Ho Ho Ho

What a fun Christmas! We did a bit of a Texas tour this year: Aunt Bobbie's the weekend before Christmas, then to Angleton on the 23rd, back to our house on Christmas Eve, and to San Antonio on Christmas night. Spencer handled all the travel really well. He saw so many aunts, uncles, cousins and of course all of the grandparents. We really wish we could've seen the Loves and Smiths, but maybe next year. There are loads of pictures in the December album documenting the week.

I don't think we were expecting Spencer to be so into his presents. He loved opening them and made everyone feel like their gift was the best one. We must have heard "Woooooooow!" and "Whoooooaaaaaa!" 500 times! (We took some great video footage of him on Christmas morning that I hope to get posted here very soon.) Santa brought Spencer his own table and chairs, a stacking toy and some pretty wooden ABC blocks. Of course Mommy and Daddy gave him a thing or two. Our families and friends were so generous - Spencer amassed quite the haul of toys and clothes, and even a college fund.



We hope all of you had a joyous holiday season. Looking forward to seeing what 2010 holds!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Dave's birthday. We woke up early and had pigs-in-the-blanket, then he opened a couple of gifts. Spencer picked out a meowing cat card (he really did select it), and he also gave Daddy a pen/pencil set and some neat bookends for his office. Geep and Pop are coming this afternoon to celebrate, and then they will hang out with Spence tonight while Dave and I go see Avatar in 3D.


Happy birthday Dave/Daddy! We love you and are so lucky to have you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
p.s. Look how little Spencer was on Dave's birthday last year...

Trail of Lights

We went to the Trail of Lights with the Poages and Garvens this week. Even though it is waaaaay scaled down this year, Spencer still thought some of it was "Wow!" It was really cold, as you can see by the bundled babies below (I forgot to bring Spencer's gloves!), but that made it feel more Christmasy and fun.



Here are some cool, psychadelic pictures Dave took along the way (click to enlarge).

14 Months Old

I just had to post this picture. I figure this is the last year I can get by with dressing him in animal-footed Christmas pajamas. Hey, it's not like I put him in a homemade bunny outfit!


Our boy is 14 months old today. He is really growing and seems to be having a language explosion. We keep hearing more new words every week. Right now, he loves to say "Wow" and "Whoa." Every morning when I carry him into the living room and he sees the Christmas tree, he lets out the sweetest, "Wowwwwwwwwwwww!"

Thanksgiving Recap

I'm a little behind, but we had a great Thanksgiving. Went to Angleton on Wednesday - first trip with the carseat facing forward (awesome!). Spencer got to visit with Great-Grandma Rives and Aunt Bobbie, we went to see Aunt Renee's new house, and popped in on Lolly and Don, too. Mommy and Daddy went out alone for Mexican food Wednesday night. We had a great Thanksgiving meal with Grannie, Paw-Paw, Renee, Steven, Dianne and Scott. Spencer had a blast playing outside and pushing Mommy's vintage Corn Popper.


We headed to the ranch Thursday evening to hang out with Geep, Pop, Janice, Gary and Austin. Spencer went to bed fairly early and managed to sleep through the Texas vs. Texas A&M game, despite lots of grumbling going on downstairs. Dave had the quote of the night, "Is this really the best time to discuss the proper spelling of 'silhouette?'" (You'll have to ask someone for that story.)


Spencer is such a lucky little boy to have all four grandparents nearby. He had a lot of fun celebrating his second Thanksgiving with everyone.

Piano Man

We had our final Music Together class of the semester last week. At the end of every class, Miss Larissa lets the kids play the piano for a few minutes. Spencer always gets a kick out of that. He seems to love music. We play Pandora radio on our iPhones pretty much all the time now. One of Spencer's favorites is the Justin Timberlake station—he can really get down to that one!


Ever since I wrote the entry about the words Spencer is using now, I keep hearing more and more from him. One of our new favorite things is that he says "jet!" when he hears a plane fly over. He remembered that from the weekend at Geep and Pop's—we haven't even been practicing it with him. He also says his version of "truck" when he hears a big truck outside. Today at lunch he pointed to his water and said "cup." Hope I'm not being obnoxious, but when the day comes that I finally fill out his baby book, I plan to reference the blog for milestones!

Tweedle-Dee

We call Spencer Tweedle-Dee when he wears these jammies.


I uploaded a few pics in the November folder. Been a slow month for photos so far. Not too much to report either. We went to San Antonio last weekend so Daddy could play in a golf tournament with Pop. Spencer had a blast playing outside at Geep and Pop's house. He got to play in the dirt, throw rocks, stick his hands in the pond, and see lots of airplanes fly over (which he wasn't too sure about...).

'Nana!

Your volume needs to be all the way up to hear this one. Spencer likes eating bananas and saying, "nana!" I need to start using the good video camera so I can post some decent vids.

'Nana from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

His list of words is growing. Off the top of my head, he says mama, dada, 'nana (banana) mowmowmowmow (a meow sound when he sees the cats), go-go (yogurt), go, ball, book, moo (for cows), bath, duck, dog, cookie (or something close to it for Cookie Monster), I think he says baba (bottle), and he says something that seems to mean "this" or "what is this?" - at first we thought he was saying a four-letter word... He also makes a gesture for "all done" when he's finished eating, and he now understands the sign language for "diaper change," "milk," and "more." It's fun to be able to communicate with him more and more.

Boo!

We had a very low-key Halloween since Spencer is finishing his round of the chicken pox. Luckily, we had a bat costume that Lisa gave us on-hand, so we dressed up Spencer and took a few pics, even if we couldn't go trick-or-treating. Spencer gave us a great treat by sleeping long enough for us to watch the entire football game on the DVR!


I have to go to Minneapolis tomorrow evening until Thursday night. This is my first business trip since Spencer was born. I know I've been so lucky to put it off for this long, but that doesn't make it any easier to leave. It will be a great bonding experience for Spencer and Daddy, and I suppose a growth opportunity for me, too. Ugh!

Pumpkin Patch and Pox

We barely made it to the pumpkin patch in Tarrytown last Friday before the sun went down. We got a few pictures, but definitely not what we hoped to accomplish. But it's a good thing we went that evening because the next day Spencer woke up with Chicken Pox. He's actually doing really well so far and hasn't acted like he even feels sick. He doesn't have nearly as many spots as Daddy had either. We hear the virus can be pretty mild in babies his age, so hopefully he will have a much easier time than David did.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

From the look of things, swinging at the playground is very serious business.

Birthday Party / Pox Shox / Honky Tonkin'

Spencer's 1st birthday party was a success. He had a good time cruising around the house, seemingly unfazed by all the people... until it was time to bring out the cake and sing "Happy Birthday to You." I think he got a little overwhelmed by all the faces staring at him. He was unimpressed with the cake and icing I made him, but there's always next year!


His friends and family were so generous and he received some fun toys and fabulous books. And what a gift it was to have all four grandparents plus Great-Grandma Hill at the party. He is one blessed little boy!


As most of you have probably heard, David came down with the chicken pox before the party. Unfortunately, he was misdiagnosed and was assured he just had a "random" virus and was definitely not contagious, so we went ahead with the party. We felt terrible about the kids who were exposed, but so far no reports of spots on anyone else. Fingers crossed!

Spencer got to spend some quality time with Grannie the week before his party and with Geep a few days after. He even went honky tonkin' with Geep and me.

Happy 1st Birthday, Spencer!

Our precious boy turned one today. To say this year flew by is such an understatement. What a year it has been. We (okay, I'm mainly talking about myself) spent a lot of time today waxing nostalgic about how this day unfolded last year. The way Spencer arrived was not at all how I planned, but it was the first of many lessons I learned about how planning pretty much goes out the window when a baby is involved.

We had such a fun day. We gave Spencer his birthday gift when we woke up—a Rody Horse. This thing is so cute. I saw them online while I was pregnant and knew I wanted him to have one. We bought a rocking base so that he can use it as a rocking horse now, then bounce on it when he is bigger.


We went to Kerbey Lane for breakfast, then hit the Austin Zoo later in the morning. There are tons of zoo pictures in the October album, but I have to highlight one here. I mean, c'mon! We are so lucky that Daddy is a great photographer. This is one I will always treasure and I hope Spence will, too.


Spencer took a really long afternoon nap after all that activity, and we wrapped up our celebration by having dinner at Dong Nai (aka The Donger)—and we took a family self-portrait at the stroke of 6:28 p.m. Would you believe "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" was playing? Ain't that the truth!

Labor Day

We took Spencer to Double Dave's Pizza to commemorate Labor Day(s) 2008. Last year David and I went there the day before I went into labor and I pigged out. It capped off a 24-hour eating fest that began with a chicken fried steak dinner the evening before. "Ziggy" had finally given me a little breathing room and I had a huge appetite. For you pregnant girls out there, that's a sign that things are getting started.

Dog!

We met Ken, Nicole and cousin Sarah at the Austin Children's Museum this week and had lots of fun. I also learned how difficult it is to get a good picture of two toddlers at a museum. Anyway, when we were walking from the parking garage to the museum, we passed by someone with a big dog. Spencer pointed and exclaimed, "Dog!" We didn't know he knew that word, so we were excited and I figured it warranted a blog entry.

Walking All Over

Spencer has been taking steps for a few weeks—maybe 6-7 at a time before plopping down. Then Geep bought him a cool truck to push and he started getting more confident. While we were in Angleton last weekend, he walked down Grannie and Paw-Paw's hallway by himself like it was no big deal. When we got back to Austin Sunday afternoon, we officially had ourselves a walker. Here's a video of him pushing his truck last week (and making a pitstop to read the Sunday circulars). I'll try to get a truck-free video up soon. Check out the Videos link on the left for two other new uploads.

Trucking from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

A year ago yesterday was "Ziggy's" due date. It's hard to believe our little baby boy is going to be a one-year-old next week! Stand by for teary, sentimental postings I'm sure...

New Heisman Trophy Unveiled This Week

Hook 'Em!

While Grannie and I were hanging out with Spencer on game day last weekend, I remembered that Aunt Janice and Uncle Gary gave him an adorable suede vest and chaps when he was born. After I put the vest on him, I called Dave in to take some pictures. All of a sudden Spencer decided to take 7 or 8 steps in a row - a first! So we captured his first big move in photos. It should be noted that he was walking toward his Bevo, also a gift from Janice and Gary (who, by the way, are Red Raiders). Hook 'Em!

Grannie stayed with us for 6 days last week, and PawPaw joined us for the weekend. Then we headed to Pine Fork to spend Labor Day with Geep and Pop. Spencer is lucky to get so much time with his grandparents!

In case you missed it, Spencer turned 11 months old this week. He has 8 teeth, and his canines are coming in now, too. He seems to be in some discomfort from those bad boys. One of his new favorite foods is mashed avocado. He also likes to tell you that a cow says, "Mmmmmmmmm!"

Rain!

We had a great rain storm last week. Spencer hasn't seen much rain in his 10 months so Daddy took him out on the porch and let him soak it in.

P is for Peacock

We took Spencer to Mayfield Park yesterday to see the peacocks. We only lasted about 10 minutes because it was so hot, but the boy got to see lots of pretty peacocks and some little baby chicks. He studied them very intensely.

Jiggy Giggly

Jiggly Giggly from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

10 Months Old Today

Yowza! Our boy is 10 months old. Dave took some great pictures of Spencer today. Here's a quick preview until I have time to get them all uploaded. Gotta love that faux hawk!



His first top front tooth has broken through. It's going to be weird to see him with teeth on top! He's also saying "ma ma ma ma" a lot—and it seems like he associates it with me, but who knows? Music to my ears either way.

Sentimental Sap Alert!

I'll admit it. I've become a sentimental sap since I had a baby. One of my favorite things to do is look back at the notes in my calendar from 2008 and see what was happening on this day a year ago during my pregnancy. I came across a sweet entry from August 1, 2008 that I thought I'd share (and FYI, "Ziggy" is what we called Spencer in utero).

"Dreamed about Ziggy. Dave and I were figuring out how to take care of him—bathing, swaddling, diapering—and didn't know if we were doing it right. Zig looked up and gave us the biggest, sweetest smile!"

I thought that kind of summed up how the last 9 (almost 10!) months have been. Just when it seems like we're too tired to make it through another nighttime feeding or if we're sure that we're doing everything wrong and ruining our child, Spencer gives us one of his sweet, gummy smiles and we know everything is just fine.

Reading Is Super!

Spencer and Mommy went to the book store yesterday and bought a couple of new board books. Spencer had fun reading them with Daddy.

He also had fun playing the saloon piano at Hill's after lunch yesterday.


Spencer got to hang out and play with his cousin Audrey from New York on Friday. He's now met two of his four 1st cousins. He'll meet Taylor and Hyelom this week—yay!

Lots of new pictures in the July album—I had forgotten to grab the ones from Lake LBJ weekend off Dave's camera. Have a great Sunday! We're off to eat Pho with some friends soon.

Lake LBJ and 9-Month Stats

We spent last weekend at Lake LBJ with Geep, Pop and a big group of aunts, uncles and cousins, including 2nd cousin Caroline who is one month older than Spence. The babies were the center of attention, of course! Spencer swam in the lake, went on his first boat ride (or should I say, slept on his first boat ride), and did a face plant off our air mattress, which resulted in two grisly scabs on his nose. I think he was having withdrawals from all the fun on Monday—he seemed stir crazy all day.


Just as I was starting to get over the air mattress incident, today he slipped and hit his face on his bookcase. I guess I have to get used to all the bumps and bruises that come with toddler-hood.

Spencer had his 9-month checkup with Dr. Bayer last week, too. He weighs 23 lb. 2 oz (85th percentile) and is 30.5 inches long (97th percentile). Long and lean! He had to get two shots and also have blood drawn from a finger prick, which he did not like. It's now time to expand his menu and start feeding him more solids.

A Super Silly Monday

Spencer was in a fun mood today and I filmed a couple of moments. There's nothing better than that sweet laugh and unabashed excitement.

Giggle Fest from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

Flying! from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

9 Months Old

Hard to believe Spencer will be 9 months old tomorrow. He's growing and changing so much—seems like there are new sounds and new moves every day. We've been having a lot of fun this summer. So much so that I haven't had time to update the blog in awhile... I added more pictures in the June web album, started the July album and posted two new videos.


I'm highlighting the picture above for two reasons: Spencer looks SO tough and I want to showcase our new backsplash in the kitchen. Hooray!

Just a quick update. Spencer seems so heavy and tall lately. We can't wait to find out his stats at his 9-month checkup later this week. He has three teeth now—all on the bottom. He's eating more fruits and veggies, but we are still taking it slow with solid foods. We'll probably start ramping it up this month though. He is also quite talkative. He says "da da da da" a lot, and last week he started saying "yeah yeah yeah yeah" in a very conversational way as if he's making sentences. Super cute.

Spencer loves to read books. I often find him sitting on the floor or in his crib with a book in his lap. His favorite is Are You My Mother? He also likes to open the bins on his bottom shelf and pick out toys. He's creeping around all over the place and will also stand alone for a few seconds. Not sure how we feel about having an early walker!


I didn't get any pictures of Spence holding a flag or looking patriotic on the 4th, but the picture above captures how he spent much of the afternoon— picking blades of grass and tasting as many as he could sneak by us.

Travelin' Man

Travelin' Man from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

Jumpsterrific!

Spencer's jumping was cracking us up yesterday.
He "sticks the landing" at the end, as we say.

Level 3 Jumping from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

Splish Splash

For those of you keeping score, Spencer is now 8, count 'em, 8 months old. His new favorite thing to do is clear everything off the bookcase in his room. He's getting tall enough to reach Level 3 now. I'm having a hard time adjusting to all the bumps and scrapes he's starting to get as part of his new-found mobility, but as my good friend Tracy always reminds me, babies are resilient.


Daddy bought Spencer a little pool for our yard and we had fun introducing him to swimming on Friday. Today we went swimming at Tracy and Jamie's house—Spencer's first time in a real pool. He acclimated quickly and had fun floating around and paddling his feet like a duck. Unfortunately most of my pictures are blurry for some reason...


I created the June photo album and uploaded a few pictures. Now I'm off to read more of my new book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Hopefully I'll have good things to report on that front next time!

Car Seat Upgrade

We finally upgraded Spencer from his infant car seat...



... to a new big boy car seat.



I think we were about a month overdue, but as I said last time, it's been a busy month!

Busy Month

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted anything. We've been so busy! Spencer is already 7.5 months old. Where is the time going?


Here's a quick recap since last time:

• Doing great with solid foods. Sweet potatoes, pears, apples, acorn squash, bananas and cereal. Learning how to drink water from a sippy cup.
  
• Second lower tooth came in not long after the first. Teething again now, but we don't feel anything coming through just yet.
• Grannie came to babysit last month while we went to an event. It was the first time someone else did his bedtime feeding and put him to bed. Grannie promises that he didn't cry too much!
• Went from sitting up in his crib, to pulling up, to "walking" around the perimeter of the crib in a matter of days. I nearly had a heart attack one night when I peeked in on him and he was leaning out of his co-sleeper looking at something on the floor. The next day we caught him leaning out of his crib to grab something on the side table. Both beds were immediately lowered.
  
• Crawling all over the place. Last week he got more comfortable crawling on his hands and knees, but he still falls back on the "commando crawl" when he needs to get somewhere fast.
  
• I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. Spencer gave me a nightgown, slippers and sweet book. Dave served my favorite pastries for breakfast, then we took a picnic lunch to Auditorium Shores and enjoyed the sunny day. I felt like a very lucky mommy!
• Spencer and I took a solo trip to Angleton for Memorial Day weekend while Dave stayed behind to paint, take care of some baby proofing projects, and buy a big ole TV. Spencer had fun playing with Grannie and Aunt Renee on Friday. He visited with both great-grandmothers, Aunt Dianne and Uncle Scott, Lolly and Don, and of course Pawpaw. He was fascinated by Pawpaw's hat and really wanted to snatch it. I was a little nervous about driving that far without backup, but we did great. We met Daddy, Geep and Pop at Pine Fork on Sunday to cap off Memorial Day. Dave survived but sure did miss his boy.
  
• Lots of new cute "motorboat" sounds. He's very vocal and loves chatting with everyone.
• 21.5 pounds at the 7-month checkup.
  

So now you're up to speed. I posted a May photo album and uploaded the last of the April photos. He's changing so much month-to-month.

Time to Baby-Proof

Time to Baby-Proof from Susan Rives Horridge on Vimeo.

Spencer has taken the "commando crawl" to a new level. Official up-on-all-fours crawling must be right around the corner. Guess what we're doing this weekend?

New Photos, Wedding, Easter, Cereal, Pears

Dave took some beautiful shots of Spencer on his half birthday last week. Here's a preview, but you'll have to come over if you want to see all of the bare booty shots. Check out the April photo album for all the latest pictures.


Even though Pop and Geep were ready to perform a full evening of babysitting duties, we decided at the last minute to take Spencer to Steve and Natasha's wedding last Saturday. After the ceremony, Dave brought Spencer home and then returned for the reception. We all went to church on Easter Sunday, followed by brunch at The Woodland. We didn't coordinate Spencer's feedings very well, and he got a little grumpy by the end of brunch. But he really was such a champ during so many new experiences!


We introduced rice cereal this week (even though I've been torn on whether that was the right move...too much info out there!), and this morning I made fresh pear puree. Thumbs up on the cereal, thumbs down on the pears. I think the pears were a little too flavorful for Spencer's delicate palate! We will try again though. We have great video of the pear feeding, but our video camera didn't come with a cable to download the videos (what?!?). We'll get a bunch of stuff posted soon.

De-Ducktible

A little tax day humor, one day late. Hope the Tax Man wasn't too hard on you.

6 Months Old, Tooth, Banana

Spencer turned 6 months old yesterday. To celebrate his half-birthday, we let him try solid food for the first time. We weren't really following a time-table on introducing food; we decided to watch Spencer for cues that he was ready. Tooth? Check. Sitting up by himself? Check. Sitting in a high chair? Check. Taking interest in and grabbing at our food? Check. So after careful consideration, we went with an organic banana for the entree. He seemed to like it. We took video of the momentous occasion too, and I'll try to post that soon.


Here's a close-up of the famous tooth (click to enlarge):


Last weekend we went to Pine Fork with Geep and Pop and also had brunch and visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with friends from Houston. Check out the April photo album for lots of new pictures.