The First Day of 2nd Grade

Ready for the first day!

And so just like that, its time for school to start again.  It seems like summer break just started a few weeks ago, but I guess it really has been three months already.  Ever since Rylee was born, the days seem to move even faster than when it was just the three of us.  Every day for the past week, Rowan, has been telling us just how excited he was to go back to school and see his best friends.  He calls every friend his best friend and you can tell he really cares about them a lot.

So like the usual routine we have during school, we got up, had breakfast, got dressed, and headed out the door.  Today was a little unique in that we went quite a bit earlier than usual so Mom could get some pictures in front of the school etc.  Of course Rylee had other plans and was in a real fussy mood so it made things a little more difficult.

The scene we all saw when we arrived at the school could only be described as utter chaos.  Over the past two years at Maple Grove, we have gotten used to the daily procedure.  There is a drop off lane, a lane for the buses, and a place you can park.  On the first day of school, none of that mattered, it was every family for themselves, a battlefield of excited kids and nervous parents.  There were cars lined up in the drop off line, impatient parents flooding the parking lots, and buses attempting to drop off kids.  I would have to say the invasion of Omaha beach was more organized then what I saw this morning.  At one point I saw a family park their car in the bus lane and walk their kid into the school.  This was fine, except for the fact it blocked all of the buses that were now trying to get through and caused a major traffic jam going into the school.  I am just glad this only happens once a year.

All His Favorite Things

In addition to the first day of school "madness", Rowan also starts his first day of soccer practice with his new team.  The coach is the mother of one of his classmates so he will at least know someone there.  He sure does look older wearing all of his soccer gear and we can't wait to cheer him on at his first game in September.

The Next Messi

My first build!

Andrew and I are finally getting around to finishing the basement how we want it.  It's only taken almost 3 years. :)  The bigger area of the basement will be our living room and the smaller area is going to be our office.

I have wanted to buy a 2 person desk for a while, to save space.  Andrew wasn't a fan of that idea for a long time.  Thankfully, he came to his senses and agreed that a 2 person desk wouldn't be too bad. :)  I found one from ikea that was around $65.  It would've been great!  I added it to the cart and began to check out only to discover that it would've cost over $300 to ship!  Are you kidding me?!  Who actually buys online from them?!

Andrew found this diy desk and I suddenly got in the build it myself mood.  I took shop in jr. high and maybe in 9th grade, but that was SO long ago I can't remember. ;)  It was my favorite class.  I loved to build things out of wood.  My Grandpa Miller is a carpenter and very talented at building things...perhaps my love for wood working came from him. :)  Anyway...Andrew entrusted the whole building process to me.  We went to Lowe's and bought the lumber we needed, paint, and the coolest tool, the Kreg Jig.

It took a while, and some oopsies happened.  Andrew is really smart and came up with some clever ways to correct my inability to actually listen to what he says. ;)  [I've learned from this that he really is almost always right....almost]  I put the last coat of polyurethane on Sunday and we moved it into the basement yesterday.  It looks great!  We are both so happy with the way it turned out.  We are going to build a small cpu cart to hold both of our cpu's.  Then we have plans to build the rest of the furniture in our house! :)  I'm not joking....

Here is my [our] first build!  Andrew helped me a lot and was a great support, so I can't take all of the credit. :)

Dog Days

My in-laws went to Mississippi on the 22nd of February to see their second grandbaby.  They brought their three dachshunds (Krikit, Bailey and Tillee) over the night before so they could have an extended sleep over with Piper.

The first night was not easy.  Krikit and Bailey missed their usual surroundings, but most of all their mommy and daddy.  Tillee spent 10 days with us when she was just a couple months old, so she wasn't really fazed by being here and settled into our bed at bed time.  It took a while and no one got much sleep (except Piper), but as soon as our day started the next day they were settled and happy to be here. :)

Going outside!  Their favorite. :)

They played outside a ton!  It was also really nice most of the time, considering the time of year it is.  They loved spending time out in the fresh air.  Krikit (who is twelve) liked to walk the perimeter of the fence.  And bark at our neighbors' dog.  Bailey loved to run around...you wouldn't have guess she's seven!   Piper enjoyed having the company outside and would always bark and play with her balls.  Tillee (she will be one this month!) is a chicken.  Every time the dogs barked when they went outside Tillee would want to come back inside.  She's pad trained, so she doesn't go potty outside anyway.  The only time she'd actually step foot on the grass is when Piper didn't make her presence known (she always has to bark when she goes outside) or I went too.  She's a funny one, that Tillee. :)

Tillee

Krikit

Bailey

Piper-always has a ball in her mouth. :)

I got used to having 4 pups and a baby very quickly.  I couldn't get much done, cleaning wise, but that didn't matter to me.  I just wanted to enjoy having them here for the few days they would be.  We got so used to them that we didn't want to give them back!  Their mommy and daddy picked them up on the 26th.  It was sad to see them go, but we got back into our normal routine again.  Thankfully, having the pups here with their routine also got Piper to realize that she is also a dog, and she should eat dog food.  She's been eating her dog food like a big girl.  Her daddy and I are so proud of her!

We are looking forward to the next extended sleepover with the pups!

One of their favorite spots...bubba's lap!

New Look and Layout

Greetings,

I just wanted to make a small post to mention that we are in the middle of restructuring our blog and Rowan's shutterfly account. In the next few weeks we will be creating a new family shutterfly account and moving Rowan's pictures there. The focus of this new site will be the whole family and not just pictures of just Rowan. Please visit http://handfulofharrisons.shutterfly.com/ to view our family pictures and video.

Our Nephew, Caeden

Caeden John McGrady Harrison
February 22, 2012 at 12:48 p.m.
7 lbs 1 oz 20 in long

Isn't he beautiful?

We haven't gotten to meet the precious little fellow, but my mother-in-law gave me this photo to use in this post. We can't wait to hold him and kiss all over his chubby little cheeks!

Congrats Adam and Christina! You made a cute one! :)

Teething....

....STINKS.  Ugh.  It has turned my super happy little boy into a super unhappy little boy.  Well, some of the time.  It has gotten TONS better the past few days, and we've all been able to sleep really well.  But there was about a week where he had to wear disposable diapers 24/7 because his poo was giving him a rash (we think it was too much new food-but maybe I can blame that on teething too).  He screamed every time I had to change his diaper, poor guy.  I just noticed a couple days ago that it was completely better, so we've been doing about half cloth diapers and half disposable.  Disposable at night, which typically leads to me changing him once during the night, which also typically leads to a not so happy little boy.  If I'm lucky, I can do it while he's sleeping and he won't even be bothered.  That happened maybe once.  Ha.

But during this whole week and a half, his poor little gums were bothering him too.  Especially at night.  We had a bed time routine:  brush teeth, orajel, tylenol.  Sometimes that didn't help. A couple of the nights consisted of very little sleeping and a lot of crying/comforting.  The whole weaning process was completely thrown out the window for now.  I can't take that away from him.  It's really what soothes him at night.  And I'm ok with that.  I'm praying the rest of his teeth hurry up and come in, so we can start weaning again.  Until then, he pretty much can have whatever he wants. :)

His 5th tooth finally cut on Dec 6 (bottom left Lateral Incisor).  You can see it in the pic....his expression pretty much says what we think of teething. :)

UPDATE: Tooth 6 cut today, Dec 29! :)  It's right above his 5th tooth.  It's the top left Lateral Incisor.

ONE.

Rowan is no longer a baby, but a one year old little boy.  Sadness.  Happiness too.  My sister made a lovely video for us of Rowan's first year.  It consisted of a ton of pictures, a couple of short video clips, and songs.  Andrew and I watched it the evening of Rowan's birthday.  We knew he obviously grew, but put that with music and we were bigger babies than Rowan is!  Or was.  I guess, since he's not considered a "baby" anymore.  Sigh.  I'm going to see if I can figure out how to post it to youtube.  We both LOVED the video and are really thankful my sister took the time to make it for us.  So, thanks a lot Hollee! :)

We had his birthday party on the 12th.  He is one very blessed little boy to have so many people who love him. He got so many awesome gifts!  I think we'll end up devoting the downstairs to Rowan's very own toy's r us!  Haha not really....  He had a great time!

He has become very good at walking.  Still not a pro, but he stays up more than falls, and it's looking more like walking than waddling. :)

We just love this little boy.  We're so thankful to have had a year with him.