like a fort under there. He loves it! He especially loves it when he sneaks his puffs under there, dumps it all over, and starts shoveling them into his mouth. Nice job, H!

Harrison went to his first baseball game! Can't say he was impressed with the game but he seemed to have fun :)

Harrison started a new daycare. The first couple weeks were rough and filled with separation anxiety. He would get really upset at drop off. I would race to my car and call Nick before my mom instict kicked in and I picked him up and ran home. Now, Harrison has a teacher he LOVES and a best friend! It's extremely cute-they greet each other each morning, crawl after each other and wave to each other. She does bite him a lot but he doesn't seem to mind, only having two teeth must not hurt too much ;)

Overall, month 10 wasn't too eventful but wonderful nontheless. We love this little guy and it's so fun to see the person he is becoming! While it's bittersweet to think of how much he's grown, we can't wait to see what's in store this month! We can only imagine all the crazy things he will learn to do...