Parker and his cats

I haven't updated the blog in a while, so I thought I'd post some pics of Parker and his kitties.  He loves them and coos and squeals when they walk by. 

He loves to pull and eat their tails.  Poor Gilligan.

Murray already knows where to be when Parker is eating.

Crowded bed!

Murray is behind the basket.  He is often close by when Parker is playing.

Higgs, Murray, and Parker

He really likes Gidget, and she is especially patient with him.  He pulls out clumps of hair.

Murray likes to curl up close.

Jules knows to stay just out of reach.

Gilligan and Parker - cute brothers.

And just because it amuses me so, here is a pic of Parker during a recent bath.  He LOVES bath time!

7

Seven is the number of the week in our house.  Parker turned 7 months old today,

and Himal and I will celebrate our 7-year anniversary tomorrow!

Parker's top right tooth can be seen below the gums, we are brushing his 2 bottom teeth twice a day, he's starting to reach his arms out to us when we are picking him up, and he continues to enjoy eating solids. 

He has some funny facial expressions while eating.  Silly baby!

Picnic

Parker took his squash outside for a picnic today.

We brought Gilligan out, and P enjoyed holding onto the leash. 

Our lives are so exciting!  LOL  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

3 Vs: Visitors, Vegetables, and Valentine's

Visitors:
Parker's grandmama, granddaddy, and auntie came to visit.  We had a great time hanging out, going to the zoo, and celebrating Mr. Big's birthday.

Passed out in G's arms

Happy birthday, Mr. Big!

Parker loves his auntie

G and Mr. Big are the BEST!

Vegetables/fruits:
Parker tried solids for the first time last Sunday.  I started him with sweet potatoes with no success. 

What am I supposed to do with this, mom?

Next, we tried prunes, and he ate them like a champ!

Ah, I understand now.  Sooo tasty!

So I thinned the sweet potatoes and tried again, and he ate them.  We tried peas today, but he isn't fond of them yet.


Valentine's:
Parker had a great first Valentine's Day. 

Valentine's present from mommy and daddy

He got Valentine's from 3 toddlers - what a player!  And he had fun with his gal pal Lily on a belated Valentine's Day date.  They were so cute interacting with each other.

 

In other news, Parker had his 6-month check-up.  He's still a very big boy: 19 lbs, 11 oz (84th percentile) and 28.5 inches long (97th percentile)!  His bottom 2 teeth are showing enough that we have started brushing them.  He enjoys rolling around and hanging out underneath the coffee table,

Silly baby

and his sitting skills are getting better each day. 

My little Valentine

We put together his walker, and he's starting to get the hang of walking around in it.  So cool!

This little baby is so much fun!

Cutie patootie

2 peas in a pod

6 months old

Parker is 6 months old today! 

This has been the most amazing 6 months of my life.  Every day, I love my little P even more and wonder what I did to deserve such a wonderful little baby.  Himal and I are truly blessed, and we are totally grateful for our precious baby boy.

Six months ago, Parker was a tiny, skinny little thing with a floppy head who could only look around slowly with his big eyes at an unfocused world.  Now, he's laughing, babbling, grasping, petting cats, and kind of sitting. 

This past week, I think he gave me kisses: wet, slobbery, open-mouth, giggly kisses.  Soooo very precious!  He also pulled himself up into a standing position from sitting on my lap.  His bottom 2 teeth have somewhat emerged; I can feel their sharp edges, but they aren't very visible yet.  His hair is really filling in nicely and developing a bit of body.

He's exhibited some stranger anxiety this week when other people held him.  I'm sad about this and hope he's fine with my parents and sister when they visit soon. 

To celebrate Parker's 6-month birthday, we went to the museum, and he enjoyed it.

Watch out behind you!

Laser beams!

And now we are going to watch the Super Bowl.  Enjoy the game!

Breakthrough

Parker has always been bad with bottles.  It makes it hard for me to be apart from him, and it makes outings challenging because I always need a place to nurse him.  Himal would love to be able to help with feedings but hasn't been able to successfully give him a bottle.  This past week, I went to a mom's night out for dinner and left Parker with Himal.  I got called home before the evening was over because Parker was screaming non-stop for 25 minutes and wouldn't take a bottle.  When I walked in, he had stopped screaming but was a sniveling little ball on Himal's chest.  He was so pitiful, it was amusing.
I decided that maybe it was time to introduce a sippy cup in place of a bottle and tried it last week with no success.  Well, check this out from today...

There are 3 amazing things in this picture: 1. Parker is drinking from a sippy cup, 2. Parker is holding his own cup, and 3. Himal is the one "feeding" him!  Now, Parker did not finish all of his milk and needed to nurse afterwards, but it was a major breakthrough that he downed an ounce on his own with no fussing.  This is eventually going to open up a whole new world of freedom!

On the subject of feeding, I'm waiting until Parker is 6 months old to introduce solid foods.  A lot of moms start solids from 4 months on and seem very excited about it, but I'm really not in a rush to start him.  I'm not sure why.  I've bought the gear and read up on how to introduce foods, but I'm not pumped about it yet.  I guess I'll know when we are ready and feel more excited then.

This baby is getting sweeter by the day!  He's such a happy little fellow.  Here's a video of him playing with a new toy from his aunt and uncle.  His laugh is truly the most amazing thing I've ever heard.  In addition to his sweet little giggle, he throws in a couple of his signature raptor sounds in the video.

Here are some pictures of his awesome smile:

 

I haven't posted chalkboard pics in a while, but we still do them monthly.  Now, he plays with the chalkboard, so it's more challenging to get a still shot.

Parker really wants to sit up and is getting stronger each day.  He'll be sitting in no time.  I've been trying to teach him the word "cat" for the past couple of weeks by saying it whenever one comes into the room.  He seems to recognize the word and looks around when I say it like he's looking for a kitty.
Himal was jealous that Parker and I had been to the zoo, so we all went as a family last weekend.  Parker likes the fish the most since they are easier to spot up close.  Here are my 2 favorite guys on safari:

We are going to put his baby tub into our regular tub tomorrow because he is splashing way too much to stay in the sink now.  Himal had to get out a large beach towel to mop up the kitchen after Parker's bath tonight, and my clothes were soaked.
I've been reading to Parker almost every day since he was a few weeks old, and he recently started helping me turn the pages of his board books.  Here is my adorable early reader.  Doesn't he look so engrossed in the story?!

Little P loves to touch our faces and take off daddy's glasses:

I love my little guy soooo much.  He is still quite the snuggler, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Pure sweetness

What we've been up to in 2013

Parker gets more fun every day.  He's doing a lot of jumping in his Jumperoo (he realized within the last week that he can jump on his own), rolling around on the floor, and screeching like a raptor.  He's such a funny little guy.

What I thought was a tooth coming through seems to have disappeared, so I'm not sure what was going on there.  His bathroom habits have changed dramatically; instead of changing 6+ dirty diapers a day, I'm doing 0-2 really nasty ones.  Not sure which is worse.

Here is what we've been up to lately:
We visited the zoo:

Parker and the elephants

 We cheered Bama on to its second straight football national championship!

 Parker spends a lot of time and energy being cute:

He's a jumping fool!  I wish I could figure out how to upload videos of him jumping.

We had fun at Chuck-E-Cheese:

Parker had a date with his gal pal Lily:

Aren't they sweet holding hands?

Auntie M and Uncle Shane came to visit!!  YAY!

Parker helped Uncle Shane with his work

A stomach bug didn't stop Auntie M from playing hard

Auntie and Uncle are fun!!

They brought this awesome Bama tailgate chair.  A gift from Uncle's mom

We went on walks:

Walks in the park are EXHAUSTING.  Silly baby

Parker watched Wheel of Fortune.  He guessed the puzzle immediately.

And he had a professional photo shoot:

Handsome baby boy

He was mad until I started taking off his clothes.  Guess he was hot!