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