New Xmas Pictures

You can see more here

Six Months

So I am a little behind on this post but here it goes.

Mom and I were sick for nearly three weeks after Thanksgiving so our Holiday season seemed to be very fragmented. We couldn't believe that it has been (over) four weeks already, this month has flown by. I know I have said that your development has been unbelievable before, but this month it is like none other. You are an entirely new baby.



You got a double ear infection, but after we figured out what it was and the antibiotics kicked in, you have been like a new baby. You are talking like crazy and you still just want to stand up all the time. You are starting to reach for everything, EVERYTHING, especially when mom and I are eating. Which is rather funny because you still won't eat the food that your mother has been making, not even the apple sauce!



We have started giving you water out of a "big boy" glass and you love it. Watching your face is priceless, you get really excited and your arms flutter and if the glass has ice in it, your face gets a shocked look on it once the ice hits your mouth.



We had Christmas at Great Grandma and Grandpa's and you held center stage. You were all about talking and showing of your new found drinking skills. We had a ton of fun, despite your sleep patterns nearly giving mom an ulcer.



You are fascinated by anything and everything that moves. You literally get excited by everything from the dog and his collar to the ceiling fan. I wish that I had your sense of wonder, it is such fun watching your arms flutter and your eyes get huge every time you see something that moves or shines.

I could probably go on and on, but I just want to say that if you are this much fun now, I cannot wait to see what the next few months hold...now, only if you would eat your food so we could cut back on these feedings, but hey, your still so damn cute that we can't help but laugh.

Yummy Foot

A Sure Sign of Trouble

"So when do you want to have our next baby"

"Uh, why don't we get through this whole teething thing first, then we can talk about it...in like 16 months"

"But we make such cute babies"

"We made A cute baby, what if he got all the good genes? The next one is screwed"

A Digression

When I started this, I wanted to of course keep everyone updated on Harrison, his development, his life, and of course our life as a family. However, I also wanted to be able to provide context for his life. Provide snapshots of the times in which he was raised and what was important, defining etc. All that to say that this is one of those context posts, one in which has little to do with Harrison but rather the "news" of the day. A little rant/digression to get my writing fix in, so indulge me a little if you a will.

The Mitchell Report, a report detailing the extent of steroid use in baseball, came out yesterday and it has been greeted with great surprise, evaluation, summarization, explanation, etc. The Mitchell Report, as the former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent has noted, may be the biggest "scandal" since the Black Sox scandal of 1919. I use the word "scandal" in quotes, because for a scandal this sure has taken its sweet time to develop. The report has been 20 months in the making and probably a decade or longer in actual development.

The big news has been the names of players implicated in the steroids probe, most notably Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. Clemens being one of the premier pitchers of his or any other time. A multiple Cy Young winner and one the game's highest profile players is one of the named players who stands to lose the most.

The report, in my humble opinion will have little effect on the way die hard or casual fans view the game. I say this because I think in many ways fans are apathetic to this type of news. We have seen grown men continue to grow when all of science says that they should have stopped. We have seen middle age men hit their peaks when many before them were contemplating retirement. Fans have been suspicious but we have watched because as fans, that's what we do. Momentary suspension of belief is critical as a fan, the opportunity to see seemingly ordinary men accomplish un-ordinary feats is part of being a fan, the specialness of sports. So as fans we have turned an eye, knowing that something wasn't quite right, but knowing that we were loving what we were seeing.

The owners, the Commissioner, the players, the union, everyone is complicit in this scandal. Everyone knew that money, and big money was to be made by closing their eyes and pretending that everything was normal, that drugs in baseball didn't exist. And that is why this report as a revelation is hard to swallow. Everyone knew about the problems, but everyone pretended not to know. Nobody wanted to know, nobody, not owners who were selling seats, not players who were making huge contracts, not fans who were witnessing history, and not the Commissioner, who was expanding the game nationally and internationally, wanted to know the truth.

The Mitchell report will serve a purpose. It will force everyone from underneath their eyelids and make them see the world as it really is. It will make fans suspect everything, it will make the parties involved implement policies to help "rid" the sport of illegal drugs, but it will be done in a false light. A light that should have been forced many years ago when the problem was at its peak.

As a parent and as a fan my views of baseball will change little. I will still extol the virtues of America's pastime, explain to Harrison that baseball, in its purest form is a great game, a game that is splendid because of its simplicity. A man with a bat, facing another man with a ball. Nine men playing a game for pay, that you or I would play for free. And yeah, something rotten once happened to the game and many players took advantage of a don't ask don't tell policy, but the game - THE GAME, is still a great game, and one that will continue to grow and prosper, despite what these men tried to do to it.

Santa Baby

Ever wonder what would happen if you left a new mother home alone with a six month old baby and a Santa costume? Here are the results

No Mas!

We have been trying to get Harrison to eat rice cereal, then we moved on to oatmeal, and now we are trying real food. We wanted to try and make our own baby food mainly because we thought it would be good for him to eat "real" food and not the processed baby food, but also we thought the real textures of the foods would maybe help him develop a less choosy palate. Unfortunately the little man likes his new foods as much as a stick to the eye. We first tried squash and now pears.

The little monster ( I use the term lovingly) will actually close his mouth and shake his head and scream until we give up. Sunday mom was at work and got a piece of advice from a coworker to let him try and eat it himself. So I tried it...and as the video below will show you, it didn't quite work out. But what you can't see, because of my sweet camera skills, is that that he actually makes himself gag, not because he actually tried it, no, but because he just looked at it. If it weren't so funny it would be maddening.

Oh Christmas Tree

Yesterday we went and picked out our Christmas Tree with Harrison. It was a cold and rainy day, fortunately the rain held off until we we were done. Harrison wasn't a huge fan of being in his snow suit and more importantly being in his snow suit and his car seat at the same time. Santa happened to be making an appearance at the nursery so we were able to take a photo with Harrison sitting on Santa's lap. It was actually pretty cute we weren't sure how he would react, especially since he had been fussy the whole time we were there, but he just sat there, almost in a daze, I am not sure if he was scared or confused at the big man holding him. Either way we got a pretty good picture of his first Santa visit.

I have put up some pictures here with shots from getting the tree and decorating it.

Quotes

I won't name names but I received this in an email after posting pictures of Harrison:

"Not because I'm his favorite aunt or anything, but I think he's a really beautiful baby."

On our way to do our Christmas Shopping:

Liz: "This is like a date" Me: "I hardly call going to the grocery/Target a date" Liz: Considering our social life the last 5 months I would call this a date!"

Getting Ready for Christmas

More Pictures Here

I Only Hope

This week is Jimmy V week on all ESPN outlets. Liz and I were talking about Jimmy V yesterday as we were watching college football and she asked me who he was. Most people know him as the coach of the NC State team that made a run in the NCAA's and won a National Championship in 1983. So, as I told her about this, I googled his speech at the ESPY's and found it on YouTube. As we watched and I laughed and cried, we got to the end and simply said, That is Jim Valvano.

I kept thinking about the video throughout the day and just thought that I can only hope that Harrison is able to live his life this way. To be able to live with passion and how to live with love. If he can find a way to live this way, then no matter what, his life will be a success.

Take a moment and watch the video, watch all the way to end, and visit the V foundation...and if we can live our lives to Laugh, Think and Cry everyday, we will have full life.