Play group - Arundel Mills

Play group met at Arundel Mills today, with a friend of Becka's joining us. We started out with all the babies in their car seats and strollers, then progressed to carrying them in our arms, and finally carrying them in our Baby Bjorn carriers. When the second picture was taken, Becka and Concetta were the only ones not Baby Bjorning their babies. By the time we left, all five of us were "wearing" our babies :-) The play group went well. We got our exercise walking around the whole mall while doing a little shopping. Spencer didn't have any blowouts this week. Yay!

We only have a couple more weeks of regular play groups for Spencer. Since I'll be going back to work soon, we will have to see the other moms and babies at play group either after work or on a weekend. Hopefully they can accommodate our schedule once in a while. I don't want Spencer to miss growing up with his friends.

2 months old

Spencer was two months old yesterday. Happy Birthday! I forgot to take his 2 month picture until he was alseep for the night, so I waited until today. Close enough, right? I plan on taking his picture every month for the first year next to his dog to see how much he grows. He is already longer than the dog!

We went to Baltimore today with Aunt Julie and Grandma Lorrie to a farmers market. The picture above is from our trip. He really enjoyed looking around at everything and wasn't cranky at all. He likes being outside, even in this heat. He was sweaty, but he was happy.

He slept well for a few nights (6-9 hours at a time), but last night was rough. We were up from 1:30 AM until 3:30 AM, then again at 5 AM for a while, and finally for good at 7 AM. I certainly hope tonight is better. Mom needs her beauty sleep! He was struggling with taking naps today too. He will fall asleep as long as someone is holding him, and then wake up when we put him down somewhere. So I'm currently wearing a napping Spencer around my chest in our Baby Bjorn carrier. Whatever works!

First play group outing

We had our first play group outing yesterday. Instead of meeting at one of our houses, we went to the mall. We were missing our girlfriend Kirsten (and mom Becka), but the boys had a good day. They took turns crying, eating, fussing and sleeping. I think it was a successful outing. Since we all have the same issues, we were able to help each other out and lend an extra pair of hands when needed. We all got to eat our lunch too without a baby in our laps! Spencer had a slight bathroom problem, so thank you Concetta for the ziplock bag to put his clothes in :-) Next week, we're going to tackle Arundel Mills outlet mall. Wish us luck!

The pictures were taken today before going to visit our friends at Martek. I just love babies in jackets!

Ready for Fall

The weather was a little cool this morning when we went shopping so I put a hoodie on Spencer. He looks so cute! Although based on his expression in this picture, he isn't too sure about his outfit that Grandpa Ron and Grandma Carol sent him. I have been waiting until the weather cooled enough so he could wear it. We did get a little hot though while grocery shopping because I "wore" him in the Baby Bjorn carrier. The carrier was the way to go today because he was getting fussy and hungry, so he needed to be held. I actually got to finish grocery shopping because I didn't have to hold him in my arms while pushing the cart and picking out groceries.

Good weekend

We had a good weekend. Matt and I went on a date to see Keith Urban in concert. Spencer stayed home with Grandma Lorrie, and they had a great time. I only checked in with them twice, and all was well :-)

Saturday we went to St. Michael's on the Eastern Shore to visit with our friends Pat and Ray. Their new vacation house was AMAZING! It was so relaxing to just sit and talk with no errands to run, no chores to do. Just sit, relax, chat and eat. What a great day! This was Spencer's first road trip. He was good the whole day and only got a little cranky on the ride home. Matt got to chauffeur us home because I had to sit in back with Spencer to help get him to go to sleep.

The first picture above is Spencer wearing his big boy clothes on Sunday. The temperature remained a little cooler (high 70's I think) so it gave me a good excuse to dress him in this outfit, which he is almost outgrowing!

After our big weekend, Spencer needed to relax. The second picture was taken last night right before bedtime. He always looks adorable in his jammies!

Getting so big!

Spencer is getting so big! This is the outfit he wore home from the hospital, and he was swimming in it then. Now, it barely fits him. I tried to put him in some jammies last night that were size 0-3 months, and he couldn't even straighten his legs because they were so small. My little boy is growing so fast!

Spencer laughed for the first time yesterday. He might have been laughing before that, but this is the first time I recognized it as a laugh. He was lying on our bed, just hanging out, and there it was...a giggle! He stayed there for over an hour, just giggling at our ceiling fan. He is so happy in the mornings. That is definitely our favorite time of day.

Look...we match!

Spencer and I thought it would be cute to wear matching clothes to play group this week. He is wearing his new outfit that my friend from high school, Angie, sent. His onesie says "Silly" which is not what he was feeling when we took this picture last night. A more accurate saying would have been "Cranky" or "Colicky."

Be careful what you wish for

Spencer had his first trip to the city of Baltimore yesterday. We went to hang out with Joanne to help her get ready for the baby and then had lunch in Fell's Point. It was a nice day to get outside since it wasn't too hot. Spencer had a great day...he slept through most of it :-)

After we got home from the city, Spencer ate around 8 PM and fell asleep around 9 PM. We put him in his crib to sleep (the first time at night!) so that we could watch a movie. We managed to watch an entire movie with only one interruption when we put him to bed. I had hoped he would stay asleep until at least 2, giving me about 3 hours of sleep. He slept to 3:15 AM. It was a miracle! More than I had hoped for! Well, I need to be careful what I wish for. He was awake for 2 hours, not what I wanted at all :-( So I'm running on empty today.

Today's lesson bears repeating...be careful what you wish for. It just may come true.

Play group today

Spencer's play group meets today at our house. There are four of us that met at birthing class and have kept in touch. Now we get together every week to talk, eat, and have the babies play together. Well, the babies don't play so much. They mostly just cry, eat, and sleep :-) Since Spencer's friends are coming over today, he wanted to get dressed up in his new overalls from Aunt Julie. He is a stylin' little boy!

It sure is hot!

It has been so hot this week! I think it was close to 100 degrees yesterday. Spencer was dressed nice and cool in his ducky seersucker outfit to go visit Grandma Lorrie for a couple hours. Well, the outfit lasted all of 10 minutes. Just enough time to have the diaper leak. So much for looking cute in this heat!

Spencer Smiles

Spencer has been smiling for a couple weeks now, but Saturday was the first time I was able to catch the smile on camera. He was either grinning at me or the halogen light behind me. I like to think it was me :-)

On Sunday I went to Joanne's baby shower in PA and left Spencer with Matt all day. 10 extremely long hours for both Mom and Dad I think :-) Spencer was having one of his "needy" days where he had to be held all day long. Matt took him to Grandma Pat's for a little while to run some errands, and then I called Grandma Lorrie in the evening to come rescue Matt so he could finish the laundry. I think it was a long day for all of us.

I figured it was time

I figured it was time to start a blog to keep everyone updated as to what is happening with the English family. I will try to keep the blog current, but it might get harder to do when I go back to work in September. I will also try to figure out how to post pictures so you can see just how big Spencer is getting. Let me know if you have any suggestions for post topics of if any of you have used Blogger before. I can use all the tips I can get!

Spencer and I went to lunch with Joanne and Caitlin today so he wanted to get dressed up in his Guess outfit and Chuck Taylors. He was so tuckered out from his outing in the hot sun that he needed to take a little rest.