Celebrating Easter

This Easter was sooo different from the last. Last Easter, we left the hospital after a 2-day visit when I slipped on our stairs and dropped Parker. He was only five weeks old and had a skull fracture as a result of the fall. There is no doubt that that was the worst day of my life so far, and the resulting guilt and emotional pain that followed was horrible and really changed me. We missed church that morning and came home after lunchtime with an unbearable amount of anxiety and worry about our precious baby boy's well-being. The days and weeks and even months that followed were horrible for me, but thankfully, Parker really was okay and we both healed relatively quickly.

Celebrating Easter this year was so, so different. We woke up and put our "Sunday-best" on to gather with the rest of our congregation and worship the risen Lord! There is something about Easter that always makes me feel fresh and renewed--spiritually and mentally. It's so exciting to attend church and sing and celebrate!

We ate lunch with Ryan's family after church and I am SO upset that we did not take any pictures! We brought our camera but did not remember to take it out of the car. We will have to have a photo-taking session with everyone soon.

After lunch, we came home and put Parker down for a nap. Ryan and I decided that we would take a "quick nap," too, and we all ended up sleeping for almost two hours! I guess we needed it, but I felt like we slept the whole afternoon away. Wait--we did. Oh well, it was a lazy Sunday!

Once we were all awake again, we headed to Omi and Opa's for our weekly Sunday dinner. We let him go through his basket the Easter bunny brought when we first arrived at their house. He definitely was not interested in looking through the basket at all, but we were able to distract him with specific items that came from the basket. That Easter bunny SURE did do a great job!

Parker's thinking, "Wow, Momma..that looks like a lot of work. I just want to go play!"

This spinny-light-egg thingy was his favorite.

He also thoroughly enjoyed the bubbles.

After we ate dinner, we all went outside to let Parker "look" for eggs the Easter bunny hid in the yard. He must have known that Parker really wouldn't know how to look for eggs because he just put about five or six out in the grass in plain sight. This was so so so fun and something I've been looking forward to all year.

He definitely needed some guidance in letting go of the eggs to drop them into the basket.

.....and then he discovered that the eggs were breakable. Egg-smashing ensued.

There were hard-boiled eggs in various states of demolotion.

Notice Ryan's new hair-do? He's growing it out so that he can comb it over to the side...but it's NOT A COMB-OVER. :)

After the egg-hunting and lots of running around, we took a few fam photos.

This is how all family photos start out, right? Thank goodness for digital cameras.

Much better--four generations!

Parker, Granddaddy and Grammie

This is Parker and his Honey-bunny, as I like to call it. This was the bunny his his basket from Honey and Granddad, and he just loves it!

After this long and amazingly fun day, we went home and put the little man to bed--it seemed like he walked more that day than he had walked over the course of his whole life! I can't wait to do it again next year. Oh and also......................

We got this--probably our best family picture yet. All looking, ALL SMILING, no weird faces--finally!

14 Months!

Parker--Long story short--you are now 14 months old, and I love you I love you I love you. More and more each day, more than I ever thought I could. I just love you so much.

Okay, enough of my lovies...here are some details about what's new with you.

• Your sleeping has definitely improved. It's scary to say, but you don't wake up any more in the middle of the night. We've only had a few 5am wake-up calls, but we would both rather wake up early than right in the middle of the night. Keep it up, kid!
• Your eating habits are improving. It's just soooooooo so hard. This weekend, I made a turkey sandwich for you, and you ate more of it than I thought you would. I guess it's progress?
• This month, your new word was "bunny". You didn't say it all the time, but when you said it, it was so sweet. You also said "broccoli" the other day while we were eating. Your Daddy and I looked at each other to make sure we both heard it--we did! Another word you use sometimes is, "duck," because we have a pair of ducks that comes up to our door almost every evening. It seems like you recognize tons of words now. If we ask you where certain things are, you'll take your little finger and start pointing. I think you're a pretty smart boy!
• You're really starting to show your temper. I wouldn't say that you're throwing full-on "tantrums", but you're definitely telling us that you aren't happy. I'll take something away from you or tell you, "No!", and you will fall down on your knees and start doing a whiny-cry. Sometimes you'll even lay on the floor. It's actually pretty funny and sweet, but I have to remain serious and try not to react at all. Difficult but necessary!
• You love to sit and read books with us now. We look at books together very night before you go to bed, and sometimes you'll pull them out and start looking at them by yourself. I hope this will lead to a love of reading in the future.
• We've been taking more walks since the weather has warmed up. You are so sweet because you just sit back in your stroller and let your left leg hang off the side. You are so "chill" and you love to point at different animals and plants. You will sometimes reach your hands out for us to hold them, and we'll just pull the stroller by holding your hands. We love it!

• Every day, I tell your Daddy at least 10 times how sweet you are, how much I love your little toes, or to look at something else on you that's super-precious. I love everything about you (including your tantrums) and I know that this feeling will continue to grow each and every day. Love you, buddy! :)

The First of Many

Today, Parker experienced a BIG first.....

His first ride in his jogging stroller! Just kidding. We have had several journeys with this stroller and we LOVE it. No, no...it's not the stroller. Do you see what I'm talking about?

There it is--his first knee-scrape. My little boy is now a MAN. Just kidding. He's still a sweet and squishy little boy. Just a more mature one! Just kidding. He's not more mature, but he seems a little tougher now. Yeah, we'll go with that. He's definitely tougher.

He took a little spill on the concrete today. Honey said he was walking and then decided to start running.....and you can see what happened next.

He may be tougher, but that doesn't mean he's any less happy!

PS--Hello, size 9-month shorts on my sweet-legged skinny-waisted boy....I think I'm in love with you. I will buy you in every color available and will probably end up buying you in at least three different sizes before the summer is over. Your new best friend will be the polo shirt. Just thought you'd like to know.

Another Playdate!

We had my sweet friend Jamane and her TWO daughters, Jaidyn and Jamisyn, over for dinner last night. Jamane's husband was out of town for the day, so I told her to come over so Jaidyn and Parker could play while we got to spend some time together. It worked out great, and I even got a little baby-holding action in. No pictures, unfortunately, but here's one I took when I saw little Jamisyn on Thursday:

Basically, she is a mini version of her big sister. Jamane will be moving soon to Pennsylvania, which makes me super sad. I'm trying to look at it as just a new place to visit! She is such a sweet and fun friend and a fellow Momma! I don't want her to go. Anyway......

Parker and Jaidyn got along great. The only time the did not get along great was when Parker wanted to play with the toys Jaidyn brought. She wasn't too keen on that, but Parker sure was excited!

This was their piano jam session. I'm sure you can imagine the beautiful music we heard.

For whatever reason, Reese's toys are often more exciting to Parker than the toys we buy specifically for Parker. He's also been putting them in his mouth a LOT lately--it's hard to keep an eye on him for every.second.

They also decided to climb up onto the horse together. They were both smiling soooo big at first, but once I actually got the camera turned on and got on the floor to take the picture--well, you can see what happened.

This whole playdate thing is the best idea ever! It's such a great way for the kids to get their energy out and have fun with their friends. I am looking to many more of these with Jamane and her babies before she has to go.....I will miss them all so much.

Feeding the Ducks

We've noticed a duck-couple wandering through our yard for the last couple of weeks. The other night, Ryan and Parker decided to feed them when they walked up to the front door.

Yep, it was super-sweet and lovey-dovey. Really, it was. Look at those two same-shaped heads. I love them so much.

Okay, let's all get real about the actual situation, though. Here's what happened today as a result of the love-bonding that occurred on Tuesday.

Can you see them?

It's ducks--running.

Basicallyyyyyy....they were waiting across the street for us to come out the front door, and I'll be hiding from crazed hungry ducks all spring. It's either that or be nice and feed them...and then they'll be literally knocking on the door every night.

Way to go, Ry and Park--apparently we have two new pets. Jussssssssssssst what I need!

Playdates

Over the last couple of weeks, Parker has been able to visit with his friends while Momma and Daddy socialize with our friends! Here he is playing with his best bud, Wyatt:

Apparently, this is "parallel play". Parker and Wyatt spent some of the time playing alongside each other but not with each other.

Then, they decided that they were going to play with the same toy at the same time. Or maybe Wyatt was playing with it and Parker took it? That's possible, too.

Then, out of NOWHERE, Parker decided to give his friend a hug. SO sweet! I was lucky enough to already have my camera out to capture it on film. Love it!

Of course, Parker had to do his new thing and sit on Wyatt's lap. Apparently, he does this at daycare sometimes. If any of the other kids are sitting or lying on the floor, Parker likes to plop down and use them as his chair. I think that Ry and I encourage this by letting him sit on us, but oh well--it's cute, obvi! Poor Wyatt could not get away from him.

Parker also recently visited with his girlfriend, Kaley. She was a little more aggressive--he's not used to this kind of woman! Or any for that matter, I guess.

More parallel play.

I think he was trying to sit on her lap...no surprise there!

...and then she took control. Feeding him...

...telling him something important...

..."hush, don't speak"...

Reading together.

It's sooooooooooo so so beyond wonderful and amazing to have friends that have babies that are basically the same age as Parker. Being able to talk about our trials and triumphs together is so comforting, and it's also pretty nice to know that we don't have to lug a bunch of toys along if we go to visit. We had a great time with both of these little sweeties and are definitely looking forward to getting together again.