Our Little Park-o-lantern

Last weekend we went to Stade's Fall Festival and had a great time. I would highly recommend it for anyone with younger kids. Parker enjoyed a few of the activities too!

Sitting in a booster seat at lunch!

Hanging in the stroller - so much to see!

We rode this ride multiple times - Parker loved it! He climbed right off my lap and stood up the entire ride. 

A quick photo op after the corn maze. 

This corn pit was at least a foot deep full of corn. 

Parker did not like it! He is clawing at me, saying "get me out of here!"

Visiting with the goat - Parker is fascinated by animals lately. 

Fall is right around the corner

Loves riding on his car. Has perfect balance
and would sit here for hours!

Parker recently discovered he can reach the coffee table!

Parker has developed quite the little personality over the past few weeks. He is starting to do silly things and laughing at himself as he is doing it. He can be quite the little monkey on the sofa or on our bed. He loves climbing & crawling, then falling over & doing it again. He climbed on my head about a week ago. I "yelled" as he pulled my hair-so he starts saying "ahhh" as he pulls my hair & giggles! He can be quite the chatterbox too. No real words yet, but I swear he says hello, hi-ya, ok, etc. at very appropriate times! Or maybe he's really swearing and plotting against us, who knows? ;-)

Not only is he crawling & moving like crazy but he loves to stand. He is really developing his balance as he walks around the furniture, toys, cabinets-even the back of my legs!

All four top teeth came in at once. That was quite the miserable transition back to school-teething & refusing bottles. He now takes his milk from the sitter in sippy cups & the bottles are packed away. Growing too big too fast!

We also transitioned into a big boy carseat. He still has a few pounds before he out grows the infant seat. But being over 20 pounds made it very difficult for me to carry him in the infant seat. He's loving the bigger seat & kicks his legs as soon as he sits down. He looks up (with his mouth wide open!) for a kiss after I strap him in. He also knows when it's time to get out of the car by the sound of the seat belt & door opening-and laughs & giggles til I walk around & get him out of the car.

Out and About

So Parker has twice now slept "thru the night"... I say that in quotes because every time I hear about sleeping through the night, the definition of night is completely different. I've heard the "average" six month old is waking 2-3 times at night, and capable of sleeping 6+ hours at a time. I don't think Parker is a great sleeper and he sometimes has a hard time even falling asleep. But twice now he has had only one wake up over night, and slept for 8 hours straight. Both times we had spent the entire day outdoors, so now I'm trying to continue that trend!

We spent the day at Old Orchard Mall today and he was such a good boy! Very cheerful and quite the little charmer, flirting with anyone that paid attention to him!

Summer Fun

As it is now early August and school is just around the corner, I figured I should get these pictures off of the camera before summer is over!

Boating with a baby tends to be a little bit difficult, but we have certainly managed a few times this summer! Believe it or not, this chunky baby is still pretty small for a life jacket! It just squishes up on his neck and face and we feel so bad for him! But it's the law and he does pretty well with it. He generally falls asleep as the boat is going fast - the motion and white noise apparently are perfect sleeping conditions. Never mind the waves and the bumpy ride!

We took two weeks of swim lessons mid-July. Unfortunately the time was right in the middle of his morning nap. That meant he was VERY tired during the lessons. The first week was in the mid 90's...the second week had a high of 70! Parker enjoys the water and we have learned some of the foundational skills to learning how to swim. He received a report card at the last lesson and received "needs to improve" in most areas. The learn to swim class is for 6-36 months and Parker had just turned 6 months old. Most of the skills are not developmentally appropriate for him - but there was still a slight cringe to view that negative report card! 

Watching Saturday morning cartoons...

Team spirit for the water fights at Lake Villa days.

Family Portraits

Since I was completing Parker's six month portraits, I figured it would be a great time to get some updated family portraits as well. We met my brother and sister in law at Grant Forest Preserve - I took some family portraits of them, and then Missy helped take the portraits of us. I think they turned out amazing! If only I can convince my husband to do them again in the fall!

And a few new cousin pictures!

Beach Day!

Our neighborhood has a very small park and beach just a few doors down from our house. It's nothing special, but the location is amazing! Parker and I enjoyed the beach this weekend, just the two of us. He loves splashing in the water, and bath time has become even more entertaining now that he can sit up in the tub. Starting swim lessons next week!

Check out my teeth!

We also met Missy and the kids at the beach this week. Mia was enjoying eating the sand - Parker looks disgusted with her!