Laugh. Play. Drool. Repeat.

Playing in my saucer with mom

Everything goes in the mouth!!!

Every day presents us with a new milestone. Spencer officially started teething, which means lots and lots of drool and every object within his reach goes right into his mouth! His teething combined with a cough, resulting in inadequate amounts of sleep for Jon and I the past week or two (and of course we both got sick along with Spencer). But we all seem on the mend, although the teeth may take some time to pop through his little gummy smile!

As for other milestones, Spencer sits up by himself for a few seconds at a time. He giggles a lot and interacts much more with us. His new favorite TV show is Meet the Press and he loves grabbing Barkley"s ears (the dog, thankfully, loves his little buddy). On occasion, Spencer will hold onto Barkley to prop himself up.

As for us, we officially started our kitchen remodel. We ordered appliances and just about finalized our plan for cabinets. We will tear down a wall between our kitchen and dining room, add new lighting, and counters...we cannot wait to get moving on the project. What a great excuse to not have to cook for a month or so!

Our mornings

We love weekday mornings at our house. They usually start pretty early (at least for me...Jon tends to enjoy a few extra winks!) so we always have coffee made the night before. After a nice cup of coffee, sometimes a workout, sometimes a read of the paper, sometimes (like now) a quick blog entry, the best part of my day begins - Spencer (usually) wakes up so happy with a big smile, giggles, and hugs for us. We feed him, play with him, watch the Today show, eat, dress, etc. By the time we leave the house we have had so much activity we all seem seem to be ready for a nap...and Spencer usually conks out in the car rideto daycare.

I took these pictures the other morning - when I showered I put Spencer in this boppy pillow. I gave him one giraffe and Jon gave him the other, and he instantly fell into a deep sleep with his two little friends. Barkley, of course, slept right next to his little buddy, although this time the dog got cropped out of the photo!

Have a great weekend. We're so excited for our cousins Steve and Julie to visit and meet Spencer!

Four months old...new stats!

We had Spencer's four month doctor visit this past Wednesday. As expected the doctor said everything with Spencer looks perfect. He falls into the 45th percentile for weight (14 lbs, 2 oz) and 49th percentile for height (24-3/4"). Spencer received his second round of shots - two in the arm (at the same time) and two in the leg. This time he looked right into mom's eyes with the expression of "why can you possibly let this happen to me, mom!", but overall he did just fine after a few minutes of crying (screaming). We came home, put him right to sleep and he did not wake up for another 12 hours or so. The following day he was as happy as always.

Jon and I decided to renovate our kitchen (because we don't have enough to fill our free time!) so we plan to spend our weekend looking at cabinets, tile, etc. (and of course hangin' with Spencer and Barkley). We hope everyone has a great weekend. Feel better, dad!

Happy 4th Birthday!

What an exciting week for us...we celebrated Barkley's four year birthday on new years day and Spencer's four month birthday yesterday. Happy birthday, boys!

Spencer made a card for Barkley, and we gave Barkley a very special birthday gift!

Barkley with his new friend, Matilda. As you can see below, Barkley had Matilda as a baby puppy but he destroyed her over the years. We joked when Barkley was young that Matilda was his first girlfriend.

Barkley loves his little brother - constantly showering him with kisses

Our neighbors Becky and Michael and their kids Duke and Kate stopped
by to wish Barkley a happy birthday (and to borrow a few eggs!)

We also had fun with our friends in from Washington - Dustin, Jana, Gabi and Jack

And here's how we spent new year's day - cleaning the basement and removing all the clutter from our life. Jon donated this entire pile of stuff to Goodwill. Now we have room for all the hand-me-downs Spencer gets from his cousins Simon, Ryan and Jake.

And here's Spencer exhausted from all the activity! He fell asleep in the middle (literally) of us folding laundry.

Best Buddies

Happy new year!

Here's a few pics of the boys. Yesterday was Barkley's birthday and I have some shots I'll put up later in the week of Spencer giving Barkley his card and gift (darn work getting in the way of my picture downloading!). We had a wonderful long weekend together and all of us are glad we don't have to start the week on a Monday...only two more days until the weekend!

We spent all day yesterday cleaning out our basement. Jon and I separately lived alone for so long that we accumulated so much junk we couldn't emotionally part with. We finally went through and donated or threw out what seems like almost everything. Gone with the old and in with the new - the latter consisting mostly of stuff for Spencer! Thanks to his cousins Simon, Ryan and Jake this kid has more clothes than Jon and I together.

Tomorrow is a big day for our friends in Des Moines. We pulled Spencer in a few political directions but he finally came to his own conclusion about the upcoming election and I swear his ah-goos sounded a lot like "Hillary in 08". What a good little Democrat (Spencer apologizes to his daddy!!).