I seriously thought about leaving the blog at that. Haha. But, I won't.
Starting on Thursday evening, Spencer had a busy four or five days. That evening, he and I met up with our new friend Samantha, and went for a beautiful walk at a local camp. We saw horses! Though, Spencer, truthfully, was more interested in her watch, until one horse whinnied, and then it was back to her watch.
While we were there, she took a few photos of us together, and of Spencer playing with long grass. The one to the left is one of my favorites from the evening!
Following photos, we sat on some swings and talked a while. By the time we got home, Spencer was so tired he went to bed in his clothes, with one shoe on, one shoe off. It was pretty adorable, if you ask me.
On Friday, the three of us traveled back to my hometown area, to attend my younger brother's deployment ceremony.
He is currently in Wisconsin for training, and at the end of July or beginning of August, or something, he'll be headed to Kuwait for a month, and then to Iraq for 11 months, I believe.
Spencer seemed to enjoy the actual ceremony somewhat. He not only was intrigued by the activity, but he made friends with a baby girl sitting behind him.
Post-ceremony, we all traveled back to my dad's and spent some time together as a family. Spencer and my dad's dog, Adelynn, deepened their friendship. In fact, she tried to take a nap on him at one point.
It's crazy to think that Spencer will be walking and talking (hopefully) by the time his uncle Bryan returns from deployment.
On Saturday morning, we had the second half of our family photo session with Something Clicked Photography. We had the first half a few weeks back, but the wind was crazy (up to 40 mph gusts) so most of the photos had crazy hair and a freaked out look on Spencer's face.
LUCKILY, the weather this time turned out much better. Though, it was quite a feat to get Spencer to smile for photos. He was distracted by EVERYTHING and sat there with a gaping mouth and distant stare most of the time. Between the baby ducks, the grass, the trees, and the sound of a waterfall, he was just not an easy baby to get smiling... unless... Jake was hoisting him up above us both or jumping off in front of us, in which case Spencer would smile and laugh incessantly. We decided that next time, maybe we'll have his uncle Jesse (Jake's twin) come along and either stand in for Jake in the photos (haha) or be the side-show that gets the smiles.
The photo shown here is one of the previews the photographer put online, and I think it's super cute!
That afternoon, we went to Spencer's best friend Grayson's first birthday party! It was a lot of fun! Spencer got to eat a little bit of cake even. He LOVED watching Grayson's balloons.
On Wednesday prior, Spencer made Grayson a birthday card, using green cardstock and washable markers!
He was quite the little artist.
Also on Saturday, we went to a Sioux Falls Storm game! That's the local arena football team. They might be semi-pro or something, I don't really know. It was Spencer's first football game, which was kind of exciting! Jake won two tickets that morning, which is really why we went.
We were a little nervous that Spencer wouldn't like the crazy loud crowd and be cranky, but he really wasn't at all. In fact, he really enjoyed being there! I think he was fascinated with all the activity going on around him. He only cried a few times, mostly when he was hungry or dropped his toy. And, he was so lucky, because his daddy caught one of the miniature footballs that are tossed into the stands as prizes and gave it to him as a souvenir!
The elderly man behind us made a point to tell me once, Jake once, and both of us together one time, that we have such a great little boy, super well-behaved, and adorable. I won't lie, I like hearing those random compliments. Makes me feel like we're doing an okay job parenting, at least!
On Sunday, my college roommate came down for the day and went to church with us. She hadn't seen Spencer since he was only a few weeks old! He didn't care that so much time had passed as he was all smiles when he saw her right away! She really did spend almost the entire day with us!
And then on Monday, he had a calmer day at home, while Jake and I cleaned, and then his uncle Jesse and our friend Sam came over for supper and played games. He very much adores both of them!
In other news, he's getting really good at his pincer grasp and has little to no problems eating his puff food things (little rice puffs) by himself, AND, he's really doing well with his sippy cup!
Tomorrow, he will be SEVEN MONTHS OLD. Holy cow.
