7 Months

A few weeks ago Parks turned seven months. I am way behind for this update. I weighed him about a week after the day and took his pictures just a couple days ago. Hopefully I can get back on schedule for the next few months. He is the happiest, sweetest little thing and we love him to pieces.

Some things we want to remember about Parks at 7 months:

- 18.2 lbs. (Somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile)

- He goes to bed around 8 at night and wakes up between 6 and 7 usually. That feels like a really decent night to me. I have come to accept the fact that our babies just aren't the kind that sleep in. Ever.

- He had a tough bout of teething a couple weekends ago. He had a 101-102 degree fever for a couple days and he was pretty sad. So unlike his usual self. That saddest part is that no teeth even ended up breaking through. I can feel them just under his gums, but they are determined not to take that final step I guess.

- He usually takes three naps still. Two good long ones, and we usually wake him up from his last one so he will go to bed at a normal time. I wait for a couple yawns, tips him over, pop his binky in, and sing a song while I walk upstairs. I lay him down, cover him with his blankets and leave. He is awesome to go to sleep to easily.

- He absolutely loves when anyone talks to him and smiles at him. He smiles so big in response and he has started to add in some really adorable baby babble. I love it.

- He rolls all over the place.

- He is getting pretty good at sitting up, but generally tips over after a little bit. He's not completely stable yet. I'm excited for him to get better at that because he seems to want to be up, but  he is still needing some assistance.

- He still has that little red eczema circle on his cheek that I can not get to go away for good.

- He has crazy fluffy hair that I can tame for about one minute and then it fluffs up again.

- He always acts like he wants whatever we are eating so much, but then we feed him baby food and for the most part he doesn't seem too impressed. He really loved oatmeal for a while, but he has started to reject it a little. It's time to mix it up I guess.

How was I supposed to choose between these three close-ups?

 This mobility thing is making our monthly photo shoots a bit more challenging.

 This picture is a bit of a farce. He actually can sit up alright, but in this particular instance he sat up for the two seconds it took me to snap this picture and then he immediately fell back and bonked his head on the couch. Good parenting right there.

Halloween

 This year for Halloween Darcy was Alice in Wonderland, Ezra was a shark, and Parks was a tiger. Darcy and Ezra were both really excited about this holiday this year. Last year Ezra was too young to really know what was going on, but this year he out-lasted Darcy at the trunk-or-treat. It was supposed to rain Halloween night, so we just skipped trick-or-treating at home and went straight to Mattawa. We only trick-or-treated at a few places, but the kids got tons of candy. (People in Mattawa get very few trick-or-treaters so they tend to give each kid a huge hand full of candy.)

Pumpkin Patch

 Before we had kids I didn't even know there was such a thing as a pumpkin patch. They have really before my favorite thing about Halloween though. This year a friend recommended a new one and I ended up really loving it. It was out in the country in the middle of fields and orchards and it was really quaint and we went with our friends that we love. Maybe next year we might even go a couple times if I can swing it.

 We forgot our stroller, so we had to improvise. 

 Parks was pretty happy about the wheelbarrow arrangement.

 Darcy and Marley

 Thomas and Ezra

 They had these freshly made pumpkin doughnuts (that were safe for Ezra which was the icing on the cake at this place) that I have been dreaming about ever since. That might be the real reason I need to go back next year.

 Parks had his first ride in a swing and loved it!

 Allison and Parks

 I seriously love this picture, and it made me realize how similar Darcy and Parks' noses are.