Tears, Tricks and Trouble

Spencer is hitting his 6 and a 1/2 month mark. This is a time of transition in every way of the word. He is learning to hold his own cup, to crawl and( hopefully soon) to go back to sleep on his own! I have been counseled by my doctor , my sister, and the books, that it is now time to let Spencer just duke it out with his tears and fall asleep on his own. Joseph and I have had no problems with putting Spencer TO sleep, However, he wakes up after falling asleep for only 30 min. and gives a big cry until mom and dad come to rescue him and sing him back to sleep. For naps, it was never a big deal, but at 3 am waking to his wailing was getting a bit old. So, today I decided not to rescue him during his nap, but to have him cry it out. I don't know what it is in my mind that makes me believe that the first of ANYTHING with a baby is supposed to go smoothly, I guess I just have high hopes:) So, I let him cry for about 30 minutes, I then heard his cry change tones, so I went to see what the problem was , I look over his crib and he had gotten his chunky turkey leg stuck in between the bars. I calmed him down and put him back in his crib, but he was already traumatized by the fact he thought he would never see his delicious leg again, then he just wouldn't settle down, so, after another half hour I did what I do best and gave in.:) I sang him to sleep and laid with him on the couch, until he fell asleep. As always, there will be more and more attempts, and hopefully soon a final success:) If any one has any suggestions on how to make a smooth transition on getting Spencer to fall back asleep on his own,(or how to stop him from getting his rolls stuck between the bars:) let me know!

The Trouble Maker
Here is Spencer waking up from his comfortable nap on the couch (hopefully for the last time.) Since he rolls over now, I have to put pillows down just in case.
First he grabs the unsuspecting toes...
and then he eats 'em all up, yum:)
This is mommy just having fun with the camera, he is so cute when he is thinking and daydreaming.

Hide and Seek:)

Me and Spencer were both sick today and just napped and hung out together all day in our PJs:)
I put Spencer on his blanket with some toys while I went to make myself a sandwich in the kitchen. I come back and I don't see Spencer anywhere. After a short moment of panic, trying to remember if I placed him somewhere else, I then hear a squeal of excitement. I looked below and this is what I find...





He was really proud of himself to get underneath our coffee table, He must have gotten excited when he saw my feet pass him:)

He then attempted to get out from under the table, but then discovered he was stuck!
Oh, the distress of being top heavy:)
He finally gave in and plopped on his belly, too cute of a kid!

Family Fun

We had Missy, Mike and the family over the other night. We played some Wii and just hung out, It was quite the show to watch Mike do Wii wrestling!:)

Spencer on top of his Uncle mike's shoulders, Mike uses Spencer as his surrogate son:) Mike is hoping Spencer will grow up to be a Dallas Cowboy. Emma's way of showing you she got a strike.

Mike and Joe "wrestling" eachother. Emma is coaching her dad on the sidelines.

Mike really got into it, and I am sure you are curious to know, that he beat Joseph... pretty bad in fact.
Spencer just chillin' in his seat.
He is definitely all boy!
Aisha decided she wanted to be a baby too.Spencer's cool moves, showing off sitting up without any support!

Awww, sweet baby of mine:) I love this kids so much!

Spencer's first solids!

Joseph and I decided it was time to introduce Spencer to some rice cereal. So, we propped him up in his cute little seat (don't worry we were going to put the tray on... ), but he looked so cute we had to take a picture. This is how it began clothed, sweet and happy!
After seeing Spence with his clothes on, we thought "he'll probably make raspberries and get the cereal all over himself," So, off came the clothes, just in case.:)
We then put the bib on him, just for double protection (he obviously was not very keen on that idea).

He then changed his mind very quickly and decided it looked like a delicious snack and wanted to eat the bib.
"Hmmm... that's new, what's that?"
"Into the mouth, okay, okay..."

"OH, wait, that's not what I thought it was, I think I'll change my mind, please..!"
"Whew, that was close, lets, uh, not try that again."
"NO, I said, NO!"
"Fine, but I 'm not gonna swallow it!"
"Now, look what you did, you made me all sad!:("

That's basically how the situation ended, not so good. He was so frightened by the whole thing, that when we attempted to put his binky in his mouth, he thought we were trying to feed him again, and started to freak out. Yeah, I guess I am starting to see what they mean by "baby steps." We'll see how his second feeding goes.

Mom's to vote!

I felt really inspired by an article that I read today in the Parent magazine. It was about a mother, Shari MacDonald Strong, who had tasted a little bit of all parties on the ticket, she decided above all of them she was a mother. She says obviously she usually has an identity with a particular party, but said she'll "..back up in politician, any bill or measure that I believe to be in the best interest of children." There isn't just the Primaries we are able to vote at, which is all determined by our electoral college anyhow... that's another issue I'll tackle later:) but, we have even more important times to vote, for our local leaders, and even bills, which affects what happens right in our very community in which our children will grow up in. I'll share of few quotes which I thought were really powerful from Shari's excerpt,
"A few years ago I saw a television documentary about female leaders in developing countries. One woman from a war-torn nation said something to the effect of:' If woman were the ones who came to the table to negotiate peace, none of us would leave until an agreement had been reached because we know that women and children are the ones who will suffer the consequences if we don't.' In the 1960's, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Later, John Lennon had a dream. We all have dreams, and here is mine; that one day, all mothers will use their political power and voice not in the way that the media and our husbands, pastors, fathers, and political leaders direct us to, but rather as we're led by our personal wisdom, our deepest intuition, our maternal instinct."
I love how she empowers motherhood! She goes on to say, " I picture a day when the driving force behind politics in my country is not power or money, but maternal love." I really hope that as nurturers we don't take for granted the power that we have. In our homes, AND in our communities. I encourage everyone to really study the candidates, in this election and our local elections, and vote for those who support mothers and families.

Pics of Richard's Homecoming

Here are the pics of Richard's homecoming, as you can tell he ate a lot of mexican food in California:) We are so happy to have him back, he's still Richard, just more polished and grown-up!