a hunting we will go...

it's hard to see but harrison is wearing a plaid shirt...and that puffy orange vest.  top it off with one of those hats that has the flaps to cover his ears...and i think he looks a bit like elmer fudd. 

except exponentially cuter, of course.

now i just need to teach him to say "dat wascally wabbit".

Christmas 2008

i can wrap up the day in one phrase:  our boys are spoiled!  actually, we are ALL spoiled!

grammy, papa, and uncle zach came over for a big brunch.  then we watched harrison open lots of presents.

before they arrived we had our own little celebration.  santa brought an xbox for jer.  he works so hard all year, santa thought he deserved a special toy.  here he is opening his xbox games.

harrison is giving graham a kiss.

graham slept through all the festivities.

santa brought a doodle board for harrison.

and a remote-controlled dog!  that doesn't shed...woo hoo!  

mommy gave harrison some pajamas.  you can see how excited he is - ha!

uncle zach

harrison LOVES his uncle zach!  back when i was working uncle zach would come to our house every friday to watch harrison.  they developed quite a bond.

this picture was taken when harrison was almost six months old, while we were in memphis. somehow, uncle zach always gets the biggest smiles out of our boy!

Christmas day was a lot of fun...mostly because uncle zach and papa (two of harrison's favorite people) came over to play!

and, now, uncle zach has TWO nephews that adore him!  (and, yes, i did dress my children in matching pajamas.  i mean i have to do it while they're young, right?!)

the polar express

our friends the fitzpatrick's and the moody's came over before Christmas for a special screening of "the polar express".  it was a pajama party for the kiddos, complete with hot cocoa and snacks...just like they served in the movie.  

fun was had by all...or, at least, fun was had by me.  so much fun, in fact, that i had to go to bed early and leave jeremy to see our guests off.  

thanks, friends, for coming over to share some holiday fun with us!  and thanks for doing my dishes and being gracious about my early bedtime!  i hope we can make this an annual tradition.  i promise next year will be even better!

graham is five weeks old

my how he has grown!  

he is doing all the things five-week-olds are supposed to do.  staying awake more, making eye contact, following objects with his eyes, and just beginning to coo.  he is losing his hair little by little.  his happiest time, now, is first thing in the morning - a wide awake boy.  he loves lying on his back and kicking.

i feel like i am more "in the swing of things" as a mom of two.  each day just seems to go a bit more smoothly...mostly because harrison is now used to having his brother around and can be more patient while i'm nursing.  and because, as you see above, graham will finally accept a pacifier, which has helped him (well, all of us, actually) tremendously!

we are excited to spend Christmas as a family of four!

the moses basket

my dear friend andrea made the most beautiful moses basket for graham.  i love it.  and, more importantly, graham loves it.

and harrison loves it, too!  

yes, virginia, there is a Christmas card...

***updated with the photos i was actually able to take***

...but unless there's a Christmas miracle, it won't be arriving at your home by the 25th! 

i believe the white's will be spreading some post-holiday cheer this year.  thanks, in part, to a revelation that occurred while attempting to take a family photo.  

first, getting a picture of all four of us is impossible.  mostly because this would require that i dye my hair.  no, it's not vanity.  it's just the simple fact that no one wants to open a Christmas card and see 2 inch gray roots.  

so jeremy and i tried to get a picture of the boys (insert revelation here), only to find out that harrison only likes to "play with" his brother on his own terms.  when i try to set them next to each other in the chair - or, God forbid, actually put graham in his lap! - much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensues. 

it's as if harrison is screaming, "mom, he's touching me!" or "but, mom, he's on my side of the chair!"

thank God we do not have any upcoming road trips!

i could title it "silent night", but then i'd be lying

during a period of time that i will lovingly refer to as "the 12 days of colic" we discovered that graham needs to have a peaceful environment while he is nursing.  if he doesn't get to eat his meals quietly, he makes sure that we don't get to have any peace and quiet for the rest of the day. 

hey, i guess that's only fair. 

one teeny, weeny problem (in the form of a 20-month old boy): imagine trying to get any semblance of peace and quiet with harrison ottley white in the house.

we are working on it.  i'm even resorting to bribes.

well, it's been a month (nov. 14-dec. 14)

love this picture.  this is still the face harrison makes when daddy tries to give him kisses.  i guess graham is simply following suit.

harrison in the thanksgiving feather hat that he made at school.  this was before "the sickness of 2008" struck our home.

this was during "the sickness of 2008" when grammy & papa brought us yummy thanksgiving leftovers to eat.  papa kept harrison occupied with stickers.  so much fun!  incidentally, grammy, papa and jeremy all caught the sickness.  i remained healthy...thanks in part to my OCD-like hand-washing behavior.

and graham slept peacefully through it all.  you can see how tired i am.  at this point jeremy and i had been awake for three days and two nights.

graham has blue eyes like his daddy.  (at least they have not changed color yet).  harrison's were extremely dark from day one and are now a deep brown like mine.  so, if all stays the same, we'll have one blue-eyed boy and one brown-eyed boy.  

the first snow.  harrison was far too captivated to look at me and smile.

the first bath together.

my big boy.  so cute in his fleece sweatshirt.  so sad that it's cold enough to need a fleece sweatshirt.

harrison loves saying "hi", giving kisses and touching graham.  for the most part he is very gentle.  except for the time when he bashed graham in the head with the remote control. 

but that was an accident...i think. 

breastfeeding questions

***update:  thanks so much to all who commented, emailed, or wrote to me on facebook.  i appreciate all the advice!

because i do not have the time to get online and do my own research, i will send my questions out into blog world and wait for the internet to come to me. 

hopefully i'll get some answers this way...  

1) if i'm going to pump and store milk, when's the best time to do it?

2) how do i know if something i ate doesn't agree with graham?  will it be more than just normal burps?

3) how long does it take for something i ate to get into my milk?

4) if i'm "baby wise"ing him...and he finishes his meal, but seems to need more sucking time for soothing in order to fall asleep after "play time", but he WON'T take a pacifier...what in the world do i do?

okay, THANKS!!

and, if you're wondering why i don't already know this stuff (this being my second baby) it's because i wasn't able to nurse harrison for this long.