Tidbits

A cute picture of Parker taking a nap.  In a few years, she will be doing this and saying "you guys are so embarrassing" to her crazy parents.

And this is Parker's favorite toy.  We named him Petey the Peacock.  Parker loves to look at him, grab him, and now try to eat him.  She never gets tired of this guy.

 

 



Christmas

Parker's 1st Christmas was fun for all.  It's not over yet, because the whole Lang crew is en route to Rochester at this very moment, so that will be covered in the next post.

On Christmas Eve the entire Goforth clan gathered at Larry's house.  It was great to see everyone and once again Parker got to be held by so many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

On Christmas Day, we had a quiet morning at home where Otis got to "open" his gifts from his stocking.

Then we went for a hike at Mendon Ponds, a local county park.  It was such a nice day, mid-40s.  Otis was a happy guy.

Parker got to use her Patagonia suit again.

 

 

 

Then Larry came over for Christmas dinner in the late afternoon.  Papa G got to feed Parker a bottle.

Close up...look at those cheeks!

 

Our family...Parker was not super happy and I am wearing an apron, but you gotta take what you can get!

 

Papa G playing with Parker and her new toy.

Otis resting with his new football and bone close at hand.

Our sweet girl getting ready for bed.

New Talent

Parker has a new talent!  She has been cooing and "talking" to us for a couple weeks now, but just yesterday she discovered how to (kind of) blow rasberries.  This video was taken on my phone, so it is not the best quality.

She also really likes to hold on to things now, especially the shirt of whomever is holding her.  I gave her a lovey yesterday and she took a little nap with it.  I am hoping to start this habit because it will make solo napping a lot easier if she has a buddy.  Photo also from my phone...

Case in point, Parker likes to use her left hand to hold on to the bar of her bouncy seat.  She does this every time she is in it, too cute.

 

Dinner

Greg and I took a bold first step and took Parker out to dinner with us Friday night.  We went Gusto (pronounced Goose-toe), one of our favorite little Italian places.  Parker did great.  I gave her a bottle while we were there and of course she needed to eat right when our food arrived, but we worked it out.  She started to fuss a little near the end so I took her out to the lobby.  The owner followed me out and said "This is a family restaurant, let the baby cry all she wants!"  It was so comforting to know that she was welcome.  We will definitely be taking Parker back to Gusto again in the near future.

New Christmas Traditions

Two weekends ago we went to cut down our tree.  We went to the same tree farm we visited a three years ago.  Otis (of course) loved it because he got to run amounst the trees for an hour.  Parker hung out in her Baby Bjorn and helped us look for the perfect one.  Alas, we did not find our perfect tree and settled on one that the proprietors had cut down already.

We took Parker to Eastview Mall to visit Santa.  Parker did great, still far too young to freak out by being held by a fat man with a white beard.  We'll see how next year goes....

Back to Work

I started back to work this week and Parker is attending Banners Childcare.  I am only working in the mornings until the end of the year, so it's nice to still have the afternoons with my little girl.  Monday was a rough day, but only for me...Parker is doing great.  I really think she likes being around the other babies, she is so calm there!

Here are a couple cute pictures from the last week.

Snuggling with Daddy:

 

 

Tummy time:

 

Cloth Diapers

We officially started using our clothes diapers on Parker this week.  We have quite a "stash" (that is what all the cloth diaper people call it) by now, consisting of a few different brands: Fuzzibunz, GroVia, Flip, and Charlie Banana.  All of them are a one size version that are very adjustable and should last until Parker is potty trained.  Right now, Fuzzibunz are the only kind I am using because the elastic in the legs is adjustable so they already fit very well.  Here is a picture of Parker sporting a red pair.

They are definitely fluffier than a disposable diaper.  Parker was on the verge of not fitting in some of her 0-3 month clothes, so having extra padding on her booty has pushed us into those 3-6 clothes a tad earlier.  So far we have had no leaks, even overnight! 

I have been using cloth wipes all along.  I just get them damp and put in the wipes warmer.  Then when the wipes and diapers are dirty, we store in this handy hanging diaper bag until ready to be washed.  Since she is solely breastfed right now, the poopy diapers are easily cleaned in the normal wash cycle.  Once she starts to eat solid food, things will change a bit...the poo needs to be dumped in the toilet first.  But they make flushable liners that you can use to make the whole process easier.

We will still likely use disposables for traveling and other occassions, but will be cloth most of the time.

Parker - 2 Months Old

Parker was two months old on 12/3/11 so we set her up for the monthly photo session.  Please excuse her immodesty, you can see her red cloth diaper peeking out from the onesie.

And side-by-side with 1 month picture:

Her two month Dr. appointment was last week and she weighed 12 lb 6 oz and was 24 inches long, both 90% in size.  Her head was 80%, so our girl is pretty well proportioned.  She did great at her check-up, showing off her head and neck holding skills to the Dr.  She also had three shots and one oral vaccination.  I thought the shots would be harder to handle then they were.  She started off with one of those horrible "I am crying so hard I can't make a sound" cries.  But when I finally got to pick her up, she calmed immediately.

Parker is definitely attrached to looking at people's faces, or any toy with a face.  She will reach toward and grab toys that are held in front of her.  She smiles often and is really starting to "talk" to us.  We definitely are seeing signs that she knows Mommy and Daddy too....smiling when I walk into the room or turning her head when she hears Daddy voices behind her at a big party this past weekend.

We still have some major fussiness on occasion, but realize it's gas.  It seems she has some uncomfortable reactions to some things I eat.  So far I have stopped drinking milk and eating my daily whole wheat bagel in the mornings.  It seems to have to helped, but who knows, could just be concidence.  At the suggestion of some friends, I am going to pick up some gas drops to use next time she gets upset.

Parker sleeps through the night already!  She has been sleeping a good 10 hours straight since she was 7 weeks old, so we are so very lucky.

Thanksgiving Week

Since I am still on maternity leave, it seemed a perfect opportunity for a nice long visit to St. Louis for the holiday.  Because Greg is, of course, NOT on maternity leave, we decided to journey to Missouri seperately.  I flew in with Parker on Sunday and Greg drove in with Otis on Tuesday/Wednesday.  I was a bit nervous about flying with the Little Miss by myself, but she did amazing!  Thank goodness she loves the Baby Bjorn, because I had her in that most of my travel day.  She slept the entire first flight to our layover in Chicago.  I fed her in the airport in between flights and then she actually was awake most of the second flight from Chicago to St. Louis.  She just looked across the aisle at the people sitting there and I think she liked the bright light coming in the windows.  One plus to flying in and out of Rochester is the use of smaller planes...they are louder and bumpier, perfect for most babies.  The change in pressure did not seem to bother Parker's ears at all.  I think she is destined to be a traveler!

On Tuesday night, all my St. Louis girlfriends and most of their kids came over to hang out and meet Parker.  Between the 7 of us (me, Jenny, Mary, Terri, Jennifer, Rachel, and Joy), we now have 16 children.  Five of them were not there that night and a few not in this picture, but you get the idea:

We were really lucky with the timing as the Rackers crew was just on their way out of town so we got to have a visit!  All my girls (these gatherings are few and far between):

 

Parker got to meet loads of relatives on Thanksgiving.  My best guess is that she was held by about 15 new people that day and she loved every minute of it.  Here are some photos from Thanksgiving "lunch" at Aunt Jan's:

 

 

For dessert, we had pie and fresh whipped cream.  Jack got a special serving of whipped cream and his Daddy suggested he could lick the plate, yum!

Thanks to my parents and the Claytons, Friday night was double date night for us.  This was the first time Greg and I have been out without Parker!  We had sushi at The Drunken Fish and then drinks at Pujols 5, good times.





We left St. Louis on Saturday and drove half way to Columbus, OH to visit/stay with Nate (friend of Greg's from college).  Parker and Otis did pretty great.  I did sit in the backseat the whole time, so not the most comfortable ride.  Nate and Angela and friends had tacos ready when we arrived.  Otis got lots of attention and trips to the park, so everyone was happy.  All in all, a very successful first major trip for Parker!!

House Changes

We finally got around to purchasing new living room furniture last week and it looks great!  Our old sofa was just too large for our space and the chair-and-a-half was simply awful.  The coffee table was a cheap Target one that we wanted to update anyway and then our neice Clare helped that cause by accidentally leaning on the end leaf and breaking it off!  And last but not least, a new area rug.  The old one was is poor shape after four years of constant heavy traffic.  Here is the finished product:

When we moved the old sofa, low and behold we found a treasure trove of rawhides...I guess we know where Otis' favorite hiding spot was...

Last winter, we had a squirrel decide to move into our home. He can jump to our roof from an adjacent tree and dug into the underhang and made a nice little abode over our sleeper porch. This fall Greg got a Havahart trap and set it out by the pine tree where the squirrel is often seen. After a few hours, we caught our man (or so we thought). Greg released him that day in a park far from our house. However, we discovered when you place carrots, nuts, and dried fruit in your yard it attracts more squirrels! Since we no way of knowing if the one we caught was our roommate, we set it again. Squirrel #2 got to take the drive down to Letchworth and currently has a new home with a nice view.

Baby's First Hike

We took the whole crew down to Letchworth State Park on Sunday. It was a decent day...although not sunny, it was close to 60 degrees. Parker LOVES being in the Baby Bjorn and stays awake for a long time just looking around. Otis loves going anywhere, so everyone was happy! This trail was pretty flat (we avoided the more interesting part of the trail because it is hunting season) but very nice views of the gorge. This is the Genesee River and known as the "Grand Canyon of the East". Two weeks ago it would be been beautiful with all of the fall-colored leaves.

We had a hand-me-down Baby Bjorn that was a few years old and employed a bunch of button type mechanisms to hold the baby. I had trouble putting Parker in it, needing to hold her with one arm and attach buttons with one hand. We decided to invest in a new Baby Bjorn that has much simpler attachments and a lumbar back support. I figure then we can use it for a longer time as she gets heavier. This was the first time using and we still had to make some adjustments...she is riding pretty low in this set up...we have since fixed it.

Parker - 1 Month Old

On Thursday, Parker was 1 month old!  It's simply amazing how times flies.  Here are some shots of her with her official 1 month old sticker on...

Clayton Visit!

Aunt Annie and Cousin Charlie arrived this week to meet Little Miss Parker.  With 4 week old and 7 week old babies, we didn't do anything terribly exciting, but had a lot of quality time.  We did make it to the outlet mall for a marathon shopping session.  Both babies did great, with only one minor meltdown from Parker.  Friday night we had Jason, Emily, Colin, & Ben Nudds and Shane Nudds and Papa G over for pizza.  We attempted numerous times to get a cousin picture while both babies were awake, but alas it was not an easy task.  Here are some attempts:

Annie with her neice:

Proud parents: