Curious George

Our friend, Kelly, recently sent this book for Rooke. It's our first Curious George book, and couldn't have come at a more fitting time when Rooke seems to be into everything. Even his eyes in this picture speak of mischief!

Seconds, people. Mere seconds for this destruction to happen. We have since started learning which books are okay to pull off the shelf and which ones we "don't touch".

Hangin' Out in Canada

Rooke & I went up to Canada for a quick visit and to go to a baby shower for Aubyn. It's always fun getting to hang out with Uncle Scott & Auntie Aubyn.

Crawling through a chair?!

He liked slipping around on the hard wood floors

Community Group

The other day, I watched one of our community group friend's son. It was enlightening for me to get a small glimpse of what it would be like to have two kids two years apart. Whoa. But we all had fun playing together.

Trying to get a picture of the two of them!

Some of our friends from community group gathered for a baptism (the guy in the pink next to me). We have been so grateful for this weekly fellowship over the past year. We are making a shift and are trying to find a group that is closer to where we live, but will deeply miss getting to see these friends every Tuesday night.

New Toys

Rooke and I went to Target this week and I was excited to find their dollar bin was 50% off! Rooke insisted we get a new toy. How could I resist such a good deal?! 50 cents! Of course, the foam shapes went straight to his mouth. . .

Keeping one in each hand for easy access

This is what Rooke would look like if we gave him Botox injections in his lips.

Showing off two new "skills": bouncing and playing on his knees and throwing both hands in the air in excitement (he also does it when you ask him, "How big is the baby?")

A less traditional new toy . . . he has discovered he can open the cabinet. We're in trouble.

Little Bug

Sorry I didn't get pictures up earlier this week. We've had a little bug in the house this week - specifically in little Rooke. His first "ick". Hopefully it's on it's way out and we'll be back to normal soon. I'll just share some random pics from the past week or so.

After church last Sunday, I ran to the store and came home to find my boys already entrenched in football. Ryan was tracking his fantasy team on the computer while watching the game and keeping Rooke entertained with Cheerios.

Me: "Ryan - quit giving Rooke so many Cheerios. He needs to actually eat some lunch."
Ryan: "No way - this is Sunday football. Those are like his pork rinds."

This was taken at a yummy gelato joint in a quaint town where we spent the day with Auntie Aubyn. No - Rooke is not smiling because he was enjoying the gelato with us. Thankfully, he's still not that aware. He was having fun playing with the tiny plastic tasting spoons.

In the words of my friend, Ashley, regarding starting babies on solid food: "Nursing is so much cleaner". That might be a bit of an understatement.

A new morning ritual: brushing teeth together. It's pretty cute.

Boomer Sooner . . . Go OU!

My dad and Uncle Tim worked together to get us tickets to the OU vs. Huskies game today! We had so much fun!!

We rode the bus to the game. Rooke doesn't look excited in this picture, but he had a great time. He was decked out in a real OU shirt (as opposed to the red OBU shirts we were wearing), complete with an OU bear from his Great Grandma.

We got there early and decided to hang out in the shade for a bit before entering the stadium.

We were glad to be sitting in the OU section! The guys behind us were really fun (although fairly . . . uh. . . tipsy?!). They decided Rooke should be called Shamis for his red hair and slapped Ryan on the back any time OU did something good.

Rooke bounced back and forth between our laps. After the initial shock of all the screaming and noise, he did really good!

Half-time . . . the perfect opportunity for a cat nap.

20 minutes later, he is ready to play again and entertain those around us. See the lady in the lower right corner? I think she missed half the game because she was watching Rooke and trying to get his attention.

For a school that makes their fans wear purple, they sure do know where to build a stadium to get a good view. We watched the moon rise as the Sooners stomped the Huskies into the ground! This was the score with another quarter left to play!

*The Oregon Ducks won their game today, too. What a great day for college football!

Eight Months Old Today!

It's been a full eight months since those wee hours of the morning when we first saw our son. He is changing every day. Some of the more recent developments include: saying "mama" (not in reference to Mom), letting go of support while standing, crawling at lightning speeds, grunting at his stuffed animals, and wanting to eat any food he sees. He smiles a lot more these days and seems to be more comfortable around new people.

Rooke was reunited with an "old" friend this week. The yellow lion has been around for a while, but has been resting under the couch where Rooke found him this week.

Starting him young. . .

We love the park

We took full advantage of the beautiful weather we had yesterday. Rooke and I ventured out to a new park in the afternoon while Ryan was studying. When we came home, Ryan was ready for a study break, so we went to our neighborhood park to play some more.

Deciding what to do with the wood chips. He ended up sticking them in his mouth. Surprise.

Practicing for his senior picture pose

Playing with Daddy

Ryan and I are usually the ones playing with the frisbee, but Rooke got a hold of it this time!

A beautiful sunset view from our apartment to end a wonderful day.

The Past Week

Stuff from this past week . . .

He is crawling everywhere and getting into everything!

Such a coyish little look.

"Hi Mom!"

We introduced Cheerios this week. He loves them, when he figures out how to get them in his mouth!

He crams his fist in his mouth and banks on at least one making it in there . . . it usually works.

Playing peek-a-boo with Mommy

And lastly, another video to demonstrate how Rooke's spitting skills are developing. It also gives you a close up of our ghetto TV stand (and our ghetto TV!). Not sure what the pink line is. Sorry. The end may surprise you - he's ok.

Here Doggy, Doggy!

We spent Friday night with some friends to watch the Ducks vs. Huskies game - Go Ducks! They have two dogs that Rooke was really excited to play with! Here he is grabbing . . . er . . . petting Lola. She didn't seem to mind that Rooke was taking fist fulls of her hair.

Look at poor Lola's eyes! Again, Rooke was really excited to pet/grab the dogs!

Rooke: "Come here, doggy!"
Doggy: "I've had enough of you, Kid."

Earlier that day, we met up with one of my friends from high school who was in town for the weekend! Katrina also has a little boy, but he stayed at home for this trip. It was fun to catch up and get some tips on mothering a little guy!

"Hey! Want to know a secret?!"