life's a game

Harrison is Mr. Happy lately. He is laughing all of the time and everything has become a little game. Todd and I are walking around making funny faces and constantly playing peek-a-boo because it is so cute to hear Harrison laugh and see him smile. His seems to be understanding more and more words and he is giving the signs for 'more' and 'all done' ALL of the time.  If he thinks a book is boring he signs 'all done!'

He is playing his favorite new game that we call 'nite nite baby'.

Oh yeah, Harrison just started saying 'uh-oh'  - it is so cute!  We were driving to school today, I am not sure what happened, but a resounding 'uh-oh' came from the back seat. I turned around and he smiled!

harrison's new software

 Our trip to the doctor today yielded a new soft cast for Harrison's arm. He cooperated like a champ to get the necessary x-rays and there was no evidence of a fracture. The doctor thought he likely bruised a bone and she thought it would be best to have a soft cast for the next 10 days to take the pressure off of his arm while it heals.

It's taking a little time for Harrison to get used to the weight of the cast and not being able to straighten his arm or grab small pieces of food. But overall he actually seems more comfortable - no pain getting dressed or into his sleep sack for bed. What a relief. It seems like we are on the right track. Now we just have to figure out a way to keep the food out of his cast!  Wish us luck:)

The stats are in....

Harrison has his one year appointment on Monday. Here are the stats.....

Height - 30 1/4 in (75th)
Weight - 22lbs 15oz (50th)
Head -18 3/4 in (75th)

We had a bit of surprise this weekend when Harrison stopped bearing weight on his left arm - he is still eating with it (because, of course, he loves to eat and it only requires a back and forth movement) but he will not use it to crawl or pull up. Todd has taken to calling him Igor because of his one armed hunch back crawl. The pediatrician on Monday thought that it may be whats called 'nurse maids elbow', which means that one of the tendons in the elbow is displaced, that likely occurred during a fall. Unfortunately I have idea when it happened - he seems to be falling a lot with cruising around and pulling up on everything. The doctor manipulated his arm but it has not improved. So, we are making our way to the orthopod for evaluation and probably some x-rays tomorrow morning. Kind of crazy, the poor guy could have fractured his elbow!!  One of the nurses told us that this is so common that they call it 'toddler's fracture'.  I guess we will just take it as it comes and wait to see what happens.

Despite the gimpy arm Harrison is as happy as can be lately. He laughs at everything, is babbling away in his own little language, and basically loves life!  

Happy First Birthday!

There are so many amazing memories from the last year - from rushing to the hospital, only to labor for about 20 hours before Harrison's birth, to his first steps that he just took today (totally unexpectedly). We have grown as a family with a love for Harrison that we never new and a deeper love and appreciation for each other in our marriage. Todd has become such a wonderful Daddy and I love watching him play with and teach Harrison. I know that we have so many more memories to make! I can't imagine our lives without this little guy!


Here is Harrison's first year in pictures...

 birthday - 2 hours old

 1 month

 2 months

 3 months

4 months

5 months

                                                  

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

1 year old!!!

We had a little birthday celebration at our house this weekend - it ended up that about 30 people came - 9 kids and the rest adults. It was a houseful!  My Mom and sister made the trip to SF from Rockford. They were a huge help. With Todd, my mom and sis the set up and clean up seemed like a piece of cake (pun intended). The party was a lot of fun - besides Harrison being a little cranky with a cold/teething - everything worked out great!  Love you guys!  Thanks for making the trip - what a fun weekend!

Welcoming a new decade.

Happy Holidays!

I am finally getting to upload pictures from the holidays. Sorry it has been a while since my last post. It seems like Thanksgiving bled right into Christmas and then New Years and here we are.

It has been a busy holiday season. We were in IL for Thanksgiving/Marx Christmas/Harrison's baptism. It was a whirlwind trip with a special event everyday...Harrison was sick the whole time but was a great sport. We spent time with family and it was a lot of fun! Thanks Mom and Dad for your help fitting everything into such a short time. xo

Thanksgiving Day

Exploring Christmas presents (at Thanksgiving - Harrison is going to think that Christmas lasts for 6 weeks)

Harrison with his Godparents - Uncle Tony and Aunt Stacey on his Baptism day

Nana, Opa, Great Nana and Great Nano

Then Aunt Diane and Uncle Dave came for a weekend visit from San Diego. We discovered a new Italian restaurant that we all loved and went on a brief yacht club tour in the area. Somehow in the mix of things I forgot my camera. So just imagine sitting at the window of a yacht club bar overlooking the sunny San Francisco Bay - imagining Harrison taking sailing lessons in about 5 years - all while playing cards:)



Then Christmas decorating, shopping, cookie baking, holiday partying, and then packing to head to PA for Christmas/New years/Harrison's early birthday celebration.

My Mom and Nana were baking cookies in IL the same day that I was finishing up my cookies.....what a plethora of Italian cookies.

This is from our first family Christmas at home. As you can see, Harrison was having a great time and Murphy could not miss out on the fun.

Christmas morning on Harrison's First Christmas (that hat did not last long). He loved the Christmas tree and in his cute little voice would point and say 'eeee'.

The Schneider Family on Christmas day


early first birthday celebration with Great Grandpa Schneider

We had a great time at Todd's parents for the holidays with lots of time to hangout with family and friends, relax and play. Thanks for the great time Donna and Bruce. Harrison's first Christmas was a special time that we will always remember:)

2010 was such an amazing year, welcoming Harrison into the world and seeing him grow and become the happy little guy he is today.

I am trying to insert a video here:)

It's hard to believe that he will be one year old in less than a week! At this time last year I had just finished work and was thinking 'Wow, I have two full weeks to get everything done'...little did we know that Harrison would be joining us a little early! Really, who cares about getting things done:)