Holiday time (part 1)

there is a tree, in the house!

Happy Holidays all!

There has been a lot going on this month, and we haven't been able to take as many photographs and videos as usual, but below is a sampling of what its been like with the baby.

Brandon was ordained (finally!) this month, and we were lucky to have Tina and (surprise!) Keith visit on that occasion. While they were here, we were trying to get into the holiday spirit.

trying on hats with grandma

The big news of the season was that our little family was selected to portray the holy family in the Christmas pageant at the church this year, with Brandon being Joseph, Jes as Mary, and Aurora taking the star role as Jesus. No pressure. Well, it went pretty well, other than the fact that our bouncing baby broke the manger and slowly started slipping out of the sides with the loose hay. So, mid-way through the pageant she moved to a sitting position on Mary's lap. Everyone thought she was great, and all in all, it was a good time.

Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus

The holidays is also a good excuse to dress up the baby in ridiculously cute outfits. The one she is sporting below was a gift from our sitter. Jes tried to play photographer, putting colored cloth as a background and trying to get her to stay still. Below is the best she could do with our little wiggle-worm. We have a new-found respect for infant/child photographers.

sitting up, but holding my arm out to balance

 As you can see, Aurora is really starting to be a mover and shaker. She holds herself up pretty well, and is a master roller. Gone are the days when she will play in one place... unless she is contained of course. We were eager to give her our Christmas gift this year to give her something to play in that also contains her a little.

playing in my new rocker/walker from mom and dad

Christmas Eve and Day were also a lot of fun. We will have more on that in another post, as for us it will continue a couple days as we meet with all parts of our families. For now, we leave you with this wish, from all of us to you:

s

Sporting my Xmas bib made by aunt Brittany!

discovering her tongue!

We took a video the other week when Grandma H. was visiting of Aurora being silly. I was originally going to cut it to the part we thought was most funny - namely her sticking out her tongue - but we decided not to and that it might be nice to see the whole progression.

So what you see is our attempt to get her to stick out her tongue, trying our best to be quiet. Aurora reacts to our actions, playing peek-a-boo with Grandma who is hiding around the corner trying not to laugh, and getting excited (silently) about the dog jumping into my lap before you get to see what we're talking about.

This is sure to bring a smile to your face, and we could all use a smile right about now.

6 Months

So our daughter is officially halfway through her first year. We are amazed, as all parents are I suppose, at how much she has grown already. According to the latest doctors visit, she is in the 99% for height (nearly 28 inches!), 90% for head circumference, and 60% for weight (not quite 17 lbs). She is really getting in to solid foods, but no teeth have started to show yet. She is also starting to push up more when she's on her belly, so she is working those crawling muscles. She hasn't yet been able to sit up on her own yet, but she is much more stable and can hold herself up relatively well once she is in a sitting position. And she is getting cuter by the day. What else can two happy parents ask for?

6 month mugshot - say cheese!

 Now that it is December, we are getting prepped for Christmas. We are especially looking forward to her reaction to having a tree in the house with lots of lights and other shiny things. I'm sure we will have many photos of that to come :)

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year, family being the biggest. Not only are we thankful for our own growing family and happy, healthy, baby girl, but we are also happy we have the family to share these moments with. This year for Thanksgiving, we were able to visit Grandma and Grandpa Harrington in DC. We were joined by Britt, Dan, Ondine and Grandpa Curtis and Grandma Doris. It was a wonderful time to catch up with the Harrington side, for Aurora to play with her cousin, and for some good bonding time with both grandparents and great grandparents. We also had the opportunity to have a date night out in DC while the grandparents watched the girls.

Her favorite place for the trip - on the floor playing!

Looking cute and not too mad after her first airplane ride

Got your nose, Grandma!

Grandpa and his girls

Great Grandpa getting down to play

Our card-shark in training, she loved cards!

Thanksgiving love :)

The growing Harrington family

our little trio

all of us! 

Everyone going for a walk in the crisp fall air

Kisses from Ondine

Playing and watching each other - what they did most of the time

two little pumpkins

sitting in the wagon

It was a wonderful trip, and the travel went fairly well (the way home was a little more difficult for the little one, but we managed alright in the end). After the trip, we were all feeling a little like this photo below :)

Pooped after all that excitement!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Another update will come shortly!

Adventures in flavor

Well, we've been trying a few different kinds of solids and are coming to learn what she likes and what she doesn't like. Its amazing that even at this young age she has the capability to have preferences in things like food. Especially since milk and rice cereal seem so bland to me - I'd rather have flavor!

While carrots and green beans are something Rori likes, peas did not go over so well.

Also, pumpkin was an interesting try.

We will try these flavors again in the future, but for now we are excited to try new things. Other flavors she seemed to like (or at least tolerate) are sweet potato and apples. Perhaps there will be one she loves so much it will be video-worthy.

5 Months and Halloween fun!

One of the best things about having a baby around is dressing them up in ridiculously cute costumes around Halloween.  The costume we had this year, thanks to Grandma Harrington, was a hit. We had two such occasions to show off our cute baby, and will have a third at Thanksgiving where Aurora and her cousin Ondine will be dressed alike.

First was at the church's Halloween Party.

Roman guard and his pumpkin

Witch-ish woman and a stripped down pumpkin

Then was actual Halloween in CT. Even without power and trick-or-treaters, we ran generators and still had a good time.

distracted by the Halloween decor

waiting on trick-or-treaters

And here are some random shots from the last few weeks and her 5 month mugshot - we cannot believe how much she has grown and how fast the time has gone.

5 month mug

just being cute

Playing with the pup

blurry but cute, tolerating mom putting things on her head

Hanging out in the bouncy chair - Thanks Ondine (and Britt and Dan)!

Our love to you all!!

Puppy love

It is official, she has discovered that the dog is a wonderful thing. Not sure what Twizzle thinks of this, but eventually they will be good friends I'm sure.

Food, Glorious Food!!

Greetings once again, Friends and Family,

                       Our apologies for the week hiatus, things have been in full swing in the Harrington house, and it was difficult to find time to do a post.  Now with some spare time between Church activities we are excited to update on all of Aurora's progress this week.

                      Below you will find a video of this week's crowning achievement: rice cereal and our bold move towards solid food.  Though this particular feeding was not as "exciting" as some of our others, you can notice her "interest" in the food and spoon which we have been told are the signs that your baby is ready to make that jump towards mashed fruits and veggies.  Jes and I will finally be able to say, "We have a Gerber Baby!"

(It Makes the Tummy Happy!!)

Achievement 2:  Aurora's level of awareness with her surroundings, and life in general.  It is amazing to watch this little one grow, and to see her facial expressions change as she realizes different things that are going on around her.  Her eyes definitely follow mommy and daddy as they move around the house (especially if they have a bottle in their hands).  The newest thing that Aurora follows with her eyes is Twizzle (the puppy).  If the dog runs or walks by Aurora tracks her with a face that appears both confused and amused all at once (similar to the face you see in this next picture).

 (What do you mean it's all gone?)

Lastly for this week, it always fun to report that Aurora and Mommy continue to be supportive of Brandon as he attends and works at the new Church.  For Brandon, it is nice to have family there as he continues to work as the Youth Minister.  For Aurora, it is a chance to get out of the apartment and be socialized (she has alot of fun watching other kids).  And for Jes, it is an opportunity to dress up our daughter in such a way that pictures can be used for black mail at a later date...

(What the heck is on my head?!!)

We hope to have a really fun post next weekend as we have gotten out the door frame bouncy chair/swing, and Saturday is the Church Halloween party...yes we plan on dressing up.  Pictures and stories to follow.  Thank you all for your love and messages...we look forward to sharing more with you all.

birthday post

Hi all! So this last weekend was a long one (because in New England, Columbus day is a state holiday which means no work/school!), and this year it fell on my birthday. What I requested for this year was to go apple picking. It was wonderful, and an amazing excuse to dress up the baby.

Dad and baby

smiling and blinking, we all have this problem

happy flower (outfit from Mrs. Yarbrough)

picking apples!

Aurora and Apples

Later that weekend some CT friends visited. Mostly we just hung out and relaxed, I cooked us some food.

Mandy and Aurora!

As you can see, Aurora is getting bigger by the minute. She's starting to want to sit up on her own (although she cannot yet), and is grabbing at anything in range. This means that I was going to either have to cut my hair very short, or figure out a way to put my hair back without resorting to a pony all the time (I was getting tired of them). So, after 27 years, I've finally figured out how to french braid my own hair. This is a skill that might be helpful for me and Aurora in the coming years. I have a feeling that you will see me sporting this 'do' in many photos to come as well. Hopefully I will also get better at it as time goes on.

In other news, we officially hired some help for a few hours a week. This way Brandon can have some office hours at the church during the after school hours twice a week. She is a nice young lady, recent college graduate, and hopefully we can get a photo up for next week.

4 months

Just a quick update about her four month check in. At our appointment today, the baby wad 25 inches long, 14 lbs 2 oz, and with 42.5 cm head circumference.  Basically this means she's normal, still longish and skinny-ish, but she's got a big head. What this means is we need bigger hats than her "age", to accommodate for her big growing brain!

4 month mug shot

Her favorite pose

pushing up during tummy time

For size comparison, 4 months and 2 months

She is gaining a lot more control of her body, grabbing (intentionally) at her toys, pushing up and rolling around. Soon we will be rocking and rollin'! 

Video-blog

Well, I took some videos on my camera. Many actually, but only two are worth-while. I am not the best cameraman.

So, here is a little taste of what our days with Aurora are like!

MN 2012 Part 2: Activities!

Photo tour of our week. Note: Most of the photos come from Tony and Karin, who are excellent amateur photographers!

Thursday: Arrival

Angel and Aurora

Mom, "tia" (me) and Chelsee playing at Tony and Karin's

Friday: Relaxing
We slept in and go hang out at the cabin my parents and Kathi and Brian had rented for the week on White Bear Lake. Aurora met and was held by many excited and awaiting hands.

Hanging out at Bill & Angle's place

Cousin Chelsee playing on Aurora's newly acquired play-mat

Kathi and Aurora

Brian and Aurora

Great Grandma Schmalz, Aurora and me

Brandon grilling at the White Bear Lake cabin

Can you tell we are related? 

Saturday: Renascence Festival
Fabulousness. That is all.

Wide eyed baby loved see the Ren fest

Brandon and I, dressed the part

All of those dressed up, so everyone except Karin who is taking the photo

Sunday: Picnic and Family get together
Fun day at the park, eating, visiting, playing bean bag toss, frisbee golf and documenting the event!

Brandon grilling... again

Paige with Aurora, she was excited!

Sandy, Bill, and Chelsee playing bean bag toss

Its a tough job... and he loves it!

Milling about

Aurora trying the new play-mat

The whole fam-damily

Three generations (and a hot tired baby)

 Monday: Minnesota Zoo
We were able to go to the zoo and have a good time. We have more pictures, but they are mostly of animals and not related to 'baby bloggin', so I am not sharing them all here. :)

Gma and Pa Schmalz, Chelsee and Aurora at the Zoo

Tuesday: Relaxing and dinner at Gma/pa Schmalz

Grilling, again!

Father and son grilling - note its not Brandon!

Brandon and Rick

Hanging out with Rick, Bobbi and Katie 

Gma Schmalz and Aurora - Nom nom!

Aurora napping after eating

Eating in main dining area

Brandon and Tony chatting and eating, both activities in which they excel

`
Wednesday: On the Road again!
It was a wonderful time, and the trip home again was not bad either. Since Aurora discovered her voice, I tried a few times to record her in the car. Once I figure out how to post videos, you can all see my crude and not so good videography skills, but it will be worth it because the subject matter is adorable! :)