East Coast Blog Post, Week 2

Our Virginia half of the trip started out wonderfully.  We started in Charlottesville to visit Mom, who was ready with snacks and activities!  She had been asking friends and colleagues who had young children about things that they used and really enjoyed, and she had been saving up all of these things for our arrival!  We did some exploring of the house, read some books, and went to Babies R Us to grab a collapsible high-chair for feedings.  Then off to Bodo's for Nate's favorite bagels; a wonderful afternoon.

Saturday dawned beautifully, and after leaving the baby (and much nervous instruction) with Dad and Kate, we drove an hour through the Virginia countryside to Culpepper, VA and Old House Vineyards where our good friend Ashton and her fiance Mladen would marry.  The Quaker ceremony was held on a small island set just off of the vineyard, and was both touching and fun.  Even Ashton learned new things about their first meeting (apparently Mladen already knew that Miss Teen Florida was coming to intern, and was waiting to open the door for her)!  

I've been sitting here for a while now trying to come up with the words to describe the beauty of the location, the love of the attendants, the happiness of the couple and I am completely at a loss, except to say that it felt as if the sun had come up that morning solely to warm and bear witness to that moment.   

There is something a little different about people who have attended Earlham College.  It's been a while since we've spent much time with EC Alums, and I didn't realize how much I missed it.  Rarely in the last few years have I been around a group of people who simply see the world in the same way that I do.  We went on a walk-about.  We laughed and danced.  We talked about the world, and how we wanted to help shape it.  It felt like coming home.

We spent the next week packing in as much fun and family visit time as possible.  Sunday night we had everyone over to play games.  We wanted to give them a feel for what we would do with our friends at home on a normal night.  Kate and Justine prepared dinner, and we had everyone over for a game night!  We all gathered around the table, including two of Tom's delightful nieces, and played Telestrations.  As anyone who has played it knows, we got silly pretty quickly!  I think everyone had a good time.

The next night was Teppanyaki night!  It's one of those restaurants where they prepare the food on the table in front of you, which we were hoping that Harrison would like.  He enjoyed the culinary theatrics, and the food!  The only person who may have been disappointed was the man who made our food - all of the adults spent the entire presentation watching the baby's reactions instead!

Even though we were on vacation, there were a few times where we did have to get some things done for our jobs.  Luckily, Grammy (Molly) had an extra keyboard so Harrison could work too!  He's such a helpful baby!

The Bell family home is called Holly Hills, nestled between Charlottesville and Richmond.  The last few years it has been going through a transformation, and we hadn't been to Virginia to see it in a while because of the pregnancy and birth.  And although we had looked at the plans before the work started, we weren't prepared for just how beautiful the house would be.  In the kitchen, pictured below, the old ceiling has been removed, trading an attic for a vaulted ceiling with beautiful stained wood.  The original chimney, once painted red, was painstakingly stripped to restore it.  The house has become a beautiful blending of new amenities and historical architecture, and it is just fabulous!

After touring the house we got to head out to Little Hawk Farm and say hello to all of the horses.  An addition to all of our old favorites there were a few foals, too!  Then off to Hickory Notch for dinner, where we got our only family photo for the trip.

Our last day we went to Bold Rock cidery in Nellysford.  One of the hardest things about being pregnant (ok, not hardest.  Not pleasant though!) was that Justine loves hard cider, and in the nine months that she was pregnant it got really popular!  It seemed like every week there was a new flavor of cider that came out, and she couldn't drink any of them!  To make up for it, we went cider tasting with Dad and Kate.  It was a beautiful day, the mountains were gorgeous, and everything was delicious.  Harrison really enjoyed watching the cider being bottled.  A good farewell day activity.

One last dinner, sushi, with both sets of grandparents.  And we wrapped up the trip with Ben and Jerry's ice cream, which Harrison also got to enjoy a little bit.  We are so lucky that he is such a good, easy baby and travels so well.  Thanks everyone for a very fun visit!

So much love!

Nate, Justine and Harrison

East Coast Blog Post, Week 1

Hey Family and Friends!

Whoa, what a whirlwind!  Things have been pretty calm around the farm since our last update.  We started a few projects around the farm (an orchard, and the mudroom), but we hadn’t had a chance to get to a finished point, and so haven’t been ready to present them!  But these last few weeks have been full of fun and activity, and many of you!  We’ve had a great (and exhausting!) time!

Harrison, Becca and Cora

We started out from Michigan after work on Friday, July 17^th.  We overnighted on the way, and arrived at the home of our dear friends Mike, Becca, and now Cora Bubb on Saturday late afternoon.  It is absolutely crazy, but Becca and Justine both had our babies on the same date, November 20^th, 2014. Cora was born around 10:20 am, and Harrison was born at 12:30 pm.  It was so much fun to be able to experience the babies together!  The idea of a village co-parenting all of the children who live there sounds wonderful, and we were thrilled to have Mike and Becca be our village for a few days and to share the experiences of raising babies together.  Partially because of the heat, and partially because we wanted to eek every moment of friendship out of the trip, we spent a lot of time at Mike and Becca’s just spending time together, playing games and sharing. 

Harrison and Cora's Eight Month Picture

Monday, while the Bubb’s were at work (and daycare), we hopped in the car to make the trip up to Montgomery, New York to visit Nate’s sister Laurel and her partner Kevin at Windfall Farms.  We arrived in the late morning, and the day was already heating up!  But that didn’t stop us from taking a golf-cart tour of the farm.  It’s awesome, using the full breadth of the word.  The farm is owned by Morris, and he and a handful of other staff live and work there.  The farm specializes in microgreens and edible flowers, which they harvest and sell at farmers markets in New York City.  Over the years, many people have come and gone from the farm and each left their own unique signature by starting their own new projects.  There are rows and rows of vegetables and fruits, beds of edible flowers, greenhouses for microgreens that heat themselves with hot water in the winter, a sugar shack for maple sugar, and so so much more.  

View from the main house of Windfall Farms

We actually ended up lending a hand bottling maple syrup for sale in the city.  We also had lunch there, which was possibly the most healthy and the most delicious lunch we’ve ever had.  We were sent off with warm hugs, blueberry jams, garlic, onions, and some beautiful maple syrup.  Thanks Laurel and Kevin for taking a day off of work to share with us!

Nate and Harrison have a creative farm nap

Visiting the Bubbs wouldn’t be complete without a trek into Philly.  We headed into the city and found parking (thanks Becca!), and went to Reading Terminal Station for lunch.  We were amazed by all of the different options, but settled on Indian for lunch and grabbed some dessert before heading to Becca's office to show off babies to her co-workers.  After that we trekked to the Franklin Institute science museum to meet up with Mike.  We’re not sure quite how much Harrison and Cora got out of the exhibits, but they had fun cruising around and loved watching things with a lot of movement.  It was a wonderful last day in Pennsylvania.

The men and their babies!

Next, on to Annapolis to visit Alister and Joan Bell and for Justine to attend a friend’s bachelorette party in DC!  Harrison had a tough drive to the house, but once he got out of the car he was back to his cheerful self and he charmed the adults, although their Papillon Cricket wasn’t as impressed.  We took the baby on a walk down to the Saefern boat dock, then dropped Justine off at the train.  The rest of the family enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by Joan, and Alister and Joan held and played with Harrison and told him all about the Tour d’France.  Justine joined her friends at Founding Farmers, just down the street from the White House, and then all the girls went to a Latin club to dance the night away!  They were even asked to dance by a congressman, which Justine is now convinced happens all the time in DC!  Joan and Nate were wonderful to drive into the city late to pick Justine up (she wasn’t ready to spend the night apart from Harrison), and all slept well and spent some time the next morning visiting.  We watched Harrison put one of his toys in a place that he couldn’t see into and the retrieve it a number of times.  This doesn’t sound that exciting, but to us it was enchanting.

Nate, Harrison, and a dinosaur made of Lego

Seven days, seven states (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and DC).  Harrison is such a trooper, and we’ve tried to keep the driving days short to keep him from getting too frustrated.  We’ve had a wonderful time visiting so many friends, and can’t wait to see everyone again soon!

Look for week 2 soon!

Love!

-Justine, Nate and Harrison

Baby love!  My baby love!

Five Mo...Wait, What? Six Months?!

Hello everyone!

In psychology we learned about intermittent reinforcement, (i.e. receiving a reward at random intervals), and how it creates strong motivation to perform an action that elicits said reward. If so, our sporadic updates have surely trained you all well to keep pressing whatever button it is that gets you here! Were we supposed to get consent forms before we started?

Harrison is now six months old! And somewhere in there he was five months too! He's been going through lots of changes, so let's dive right in!

When we last reported in, Harrison had just started rolling over. Previously he had been sleeping in a swinging chair (the soothing rocking gave us the most hours of sleep) and we were worried weening him off would be a battle. Nate was already talking about plans to build a rocking crib. But one night shortly after learning to roll, Harrison suddenly decided sleeping in his swing was the worst. He'd try turning on his side and the curve of the swing's chair made that uncomfortable for him. So after a few exasperated tries to get him to sleep, we tried putting him in his crib, (well, pack-n-play, but heading in the right direction), and he rolled over, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and fell fast asleep. Once he could roll onto his stomach we were fine with letting him stay there to sleep. Each night we put him in the crib on his back, he rolls over, pops his fingers into his mouth, and lo and behold he started sleeping through the night! What a great early Mother's day gift!

Tummy time has gone from a periodic accomplishment, to Harrison's preferred way to take in his surroundings. He can hold his head and upper body up much longer without getting tired. Originally this involved him looking around and then collapsing when he suddenly jammed a hand in his mouth, but lately he has started grabbing objects while holding himself up. He still doesn't have the coordination to hold himself up and push himself forwards with his legs (he still tends to scoot forwards on his head), but he can roll where he needs to surprisingly fast. In the last couple weeks he figured out how to hold himself up in a crawl position (on hands and knees with stomach off the ground), but he hasn't figured out how to take the first step. Instead, he rocks back and forth like he's trying to work up enough momentum. We fear (and are delighted that) the time to begin babyproofing the house is nearly upon us!

Harrison and Daddy at 6 month check-up!

At four months Harrison got his first taste of real food, and since then his pallet has been expanding. We bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables from the store and made single ingredient baby food for him. We started with sweet potato, then squash, pears, apple, banana. He loved them all! He has always been a voracious eater, and solid food is no different. Before the next spoonful is even ready, he has his arms stretched out to his sides and his mouth open, ready for the next bite. He'll usually made a constant content noise while he eats. Everything was going down great until he got his first taste of green beans. "Whoa there", said Harrison, "what was that? Let's back that out and try again. Nope! Second bite is just as bad!" Green beans were a no go. At least his disgusted face is delightfully funny! We tried giving him one bite of something sweet, like banana, then alternating with green beans. That didn't work at all, and we think we just taught him eat bite of food might be suspect. Now when we feed him anything, even foods he loves, you can tell he's ready to spit out the first couple bites just in case.

First foods!  Banana, Apple, Squash, Avocado and Green Beans

Since then we've started mixing his foods together. We combined apples and cherry (chapplesauce, his favorite) and sweet potato, blueberries, and kale (sweetbluekato, looks like chocolate pudding but most definitely dose not taste like it). He really enjoyed these mixtures, so we're going to try some new ones soon. Our plan is to start slipping some green beans into the mix. We're not sure we'd eat apples mixed with green beans, but if the ratio favors the foods he likes he seems happy enough with them. Our other plan is to start growing these foods at home. We planted a small orchard; two apples, two cherries, a peach, and a hybrid plum with two different grafts. It'll take a while for them to get established, but we're hoping he'll have the chance as a child to wander outside and pick some fruit straight from the tree. Until then, our established apple tree is on a two year cycle and should produce fruit this year, so we'll be (fingers crossed) blending lots of apples come fall.

Digging orchard post holes - neighbors with tractors are the best!

We bought Harrison a walker so he can toodle around the kitchen. At first he was a bit too short and wasn't moving terribly far, but more recently he has started directing himself towards areas of interest. Lately, his favorite distraction is to roll up to the fridge and start pulling things off the front. When the walker gets boring, (and we've noticed he's getting bored with activities he's used to), we have a new infant backpack that he loves. He outgrew the moby wrap, (both in weight and no longer wanting to be held against our chests), but the backpack gives him a fun way to observe the world. He's a heavy boy, so it feels like a workout to carry him for extended periods of time, but the backpack does a great job of distributing the weight. Now that it's warmer, we'll strap him in, plop a wide brimmed hat on him, and go do chores outside, and he's happy as can be! Sometimes he'll even fall asleep in the backpack, despite the activity or rough ride.

Well, speaking of Harrison sleeping, it's time to start getting him ready for bed. We hope this post finds you well and we'll be back in a month(ish) to share the latest news!

Love to all,

Nate, Justine, and Harrison

Cuatro Meses!

Hola amigos y familia!

Sorry, just practicing my Spanish.  Did you know that if babies don't hear sounds spoken to them around this time, they will have trouble making them?  So we spend a little bit of time each day speaking Spanish to our Osito.  I looked for some children's books in Spanish at Babies R Us, but it looks like we'll have to order them.

Anyways!  Four months!

Life is pretty great around the Bell household.  Up to now, I feel like we were mostly powering through.  People kept telling us that they "missed the infant stage", and although there were moments of pure joy, overall I'm not sure we'd say that we would miss any of the stages so far.  Many of our conversations started with "I can't wait until he..."

Starting just the last two weeks though, we're starting to understand.  Harrison is talking more and more, which is just the cutest.  We generally just talk to him about whatever is going on around us, describing the activities of the day, and now he is talking back to us!  Wow, doesn't it look nice outside?  Ga, aaaaaaaaah.  Maybe we could go outside this afternoon!  Ha goo!  Does the baby want to eat?  Uuuuuuuu, uuuuuuuuu, uuuuuuuum.  Cutest. Thing. Ever.

On the pediatrician's advice, we have started supplementing with oatmeal cereal.  We started with trying to put it in his bottle, but it was clogging the nipple, so we switched to mixing it with a little bit of pumped milk and feeding it to him with a baby chewie spoon.  He loves eating.  The cereal doesn't seem to help him sleep longer, but it's difficult to justify not feeding him cereal before bed because he gets so excited about it.  He opens his mouth wide wide wide when the spoon is coming to him, and grabs the spoon to feed himself.  The other night we let the bowl get too close to him, and he scooped a handful out with his fingers and put it (mostly) in his mouth.  Oatmeal everywhere.  Someday our first thought will be messy, but for now it's just adorable.

 So, I have to admit that we got a little lax about tummy time.  Harrison really didn't enjoy it, and it was no fun having him be so sad, so it went by the wayside for a little while.  Then, a few weeks ago I saw a video of a friend's little boy who is two weeks old than him, and the baby was already able to roll.  Oh no!  Harrison was nowhere near being able to roll, he didn't have the arm strength!  So back to tummy time we went.  He still cries, but his arms are getting so much stronger!  And now he can roll from his tummy onto his side.

Then, after spending time pushing and wiggling and crying, he usually falls asleep.

His dexterity and attention has increased so much.  We got some new toys from Great Aunt Judy and pulled them out today for the first time.  Look at his concentration!  Was so glad I was able to get this picture.

All in all, things are great.  Spring is coming, and we put Harrison in the Moby wrap and take him with us to do barn chores.  He loves watching the chickens and ducks, and the visiting horse seems taken with him.  We have pepper seeds sprouting in the little planters in our windowsill, waiting to be transplanted when the weather gets warmer.  We are enjoying being able to take him outside and show him more of the world.

Warm spring wishes to all!
-Justine, Nate and Harrison

Three Months, Two Weeks Late

So, you know how vacation, while super fun, can also be exhausting and throw off all of the things that you plan to get done?  Yeah, that happened to the Bells.  With Harrison's first big trip looming, a few things got pushed to the wayside in the planning, packing, driving and visiting.  But, we're BACK!  And ready to give a full report of our hijinks.

A few days after our last post, we decided it was time to take the stroller out.  And with the cold weather, there was only one place that made sense - the mall!  So we packed up the baby, and off we went.  It was the first time that we needed to NOT have the infant carrier, and it was difficult to figure out the logistics of that.  Nate ended up dropping us off at the door, and I ran in with him wrapped in my jacket.  But we had a fun afternoon of rolling around showing the baby new things.  Once he got overwhelmed, he promptly fell asleep.

It has been amazing the last month to watch his dexterity grow.  He is still frustrated because he can't control his hands and arms as much as he would like, but he gets a bit better every day.  He has a little crinkly monkey with plastic chewable feet that we called Crinkle Monkey.  We would lay Crinkle Money on his chest and he would want it in his mouth, so he would use his arms to try and move it.  At first he used straight arms, only moving them at his shoulders, giving the impression that he was hugging the monkey.  Now, only a little over a month later, he can grab the monkey with his hands and move it toward his mouth.  He's not coordinated enough to put something into his mouth without missing a few times first, but is getting much closer!

 Because he is more able to interact with the world, we suddenly have to be aware of what is in the range of his hands all the time!  For instance, this was the other morning when we got distracted cleaning up a dirty diaper while a clean diaper sat, tauntingly within reach.  Straight into the mouth.

Although he's getting better at grabbing and moving his arms, his fingers are another story.  He has sucked his thumb once, mostly on accident.  Most of the time, we find him like this:

One thing that makes me laugh is when people ask me how things are going.  I was driving with my co-worker a few weeks ago, and we were chatting about her school and an upcoming internship.  Then she asked how things were with my life, and all I could think to respond was:

Harrison splashed in the bathtub.  On purpose.  And smiled.

We are super lucky that many of our friends are going through the same things with us.  I feel like less of an idiot texting Becca or Monica about how Harrison is holding his head up like a PRO today.  It's crazy the small things that you get excited about, and how excited you get!  One good squeal makes the sun shine on a cloudy day. 

We had a really great time in Alabama with family.  Everyone brings their own unique flavor to Harrison's life, and he loves all of it.  Papa (my dad) tells him to Zip It, with a laugh and a big smile.  He must like the z sound, because this delights him.  Grandpa Tom likes to go to different places in the room and call his name, to see if Harrison can find him and how long it takes.  It was really fun to watch this develop in the time that we were there.  Grandma Kathy was the queen of cuddles.  Nana (my mom) was up for anything.  Dangling Mardi Gras beads for him to grab?  Tummy time with a PT twist?  Walking and humming?  She's on it.  I think she got him to sleep more often than we did while we were together.

Gah!  And now the baby is awake and we must go attend to His Tiny-Highness (now shortened to His Tiness).  Sending all of our love to you!  

-Justine, Nate and Harrison

Checkpoint: Two Months!

Hello Family and Friends!

We did it!  Two months down, seventeen years and ten months to go!

Harrison grew SO much this month, both physically and mentally.  His 8 week appointment was pushed back to next Wednesday, so we still don't know how much he weighs officially, but we're pretty sure it's a lot!  Seriously, this kid might have a future in Sumo:

One of the most notable things that happened this month is that Harrison started to smile in an intentional way.  He was still drowsy when we brought him to bed this morning, and he opened his eyes to see us there with him and smiled.  As I write it, this seems like such a small, simple thing!  But each first is so profound to us, and smiles especially bring so much joy.  Here are a few photos from last week of morning time with Daddy:

Despite his newly found ability to smile, he still seems unimpressed by our monthly birthday celebrations.  It wasn't until Nate came in to help him blow out the candles that he really got animated.  It is also interesting that, while he loves looking at lights and out sunny windows, the candles don't seem to hold any magic for him yet.  Maybe they are too small?  (I like where this line of reasoning is going! -Nate)

Midway through month two Harrison suddenly started following us with his eyes. One day he would sort of startle when he noticed we were in front of him, and the next day he'd see us approach from the edge of his vision and turn to watch us move. Lots of direct eye contact and we're hearing more and more adorable coos!

He continues to love music, and we spend all day introducing him to new things.  There is a product called Rock a Bye Baby that transforms classic rock songs into instrumental lullabies for babies, and we have been listening to a lot of those.  They do everything from Bruce Springsteen to Fleetwood Mac to Eminem.  We are planning to have him listen to them for the next few years, and then casually play the originals in the car for him and see if he recognizes any of the songs as his childhood lullabies.  

A few nights ago I was trying to make dinner and he was getting fussy, so I sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to him.  Turns out he was enchanted by the song and the hand movements together.  Nate took a video of it tonight, sorry that it's a little dark (we need to invest in some tall lamps!).

He's only waking up 2-3 times a night now, and it's heavenly.  And while cluster-feeding growth spurts are still a challenge, he is finally starting to find some consistent sleeping patterns.  All in all, we're having a great time!  

Love to everyone!

-Justine, Nate and baby Harrison

Flower Power!

Hey Friends and Family!

This update should come with a surgeon's general warning.  Because this is seriously the cutest video ever.  You have been warned.

When we first found out that we were pregnant, we signed up for email updates on the pregnancy through BabyCenter.  Each week they would alert us to what fruit/veggie that our growing baby was most like in size, and let us know what we should be eating, pregnancy tips, etc.  Then, once Harrison was born, we started getting emails about his growth and development, including suggestions about activities that we could do to help him learn about the world.

This week one of our assignments was Flower Power.  We were supposed to get some flowers or go visit a greenhouse or nursery.  It was important to get flowers with bright colors.  Then we were supposed to introduce them to the baby, and help him interact with them in all of the ways that he could: see the flower, smell the flower, touch the flower and hold the flower.  Challenge accepted.

The first time we did Flower Power, we had a blast.  So, the second time, we grabbed the GoPro (thanks Dad!) and got it on film.  Here is the result.  I dare you to try and watch this without smiling.

Happy New Year!  Flower Power!
-Nate, Justine and Harrison