Spencer is 9 Months!

Spencer turned 9 months old on the 11th, but I’ve been waiting to write this post after his well baby check-up. Here are his stats:

Height: 29 inches … 70th %ile (he grew 1 inch in 3 months)

Weight: 20 lbs, 14 oz … 67th %ile (he gained almost 2 lbs in 3 months)

Head: 47 cm … 93rd %ile (his head grew 2 cm in 3 months)

Spencer is quite a handful these days. He is realizing he can stand on his own, he can cruise the length of the couch, and he has conquered the stairs. We really have to watch this crazy boy! I think he would probably do anything for Alex. Spencer has figured out how to crawl up into Alex’s bed and wrestle – a routine Alex has dubbed “bear fighting”. When Alex walks away, Spencer holds his hand out to him and calls him back. It’s so cool to watch them interact!

Spencer is 9 months old!

He is such a goof ball!

This baby is a FAST crawler!

He rubs his ear to fall asleep just like his big brother!

Alex, 9.5 months

Spencer, 9.5 months

Liam’s Birthday Party

We celebrated Liam’s 3rd birthday at a fun park on Saturday. The theme was construction and my favorite decorations were real road signs (his uncle works for NC DOT). We had such a fun time! Alex picked out a tractor as part of Liam’s gift and told me they were going to play with it on the slide like they did the other day (Friday’s play date). They had a blast!

Alex and the birthday boy.

Alex eating his hot dog while Spencer eats a cracker.

Alex and Rowen modeling the party favors.

Rowen, Liam, and Alex playing the day before in their “tree house”. It was a very windy day – can you tell?

Dirty Spencer

Have I mentioned that Spencer is into everything? Oh my gosh, he keeps us on our toes! Even Alex knows to watch Spencer and will herd him away from danger (or his toys)! That little boy loves to explore his surroundings, so I have been embracing the messy little boy he is and letting him loose:

Surprisingly, he didn’t try to eat the wood chips here, or at a different park Friday.

He was probably looking for sticks. He wouldn’t eat wood chips, but he seems to like sticks!

Watching all the big kids playing.

Catch, Mommy!

I have a feeling it’s going to be a very wet summer!

Spencer, aka Sea Monster, crashing Alex’s river.

What a beautiful mess!

Grandma & Aunt Brie Visit

Grandma Lisa and Aunt Brie came as reinforcements last week while Tim was in Dallas for a work conference. Thank goodness they were able to stay a night – I lost my voice due to the remnants of the boys’ cold mixed in with allergies (and a week later, I’m still raspy and hoarse)! It was so nice to have some extra hands to love on my boys and keep them entertained.

Since our guests are animal lovers, we decided to visit Darby Acre Farms, which Alex and I visited last May. They now have a different format, so our visit was different and really more “up close and personal”. We were able to go into several pens and even held baby goats and baby sheep! The downside is that they are much more expensive and won’t be a regular stop of ours this spring/summer. Oh well, at least we had fun and got some great pictures!

Alex really loved the pigs this year.

Grandma and Spencer watching Alex and the pigs.

Alex was thrilled/intimidated to hold the baby goat.

This brown goat was his favorite.

Of course Aunt Brie held the 1 week-old goat!

This is Alex’s “this is so sweet” face. He got to pick out which bunny to pet.

Grandma and Spencer sharing a laugh.

Discovery Place

While we were eating breakfast, Alex asked me, “Where are we going for adventure today?” I wanted to make today’s adventure extra fun since Tim is at a conference for 4 days, so I took the boys to Uptown Charlotte for our first visit to Discovery Place. This is a difference museum from Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville, so don’t get them confused. Some of the exhibits and shows are still a bit too old for Alex, but we did have fun looking at the fish and playing in their 3 and under room. It was more expensive than the Kids museum, but so much less stressful since it wasn’t filled to the brim with pre-school aged kids!

Alex walking the rope bridge in the rainforest exhibit.

Spencer loved sitting on this “car”!

This was one of my favorite exhibits. Air pushes scarves and balls through all these tubes and pops them back out again.

Alex getting a ball ready – see the air blowing his mane?

Future bongo player?

This life-sized Light Brite was a ton of fun, too!

Spencer watching Alex push his racecar back up the ramp.

I was trying to get a good family selfie, but Spencer kept shouting at the fish!

Spencer enjoyed his first time at the water table (they have one at the Kids museum, but I didn’t let him near it when we went last month).

Spencer’s First Swing

Can you believe we’ve had almost a whole week of nice, warm, and dry weather? Amazing! It’s been so nice to play in the backyard without worrying about all the mud getting tracked inside the house. Now that we are spending more time outside, Tim hung our swing up for Spencer. He was so excited as soon as he sat down! It’s funny how he does the same thing Alex would do – he grabs the straps and starts chewing/sucking on them while kicking his legs.

Yes, Alex is eating pepperoni!

Nature Museum with Cerys & Ace

The boys and I met Amanda and her kiddos at the Charlotte Nature Museum yesterday. Alex and I have been there 2 or 3 times before, but it’s been quite a while. We had so much fun! We actually spent most of our time there playing on their tunnels and slides that are part of a “water cycle” exhibit. That worked out really well, because the babies were able to play, too!

Spencer and Alex splashing in the water.

Oops – I don’t think they were supposed to get in the sandbox.

Spencer and Ace sharing the stethoscope on their way down the hall to find Alex and Cerys.

Spencer was slapping the glass and yelling at the bushes.

When we pulled up to the Nature Museum, Alex saw Cerys and said, “Yay, ,I so happy! I so happy I get to play with my friend.” I love that these two are growing up with each other!

Say cheese!

Two Wrestling Boys

Man, am I in trouble! Look at the wrestling that goes on in my house already! Don’t judge me – any time Alex crashes Spencer down, he hops right back up and attacks Alex and asks for more! Spencer can hold his own, that’s for sure!

Monkey Joes

I finally took Alex to Monkey Joes last week. He was a little intimidated at first – it’s pretty loud in there with all the blowers and the music blaring – but he ended up having a blast. I couldn’t believe how quickly he took to climbing, and how high he was able to go! Of course, he always came down on his stomach. The only time I got him to go down on his booty was when I went down with him. Next time, I might have to pay for Spencer and bring him on some slides. I think he’d have so much fun!

I wish this picture weren’t blurry – you can totally see Alex’s crush on Eva (who is also in our music class)

Sliding down on his belly.

Alex was SO proud of himself after climbing up the biggest slide there.

Check out his climbing skills!

Bath Time!

Bath time with two boys is getting quite fun … and wet! A friend of mine is lending me this great bath seat, so now Spencer can sit in the tub with Alex. Tim and I have come up with a great tag-team system for getting them clean and into bed. It’s exhausting!