Camping in Kentucky

We spent last week camping at Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky to celebrate Matt's parents 40th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful time site seeing, spending time with our family and friends, and most importantly... enjoying the BBQ festival in Peducha.

Parker prepared for camping with a Play date with Peyton. Peyton is 4 days older than Parker.

Views from our campground

Superbaby at the Superman musem in Metropolis, IL

The "Original" Gilbertsons (Less Julie) at the Homeplace, a 1850's working farm

We rented a pontoon boat for a day. We spent a lot of time out running the rain, but it was a lot of fun.

Elk & Bison Prairie

BBQ on the River

Happy 9 month Birthday Parker!

Parker turned 9 months old last Saturday. It is hard to believe that he is already 9 months old! We had his check-up last Wednesday and his is doing great. He now weighs 22.4 lbs (75th percentile), 28 1/2 inches tall (50th percentile), and his head of course is in the 90th percentile. He is also learning something new every day. He can now crawl everywhere, pull himself to standing, and he occasionally will walk around the furniture. He has found the step up to the landing by our front door and he goes up and down, up and down. He still loves books and will laugh out loud when you read to him. He has graduated from pured food, and now mostly feeds himself small pieces of our meals. He is just perfect! We traveled to Wisconsin last weekend to celebrate my Grandma Jo's 75th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!! Kiara has all the pictures from her party so I will have to post those later. Once we landed in Wisconsin our first stop was a gas station off the interstate where we met my Dad and shared some cheese curds and Hamms. Gotta love Wisconsin!!

Grandma Sandy with Maddox & Parker Mmmmm... those leaves are yummy! This was a fun little bike that you moved by turning the wheel. It worked really well when the sidewalk went downhill, not so well when we turned the other way.

My BFF Bean and her baby Wyatt.

Wyatt was so good with Parker and Maddox

Grandma, Grandpa and all 3 boys

Baby Zane woke up for a minute

We rearranged the cupboards so that Parker can play in the tupperware. This is great when I need to do the dishes.

Parker and Nana in the Ranger

Another Ear Infection :(

We had a very long night last night. Parker was up the first time at 10pm and stayed up till about 11. He wasn't really fussy, just didn't want to sleep. After a bottle of chamomile tea he went back down by 11, only to be up again from 3am on. He was not so happy this time around. He screamed, and screamed, and pulled on his ear, and screamed some more. He didn't want to rock, walk, sleep, play, or eat. He wanted to scream. By 5 we knew we were going to spend the morning at Urgent Care, but they didn't open till 9. To kill some time, and to try to get PJ to sleep, my Mom came over and we all walked to the coffee shop. He wasn't thrilled but didn't fuss to much until we got home, then he had enough. We ended up parking in the Urgent Care parking lot at 8am and waited for them to open. Sure enough, ear infection. Parker ended up falling asleep as we waited to be discharged and stayed asleep when we put him in the carseat, so we spent 1 1/2 hrs driving around running errands and letting him sleep in the truck. He was much happier when he woke up, and after some Tylenal and antibiotics, he is back down for a nap (snoring away). On a happier note, we had PJ's first swimming lesson this week. He did really well and enjoyed most of it. He is not a fan of floating on his back, not even in the tub. He did well jumping (falling) into the pool, kicking his legs, grabbing rings on the stairs, and he is working on blowing bubbles under water. We have 9 lessons left to use in the next 6 months. I am planning on taking him every 2 to 3 weeks through out the winter so that he stays comfortable in the water, and so we have some fun Mommy and Parker time.