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 | Motherhood
I’ve held a sleeping baby in my arms every day for the last 7.5 months, usually multiple times per day. I’ve taken dozens of pictures like these: of his perfect little lips, his chubby little fingers hanging on to my shirt. Sometimes I try to transfer him to his crib, but other times, I just stay put and let him sleep on me.
Every day, the thought crosses my mind that I’m one day closer to a time when I won’t hold him like this anymore, and that makes me really sad.
I know we have a lot to look forward to as Parker gets older, but I don’t want to forget any of these precious moments. They are far and away the best moments of every day.
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.
by Rachel | Family Life
Can we just take a moment to process the fact that my 7-month-old baby is STANDING UP in his crib? My brain is having a little trouble with that one.
Zach’s cousin Matt came over today for a quick photo shoot with Parker, so Zach served as his assistant/baby attention-getter while I corraled Sadie in the kitchen. I’ve never seen Parker stand on his own like that before until Matt sent me that photo, and it totally stopped me in my tracks. Who is this big boy and what did he do with my tiny infant?
I have so much to blog about, like Parker’s acting debut on Christmas Eve and our New Year’s trip to Florida. But like everything else in my life, I’m so overwhelmed by it all that it’s easier just to put it off a little longer and catch up on episodes of Parenthood instead.
