On the Move

Mama Mary called yesterday to say how much she misses Lance, which made me realize it might be time for another video!

So... Lance is mobile. Not quite a crawl, but he can chase his little car around one scoot at a time. He still doesn't understand that he can go places, but that's fine with me!

I Heart NY

It was a hot day on Monday, and Lance had a chance to wear his new onesie handed down from one of his older buddies. Because some of you out there live in NY (and one will be moving there soon), and many of you might even love New York, I thought this would be a worthy post!
Lance is getting very good at rolling around and is trying his hardest to crawl. Definitely can't quite figure it out yet, but it is super fun to watch him try.
Here are some pics of Lance rolling around on the bed and loving NY...

Hair

Lance is rocking quite a do these days... Wait, who am I kidding? He's been rocking quite a do since birth, but the last month has seen even more crazy growth (and loss)! The top is getting totally unruly and the back and sides are completely rubbed out except for a little duck tail. If we decide to truly go with the local Hilo style, we might just grow out that little duck tail to a you know what- a rat tail!!! Heaven forbid!
Here are some shots of the evolution thus far:

lots of hair for a newborn, but looking pretty tame!

One month old and the top is starting "its thing"
two months old and the side thinning begins
still two months and the top is getting better!
continued thinning at three months
the culprit for the lack of strands on the back and sides... getting cozy and rubbing right and left
several people around town have been asking if we intentionally cut our (then) four month old a mohawk
the top just keeps getting longer!
the morning after daddy does the post-bath, pre-bed styling
the aforementioned duck tail with a rogue top strand
full splendor on his five month birthday

Thoughts? Suggestions? Jokes? We'll take them all! We love our boy to the max- amazing head of hair and all!

Update on the Other Babies

It's been five months since Lance arrived at Moses and Kohala's house and, well, they are officially in love.
Moses takes his job as Head of Security very seriously and would do anything to be able to lick Lance from head to toe all day long.
Kohala has become Lance's favorite playmate (they are the same size, afterall!) and will entertain him by chasing her ball up and down the hallway again and again and again.
If he has a fussy moment during the day there is only one thing he needs to feel better- a little interaction with the Mose and the Kok. True love, indeed.

Swings!

Apparently I've been holding out on my son by not taking him to the park sooner. We went this weekend and Lance had his first experience on the swingset! Needless to say, he loved it. Laughing, shrieking, smiling- adorable!
Here are some pics of the big event...

all proud:

and, because we were wearing matching outfits, one of the two of us:

You did WHAT? with your WHAT?????

be forewarned: this post may contain some unappealing visuals and information...

So, five months ago when Stef and I were talking about what the birth would be like, etc., the whole placenta topic came up. Should we save it? Bury it in the yard? Look at it? Let the hospital staff throw it away? Pretend it never existed?
well, we had the conversation but didn't make any decisions except for one- that even though it sort of grossed me out, I wanted to see it (which I dutifully informed Dr. N of in my last prenatal visit).

After Lance was born, we were both in a complete daze and thankfully, Dr. N remembered that I wanted to have a look at the "other" part of my pregnancy. When she asked if we wanted to keep it, we looked at each other with blank stares and after an awkard pause, Stef said, "sure, why not!"

Well, into the cooler it went. Then home to the freezer, and then, after finally finding a star fruit tree to plant, it went into the ground.

the dogs stood by...

Four months later and the tree is still just two feet tall, but it is FULL of starfruit. And I mean FULL.

We've been enjoying them immensely and Stef has promised to stop telling guests that the fruit they are eating was grown from my placenta. Eeeew.

Blog Delinquence...

Wow- over a month has gone by since I have posted... What can I say? It has been a month of sleep deprivation!

Soooooo, there is a lot to catch up on!

I'll have to start a month ago, when we tearfully said goodbye to Mama Mary. Mama Mary enjoyed over two months with us in Hilo and is as devoted to Lance as his very own parents. Not only did she shower the little guy with total love and admiration, she took great care of Stef and I too!
When she wasn't hanging with Lance and patiently rocking him to sleep, she was remarking on all of his newly acquired skills and developments.

When she wasn't doing either of these, Mama Mary was in her room, glued to the food network conjuring up the latest gourmet meal to cook us for dinner!
As you can guess, when she wasn't doing any of these, Mama Mary was busting her rump in the kitchen (on a regular Tuesday or Wednesday night) working on a multiple course dinner for the family. We were so spoiled!

Mary also became a regular at a church in Hilo and enjoyed her Sunday mornings there.

It goes without saying that having Mama Mary here to help those first few months was invaluable. But, just as valuable to me was the chance to develop my own relationship with the woman who raised my hubby and to know and love each other completely separate from Stefan! We even had the opportunity to gang up on him a couple times for using poor manners! :)
It was also a very special time for Stef to spend with his mom- the most time together in many years!!
We MISS her sooooo much already but she has promised to come back and is campaigning for our next baby to be born in the winter months so that she can escape the cold temperatures in Gainesville (it was 22 degrees yesterday!).

A couple of weeks after Mama Mary left, the Harmeling family hopped on the plane to celebrate the holidays with the other side of the family!

Ready to board our first flight! Asleep!

Mid way across the Pacific

Lance was a fantastic airplane traveler and did great on the trip, despite being dragged here and there to run errands, hang with family, and celebrate the holidays.

bundled up

He LOVED being with his cousins. Will and Lance may have been brothers in another lifetime because Will just couldn't get enough of the little guy!

Lance had his official "coming out party" hosted by my mom and sisters and took it all in stride as he met lots of aunties and uncles and got passed around from loving hands to loving hands. Thanks again for the great afternoon!!


As I mentioned above, it has been a month of sleep deprivation for Mommy. Why? Well, partially it was adjusting to the cold, dry California weather which was pretty difficult for Lance. Thankfully, Tera lent the godsend humidifier, which helped a little but the poor guy didn't sleep too well on the trip. More importantly, Lance is officially out of the "fourth trimester" newborn stage and over the past month and a half has become even MORE aware and engaged with this crazy world! He quickly decided what exactly he needed to fall asleep (nursing or bouncing) and would wake up and cry for one or the other several times a night. Ay yay yay! says the mommy who had gotten very used to the 5-7 hour stretches of sleep.
What to do?
Well, start with reading a million books on sleep...

Then consult with your loving sisters...

Then post a cry of help on facebook! What do you know? A girl I played AYSO soccer with in Junior High responded with a title I had not yet poured over! and guess what? It was "the" book!
I really did not think (or hope) that I would fall into the Cry It Out category of sleep training. In fact, I think I thought that I would never have to even sleep train at all! That Lance would continue his long stretches and magically learn how to put himself to sleep! Not so.
With far too many sleepless nights under my belt, Stef and I decided to simply "try" the crying strategy. I kept reminding myself that Lance is learning a VERY important skill- how to fall asleep on his own. That has helped the process. So far, we are a week in and the little monkey almost has it down!! He has officially attached to a lovie blanket and fusses for a few minutes after we put him down, but can now fall asleep on his own! I spent the first few days feeling totally liberated and wondering what to do with the extra 30-45 minutes that I was spending bouncing/rocking/swinging in the hammock to help him fall asleep. Amazing! Now, of course, I am looking back and having my first "It goes by SO fast" moment as a mom. No more falling asleep in my arms?? already?!! The grass is always greener!

Aside from learning how to sleep, Lance has been up to a LOT of talking... all kinds of sounds and squeals that I'm sure are communicating exactly how he's feeling and what he's thinking. And- he working very hard on rolling from back to front! He can somehow get his head from one end of the crib to the other, doing a complete 180, with sheer wiggle power. Lance's other favorite activity is putting his feet in his mouth. He can actually do it when he coordinates his hand placement right! Lance is still a long, lean machine- I don't think we're gonna get a chubby baby here folks... but he is healthy, active, and seems to be pretty happy in his skin!

Happy 2010 everyone!