This past month went by way too fast!!! Parker mastered rolling over both directions, and now loves that he has so much more freedom! We have quickly learned that our living room just isn't big enough to accomidate his budding curiousity! He loves to just lay on his stomach with a variety of toys in front of him. He does what we call the "superman" pose; he lays on his tummy with his legs slightly lifted off the floor and he kicks like crazy! Actually, he looks more like a frog than superman but somehow that nickname has stuck!
We have been getting together for a baby playdate for the past two months now. Right now I think it's more of a "mommy playdate" since the babies aren't really interested in each other at the moment. I think that will slowly begin to change though. Here's a cute pic of the four boys at one of our sessions.
He has added a bunch of food to his list this past month: squash, sweet potatos (his favorite!), peas, bananas, oatmeal, and carrots. I also give him a "treat" called a baby Mum-Mum. This is basically a rice cake. As funny as it sounds, I think he could really care less about eating. He is easily distracted while I'm feeding him. He would much rather chew on his spoon, watch Shady (our dog), or chew on the fabric of his high chair. Luckily, he always finishes his meal, even if it takes me fifteen minutes to feed all of it to him.
One of the funnest moments of this past month was my favorite holiday: Halloween! My mom saw a pea in the pod outfit at Family Dollar, and since she knew I labeled all my pregnancy blog posts as "pea in the pod" and since one of my baby showers had the same theme, she could't pass it by. I have to say, he is the most adorable little pea ever.
Funny story: When I showed my husband these pictures, his first comment wasn't the typical, "Oh, he looks so cute", or "You did a good job on these pictures". No. It was, "We have carrots?!" Yes, my husband enjoys his vegetables!
A woman who attends the same Bible Study as me also gave me a cute Pumpkin costume for him to wear. This is the first time I ever took pictures with my little pumpkin like this. I think he thought it was fun, what do you think?
We got to attend a fun costume/cocktail party.
I took him to Wichita for a night to meet his god-parents. (Silly me, I didn't get any pictures). I took him to church for the first time. Unfortunately that didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped. Maybe I'll venture back in another couple of months! His very first tooth is slowly trying to make it's grand debut. It has broke the surface but I can't see it, I can only feel it. So far he's been a very good teether.
I have to say I believe I may have a future model on my hands. I always seem to get big smiles out of him when I want to do a quick photo session. I even took him to get "professional" pictures taken one day. This was a fundraiser for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and I personally thought the actual photographs were overpriced so I only got the big picture that I paid $10 for. However, the photographer kept commenting on how good he was. He said he had been dealing with crying, screaming babies for the previous two hours and was glad to have such a happy, photogenic little trooper. Of course this instantly made me have visions of them asking if he could be the new "face" of this particular company, but that's just the consumate daydreamer in me!
One magical milestone happened this month: he began giving me kisses! It actually took me awhile to figure out what he was doing. They don't tell you in baby books that baby kisses aren't like "real" kisses. My sister had told me that baby kisses are open mouthed and slobbery. So one night, in the middle of my slumber, I woke up with an ephiphany: Parker had been kissing me! (Am I the only one who wakes up in the middle of the night because my subconscious has finally made something clear to me?) This is how it normally happens: I'll nurse Parker. While I'm burping him he'll turn his head and place his mouth on my cheek. At first I would laugh and say things like, "There's no milk there" or "That's not the boobie!" He always has a huge smile on his face when he does this. Once I finally realized what he was doing my heart just melted. I think he's proud of the fact that he can finally show affection back. Now I try to force it, which doesn't give the same affect. Apparently always placing my cheek in front of his face doesn't result in an instant kiss.
As these months are passing with a faster rate, I find myself falling more and more in love with my little bundle of joy. This makes me extremely happy because I actually struggled with a little combination of the baby blues/feeling like I didn't love him enough issues when he was an infant. I now realize that I was completely exhausted and that some of my feelings are normal for women. The icing on the cake is seeing how great Greg has become at being a Daddy. I think Parker really is the pride and joy of our lives and I'm so happy that we have created this special little boy.
I'm seven months old today! I weigh 19 pounds and am 27 1/2" long!
