7 months old!

On June 16 our baby turned 7 months old!
I think I say this every time, but man time is flying!
     He can sit up like a pro and is trying VERY hard to crawl. He doesn't like to hold still or sit in one spot and can sure get around by rolling and scooting all over, but he is wishing he could just CRAWL! He has also had enough of his bouncy seat and can now successfully plop himself right out of that thing (unfortunately for his mom).
     He is still eating anything and everything. He wants a bite of whatever and still loved to chew on fruits and veggies through his mesh bag however, nursing is still his favorite! And he FINALLY had his first tooth pop through!

     Sleeping has gone waaaay downhill in the last 2 weeks. He went from sleeping in his own bed and waking up once a night, to sleeping in his own bed for 2 hours, crying out of control where only nursing can calm him down, and ending the night by sleeping in my bed connected to me. The last 2 nights of dealing with this have been miserable! He just can't sleep more than 2 hours in his own bed now! Not sure what's going on, but its making this mom crazy!! And he is a terrible napper as well, will wake up the second I put him down. We have our work cut out for us with the lack-of-sleeper.
     He is still a pretty mellow and quiet baby, not a whole lot of babbling going on or laughing unless he is being tickled. He does love his uncle Heatie though and Heat can make him smile and laugh or just calm down by using a deep voice and saying "hey baby!" Though he's mellow, he is not a cuddler! He will not just lay his head on your shoulder, in fact he doesn't really even like to be help facing in, he likes to face out and see what's happening. And he is busy! His legs are always moving and he is always reaching and grabbing at anything he can.
     Last thing, his hair is looking like it has decided it wants to be red. Or at least a little orange, still mostly blonde, but it definitely has a red hue to it these days!
     He is a handful at times, but he's awful cute and I think we'll keep him :)

Hand. foot and mouth.

     A few weeks ago Nate came home from work feeling sick. He had a fever and was going back and forth between the chills and the sweats. It lasted for about 24 hours and then left him with a terrible sore throat and weird rash looking spots on his fingers, feet, and around his mouth. After visiting the google doctor I diagnosed him with hand, foot and mouth disease.
     If you've never heard of HFM or don't know much about it, it's a disease that little kids usually get and it leaves "blisters" on the hands, feet, and mouth. They don't itch or hurt but Nate did say they tingled and made his grip really weak. Around the mouth it just looks like teenage acne. It's a virus and because of that you just have to let it run its course, nothing doctors can give you to help.
     So the next day Nate said it was the worst sore throat he had ever experienced. I looked in his mouth and the back of his mouth and throat were filled with these awful blisters! It looked incredibly painful! Nate's little brother was getting married in Utah the next day and we debated whether to even go since he was feeling so sick and we didn't want him to infect any of the little nieces and nephews.
     We went to the wedding because after 5 days neither me nor Spence were experiencing any symptoms and Nate was supposedly not contagious anymore. I think he was feeling pretty crappy for most of the trip, but he was a good sport so I even got him a large frosty to help his throat:) And as far as we know no one else he came in contact with got sick, so even though he didn't get to hold or be close to the kids, it was for the best!

one of about 3 pics I took at the wedding.

Pool boy.



Spencer LOVES the water. He went swimming when it was only 76 degrees and his mom was too chicken to get in. He loves to kick and splash and gets a big grin anytime he gets to play in it!




Memorial Day Fishing.

May 26,
Porter's mismatched shoes made for a mismatched sunburn:)
     My dad had been wanting to take my nephews fishing for a couple weeks but things kept coming up so finally on Memorial Day he decided to take them and the rest of us decided to tag along as well. We went to a pond our in Nampa that is stocked from the hatchery that's close by. Unfortunately it didn't make the fish anymore willing to bite. We did see a cute family of ducks that we fed french fries to.

hanging out on the dock.
     As per tradition Nate was the only person to catch a fish. Lincoln was pretty cute about it too. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Hey mudder duck, my uncle Nate just caught a fish!" The rest of the trip he talked about taking that fish home and putting it in a jar so he could show all his friends. He even held it all the way home (and cried).
Nate's whopper!

and of course had to add one of this cute guy with his Oma.

6 month Spencey!

     On May 16, our baby turned 6 months old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone, I swear we just brought him home from the hospital a week ago!
this picture was actually taken in PA so he's not technically 6 months in it, oh well!
     He is such a funny kid and of course we are still enjoying him! He is much more interactive now. He loves to smile at everyone and stick his tongue at them too! He has pretty much mastered sitting up, though he does topple over on occasion. He doesn't like to be laying down or even reclined back, he wants to be sitting so he can chaperon everything that is happening. He is quite talkative and just babbles away when he is content.
     He has started regularly eating solids. He loves all fruit and most vegetables. Not a big fan of jarred meats though and I really can't say I blame him! He also loves ice cream and anything else packed with sugar. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth regardless of whether or not it is actually edible so we keep close tabs on him these days. He has not started scooting or crawling (on purpose) yet, which I am very grateful for. I can already tell my hands will be full when that time comes!
visiting Grandma Joyce's grave on her birthday 5/25.
     Most unenjoyable about 6 months is that Spencer and I have been sharing a nice case of thrush for the last 2 weeks. That is MISERABLE! We finally both seem to be on the uphill, (I am not crying in pain anymore!) and hopefully we can whip this thing once and for all! It was awful and I don't wish it on anyone. Note to self: never take allergy medicine while breastfeeding again...just suffer through it!
     Spencer is still practicing sleeping in his own bed. He is pretty good about spending the first 3-4 hours in his bed but always ends up in bed with me which means I don't sleep. Somehow I am more sleep deprived now than I was any of the first 6 months. He is a comfort nurser and that is another habit I am ready to nip in the bud!
     He gets cuter and cuter and people are still torn on whether he looks more like his mom or his dad. He is also still pretty bald and looking like he will be a blondie! We love our baby 'Fencer' as his cousins call him!
Uncle Heatie's high school graduation.

Nate-ism #20.

Background: I am still on my dad's cell phone 'family plan' since its $10 a month. Also on this plan is my dad, my mom, and my 2 brothers. The 5 of us I believe share 500 minutes. Maaaaaybe 600. Nate has his own plan with a terrible company and though he has tons of minutes, he NEVER has service. This was our conversation as we were driving across the country right after we'd run out of gas and had to use my dumb phone because his smartphone didn't have any service.

Me: So what are you going to do when your plan is up in June.
Nate, completely serious faced: I thought I'd just get on your dad's plan?

I laughed so hard and thankfully he was joking. But I guess we should start becoming real adults and get our own family plan, eh?

Hello Boise, ID

Thursday May 8,
     We woke up about 6am and drove all day through never ending Nebraska. We stopped for the night in Sidney, NE where our friends Alicia and Trevor, were kind enough to let us stay (and shower!). We got there about 5pm which was nice to just be able to relax for the evening.
     The following morning we left around 7am in hopes of making it to Boise late that night, only 12 hours remaining. We were finally getting a little better gas mileage and were so close to our destination and being out of the truck!!
     About 4pm we were passing through Evanston, WY. Nate and I were having a silly conversation about something when he goes, "Oh...I just missed my exit." I wasn't paying any attention and figured, oh well we'll hit the next one. Until a sign told us the next one was 37 miles and our gas light dinged. We crossed the border into Utah, and our truck sputtered and died. WORST. FEELING. EVER. (except bed bugs in your hotel!). Luckily, we were smart and signed up for AAA before we left, though we didn't print ID cards because we didn't ACTUALLY think we'd need them! No problem we thought, we'll just look them up on Nate's smartphone. Except he of course had NO SERVICE to make calls or access the internet. Awesome.
     We were able to sloooowly look up the information on my old reliable not-so-smart-phone and make the call to AAA to get us some gas. The "20 minute wait" turned into an hour before the gas man showed up to save us. I was slightly annoyed as I really had to go to the bathroom, but I think Nate and I were both good sports about it and made the best of our situation, joking and laughing as much as we could with our screaming baby. And I peed on the side of the highway for the first time in many years! :)
     When the gas man arrived he asked, "So how did this happen?" Nate replied, "I missed my exit" to which the gas man responded, "All 3 of them?!" pretty sure he thought we were the biggest idiots. We were given $20 worth of gas, enough for us to turn around, drive BACK to Evanston, get gas there, and THEN drive on into Utah. Only running 2 1/2 hours behind schedule.
   Once in Utah we met up with Nate's little brother and his fiancee as well as my little brother and his girlfriend. We all went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner which was delicious. We didn't get done there until almost 9:30pm and luckily Aaron's fiancee was nice enough to lend us a guestroom in her house for the night. We very much appreciated that since we were BEAT after 4 days of driving.
     Saturday morning we stopped in Layton on our way up to Boise to visit Nate's 92 year old grandpa Oren and introduce him to Spencer who is named after him (Spencer Oren).
`1`
     We made it to Boise Saturday about 3pm and are SO glad to be out of the car for a while! We spent the next few hours unpacking and organizing. We are glad to be in Boise closer to family but we sure miss our friends in Pennsylvania!!