Cousin Time!

A few weeks ago my sister Julie and her baby, Clementine (Clemie), came to visit us while her husband moved all of their worldy belongings from Ft. Lauderdale to Conneticut. We had lots of fun watching how Parker and Clemie interacted with each other and comparing their personalities. The above picture took place with both Julie and I singing "The Wheels on the Bus" at the top of our lungs trying to elicit some smiles, or at least a look in our direction, from two tired and cranky babies.

We went for a swim together and the babies had fun splashing while sitting on the top step!


The babies took a bath together...Parker loved splashing, but Clemie wasn't such a big fan of the water in her face.


We attempted having the babies nap together in Parker's crib, but that didn't go over very well. Parker was ready for sleep wondering who in the world was in his bed with him. Clemie found a new friend and wanted to fully explore him, sticking her fingers in his mouth, ears, etc. Maybe she'll grow up to be a doctor.

We can't wait to see you again! Hopefully we'll get to come out to see you in September!!

Cowboy

Just a picture of Parker from a recent photo shoot that I found again in my email today...

Baby Food!

Several people have asked me about baby food so I thought I'd do a little post following a weekend of making more baby food. As we started adding "solid" food to Parker's diet a couple months ago I had saving money, time, and Parker's health at the forefront of my mind. So...I got a couple of books on baby food from the library, consulted with my mom, and got to work. It has been an easy process...I feel like I've saved time, and I feel like Parker is eating healthy foods.
The books talk about how to prepare different foods, which food combinations often go over the best with baby, and which foods are appropriate to freeze.
Carrots and apples are two of Parker's favorites. I just boil them until they're soft, drain and puree in the food processor. No, I don't make food for Parker everyday. That is the last thing that I'd want to do after coming home from work. When I do make food, I make big batches of everything and then I put the food in ice cube trays. Once the food is frozen I pop the ice cubes out and keep them all together in a bag in the freezer. When it comes to meal time I pop out however many I need, heat them up, and I'm good to go. We have done this with a lot of different fruits and vegetables and it works great.
Now I'm trying to leave foods a little bit chunkier to help Parker get used to some new textures and eventually transition him to eating what we are eating. It's always fun to watch his reactions to new things and I look forward to Parker tasting new foods soon!

Ma Ma Performance

This is just a little clip of Parker's "ma ma"s today...

Ma Ma

Yesterday morning Parker woke up saying "Ma ma" and he continued throughout the day. I know that he doesn't have any idea that what he is saying means what it does, but it is fun anyway. We are excited to hear what babbling sounds come next!

Messy Boy!

The other day I gave Parker a Biter Biscuit and boy did he make a mess! But he sure did enjoy himself with "mmm"s the whole time he enjoyed his treat!

Turkey & Apples

Broccoli!

Seven Months!

Parker is 7 months old!

He is quite the screamer these days....high-pitched and about as loud as he can! He is also no respecter of where he screams. Church is fair game...during prayers, even better :) He is also starting to understand taking turns in "conversation" and will take turns with me or whoever screaming back and forth.

Parker now realizes that when you put something away or set it down that it is still there and he tries to find it. He does this especially with his bottle and his books. He will lean over and crane his neck as far as possible to find what he wants.

No longer does Parker sit peacefully and drink his bottle...now he needs to check out all the action. No sound goes unnoticed. He has started to want to fully sit up and have me feed him the bottle - it is starting to look like he needs a gerbil feeder.

Parker loves having us read his books to him, especially "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". If we get the page turn started he will turn the page on his own.

We are getting closer to having a crawler, but definitely not there yet. He is getting more and more practiced at sitting up.

Parker is now eating three meals a day with bottles in and around. Eating time has always been and still is Parker's favorite time.

Wendie did an all out picture shoot of Parker last week, so there are lots of pictures yet to come!