by Rachel | Family Life
Parker is officially crawling. The first time it happened was Wednesday afternoon; my mom and I were watching him play on the rug when suddenly he took off. I tried to capture it on video then, but was too slow and then I had to go to work. I took this video the next morning, and he’s been on the move ever since.
So far crawling hasn’t been a huge adjustment for me, since I’m used to Parker moving all over the place by scooting or rolling. But he’s getting faster, and doesn’t seem to want to stay on his playmat where all of his toys are anymore.
The days of getting some work done while he plays independently for a half hour at a time are coming to an end, which is a little bit of a bummer. The good news is that since Parker is sleeping much better, I can stay up late to work and not be quite as tired in the morning. I’ll take what I can get!
by Rachel | Family Life
We kicked off the week with a quick day trip to St. Louis, where we celebrated cousin Ellie’s 1st birthday. Parker took his second ever dip in the pool — the theme of the party was “Polar Plunge” though the temperature inside was nice and warm — and then he had fun playing with the rest of his cousins.
Monday and Tuesday brought more arctic weather, so that meant more hibernating in the house for us. We finally got out on Wednesday to visit with the other moms and babies at the St. John’s group. Parker got quite friendly with Paisley, one of the other babies who has been coming almost as long as we have. They were so cute, smiling and talking to each other. I love watching him interact with other babies!
Zach has been bringing Parker to my Church Mice music class, so he’s been getting some social interaction there, too. He really gets into the music and even plays some of the instruments like the bigger kids. At this time next year, he’ll be running around and dancing with them :)
This week I introduced oatmeal, which I wasn’t planning on doing in the beginning. But since Parker wasn’t liking any of the other solids I tried, I figured the oatmeal was worth a shot. Lo and behold, he has done pretty well with it! He still turns away from every spoonful I offer, but eventually will take a bite. He ended up eating a few tablespoons, which is more than he’s eaten of any other food. Progress!
As I type this blog post, we are in the middle of yet another winter storm…so I guess we’ll be doing more hibernating over the next few days. At least Parker has some friends here to keep him company.
by Rachel | Family Life
When I took over as Head Mouse of the early childhood music class, Church Mice, I was a music therapy intern in St. Louis and commuting to Springfield on the weekends. I was not married, and I was what seemed like a million years away from thinking about children of my own.
Fast forward 7 years: I’m still the Head Mouse, and there’s a new little mouse in the circle. MY BABY! I cannot fully explain how surreal it is to see Parker sitting amongst the rest of the kiddos, playing instruments and smiling and having fun.
What’s even more surreal is watching Zach (my husband) and Parker play together, just like the rest of the families in the group. When we started thinking about having a baby, and even moreso when I was pregnant, I tried to imagine this scenario — but the reality is so much sweeter than anything I envisioned! The fact that they are bonding through my music just makes my heart swell.
At one point, Zach sat Parker right next to me. He had the biggest grin on his face, watching and listening as I sang. I couldn’t help but grin right back at him. I try not to play favorites in any of my groups or classes, but it’s a little hard not to in this case ;)
Church Mice has always been one of the highlights of my week, but having my family there brings a whole new level of enjoyment. I know there will come a time (hopefully in the distant, distant future) when Parker is embarrassed by my singing and playing, so until then I am going to soak up these moments, being his musical idol.
by Rachel | Family Life
This is quite possibly my favorite age yet. Parker is still an infant — he’s little and needy and still nursing often — but he’s also showing some signs of becoming a “big boy”. And as bittersweet as it is to watch my baby grow up before my eyes, it’s also pretty awesome.
He’s so happy; he’s really a sweet, good-natured boy. I can make him smile just by making a silly face or doing a funny dance, and he giggles every time he lays eyes on Sadie. He LOVES his grandparents and his sitter, Greta, and just about everyone else he meets.
At 32 weeks, Parker still wants nothing to do with solid foods. I have tried many different kinds, both homemade and store-bought, and even “puffs” were mostly a no-go. It’s kind of baffling, because he puts everything ELSE in his mouth without a second thought. I’m trying not to get discouraged, but it’s hard when I hear about other babies eating and loving solids. We’ll just keep trying and hope that one of these days, he changes his mind.
Parker has been babbling for quite some time, and right around Christmas he discovered the “ba” sound. Ever since, it’s “bababa” and “bubba” (which happens to be our nickname for him) 24/7, but recently he has added a new word: MAMA. Not “mamamamama”, which has been around for months; just “mama”. He looks so proud when he says it, probably because I clap and cheer and attack him with kisses every time :) He has been playing around with “da”, so “dada” is probably not far behind.
We’ve been going a little stir-crazy inside, and I am so ready for winter to be over. I miss our walks in the park and even just being able to go outside, but it has just been too cold. We spend a LOT of time playing with toys (and the toy bin itself, haha), practicing crawling and walking, and finding other ways to pass the time around the house. Even this homebody is getting bored!
But we do have a couple trips to look forward to in February. We are heading to Florida not once, but twice; the first is for my NICU music therapy training in Orlando, and then the following weekend is Marco Island for Zach’s company trip. It will be so nice to escape the frozen tundra for a few days.
by Rachel | Family Life
My favorite milestone so far: independent play. Parker has enjoyed demanded my full attention since he was born, and it wasn’t until the last couple of weeks that he has finally been able to entertain himself for longer than just a few minutes.
Since he mastered sitting up on his own — both getting into sitting position and sustaining it — he’s been very content to play with his toys on his own (as long as I’m in sight). I’ve dubbed the far side of our living room “Parker’s Playhouse”, because that’s where we spend a LARGE portion of our day together. Most of the time I’m right down on the floor with him, but now that he is happy to play on his own for a little while, I can use my laptop/eat lunch/fold laundry and still keep an eye on him from just a few feet away.
The key is to have a LOT of toys on hand, because this baby has the attention span of a gnat. I usually dump out two bins full of various toys, teethers and stuffed animals, though it is inevitable that he makes his way off the playmat eventually (he’s a champion roller, scooter and backwards crawler).
I also have a mobile version of the playhouse for when I need to work at my desk for a little bit. Since my office is carpeted, I can spread out Parker’s toys on the floor and plop him in the middle of the room where he’s perfectly content. He especially loves listening to me write songs or record, my little musician in the making :)
Our plan is to finish Parker’s downstairs playroom in time for his 1st birthday, but for now, I love that he has his own space in the room where we spend the most time together as a family.
by Rachel | Family Life
Winter is my least favorite season. I can’t stand the cold and snow, so I leave the house as little as possible from January to March. Luckily now I have the perfect excuse to hibernate, thanks to my little bear.
(I should make it clear that I was not present when this photo was taken; Zach and his cousin Matt took Parker out into the snow for 5 minutes so he could have his first experience in it. I was happy to stay nice and warm at home.)
We were lucky enough to escape winter and celebrate the New Year in south Florida, where it was 80 degrees and sunny. We stayed with my grandma in Naples for the first part of the trip, and she got to spend some quality time with Parker for the second time since he was born. He’s changed just a little bit since we were last there in August!
We left Naples and met Dustin and Kristin and their adorable new baby, Jackson, for brunch. It was so much fun getting to meet him and hang out with both our babies. After that we headed to Deerfield Beach, where we stayed with Sally (one of my best friends from college) and her husband, Enrique. They have two little boys, Ricky and baby Donny, who’s only 3 months old. We had a wonderful time during our short stay, which included a trip to the beach and a nature center.
We ended our whirlwind trip and got home juuuust in time for a huge blizzard and polar vortex…so, that was awesome. More hibernating before getting back into the swing of things with work starting back up. That’s always a little difficult after 2+ weeks off for the holidays, but it was nice to get back into a routine.
And of course, part of that routine is taking Parker’s weekly photos. He is getting so big; he has completely mastered sitting up on his own, and can even pull up into sitting position all by himself. He loves to stand most of all, and we practice his “walking” all the time. He has the backwards crawl down, but is still working on going forward.
