School loans, be gone

I am SO happy right now! I just wrote the LAST CHECK to pay off my student loans. I finished my MBA in May 1997 and started paying on my loans right after graduation. So, it’s been 10 YEARS that I’ve paying for my graduate education. Some years have been better than others (2002, for example, sucked as it was hard to write loan checks when I didn’t have a JOB) but it’s finally done and over with. And, I do feel fortunate that I had loans ONLY from graduate school (my parents and I somehow managed to make it through my time at U-M without any – whew). Just to make myself feel better (or feel worse, actually), I looked at the amount I originally borrowed ($17,000) and the amount I paid in the end ($21,649.88) and saw that I paid $4,649.88 in interest – that’s always a good time. Gotta’ love interest!

OK, OK, I’m focusing on the wrong part of the story. The most important thing is that I no longer have to pay for school of any kind for myself. It never seemed like this day would come. Now I can use my money to buy Harmon more things (like he needs more things, can you say SPOILED?). Or, maybe I should buy myself a little present in celebration. This looks nice (in Vine Green).

This is funny, just as I licked the envelope holding my last payment, Craig Monroe hit a grand slam for the Tigers in the top of the 12th inning. It was like he was celebrating with me!

There is more Bergquist education news to share so be on the lookout for some blog news from Kevin!

Socks and slippers

Last night, as it was nearing bath time, I stripped Harmon down to his onesie and let him play around for a bit. After I stripped him, I folded up his dirty clothes and put them in a little pile as he crawled all over Kevin like he was a jungle gym. Once he got bored, which took about two seconds (he definitely got Daddy's attention span – damn it), he went over to his pile of clothes and grabbed his socks and slippers. He then crawled into his little chair and attempted, for about five minutes, to put his socks and slippers on his chubby little feet. It was the cutest thing even though we had to watch him out of the corner of our eyes in an effort not to interrupt. I wished we would have had the video camera but I knew getting up to get it would have disrupted him. So, we just had to sit, watch and enjoy. We just love little moments like this!

'Nater behavior

20 quick Harmon quirks:

1. His tongue quivers when he cries.

2. When he sits on his chair, he sits on his leg (just like his Mama).

3. When you hold him, he grips tight onto your closest finger.

4. When he sits on the floor, he sits in reverse Indian style (just like his Nana).

5. He scissor kicks you when you try to change his diaper.

6. He talks in his sleep, with his favorite words being bippy, ball, wawee (water) and dada.

7. He LOVES to read and, when he goes to his bedroom door and says “read,” you know it is nap time.

8. He has gender confusion, sometimes calling Kevin “mama” and me “dada!” And, sometimes, no matter what, EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is Isabel (or IS-BA, as he says)!

9. When he doesn’t want to eat what you’re feeding him, he starts rubbing his eyes and acting like he’s SO tired (even if he just got up from a nap). Also, to avoid bites of food, he will whip his head to one side or act like he’s REALLY drinking a ton from his sippy cup.

10. He is afraid of his baby monitor. One day, Kevin was in his room and I was playing with Harmon on our bed. Kevin slowly whispered Harmon’s name through the monitor and it freaked him out. Now, each time he sees the monitor, he stares intently at it. And, if you do the whisper voice, he will get all afraid and start to fret.

11. If you say HAR-MON SPEN-CER (in four slow syllables), he will respond with an enthusiastic “uh, uh, uh.”

12. When you call his name, he responds with a hearty “huh?”

13. When it’s time for his bath, he sits at the bathroom door and says “bubbles.”

14. If he gets full while eating, he starts hiding food in the sides of his highchair. When you take him out, you find a buffet of food items.

15. When Harmon blows kisses or gives kisses, he makes a loud "mwah" sound.

16. When we ask him if he wants a diaper change, he'll walk to our room, get his own diaper and hand it to us.

17. When he wants to read, he brings the book to you and demands that you get on the floor with him. He then does his best to burrow into your lap.

18. He has eagle eye vision. When he finds things on the ground, even the smallest of things, he picks them up and brings them to you.

19. No matter what delicacy he has in front of him, he is always WAY more interested in what you're preparing next for him OR what you're eating.

20. When he gives hugs, he puts his head down on you and lightly taps your arm or back three or four times.

Editor's note: For those of you who do not read our blog regularly, you might be wondering why we call Harmon, "'Nater." Back in his first few weeks of life, we started to come up with the requisite nicknames you give a baby. Don't know how, but for some reason we started calling him "Harmonator." That eventually gave way to "Nater." But, it really caught on when I started calling him "Nater" and his face would sour and he would stick out his big lower lip. Of course, we thought this was great fun and did it often. He is over it now, but the nickname has stuck. Our latest variation is to call him, "'Nater potater."

Easter wagons, not Easter bonnets

When I was pregnant, Kevin called me the "baby wagon." Now that Harmon is almost 17 months old, he's finally got a NEW baby wagon.


My Mom and Dad wanted to get him something special for Easter so they bought him this new awesome wagon (in addition to a ton of clothes – they can't stop spoiling him)! When I showed it to some people at work, they commented that it sure was different than the old, red metal Radio Flyer wagons!

We went for a walk with him in it for the first time Monday afternoon and he loved it! I think he likes being able to sit up and see everything. One thing we will have to do is bungee or tether any toys he takes along with him. On more than one occasion, I was chasing balls up and down the street after he fired them out. Of course, he thought this was hilarious!

Since we won't really get to celebrate Easter together at home, we've been getting Harmon a few things here and there. We got him his new chair and a lot of clothes for the spring and summer. We also need to get him some more books (all the kid wants to do is READ – I hope this isn't just a phase) and we thought about getting him this little push-along lawn mower so he can imitate Kevin when he's out mowing the lawn. There's also a fancier one with bubbles. I guess we'll see what Toys "R" Us has in stock.

One last Easter-related note – my Mom has been singing the Peter Cottontail song to him and she switched up the words a little:

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hopping down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter's on its way

Bringing lots of toys for him
Toys for baby Harmon
Hippity hoppity,
Easter's on its way

It's really cute as he gets all excited about it and, when he tries to say "hippity hoppity," it's very funny. It comes out like "hop-pippy."

Hope ewe (ha, ha) all have a Happy Easter!

Frankenstein

Although Harmon technically started walking when he was 14 months old, the last two or three weeks, he's really been putting it all together. There was a span of five or six days when he was with either me, Kevin or my Mom the whole time and he really took advantage of this. Although our house is not that big, he's explored all of it on foot!

Our favorite part of this whole thing is the way he walks – like a little Frankenstein. He's still perfecting his balance and learning to go AROUND things (instead of over them) but he's not quite all the way there yet. He sometimes looks like a miniature Godzilla, destroying the village below – the village that consists of all his toys and books, TV remotes, blankets … and the rabbit!

It's so fun to see him at this stage – at such a milestone. We just can't get enough and neither can he as evidenced by the sweat on his little head (after all that hard work) and the fact that he's been wearing himself out SO much that he'll even sleep in until 9 a.m. sometimes! I hope all his milestones will be this much fun!

Missed again

Today was Opening Day for my beloved Tigers. I was a little melancholy over the last few days as I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to go AGAIN. Before last year, when we just couldn’t find a way to solve Ticketbastard (I mean Ticketmaster), I had been to about 10 in a row. And, unlike many people there today, I’m sure, I was in the stands when the Tigers unfortunately lost 119 a few years ago.

This year, since everyone loves a winner, the Tigers sold a TON of season ticket packages and were only left with about 1,000 tickets for the public sale. Because of the intense demand, they Tigers’ ticket office decided that, instead of a public sale, they would do a lottery. Evidently, over 158,000 people entered the lottery for these 1,000 tickets so my odds were never very good (plus, I’m just not lucky). And, to make matters worse, Opening Day tickets were going for some CRAZY ASS prices from ticket brokers. I think the cost of one Opening Day ticket equaled the cost of my ALDS, ALCS and World Series tickets from last year – combined! So, with no luck and no money tree growing in the backyard, I just had to suck it up and deal with watching it on TV (at least I took the day off, which was something I forgot to do last year and it sucked). It was a good game – it went to extra innings – but my Tigers ended up losing 5-3 in 10 to the Toronto Blue Jays. Here’s hoping the opener isn’t a sign of things to come, especially for Fernando Rodney!

The good news is that we’ll probably be able to go to more games since I didn’t want to spend a million dollars on the home opener. I’m hoping we can go to one per month and, hopefully, go on Sundays since those are designated kids days and I am DYING to see Harmon run the bases

SPECIAL NOTE: In addition to today being Opening Day, it also is my Dad's 61st birthday. Happy Birthday, Daddy! I love you!

Bubbles

As Harmon neared the 15-month mark, we slowly moved him from his baby bathtub into the regular bathtub. He wasn’t at all happy about it so I spent an afternoon at Target buying a bunch of stuff to make his bathing experience more pleasant. I bought some balls, of course, which really helped and I bought some bubbles. I didn’t think the bubbles would make a damn bit of difference but they have become his favorite part of bath time. When it nears time for his bath, he sits near the bathroom door and says “bubbles” many, many times – it’s very cute!

Bubbles also have permeated other parts of his daily goings on. I have a set of large plastic jelly beans that I bought to hang from our Japanese Maple tree, if it ever warms up around here, and he is obsessed with these things. They are bright and colorful so naturally he wants to play with them. I’ve had to hide them in the linen closet because he's nearly impaled himself on our baker’s rack a dozen times trying to get to them. Every time I open the closet to get a towel or washcloth, he sees them and makes a beeline for the door. If I manage to get the door closed before he gets there, he’ll just sit there and cry “bubbles, bubbles” for a few minutes. I shouldn’t laugh but it’s hilarious!

BREAKING NEWS: It was damn near 80 degrees today so we finally hung the jelly beans (or bubbles, as Harmon calls them) from the tree. Glad we got it done before Easter or that would have defeated the whole purpose!

Cry for you

Today when we dropped Harmon off at day care, he cried when we tried to leave. He’s been going to day care for well over a year now and this is the first time it’s happened. I’ve always dreaded this and it was just as bad as I imagined.

At our new day care, all of the kids start in one room and then break into their respective age groups at 9 a.m. The teacher has told us, after only a few weeks there, that Harmon is none too happy with this arrangement. We’re not sure if it’s too much commotion with all the coming and going of parents, kids and teachers or if it’s just that he’s still adjusting to the new place. It also could be the simple fact that there just aren’t any balls available in this room!

Anyway, this morning, we put him down and we thought all was well as he made his way to Mr. Potato Head. But, as we started to leave, he started crying and reaching for me. I hugged him and calmed him down and we tried again to leave but, this time, he started crying and reaching for Kevin. At this point, one of the teachers stepped in, picked him up and tried to distract him but it didn’t work. Once again, he started crying and practically jumping out of her arms to get to us. Since I’ve always read that you just have to leave, that’s what we did … and it was awful. I barely got to the door before I was in tears. It was the first time in his short life that he’s cried and reached out to me and I wasn’t able to console him and make things all better. It felt terrible. Of course, Kevin was the strong one and he kept telling me it was going to be OK – I’m so glad he was there when this happened.

I thought about his sad little face (like above) all day long and all the feelings of guilt I have for being a working Mom came rushing back along with all the doubts I have about being a good enough Mom for him. I’m sure he was fine five minutes after we left while I spent all day worrying about him but I guess that’s part of being a Mom.

I was able to pick him up early today and seeing him so excited to see me made me feel so much better. I know days like today are going to happen – I just hope ANOTHER year goes by before we have one again!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

If this and this keep up (we’re only in freakin' SPRING PRACTICE – what the hell is going to happen in the fall), we truly will be just like Ohio State! Well … minus the big-time wins, Big 10 championships, national championships, Heismans, etc.

So much for the "at least we run a good program with good kids" bit (what an OLD bit, by the way). We have thugs just like everyone else and, therefore, shouldn't claim to be some "paragon of integrity."

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

And, happy 48th birthday to Danny Ainge (I love you)!


ANYWAY, there was some luck of the Irish in Ann Arbor today as Tommy Amaker was fired as the U-M basketball coach. Although he did take the job under some really bad circumstances, cleaned up the program and brought it to some level of respectability, he wasn’t able to take it to the next level. And, thankfully, Bill Martin finally realized that and is making a change. Coaching searches at U-M are rare so the next few weeks should be interesting.

The last few days really have been fun as we’ve watched WAY TOO MUCH basketball. Even though U-M was not involved (AGAIN) in the NCAA tourney, it’s still such a fun time of year! Since Harmon didn’t even know he was alive for the 2006 tournament, he has gotten his first real taste of it this year. I used a vacation day on Thursday and I’m usually off on Fridays so I was able to watch a ton of games. Kevin was off too both days but that was because he was sick. But, being sick didn’t keep him from watching some hoops! One day, when Harmon is old enough to ask to skip school to stay home and watch the tournament, let me just say right now that the answer will be “yes!”

Don't mess with 'H'

Now on the other side of 16 months, there are a few things Harmon does not care much for. He used to hate when I called him 'Nator, he doesn't like waiting for his food, and you take your life, and your eardrums, in your hands when you pick him up to get him ready for bed. Even early on, he showed his dislike for losing to Ohio State (get used to it, kid). But, now that he is mostly walking and can get to us easier, he is taking a more hands-on approach to his most recent dislike. He does not like it much when Aimee and I hug. I am not sure if he is being protective of his Mama, because he thinks I might be hurting her, or that he just wants to be the one to say when it is time to dole out hugs. Whatever it is, he will physically try and pry us apart when we hug. Someday he will understand if it wasn't for hugs, he may not be here.

16 months old

Harmon is 16 months old today and is just rolling right along. He's walking, although not on a full-time basis. I assume one day he's just going to start running all over the place.

One of our favorite new things is when he stands at his bedroom door and says "read, read." He loves for us to sit with him and read, so much that we have to keep adding to his library. We read with him before bed and before naps and at other random times throughout the day and he loves it. Hopefully, this is a sign of good things to come.

Over the weekend, we made the trek to Pottery Barn Kids at the fancypants Somerset Mall. We saw the toddler chairs on-line and wanted to see how Harmon reacted to one of them before we made the purchase. So, we took him out of his stroller and put him in the chair and he loved it! He also loved several other very expensive Pottery Barn Kids' items (yikes) but we decided on just the chair. After we got home and had dinner, we put the chair together and he crawled right into it. We had it in the living room on our area rug with the back to the hardwood floor – which was a bad decision. While sitting in the chair, he kept throwing his head back until the whole thing flipped backward. Of course, he bumped his little head on the floor and was crying so we had to collect him and console him. I know you're not supposed to laugh at your kids but, once we realized he was OK, Kevin and I looked at each and TOTALLY DIED! I don't know if it was the look on his face as the chair was falling backward or that all you could see from our angle was two feet in the air or the fact that he still was in a perfect sitting position when I picked him up to hug him but it was hilarious!

We thought maybe he might be a little averse to the chair after the incident but it doesn't seem to have registered with him. Today, before I came to work, he sat in it and I sat alongside him and we watch Blue Clues together. Kevin then called me in the afternoon and said he was sitting in it watching the Wonder Pets too. So, he must like it and I'm glad because it's part of his Easter present!

Here and there

Well, it looks like we made a good decision in switching Harmon's day care. We got a call last night from one of the teachers from KidZone saying they officially are closing. Kevin and I both breathed a sigh of relief from our end but also felt really bad for the great teachers who now are looking for new jobs. Sad!

Our last few days have been pretty uneventful. Kevin's Dad left to go back to Peoria Friday morning. He was here working hard on our basement for a week. The transformation is amazing! On Friday night, we went to Pizza House for dinner (for the first time since New Year's Eve). Harmon was perfectly behaved but completely uninterested in dining with me and Kevin. He was WAY more interested in the waitress, the hostess, the people at all the tables around us, etc. Good times!

On Saturday, I had a 9 a.m. dentist appointment (no cavities, woo hoo), followed by a 10:30 a.m. hair appointment for Kevin and finally a hair appointment for me at noon – all in Waterford near my parents' house. It was a very busy morning. After all the appointments, we dropped Harmon off with my parents – where he proudly displayed his new walking skeels – and went to see Zodiac, which was a great movie. Speaking of Zodiac, I thought about reading the book so I looked up some reviews on on amazon.com and many reviewers were saying it was the scariest book they've ever read … so I don't think I'll be reading it. Kevin thinks I'm annoying NOW about being left alone; imagine life after reading that book!

ANYWAY, while we were at the movies, Harmon developed a bit of a fever. He had a bit of a cold, which we're more than used to with day care as a part of his life, but had some new things going on too. He had really goopy eyes and a slowly-disappearing hives/rash thingy. I had called about the hives/rash the previous Friday and spoke with the nurse who assured me he wasn't going to die of scarlet fever but then he developed the eye thing and I felt bad for not taking him in. SO, the rest of the weekend was spent making sure he was happy and comfortable.

Of course, directly following Harmon's cold is some kind of ailment for Mommy. Again, it started with a sore throat last Thursday and then, on Saturday, I began losing my voice. Saturday night and Sunday night were awful as every time I would TRY to lie down, I would start coughing violently so I got almost no sleep – so damn frustrating. Because I was a zombie, I called in sick on Monday and Kevin and I took Harmon to the doctor's office Monday afternoon. Turns out he had a bit of an eye infection so she prescribed him some drops and, after taking a look in his ears, she saw some fluid. She said there was no ear infection YET but it probably was on the way (thus the fever) so she prescribed us some more antibiotics. As for the hives/rash issue, apparently Harmon is allergic to fish, as this was the only thing he ate recently that was out of the ordinary. So, no eggs or fish for him for a while. I'm actually glad about the fish – I hate fish!

Not much else is new. Harmon continues to walk just enough to tease us and then goes back to crawling. I'm sure he's just going to take off and run one day and then we'll be in for it!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

This morning, Kevin and I dropped Harmon off at his new day care center, Annie's Children's Center in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown District. It was hard but not quite as hard as it was his very first day in February 2006. We took him into the room where the toddlers were, put him down and he crawled over and got all involved in what the other kids were doing. We waved and told him goodbye and he was fine. I wasn't though as I cried when we left. It just feels weird getting used to new people taking care of the most important person in your life. I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly but the first couple of weeks will be hard. To console me, Kevin drove to Starbucks. When all else fails, a Venti Lite Mocha Frappuccino makes you feel a little better! I called Annie's at lunch and spoke with Harmon's new teacher, Abby, and she said he was having a great first day. He ate well during snack time and at lunch and he was playing well with the other toddlers. The only glitch in the day was some fussiness at nap time, probably because he was overtired. Abby did tell me that they have one toddler who is very touchy-feely and likes to hug everyone. Evidently, he was trying to hug Harmon, who was not having any of it. She said he was getting a little frustrated by this, which doesn't surprise me. He hugs when he wants to and, if he doesn't want to, he squirms and contorts his body until he can get away from the hugger! Anyway, I pick him up around 5:45 p.m. so we'll see how the afternoon went.

As for our old day care, when Kevin was there Tuesday for Harmon's last day, there still was no clear plan for them. It's a shame because it was a great place with great teachers. But, they've known about getting kicked out of the church since last April so it never should have come down to the wire like this. Hopefully, for the sake of the teachers and the kids who are left, they'll be able to pull something together.

A little Betsie has arrived!

Early this morning, my best friend in the whole world, Betsie (Simon) Feldman, gave birth to her first child, a tiny little daughter named Julia Charlotte Feldman. She was born at 1:16 a.m., weighing in at 6 pounds and 10 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. She’s a little one and she was a week late. Imagine how small she would have been if she was on time!

I met Betsie our freshman year at the University of Michigan. We were paired together as roommates in the desolate North Campus dorm of Bursley Hall but we managed to have a good time. And, for the next two of three years, I would live with her again – first in our house on State Street and then in our apartment on Hill Street – and continue to have a good time. There’s not much we haven’t been through together in over 15 years of friendship and I’m so excited to see how she’ll handle this next step in her life. Ever since I’ve known Betsie, she’s always taken care of everyone so I know little Julia is in great hands!

Congratulations to Betsie and Paul and I can’t wait to meet Julia!

OK, some photos of us over the years!

Here we are at graduation in the "Big House" in April 1995:

And together again at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1998. This is when Michigan won the national championship and probably the last time we won a big game, let alone a Rose Bowl! Good times!

Home Improvement!

When we moved into our first house during the summer of 2005, one of the things that was attractive to us was the mostly unfinished basement. It does have a full bedroom down there, but the rest is pretty wide open. Right away, we imagined a carpeted family room with lots of room for a nice, fluffy couch and big TV for watching football ... I mean educational programs with Harmon. Well, work is now underway on this space. My Dad came up from Illinois for the week and has been working almost non-stop (with me for four of those days) to make our dream a reality. He makes Bob Villa look slow. The walls are up (this is a view from the bottom of the stairs into the back of the room), the wiring is in place and the insulation is placed. The room is so huge and will be great space for our family. Aimee jokes that it is my "man-cave," that one room all men have in their homes where they can go and drink beer and watch sports. Well, I don't drink beer and Aimee likes sports, too, so everyone is invited.

Let's Go Krogering

Almost every Monday afternoon, Kevin volunteers to do some of the grocery shopping so he packs up Harmon and they head to the local Kroger. In addition to these Monday trips, Kevin usually has to go at least one other time during the week to replenish Isabel's food. Although he doesn't mind doing it, he claims he sometimes feels like he lives at Kroger.

When I got home this past Monday and was talking with Harmon about his day, I asked him all about his trip to Kroger with Daddy. Since he's so good at repeating, I asked him to say "Kroger" and he did - just as plain as could be. Kevin heard it and came running in and he repeated it for him too.

I guess he likes going Krogering with his Daddy!

Also, another new trick, as reported by my Mom today. Apparently, he likes to push up the center couch cushion and then crawl up underneath it. He's been crawling up into the blanket basket for a few days but now he's taking it to a whole new levo!

Check-ups, baby steps, hair cuts, etc.

Harmon had his 15-month check-up Friday morning and it was uneventful. Usually, Kevin and I are full of questions but Harmon has been to the doctor’s office a bit more than usual lately with the bronchiolitis followed by the ear infection so most of our questions have been answered. Harmon checked in at 28.4 pounds (91st percentile) and 34 inches long (99th percentile). Needless to say, he’s still a big boy. He did have to get two shots but the good news is that he is done now until school starts. We didn’t do the blood test this time to see how the iron supplement is working so we’ll do it at his 18-month appointment on May 11. We talked a lot with the doctor about the whole walking thing and, thankfully, there was some progress to report. Last Sunday night (Feb. 11), Harmon took a few steps between me and Kevin and then, on Wednesday night (Feb. 14) when my Mom was watching him, he took four or five steps from her to me. He’s also finally taken a liking to his push toy, which is helping a lot. He’s all over the house with it now. So, overall, things are going well and we’re so thankful.

After Harmon’s doctor’s appointment, we ran some errands. He’s been wet a few mornings recently so I finally figured out that he needed the next size up in diapers. So, we bought some size five Pampers Cruisers. We also had to get him a lunchbox and some shoes for his new day care. I still need to get him a couple of back-up outfits so it’s on my list to stop by Once Upon A Child.

Because Harmon’s hair grows like weeds, we drove up to the Carnival Cuts at Twelve Oaks Mall again on Saturday. This is his third haircut but I think the best one yet. The stylist really sheared him in the back but it looks SO cute. Unfortunately, it makes him look like such a big boy.

Not sure what today holds. We were hoping to get Harmon out in the snow for the first time this winter but the forecasted high is only 20 so I’m not sure that will happen. It looks like 30s the rest of the week so maybe we can get to it sometime in the next few days.

A minor miracle happened today – Michigan beat Indiana in basketball for the first time in the Tommy Amatuer, I mean Amaker (or should I say, Coach Radio) era. To be more specific, we ended an 11-game losing streak against the Hoosiers. At this point in the season, I was just hoping we would continue to lose instead of winning a game here and there and getting our hopes up. Because, down the stretch, we’ll blow it like we always do and miss the NCAA tournament AGAIN. You know, it’s not even worth me blogging about.

On a much better sports note, Spring Training for Tigers’ pitchers and catchers started on Friday. The first day featured A LOT of pitchers fielding practice, which is no surprise! The rest of the team will be ready to go in Lakeland on Tuesday, Feb. 20. The first true exhibition game is Wednesday, Feb. 28 (against the Mets) and Opening Day (against the Blue Jays) in Detroit is Monday, April 2. Gotta’ love baseball! Go Tigers!

OK, one last thing. Here’s our Valentine from Harmon for Valentine’s Day 2007. Love those little handprints!

He loves his blanky

My Mom called me at work yesterday to tell me a cute Harmon story.

While she was watching him, he starting playing with this basket of blankets we keep in the living room. He often puts his little Roll-a-Around balls in there but he appeared to be doing something different so she went over to check it out.

He pulled off the top blanket, which was a U-M blanket, and then pulled off the next blanket, which is a Cardinals-Tigers combo blanket. Each time, my Mom thought he was reaching for that particular blanket. But, he really was trying to get to one of his baby blankets, this one with one yellow side and one green side. He used to sleep on this blanket on the floor for HOURS when he was just a few months old.

So, she pulled the blanket out for him and placed in on the floor. He promptly crawled right over to it, sprawled out and went to sleep. Is it possible he actually "remembers" this blanket? He never naps on the living room floor anymore but couldn't resist when she put the blanket down so it must have some meaning to him! I wish I could have seen this whole scene. It probably looked like this, only in a larger version (and minus the hat).

He is SO cute!

Will you be my valentine?

To all those who love me so much, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

As a small “thank you” for all you do for me, I got you all a little something sweet. It’s not chocolate. In fact, you can’t even eat it. You COULD drink it but you might just want to save it for a keepsake. If you DO want to drink it, go ahead because you still could save it for a keepsake.




Mommy and Daddy helped me choose this gift (using this photo) and do tags and bows for all my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I hope you all like it.

If any of you would like to make a gift like this, you can visit the Jones Soda web site. It’s fun!

Love, Harmon