by Rachel | Family Life
We’ve had a cruiser for awhile now, but last week (April 24, to be exact) Parker decided he didn’t need any assistance. He had taken a step or two in his room, so I grabbed my phone with the hopes of catching it on video. To my absolute surprise, he took his longest walk yet — 10 steps!
After that, it was like a switch had been flipped. Suddenly he was walking everywhere, no longer resorting to crawling if he didn’t have a hand to hold or furniture to grab. It has been both awesome and scary; he thinks he’s a lot faster than he really is and has gotten almost too brave.
It is so insane to watch my 10-month-old toddle across the living room. He is a tiny boy, and it’s hilarious watching those little legs hold him up. We’re still at the stage where we have to do a lot of spotting, but he gets more sure-footed with every day. At this rate, he will probably be running sprints by his first birthday.
by Rachel | Family Life
Easter has always been a holiday I’ve never gotten too excited about as an adult. Of course I have always enjoyed dressing up, going to church, singing with the choir and reflecting on the meaning on this day, but that was about it. However, this year I learned that Easter is a whole lot more fun when kids are involved!
We started the holiday weekend with an Easter egg hunt, although Parker could have cared less about the “hunt” part. He did, however, enjoy playing with the plastic eggs and chilling out in the sun with his Rambach cousins, Maggie and Ellie.
On the night before Easter, Zach’s parents always host a Passover Seder to honor their Jewish roots. Parker enjoyed some matza and matza ball soup along with some other yummy goodies. Then on Easter morning, we headed to Washington Park and enjoyed the GORGEOUS weather. We seriously lucked out with an amazing weekend of sunshine and warm temps.
Here’s our attempt at a family selfie. Haha! Sadie could have cared less about smiling for the camera, but Parker showed off his waving skills. He is getting really good at waving hello and goodbye to people. It is so cute!
It was so much fun spending time with the Rambach and Wilderson cousins all weekend. Parker absolutely adores his older cousins, especially Mason, who is usually not one for posing for photos. But when Parker was on his lap or next to him, he was all about it!
Zach and his dad had a little Easter photo shoot while I was working, and got some funny/adorable shots. How sad is that face in the black and white? Now that is a pouty lip if I’ve ever seen one.
We ended the weekend with dinner at my mom’s house, during which Parker CHOWED. If you have been reading the blog, then you know what a big deal that is! He had veggies, potatoes, a little meat, and even a few bites of our gluten-free/sugar-free dessert.
It’s pretty crazy to think that Parker has now celebrated just about all the major holidays in his 10 months. Only Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are left…followed closely by his first birthday. But I am so, so, so not ready to go there yet! So I’ll wrap up this post with one last family photo from Easter.
by Rachel | Family Life
Less than two months from now, we will be celebrating this baby’s first birthday. Mind-blowing. This has without a doubt been the fastest year of my life, and I fear they will only get faster from here on out. At least, that’s what everyone tells me.
At 10 months, it is becoming apparent that Parker is a very curious little boy. I love the way his brow furrows at novel sights and sounds; you can almost see the wheels turning inside his head as he tries to understand the world around him. He’s really starting to enjoy books, and will even flip the pages himself.
The one thing that I wish Parker was more curious about is food. We are still having a tough time with that. I have just about given up trying to spoon-feed him, as he has been refusing purees since we first introduced them at 6 months. We did have a little bit of luck with yogurt last week, and by that I mean he took 6-8 bites without turning his head and making a “yucky” face.
I introduce (and re-introduce) new foods every day, so there’s not much else I can do besides continue to nurse — I’m lucky that is his main source of nutrients until he turns one!
Sleeping through the night is a regular thing around here these days, and it is GLORIOUS. I don’t dare complain about the early wake-ups, though an extra hour or so in the morning would be nice since I’m usually up so late getting work done. Naps aren’t quite so consistent, but we are working on them. It has been hard to get into a consistent schedule, because lately I’ve had lots of morning appointments and meetings that get in the way of naptime.
I’m looking forward to the rest of this month; it’s going to be relatively low key with no travel plans, work starting to wind down in some areas, and best of all, the weather getting nicer. A daily dose of fresh air makes a world of difference after spending so many months cooped up inside.
by Rachel | Family Life
On one of the few nice days we’ve had so far this spring, Parker and I took a walk to the park and tried out the swings for the first time ever. I had a feeling he would like it, and I was right!
Parker has loved the outdoors since the very beginning — as a newborn, carrying him outside was one of the quickest ways to calm him down. We try to do something outside every time it’s warm enough, which hasn’t been very often at all so far…but we will make up for it this summer. I have no doubt we’ll be spending LOTS of time at Grandma Betsy’s pool, the park, and biking/strolling the trails.
Ellie and Parker have been stroller buddies since they were just a couple of months old. I met Ellie’s mom Jen at breastfeeding group 3 days after Ellie was born, and we sat next to each other each week until Jen went back to work. We started walking in Washington Park almost every weekend that it was nice out, and just recently were able to start going again. They are moving at the end of June, and we will miss them and our walks a lot :(
This has been a REALLY great few weeks for Parker, and therefore, us too. Right after I publicly complained about his sleep on Facebook, he started sleeping through the night. And he’s kept that up ever since, which has been life-changing. And a well rested baby is a happy baby! It doesn’t surprise me that he is sleeping so many hours at night, because he literally doesn’t stop moving all day long. If he’s not crawling from one end of the house to the other, he’s doing this:
I call it the Ottoman 500. He is so proud of himself, toddling around the furniture without any help. Occasionally he will attempt to take a step without holding on to anything, but so far he hasn’t been successful. I really think it’s only a matter of weeks before he is walking unassisted. Look out, world!
by Rachel | Family Life
As of this month, Parker has been an outside baby for longer than he was on the inside. And even though my pregnancy seemed to fly by, I still find that hard to believe. How did that big boy ever fit in my belly?
Parker is actually still on the little side for his age. At his 9-month wellness visit a few weeks ago, he weighed in at a little over 16 pounds; that’s 5% for weight. But he’s 66% for height (go figure) so maybe at some point he’ll even out. He’s still nursing full-time, and I’m continuing to introduce new foods with hope that he will eventually come around to eating them.
March has been super weird, weather-wise. We went to Marco Island at the beginning of the month and ended up cutting our trip a day short, since a huge snow storm was expected in the Midwest and we didn’t want to get stranded trying to come home. It didn’t end up being nearly as bad as predicted, luckily, but it was a bummer having to spend one less day in Florida.
Then there were a few days that felt more like early summer, which we took advantage of by getting some fresh air. The St. Patrick’s day parade fell on one of those days, and we ended up walking in it. Parker had a blast!
Today I woke up to snow on the ground, which honestly didn’t even faze me at this point. Longest. Winter. Ever. But at least technically it’s spring now, and April is less than a week away. I foresee many stroller walks in our future. Get me out of this house! Otherwise I’ll be driven by boredom to keep taking selfies with Parker.
Check out the black and white one…do you see what I see? Two teeth, both of which made their grand entrance within days of each other. Teething really is as bad as they say it is. But we made it through those rough few days (and sleepless nights), though I’m not looking forward to the next round.
