Books and Ducks

Carter hit a very important milestone Saturday with a trip to the library to get his first library card.

It was almost closing time so we wandered across the street where Carter spotted something cool...

A duck pond.  Carter wasted no time going to say "Hi" to his new friends.

Seriously, the boy had no fear.  He just walked up to the geese despite their hissing.  

Fortunately he had some bread to distract them from eating his cute fingers ;)

After filling up the geese, dad and Carter spotted some huge carp in the lake.  

They decided to take a quick walk in order to get a better look.

They picked a pretty good spot...

Because the ducks came over for a visit.

It was a nice day at the park but unfortunately it was time to head home.  Carter waived bye to his new friends and off we went.

By the way, cute baby brother slept the whole time.  

 

Parker's First Meal

At our pediatrician appointment last week, she encouraged us to go ahead and start Parker on solids.  It's a little earlier than we started with Carter but we figured it might help the little guy put on some more weight, we could stop giving him those nasty poly-vi-sol vitamins and it might help him sleep a little better.  So we picked up a box of rice cereal and gave it a shot!

Here is a picture of his first bite.

We wasn't quite sure what was going on...

But he definitely liked it!

He made the cutest faces throughout the "meal".  He seemed to be trying really hard to get it right.

He did a great job opening his mouth and keeping it down.

We only gave him a tiny bit to start but he took it all.  Carter (our baby food adviser) and dad were very proud of Parker.

Carter also played a dual role as eating coach as well!

Parker did great and seemed to enjoy himself so we'll keep giving him meals as long as he keeps acting like this!

Weekly Recap

Parker (4 months)
Poor Parker had a rough week fighting congestion.  He had been sleeping pretty well but between 4 month sleep regression and the stuffy nose, he is up every hour or two at night.  On a positive note, Parker has started to grasp for things and follow people around the room with his eyes.

Carter (22 months)
Carter was a doting big brother this week while Parker was under the weather.  He held Parker's hand while Parker got his nose sucked out and he likes to rock the car seat when Parker cries.  When not helping baby brother, Carter has learned to jump off the ground.  He has also been obsessed with sports this week and keeps asking to watch basketball or golf.  He also likes to point out out the basketball hoops in the neighborhood.

Here are a few pics from this week.

Giving Dad a Kiss When He Was Out of Town

Starting to Look Quite Similar

Carter Lined Up All His Wind-up Toys for a Concert

Screaming Peach Photo Shoot

For those of you who don't know, Aunt B works at a salon in Ft. Collins called the "Screaming Peach".  They are doing a feature on their clients and where they have been so Carter decided to put on his 'Peach' shirt and submit a picture.  He tried to get downtown to the Coke Museum but after fighting traffic for 45 minutes we turned around and headed to a place every good 'Atlantan' knows....

And by the smile on his face, it is a place Carter loves!   After the picture, Carter wanted to enjoy the beautiful day so we stopped at the Park.  He wasted NO time... we started with tic-tac-toe.

And then manned the helm of his own ship...

We stopped to let mom take a quick picture...

before we slid off to our next adventure.

All the activity wore the little guy out, so he stopped to take a load off...

before he was on the move again... with a little something else to take along with him ;)

That's right.  The pollen has hit BIG time in Atlanta and Carter had a yellow sheen after 2 minutes.  But that didn't stop him from having a great time on the playground.  But he was happy when it was time to go home...

because that meant dad was coming home soon!!!!

While Dad's Away...

Mom was fortunate to have lots of help with the boys while dad was partying in Vegas.  On Thursday, Pops and Uncle Reid came by.  The boys had a great time hanging out...

and watching basketball.

Carter LOVES basketball all of a sudden.  He yells "basketball hoop shoot" over and over and then claps like crazy when someone shoots the ball.  He cheers equally for both teams.  While taking a break from the basketball, Carter had fun playing "Follow Carter".

His favorite was making everyone take a nap!

Grandmama came by over the weekend and made sure Carter was thoroughly entertained with games...

gym class, playing basketball, doing yard work, driving the car, counting basketball hoops and even fishing in the bathtub!

Which of course led to splashing in the bathtub!

Parker just enjoyed getting lots of snuggles since the Pollen seemed to be causing the little guy quite a bit of congestion.

The boys also fit in Parker's first walk sans car seat!

And Parker got wild and crazy Saturday night with a trip to the park in his PJs.

We had a great weekend with our helpers and all the fun activities but we were definitely glad to have dad home!

Dad on the other hand was living it up in Las Vegas.  He was brought there as a guest of a company he does a lot of business with.  He stayed at the Red Rock Casino and Spa.

Fortunately for the family bank account, the group he was with did a great job of keeping Dad away from the casino for extended periods.  Most of the week was some fun golf at the Bear's Best Las Vegas course. It is a beautiful course at the base of the mountain range to the west of town.  The holes are recreations of Jack Nicklaus' favorite desert course holes.  The scenery and golf was great.

If you look hard, you can see the Las Vegas Strip in the distance below.

The trip was much fun, but the whole family is happy to be back in the same city.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We don't condone pinching at the Holden House so everyone made sure to be in their best green outfit for St. Patrick's Day! Parker wasn't quite sure what to make of all the green action.

But Sweet Parker did let mom try a hat on him...

As the protective, older brother, Carter quickly took it off and gave Parker a blanket to make sure he didn't get cold (how adorable!).

All the fuss wore poor big brother out!

So while Carter napped (something Parker wasn't having!), mom took some pictures of the littlest guy.

That smile gets me every time and then the inquisitive look is just a sucker punch!  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.  We hope you didn't get pinched!