First friends

On Sunday evening we enjoyed dinner with some friends. For Thomas, his first friend was Lily. Now it is Parker's turn, and his first friend is Lily's little sister, Sarah Ellen. They enjoyed hanging out together, as they always do. This time I remembered to take a picture.


Thank you to James & Taryn for inviting us over. We enjoyed both the food and the fellowship. And all week Thomas has talked about how he went over to Lily's house when it was dark outside. :)

First bites

On Sunday we gave Parker his first taste of solid foods. He thought the high chair was neat.


And at first he seemed interested in what was to come.


Then he had a bite.


And decided he wasn't all that interested after all.


He was not that amused.


But with eyes full of skeptism, he gave it another try.


And then he learned if he pursed his lips, the spoon couldn't get through.


He much preferred to eat his bib.


On another attempt this week, he basically just left the rice cereal in his mouth until I had to essentially wipe it all out. Will try again today and tomorrow, and then move on to a veggie on Sunday.

Six months old!

On Sunday I was shocked to realize that it was already November 2, and that meant that Parker is now six months old! I can't believe that already a half of a year has passed. It truly goes by much too quickly. I keep thinking of things I wish I had done when he was smaller (like take more pictures of little toes and fingers...or enjoy the sweetness of late-night feedings without feeling so inconvenienced) and now those opportunties are gone.



He has the sweetest smile. When he smiles, his entire face smiles and it brightens up the room. It brightens up my day. I never tire of his open-mouthed grin:


Of course, it does mean that all of my pictures look the same. His smiles have one degree...ALL OUT. There is no in between...it's all or nothing. I prefer all...

Look at him curling those little toes! So cute.

At six months Parker:
* Weighs 17 lbs, 15 oz. and is 26.75 inches long (that's an increase of 9.5 lbs and 6.5 inches since birth).
* Is wearing mostly 12 months clothes (or 6-12 months size, depending on the brand) and size 4 diapers.
* Rolls over when he wants to, but doesn't seem to want to all that much. He turns around regularly in his crib.
* Sleeps wonderfully at night (generally from 7 to 7), but is much less predictable with naps. On a good day I get two two-hour naps out of him...maybe a three-hour afternoon nap if I am very, very lucky. But on most days I get one long-ish nap in the afternoon.
* Knows no limits of crying-it-out for naptime. If he doesn't go to sleep asleep or nearly asleep (after feeding), he will not go to sleep. I think he would cry/fuss for five hours straight if I would let him (I won't).
* Reaches and grabs anything in reach and immediately puts everything in his mouth.
* "Talks" a lot (mostly "ehhhhhh, ahhhhhhhh, ohhhhhhhhh, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," or something to that effect...he will imitate me if I make a similar noise)
* Loves, loves, loves to bounce in his bouncy seat; he knows just how to kick his feet to keep him bouncing.
* Will tolerate other devices (swing, exersaucer, jumperoo (tried that this past weekend for the first time)) for short periods of time.
* Still likes his playmat; it's one of the few places I can lay him down and walk away without him crying, more often than not.
* Is almost always happy just being held. As long as he is not hungry or very tired, this immediately cures his fussies.
* Enjoys bathtime...but he doesn't get one all that often. Poor kid. :)
* Loves his brother. He "talks" and coos if he even just sees a picture of Thomas. He always smiles when he sees him.
* Is starting to "sit" more and more. Mostly it's just a "tripod" sit, but he's getting better and better (as you can see in the pictures) and not falling over nearly as often, or quickly.
* Does not love standing all that much. Unlike his brother, he doesn't love to put weight on his feet, though he tolerates it and tries sometimes for short periods of time (and I mean with me holding him up).
* Will be trying solids soon; but for now he just nurses 6-7 times a day.
* Is generally easy going. He gets lugged around a lot more than his big brother ever did; and most of the time he just goes with it. He's not good at napping on the fly, but he does remarkably well without a nap.
* Laughs if I tickle his belly or put my head down and shake it, or put it down on his chest. He has the sweetest little laugh and it just always makes me smile.
* Loves to suck his thumb!



For the most part, he is such a joy. He has his fussy times and he needs to be held more than I would like sometimes, but all in all, he is really an easy baby. I am so thankful. I look back at updates I did on Thomas and we were still getting up to soothe him back to sleep and sometimes feed him several times during the night. And Parker has been sleeping through the night like a total champ since he was 11 weeks old. Knock on wood, I don't even consider that he will need me in the middle of the night anymore! Sometimes he wakes up, will talk for a minute, sometimes he'll fuss, then he'll find his thumb and go back to sleep. I don't know how we made it without a video monitor for Thomas!

I'm so thankful for another month of being Parker's mommy and I look forward to a lifetime more of months to come!

We all voted...and we didn't tip over

As I wait to see our new president-elect make his first speech with that title, I thought I'd share a little about our day.


That's not my sticker, but one I lifted off the internet because I'm too lazy to post mine. But I did earn my sticker today. Ended up having to take both boys to the poll and we stood in line for two hours (almost exactly!). It was lunchtime when we started and naptime by the time we left, but the boys did really well.

I was thankful the people around me were parents, so they were helping me push the stroller and lift the empty carseat (after both had been abandoned), and watching both when I decided I needed to run back to the car and get the Baby Bjorn and some more books and toys for Thomas! The DVD was great until the batteries died. By the time we got to the voting machines, I had pulled out my measure of last resort -- a small bag of Skittles. Everyone commented that the boys were really well behaved, all things considered. So there's that. :)

I kept telling Thomas on the way that we needed to go vote. In response all he kepts saying was, "It's not going to tip over." He rode in the kayak with Mom last weekend and I think he was getting voting confused with boating. :)

It was a historic day (no matter who won the election), and I hope my boys always know what a privilege it is to vote in this country. And though it was not ideal taking both boys to vote today, it was something that was so incredibly important and I hope my boys always know that.

A happy Halloween

I can't say I coordinated the boys' Halloween costumes all that well, but perhaps this pilot flew to Maine to pick up an adorable lobster?


Trey ordered patches for THomas' flight suit to match his. Thomas has always been a fan of Trey's uniform patches, so this went over very well... (i blurred our last name for the blog)

A closer look:


Instead of the plastic helmet that came with the uniform, we opted for Trey's hat instead...


He was very excited to go trick-or-treating as this was his first year going to more than our direct neighbors. He came home with quite a lot of candy and he was quite excited about it. We let him have one snack-size bag of Skittles when he got home. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised that he couldn't get to sleep until after 10!

While Thomas was out walking around the neighborhood with his Daddy, Parker and I stayed home to hand out candy. He was quite a hit with everyone who came by.




He just wanted to eat it...


Maybe next year I'll coordinate their outfits a little better, but then again, I think there's nothing wrong with a pilot/lobster combination. :)

Pumpkin patch fun

Herding cats might be easier...

...than trying to get that perfect Halloween picture of our boys at the pumpkin patch.

Yesterday as soon as Trey flew in from his business trip, we went straight from the airport to the pumpkin patch (he's such a great Daddy!). However, I had to wake Parker from his morning nap so he was not too cooperative and Thomas was just being his usual self when it comes to taking pictures. Oh well...we had fun anyway, especially Thomas.



We headed straight for the tractor/hayride and Thomas was most excited about that:






Then Thomas informed us he wanted to go get on the "mountain" (a "mountain" of hay in the middle of the field). A mountain with a slide; what could be better than that?


A mountain of hay equals endless fun:




It's no wonder he had hay in his shoes, in his pants, in his shirt and in his diaper at the end of the day:


Parker looked on with his approval, perhaps dreaming of the day he can romp in the hay too:


Thomas as Frankenstein:



Before we left, we attempted to take a picture on more time with the pumpkins. But Parker just wanted to eat anything...including his hands:


And Thomas just wanted to be Thomas:


In the end, no perfect pumpkin patch picture, but a good time was had by all.

Halloween photos to come...

Pumpkin carving

Last weekend the excessive amount of rain that fell on Friday kept us from keeping our plan to go to the pumpkin patch on Saturday, but we still went and got some pumpkins from a local church and carved them Saturday evening. First we took a few pictures of our little pumpkins with the pumpkins...


At first Parker wasn't sure what to make of the hat. He was making the funniest faces...




And Thomas wasn't too sure about holding his little brother, but he did a decent job...


Then it was time to carve them. Trey cleaned them out while Thomas supervised:


He had to take a closer look...


Parker kept an eye on things from his little perch in the doorway:


Trey carved the first one, and then I tried my hand at it (for the first time, ever!):


Parker patiently waiting...


Thomas showed off his hard work...



And later that night we took Thomas down to check them out before he went to bed. He thought they were pretty neat!


Next up...our trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday!