Week 18 will go down in history as the first time in 4 months that we’ve had consecutive full nights’ sleep. Needless to say, it’s been a great week! Getting more sleep has allowed me to get up at 5 and either go to the gym or get some work done before Parker wakes up — without feeling like a zombie by the time I start work in the afternoon.

Oh, and the other nice side effect of sleeping through the night? Yielding results like this during my first pumping session of the day (that’s a LOT for me!).

Another cool thing happened this week: the Cardinals made it to the World Series! Needless to say, Zach is not thrilled…nor was he thrilled when my choice of wardrobe for Parker on the morning of Game 5 of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, Parker is destined to be a Cubs fan like his daddy, but I can at least dress him like a Cardinals fan while he’s still young enough to not know the difference. I’ve also been dressing him in all the fall and Halloween themed clothes we’ve collected, like this “little monster” outfit.

The highlight of the week was seeing Michelle and Jenny and the kids while they were in town. Parker loved meeting his cousins Kaitlin and Jake, and seeing Annabelle again. We had a weiner roast and made s’mores before doing a little pre-bedtime photo shoot. It was a bit of a challenge getting them all posed, looking at the camera, and smiling, but we managed to get some great shots.

Other fun things we did this week included meeting my friend Crystal and her little boy, Grant, at Andiamo for coffee on Wednesday. We headed to baby group at the hospital after that, and found out that Parker weighs 12 lbs, 14 oz. Almost to lucky 13!

Parker is becoming increasingly restless, especially when it comes to being set down (even on his playmat or on a blanket with toys). He seems to prefer sitting up to laying down, so I decided to put together his high chair and let him give it a trial run.

I think he’s a fan! He won’t be eating in it anytime soon (I’m in no hurry to introduce solids), but at least now he can be up at my level when we’re in the kitchen as opposed to laying in his rock ‘n play. This little peanut is becoming more of a big boy every day.

Parker is officially 4 months old! He is so full of personality and talking up a storm now; he takes after his daddy in that way! His sounds and “words” are so cute…I love his little voice and I think he does, too :) Parker is also smiling more than ever, and is constantly amused by the world around him.

This week we made a trip to visit the pediatrician for Parker’s 4-month checkup, where we found out he’s gained almost a pound in the last two weeks! He’s still very small compared to other babies his age (4% for weight), but his doctor is happy with his progress and said that as long as he stays on his own curve, we have nothing to worry about. So that was great news, but then came the bad news: Parker had to get 4 shots. There were some tears, but he was a trooper.

Poor baby was not himself for a couple days after getting those shots — he was much fussier than usual and was not sleeping well at all. Despite not feeling the greatest, we had a fun week full of activities: visiting all the other music teachers at a federation meeting, going to baby group at the hospital, walking to Grandpa Alan’s house, and lots of playtime at home.

Parker is loving his exersaucer! It gives him a chance to stand up and use those leg muscles, and he enjoys trying to play with all the toys. During the day we have a whole circuit laid out in the living room — the exersaucer, kick ‘n play piano mat, a blanket with lots of small toys, the couch for nursing, and the swing for naptime.

The weather has been awesome this week. We went on quite a few stroller walks, including one in Washington Park with my friend Jen and her baby Ellie, who we met at baby group. The cooler temps have also given us a chance to bust out more fall clothes, like the cute outfit Parker is wearing in the photo above. He looks so big in jeans and pants, compared to the onesies and rompers he’s been wearing up until now.

Coming up next: some ridiculously cute pumpkin-themed photos from today’s fall adventures. Life is seriously so much more fun with Parker!

This picture is a quintessential portrayal of Parker at this stage of his life: the boy is OBSESSED with his feet. He discovered them a few weeks ago, and now all he wants to do is play with them and get them into his mouth. Yum!

To be honest, this week has been a little rocky. I’ve had a bad cold for the last few days…my first experience of being sick with a baby. Not fun at all. When I was sick with the same thing last winter, I laid in bed for 3 days taking cold medicine and complaining how awful it was to be sick while pregnant. If only I’d known how good I had it! This time around, I didn’t take any meds (since they can have a negative effect on milk supply) and definitely didn’t have the option to stay in bed all day.

As gross as I felt, it really is hard to have a bad day with this cutie around. We broke in a bunch of new fall clothes, played in the exersaucer, and cuddled on the couch lots this week. I think he could tell that I wasn’t feeling well, because he was such an angel baby and much lower maintenance than he usually is.

I started feeling better on Friday afternoon, so we took advantage of the Indian summer weather and went to the park. Then last night we went out to our first dinner as a family of 3 at a new restaurant, Engrained. The food was great, and it was a perfect night to sit outside.

On Saturday morning, Zach and Parker scooted out of the house bright and early so that I could record my music therapy podcast without the usual background noise. They met up with our friend Jose Carlos and his twin boys, who are turning one in a few days!

Parker is going to be 4 months old on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we are heading back to the pediatrician for his 4-month appointment. Then we’re going to the DMV to pick up his driver’s license after which he’ll head off to college. Just kidding…but seriously, time needs to stop flying.

I have fallen behind in my blogging efforts, but this is my attempt to catch up and remember what happened two weeks ago. The days seem to whiz by in a total blur as I try to balance quality time with Parker, progress on work-related projects, laundry and keeping the house clean…all before I go to work at 3 pm.

I have always had lots of respect for stay-at-home moms, but now I can relate to how busy and stressful a job it can be. Same goes for working moms, since I feel like I fall into both categories. It’s a good place to be, but it definitely has its challenges!

As usual, I only have wonderful things to say about Parker. He is such an angel baby, and makes me smile SO much. He has been laughing a lot all of the sudden this week, so my new favorite thing is figuring out ways to make him giggle. A few things that never fail are patty-cake, tickling his face with my ponytail, kissing his ears, and giving him rides up and down on my knees.

Parker and I survived our first solo weekend when Zach went out of town for a few days, and it went very smoothly! Sadie rarely left our side, and especially enjoyed supervising Parker’s playtime :)

We definitely missed having Zach here (especially at 3 am when he usually handles diaper duty), but it was good practice for when he goes to Brazil for 10 days next summer. Again, I am very very lucky to have all of Parker’s grandparents here in town!

Our cousin Kim sent this adorable turtle hat for Parker. Clearly he loves it! I don’t think taking photos of this baby in cute outfits and accessories will EVER get old.

And here is the biggest event of week 15: Parker transitioned from the rock ‘n play next to our bed to the crib in his nursery. I wasn’t 100% ready, but Zach had been encouraging the move so we went for it. Night 1 was rough…he was much more interested with finding his toes than actually sleeping.

But we had a complete 180 on night 2, and ever since he has been sleeping like a lamb! He usually wakes up once a night to nurse, which is just fine with me. Eventually he will get around to sleeping through the night again.

It’s finally starting to feel like fall, and we took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend. Zach had a soccer tournament on Saturday, so Parker and I cheered him on from the sidelines. Then of course we had to take a photo to commemorate Parker’s first soccer game:

Overall, it was a pretty laid back week around here. I’ve been pretty tired since going back to work, so most days we just hung around the house. We weren’t total homebodies, though: we did venture out to meet my friend Crystal for coffee on Wednesday morning, followed by mom-baby group at the hospital (we’ve been going since Parker was just a week old).

Zach left on Thursday for a bachelor trip in Las Vegas, so it’s been just the three of us — Sadie, baby, and me. Poor Sadie is such a good sport. She doesn’t get nearly the attention she did back in the old days of having “only child” status, so I have been making a conscious effort to spend more quality time with her when Parker is asleep. She makes a good snuggle buddy while Zach is away!

In other news, we did well with weight gain this week. Parker is creeping closer and closer to 12 pounds, which is still small for his age and height, but it’s progress. He’s been eating pretty frequently this week, which is definitely a good thing (albeit exhausting for me). I am loving the extra pudge on his cute little thighs…no more chicken legs for this guy!