New place to nap

Recently, this baby has found a new place to nap.  He gets in his Jump-a-roo and jumps and plays for a while; then, when he gets sleepy, he lays his head down and jumps himself to sleep.  It is so funny and he does it almost every day. :-)

 

Photo Shoot

Once again Kelsey did an amazing of taking pictures of our family.  Can't believe the boys actually smiled for her. (bribery with a chocolate donut)  Now we finally have family pictures with Mark!

 

Finger Foods

Mark has upgraded to eating some finger foods!  He tried pork today and he loved it.  Actually, he's loved everything he's tried.  He even liked green beans (which he didn't like pureed).  He likes bread, chicken, potatoes, blueberries, pancakes, and of course puffs.  Most of his food ends up in his lap, but he's learning.  He lets us know that he enjoys his food by humming the whole time, the boys think he is so funny!

 

Doc Update

Mark went for his 9 month check up today!  I knew that he had gained weight because I was monitoring it myself after the last visit, but even I was surprised to see that he had passed 20 lbs!  The doctor asked me if Mark was pulling up and I explained that he just learned how to sit and was no where near pulling up.  He sat Mark on the table and grabbed his hands and Mark stood right up.  Dr. P said, "well he is fully capable of pulling up".  So that confirms it, Mark is a lazy boy and just doesn't WANT to do more.  Dr. P said it wasn't necessary for babies to crawl and that some just go straight to walking.  All of his verbal and motor skills are great and he is growing normally. 

Here are his stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 2 oz  42%
Length: 30 inches 92%
Head Circ: 18 1/4in 78%

At this age, Ty was the biggest and Aiden was the tallest.  Mark is still smaller than they were at this age, but he's catching up and I still think (and hope for his sake) that he'll be bigger than his brothers eventually. ;-)

New Park

The boys and I ventured out to find a new (and more exciting) park today!  After a quick google search, we headed to Atlanta.  It was a hot sunny day- perfect for playing outside.  This park was great!  It had new and different equipment that our local parks don't have.  There were posts with a foot rest where you could spin around.  Some older boys were doing it and Aiden had to give it a try.  He struggled a little bit and I helped him until I got dizzy by pulling him as I ran around the pole in circles.  This park also had "motorcycles" to ride on, which the boys loved.  They each had one to ride, but they quickly figured out one worked better than the other, so they got on together and rode the "fast" one.  I got a work out when I had all 3 boys on the swings, pushing them simultaneously.  We stayed for a while, but had to head home when the 3 water bottles I brought were all gone.  It was hot! 

 

 

Dressing themselves

The smartest thing I did this summer is labeling a drawer in each of the boys' dressers and putting shorts and t-shirts in them.  They have learned to put their laundry away and best of all they have learned to get their own clothes and dress themselves.  I told the boys to get dressed this morning before we headed to the park and Aiden comes out like this . . .

 

 

I guess I can't expect him to choose matching clothes.  We might need to work on his fashion sense. 

Summer Fun Part 2

We have found some more fun activities to keep the boys busy this summer.

 

On one rainy day, we made an aquarium and the boys loved it!  They cut out fish and drew faces on them.  Aiden made a "Nemo" fish and Ty made the large purple fish which he called "the daddy fish".  Ty made a shark, Aiden made an octopus (with only 4 legs) and I made the turtle, which Aiden said looked old.  We went to an empty lot in our neighborhood to find rocks and a small plant to put in our aquarium.  Ty loved cutting, one piece of paper must have been cut a hundred times which left me picking up tiny scraps for weeks! 

 

On a different day we did a rainbow melted crayons project.  Of course this was fascinating because the boys got to use the hair dryer and watch as the crayons dripped down the canvas.  It was fun and turned out really neat!  Great for broken crayons (we had plenty).

Of course we have our outside time and Mark loves being outside.  He loves to watch his brothers play or ride bikes.  He is usually content for at least an hour when we're outside.

 

and when my creative ideas run out, we can always build a fort.  For some reason with boys, that never gets old. :-)