Fabulous Four ~ Part 1

Here we are, 5 days away from Harrison's 4th birthday! Hard to believe I've been blessed with him in my life that long already! Seems like only yesterday I found out I was pregnant, now here he is, a real little boy getting ready for preschool in Sept! How the time does fly by. To pay tribute to his 4 yrs here, I thought I'd take a look back and write about each year of his life with pictures of some of the important milestones from each year. I have divided it up into a four part series, that I will post over the next week, leading up to his big day of course!

Harrison Michael Smith was born on Father's Day Sunday June 16, 2002 at 10:57AM at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary AB. He weighed 6lbs 11oz and was only 19 inches long. He had a full (but not long) head of blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was beautiful!

He was the first grandchild born on both sides and was welcomed by a large and loving family! My grandparents from Chilliwack BC came out to visit when he was 8 wks old to see their new great-grandson for the first time. When he was 8 weeks old his daddy went up north to work in Fort McMurray and came home every other weekend for 3 short days at a time, before returning to work. He was gone all winter, for 8 long months and returned when Harrison was 10 mos old. I always looked forward to those visits and having daddy home with us. At first Harrison was too young to notice he was gone, or remember him when he came back. However it didn't take long before he'd have a big huge smile for daddy when he got off the airplane, which always made daddy feel good!

Besides all the regular firsts in a baby's life, Harrison had his first airplane ride at 3 months old to go and visit Daddy up north in Fort McMurray for a few days. He was baptized at 6 months on Christmas morning, which was extra special to us. He took swimming lessons with Mommy when he was 6 mos old and loved the water! We also enjoyed ourselves by attending Kindermusik classes starting when he was 7 months old and he loved the music and movement. We returned to Fort McMurray when he was 7 months old, and he got the sickest he's ever been with a very high fever that we could not bring down, so he had his first trip to the hospital while we were there...twice, poor little guy! We made lots of good friends through a Mommy & Baby class that we took in the community and met with them on a regular basis for playdates over the winter. He was a late bloomer and finally started crawling at 10 months, but didn't walk before his 1st birthday. He only had one word by the time he turned 1, and that was "pup" for puppy of course!

We ended his first year of life with a big Winnie The Pooh birthday party at our house, with so many wonderful family members and friends, and he was spoiled rotten! He was lucky enough to have all of his Grandparents and 4 Great-Grandparents at his 1st Birthday party. It was such a special day that I will always look back on with fond memories and will never forget! What an amazing year getting to know my little angel. Have fun being one honey!

Tea For Three

Harrison now enjoys Tea Parties! He went to great lengths to plan this very special one for he and my parents. He carefully selected the pumpkin tea towel for a table cloth, set the table, helped make the tea, dished up the yummy strawberry shortcake and called everyone to the table to join him! Then he told them where to sit and kept asking them, "This is the best tea party you ever been to?" Of course it is! I took on the role of official photographer and captured all the fun on film! He was so proud of himself for organizing such a nice gathering....and so he should be! As you can see in one picture, even Ginger the dog joined them for tea! It was great fun and nice to see him so excited and proud about something he had put so much effort into!

PS He just walked in here and saw me typing this blog and said, "We have to have another tea party!" I think he's right! I'll go boil the kettle right now.....

Smell the Roses

We have all heard it said that we need to stop and smell the roses along life's journey. Or, if you are Harrison, while you're on a terribly boring trip to Home Depot! My parents are going to be re-painting the interior of their home this summer, so I offered to check out some paint samples to help them narrow down their choices.

Now to me, spending a leisurely afternoon meandering through the home decorating aisle sounds like a completely reasonable and fun way to kill some spare time! But to Harrison, running up and down those aisles and pulling as many of those paint sample chips off the shelves as humanly possible, scattering them everywhere to watch Mommy's head spin and her blood pressure rise seemed like far more fun....until he was mesmorized by the peaceful serenity and the rainbow of colour that surrounded him, the scent of the fresh flowers blooming in the many pots, the gentle tranquility and quiet lull of the water fountains that seemed to be waiting for little hands just his size to be dipped and discovered! I've always said he suffers from a split-personality, and never has it been so appearant! One minute he was terrorizing innocent home decorators with his antics and screaming, only to turn the corner and become a completely different child in the span of one single minute! He immediately calmed down to match the environment in which he entered, and began smelling the flowers, bending over to look at a display of clay garden geckos, and then pausing long enough to relax and enjoy the sensation of the water pouring through his little fingers at the fountains.

It did us both a world of good! It brought my blood pressure back down to normal range and allowed me to watch him in wonder, as he explored and experimented his way through this new and exciting environment, and made me appreciate how no matter how small (or big!) you are, you should always, I repeat always take time out to stop and smell the roses. As I proved, it's probably even good for your health!!!

PS So...who is going to buy him that water fountain for his birthday so I can continue to enjoy some peace and quiet at home!?