Old and New Friends

We had a great time last Sunday when long time family friends Mike and Kathy Otos and Rob and Liz Otos came over with their kids. Rob, Mike, and I all grew up together. Harrison loved having 3 playmates!

Happy Birthday, Part II

At some point in Harrison's life we will have to let him know that his birthday is just one day and not actually an entire week...however, it will not be this year! We continued celebrating Harrison's birthday with a family gathering.

The theme was Curious George since H is a very curious little boy. We had what we will refer to as "The Cake Incident of '09". Harrison ended up with 3 birthday cakes! (Note to first time parents...Byerlys has a free cake for 1st birthdays and there are no controls. A little miscommunication between Matt and I landed us two free cakes and a lovely Jungle themed sheet cake.)

It was so much fun to have our family there to celebrate! Although none of us will ever win American Idol, Harrison seemed to enjoy listening to all of us sing to him!

(Sorry the video is over a minute long and is a little shakey but I am posting a few of them anyway!)

Harrison loved digging into a big cake and making a mess with the blue frosting! (Additional note to other first time parents...I would highly recommend a cake with all white frosting for 1 year olds...the blue frosting stains and let's just say the mess it makes the next day in the diaper is not a pretty sight!) You'll note the Harrison doesn't take his eyes off the cake!

We really tried to get a picture of all four grandparents looking at the camera but in every single picture at least one of them is looking at Harrison!

Just one parting video of H enjoying his buffet of frosting! (Again, apologies for the length of the video and the questionable camera work!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRISON!

It hardly seems possible but Harrison turned 1 year old today!!!! We are celebrating with our family on Saturday but Harrison had a special day none the less. He enjoyed his favorite banana-berry pancakes for breakfast before having a very busy morning playing with dad. Around lunch time he had his one year check up with Dr. Carlson...25.5 lbs and 30.5 inches...all in the 75-90% range! He is a healthy boy! He took his shots like a champ (OK we were a little mean to take him to the doctor on his birthday but he did get a sticker!)
He got several cards in the mail today and had a great time helping to open them. He actually liked the envelopes and cards equally! Our nieghbors and good friends, John, Laurie, Greg, and Ellen Hynes came over to help us toast our birthday boy! (Greg is not pictured because a 1st birthday party is only fun for so long when you are 17. Apparently going out with his friends was more appealing...his 10 year old sister Ellen would disagree...she knows how cool we are!)

Harrison had his first cupcake and his first experience with something really sweet....he was a little unsure at first... He quickly became a fan....
I am not sure if he liked the taste or the mess of it more!

Wow! What a difference a year makes! He surprised us a few weeks early weighing less than 6 lbs but we have loved every minutes of this last year.
We love you very much and look forward to all the adventures you will bring to us in the next year and years to come!

Fourth of July

We started off our holiday weekend have a delicious dinner with Kobi, Mike, Tyler, and Sydney Hoffman. The Hoffmas have plenty of toys for all ages but Harrison had the most fun with Kobi's measuring spoons!We spent another fun year celebrating the Fourth of July at the Seliger's lake home. I have warned them that they are stuck with us on the fourth until they un-invite us. It is always a fun day full of friends, food, swimming, boating, tubing, jet skiing...the list goes on and on!

Harrison LOVES the water and Mila Seefeldt was his personal life guard just in case something happened to his multiple floatation devices!

Baby Class Reunion

Right after Harrison was born, I did a "new moms" class at the hospital. The ladies and the babies from that class all got together last week to celebrate our little's first year! It was so much fun to see how much all the kids had grown!

Harrison was, of course, a big fan of all the food.
And he like chasing after Ella!

Congratulations Matt and Callie!

What a weekend! We went down to St. Louis for my "little" brother Matt and Callie's wedding! Harrison was excited to see the groom to be!

One side note - Harrison is becoming quite the traveler...so much so that he actually ran into someone he knew on our flight! His buddy Thomas, who will be starting at his daycare soon, was headed to St. Louis to see his grandparents (he isn't quite old enough to be an unaccompanied minor so his parents Meagn and Mike were there too.)

Anyway, back to the wedding festivities! The wedding took place at a park that is part of an old military fort. The perfect backdrop for Matt and Callie. The sun was shining but temperatures did sore into the upper 90's. Despite the heat, it was a beautiful wedding.

Uncle Andy helped to entaintain Harrison all weekend. Harrison was especially fond of Uncle Andy this weekend since he made multiple runs out to get Harrison food for lunches and dinners!

The whole family! (minus Harrison and Noland since they had had enough of pictures in the heat by that point)We all tried to drink plenty of water to stay cool - even Harrison! My Aunt DeDe and Uncle Brian kept Harrison in their air conditioned car until the last minute and then took care of him all afternoon (even changing a dirty diaper in the extreme heat - yuck!). Thank you! Harrison did not make a sound through the entire ceremony even though it was his nap time. Such a good boy!Harrison had a blast at the reception! They had bubbles so that entertained him for a good hour. He is definitely a Lichty because he liked being on the dance floor! He made it until the second to last song, but then fell asleep in Matt's arms on the dance floor as we were all slow dancing.
Although we were quite busy with wedding activities, we did manage to see a couple of St. Louis' attractions including a quick stop for some bbq...

Congratulations Uncle Matt, Aunt Callie, & Cousin Noland!

Happy Father's Day

Although we had to celebrate Father's Day a little early (since we were out of town), the day still had new meaning for Matt and me. We are blessed to have two outstanding fathers and I think Harrison is equally blessed to have such an amazing dad!