Parker's favorite games

At 7 months, here are some of Parker's favorite games:

1. Dropping items OVER and OVER again...when he drops them we say, "Uh-Oh, there it is!" We do this repeatedly...especially when he's in his high chair eating. He loves to play with a spoon, so we probably do this about a million times every time he eats.

2. Biting-yes, biting. He's got FOUR teeth now, so he bites everything, and I mean everything.

3. Crying when mommy walks in or out of a room-he pretty much does it if I'm not holding him.

4. Saying "Ahma". We think it's his version of "mama", but he has no clue that's what he's saying.

5. Bouncing on his back-he does it when he's laying on his back-he bounces up and down..it's really weird/funny.

6. Rolling all over the place. He can get where he needs to go.

7. Getting up on all fours and rocking. (See pics below)

8. Drinking out of a straw

9. Rolling over when he gets his diaper changed-it's cute/annoying at the same time. You almost have to lay your body on top of his to get a new diaper/clothes on.

10. Playing with toys-he's really enjoying them now. He got this train for Christmas (see 2nd picture) and I get it all set up and he grabs it and throws the pieces. I'm pretty sure the little boy in him is starting to come out. He's not very gentle with it.

11. Playing with friends-he reaches for them and grabs whatever body part he can get to-usually the feet or sometimes he goes for the eyes (sorry Zane).

He's really proud of himself here. He just destroyed the train.

He's really trying to crawl, but he's not there yet!

A Very Merry Christmas

Dear Parker,

Let's just say we'll never forget your first Christmas! We spent it at your grandparents house, and it was quite eventful. The day before Christmas I started feeding you fruit. I thought bananas would be a great fruit to get you started. Well, little did I know that they would cause you to be very constipated! You screamed ALL NIGHT on Wednesday. Of course, I didn't really realize the culprit so I gave them to you again on Thursday. You were upset all day and screamed all night again on Christmas Eve. Your daddy and I had to get up at 3:30 am and take you riding around town for an hour! It was the only way we could get you to sleep. We finally figured out the culprit. We stopped by Walgreens and got you some prunes and prune juice. That finally did the trick, and you began to feel somewhat better. Other than that, :) you had a great first Christmas. I didn't take a ton of pictures, but we did take a lot of video for you to have.

Here you are with Abby and Lily before the Christmas Eve service.

Christmas morning at Marmee and Poppa's house

Christmas morning at Gigi and Granddad's house

Last year, we decided that Parker would get 3 gifts from Santa. We figured if 3 gifts were enough for Jesus, then that would be plenty for Parker. (Disclaimer: We have no control over aunts or grandparents). A lot of people think we're crazy and that we won't follow through with it, but we really feel like this is a great tradition to start in our little family.

7 months old!

Parker,

You're seven months old! Happy birthday, baby boy! You had a busy weekend. We took these pictures before we went to Uncle David and Aunt Lauren's Christmas party. You were so good! You let everyone pass you around and kiss all over you! You even went to complete strangers! You also went to Star City to hang out with the Petty clan, but of course I forgot to take any pictures while we were there.

Wonder why you're smiling so much bigger when I'm holding you? (probably because you're laughing at Daddy who is taking this picture!)

You are still the happiest baby we know! Everyone comments on your laid back disposition. This is really funny to Daddy and me because you DID NOT begin your life as a laid back child!

You started eating in your high chair! You are so much more attentive now since we moved you out of the Bumbo. You seem to not get as distracted when we're feeding you! Speaking of feeding, so far you like all veggies, but non-green ones are your favorite. We haven't given you fruit yet, but we're planning to soon.

You're growing and changing all the time! You LOVE to dance. When I'm holding you, you'll jump up and down to dance. You are also "patting" me on the shoulder now...so cute!! You're really trying to get up on your hands and knees, but you're not quite all the way there yet. Hopefully we have a little while before you start crawling!

We love you, Mr. Man!

Visiting Santa

In the words of my sister, only our child would actually enjoying visiting Jolly ole' Saint Nick!

Lately

Parker,

Here is a recap of what you've been up to lately!

You went to dinner with your friends Truett and Karoline. I made you wear your pea coat and matching hat! You look PRECIOUS in it!

You hung out with mom and dad!

You played with your Gigi-she taught you how to shake your head to the words, "No, no, no, no.."

You hung out with your granddad...rolled around on the floor, etc.!

You went on a hunger strike, so we let you play with your food as suggested by Aunt Meredith. She said you needed to have a sensory experience with it! She's the speech path, not me, so I just went with it. It worked!

You are the light of our lives!

(You also played with Poppa this week, but we forgot to take pictures!)

Getting stuff done!

Parker loves going outside, but it's way too cold to venture out. His second favorite thing is to stare out of the window. So, being the creative mother I am, I figured out how to make him happy and get some chores done at the same time!

Ice maker

Parker,

You have a new trick. It's definitely your strangest one yet, and it makes us shake our heads in disbelief every time you do it. You see, you LOVE the ice maker. Weird? We think so, too. Whenever we get ice out of it, you start jumping and smiling. The only thing we can figure is that you've seen Tulip run to the fridge sometimes to get a piece of ice when we get our own ice (your sister LOVES ice, too.) However, you don't only do it when your sister comes. This past weekend, you were at your Gigi and Granddad's house and I left you with Gigi and your daddy for a few minutes. Well, I came back and Gigi said, "He really likes the ice maker!" Up until that point you'd done it a couple of times, but not consistently. Well, apparently your daddy got some ice out of the fridge, you heard it in the other room and got really excited! We thought it was funny that she noticed it, too. (We hadn't told anyone else about it because we thought it was a coincidence.) Now, you seriously do it every time!!! I love that you have weird quirks about you! You'll soon enough find out that your daddy and I are not the most normal people on Earth, and so far you're fitting in right along with us!

Thought I'd post a picture of my two babies who love ice!

6 months old!

Dear Parker,

You turned 6 months old last week! I know it's such a cliche, but where did the time go? You are such a sweet, happy baby! I think you get sweeter each month! Here are a few things you're doing at 6 months:

-Eating solids-we've only tried squash so far, but we're planning to start peas tonight.

-Drinking juice from a straw.

-Drinking water from a regular cup.

-Sitting up-you passed your skills test at the doctor today!

-Rolling all over the place.

-Reaching/grabbing everything you can get your sweet little hands on!

-You do this funny thing where you take one sock off and hold it in your mouth. Then you just look at us like, "What's so funny?" I think you've been watching Tulip run around with a bone in her mouth!

-Laughing alot!

-You LOVE two songs right now: "I'm in the Lord's Army" and "When cows get up in the morning". If you're fussing, we can start singing those and you're suddenly fine!

-Using those teeth-especially on my chin! Weird! You start shaking your head from side to side and then try to take a big chunk out of my chin.

-Still nursing

-Watching every move that Tulip makes!

I took you for your 6 month check up today and you weighed 15.4 lbs (11th %) and were 27 inches long (67%). He said you were gaining weight at a good rate, so we shouldn't be worried that you're skinny. He said you may just be long and lean!

You rule our world buddy. We love you so much! As a matter of fact, we don't even know what to do when you're not around. You see, Saturday night our awesome church had Parents Night Out. It was from 6-9. Well, Daddy and I went on a date-we had Chinese at our favorite place and then went and bought a new Christmas tree. We didn't know what else to do with our time, so we went and got you 45 min. early!!!!! We are pitiful, but honestly, we'd rather be with you! Thank you, buddy, for changing our world and making it better.

We love you,

Mommy and Daddy

Mama's don't let your babies..

..grow up to be cowboys!"

LOVE this outfit! My mom bought it the day we found out he was a boy. I knew my baby would look precious in it, but I never dreamed he would be this BEAUTIFUL! (Sorry, but every mom has a right to brag, right?)

Skills test

Parker,

At your 4 month check up, the doctor gave us 3 skills you need to have mastered by 6 months: grabbing your feet and pulling them to your mouth (check), passing objects from one hand to the other (check) and sitting up. You've got the first two down-no problem. The sitting up is happening a little more slowly. You're getting better, but we've really been practicing with you. Daddy and I call it "working on your skills". You see, I take tests VERY seriously, Parker. So, when the doctor gave us that task, I didn't take it lightly. I'm sure you're sick of me making you practice, but let me tell you, we WILL NOT fail your 6 month check up.

We love you, buddy.

I did manage to get a good picture of him practicing for his skills test!

Look closely to see who's peeking in behind his shoulder

A good week..for the most part...

Well, it's been a good week for the most part. I was off today, praise the Lord!

Look at the pic below. Does that face look like the face of a baby with a double ear infection? I didn't think so either. However, he was running a slight fever, so we took him in to the dr. late this afternoon. I felt so silly for going in-kind of like how I felt when we went to the hospital when I had Parker-I thought it was no big deal and we'd come right home. Anyway, his temp was down, but the dr. said he had an infection in both ears. One ear was pretty bad. She gave us his first round of antibiotics. I felt horrible for not knowing he was sick, but seriously, this is how he looked all day. She said we were lucky for catching it today because it could have ended us up in the ER this weekend. She also said it was probably from the teething he's been doing-the saliva is probably draining back..gross.

I am so upset that he's sick. Up until now, he's really been the healthiest baby. No reflux, constipation, he eats incredibly well...no issues like alot of babies have had to deal with. We really feel so lucky to have such a healthy baby...the dr. did make us feel better by saying it was good we have made it two months into the sick season without having to come in.
Oh yeah, he now has two teeth! Anyway, other than that, we had a great week around here!

His first mohawk! I styled it after his bath and it stayed like the the entire next day! Who knew baby lotion was such a good styling product? Anyway, I LOVE the mohawk. I'm all about letting your child express their inner creativity..or letting their mothers express it while they're still too young to!

Our little dinosaur!

Parker looked so cute in his dinosaur outfit! He actually kind of enjoyed wearing it..I can already see days of dressing up as super heros and running around the house! He actually didn't make that great of a dinosaur-he only has 1 tooth, and he couldn't ever get the roar down. Oh well, he was definitely the cutest dinosaur we've ever seen!

Marmee bought you this outfit, and you wore it 3 times this week! Your socks were candy corns!

Princess Karoline stopped by to pay us a visit...

Presley the pumpkin came by to say hello...they can't keep their eyes off each other!

We ended the night with a visit to our good buddy Truett's house...I think Truett went as a 5 week old baby?

The loves of my life...

5 months old!

Look closely to see his tooth!

At 5 months you are:

-Holding yourself up very well-We know you'll be sitting up soon!

-Eating cereal twice a day.

-Still breastfeeding.
-Rolling all over the place!
-Sleeping pretty well!
-Grabbing for your feet and pulling your socks off! Actually, grabbing for everything!
-Becoming more vocal!
-Crying now if I leave the room and you weren't finished playing with me!
-Noticing Tulip! You LOVE her! You reach for her with the biggest grin on your face. We have to constantly remind both of you that your hands DO NOT go in her mouth!
-Love to read! You kick and reach for the pages. You now sit through an entire book and just kick your legs the whole time!
-The happiest baby we know! We LOVE you more than we ever imagined possible. Thank you, Parker for being our sweet, adorable, perfect baby. You make life fun!

My first tooth!

Nope, it's not a mistype-at 4 (almost 5) months, Parker has his 1st tooth! It's been trying to come in for a while now, so we were actually relieved to see it poking through. Since he's so young, there was no way I could get a good picture of it, so the one on the alligator will have to do! He just sticks his tongue out when you try to look. So we can remember, it's the bottom left one. I think the right one is about to follow.

A good weekend

This past weekend was a great one at the Petty house! We started off by going to Karoline's birthday party! She turned two and had a great party! Dayle is so creative, so of course there was no detail left undone. Parker really didn't nap well that afternoon, so I wasn't sure how he'd do-but I have to brag that he was perfect! He just kind of laid back and took it all in. I was really proud of him for staying up past his bedtime and being such a good sport!


On Saturday, my mom and dad came up to stay. Parker was very lucky because this was actually the 2nd weekend in a row to have grandparents come spoil him! We had a fun day of watching the Razorbacks and shopping. Mom and Dad graciously agreed to keep him on Saturday night while Phillip and I went on our first date since he arrived (note the smiles on our faces-this was taken right before we left!) Oh, did I mention that Sunday was my mom's birthday, so she actually babysat on her birthday weekend? Thanks, Gigi!! That's a true grandmother for you! She even said we could count it as part of her gift!