Seperation anxiety?

Parker has to be the over-all happiest baby I have ever seen.  He is generally smiling and happy.  Recently (like in the past 2 days) he is still happy... but only when he is in "momma's arms"  I put him in his walker or play mat while I cook dinner and the tears and fake crying starts.  I pick him up... happy boy.  HUMMMM.  Maybe it is just a quick phase.  It does make you feel good that he loves to be with you... but it also makes stirring ingredients, kneading dough and making dinner somewhat dificult.
Who can resist that cute face?  So... I am learning a new skill of cooking with one free hand.

7 months old

Parker turns 7 months tomorrow.  Wow.  We went to Guangzhou (a big city in China) for his 6 month immunizations (his schedule is a little off)  On the train ride and subways, he would smile then bury his head... followed by peaking out to smile again at anybody that would pay attention to him.  Super cute. 

We went to Guangzhou for all of my prenatal appointments, so we were pretty familiar with the territory.  I wanted to get his 7 month pictures while we were there (Guangzhou is about 1000 times more beautiful than Hengyang)  BUT Parker didn't want much to do with pictures.  He was low on sleep and high on a bad attitude after the 3 hour trip (which he hasn't shaken yet-- as I write this-- he is on his 2nd hour of crying and fighting his nap)   :(
Here are a few that we got... no smiles but some great scenery.

Looking at Fish

Eating "bunny" a new member in his toy family

Touching pretty flowers

Making sure I knew he didn't want to participate in the photo shoot

 

First Tooth

We have a tooth popping through :)  It's on the bottom.  He won't hardly lets us see it... but it has broken skin and is making an appearance.  I have to say... he has an amazing attitude even while teething!!
Love this little boy!!

Crib Time

Recently, we have been trying to break the swaddle.  It hasn't gone as easy as I would have hoped.  After getting some advice from my "mommy friends" ... we started the one arm out method.  We have done this for 4 days.  I think he is finally use to it... but it has cut his nap time down.  He would sleep 2 hours swaddled but with one arm out... down to 1 to 1.5 hours.  So... when he wakes up and clearly isn't going back to sleep... he has "crib time."  He is allowed to play with blanket, bear bear or his paci :)  He seems to like it just fine. 

Yesterday I tried to do a body swaddle with two arms out ... the result- two hours of crying.  I check on him every 15 minutes.  This child just realy loves a swaddle.  I can just picture me going with him to kindergarden and having to swaddle my 5 year old for nap time-- yikes. 
Wes and I went on a semi-date last night... "semi" meaning we took Parker with us.  He was perfect on our date.  We walked home through the campus and he conked out.  This is how he came out of the Ergo carrier.... but as soon as he realized he wasn't swaddled or in mommy's arms... he woke up.

Moms any other advice??

Pumpkin for my Pumpkin

We have been trying different "solid" foods recently.  Pumpkin is a big hit around here.  (I think some of it got in his mouth)  Believe it or not... I was feeding him with a spoon... and NONE of the pumpkin on the face was intentional :)  It seemed like he would be ready for a bite... move towards the spoon and then fake me out by face planting in the spoon :)  Tons of fun!!  When he takes the last bite, I sign "all done" and clap my hands... every time, I get a BIG smile :) 

Happy Friday :)

 

Bath Time Fun

Bath time has gotten funner and funner :)  We have a rubber ducky that my sister gave Parker and a hairbrush.  Parker loves them both.  The ducky sprays water out his mouth which always gets giggles.  Parker is sitting up in the little tub my himself.  He loves to hit the water and watch Mommy get soaked :) 

 

After bath time, he gets all lotioned up, dressed and even a stylish hairdo :) 

Tummy Time

Love my Puppy

I can play with my Puppy on my Tummy

How long do you want me to do this Mom?

I don't like Tummy Time... neither does my Puppy.

We're done with Tummy Time!!

My Baby is 6 Months Old

I can't believe that Parker is 6 months old!!
He continues to be an amazing little child. Our Chinese colleagues often say things like "American babys are so much better than Chinese babies" or "American baby don't cry like Chinese babies" I don't know about American vs. Chinese... but I do know the Father blessed us with an amazing child! He is so smiley and full of giggles.

I have the extreme pleasure of staying home with Parker while Wes teaches classes. I feel so blessed to be able to be with Parker all the time. The days go by so fast. He generally wakes up at 6:00 for an early breakfast. I will fed him and then put him back to bed. Generally, I will get up and read the Book, drink coffee, workout and shower before it is time for his 9:00 feeding. After he eats ... we play. It is so much fun. Wes and I set up a play area in the living room. Normally, we take out ALL the toys. Parker can sit up on his own and play ... by play I mean put things in his mouth. We will play until 10:30 and then he take another nap. 12:00 is lunch time :) He eat then we play some more until another nap time :)
He is sleeping through the night from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am. Love this-- Thank you Baby Wise :)
Fun things that he has started doing in the last month--
- Talking-- saying "dada" He started talking while we were in Thailand. It is the cutest thing in the whole world. Newest sounds "mmmmmmmmmmm" :)
- Sitting up on his own
- Giving kisses. He has been doing this for a while... but more recently he will grab my face and pull it to his for a kiss.
- LOVES to hang upside down
- OK... so I think that everything he does is fun and super cute... even his poopie diapers are cute :)

Love this picture with Wes because Parker is almost winking ;)

Bear Bear is his FAVORITE toy. We got him this bear for Christmas and for whatever reason there was an immediate bond. One of our friends that lives in a city with Ikea -- just went and bought us a back-up bear bear... just in case :)

OH and we are starting Rice Cereal today... if I can figure it out... I will try to post a video. :)

New Toy

Some of our friends that live in a big city in China helped us get Parker a new toy :) Cosco walker-- a welcomed addition. When we got home from Thailand, Parker made it clear that he wasn't having anything to do with his bouncy seat... gone were the days of him sitting contently while I cook dinner or washed clothes.
So... the solution (since it is not great to hold a little squimmy one while stir-frying veggies) a walker. Parker LOVES it. He can only move backwards right now. We will put toys on the tray for him to play with... he loves to throw them on the floor and then look at them and squeel. He will often back himself into another room.
The look on his face silently displays his new noise. "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" (while sucking in his bottom lip)

Sweet Smiles

Every day is more and more fun. Sweet smiles, giggles and personality all on display. He moves ALL the time... you can only steal snuggles in the morning :)
My prayer for him recently-- Father, let Parker's life be a display of the fruits of the Spirit that all may see him and know YOUR glory.

Sitting Up

This morning's picture-- Parker sitting up all by himself :)

One Month Catch-up

So... school has been out since the day after Christmas... the students returned to their hometowns... Hengyang became a ghost town (well... all the English speakers - gone)... the weather got SUPER cold... our power shut off... SO... we ran to the warm weather of Thailand. Well that is the short version of it :)

We left China wearing layers and layers to stay warm started shedding them along the way. When we got to Bangkok, the temperature was a steamy 95 degrees... and warmly welcomed. We decided to go to the beach for a week. We stayed at a place that is for M workers all over Asia. It was so refreshing to meet other workers.
Parker LOVED being in shorts and a t-shirt ... with no socks.
We introduced him to the pool and the ocean. He seemed to like it. Sometimes we would even bring Parker's Peapod down by the pool and let him nap in luxury :)
And sometimes, he would just relax in the lounger.

He loved to hold our drinks for us :)


One of our favorite things to do was... enjoy great coffee. China really lacks in the coffee department- so one of our favorite outings was to a coffee shop called Wawee. We would go... get a latte and a comfy place to sit and chat or read books
We met an amazing couple from the UK. They are serving in Loas. They also shared our love for coffee and conversation... so many days we would go together and share about how the Father is working through us. Such an amazing couple. They own a restaurant/travel business in Loas. They live and operate the restaurant without running water. WOW... it puts a lot in perspective. We don't have much in HY... but we DO have running water (most of the time)

Most of you remember that we have our Annual Conference in Thailand every January(ish) It was a time of refreshment (physically, spiritually and emotionally)

Michael Card was our speaker again. He did a wonderful job of getting us in the Word even graced us with some wonderful music.

One thing that really meant a lot to me during conference was the baby dedication. It was such a special service. Wes and I wrote a prayer of dedication for Parker and asked the Father to equip us to raise him up in the way of the Lord. Michael Card ended the dedication with a special song for the babies.

Another favorite thing was seeing all of our friends that are serving in different cities around China. We would trade stories and laughter. I didn't take any pictures with our friends (I really regret this) BUT one of our good couple-friends has a 7 year of boy, Trey,- Parker fell in LOVE with Trey. He was so good at getting Parker to smile and laugh. So cute.
I know I might be bias... but we have the HAPPIEST ... CUTEST baby alive!!
And ... here is my favorite picture from the whole trip.
This is just a glimpse of our adventure... not everything went perfectly according to plans... including missing a flight which resulted in an overnight train... BUT Wes and I said-- if you look at life as an adventure-- the "problems" that you encounter- simply become part of the adventure.

We are back in China now. It is GREAT to be home... but we are missing the warm. It is SUPER cold (inside and out... as we don't have central heating) We are enjoying seeing our friends again (some of them are even bringing us "special" foods from their hometown- yikes.

We have 5 months left in our China Adventure... and we are so excited to see how the Father moves through us.