"Living the American Dream"

We are now homeowners!!! It really hasn't hit us yet even though we had to sign a million papers yesterday! This is it. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage and a large back yard. We are really excited and ready to move in. We have to be out of our apartment in one month so we can move slowly which will be nice. Hope you guys like the house.

Fall Pictures

My Personal Favorite (above)

You just can't deny his cuteness!!!

Derrick was out of town yesterday afternoon through tonight. So, Harrison and I decided to go to the park yesterday afternoon because the weather was very nice and it is about to get cool and stay that way. So, we went and I took some pictures of him in the leaves. Most of them turned out very cute. He wouldn't smile for me at all which is not like him. (Poor thing, he knows what a camera is and he knows what to do in front of it.) He kept playing with the leaves and making a grunting noise....he was so excited to be playing with something new. He tried to eat the leaves and the sticks but was unsuccessful because mean ol' mommy kept taking them away. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Hopefully in the next few days we will go out again (or stay in) and do some more of him along with some pictures of him in his Halloween outfit again. Stay tuned...

The Spoiling Begins...and Will Never End

Like I said before, we traveled a some and were visited by both of our families. Holly's mom came and spent two weeks with us. Holly's brother, his girlfriend and her sister came for a weekend as well. We traveled to Munford to see Derrick's parents one weekend and they came up the next weekend to see Harrison dress up for a TREK OR TREAT party after church services on Sunday night. (I promise to put up more pics of Harrison and us after some more are taken in his outfit.) He was the cutest horse there!!! We had fun with all the family but are equally glad things are back to normal around here. We won't be going anywhere until Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hope you all have a great holiday season.

Millions of Milestones

Harrison is doing great as are we. We have had lots of company and have traveled some as well this month. Harrison is now sitting up by himself (from a laying position), crawling (all over the place), saying lots of sounds, and into everything as you can see from the pictures above. He loves exploring his surroundings all over again due to his new freedom. Give him a laundry basket, a clotes hanger or a box and he is good to go for a while. Forget all the toys....these things are much more fun to play with. He is so fun to watch and we are loving every minute of his new beginnings.

A New Friend

A couple of weeks ago Holly's college roommate, Wendi and her husband Ben came for the weekend. They have a little boy (Campbell) who is 1 1/2 months older than Harrison. Harrison and Campbell had fun playing together. Harrison laughed at him all weekend. He has never really been around a child his age for a long period of time. He thought it was hilarious. Campbell had just started crawling before he came to our house and he was everywhere (even on Harrison). Harrison is starting to do a slow army crawl and gets to where he wants to get by army crawling or rolling. He is so funny to watch. Now that he is sitting up really well he hates to be on his back. He trys everything to get back up if he falls over. He will figure it out sooner or later. He is going to be everywhere when he really starts crawling. He is never still. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Harrison's Natural Mohawk...At The Park

Harrison's hair is naturally in a mohawk style. It sticks up no matter what we do to it. It is so cute. Only at this age is a mohawk cool looking :-). So, in the bathtub, like all good parents do, we made it wet and stick up and then took pictures of it so that one day we can make him laugh. We went to the park the other day and put him in the swing and as you can see had a great time. We did too just laughing with him.

Labor Day Weekend...In The Pool

How cute is his little crab float??? He has so much fun in the water. He is a little fish. He kicks and splashes and wants to swim across the pool. He just loves it. We had a good time playing in the pool during the weekend. We went swimming 3 times and loved every minute. We also had a great time visiting family and friends while in Munford.

Sitting Up...A Whole New World

Hey MOM!!!
Harrison is always reaching for something!!
Just chillin'
Smiling at Daddy:-)

Harrison is getting closer and closer to sitting up all by himself. He still needs a pillow or something soft behind him because he likes to kick his feet and fall backwards. I can't leave him all alone yet while sitting up for that simple reason. He also thinks that if he goes forward that he will crawl or move towards something he wants...oh, he does but he does it on his face. When he goes forward he slides to his face and turns over and smiles at you...like he really did do something amazing:-)...hilarious. He IS the cutest kid alive:-)...of course we are a little partial. This coming weekend we are going to Munford, AL to spend the weekend with Derrick's parents. We are excited to go and see people that we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with in the last 3 years. There will be lots of pool time this weekend so I am sure next week there will be some fun pics to look at. Stay tuned....

Some New Stuff

We have pretty much gotten unpacked and are settling in. Harrison devoured his first "biter bisquit". He had it all over him before it was all said and done. He is a great eater. The second pic is of him getting up on his knees and pushing...no work with the arms yet but it won't be long before he is moving all over the place. The third pic is Holly and Harrison at the fountain at a nearby outdoor mall. He loves the water so far. Loves his bath and the pool. The fourth pic is really for our family (and whoever else cares)...this is his new crib. He loves it. He loves his mobile especially and his aquarium that is on the rail. We have ordered his changing table and are awaiting the arrival. Our backs are killing us!! (For those of you who don't know we borrowed a crib and changing table while in Lubbock so that we didn't have to move it, so we had to order them once we moved.) Hope you all enjoy the pics.

New Beginnings

Hey Everyone!!! These pics are from the month of July. First of all, Harrison loves his daddy!!! His facial hair tickles him and he laughs everytime. Secondly, he has started juice from a sippy cup. He does pretty good with it. A lot of the time he just chews on it...he is hilarious. Anything that can get to his mouth gets there. In the second picture as well he is sporting his birthmark. It looks like water dripped on his chest and then it ran down...or so I think anyway. Thirdly, he is trying his best to sit up by himself. He teeters to all sides :-) and falls over. We are working on it. He is getting much better. It won't be long until he does it all by himself. Hope you all enjoy the pics. We are doing well. Just getting settled into our new home.

New Life in Madison, AL

Hey Everyone!! Sorry I haven't updated the blog lately...with moving we have been soooo busy (as you all know it can be crazy). We are finally starting to get settled in our new home. We are all doing well but still very busy finishing unpacking, Derrick getting ready for his classes this fall etc... I hope all is going well with everyone and their families. I promise to update the blog with news and pics next week.

Four Generations

Holly's granddaddy is Harrison's only living great-grandparent. So, while we were in Florida we made sure to take a "4 generation" picture of all of us. Harrison really liked great-granddaddy. He would just sit and look at and smile at great-granddaddy. I think great-granddaddy liked him a little as well.:-)

Fourth of July in Florida

We spent the 4th in Florida at Holly's parent's house. Her brother, sister and granddaddy had never met Harrison so we went for the weekend. This was Harrison's first time in the water. He liked the pool on Saturday but didn't like the 72 degree water of the Rainbow River on Monday. Hopefully next year he will like it better. Don't you think his swimming outfit is sooooo cute?:-)
Hope you all had a great 4th of July!!!!

ExerSaucer Fun...And His First Hat

We went and bought Harrison an ExerSaucer this past weekend. He likes it so far. When he gets bored with one side we turn him around. We don't think he really gets that it is a new toy...he still stares at it debating whether or not he likes it :-).

The hat he is wearing was one that "Grandma" (Holly's mom) bought him in Pennsylvania before he was ever born. We found it at Gymbore but thought that it would be a great Auburn hat...being orange and having a tiger on it...we thought it would be so cute. He seems to like it...he didn't take it off. Hopefully that is a good sign that he will like hats.

We are all doing good. We have one more month of being in Texas. We are starting to pack up the house. We are walking around boxes already but we are so excited to be moving back to Alabama. We will miss our friends that we have made here but we are excited to be moving back to the southeast and closer to family and friends we left 3 years ago.

Harrison has his first cold...so we are dealing with that today. If any of you with kids have any tricks up your sleeves, please let us in on the secrets. :-)

I Found My Feet...and Love Them!!!

Harrison has finally found his feet. We were worried he would never find them because he has short legs like Derrick:-) He has been looking at them for a long time but now pulls them up to touch them and play with them....It is so funny to watch him. He hasn't got them to his mouth yet but I know that will not be long because EVERYTHING goes into his mouth!!! We are also working with him to start sitting up. He does pretty good with a roll in his lap that he can lean over...after several seconds he begins to topple over. He keeps us laughing for sure.

Eating Cereal!!!!

WHERE IS MY BOTTLE????

I guess it isn't too bad...

Well, we gave Harrison cereal for the first time last night. He actually did really well after the first couple of minutes. He wasn't very happy at first. He swallowed most of it but also spit out some too. He was so funny to watch. Hope you enjoy the pics.

4 Month Doctor's Visit

Hey Everyone!!! Harrison had his 4 month Doctor visit yesterday. He had more shots :-( but he is doing well. He was a little fussy yesterday and probably will be a little this morning. He weighed 14 lbs. 14 oz. and was 24 1/2 inches long. That is average weight gain and average height. He is growing more everyday. It is amazing to watch the changes each week. He is rolling from his back up to his side and rolling from his stomach only when his arm is underneath him. He just can't figure out that his arm must be up or down by his side to roll over all the way. He is so funny to watch because he gets soooo mad. He is such a joy to have in our life. Every now and then we just look at each other and say "Wow, we have a kid." Funny stuff.

4 Month Portraits

Derrick and I decided to save a little money and take some pics of Harrison ourselves at home instead of going to a photographer in town. We have already spent a lot on pics for maternity photos and newborn pics...so we decided this would be the best option to save some money. We have taken tons of pics and have some really good pics to choose from. We are still not done taking pics but will finish this weekend...Harrison only cooperates for so long:-)

Dr. Derrick W. Smith

Derrick graduated on May 9th with a Doctorate in Special Education. IT IS FINALLY OVER!!! We are all so proud of him and very happy to be moving back to Alabama in August. He will be a professor at the Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville in the fall. We will be renting an apartment in Madison (a suburb of Huntsville) for 10 months while looking for a house to buy in the meantime.

Photos from April

Hey Everyone!! Sorry we haven't kept up with the blog!! Holly is now going to be working only part-time at her job so she is going to keep the blog going. So...here are some pics from April that we took of Harrison. He is growing soooo fast. At 3 months of age he was 23 3/4 inches long and weighed 12 lbs. 14 oz. He is getting so long that he is growing out of his newborn clothes just because of his length. Hope you all enjoy the pics.