8 Months!

I say this every month, but I can't believe Parker is already 8 months old!  Here are some of his current stats:

 - Home measurements: about 17 lbs., 27 1/2" long
 - 1 tooth (so close to having 2!)
 - crawls everywhere, and very quickly (prefers the hands and feet crawl on hard surfaces)
 - pulls himself to standing
 - climbs stairs
 - takes steps assisted
 - feeds himself cheerios and other small bits, but still mainly on blended foods
 - loves making noises, da-da-da and giggling are his favorites!

We walked to a nearby park tonight to take a few pictures.  Parker had so much fun playing on the structures!

I love the Olympics!

Lucky for me, we have some friends who had an Olympic themed housewarming party for the opening ceremony on Friday.  It was also a costume party, which gave me an excuse to get creative!  We dressed up as diving, making sure to cover all the aspects.  I was the pool and diving platform, Parker was the diver (complete with speedo) and Jimmy was the judge from Germany (he is 1/2 German.)

I love diaper butt!

Amy and Tim

Shortly after this shot Parker did his first "dive"

Apparently Jimmy was not impressed...

Brianne and Nate

Maris, Katie and Alan (Happy Home-owners)

Matt and Sue

 Tiffany and Matt (Gotta have torch bearers!)

Torry and Sarah

Parker and puppy

Parker's First Frolics (Updated with more pictures)

This weekend is Crystal Frolics, our city celebration! This morning (Saturday) is the Fire Station Waffle Breakfast which is always a tasty adventure! Plus it is Parker's first trip to the fire station! We saw some trucks a few weeks ago, but it's fun to see the whole set-up. Hopefully we will get a chance to walk around the carnival later today or tomorrow.

Sunday we walked over to check out the carnival and food stands.  I thought we had missed the parade, but we were lucky enough to catch some of it.  There were some cool little boat cars that Parker was pretty interested in.  They kept driving around in circles and he thought it was so much fun.

 He also got to see his first clowns.  They were just intriguing.  I wonder if they purposefully stay away from the babies because they didn't get close to any of them!

Life's best moments

Parker is usually very excited to be dropped off at daycare. He reaches out for our provider right away and eagerly looks for the other kids. He is almost always the first one there so he never finds them. I love that he reacts this way because it means that he feels comfortable there. This morning was different. Instead of reaching out he snuggled in to me. We just cuddled for a little bit and it was a perfect moment that will be making me smile all day.

Quick Basement Update (Plus some Parker pictures)

It has been a while since I made a home project update.  I did some work this weekend (and last) as I am slowly whittling away at the checklist.  Last weekend I finally cut the gas valve access hole in the sheetrock and installed the last surround sound speaker!  Jimmy was very excited because he got to do his magic with the final installation of the receiver and sub-woofer!  This weekend I got the AV cabinets that my dad built installed and trimmed out.  Now I just need to get the doors installed so Parker can't play with all the buttons (which he loves!)  These are "hidden" beneath our stairs, which serves two purposes: no big TV cabinet to take up floor space and NO CORDS!  The second is my favorite, especially with a crawling and curious baby!  I also got another section of base trim installed.  My mom watched Parker on Saturday so I could get a lot of this done and I am so thankful!

Speaking of Parker, he is doing great!  As I posted last week, he popped his first tooth.  The second one is coming close behind and we have been dealing with a few cranky moments.  One of his favorite pain relievers is cold watermelon.   He sat on the kitchen floor for 10 minutes just gumming on his mesh teether.  It was the quietest he had been in a couple hours...

We also tried a new food this morning, eggs!  It didn't go so well.  He is not a fan of them...I am not sure if it is a texture thing or a taste thing, but he was not having it!  He did enjoy playing with them though.

That's it for tonight's update, see you all again soon!

My little explorer...

Parker is not going to slow down anytime soon.  Lately he has been more interested in crawling as far as possible, into every nook and cranny, and discovering EVERYTHING!  I pause every day to just watch Parker discover the world.  We take so much for granted and often forget that we were all babies once.  Today's moment came courtesy of of door stop.  I am sure you know where this is going so I will just get to the pictures and video!

The No-Longer Toothless Wonder!

Parker popped his first tooth!