11 September 2010

20 Things to Love about my TWENTY month old!!!!


Can you believe Harrison is 20 months already? That's practically 2--WHAT??? I'm sorry but when did by newborn tiny (well...relatively speaking...) baby become a 30 pound almost 2 year old?? The months since Harrison turned one have FLOWN by. While I miss the baby stuff--with growth comes so much FUN, like:
1. He sings row row row your boat and abc's with me.
2. He's figured out that if he tickles his daddy's feet, daddy will laugh uncontrollably and to him, this is HILARIOUS.
3. He does BACKFLIPS onto the couch. Yeah...little scary for me, but whatev. It started with falling backwards on the couch (counting to three, "da....da....DA!!!") and now he just flips all the way over.
4. He gets jealous when Cory and I kiss and has to immediately give us BOTH kisses.
5. He also kisses his stuffed animals and pictures of family, and occasionally himself in the mirror--SUCH a love monkey!!!
6. He learns new words ALL the time and I LOVE it---I try to keep track and it's somewhere around 50 but probably more--words don't add up to "communication" just yet, but we're getting there...
7. He likes to get out the buckets from the laundry room and use them as drums. ADORABLE.
8. he LOVES LOVES LOVES cars, making car noises, and pretending to drive cars. We have quite the struggle getting him out of the driver seat of my car into his carseat when he's lucky enough to weasel his way up there.
9. Pig is "Ga Ga" and so is train (although sometimes train is "Ga Ga, CHOO CHOO")...why??? who knows, but it is very clear to Harrison that that is how you say those words--maybe that'll be a problem in a year, but now it's precious.
10. He's in a stage where he takes our hand (or leg, or whatever he can) and brings us to wherever he wants us to go, SO SO SO cute.
11. Sometimes I can actually get him to hold my hand and walk through a parking lot. YES!!!
12. In addition to his winnie the pooh CD, he responds with extra happines to hip-hop inspired music, and country--HA HA CORY!!! (just so you know, my husband doesn't really favor those musical genres).
13. Despite the fact that eating is his favorite hobby, he also loves to share his food with other kids and us, whether we want it or not :) Not so much with toys, but...
14. Despite the fact that his favorite TV show involves a precocious female pig (see #9) this kid is ALL BOY--monsters, dinasours, car noises, making swords out of stuff, climbing trees, collecting rocks,breaking stuff to try to put it back together, LOVE IT.
15. He loves broccoli and green beans--this is very helpful when I feel like all he will eat is goldfish :)
16. He knows he can only have his binkie while sleeping and will put it on the dresser when he gets up from his naps.
17. While he cried for like 10 seconds the first few times we left him in nursery, it is now NO PROBLEM, he practically runs away from us-THANK YOU HARRISON!!!
18. Everyone in sacrament meeting gets a great laugh when he (still) occasionally runs away from us and immediately out the door.
19. Lately he's been calling Cory, "my daddy" SO SWEET!!!
20. He just plain rocks. I'm a lucky mom. He's awesome. LOVE YOU HARRISON BUG!!!

And lest you think I'm just too positive for my own good, here are the top five reasons why moving across the country is not as easy as I thought it would be:
1. We have to leave my family and rip Harrison away from his grandparents and uncle and "aunt" that LOVE him to bits
2. In that same vein, I'm leaving a job that I'm getting good at and a boss I just LOVE
3. Everything seems better when you're leaving it right? Friends, our ward, just TODAY we met two neighbors ---more than we've met in THREE years of living here.
4. We still can't find a place to live--I spend my life in craigslist and am sending friends all over in hopes to find the perfect place. We're going to have to sell our souls to get a decent place without bad management or a roach problem or an hour commute--we've got some good options, but I'm dying to have it settled!!!
5. WE HAVE SO MUCH STUFF!!! Today we had a huge yard sale and sold a bunch of what everyone has been storing here for the last four years (my moms stuff, dad's stuff, brothers stuff, etc..) and I've been trying to sell a bunch on craiglist as well, still more to sell..and then we start to pack...
6. The house is in disaray and it won't really be "clean" until we leave...
7. In TWO weeks I will have to be without my husband and baby monkey boy for TEN LONG DAYS--I don't know how I'm gonna do it...
8. I took on a bunch of contract work right before we decided to move, plus I'm working extra days for my boss...this just adds up to LOTS to do, while I'm very very distracted with even more things to think about...
9. One of my best friends EVER is moving AWAY from the DC area like two weeks after I move to the DC area.....at least we're overlapping a bit I guess- ALISSA YOU BETTER HANG OUT WITH US BEFORE YOU GO!!!
10. Did I say five things??

Ok--that's enough whining----I know this is the right thing to do but I am really scared of the change from a fabulous thing we have going here--just gotta get through the transition-It's all gonna work out---YES IT IS YES IT IS YES IT IS (insert excessive exclamation points and smiley faces here) :):):):):):)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 comments:

Heidi Miller said...

Oh Amber. I LOVE the post about HARRISON!!! Can I watch him for you please?!?!?! He can teach Rebekah to like singing the ABCs. She flat out refuses. Whenever I start to sing them, she yells angrily, NO!!! :) Anyway, I cannot believe all you are doing right now. Please ask me to do stuff for you!

The Wheelers said...

I am so EXCITED to have the Brown clan here on the east coast. And don't forget that just because Alissa is leaving, that doesn't mean you don't have other AMAZING friends here!!! Loves!

Unknown said...

I KNOW ERIN!!! I'm SO excited to be near you guys too!!!!! And for Harrison and Alesa to play together!!

Drea said...

What a great post! We look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow night!! :)

Sheila said...

Wow, this was WONDERFUL AMBER! I loved reading all of it. You are such a wonderful mommy. Seriously, Harrison is SOO LUCKY! I'm not sure I could survive the 10 days away from little love monkey, but it will all blur together in a year right??? I'm excited for your new adventure back east and know you will do so well there. I'm so excited for you Amber. You are a busy lady and still finding time to blog (which I greatly appreciate by the way) and makes me feel included. Just wish I was closer and could help you out. LOVE YOU!

Shalise said...

Moving is always an overwhelming task!! So excited you'll be semi-close to us too!

Stephanie said...

Good luck Amber! I only ever lived in Maryland (Silver Springs and Waldorf.) So I'm of no help at all. The great thing about DC is it's a wonderful place to visit, so just keep telling people that there's so much to see they'll have to make repeat visits. : ) I already want to go back for the National Book Festival on September 25th.

Todd and Emily said...

Amber! I need to read your cute blog more. Wow, you are probably totally in the middle of transition right now? While the move is probably crazy, I am so excited that you guys are only 8 hours away! Not a bad road trip eh? Todd hasn't been to DC ever! So we will visit for sure! Speaking of visits...what are your Thanksgiving plans looking like? Still planning on it or too crazy? Just let us know. Hang in there!