Pictureless / Ode to Blogging

There will be no pictures on this post. Our camera has been stolen and I am so sad about it. It was stolen while I was flying home from my trip to SLC. This is particularly sad for a NUMBER of reasons, which I will now elaborate on.

1) We have a new baby! All of the pictures that I have taken of him in the past few weeks are now forever gone, which is the worst part of this whole thing. So those of you who wanted to see Harrison frolicking in the snow (including a picture of him dressed in a fuzzy bear suit and making a snow angel, no joke) will be suffering right along with me. I'm trying very hard not to think about all of the pictures of him that I will never see again.

2) I now hate and distrust people in general. Who steals from a women in an airport juggling a baby, a Boppy, a diaper bag, a coat, a sweatshirt, a burp rag, a car seat, a stroller and her boarding passes (while trying to put her shoes back on after coming through security). One answer may be: an opportunist. The more accurate answer is: a real jerk and scum-bag. My faith in people has been badly damaged by this incident. It was probably one of the people commenting on how darling Harrison was, who was actually planning right then how to pinch my camera!

3) I liked our camera. My dad commented on how nice our camera was just scant minutes before it was stolen. This comment and my swell of pride and contentment at his comment has been replaying in my mind over and over. I just didn't know how lucky I was then, or that someone would soon be taking that pride and contentment away with their stealing little fingers.

4) I had just taken pictures of my sister Jamie's bangs (which are SO cute) so that I could get my bangs adjusted accordingly. Now I have to walk around with a much less attractive set of bangs, as I have no picture to reference for my bang improvements.

5) In a related note, none of you will get to see a picture of my new bangs, or the VERY funny post that was going to accompany it. (This post was going to include a list of comments not to make about someone's new haircut, all of which were made to me by various members of my family after seeing my new 'do.)

6) I will be hard-pressed to find things to blog about, as pictures of Harrison has been the majority of my recent blogging. I'll try to seek out more interesting life experiences so I have something to write about. (Or I can just post painfully detailed descriptions of what Harrison looks like, since I won't have any pictures for the time being...)

7) Who has money to shell out on a new camera, when our perfectly wonderful camera is out there in the hands of some thieving individual?!

Silver lining and part two of this post - I'm SO glad that I posted some of the pictures from our trip for Byron to see, as they are now the only pictures of the trip that I have!! (read between the lines family members - please share any pics with me that you took in the last couple of weeks!!)

Byron has encouraged me to stop obsessing about the camera being gone. I think this blog has helped with that. Catharsis!

Hello Dad!!

Byron was nice enough to let Harrison and I spend a couple of weeks in Utah with my family, while he stayed in California. We miss him a lot and I know he is anxious to see pics of his baby, so this is a quick blog to keep him updated on what his family is up to!!

Harrison was able to take his first plane ride!! I was a little nervous about how it would go, since I've had to fly with a baby alone before for work and it was VERY hard. But as you can see below, Harrison was a little angel on the plane (other than a couple of things that I will be too polite to mention in the blog...)

We had a great flight!!


It has been so fun for Harrison to spend time with my family a little bit. My sister Lisa came down from Portland at the last minute with her two boys when she heard I was coming, so Harrison is getting to know his cousins.

Asher and Ollie are really really cute, it is making me so excited for Harrison to grow up!! Harrison is only three and a half pounds lighter than his cousin Ollie, who just turned one!! This is a picture of the cousins, exhausted after a day of fun together!

Harrison has spent more time with his aunts and uncles, but I have not documented it well. Here he is with rock star Kendra who discovered that stroking his nose on either side causes him to lift that particular nostril in a look of disgust. It is adorable, but not yet photo documented. Way to go aunt Kendra!! (Strangely, he won't do it when I stroke his nose, so I'm guessing it's not ME that he's disgusted by...)


Also - I apologize for this picture, Kendra. I KNOW it doesn't do you justice, as you were even more stunning in some of the others that I took. But this one does make Harrison look the best, so there you have it!!

Here is Harrison with his Aunt Renee. He spent the day with the BYU student members of his family in Provo. He did seem very comfortable in that environment, and so far he has no problem with living the Honor Code, so we'll see...



I never realized just how chubby his cheeks are until I saw this picture. Way to go little Chipmunk!!

This is Harrison at a low-key family dinner, which is a pretty rambunctious event. He slept right through the whole thing. The chair he is sitting in is a family heirloom - ALL of the twelve children in our family have used that chair as infants!!!

Sadly, Harrison does not always sleep so soundly at night. So, I saw a side of myself on this trip that I did not know existed. My poor family fell victim to my wrath night after night as I shushed them mercilessly from 7:30 pm on, in hopes that Harrison would not wake up. I hated myself even as a did it, knowing that I have always been one of the loudest Harrison's myself (and that is saying a lot.) Please forgive me family!! Not only for the shushing, but also for the countless times in the past when I scoffed at your shushing and woke your children!!

Back to Harrison. This was a trip of firsts for him, as he also got to experience snow for the first time. (On a side note, I am SO glad I live in California. I have been freezing since I got here and the majority of my fluid intake has been hot chocolate.)

I didn't think to bring a winter hat for Harrison (nor do we actually own one), so my remarkably resourceful mom had one on hand that she had made. It fit him perfectly and saved him from freezing!! The one upside of the cold weather is that Harrison looked so adorable!!




Ready to face the elements (with a big blanket, of course). See that steely look of determination on his face?!

Here he is doing his impression of a puppy, slobber and all:




Harrison took a while to adjust after his trip here and he was so fussy for the first couple of days. Ever since then, he has been SO happy and is growing up so much - I'm hoping he doesn't quite roll over until we're back with you Byron!! He is talking a ton (not quite in English yet) but at least I know that although his looks came from Byron, he got something from my DNA. He talks a lot and pretty loudly, and has no problem interrupting people. He talks to himself in his crib and sometimes when he is lying alone I hear him laughing to himself.

I hope these pictures can tide you over for a bit, Byron! I'll try to take more today, as Harrison and I are going to actually venture INTO the snow for the first time!

And, so Byron can have the most up-to-date information on his baby, this is what Harrison is doing right this minute, thus allowing me to blog.

It's Smiley!!

I know, I know. I have a lot of catching up to do. So many Christmas pictures to post of this little guy. But I just couldn't resist posting a couple of pictures we finally got of him smiling!!


The first one is just mean. I'm pretty sure Harrison is only smiling in response to how hard his parents are laughing. What else were we supposed to do after dressing him in Pooh LITERALLY from head to toe (please note the Pooh face on his head)??!! I think this picture is going to make him cringe when he is grown up. It also proves another important fact - Harrison can make anything look adorable!!




This one is to not only showcase Harrison's winning smile, but also as a statement of how much we love living in California. Harrison is wearing his first pair of shorts today!! Granted, he is wearing tall sock and long sleeves (it IS January) but shorts none the less!!



This is my first real week of settling into motherhood at home, now that we are done with the holidays and Harrison is finally able to be happy in something other than his parents' arms. It is kind of exciting, but I'm learning quickly that I need a schedule more than he does!! (Otherwise Byron would probably come home to find me in a chocolate-induced coma in front of the telvision, watching Family Feud re-runs).


I've always been a list-writer, but feeling the need to structure my day without going to work has pushed me to a whole new level - I've created a spreadsheet of scheduled activities for Harrison and myself throughout the day. We have yet to stick to even half of what I've scheduled for us, mostly because Harrison is already quite a defiant and free-spirited little tyke who does not like to be told what to do. We'll see how it goes. But I have successfully cleaned the house once and I'm proud to say that Harrison and I are both dressed and presentable on a daily basis. Small victories!!


Next goal - I just have to figure out how to entertertain him now that he's awake for so many hours of the day. He's going to tire pretty quickly of my poor singing voice and my dancing (which is NOT poor, he's just not old enough to appreciate it.) I'm sure play time with Harrison is going to be much more enjoyable for him when he can control his own limbs!!

Harrison Update!!

I won't even waste my time with excuses. I'll just focus on getting a few pictures of Harrison up, since who knows how long it will be before I post again!



I can't believe Harrison is already 2 months old. Time isn't necessarily racing by (it has definitely been the longest two months of my life, what with late-night feedings and all) but it is crazy how much Harrison has already grown up!! These pictures are in the same outfit, one is from mid-November and the other from late December. What a little Chubba-Nugget he has become!!!














































Harrison is such a good little kid. Even though he has been sick with an ear infection and cough in the last week, he is still really sweet and happy. Unfortunately, we never seem to be able to catch him on CAMERA smiling. So you guys won't really have a good idea of how cute his little smile is!!


Here is a quick overview of our holiday season. In our house, we love to celebrate holidays, particularly by dressing for the occasion.

Here is happy little Harrison wearing his Thanksgiving outfit:






Here is Harrison in his Christmas pants from Grandma Williams.






Mom and Dad also get matching pants (can all of you Arrested Development fans out there say "MotherBoy?")

And you can't really get a more appropriate holiday outfit than being asked to play Mary, Joseph and Jesus for your church Christmas party!!

And finally, his little winter sweater to celebrate New Years Eve!! He's just waving hello to the camera!

The little tyke is due to be waking up for his nap soon, so I'll just post of a couple more of my favorites until I run out of time!!

Quite the relaxed baby, Harrison has always been comfortable with posing for the camera.




Case is point, in this one I think he is actually flexing for the camera!

One of my very favorites. When he's not smiling Harrison has such a cute, somber look on his face.




And now that he's so much older, Harrison loves to wear clothes that are a little more grown-up.






















The funniest thing about how much I love to dress little Harrison is that I never really liked dressing my dolls up. So I guess I'm living a delayed childhood here, which my mother thinks is hilarious as I call her almost daily to let her know what cute little outfit Harrison is wearing. Even though I see the ridiculousness of it all, I still can't stop myself. I've become quite a cliche!

Now I'd better go take care of this baby!