Spencer J - 8 Weeks Old

So much new has happened in Spencer's life since I last wrote...

First, he turned a whopping eight weeks old this past Tuesday. We can't believe how fast the time has flown by. Spencer has his next official weigh-in this coming Monday when he also gets his first round of vaccinations.

Most important for mom, we finally have Spencer sleeping through the night. We usually put him to sleep around 7:00 after a bath (sometimes) and a round of Goodnight Moon (always) and usually a second book if he's still awake. Tonight we read Pat the Puppy (thanks mom and dad). It's so nice for me to finally get a full night of sleep. We feed him again right before we go to sleep and he's been sleeping until 5 or 6am.

Last night Spencer had his first Halloween party (or any party for that matter). Our friends Monica and Dan and their two little girls Lucy and Natalie invited Spencer to their house. Spencer met a whole bunch of new buddies, including little Max who will be a classmate of his. As you can see from the pictures, Spencer dressed up as a bumblebee, which we found quite hilarious. Jon and I were also bees. Although Jon was quite the trooper, he made it clear that next year he picks out our Halloween costumes!

As for Spencer's new tricks, he's smiling a whole lot and chatting it up (with his one word, a-goo). There's nothing that melts our hearts more than his little noises and smiles.

We were also lucky to have Grandma Vonnie visit us last week. Here are a few pictures from her trip.

Spencer's First Pumpkin

Note Spencer's little Nebraska Husker outfit that Jon puts on him every Saturday (too bad it hasn't brought the Huskers any good luck!)

We went yesterday to pick out Spencer's first pumpkin. It was a gorgeous day in Denver - sunny and 80 degrees. Today we're getting our first snow and it supposed to get only in the high 30's! We also picked out Spencer's first halloween costume - a bumblebee. He tried it on last night and it was by far the cutest thing I've ever seen. We are going to be a family of bugs...me a ladybug, Jon and spider and we are still thinking up Barkley's costume. Spencer has his first halloween party next week and we're so excited for him to hang with his little buddies!

We're excited to spend this snowy Sunday in our house in front of our fireplace. I'm looking forward to a relaxing day with all the boys.

Here's a picture of the storm as it moved west into Denver. We'll take a few pics of the snow later today.

Family Time

Happy Friday! Spencer looked especially groovy in this outfit so we thought it presented a good opportunity for a photo shoot. We're off for our Friday night dinner somewhere on the town. Have a great weekend.

Visit from Grandpa Lewie and Grandma Linda

Since it's been a few weeks since I posted (as many of you kindly pointed out!!) I thought I would add a few extra pictures. The top pics are from Spencer's visit with grandpa Lewie and grandma Linda who came all the way from Texas. What a fun weekend we had together.

The next set of pictures were from "tummy time" a few weeks ago. Spencer's not the biggest fan of hanging out on his tummy but with some encouragement from Barkley he seems to get better each day (translation - less crying and more smiling!). On this particular day even Barkley couldn't help, as you can see from his quick transition from smiles to red-faced screams. Barkley's new thing is that everytime Spencer he cries he comes over and licks the little guy. You can see this in the third picture from the bottom.

Spencer turned six weeks old yesterday and we cannot believe how fast the time has gone - and how big he is getting. We're two weeks away from an official weigh-in at Dr. Spiro's office but we think he's close to (if not over) 10 lbs. He now smiles at us and his new favorite activity is staring at the ceiling fan, which he can do for hours on end. He continues to sleep fairly well, although mom is getting a little tired (literally) of waking up at 3:30 each night. Spencer just got invited to his first halloween party and we now have the difficult task of finding the perfect halloween costume. Stay tuned for that decision.

One Month Old!!

Denise, Ava, me and Spencer

The picture just above is Ava, who slept while Spencer cried during his "tummy time"

Our neighbors Brooke and the twins Tahna and Reid with Spencer in his oversized hat

Barkley crashing the party

That's Spencer in front with the twins

Spencer turned one month old today. How time flies!

To celebrate his birthday we spent part of the afternoon with his friends Tahna and Reid (and mom, Brooke), the twins next door. Yesterday we walked in the park with Denise and her adorable little girl, Ava, who is four days younger than Spencer. Tomorrow we plan to walk with another neighbor and her daughter who is a few days older than Spencer. Lots of playdates for this little guy! Spencer and I have made so many trips to the park with our jogger stroller that today we had to take it into the bike shop for its first flat tire!

Spencer's First Hike

Spencer is a little man on the go!

Since his first week home with us Spencer has gone out to restaurants, trekked to the park, coffee shops and the bagel store and today he ventured out on his first hike. This weekend was great viewing of the aspen trees turning yellow and we decided to show off the Colorado high country to Spencer. He did great on his first hike, sleeping virtually the entire time including the hour drive each way in the car. Spence seems to enjoy the motion of the car and our walks with him either in the stroller or in the baby bjorn. We just got home from our day in the mountains and we gave both Spencer and Barkley their apres-hike baths. Now both of our boys are sound asleep!

Jon and I had a great weekend together with Spencer and we love getting to know him and figuring out his coos and cries. We even got a little smile out of him this evening. Friday nights (and sometimes multiple other times during the week, since we don't particularly enjoy cooking!) Jon and I always go out to eat and Spence has joined us in that ritual since the first week he came home with us. Each week we enjoy our outings more and more (possibly because I now can order a glass of wine again) and it amazes us that Spencer has not yet let out a cry in public. Jon also enjoys a few hours alone with Spencer watching football and this Saturday I went out and got a much needed massage (childbirth really does a number on your back).

Last week Spencer also made his first outings to both mine and Jon's firms and we both loved showing off the little guy. We're not sure that he showed a whole lot of interest in either investment banking or engineering, but we thought we would start exploring career options with him sooner rather than later.

On a final note, you may have picked up on our obsession with Spencer's weight. We don't have another doctor's visit until his two month birthday but we think he is over 9 lbs. In our not very scientific approach to baby weighing, Jon got on the scale with Spencer and then without him and we think he chunked up in the past week. He is sleeping like a baby (really) with stretches of anywhere from 6 to 8 hours which has made both Jon and I extremely happy parents!

Wish Spencer a happy birthday...he turns one month on Tuesday! We can't believe how fast the time has gone.