Deep Thoughts

Spencer enjoyed some quite time at home this evening. While he sat in front of the fire, he appeared to be deep in thought. Makes you wonder what a 3 month old thinks about......."If I cry, how long do you think it will take one of those parent people to come change my diaper?" "What is it that they put in those bottles? Whatever it is, its absolutely delicious!" "Do you suppose I will ever grow a neck?"

Pass Me The Remote Please!

Spencer joined Daddy on the couch today and sat up "like a big people". Well, he may have had a small amount of help from Daddy in staying upright, but Spencer was in complete control of his head! His back and neck muscles are getting nice and strong so he does a wonderful job of holding his head up on his own now!

Play Date!

We had both good and bad news today. The bad news is that Daddy had to have two of his teeth pulled. The good news is that since Mommy would be with Daddy, Spencer and his big brother got to spend the afternoon playing at Great Aunt Ronnie and Great Uncle Glenn's house! But, that's not all, it gets even better.....Jasmine was there too so the boys got to play with her as well! Jasmine's Daddy and Spencer's Daddy are cousins. Is she cute or what?????

Bath Night!

After Spencer had his bath tonight, he slipped into his bathrobe and joined Mommy and Daddy on the couch. Given all the cooing he was doing, apparently he had lots of things on his mind that he wanted to discuss!

Our Watch Dog

Spencer, Brian and Mommy had to take Walter to the vet today. While we were waiting for the doctor, Spencer got a little upset and started to cry. It was very cute to watch how Walter immediately got up and looked into the stroller......like he was checking to see that Spencer was okay. Truth be told, he was probably just looking to see where all that noise was coming from, but it still LOOKED very cute!

Homeword Bound!

This morning we said goodbye to our temporary home away from home (aka the Millennium Hotel) and headed back to Illinois. Even though Spencer pouted for a while when he heard we had to go, he wanted to say a special thank you to Uncle Corey for letting us invade his house this weekend and for making his very first Thanksgiving a great one!

I'ts My Turn :-(

First big brother Brian had the stomach flu, then Daddy caught it. This morning, right after this picture was taken with both of Spencer's Grandma's and Grandpa's, he became the next victim of this nasty little bug. We are very happy to report that he must have had a very mild form of the bug that Brian and Daddy had because his symptoms were gone just a few hours after they started.

I Went Where???

It's the day after Thanksgiving. Do you want to: A) get up at 4AM and go shopping or B) have a good nights sleep and then spend the afternoon at the Minnesota Children's Museum. The correct answer would be B! However, in Spencer's case, he slept through the whole thing!

In case he wanted proof that he really was there too.....here's a picture of Spencer hanging out with Uncle Corey.

Our Little Butterball!

Spencer experienced his first Thanksgiving and one of the things that he was thankful for was to be able to celebrate it in Minneapolis with Uncle Corey after all! We piled into the RSV (red sport vehicle) Thursday morning and were at Uncle Corey's by 4pm. The only downside for young Spencer was that he wasn't feeling very well. This poor little guy had so much air trapped in his tummy that we could have strapped a few ropes to him and floated him in the Macy's Day parade! Grandma offered some comfort.......

.....and finally, later that evening, Daddy managed to deflate our balloon boy. With the air out of his tummy - Spencer (as well as everyone around him) had a MUCH more enjoyable evening! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

I'm Three Months Old Today!

Our Thanksgiving travel plans have been put on hold. The good news is that we think that Brian is officially over his stomach flu. The bad news is that as of this morning, Daddy's has just begun! If its a fast moving bug like Brian had, hopefully Daddy will be back on his feet within 24 hours or so too. In the meantime, tonight was bath night. Since Daddy is normally in charge of this event, Mommy had to fill in and pitch hit for him tonight. Fortunately for her, Spencer was very helpful - telling her what bath products he prefers and making sure she got all of his parts washed.

She must have done okay because he was all smiles before hand and after!

Ready To Go!

Our family is getting ready to drive to Minneapolis tomorrow. Spencer is looking forward to spending his first Thanksgiving at his Uncle Corey's house! In fact, he is so anxious that he got into Mommy and Daddy's suitcase! See you tomorrow Uncle Corey!

A Show Of Support

Spencer's big brother came down with the stomach flu this afternoon. Hopefully it will be a fast moving bug that won't stick around long. We also hope that no one else in the family end up catching it or it could make our Thanksgiving travel plans interesting! Anyway, to show his love and support for a speedy recovery to his brother, Spencer wanted to wear this bib for the rest of the day. Feel better soon Brian!

Lets Bake!

December 8th and 9th, our church is putting on a Medieval Christmas Pageant called a "Boars Head Festival". With a huge cast, a full choir and an orchestra, it's an amazing production! This year, our little Spencer will be playing the role of the Baby Jesus. His big brother Brian played the same role last year. For her second year, Mommy will be playing the part of Mary. Daddy is in charge of getting the stage set up and taken down, Grandpa plays the part of one of the Wise Men and Grandma designed and sewed the vast majority of all the costumes. Since cookies are served at each performance, lots and lots and lots are needed so Spencer helped Mommy do some baking today. He did a very good job at picking out yummy recipes!

If anyone is interested in seeing this production, let us know and we can get you the ticket information.

"I'm A Little Tea Pot!"

Kids can fall asleep in the most unusual and uncomfortable looking positions! Spencer looks as though he is ready to break into the Teapot song as soon as he wakes up! "Tip me over and pour me out!"

Franken-Spencer

Sporting his Frankenstein hat, Spencer was all suited up for our afternoon outing to the grocery store today. Having just been fed, he was all smiles for our adventure!

Thank You!

There are normally only 3 things that upset Spencer to the point where he cries. 1) He is hungry. 2) He needs to be burped. 3) He needs his diaper change. It's amazing how he can be screaming bloody murder when you put him on the changing table and the second the diaper is changed......he looks right into your eyes, smiles and coos as if to say....."thank you very much!"

Waitress!

"I'll have a bottle of milk.....slightly warmed and a bib on the side please."

Last night as Daddy was getting ready for bath time, Brian let Spencer take his high chair for a test ride. Brian isn't ready to give up his high chair yet, but he did tell Spencer that when he starts eating solid foods in a few months, he would be willing to renegotiate.

******Update from yesterdays shots. Spencer had a rough night and woke up with a fever of 101.8 After blowing in a call to the pediatrician this morning, we were reassured that running a temperature is normal with one of the shots he got yesterday. She said to continue giving him baby Tylenol every 4-6 hours to help bring the temperature down. As of this afternoon, he still has a temperature of 101, but he is eating and napping a little more like he normally would during the daytime. Hopefully he will have a more comfortably night tonight.

Pincushion Boy #2

Question: What is more painful than watching your child get a bunch of shots?

Answer: Watching BOTH of your children get shots!

Brian only had to have one shot today, but Spencer got 3 shots and 1 oral dose! It would have been 4 shots but 2 of the required immunizations have now been lumped into a single shot which is nice. He cried briefly afterwords - and who could blame him - but he bounced back quickly and even had a smile for the nurse before we left. He had some baby Tylenol before we headed for home to help with any soreness in his legs where he had the shots, but so far he is being a real trooper! This picture shows his battle wounds (the two band aids on his thighs) before his bath tonight.

Pacifiers 101

Big brother Brian is a very experienced pacifier (aka: bebe) user. Spencer could take it or leave it so tonight, Brian took it upon himself to show his little brother the proper technique on bebe usage. It was absolutely hysterical to watch! Brian would poke it into Spencer's mouth....then turn it, apparently thinking it would stay in better if he screwed it in. Almost as quickly as he put it into Spencer's mouth, Brian pulled it back out and started the whole process over again! Spencer was a very good sport and played along with the game, never once taking his eyes off his big brother.

What A Day!

Spencer spent an exhausting afternoon at the mall with his family today. The purpose for this trip was to have the boy's picture taken by a professional! Our photographer captured some amazing shots but as you can see, the whole experience really took it out of poor little Spencer. He was into this power nap well before we made it out of the building.

I'M HUNGRY!!!!!

Mommy and Daddy may be just a little biased, but Spencer is such a good baby! He is so close to sleeping through the night, normally waking up between 4am - 5am for a bottle. Once he has finished his bottle and had a couple burps, he goes right back to sleep until around 7am. When he's awake he is very alert to everything going on around him and smiles and coo's whenever anyone talks to him. Don't get us wrong, he is developing quite a set of lungs and he knows how to use them! But, about the only time we hear from him is when he needs burped or a diaper change or when he's hungry. Spencer is a very vocal eater. To hear him you might think he has never seen food before, or that he may never see it again! Since he is growing at a faster rate than what his big brother did, he has earned many nicknames around here. The Beefalo, or Gigantor, or........



.....................Piglet!

Of course, this teasing is all done in fun. Spencer is healthy little boy who is growing at a very normal rate. Truth be told, Mommy and Daddy feel very fortunate that they have another little boy who eats substantial meals with each bottle instead of wanting to graze throughout the day and night.

If Daddy only had a brain!

Daddy and Spencer Paul were watching The Wizard of Oz. Daddy noticed Spencer was doing impressions.

Here are some samples of Spencer's best impressions.....

Notice the stern look in Spencers eyes as he does the Tin Man.

Spencer has the googly eyes of Cowardly Lion down pat!

Spencer is clearly imitating the scarecrow!

Notice the determination of his Wizard imitation!

Spencer thanks the Academy in advance for his Oscar Nomination!

Go Cubs?

Spencer was born into a family divided. Grandma is a Cubs fan while Grandpa (and Mommy) are White Sox fans. For those of you reading this who don't live in Chicago, the rule is that you need to pick a side - you can't cheer for both teams. Spencer is currently within the grace period he gets before he needs to pick a team. During this time, all parties are free to try to influence the lad before he makes his choice. I don't know what it is Grandma, but that little boy sure looks like a future White Sox fan to me!

The House Of Brotherly Love!

Until Spencer becomes more mobile, for the moment he is pretty much a sitting target for his big brother. Because Brian is still so young himself, he doesn't completely understand the concepts of "be gentle" or "please don't sit on your brother", but he is getting there! Brian thinks its very funny when he gives Spencer kiss's - which Mommy and Daddy take as a good sign that in addition to being brothers, these boy's will grow up being the best of friends too!

Cutie Pie!

Today's posting is a "random cute picture" of little Spencer Paul - enjoy!

Party Animal!

Today's photo isn't brand new, but it's a cute one which definitely makes it worth sharing with Spencer's blog viewers. At last week's pumpkin carving festivities, once the sun goes down the kids pull out glow sticks to play games with. Even though Spencer isn't quite running and playing with the older kids yet, since he is still falls into the "kid" category......he got a glow stick to play with too!

There's No Place Like Home!

On next years yard work weekend trip, Spencer will probably be diving right into those piles of leaves alongside his big brother. For his first trip though, he was more than happy to stay inside getting better acquainted with his Iowa family! Last night, we stopped by Great Uncle Dave and Great Aunt Karrie's house and let me tell you, aside from the fact that they are fun people to hang out with, that Aunt Karrie sure is a terrific cook!

Spencer especially enjoyed spending some time with the lovely young Jessa! Spencer's Daddy and Jessa's Daddy are cousins and those boys have LOTS of stories, especially from the summers they spent together when they were kids! I wonder if any of those stories will get edited before being retold to their own kids now.


Just an observation, but as you may recall, a few weeks ago Mommy and Spencer went to South Dakota. They had a sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa H and Uncle Seth at Great Grandma Irene's house. This weekend Spencer and his family had a sleep over at Great Grandma Dorothy's house. In both of these instances the only thing missing was.......the Great Grandma! Both of them were not home when we invaded their houses! Maybe Mommy and Daddy need to plan these trips out a little better in the future!

Iowa!

Fall yard clean up was on the agenda for today! Spencer monitored the situation from the living room window but he did make a brief appearance outside to encourage on the hard working rake crew. Since he wanted to lend a helping hand, he crawled onto a big pile of leaves to smash them down and make room for more!

After the work was done, Spencer enjoyed a nice visit with Uncle Corey!

PS: Last year we took a picture of Spencer's big brother laying in a pile of leaves just like this one of Spencer. It's an interesting comparison seeing them side by side when they were the same age! To view that picture,click on the link below. To get back to this page, click on your back button at the top of your computer screen.

http://briantblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/two-months-old.html

Headed For The State Line!

Spencer is making his first trip to Iowa today! Daddy recently added a car top carrier to our RSV (which stands for red sport vehicle since Mommy and Daddy still can't call it a mini van). With all the extra room inside, long car trips are very comfortable! The only down side is for Spencer. Until he is big enough to be able to ride facing forward in his car seat, he misses out on watching the movie and can only listen to it.

Maybe that's not a big deal though since this is what he looked like for much of our trip!

I Wear My Sunglass's At Night!

As soon as Spencer's brother had gone to bed tonight, he wanted to play with all the "big boy" toys. The first thing he reached for were Brian's sunglasses! (Okay, so maybe Daddy helped Spencer put them on, but it was all Spencer's idea though!)