Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sixteen Months!

Parker--you are now sixteen months old!  In just two months, you will be a year and a half old.  You are my sweet little big boy, and I just love you more than I will ever be able to tell you.  It seems like it's only little things that are changing each month, but I'll write down some of the highlights.
  • A couple of weeks ago, you had a pretty bad ear infection.  The doctor described it as "raging" and a "nine out of ten" in terms of pain.  You also had a cold to go along with it, so you were just a pitiful, sad little thing.  I think that as a parent, one of the worst things is when your child gets sick.  I am so glad that you are feeling better now! 
  • You like to look out the kitchen window for squirrels and birds.  You have amazing vision--you will spot things that take your dad and I minutes to see.  Right now, your Daddy will ask you, "Parker, you see any birds or squirrels out there?"  You kind of wrinkle your nose and your eyebrows and shake your head "no" with this really funny look on your face.  So sweet.
  • You are really turning into a little ham in front of other people.  You get this big "cheesy" smile on your face and your eyes almost close with your big grin.  Unfortunately, we aren't at the point yet where you'll look at the camera and do this, but we will get there one day!  
  • You still like to shake your booty all the time and now you  have started spinning.  You will spin and spin and spin in circles and then stop and laugh while you catch your balance.  Then you start spinning again.  It makes me dizzy! 
  • You and Reese still love to play with each other in the kitchen.  You like to chase him around the kitchen trying to grab onto him, and I chase after you to tell you not to grab him too hard or around the neck or the tail.  The only problem is that when I give you snack in your "snack trap" nowadays, Reese feels close enough to you that he thinks he can pull your crackers, cookies, or puffs right out of your hand.  He does not listen when I ask him not to, so this makes me a little frustrated.  
  • You have developed a little eczema on the backs of your legs.  When I was pregnant, your Daddy and I used to talk about how bad we felt for you because  you would probably end up with one of our skin conditions, either psoriasis or eczema.  It usually stays right around the backs of your knees but sometimes creeps up your thigh and sometimes looks like it's in your elbow crease.  We have been putting hydrocortisone on it per the doctor's recommendation.  It seems to be helping, but we may have to make a visit to the dermatologist soon!
  • You are really starting to enjoy yourself more in the pool.  I try to get you in at least once per week because I think it helps with the aforementioned eczema.  You don't like to stay in for too long, but we are working on it.  After about 10 minutes you want to go to the step and get in and out and in and out and in and out......I'd prefer for you to just stay in! 
  • You are starting to say "Thank you" more and more.  Of course it doesn't sound exactly the way thank you is supposed to sound and comes out a little mumbled, but I know this is what you're saying and it's very sweet.  I am so happy because I want you to be a well-mannered little sweetheart, and this is a step in the right direction.  
  • You're eating habits have not really improved.  Every day it seems like it's milk carb carb fruit carb milk fruit fruit carb carb carb broccoli fruit carb milk.  You are definitely at a "picky" stage and I want you to get out of it!  We are still offering you tons of different kinds of food (that you don't eat).  I'm hoping that it really is just a phase.....

I can't say it enough--I love you so much.  I just cannot imagine what my life would be like without you.  When you were first born, there were days where I longed for the freedom to do what I wanted and not be "trapped" at home with my baby.  Now, I enjoy every minute that I have with you and miss you when you're gone.  Your Dad and I talk a lot about what it will be like when we have another child and it just breaks my heart because I feel like I will be hurting you by having another baby because you won't have all of our attention anymore.  I have to reassure myself that it wouldn't be hurting you but giving you a present in the form of a brother or sister--RIGHT?  I'll just keep telling myself that.  

Anyway, back to you.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer and spending most of my free time with you.  You mean the world to me and I am so happy to have you as my sweet little boy! 

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Crib Tent

We bought a crib tent a couple of weeks ago for Parker's crib.  We did this because while Parker was sick and waking up at least once per night, he would cry and cry and try to get his leg up to climb out of the crib.  There was also a bouncing thing that he would do where it seemed that was trying to bounce himself out of the crib.

None of this was cool.  The crying, the attempted climbing, and the bouncing.  None of it.  Particularly the bouncing, though, because there were a couple of times where I rushed to his room thinking that he was about halfway out of the crib about to fall to the floor.  The first time, I was downstairs folding laundry and when I flew up the stairs to get him, I also kicked one of the baby gates over with my "bad foot."  He was fine.  The second time, I was in bed and jumped out so fast that I hit my knee on the corner.  I still have a bruise, and he was fine.  

After all of this, we decided that we needed to go ahead and order the tent before Parker ended up breaking something falling out of his crib.  So at first, I ordered the wrong crib tent.  Who knew there was more than one kind?  There's one for regular cribs and one for convertible cribs.  I was going to send it back, but luckily Amy needed one for Wyatt because he is SO BIG, too!  I gave her mine that was put together so that I can just send back hers that is still neatly packaged in the box.  

I ordered the new crib tent that's made for convertible cribs like ours and it got here on Thursday.  I was a little worried about it because we just never know for sure what will freak Parker out.  I decided that we needed to put it together with him in the room watching us and then let him play in the crib a little so that he would feel comfortable with it.  
It worked!  He loved it and slept allllllll night long.  I was very happy when he fell asleep quickly without paying any attention to the tent.  Baby equipment success! :) 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

We're in for a FUN Summer!


While Ryan was watering flowers today, he decided to introduce Parker to the hose.


He loved it!


He really, really, really loved it!



 

He was absolutely soaked.  It wasn't even that hot outside today--can you imagine how much he'll like it when it's 95 degrees?  I am so so so so so sooooooooo glad.  I just never know about things that are different--whether he will be "scared" of them or not.  


Watering the grass.  It looks like we will have a good garden helper, too!  Got to start 'em young......

Monday, June 13, 2011

We Went to the Park

After we ate dinner tonight, we rode our bikes to our neighborhood park.  It was so nice outside--closer to 80's instead of high 90's which made for a nice bike ride.  Parker really enjoyed himself at the park, and we got a tour of a new area of our neighborhood.  My only complaint about the bike-riding situation is:

I need a new seat.

I don't know if it's childbirth or what, but the seat seems to hurt my tail WAY more than it did before.

That's all about my tail and the seat for now.

 He liked "the bridge."
Driving the car was fun, too. 
 We decided to slide.  Can you see that he is desperately trying to get away from me?
 Walking up the slide.
 Looks like he has an opera mask on.  I wish he had been about six inches to his left.
 He was very excited for these stepstool things.
At the end of the day, you just have to stop and smell the "flowers."  

Haley's Field Day

On Friday, Parker and I braved the heat to go watch Haley at her school's Field Day.  It brought back a few memories for me of my own field days when I was in elementary school.  It's just a fun day for the kids to get out and play cute games together as a class.  I have to say, though....it was HOT.  Like..not just a little toasty but H.O.T.  No breeze, no clouds.  Despite the heat, I enjoyed watching the kids and I was able to take some cute pics.  
Here's my girl.  Ready for action!
Ahhhh, tug of war.  Do you see the intensity happening in this picture?  These kids do not play around.
 
Notice Parker in the stroller to the left.  I had to keep him facing the opposite direction because of the sun.  He was sleeping, so this was not a problem at all! 
Sweet picture of teamwork at its finest.
Oh hey--there's my little buddy snacking on a waffle!
Two pulling one.  Haley seemed to enjoy this one a lot!
Ah yes, the bouncy ball with a handle.  A classic!
So pretty!  And super-hot--see the red cheeks?  Also notice that I cut off her chin in the picture.  I could not see ANYTHING because it was so bright!  I was snapping away blindly.
I was just so glad that he napped.
 This was the result of Haley's first pillow-fight duel.
An action shot from the second duel...
...and the result!  She was happy.
This was a misting tent that was set up for the kids to cool off.  There was also water being sprayed from hoses onto the kids, who ended up soaking wet after this station.  I didn't feel like I could jump in on the misting/soaking relief fun, so I had to leave about two minutes afterwards due to my impending heat stroke.  

Overall, it was a fun morning and I am looking forward to doing the same thing with Parker when he gets to that age!  





Friday, June 10, 2011

15 and 1/2 Months!

So....I'm a little late with this post.  Your 15 month birthday was on May 25th, and it's now 2 and a half weeks later.
Oh look!  A picture of you from your actual 15 month birthday.

Oh well--we have been busy lately!  Here is what's going on with you this past month and a half:

  • At your 15 month appointment, you weighed 26 pounds 12 ounces and you were 33 inches tall.  The doctor said that this puts you in the 97th percentile for height and 90th for weight AKA you are a big boy!  Your head size is apparently "off the charts."  I think this is because you got your dad's head shape, which is a little elongated in the back.  We discussed this and she thinks that the size of your head isn't anything to worry about.  
  • You are into EVERYTHING. If there is something near you that you're not supposed to touch, you touch it. You want to open every cabinet door, touch the buttons on every electronic device, and pull every item off of every end table or countertop that you can reach. I am learning very slowly that I need to be more careful about what I leave within your reach.
  • You really love to sit with us and read. You'll bring a book over, sit right in our lap, and open it up. You still enjoy listening to us when we read you a book each night at bedtime. You really like bigger books right now that have lots of pictures. You take your little finger and point and point and point and then babble on with words that we don't quite understand.  I just got some flashcards today so that we can start going over these together, too.          
  • Your eating habits have kind of gone out the window. We aren't feeding you baby food anymore, which is good and bad. Good because it just seemed so tedious when I knew that you could feed yourself regular food. Bad because it's harder to get you to eat fruits and vegetables in their regular form. Foods you love right now are waffles, pancakes, cereal, bananas, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, veggie straws, and apple straws. You also like pretty much any cookie or Gerber snack that's available. You were still digging broccoli for a while, but this week you haven't been into it. We'll see what next week holds.
  • Each morning while I get ready, I turn on the Sprout channel for you. You watch “Play with Me Sesame” and “Wiggle and Learn”. You love love love both the Sesame characters and the Wiggles. You screech and point and shake shake shake your booty!  These are the two shows that I actually enjoy listening to. I've been trying not to turn on the TV too much when you're around, but we have to have our morning inspiration!  
  • You have started saying Mama and Dada all the time. You said it before here and there, but now you say it on a regular basis and ILOVEIT. You walk up to me and hold your hands up and look at me with those big brown eyes and that wispy hair and say, “mama?” I just melt. You've said Mommy a couple of times this week out of the blue, but I think it was an accident. I don't know if I've ever referred to myself as Mommy, so I'm not sure where that would come from.

My view.
  • You do so many little things that are sneaky.  We'll ask you to give us a piece of your food, and you will hold it out to us and then snatch it away.  If we pretend like we're asleep, you always want to come right over and wake us up.  You like to hide and then kind of jump out and "scare" us.  When I ask you not to do things,  you often try to do them again when you think I'm not looking.  It's all too funny to watch.  I am constantly thinking about the phrase "eyes in the back of your head" because I feel like I somehow have grown them.  
Basically, you are awesome, and I love you more than words can say.  And you are very difficult to photograph because you are always moving, but I love that you are always moving.  So I'll just keep posting pictures of different angles of your big ol' head because I just love it so much.  And the ears, and the mouth,.....okay, I'll stop.

And the toes.

Okay that's it.  the end! :)  

Monday, June 6, 2011

Parker's First Bike Ride

Parker took his first bike ride with us this evening.  I was sooooooooo excited to get back on my bike.  I love my bike but have not ridden it since I became pregnant TWO years ago!  I bought a "Wee-Ride" bike carrier on Amazon after reading really good reviews for it.
 

While Ryan was installing the seat, Parker wanted to get some driving practice in with the little Radio Flyer car that our neighbors brought over to us last month.  
He had to fix it first, obviously.
He absolutely LOVED scooting around on this thing!  When I wasn't taking pictures, I had him sitting frontwards.  On his own, he decided to sit backwards every time.
Here they are--my two men ready to go.  I just cannot get over how cute he looks in his big little helmet.  His three-year-old helmet.  That I almost thought wasn't going to work.  It was a tight squeeze.  That's all on the helmet size for now.  
Because it took a little longer than we thought to get the seat installed, we only went on about a 5 minute ride. It was wonderful, BUT I definitely want a new seat.  I told Ry that I need to get a basket on my bike and then we can run up to the shopping center by our house to get Skinny Dip milk or bread.
This was at the end of our ride.  When we pulled back into our court, Parker started making noises and pointing at the house.  He knew we were home, and he was ready to get his helmet off and get inside!  

I see many, many more bike rides in the future.  As our neighbor pointed out, Parker will soon be riding alongside us on his own bike.  Ummmmmm not so fast, woman.  He's got a while to go.  Don't rush my baby--he needs to stay my baby for a long long long time!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Little Helpers

Today, my friend and co-worker, Jamane, came over so that I could train her on some new work stuff.  She brought along someone to help us make it through the day:

Sweet baby Jamisyn.  Hello, blue eyes!
It was nice to have a "baby baby" around for the day.  She is such a sweetie and enjoyed the exersaucer, floor, and Parker's bed :)  

Tonight, we had a yummy dinner of Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Mac and Cheese made by moi, chicken sausage, and corn on the cob on the grill.  I could have eaten SO MUCH MORE than I did.  Parker would not eat any of it, but he did have a waffle and some grapes--one step at a time.  He decided that the kitchen floor was dirty...
...so he said, "Mom, give me the broom!"
He did a pretty good job.  Only a few crumbs left.  Notice that he has his own little helper to the left of the picture.

He's really big into throwing mini "temper tantrums" right now.  They usually occur at the end of the day after I've picked him up from being watched by others all day.  It's so hard because when he does it because we just have to leave him there--picking him up would say, "Hey--throw tantrums and we'll comfort you and tell you it's all going to be alright!"  Tonight they happened because I would not let him open a kitchen cabinet door or pull on the glass top to our kitchen table.  Or pull knives out of the dishwasher.
As a "2011 mom", I just had to take a picture with my cell phone.  At least Reese was there to console him.