Mommy & the Boys

Spring training is only 1 mth away!

2012-02-05T10:15:00.001-08:00

And this little guy is ready! (Good thing his older bro was a fan too...)

Graham has a funny brother

2012-01-21T16:28:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1oM7cgDAbI

Duke game

2012-01-07T10:58:00.001-08:00

Hope we are good luck. Currently up by two...Luke is really into it.

Graham's room

2012-01-03T17:07:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Super Dave for helping to finish it!

Harrison family tackles

2012-01-02T16:42:00.001-08:00

Brothers

2011-12-19T04:21:00.001-08:00

Fun on the porch yesterday. Good friends!

Graham's the Man!

2011-12-17T15:40:00.001-08:00

G-man sitting on his own.

Who's a big boy?

2011-12-07T17:23:00.001-08:00

That's right. I took a picture of peepee in the potty. Luke's first successful try. Yay big kid! Ben told him he could have a "whole bag of cookies" if he went in the potty. I guess a bag of cookies is Luke's bottom line.

G is ready for the big time

2011-12-04T17:08:00.001-08:00

Graham has his eye on ice cream...

I think this kid will eat anything we put in front of him.

Stuffed!

2011-11-25T17:27:00.001-08:00

Graham, post sweet potato feast on Thanksgiving.

Disney

2011-11-22T16:19:00.001-08:00

Realized we had not posted many Disney pics. Enjoy! And yes, that hula hoop was at EPCOT. GOTTA love Disney.

"Solids"

2011-11-20T13:19:00.001-08:00

If you can call rice cereal a solid, graham started solid foods couple days ago. What a big kid!

G-man

2011-11-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

A couple updates on our fastest growing dude. At the playground last week and tonight on the attack with Mr. Owl.

Gotta love EPCOT

2011-11-05T15:57:00.001-07:00

Food and wine (and beer) festival. With a baby, does not slow us down!

Fall fun!

2011-10-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

Carving carving carving! We have trick or treated twice already, but the big shabang is still to come. Pics of Mr elephant and graham-tactic pumpkin to come.

Pumpkin patch

2011-10-23T12:39:00.001-07:00

We picked up a few pumpkins at the pumpkin patch today.

Luke's Room

2011-10-23T12:36:00.001-07:00

These pics are long overdue. Special thanks to super Dave and Cathy for help with painting. Luke loves his blue stripes and his baseball magnet board. Still a work in progress to find the right bedding...

Luke's weekend

2011-10-16T08:57:00.001-07:00

Sno cones at mommy's work picnic and wearing mommy's heels to "go to the hospital"

We also spent some time with big jack at his family's new house in Decatur-yay!

Obligatory bathtub baby picture

2011-10-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

one still and one action shot.

Dad felt the need to cover the goods. What is the point of the pic, then?

Two bros

2011-10-05T16:15:00.001-07:00

Two bros watching mickey mouse clubhouse. We love us some mickey!

Mtns with Big Jack

2011-09-25T16:53:00.001-07:00

We went to the Mtns with Big Jack and his family. Lots of fun!! Luke says the highlight was either the slide or throwing rocks in the water at the marina. Big Jack is petty training so hopefully he gave us some inspiration.

Go Duke!

2011-09-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

Luke got into the football game today. He does not have a football helmet so he asked to put on his bike helmet. Duke wins!

Q-time at the zoo

2011-09-08T08:43:00.001-07:00

Mommy and G are at the zoo today. We got to witness the naming ceremony of the newest baby giraffe, Lily, and we met the new tiger cubs, 2 weeks younger than graham. You can see graham's reaction to all the zoo excitement and quality time with mommy.

Mountain rain out

2011-09-05T20:10:00.001-07:00

We planned some hikes in the great smoky mtns today but it was raining all day long so we got sucked into the gatlinburg tourist trap. We did indoor mini golf, ice cream at kilwin's, and the aquarium. Pics show K and graham happy after ice cream and Ben and graham watching the sharks from the longest moving walkway you have ever seen.

Santaland

2011-09-04T11:00:00.001-07:00

That's right, we are at santaland. Too bad Santa is not, but at least there's a train. First pic is representative of the decor here. Second is of Luke and Ben in Santa's chair...with no Santa...at SANTAland.

Just two big boys

2011-09-03T04:59:00.001-07:00

Or I guess we are three big boys...

Champion tummy timer!

2011-08-31T18:33:00.001-07:00

First swim

2011-08-31T17:42:00.001-07:00

Graham had his first dip in the pool today. He loved it!

Brothers

2011-06-24T18:13:00.001-07:00

Everything going well on day 2, looking forward to going home tomorrow!

Graham Kristopher Harrison

2011-06-23T17:28:00.001-07:00

Mommy did great! 7 lb 8 oz, 21 1/2 in.

At the hospital!

2011-06-23T05:24:00.001-07:00

Go Braves

2011-05-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

We went out to the ballpark last Sunday to take in our first regular season Braves game this year. The game was exciting, and we actually lasted until the very last pitch, a walk-off hit by the Braves! And, they haven't lost since. Coincidence?

Getting ready for the game. Wait, those aren't the baseball shoes!

Luke held his tomahawk in one hand and his Braves baseball in the other, the entire game, letting go only when he heard his dad say "fruit snacks"!

Three good looking Braves fans

Spring Break

2011-05-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

In March, the three and a half of us went down to Florida for a week. We saw family, played min-golf, caught a couple spring training games, more mini-golf, and spent most of the week at the Disney Vero Beach resort. We all had a great time, as you can tell from the photos!

With GUB and in his golf cart!

Have you seen a more photogenic Braves fan? With Mom & Grandpa

"glasses ON!"

"HELICOPTER!"

One of the revelations of the trip was how much fun mirror time is. One of the beds at the hotel faced a mirror such that one could jump on the bed with a too-big hat on and laugh at one's own reflection in the mirror. Now that we're home, we pretty much have to build in mirror time with our other bed time activities/prep.

We may be biased, but we're pretty sure Luke was the most skilled 23 month old to hit the links at the pool area mini golf course in quite some time.

Seriously, look at him keep that head down!

Look who joined us for breakfast!

Luke and Madison in their holes at the beach

down the slide with Kailey

The 2011 Harrison Mens Basketball Team

2011-03-31T01:35:00.000-07:00

And if you think these guys look tough, wait until another diaper dandy arrives in a few months.

New Orleans

2011-02-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

This past week we took a road trip to New Orleans, where Kristina had a conference. Among the highlights were the train ride (technically a streetcar, but considered a train in this family), the zoo, the aquarium, City Park, and some good eats! Also, we stopped at Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama on the drive there. Here are some photos.

Bellingrath was beautiful, and despite great weather we felt like we were the only people there. Which allowed us to participate in hijinks like this.

When we saw the "Great Lawn" at Bellingrath Luke was positive it was a golf course. Which was great, since he had his golf shirt and golf ball already! Too bad his silly parents didn't realize they were going to a golf course and left his club in the car. We tried to find a suitable stick to use as a club but no such luck, and we had to resort to a soccer-ish style of golf.

A relatively cute kid near the riverfront in New Orleans. He's excited because he did a very good job on his dinner and now we are on our way to get ice cream!

But first we had to check out this very tall basketball player. Couldn't figure out what basket he was shooting at though.

Again on the riverfront, with the morning fog.

City Park had a story-land with scenes from Peter Pan, The Three Little Pigs and others. We're not sure what story the fire truck was from but fun to drive nevertheless.

Yeah, that's a Duke shirt and a Duke hat, and we are pretty happy about it. Attaboy!

January Extremes

2011-01-31T19:41:00.000-08:00

Earlier in January, Atlanta was shut down for nearly a week after a snow/ice storm, but warmed up to 70 degrees this past weekend.

Belated Christmas Post

2011-01-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

We haven't completely forgotten how to make a blog post. Here are some belated pictures from Christmas. Grammie and Gramp came down from Vermont, and Santa was very good to Luke. Took days to open all of the presents!

guess who most of the presents were for!

Luke throws one down on his new hoop

getting the hang of opening presents with Mom

with Grammie and Gramp and the ever present golf ball

Ben & Luke on the green that Ben made (for Luke, of course) that now sits in Ben's office

in the Mickey ball pit tent! Note the static electricity!

On the beautiful rocking horse that Grandpa made. You can really giddyup on the hardwood floor!

Ella

2010-11-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

So back in September when Luke was naming his friends from school to Aunt Robin and Pseudo Uncle Dana, we started prompting him with the names after the initial two (always "Kaki" and "Big Jack" in one order or the other). When they got to Ella, he broke into a big smile and said "ELLLLLLLLAAAAAAA!" So we've teased him about this once or twice but didn't really hear anything more about it until one day Kristina sent out an email to the class parents (K and B are co room representatives!) and got a response from Ella's mom. Her email had a PS saying "By the way, I just have to let you know, whenever we ask Ella to name her friends from school she always says Luke's name first. We'll ask her about her day at school and she'll respond with something like 'Fun Luke! Play Luke!'. I talked to the teacher the other day who told me Ella had been helping feed Luke his lunch and had been chasing him through the tunnel outside!"

Now, we knew he was a womanizer when it comes to little old ladies (LOLs), as they just melt in his lap on a regular basis, but he is apparently the Dogwood Toddler class charmer as well. The other day Ella was out and so he was "in the tree" (outside on the playground) with Olivia instead. Apparently, we've got quite the ladies' man. (Do you think he gets it from his Dad??)

The Hat (and our trip to NC)

2010-11-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

What, did you think we were going to reference this blue hat with tassles and not give a picture? Here are a few from our trip to Sapphire Valley, NC last weekend. It was a bit chilly (notice the snow in the last photo) but we managed to do some hiking, shoot some hoops, and play mini golf. Thanks to Grandpa and Cathy for letting us use the time share (and for leaving balloons!).

The BoyCow

2010-11-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

For Halloween, Luke was a cowboy, or as he would pronouce it, a boy-cow. Make that a hatless boycow, as unless the hat in question is blue fleece with tassles and a velcro chin strap, we aren't wearing it. No sir, no way. Luke did have fun though, and trick or treated at about 10 different houses. He even said "trick or treat" at two of them. Here are some photos.

Who wouldn't give this kid candy?

Still Choppin'

2010-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

The Braves season ended long ago, but we kept doing the tomahawk chop right through the World Series and to today. We break it out most frequently when there are sports, any sports, on TV, which does happen occasionally in this house. Doesn't even matter whether we have our pants on.

Sophisticated Speech

2010-09-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

So Luke's list of words is growing (everything is no longer a "ball") and we thought you might be interested in knowing some of his favorite vocabulary -

cracker ("crack-a")
apple ("ap-pa")
banana ("na-na")
Grey girl ("gay gu")
Frank ("k")
Mickey (as in mouse) ("ickey")
Hop on Pop (as in the Dr. Seuss book title) ("Pop pop pop")
poopie (this one speaks for itself) ("poo-pee" with a point to the diaper)
blue ("booooo")
purple ("puh-pul")
yellow ("nell-ow")
dog ("goad" - he must be dyslexic)
big (as in big dog or big ball)
baseball
basketball (he knows lots of variations on ball)
balloon ("boooon")
Elmo, Abby, Ernie and Bert ("Beet") - think sesame street
ball pit (again, notice the ball theme)
goat ("go")
cow ("ca")
all done ("all daa")

what a fun little toddler-man!

OIB

2010-09-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day, we met Aunt Robin and Pseudo Uncle Dana at Ocean Isle Beach, NC. We had a great time beaching, swimming, golfing, outlet shopping and hanging out. Here are some photos!

Luke would like to warn everyone that the last hole at the OIB mini golf course eats golf balls. It doesn't matter how far you can stick your hand down the hole, you won't be able to recover it. He tried. This is very very upsetting. It is really fortunate that there is an ice cream shop across the street to cheer one up after such a traumatic event.

The Big Camping Trip

2010-08-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Ben for his 30th birthday decided that the family should go camping. So we loaded up the car, and drove up to a gorgeous campsite right on Lake Chatuge at the Georgia-North Carolina border. The lake was literally 10 feet from the front door of the tent, which was a bit closer than desired given the lake's magnetic pull on young Luke. But alas, it was not the magnet that did us in, it was the weather. Hot and sticky when we arrived and pitched the tent, we got pelted with an intense thunderstorm that first evening. The storm at first confined us to the car and then to McDonald's for dinner. It rained a few more times during the night, but the next morning brought a fresh start. Ben whipped up some pancakes and bacon, and we went out for a bike ride, at which time it started to rain again. When that stopped, and when we saw we had a two hour window before the thunderstorms resumed, we decided to abort and return home. The decision was clinched when a woman called out from the next site over "There's a snake in the water! There's a snake in the water!"

Ben and his helper

Luke and his mom in their camp chairs

"Hello Ducks!"

Yes, Mr. Brown and Mickey made the trip.

Before we got wind of the snake...

What you lookin' at?

2010-07-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

In case the naked toddler butt is distracting you, please don't forget to notice the sandals. As Luke will tell you, there is never a bad time for those sandals.

Can't wait to show this one to his future girlfriends!

Summer Fun!

2010-07-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Go Braves! (Did you know they are leading the NL East?!)

Fourth of July Parade - The city of Decatur has a parade that all the kids/families can be in and it is sooo cute. All the people waiting for fireworks sit on the side of the road and cheer for kids and Luke just loved it. Then, we sat and watched the rest of the parade and he loved watching even more!

HOME RUN!!!! Walk around the block (look mom, no stroller!)

Florida Vacation

2010-06-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Way back in early May, we headed down to Florida for Joanna's wedding and stayed for a week, tacking on some time at the beach and a few days at Walt Disney World. Luke really enjoyed the beach, knocking down the sandcastles his father would build, scaring the bejesus out of his mom with a toy crab, and crawling around in all that sand. He wasn't quite as sure about the actual ocean. On the way to Disney, we stopped at the Clearwater Aquarium where we took in a Dolphin show and saw Winter, a dolphin with a prosthetic tail. And, then there was Disney. Luke really enjoyed the pools and water play areas at the resort, and he went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. His least favorite part of the whole experience was meeting Mickey and Minnie. One of his parents thought they would be pretty impressed by him in his mouse ears hat, but he was not in favor of putting it on right then, and expressed that to everyone around. Oh, well. He did also have the chance to meet up with Rafiki and Jiminy Cricket, and a few friends stopped to say hello during the parade, and he enjoyed those greetings much more.

His favorite rides and attractions at Disney were:

8-10. Small World, Peter Pan, Tea Cups
7. the flower and plant show going on at Epcot which included tunnels and playgrounds for tikes like Luke.
6. the Buzz Lightyear ride. He really enjoyed this the first time, but then zonked out on it the second time, lowering its rating.
5. Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride (too bad they make you wait so long to take off though!)
4. the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. Especially great was the big warthog who was located near our seats, Luke flashed him the peace sign several times during the performance.
3. Jungle Cruise at Animal Kingdom (this cruise really made him dance for some reason)
2. the Parade at Magic Kingdom. Luke sat in his stroller in the front row during the parade, and several characters greeted him personally on their way by, including Chip or Dale (the one with the brown nose), the genie from Aladdin, and Stitch (though Luke ignored him, so Kristina shook his hand instead).
1. The People Mover at Magic Kingdom (yes, this is basically a cart on a conveyer belt, not exactly death defying, but tons of fun nevertheless)

Photos!

with Owen

being a little silly

with Peter Pan and Captain Hook topiaries, Epcot

The People Mover!!!!

Parade..

Peace, Mickey!!

like we said, the parade was a highlight

Rafiki!

Blog Update

2010-06-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

So... it has been a little while since our last post. If we have any loyal followers left, we wanted to share a few updates.

Luke's first word was "Ball", except it sounds a little more like "Bul". He's also quite talented at "uh oh" and "bye bye".

Luke went to his second Braves game. The Braves won in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off hit by rookie Jason Heyward! Of course, Luke and his parents were gone by then, but it was still quite a bit of fun.

Luke graduated at the end of May from the infant village at his school, and after a week of "summer vacation" started June 7th in the toddler one village. You know he's a big kid when the school asks him to store in his cubby there a bathing suit and a toothbrush, and when his diaper changing room has a tot-sized pot, for practicing that transition. The first day at school, he went over to the toy kitchen, picked up the toy vegetables, and threw those veggies on the ground. Some things don't change quite as quickly.

Luke maybe has started to master the art of petting Frank gently. We say maybe because Frank's not totally sure he's got it down, and Grey still won't let Luke anywhere near her.

For those of you who watched Luke's epic "One Shining Moment", his basketball skills have continued to improve. One day he stood in his tree house a good 4 feet away from his Duke hoop, and swished the shot from there. His father whooped like it was a Brian Zoubek three-pointer. Sadly, no video of the swish or the whooping.

Oh, and after thousands of miles pushing his train around, Luke started walking all by himself. He began on Memorial Day. He was intially a little camera shy in showing off his ability, but you can get the idea of some early steps from the clip below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1cuRVZVnds

And, here's a photo on his first day of toddler-one school.

This sure beats Jennifer Hudson's version

2010-04-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

This production was all Ben. Another fairly long one, but worth it according to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtHUTIlJUSs

The Masters

2010-04-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

Guess what these two were doing last Sunday?

Happy Birthday Luke!

2010-04-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

Luke's first taste of cake! Warning: this is a long one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXrPKqPzywY

GO DUKE!

2010-04-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

2010 National Champs!

Must have been the helmet...

Opening Day (+1)

2010-04-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

So we visited Turner Field during their open house a couple weekends ago and Luke begged us to wear all his Braves gear for the occasion. He got to run the bases with his Dad and we took a dugout tour as well. Later, we saw the actual locker room where Chipper Jones goes after games and we literally peed our pants. At least, one of us did. And he leaked it all over his mom's shirt as well. Good thing they had cheap t-shirts for sale...

The Tournament

2010-03-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

Luke celebrated his first March Madness this year by submitting his picks to the Harrison Family pool. We decided to use his stuffed animal collection to help with the making of the picks, though sadly we are heavy on elephants, hippos and monkeys, and light on Jayhawks, Demon Deacons, and Huskies (at least there's only one set of Huskies this year). He seemed to especially favor the little lion we called the closest thing to a wildcat, as he has both Kentucky and Villanova in the Final Four. Once they were both there, we allowed our two wild cats to play the part of the respective Wildcats. Luke went with Frank and Kentucky. As you can see from the below clip, Luke put a great deal of thought into each pick. In an effort to help him complete the picks on time, we advanced the top 4 seeds in each region to the sweet 16 for him. He picked all of the remaining first round games, and all of the games from the sweet 16 on. After day 1, he's tied for the most correct in the pool, and he's beating his father by 3 games.
Go Duke!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_oMrroB7hU

Too Bad Aunt Robin wasn't Here

2010-03-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

So last week while his father was giving him a bath, Luke apparently decided he needed to go poopie right then and there. He pulled himself up on the side of the tub and began grunting. Neat.

Ben started yelling for Kristina with some vigor, and by the time she made it into the bathroom she could barely contain her laughter at the situation. Luke was not fazed and even tried to play with some of the new bath "toys" floating around! Luke was therefore removed from the situation and after a brief fishing expedition on Kristina's part, they then started the bath all over with new bath water and a clean tub.

Sorry, no pictures to share for this post.

Mr. Luke goes to Washington

2010-03-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Luke and his parents went to Washington a few weeks ago, and he saw the sights as well as his Aunt Robin and Pseudo-Uncle Dana (P. U. Dana). Rather, he was present some of the sights - at others he was busy catching up on his sleep. Here are some photos.

with PUD

perhaps not a future politician

Air & Space Museum

DINOSAURS!

Stripes

2010-02-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

See if you can find Luke in the below shot! Hint: he's wearing his camo.

Ready for the 500

2010-02-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

As you can see below, Luke has been working on his car in preparation for the 500. He's ready!

White Stuff

2010-02-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

Along with every other state aside from Hawaii, Georgia got some snow yesterday. Luke enjoyed taking his sled outside to the real snow, and we took a wagon ride through the already half-melted neighborhood today.

Tunneling

2010-02-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

A brief clip of Luke going tunneling in the living room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs7Z44lhypg

And, the stats from last week's 9 month but really closer to 10 month checkup: 20 lbs 15 oz and 29 inches.

Krispy Kreme

2010-01-25T18:05:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights of this past month was introducing Luke to one of the finer things in life, a fresh hot glazed donut at Krispy Kreme.

with his Grammie

mmmmm good!

NASCAR Training

2010-01-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

With the Daytona 500 only a few weeks away, Luke and his mother have been training. As you can see, they still have a few things to work on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbNCMus-YBc

Christmas Morning

2010-01-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

The three of us spent our first Christmas together at home. Santa and many others were very generous to all of us, and it took quite a while to unwrap all of the presents! As you can see, that left quite a pile of wrapping paper.

The Stockings were Hung by the Chimney...

2010-01-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

without a whole lot of care, as you can see from the below picture. Eventually the stocking did get hung and Santa was able to fill it!

O Tannenbaum

2009-12-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

We decided to start a new tradition this year and go to the Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our very own xmas tree! Luke's favorite part was the hayride that picked us up with our tree to take us back to our car.

Ben & Luke with our new white pine

Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T18:08:00.000-08:00

We had our friends Jeni and TJ over for Thanksgiving, and Luke feasted on Turkey, Green Beans, and Sweet Potatoes!

A Showstopper

2009-12-03T18:06:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Kristina turned the big three-oh, and the family went to Disney World to celebrate. It was Luke, however, who really made a name for himself down there.

Upon arrival, the trio headed to Downtown Disney, where they had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Sure puts eating in the kitchen at home to shame, with all of the animitronic elephants and gorillas and thunder and rain. Then, B&K did what a lot of other parents do while at Disney World, they bought young Luke a "mouse ears" hat. But they were not prepared for what would happen when they put the hat on. It was a showstopper. Scores of people gawked and gushed and told their friends to gawk and gush. It was as if they had never seen a child in a mouse-ears hat before. Disney employees, who presumably had seen one or two, were just as excited. One woman pointed out Luke to her entire travelling group, and said "Just wait until he turns his head". To which of course he did, starting a new round of gushing. Luke has always enjoyed the attentions of the little old ladies everywhere from the supermarket to FDR's house, but this was something else.

A Helmet

2009-12-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

As many of you are aware, young Luke has plagiocephaly, meaning one side of his head is a little flatter than the other. The doctors have recommended that a helmet be worn for some length of time, hopefully not exceeding a few months, to promote growth in the desired areas and round things out. Luke got his helmet last week, and his parents dressed it up a bit for him, though apparently they could have picked a more recognizable team. This past weekend, one guy thought the "D" stood for Dallas Cowboys, while another woman thought it was an Auburn football helmet. Seriously, Auburn?

yes, the kid will be allowed to pick which team to root for

practicing his fumble recovery skills by going after the remote

North Carolina

2009-11-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

After Halloween, we went up to Dave & Cathy's timeshare in the North Carolina mountains for a couple days, with KK&M. We enjoyed some foliage, mini-golf, and a BIG hike around the lake.

Uncle Ben with Madison and Kailey, hiking around the lake

Later on, as they try to get the pine sap off their butts, Ben and Luke will wish they hadn't sat right here

Halloween!

2009-11-14T06:38:00.000-08:00

Mom and babe

Have you ever seen a cuter pumpkin?

two of a kind

Sometimes he can be fairly cute

2009-10-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

And the winner is...

2009-10-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

Sara, with her guess of 18 lbs. The actual weight was 18 lbs, 15 oz. Height 26 3/4 inches.

So congratulations to Sara, may you enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you were tops on the inaugural poll of Luke's blog. It is a title that no one can ever take away from you. At the other end of the spectrum were Luke's aunts, particularly the one in Florida. 25 lbs or more? Geez. He's been called chunky, but he's a baby boy, not a baby elephant!

Lesson #47 on what Big Boys Do

2009-10-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

As taught by Luke to his parents, Big Boys do not just ride around in their baby stroller in Publix. They sit up in the shopping cart seat, legs dangling out the leg holes.

Additionally, Big Boys have teeth!

A few video clips of recent activity, one of Luke displaying his "ups" on the jumper, and one of him enjoying the card his Grandpa and Cathy gave him for his 6 month birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THxOt89WIgU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhZFqJqeF70

The North Georgia State Fair

2009-10-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

As our frequent readers will know, we were eagerly anticipating the North Georgia State Fair this past weekend. The weather was great, and we did have a good deal of fun. Truth be told, the elephant show was a bit of a let-down, as there was only one elephant. His name was Dumbo. How do you play a basketball game with only one elephant, you might ask. Well, yeah, it was 1 on 0. Dumbo won, dunking it twice.

The much more impressive basketball feat of the day was Ben draining two shots in a row to win Luke a big stuffed dog.

waiting for the elephant show

Dumbo the elephant

Dumbo 2, Opponents 0

Hello Mr and Mrs Bunny Rabbit

Look what we won!

Durham

2009-10-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

We wanted to belatedly post a few pictures of our Labor Day weekend in Durham, where we introduced Luke to Duke, Duke Football and several Duke friends. As for the football, on Duke’s first possession, they had their punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, and things didn’t improve thereafter. But the rest of the weekend was great! Special thanks to Kyle, Stacey and Grant for letting us stay with them!

And of course the trip up I-85 through Charlotte would not have been complete without stopping at the Hendrick Motorsports Headquarters and Museum, home of Jeff Gordon’s and Dale Jr’s race teams.

Tailgating before the big game

two handsome Duke fans

with Grant and his parents

for a pediatrician this guy isn’t bad!

indulging his mother in front of the Jeff Gordon car

Poll

2009-10-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

The blog administrator apologizes for the recent difficulties voting on the poll to the right. The problem has been fixed, we think. Anyway, vote away! We already filled in the votes of the two godmothers.

If you'd like everyone to know what a good (or awful) guesser you are, you will still need to post a comment with your name and guess.

Visit #5 (or 6?) to the Zoo

2009-10-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

We are getting our money’s worth out of our Zoo membership. The rain finally stopped for a day last weekend and we went to see our animal friends. It’s been fun to watch the progression of Luke at the Zoo, from being unaware of/indifferent to the animals (and mostly asleep in the stroller) to being much more interested in them (though they are still less interesting than the other kids at the zoo). We also went to the petting portion this time, where he found the goats, sheep and pigs were more receptive to his grab-and-pull style petting than Frank and Grey. Still working on the “be gentle” thing.

with Mom and the goat

Luke with three tall friends

what a handsome lion cub!

Goings on

2009-10-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

Luke is still rolling around, though he apparently likes showing off this trick far more often at school than at home. He’s having a bowl of rice cereal every morning, and doing very well with that. By far most of it is making it in the mouth, down the tube, to the tummy, as opposed to stopping at the chin/cheek/bib etc. And, he’s starting to put consonants and vowels together in his speech, for example he is quite good at the Beach Boys’ song “Barbara Ann” (the “Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba” part). Slowly working on the rest of the song.

This weekend we are going to the North Georgia State Fair, where we hope to see the world famous basketball playing elephants. Tough to tell whether Luke or his mother is more excited about that.

Chunky Delicious

2009-10-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Walmart, Luke and his father were approached by a pregnant lady who gushed to Dad, “Oh, isn’t he Delicious!” When Dad didn’t respond (what are you supposed to say to that—yep, with a little ketchup he sure is tasty?), the lady continued with “Oh, I hope my baby is chunky like he is”. Luke was tempted to fire back with something about how she was looking a little chunky herself but gave her a pass since she was pregnant.

Wanted to post a couple of pictures of our little Chunky Delicious, from yesterday afternoon.

Sure is fun to crinkle up leaves and pull up the grass!

Let me hold the camera, Dad! I want to see how it tastes!

Hey Mom, Look at Me!

2009-09-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Big Luke is now 5 mths old and he is busy. He is going to school 5 days a week, entertaining his parents, traveling all over the East Coast and reading tons of books. And although his parents used to be able to just tote him around in his carrier or his carseat, he no longer tolerates this. He is a civilized young man now - he sits up by himself and he eats from a spoon. He does not do either well...but he sure does enjoy trying!

Enjoy the pictures from Luke's recent milestones

Loving the high chair

Probably more food on his face than in his tummy

the face of a baby experiencing (flavorful!) rice cereal for the first time

Playing ball

Playing bigger ball

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

2009-09-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

We sure are.

Vacation Photos

2009-09-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

"happy to be on vacation!"

checking things out with Mom

"as you can see I dressed for the occasion"

view from our porch

fun in the pool with Mom

Madison, Kailey, and Kara in downtown Beaufort, SC

Like Father, Like Son on the river cruise

cruising with Mom, and pretty happy about it

walking the boardwalk with Mom, look out for those crabs below!

These crabs!

"Good thing this hat has dinosaurs on it, otherwise it'd be a bit dorky"

Believe it or not, there is a baby in there

Fun in the Backyard

2009-09-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

"You looking at ME?"

"Dad are you sure about this?"

"Yippee this IS fun!"

the big yawn

on the swing

"Higher, Dad, Higher!"

August and Everything After

2009-09-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

We wanted to update y'all on the events of the past month, which has been a busy one! Luke continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and measured in at 16lbs 12oz and 25 1/2 inches at his 4 month physical, August 10th. No wonder the carrier with him in it is getting so heavy. He's also learned how to roll over from back to front, though he's apparently also figured out that if he does roll over he's stuck on his tummy; consequently he's pretty much lost interest in performing the trick.

Early in the month, Grandpa and Cathy came up for a weekend, and the highlight was clearly going around the art museum with Grandpa. We were concerned going in that we might be a bit noisier than the average patron, and figured that if we started getting upset one of us would have to forego Monet and his water lillies. We did not anticipate that the noise we'd be making would be squeals of excitement as Grandpa pushed our little art buff around.

Then, right after Kristina's boards, we rented a house on Fripp Island, SC. We met Kara, Kailey and Madison there and took advantage of the many island amenities-- the beach, the pools, the seafood, the boardwalks and nature trails, boating, the golf, the golf-carting, and gorgeous sunsets and wildlife from the porch. Luke especially enjoyed the walks and the golf cart, and did also enjoy some time in the pool and getting his feet wet in the ocean. He did not wish to go too far out there for fear of getting stung by a jellyfish like his father.

Alas, the summer is coming to an end, as Kristina started her new job today. We do have one final trip planned this weekend, up to Durham to reunite with college friends and take Luke to his first Duke game outside the womb, albeit a Duke football game. Go DUKE!

A Week of Firsts

2009-08-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

This past week featured a couple of "firsts" for young Luke. Last weekend, Luke had his first plane ride with a flight up to Boston, where we met up with Luke's great-grandma, then had lobster rolls with Great Aunts Fran and Barb, Great Uncles Bill and Hank, and Ben's cousin Father Tim. We then journeyed up to Vermont, which made for a long but relatively smooth day. Highlights in Vermont included a hike with Grammie and Gramp, counting the cows with Grammie, and a "night off" for Ben and Kristina as they went up to Stowe, leaving Luke with the babysitters (also a first).

After returning to Atlanta, the trio went to Luke's very first baseball game this afternoon! And the Braves won! Luke was impressed with all of the people at the game, though he wished the cheering wasn't quite as loud and as sudden when the Braves did something good.

Luke meets his extended family

Hiking with Gramp

"The game is going on. It's not picture time!"

"You guys couldn't iron my hat before the big game?"

Recent fun times

2009-07-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today, at the Botanical Garden

Playing at the park

Tummy to tummy time

Mom and babe

Hard at work

Luke showing off his pecs

Hello Lord, I'm Luke!

2009-07-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

We all traveled down to Florida for Luke's Baptism, which took place on July 12. Many stories could be told about this trip. I could talk about our 8+ hour car trip with a 3 month old. Or, I could talk about Luke's WAILING during his entire Baptism proceedings. But instead, I will just let you know that we enjoyed our visit and are very glad that he is officially part of God's family. It was a very special day with both families in attendance and officiated by Pastor Hoyer, K's family's very close friend and Pastor.

What a wonderful day to remind us of how blessed we truly are.

Talk About Fun!!!!

2009-06-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the fun we had tonight during our Sunday evening bath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ4n9NMx7mw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5AW5bxr4HA

Father's Day

2009-06-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

This past weekend marked B's first Father's Day. And, as an added treat, it coincided with one of K's 4 days off of the month. So we headed off to Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast, and then to go on Luke's first hike. We went early to avoid the 97 degree highs that have been the norm lately in Atlanta. We made it quite a ways before we got real hot and cranky, about 3 and half miles total. Then, we had the perfect afternoon after such a morning-- a nap on the couch, as we half watched the US Open.

Hiking is Tiring!

The family photo

Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

Luke at 10 weeks

2009-06-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the zoo (he brought his own lion)

"Oh, Grandma!!!!"

Tummy time

Tummy time watching the U.S. Open

Catching Up

2009-06-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

As our more frequent visitors have probably noticed, it's been a while since we made a post. K has gone back to work, for her final month-plus of residency. Unfortunately, the month of June has meant a rotation in the ICU, with 30 hour shifts and very few days off. But, we've been able to recruit Luke's grandmothers and aunts to help out with this month, in week-long stints. And the help has been great!

Luke is regularly sleeping through the night, and his parents couldn't feel more lucky to have such a great son. He is a professional tummy time athlete now and his smiles and little baby laughs will just melt your heart. He still really enjoys his walks around the neighborhood, playing with his friend Errol the butterfly who lives in his playgym and reading his favorite library books.

Luke's 2 month pediatrician visit clocked him at 23 1/2 inches and 12 pounds 11 ounces. His height is 75-90th percentile (apparently he got lucky and is taking after his Dad in this regard) and his weight is 75th percentile. Luke got FIVE shots plus one oral vaccine at this visit and Dad said Mom had to take him to the next doctor's appt because he didn't want to hold his hand and see his sad face again after so many shots!

Splish Splash

2009-05-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Splish Splash I was takin' a bath

Long about a Tuesday night, yeah

Rub-a-dub, just relaxin' in the tub

Thinkin' everything was alright...

Mommy goes back to work

2009-05-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

K has been dreading this day since she arrived home with Luke 6 short weeks ago - the day she has to return to work. They've done lots of planning and have tons of help from family to care for him over the next month, so he will be well taken care of. BUT - nothing can really prepare K for being away from him every day after having spent EVERY day with him for the last 6+ weeks.

She actually got a taste of "being away" last night when she went to a dinner with some girlfriends. It was the first time she was not at home to put baby Luke to sleep. Although she was glad he was such a little angel (he went to bed promptly at 8:00 on the dot after a nice calm bath), she couldn't help but be a little hurt that things went so smoothly without Mommy's presence. I guess it was just her first lesson of many in learning to watch her baby grow, change, and learn not to need his mommy.

After all the angst and worry, the first day back at work was just fine. She actually only worked a half day today so she was there for a couple morning feedings and a nice walk around the neighborhood. She is still dreading next week though, when she has to start her month in the ICU and stay overnight at the hospital every 4th night...For now, she will just enjoy her time with baby Luke and give him as many kisses as possible when she is home.

Playland extraordinaire

That little ladybug is toast!

It sure is tough leaving this little dude

The Zoo

2009-05-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

Aunt Robin came in last night to help us out this week as Kristina goes back to work; yes, tomorrow is the big day. On her last day of maternity leave we decided to go to the Atlanta Zoo. Not only that, but we became zoo members. Today Luke didn't find the zoo to be all that exciting, as you can see from the below pictures, but we'll likely see the animals plenty of times again over the next year.

In the bird/monkey house

With Aunt Robin and the Orangutan

the baby elephant, sponsored by the Real Yellow Pages

Happy Handsome Baby Boy Harrison

2009-05-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Great Uncle Bob Visits

2009-05-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Luke was delighted last week to meet his Great Uncle Bob, who drove up from The Villages, FL to see us. Poor GUB came up the night of the American Idol finale, which is one of Luke's favorites from way back when he was in the womb. True story, Luke used to get pretty excited and kick a good amount (dance?) whenever Adam Lambert sang, well before he came out into the world. Anyway, we four watched American Idol and had ice cream sundaes when we weren't entertaining and being entertained by young Luke. GUB wanted the record to show, despite what you may have read on this blog, that young Luke isn't always a little angel, and in fact the evening of his visit Luke was particularly fussy. GUB also wanted the record to show that he was adept at soothing Mr. Luke, which was true on one occasion, but as the pictures below show, not always the case.

in the backyard oasis

GUB successfully soothes Luke

not quite as successful here....

My Boys (aka "backyard oasis")

2009-05-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, when K and B were just about to move into their new home, they celebrated their 2nd anniversary. K thought it would be a wonderful gift to get him a hammock for his new backyard. But, there were so many options - rope, fabric, a stand, no stand... - so she decided to give him an IOU so he could pick it out himself. That was 3 years ago...

With visions of he and his son napping in the warm Georgia sun on Sunday afternoons, Ben decided it was time to finally cash in on his gift. All the parts finally arrived last week and it was installed over the weekend. My boys christened the new hammock this past weekend. Ben now affectionately calls this area his "backyard oasis."

Dad, wake up, it's time for the Braves game!

Can't think of any better place to nap!

A weekend to celebrate

2009-05-16T13:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was filled with reasons to celebrate! Saturday was Luke's 1 month birthday (can you believe it?!) and Sunday was Kristina's first Mother's day. We had special visitors in town for the weekend - K's sister, nieces and Mom - so it was extra special because there were 3 moms to celebrate mom's day together. Luke and Ben sent Kristina a beautiful bouquet of flowers and Luke gave his Mommy 2 pictures for her office at work (for those of you wondering - "she has a office? " - well, no, not yet, but she will in september!), one of he and Mommy only minutes after he was born and one of him looking quite handsome in his green polo shirt outfit. We all had lots of fun celebrating and it was good to have extra little hands to help take care of the baby! B & K also got to have a dinner out alone while Gma, Auntie Kara, Kailey and Madison babysat - what a treat!

Lots of little helpers to take care of Luke

Luke can't get enough of his Gma!

Mommy and Luke on their first Mother's Day. He is wearing his "Mommy's little king" outfit because he had already peed through his "I love Mommy and Mommy loves me" outfit. It will only be a few more years before he refuses to wear anything that says "mommy" so we'll take advantage while we can.

Happy parents and their super cute 1 month old. As you can tell, Luke is a party animal.

Last Night

2009-05-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, on the eve of his one month birthday, young Luke David Harrison went to bed at about 11pm. It was Kristina's night to handle the middle of the night feedings/soothings/diaper changings. So at about 7am Ben woke up and turned to Kristina and asked, "How many times last night? Once?" For once had been the pattern recently, something we were well pleased about. Kristina however shook her head. Ben groaned and said, "Twice? Three times?" Again Kristina shook her head. It then dawned on Ben that little Luke slept all the way through the night, for the very first time.

By the way, for those keeping score at home, Little Luke isn't quite as little anymore. He matches up quite well with the 24 inch long caterpillar toy in length, and his father weighs 10.4 more pounds when he's carrying Luke, than he does when he's not.

Visitors

2009-05-07T10:55:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Grammie and Gramp came to visit, and yesterday Great Granny and Great Grampy stopped through on their way north for the Summer. Luke put on quite a show for the great grandparents in particular, as for just about their entire visit, he was awake, alert and CALM. We believe the GG's got back in the car thinking, that is the best baby in history. And he might well be, no quibbles here, but starting when that car took off, the CALM went with them, and Ben and Kristina had their hands full for the rest of the day. Additionally, that nice outfit with the overalls that Luke picked for the occasion of meeting the GGs didn't last long once they left.

Grey found that the best aspect of having visitors was getting a little extra attention from Ben and Kristina, while someone else was minding Luke.