More Catch Up

Yup, the eternal game of catch up. That's what I'm all about! Lots of things going on in the Clore house these days.

First (and what's taking up all of my time lately), the Harv is sick. Croup, pink eye, and a nasty little cold that started it all. He's on steroids for the croup, and eye drops for the pink eye. Since he's sick, he is pretty pitiful. Normal Harv likes to play by himself, he just hangs out and does his thing until you're ready to do something with him. 98% of the time, he's so laid back and calm. He hates to snuggle and cuddle. Not anymore! Is it kind of sick that I love when he's sick so he'll snuggle with me? I'm fine with that. He wants me to hold him, cuddle him up like a baby, and he'll even put his head on my shoulder and snuggle up. I'm telling you, this never happens! Normally, he gets all stiff and rigid and is trying to get out of my arms to play. I kinda like sick Harv. If he would just let me put him down and leave the room ever (I do like going to the bathroom alone sometimes), that would be nice. But I guess I'll take the snuggle time while I can!

I think I like sick time a little more because this kid said "mama" yesterday!! Not so sure he knows exactly what that means yet, but he knows it gets a reaction! You say mama, and that crazy lady is all in your face waiting on you hand and foot with a crazed look in her eye. This morning he woke up crying saying "mama.......dada......mama....." over and over again. Needless to say, this mama was in there in no time to see what my little punkin wanted. I know someday I'm going to hear "mmmm---oooooommmm!" so much I'm going to want to change my name and not tell my kids what it is. But for now, it is the sweetest thing.

I think Harvey took a look at a calendar recently and realized he's almost 11 months old and he needs to step it up. Just in the last month he started army crawling. Then over the last week, he started crawling up on his hands and knees, he says 'dada' and 'mama', he figured out how to sit himself up, his hair started laying down (bummer), and he will stand up and play with toys if I stand him up. He even "tried" to pull himself up yesterday! Now, it was the weakest attempt I have ever seen (he put his hands up on the ottoman and grunted---don't think he even really tried to move his legs), but at least he knows that's what should happen next. So proud of my big boy!

Oh, speaking of big boy, he weighed a little over 25 pounds at the dr's office the other day. Wow. And, no wonder locomotion has been tricky.

Harvey's not the only one stepping it up these days. He will be 1 in 5 weeks (!), and I have goal to lose all my baby weight by his first birthday. I still have that last 5 pounds (and quite a bit of toning to boot) to go, and it's driving me nuts. Unless back fat and muffin tops are totally in this year, it's time to get my butt in gear. I've actually got to start doing something to make it happen. So I started running (and walking) this morning. Hated every minute of it, but eventually I will learn to like it. Or not. But I will keep going. I've already lost 60 pounds (yup, I was a total whale by the end of my pregnancy), so what's another 5 (and a little extra)?

Well, the boy child is calling me from his sick bed. I probably should get back to snuggling him, before he feels better and realizes mom is so lame!

The Great Outdoors

The weather has been pretty nice here the last few weeks/weekends. Anytime it is even kind of nice, I drag the kiddos outside to play. One day it will be 70 degrees and sunny, the next 48 and rainy. So we take absolutely every chance we get to be outside right now. Here are some photos of what the Harv has been up to lately.

A typical setup when we go outside to play with Mary Helen.

Such a sweet sweet girl.

Harvey loves to eat some grass. I try so hard to keep him off of it, but he's a determined little guy. I figure we're vegetarians, so he's just doing what comes natural. Now if he could just get his arms around that tree..........

I took him on a picnic in our backyard this Wednesday on our day off.
Again, with the grass.

Ok, mom said I can'ts has dat grass ober dere----what about DIS grass ober here???

He decided I didn't know what I was doing with his food---I was feeding him much too slow. So he snatched the bowl out of my hand and threw his food everywhere. Good idea.
So, ams I suppose to eat off da gwound now? Dats sick!

We all went out after dinner the other night to enjoy the sunset.

And I've decided I LOVE to do photo shoots at the park. If these don't make you smile, I don't know what will.




So stinkin precious!

Harvey's started to do some new things over the last few weeks, so here are a few Harvey updates.

*He's a lean, mean waving machine. He loves to wave at anyone and everyone. Today while we were in Stride Rite, he saw himself in a mirror and waved at himself for quite awhile. He really loves himself. :)

*Last weekend we bought him a ball, and he LOVES it. He figured out how to roll it back, so this is quite a fun little game for him.

*He has been clapping for awhile now, but recently he has really put it together. He claps when I sing(mostly because I'm awesome), when he hears music, when I'm done singing (because he has good taste and he knows his mama's amazing).

*He just started saying "da-da". Not really referring to John quite yet. He says it anytime I say "mama". Of course. Dada is always the favorite, even when they still don't quite know what they're saying.

*He learned how to sit himself up when he's laying on his belly. Very helpful.

*He just started reaching for us this week. He's still trying to figure out how to harness that power. He reaches for us all the time----like when he's having his diaper changed, when we're wiping his nose, when he's been in his highchair for what he feels like is too long. He thinks he should be able to get out of any situation, simply by raising his arms. Silly magic arms, why don't they work all the time?!!

*He now signs 'more' when he wants more when he's eating. It's a bit modified from the real sign, but we all know what it means. He's a genius (when there's food involved).

*And while I've been writing this post, he has started real crawling. Like on his knees and everything. Way to go Harvey!

Balance

It's been quite awhile since I've updated this. I am going to try to at least post photos on here more often (I know that's why most of you come here. Reading is so lame!). While the kiddos nap during the day, I find myself looking around at other people's blogs. Mostly photography blogs, but sometimes I will come across someone's personal family blog. And for whatever reason, I keep coming across a theme: cherish your children, spend as much time with your family as possible, realize what's most important here and now, because you never know when it's all over. One story in particular that has daily challeneged the way I live my life is Layla Grace's story (side note: if Harvey has been a girl, this is what we would have named her. Very interesting considering the impact she's had on my life). She was a 2 year old who was diagnosed with a very aggresive form of cancer, and she went to Heaven just a couple weeks ago. Here is an excerpt from an entry that has rocked my world:


Layla now spends most of her days sleeping. 30-45 minutes after she wakes up, she is ready to lay down and sleep again. Is this God’s way of preparing me for all the quiet time that is coming soon? The house is quiet. I am able to go through the motions of laundry, dishes, cooking and picking up without interruptions. But I WANT interruptions. I WANT Layla to be under my feet asking for cookies. I WANT to hear her playing with her toys. I WANT to take 45 minutes to unload the dishwasher because she keeps trying to help. For every time I uttered the words “I just can’t get anything done with these kids under my feet all day” I am eternally regretful. The days that I looked forward to naptime so I could get a grocery list made, or finally fold all the piles of laundry…I regret those days too. If I could do it all again, I’d enjoy EVERY SINGLE WAKING MOMENT I had with her. I would never wish for her to sit still or take a nap or go to bed early. I would never look forward to the days when she could sit through an entire episode of Dora silently. I would treasure every second with her.

Wow. Now, when Harvey is having a "bad" day, when he skips nap and is a cranky mess, when he is all over the place and I can't seem to get anything done, when he needs me in the middle of the night, rather than being frustrated, I am so eternally grateful to have him here. That my arms are not empty, that I have been blessed with another day with my family. I'm sure I will still have my moments of frustration, but I pray I never look at life the same.

I'm working on priorities. Spending time with John and Harvey is far more important than spending time running errands, cleaning and organizing, and blogging. All of these things are good, but I'm now trying to find the balance between doing the things that have to be done, and spending time with the poeple I love the most in this world. I don't ever want to look back on this phase in life and regret not holding Harvey more often, wishing I had more adventures and quality time with John while we were still young. And I am certain I'll never look back on this life and wish I had spent more time on Facebook or Twitter.

So if I go a week or so without posting on here, just know we're out living life, making memories, and giving thanks for every precious moment we have. And don't worry, I'll come back. Harvey's too dang cute to keep to ourselves. :)

LL Cool Harv

Last week Harvey went to a recording studio here in town to do his thing (with his dad, of course. Just trying to help him sound cool). So here's what went down.

Upon entering the studio, Harv needs a little chill time to help him unwind and get those creative juices flowing. He has a little snack (a cereal bar, cut into tiny pieces by his mommy), and then has a little play time.
Why dis monkey has all dees keys on dis ring? Can monkeys dwive? Why my hairs always so cwazy? (Taking a moment to reflect on life's deeper questions).

Then it's time to get down to business.
First things first: gotta lay down the law with the studio dog. First some giggle time.

Then, letting the dog know who's boss. A good old fashion stare down.

When I'ms in da studio, I'ms da boss, you gots it goggy? Why your bref stink so bad?

Once that's settled, he moves on to some producing.

Oh yeah, dats hot!

Dats one phat nasty beat right dere!

And now for Harvey to showcase some of his talent. First, piano.

Yeah, da ladies dig it.

Then percussion.
I wike to pway dis wif my tongue. Sound way gooder.

And then he wraps up studio time with some photos with dad.

Yeah, my dad finks it cool when I let hims come to da studio wif me. He's cool, so I let him hang wif me. You're da best dad!!

Where Has the Time Gone?!

Wow, I haven't really been on the internet much in almost a week. And, I didn't even really miss it. I did have my Blackberry to help keep me up to date, so perhaps I wasn't really gone, just not on the computer so much. But it sure did feel good to say I went without internet for a week. Don't know what I would do without some Facebook status updates. It's critical to know when friends I don't even keep up with anymore are drinking coffee, off to work, need help with the chicken coupe on Farmville, sharing their most recent witty/inspirational/(un)interesting quote, bummed about rainy weather, etc.

And now on to my uninteresting updates about life. :) This past weekend was the SEC Tournament here in Nashville. Amazing, to say the least. The original plan was for John and I to go downtown to scalp some tickets and go to at least one UK game. We invited John's mom, sister, and grandmother down to stay with us to visit and see Harvey, and to hangout with him while we went to some games. Then, Friday night when I got home, my mom called to see if she, my sister, and my niece Lorelai could come down for the weekend to go to the games as well. Why not? The more the merrier! So Friday night we had John's family with us, and then Saturday morning my family joined in. In all, we had 7 adults and 2 children at our house this weekend. A little crazy, but so much fun!

Saturday we went downtown simply to enjoy the UK madness while the kiddos stayed home with John's mom, sister, and grandmother. The Bridegstone Arena only holds 17,000 people, and there were at least 3 times as many people here for the games, so we already knew tickets would be crazy expensive. And they were. $400 each was the lowest I heard about. So we went downtown just to walk around and be with "my people", and then we went to a friend's bar to watch the game on TV. The place was packed with other UK fans, and we beat UT by 29 points, so it was awesome. We had such a good time, and we were so glad to have everyone here in town together. Such a fun weekend, and a great reason why I haven't updated the blog lately.

Harvey updates: he is army crawling forward now. He's mostly working it with one arm and his legs are pretty much dead weight, so it's kind of painful to watch. But he's doing it! He's already getting into all kinds of things, he's learned to cry when mama tells him no (the nerve of that woman, talking to me like that!), and he's learned that when someone tells him 'no', that's something he really should want to do more often. Funny how they already know to do that.

He currently has 5 teeth, 4 on one side, 1 on the other. Currently he is working on the other 3 matching ones on the left side. Teething is a real bummer.

We're moving again in less than 3 weeks. That's another post for another time, but just a quick update. The short story is we have a ladybug problem. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, it's (kind of) funny, definitely not something you hear everyday. We've had so many problems with them, you aren't allowed to exterminate them (although when you're in my house, it's fair game), so we're moving out and letting them have the place. Our apartment people have been incredible in trying to fix this, and they're moving us into a nicer place with a garage. Moving is a real bummer, but it will totally be worth it in the end to never see another stinkin ladybug, and to have a nicer place. Guess that wasn't such a long story after all! I'll post some photos tomorrow. Don't worry, Harvey is still the most photographed child, possibly ever. Oh, and the cutest. Ever. Definitely the cutest.

Wordless Wednesday

VIDEO: Harvey over the last few months

This video has a bunch of random Harvey stuff from over the past few months...

Holy Cow Batman!

Harvey moved into the double digits yesterday---the big 1-0 months old. Wow. Since our mornings now seem to start around 6:00-6:15 (yup, every single day of the week) we decided it would be fun to take him to our favorite coffee shop for breakfast. So we were all at Fido right when they opened at 7am. Oh, and we were with Batman himself.

He was obviously on high alert, watching for early morning crime.

Hey, even Batman needs to eat.

Holy cow, doesn't he look like a big boy here, giving me a fake-ish smile? Geeze, he better slow down. And look at all those teeth!

So after breakfast, we went home and put Batman down for a nap. Long night of fighting crime in his crib and stuff. When he got up, we all had some lunch and then went out for ice cream. I know, he's one lucky kid.
This is where we went to get ice cream. It's a little walk up old time ice cream and burger joint. It was really good, and a fun experience. And because it was such a nice day, 1/3 of the Nashville population came out to join us.

Both of my boys on the lookout for crime. Good idea when you're hanging out on Charlotte Pike in Nashville.

Hey yous guys at the next table! You see me? I'm dwessed as Batman! Yeah, I fought you'd fink I was cute.

Come on dad, hurwy hurwy! I don't know what dat is, know I wants some!!!

Ohhhhh, sooo good......

Poor ole Batman was exhausted after our ice cream outing.

Then the annual photo shoot. Yes, Fredbird is missing. S-t-u-p-i-d mom! But don't worry, Fredbird is going to the park with us today, so I'm sure there will be plenty of photos of them together.

I love that his Kramer hair is blocking the sign.

Man I could just eat him up.

In honor of Harvey turning 10 months old, I thought I would list ten important facts about sweet Harv.

1. Favorite food: Toast with butter. He starts panting and flapping his hands when he sees me making it. Very interesting reaction.

2. Favorite toy: Pretty hard to say, but I would say his striped knitted bunny. I need to get some photos of him wrestling and chewing on his poor bunny's ears.

3. Most of the time he eats solely with his left hand.

4. Sizing: Clothes:12-18 months. Shoes: Size 3. Diapers: Size 4.

5. Favorite sound/word: "Gwah". He lights up if you ever say "Gwah" to him, and then he repeats it. It's like he understands someone for the first time.

6. He is so close to crawling, yet not. He can spin around in a full circle and then he crawls backwards, away from the the object he's facing and trying to get to. Seems efficient enough.

7. He loves riding in the cart in stores. Especially when mom is distracted and parks him just close enough to something he can pull off the shelf. Such a big "helper".

8. Throwing tantrums is becoming the norm. Best tantrum to date: Trader Joes parking lot when I took away the row of stickers the (well meaning) cashier gave my 9 month old. A child that young really has no business having stickers to suck and chew on. When I was putting him in the car, I snatched them out of his hands real quick. Man, he arched his back, kicked his feet, and screamed like we were having a serious emergency (and in his world, we were). I was going on like nothing was happening, and then I looked around and saw people all around the parking lot looking to see what we had going on. Guess it sounded like I was beating him. Good thing I said "No thanks" when she offered him a balloon.

9. He loves to squeal like a pterodactyl.

10. His BFF (aka his only friend): Mary Helen. He really does love her. He loves to watch her and then copy what she does. She kicks her feet in her high chair, he watches and starts kicking his feet in his chair. She bangs some toys together, he starts banging his toys together. They're so incredibly precious together.