Parker 24 Weeks

October is a month of birthdays.  This month we wished happy birthday to Grandpa Bob, and half birthday to Uncle Erik and Brady.  This month also saw the arrival of Nicole and Ben's second son, baby Levi, born October 23rd.  Now we both have 2 sets of little boys.  Too bad we don't live closer so they could play and grow up together, oh the mischief they would get into!

Parker had a great week - he is now crawling from one end of his crib to the other to get to his stuffed animals.  He does this by lying on his back and pushing with his feet.  He's pretty creative.  We know it's only a matter of time until he gets motivated to try it on his stomach, then he'll be off!  Still lots of drooling and chewing on objects, but no teeth yet.  His hand eye coordination continues to improve, he now rakes at objects until he gets a grip then pulls it in (usually to the mouth first).  He's a pretty consistent sleeper - he starts rubbing his eyes, yawning, and getting agitated at 730pm each night.  Then we feed him, bathe him, put on his PJs, read him 1-2 books, and he's ready for sleep.  He really enjoys his mobile so we put it on both at bedtime and for naps.  This kids is so happy, always smiling, very little does he ever get fussy.  We are so lucky to have him in our life!

Brady has a smile that can light up a room.  He loves having fun, playing games, exploring, and being outside.  And what an imagination - this weekend Parker's exersaucer was "on fire" and he used his fishing hook (from the tub) to rescue all Parkers toys, then brought in the fire truck to put out the flames, all the while telling us to be careful it's hot.  He also likes singing, always coming up with a tune in the car.  Today on the way to Grandma's house it was "Wheels on the Bus" and when he'd run out of ideas for sounds he'd ask us from the back seat.  With all the fun to be had, he's not a big fan of napping anymore.  He likes to go-go-go until he crashes.  After Mom put him down for a nap, he got up, opened the door and came to her down the hall, then she had no luck.  Without a nap he's still too young to make it all day and he fell asleep sitting on the couch watching Halloween cartoons.  Silly boy!

This week was Fall Festival at the daycare.  The teachers did a great job decorating the classrooms and dressing up for the big night.  Brady and Parker had fun too getting to sport their Monsters costumes early, getting some candy, and running around with their buds at the daycare.  Grandma Reggie and Jeff came too, think Jeff enjoyed the candy as much as the kids!

Ben, Nicole, and Baby Levi - congrats on the new addition!

Fall Festival at daycare with our little Monsters (Mike Wazowski and Sully)

Listening to the Pats (who won) and enjoying Grandma's pool

  

Parker 23 Weeks - Grandma Comes to Town

This was a big week for the boys with Grandma Reggie and Jeff moving to town for the next 3 months.  They found a house to rent fully furnished only 7 minutes away.  It's a nice house - big, spacious, plenty of bedrooms, a saltwater pool, and backs up against a little park with a pond and a playground.  It's perfect for little boys to explore.  While Mom and Dad were looking forward to the free babysitting and help around the house, unfortunately we had to use it right away to go to a funeral for a guy who used to work for Mom.  Antonio Nardella, one of our Alenia team members, passed away from liver cancer leaving behind his wife and 2 yr old son.  Brady went to his first funeral and cheered the little boy up letting him play with his bulldozer and dump truck.  Antonio was a strong person and family man, his smile and welcoming personality will truly be missed.

Halloween is almost here so we took the boys and Grandma to the Dallas Arboretum to see the pumpkin village.  This year we went on a weekend just ahead of Halloween so it was super busy.  Parker had a lot of fun checking out all the action and colors, while Brady enjoyed running around the village, throwing hay, and rolling/throwing pumpkins (he's all boy).  It's hard to get Brady to hold still, let alone smile, but we did our best and managed to snap a few family photos.  As always, the Arboretum did a great job, all the displays were beautiful and very well done.

As for the boys, with all the excitement and action neither slept great this week.  Both have been waking 1-2x/night and neither are taking naps of any real length.  Hoping next week to get them back into the routine so they get some rest and avoid colds from day care.  No teeth yet for Parker but everything still goes direct to the mouth.  His hair is getting longer but still looks like peach fuzz.  Brady continues to wow us with his personality.  In the morning when we ask him if he slept good he'll nod yes, and when we ask him how he feels he says "happy" - love the sweet innocence!  Both boys still love looking at each other, smiling, and making noises.  Brady has adopted some sort of baby talk which he speaks to Parker, guess they'll have their own language?

Hanging out at Grandma's house

Love this little pumpkin!

Playing with Takeru

 

The pumpkin village at the Dallas Arboretum

Parker 22 Weeks - TX State Fair

Riding the weather roller coaster into fall, we took advantage of an off Friday and visited the Texas state fair and hopefully our last week of 90+ deg.  The boys enjoyed all the activity and the animals at the fair.  Brady had fun feeding the camel, the four horned goats, the strange Texas longhorn, and all the other baby barnyard animals.  And what would be a fair without rides?  Brady (and Daddy) had a lot of fun on the kiddie rides.  That was about all the action Brady could take before zonking out in his stroller.  Mommy and Parker tried to dodge the sun checking out some of the prize winning animals and the automobiles.  And of course all of us had to sample the fried food including fried thanksgiving dinner, millionaire pie (super yum), PB&J, and mini corny dogs.  By the time we made it to the booth with funnel cake ale and fried TX bluebonnet we were all fried out.

What a difference a day makes, with a cold front coming through putting the highs in 50s warranting breaking out the long sleeves.  We took advantage of the cooler weather to pick up a couple pumpkins with the boys.  As usual Parker had a lot of fun watching big brother, and big brother had a lot of fun climbing the pumpkins.  Instead of carving them, this year we tried something a little more kid friendly - stickers.  Although it required some pre-assembly, we did let Brady poke the holes in the pumpkin for the pipe cleaners and let him stick on the stickers.  Good thing the dinosaur didn't need to use his legs (which ended up on the stem). 

Developmentally both boys are doing great.  Parker is chewing on everything so we know teeth will be here soon.  One night he was a little fussy because of his teeth, Mommy put her hand on his head to help him hold still and he melted like butter - who knew!  Of course this made sense given he sleeps best in his little nook.  His vision is getting better as he likes to look at lights, shadows, and window blinds (Brady liked that too).  He's starting to inch himself along or roll to an object so he's getting the hang of how to get from here to there.  We also started him on rice cereal this week, and he did outstanding sucking it right down.  Will definitely have to make it part of his daycare routine.  His personality really shines through as he's happy, mellow, and now responds to his name.  He had some eye junk this week so did make it in for a 5 month doctor appointment weighing in at 12 lb 8.5 oz (that's 13 oz less than big brother at this age!), but nothing serious just a little congestion and yay no meds.

Brady continues to amaze us with how much he can say or understand.  Instead of bottom or butt he says booty, which is cute, until you're in a grocery store and he sees a lady with a large booty - "Mommy I want to touch the booty!"  Sigh.  The why phase seems to have passed for now, but he does say "No, I do it" - little Mr Independent.  He has always really liked music, signing songs to himself or dancing to music.  He also likes music videos on YouTube including "Happy", "Shake It Off", "Life is a Highway", "We Are Family", and "Johnny Be Good" to name a few.  He always carries a blankie with him, and now he carries matchbox cars too.  Our little big guy.

Fun at the Texas State Fair

 

The boys picking out pumpkins 

Brady's Dinosaur Pumpkin

First solids! (rice cereal)

Watching big brother

Enjoying some time in the bouncer

Parker 21 Weeks

Fall is finally here! Well at least it's cool in the mornings and the pumpkins are out.  Mom and Parker took advantage of a nice day and made a trip to the local farmers market.  Must not have been a great local growing season as most of the produce was imported, but we did pick up some apples and acorn squash.  Parker also picked up some mini pumpkins to share with his older brother.  And Fall signifies college football.  This year Rutgers joined the big 10 and beat Michigan for it's first win in the new conference.  The Texas fan club was dressed and ready, and everyone expect Mom lasted all day in their RU shirt (Mom would have had Brady not coughed up all over her).  And with the cool mornings, we took the family on a walk to park and were surprised to have it all to ourselves.  Parker got to take his first ride on the swing and Brady got to show off his strength hanging over the slide, going across the monkey bars with Daddy's support, and running across the suspension bridge.  And it wouldn't be fall without school photos!  Brady did a great job holding his little brother for the photo, he looked so proud.

We are looking forward to more fall weather, day trips, and baking.  Soon it will be Halloween!  And Brady and Parker already have some ideas of what they want to be.

Parker (4.5 mos), Brady (2.5 yrs)

The colors may not be radiant in Texas but they sure are in the Northeast - thank you to family and friends for sharing these with us!

 View coming down the gondola at Loon Mtn (where Mom and Dad got married)

Sunset over Toothaker Island, Mooselookmeguntic Lake, Maine