The Brothers Meet :)

To the delight and fascination of everyone more than 12 hours old, Harrison and Hewitt met for the first time today (although there were countless in utero episodes). Harrison brought his little brother a teddy bear with a balloon (which he has now given to Hewitt a few different times, so we finally set the bear in his bed), and Hewitt gave his big brother a bag of truck-themed presents.

Harrison checked into the hospital with us on Sunday and then spent the night with Grandmom and Grandpop Harper. We told him lots of times that he would see Brother soon, and he must have been listening because he accepted Hewitt as soon as he saw him. Said, "Hi, Baby" and even gently, gently touched him (but somehow he knew that a strong touch would not be appreciated -- we almost had to convince him that it was okay to touch the baby). The four of us sat on the bed together for introductions and gift openings and then we passed Hewitt around all the grandparents for a bit while Harrison played some serious truck play (pausing a few times to go show Hewitt the new toys). Hewitt proved himself to be an excellent first day sleeper as he dozed right through all of the fire trucks sirens and trash trucks noises that Harrison made. We'll see how that holds... :)

So this is the brother they've been talking about...

"Uh oh, Dada -- Baby cry." Soon after : "Ssshhh, Baby sleeping."

Harrison digging into the goodies! Hewitt still sleeping!

"Oh, Hewitt -- a trash truck -- I love it!"

New Photos

New photos added to the "At the Hospital!" post.

He's Born!

Hewitt Everest Higgins was born at 1:19am this morning and outsized his big brother by quite a bit -- 9 pounds/1 ounce and 21 1/4 inches. Hewitt has dark hair right now but otherwise looks alot like Harrison did as a newborn with his sweet little nose and pinched up mouth. We love him!

At the Hospital!

We'll let you know when he's born!

It's finally (finally!) time!

Cute one of Harrison -- too bad we cut off Dada's head!

Nesting or OCD-ing?

I told my work that I'd be in the office until the earlier of Baby's due date or Baby's birth. Since Baby was due on Sunday and still has not gotten around to being born, I have been working from home all week (and I really am working!). I've had my computer up and running each day this week and have been taking care of everything that's come up for work -- even talked on the phone to work people about work yesterday!

This morning, however, after making two batches of triple-berry-fudge brownies with white chocolate topping for the bake sale at Harrison's school, I took a few minutes to peel the stickers off of all the produce I bought yesterday (including the things I put in the refrigerator -- I did not limit my task to the counter-top items). I bought alot of produce, which means I peeled off 20 or 25 little stickers. So is that nesting or OCD-ing?

Baby is now 3 days late; Mama is now 3 days crazy.

Harrison and the New Pool

Dada had the nice idea to hook super-pregnant / super-hot Mama up with a plastic swimming pool, and Harrison was also a lucky beneficiary. :) Here he is enjoying the "kool"!

No Baby Yet!

He's due today, but he's not making an appearance. Alot like his big brother, so far... :) Maybe tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Harrison!

Harrison is two years old today! Mama, Dada, and Harrison had a very exclusive celebration today with only the three of us on the invite list. We went to the car wash (which Harrison loves and often requests when we're out driving), played at the Children's Museum, ate lunch at a pizza place, and had cookies after nap. An excellent day!

A video and some photos of the third (and final?) birthday celebration. :)

Happy birthday, Harrison -- we love you!

Harrison is 2!

"I get to eat this whole cookie? Seriously?!"

Trucks! :)

The city of Roswell (just north of Grandmom and Grandpop's house) hosted a "Truck Touch" this weekend, so we ventured up there in the hopes that we'd be able to get really close to some big, big trucks. We were not disappointed! As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Harrison started going crazy from the backseat of the car about the "rd trshtrck" (no vowels when he says it). In addition to the red trash truck, there was also a cherry picker, a street sweeper, a sewer investigator (a little robot with a video camera strapped on it that roams around in sewers looking for alligators and damaged pipes), and some other trucks that do important yet unknown work. Harrison (and also Dada and Gambob, let's be honest...) was delighted with the experience -- he got to touch all the trucks, sit in the drivers' seats, and talk with the workers! Harrison's favorite was the trash truck, I think we made three separate visits to it...

We'll start with the trash truck (but also look around to see if there are any better trucks...)!

Nah -- This is definitely the best one here.

The two coolest trash pickup men around.

A bulldozerzerzerzer!

Checking out the sewer-searching robot truck.

Harrison showing a bigger boy how the robot truck works.

Harrison and Grandpop Do Some Constructing

Grandmom and Grandpop Harper gave Harrison his first table and chairs set (toddler-sized!) for his birthday. They had the gift shipped to our house and came over one night this week to help Harrison put it together -- Harrison and Gambob both served as crew chiefs and directed each other around, and Mama and Grandmom were the journalists who captured highlights of the event. Somehow the furniture got assembled in all the chaos...

So let's begin...

First, we have to spread everything all over the floor and batch the little pieces of hardware together.

"So you want me to do what with this big stick?"

Didn't even have to tell him where to put this one.

"Yes, Gambob -- you can go ahead and tighten that screw."

A little out of focus, but I love that he's sitting Indian-style to put the screw in.

"Oh -- it's a table! Then this will be my chair!"

What a nice treat -- a few chairs were included in the set. :)

He likes it! And so does Little Bear.

Showing Dada the finished product -- "Look at how good my coloring is now that I have this workspace!"

Harrison's School Birthday Party

Birthday party number two! We took in some special snack for Harrison's last day at school before his actual birthday -- mango, "diwi" (kiwi), and frosted animal crackers. Most of the kids would at least put a birthday hat on (even if they wouldn't leave it on), and Harrison got to wear a special "It's My Birthday" ribbon. They all loved the stickers and fruit snacks they got as party favors, and Harrison really loved when the teachers sang to him (en espanol, como no!).

Harrison and some of his classmates. The chalkboard says, "Feliz Cumpleanos" ("Happy Birthday").

Giggling. :)

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, the boys said we could do anything I wanted (which wasn't much given my bulk and the heat). Basically : Mama lounged, Harrison entertained, and Dada worked to make it happen. :) Thank you, boys! We hung around the house and on the porches, played with Harrison's new birthday gifts (especially the sprinkler -- that was nice!), walked to the playground, and went to the ice cream store a few blocks away for some super-delicious frozen treats. Oh, yes... Morelli's!

Harrison's shirt says : "Pretty + Smart + Loving = You. I love you, Mommy." He made it at school.

Also, Chris and Harrison practiced saying, "I love you, Mama." Chris told me that Harrison would say it to him, but then he wouldn't say it to me! Maybe next year...

Harrison's turn.

Mama's turn.

Happy Mother's Day!

Harrison's Family Birthday Party

Since Harrison's Mama still plans his birthday parties, he'll be having no less than three this year (Mama loves birthdays!)! The first was the family birthday party -- held a week before his actual birthday in case Bubber got born early. Mama, Dada, both sets of grandparents, both sets of aunts/uncles (minus one uncle), a great grandma, and a great aunt all helped celebrate. :) Harrison had a really fun time and got some awesome stuff! A few things we got photos of...

Some speed racing with Grandaddy on the front porch before the festivities.

Took half the guests to get Grandpop up off the trike. :)

Helping Great Grandmama with the new truck puzzle from Grandmama and Grandaddy.

Water gear from Aunt Katy and Uncle Brian! Flip flops, swim suit, bucket and shovel, sprinkler...

Had to try the flipflops on right away!

Balloons from Josh and Laura!

And also some bubble equipment -- here he is showing us how not to use the bubble wand.

Combining the trucks from Grandmama and Grandaddy with the quarters from Great Grandmama -- this turned into hours of fun.

Eventually the quarters made it to his "piggy," and we'll follow Great Grandmama's instructions and let him choose a book with his birthday money (saving it for a special Dada-Harrison outing once the baby is born).

Harrison tours us around his "a-pane" cake.

Mama and Grandmom are very proud of "their" cake. :)

We made it! Really!

Weekend at Lake Lanier

Mama and Gambob (Grandpop Harper) shared their birthday celebrations with a night at Lake Lanier. Mama, Dada, Gambob, Grandmom, and "Jossshhh-Yara" (Rachel's brother Josh and his girlfriend Laura -- Harrison always says their names in one piece) all went up for a night. The ladies got pedicures in the morning before we headed to the cabin, and then the guys played golf the next morning. The cabin was a little walk uphill from the lake, so Harrison and Dada and Gambob meandered down to check it out and throw pinecones in. Then, of course, there was much nature-ing from the back porch, and the lesson that only Josh is allowed to touch the grill. Harrison learned that lesson so well that he told Gambob "only Jossshhh" when Gambob got too close. Our celebration weekend was the same weekend as the Kentucky Derby, but Grandmom was kind enough to let us hold our party on her big Derby Day (with the requirements that the cabin have a TV and that someone bring ingredients for mint juleps). Josh and Laura fixed dinner for everyone, and Mama won a marathon game of Monopoly! "Nice" (one of Harrison's favorite words)! :)

The picture is a little out of focus, but you can tell that they have the same expression

Looking for "quirrels" (squirrels) or "couds" (clouds) while Josh grills -- "Where are they, Harrison? I don't see any."

"Right up there, Gambob. Look where I'm pointing."

Front row seat for the Derby.

Just to make sure you see how close he was to the TV.