Funny little toothy boy.

Spencer has been a hoot lately! He's really quirky, so he makes me laugh a lot. Okay, maybe it's just me, but I think he's really funny. You should check out some of the videos on his youtube channel. I'll provide you links below:

First Popsicle

Silly Daddy & Spencer (good for a laugh!)

Hiccups

Coffee Table Drummers (co-starring his best friend, Grayson)

Arguing (another laughable one)
And... I found his tooth!

Yesterday, Spencer's first tooth broke through! Yeah! It is the lower left front tooth. Then, this morning, after his nap, I noticed his SECOND tooth had broken through! That was the top right front tooth. Ah!

He has been moving a lot lately, which is crazy! He doesn't crawl yet, but he, as he has for quite some time, bounces on his bottom all over, and now he also scoots on his tummy backward. He inchworms too, which is super fun to watch. And then, he scoots on his butt, too. Sometimes, I think he might not crawl until after he walks.. just like I did!

He also eats mostly "table food" now, and has been for a while. He loves eating what we're eating (if he can), including things like chicken noodle soup, or grilled cheese, cereal, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and yogurt! I think yogurt is his favorite, but he also loves to feed himself peas. It's really cute. I can't believe how crazy fast he is growing!

In fact, he will be 9 months old on Monday. HOLY MOLY. That just seems... absolutely incredible. He'll be 3/4! And with that in mind, we're already working on planning his first birthday party. It will most likely be family and a few friends (which he does have, thanks to daycare and church!), and possibly be a pool party. I guess it just depends on the cost associated with a bunch of kids swimming. Our place is not big enough to have a party here, so I've been looking into other options. I know it seems far away, but most of his family live far away, so it only makes sense to plan ahead and get it on the calendar! I'm thinking the party will be Saturday, November 5.

He's been sleeping through the night (almost every night) for like a month now, too? I think? And loves pulling to stand, especially in the bath tub (UGH, but when he does, I take him out and tell him bath is done). He also loves walking alongside the couch. And shaking his head no.

Tonight, he waved many times in a row at me and Uncle Jesse! Yay!

First Fourth!

Before I write about Spencer, let me just say I think that holidays that are primarily referred to by their actual date are somewhat silly. (For example: Cinco de Mayo, September 11th, The 4th of July.) I think they deserve more creative, meaningful names... like.... Independence Day!

Happy Birthday USA!
Anyway.

Yesterday was Spencer's first Independence Day! While he obviously has no idea what Independence Day (or even the two words, separately) means, he still was able to celebrate.

First, he had a spiffy new Mud Butt Diaper! And on Saturday, he had his professional photos taken in it. Here's one:

On Monday morning, we decided to go to the Annual 4th of July Parade! He loved it! I actually decided we should go based on prior experience with him loving traffic as it whizzes by our house in the morning. I figured he'd enjoy being close to traffic that was "more fun" than your typical morning commuters.

He hadn't had a nap beforehand, but he was still a jolly little guy, attracting attention from people actually in the parade, which was amusing to me.

Afterward, we went to Chevy's for lunch. He ate a little Spanish rice, some beans, some corn... mush... stuff, and had water through a straw! We took a video of that. He didn't suck it up through a straw, but it counts well enough, I think.

Came back and napped.

Then we took Wendell to the dog park. Unfortunately, there were hardly any other dogs there, so Spencer was somewhat bored... until we played in the sand! He played in the sand for the first time on Sunday, and the second time yesterday. He only attempted to eat it once each day, and it never even made it into his mouth. I was impressed! He really liked walking in it, and squishing his toes underneath the surface. He didn't so much care for me burying his feet. Not sure why.

Came home and put him to bed/nap for a bit, and then woke him up to go watch the fireworks display! At first, I couldn't tell which he liked more, the fireworks, or the traffic. I think by the end of the show, the fireworks won. :) He's such a great little baby!

And, he's saying, "Dad" all the time. Sometimes, I joke about him thinking the dog is his daddy, but he really gets excited when I talk about daddy, and I know he knows who that is.

Here's a video of him saying it tonight before bed:

Spencer's First Wedding

Spencer went to his first wedding this past weekend! His uncle, Cody, (Jake's step-brother) married his sweetheart, Emily!

It was fun to bring Spencer to a wedding, and for the most part, he was very well behaved.

There were only a few times during the ceremony where he thought it wildly appropriate to start yelling 'Da da da da da!'

It was a bit embarassing, but I must admit, I thought it was kind of cute as well.

At the reception, Spencer got his own seating assignment and place-soda. How cute! It's currently on the shelf in his room. If it lasts long enough, he can drink some of it in a few months, when we deem he might be ready for fizzy pop.

The wedding was early afternoon, and the reception ended a bit after four, so following, we went to his Grandma and Grandpa Worthley's house for a few hours. There, Spencer got to spend some quality time with Aunt Beka (his wedding date, awww), Uncle Josh (see blow), Grandma, Grandpa, "Auntie" Jessica, and some other people (like Grandma's parents, for example). It was a lot of fun!

He even spent some time with daddy playing on Grandma's piano. I'll attach a video at the bottom.

For supper, he was a big boy,

and he ate whole peas, potato salad, and watermelon. It's crazy to think that he is already enjoying "real" table food, not just baby foods that I make for him. He seems so little for that! I guess he is seven months old. Man, time flies.

Overall, it was a great day!

Don't really have much more to say about it (because I'm exhausted and not feeling well) so I'll just attach the video I mentioned of Jake and Spencer's dinner concert.

Seeing horses and deploying family photos, a birthday party, and a football game.

Spencer had a busy weekend.

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.

Adventures at the Zoo!

Today, Spencer went to the Great Plains Zoo! My friend Jenna has been itchin' to meet our little man for quite some time now, so she and her friend came up from Marshall, and we met at the zoo.

I wasn't sure how Spencer would like the zoo at first, because animals there can be pretty boring (at least at this zoo it seems) when they're really hard to see far away. But, luckily, that wasn't always the case, and he seemed to really enjoy it!

The exhibits he enjoyed the most (or so it seemed anyway) were the Spider Monkeys (which he watched very intently, tracking their movements and kicking his feet), the petting zoo (which we got a video of) and the tigers (which we also got a short video of).

He seemed to enjoy it so much that he was awake nearly the entire three hours! He slept for about a half an hour in his stroller, and then was awake and participating. He (and his daddy) is sleeping right now, though, making up for the big lack of sleep earlier in the day.

Jake and I decided we're getting a family pass in a year or so, so that he can enjoy the animals more frequently.

It was a great day!

Oh, and Jenna got him a tiger onesie that he'll be modeling in the next few days, hopefully.

6 Months!

Spencer had his six-month well-baby doctor's visit today!

He weighs 19.1 pounds.

He is nearly 28 inches long!

He is in the 75th percentile for height and weight, and head is around the 50th percentile, I think.

He had a blast playing with the paper on the exam table, and attempted to rip the stethoscope right out of his doctor's ears. Haha.

He did all sorts of talking and laughing and squealing... until his shots. Hated those, of course. But, he's still in a relatively good mood!

He got a ball at the grocery store tonight, and I had him laughing so hard he drew a small crowd. I was bonking it on his forehead saying, "bounce! bounce!" He was SO cute.

He got to eat a chunk of watermelon after supper tonight! He loved it. I did not take photos. I will next time.

He also got to spend time with Grandpa Lee today, shopping, and then with Grandpa and Uncle Jesse for supper.

Lately, he's been playing outside a LOT. He LOVES being outside under normal circumstances (unless he's really cranky or tired). He is also experimenting with different "hard" foods, like crackers (which he's had many times before) or toast (which he had for the first time on Friday).

Here's a quick video from tonight, where Grandpa made him giggle:

World Record Setting.

Last Saturday, on Spencer's uncle Bryan's 19th birthday, he and I participated in the Great Cloth Diaper Change World Record Setting Attempt, held locally at Elegant Mommy in Sioux Falls.

Here's a news article to explain more:

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=114160

While there, we opted to participate in a Cloth Diaper Mini Shoot, done by Mprints. Click the business name to see the facebook page! He donned an infamous Mud Butt, of course. He loved having his picture taken, and it was a lot of fun for me to watch him have his photo taken by someone else! I can't wait to see more, this is just the facebook preview image she shared.

Anyway, the event was pretty fun. We scored a bag of random goodies, and showed off our super cute Mud Butt diapers. Spencer got a certificate stating he was a part of the local attempt as one of 49 participating babes!

I was really excited to take him to the event, mostly so I could put it in his baby book some day. I mean, I've never been a part of any world record, so it's pretty cool that he is! The official results will be posted in a few weeks, I think.

In other news, Spencer likes baby yogurt, drank from a sippy cup, loves bouncing, ate some pureed tater tot hotdish (which looked DISGUSTING, but Grayson wouldn't eat it, so we gave it to SJ), and was bit twice this week!