Andrew's Birth Story

Dear Andrew,

Today I plan to document the story of your arrival to this world.  It was not very dramatic, stressful or crazy… it ended up being just perfect and everything went just the way it was supposed to go.  I have a feeling this is going to be a part of your personality because you are just perfect without all of the drama.  You seem to be pretty easy-going and laid-back.  In fact, I don’t even think I’ve seen you hard-core cry for me, yet.  You just kind of whimper and chomp on your hands when you are ready to wake up and eat.  But, I regress… about that day.

On Tuesday, September 27, 2016, Robert and I woke up and got Parker ready for school.  DD Nana and T-Pa were here, too.  They helped us get Parker ready for school and took him to school while mom and dad got all of our things together for our stay at the hospital.  Per usual, whenever there is a big trip, Rob always has to do something last minute and in this case it was he had to go to the bathroom.  So, I finished packing the suitcase, packed the cooler with his snacks (dad gets grumpy when he doesn’t have yogurt or his juice), backed the car out of the driveway and reversed it in so the back-end of the car was more adaptable to putting luggage in, loaded the back of the car, and just waited for your dad to finally be ready.

And, we were off by 8:15 AM so that we made it to the hospital by 9.  We showed up at registration, gave them our names and headed on back to labor and delivery where they took me to the C-Section prep room.  It wasn’t very glamorous—just a large room sectioned off with three similar holding rooms with two chairs and a baby monitor.  I changed my clothes and got hooked up to the monitor where we made sure you were doing OK in mom’s tummy.  And you were!  I got hooked up to my IV and waited on the doctor to be ready.

The doctor showed up at 10 and made sure all was well and said we could go early if an operating room was ready.  Your daddy then went down to get him a Dr. Pepper because you were going to be born during lunch and he gets pretty feisty without all three meals a day.  Well, while he was gone the doctors came back and said they were ready.  I know, of course they did!  Perfect timing, this is exactly what happened when your big brother was born… your daddy was getting a Dr. Pepper when it was time to start pushing.  So, alas, I had to tell them to wait and your daddy walked in soon after.  Thank goodness.

I walked back to the OR and dad went to a different c-section room where he put on his scrubs.  They prepped me in the OR and I got my epidural.  I had a little trouble getting the epidural to spread high enough over my belly so they had to lay my table all sorts of different ways, at one point I thought I might slide off head first!  But, it eventually ended up working right.  Then, dad came in and they pulled you out.  You gave a healthy scream and were a perfect color. They cleaned you up, got your measurements and then handed you to daddy.  It was all very smooth and you were doing great.  I got to hold you for a little bit while they worked on sewing me up and dad took you to see DD Nana and T-Pa while they finished working on me, too.  I met you and your dad in the recovery room where I got to hold you some more and make sure my pain levels were under control.  They were, which was a relief.  I knew exactly what to ask for and made sure they gave me plenty of the “good stuff.”  I didn’t want what happened with your big brother to happen with you… and it didn’t!  I only had to spend about 45 minutes in recovery before they moved us all to our regular room.

So, DD Nana and T-Pa went to pick up Parker from school and get some items from home that I had forgotten (such as the boppy) and met us at the hospital around 3:30 or so that afternoon.  As soon as your big brother, Parker, saw you he immediately climbed up on the bed and said, “need that” and kept pointing at you and repeating that same phrase.  He was fascinated with you!  Once he got to hold you, he loved touching your nose and giving you hugs and kisses.  He loves you so much!  From then on, when he saw me holding you Parker would look at me with his palms out and say “hold him.”  It was a picture perfect moment.  Big brother, mom and dad both love you so much!

You did very well at the hospital and things went well with mom, too.  We got to go home Friday around lunch time and we’ve been figuring out this whole “family of four” thing ever since.  I think it’s going pretty well.  T-Pa and DD Nana went home a week after you were born and they were a huge help.  We will miss having them here.  We are about to embark on our first weekend without any help!  Dad’s parents are coming the following weekend I think and Aunt Kate is headed to Dallas.  So, it’s just going to be us.  It will be fun!

All in all, everything went wonderfully.  You are a beautiful baby boy.  You weighed 7lbs 10 oz when born and 7 lbs 2 oz when we left the hospital.  You were 19.5 inches long, too.  Overall, you are very comparable in size to your big brother when he was a newborn.  But, I will say… you have a lot of T-Pa’s features on your daddy-sized head.  J You also have your momma’s toes (which are also T-Pa’s).

I will post your two-week update next week.  We all love you baby boy, always and forever.  You feel like you’ve been a part of our family forever and it’s only been a week!  You are the perfect addition for us. 

I love you, baby boy.

Perfection.

"Hold him!"

Big Brother loves you so much!

Getting ready to meet Andrew!

Here you are!!

Mommy and me time.

Here we are!  They just don't make scrubs to fit daddy-sized heads or bodies. hehe.

Daddy loves you!

Getting Ready for our Plus Two!

Well, back in June 2014 I wrote a long post about getting ready for our plus one.  Well, two years and four months later, here I am writing about getting ready for our plus two.  I’m soon to be well outnumbered by boys in my house.  But, I can’t wait!

The fears I had when I wrote my original post still mostly remain… bringing a child into this world is a daunting task.  Our culture is changing and I’m not sure it’s for the best.  But, the one thing that remains constant is living our life abiding in Jesus.  He’s the only one that matters.  You have to keep that front and center or it becomes too easy to lose perspective on life.

This go-around though, I’m excited to know how to change a diaper, what it feels like to be sliced open and have a baby pulled out of your tummy, prep a bottle, hold a baby, soothe a baby, bathe a baby, and most of all, know that you will get through the “hard” months and come out on the other side.  Parker experienced all of those firsts and boy oh boy did we have a steep learning curve.  Now, we’ll have the learning curve and taking care of a newborn and a toddler which I know will bring different challenges than just having a newborn.  I’m not looking forward to the bone-shattering tiredness that comes with having a newborn, but I’m so much looking forward to watching my two boys become the best of friends over time.

In my original post, I spoke a lot about Robert and everything I said then applies now and then some.  Can I just say I think Robert is the best daddy ever?  I know, I know…. I’m biased.  But really, I’m writing this post watching Rob chase Parker around the front yard while Parker is in his underwear.  It was everything we got to get him to put his underwear on… he really prefers to just be naked.  But, usually saying, “you don’t want to get a mosquito bite on your pee pee” will convince Parker to put on something.  Rob would never go outside in his underwear and it really bothers him that Parker’s very comfortable “being nak-ed,” but Robert just goes with it.  He puts everything he has into raising Parker and it makes my heart so happy seeing them together.  I know it’s going to be the same with our Plus Two.  Instead of one little boy following him around, it’s going to be two!

I can imagine watching my two boys play together, but I can’t wait to actually see the day.  I know Parker is going to be a great big brother.  He treats all of his stuffed animals with great care and I know he’ll do the same with “baby brother.”  He loves to pat mommy’s belly and give baby brother a hug and a kiss.  I just actually videoed Parker helping “fix” baby brother’s vibrating chair (it needed batteries) with daddy.  He kept saying, "fix baby brother" over and over again.  It was very sweet.

We’re pretty much ready for you, Baby 2.0.  We’re in love with you already and can’t wait to bring you home with us. 

Oh wait… you’re probably wondering when Baby 2.0 becomes an actual name.  Not to worry… we’ve finally decided on that.  So, without further ado, Baby 2.0 is hereby replaced with Andrew Terry Meier.

Now, you’re probably wondering how did you come up with that name?  Well, it wasn’t easy.  Mostly because I don’t like writing a capital letter cursive T.  So, I had to decide if I could get over writing one of my least favorite letters in cursive.  I decided I could.  Now, it will probably become one of my favorites.

The name Andrew doesn’t have any family significance that I’m aware of, but the name Terry sure does.  That’s the name of my daddy!  This isn’t the post or the place to dive into the full story of my daddy, but many years ago my daddy wasn’t always the best daddy.  He didn’t live a Christ-centered life and it almost cost him everything he had.  Of course, that’s his story to tell and one he’s quite good at telling, I’m told.  I’ve never listened to his full testimony mostly because I think I’m probably in it and that time period is hard for me to go back to.  But, nevertheless, my daddy did find God.  The man I know today is nowhere near the man that almost lost his family 15 years ago.  I wanted to name Andrew after my dad, because its proof that God does exist.  In John Chapter 8, it states that Jesus is the light of the world and whoever follows me, won’t walk in darkness.  Isn’t that the truth!  You can tell that my daddy is man who walks in the light and that’s exactly what I wish for Andrew to do.. to always walk in the light.

I’m very proud of my daddy and know that Andrew will wear the name well. 

So, that’s pretty much it.  We’re just playing the waiting game now.  My c-section is schedule for 11 AM on 9/27, so if Andrew doesn’t come before then, that’s when we’ll meet him!  See you soon baby Andrew!

Below are some pictures of Andrew’s nursery!

Parker's 2-YR Update!

Dear Parker,

How can it be that you have turned TWO?!  I look at you and think, where did my baby go?  The saying is definitely true:  the days can be long, but the years are short.  My oh my!  You’ve changed so much in the last six months and even the entire year.  Months 0-12 are mind blowing, but so are months 12-24!  You have definitely turned into a little toddler and you know how to assert yourself… mostly by saying, “no.”

Your language has exploded!  You speak pretty clearly and can string up to 4 words together, but it’s usually 2-4 words.  As a side note, after going home for the 4^th of July and having everyone else try to understand you, I realize you pretty much talk like a 2-year old… only your mom and dad understand you….but hey, I think you talk great!  You have mastered saying your favorite animal.. elephant.. correctly.  You can pronounce all syllables now and you can thank your dad for that… he spent many hours practicing with you.  I’m so proud of what all you can say and every day you say something new.  You know that Green means Go, and Red means Stop.  You also know what a stop sign is…. And when you see other signs on the road, you call them “yellow stop sign”, etc.  It’s pretty adorable.  You just talk and talk and talk.

You’ve started role playing and you will feed your elephant your snack.  You can stack up to 8 blocks together at a time but you still get great joy out of knocking them down.  Per usual, you love to be outside.  You don’t mind that its 100 degrees outside, ever.  Though, you now say, “sun bright” or “sun hurt eyes.”  But, you refuse to wear a hat.  I think its because daddy never wears a hat.  Sometimes you will wear your ‘shades,’ but not for very long.

We’ve had lots of visits from DD Nana & T-Pa and we even took you to Sea World and stayed in San Antonio.  You had so much fun.  The sea lion show caught your attention and of course you liked Shamu.  You were such a trooper.  That was your first overnight hotel stay and you did great.  Though, daddy didn’t like how we all pretty much had to go to bed at the same time!  But, oh well.  You slept great and had so much fun.  We did this trip over Mother’s Day weekend.

You are definitely cautious and you like to watch for a while before doing anything new.  You don’t like for us to really help you, but need to figure it out on your own.  You aren’t a climber or anything like that, but you do like to jump on the trampoline and run around like crazy.  SO MUCH ENERGY.

You have your own real tool set and you love to help daddy “fix it.”  You work on the power washer with daddy and the lawn mower.  You also love to help daddy “lawnmower,” “weeder” and “bo bo” (blower).  You could do that for hours with dad.  I hope you and your daddy will always be this close and that you’ll always love doing yardwork!

You like most any toys that you can build with and trucks as well.  We recently found this YouTube Twenty Trucks channel that has fun kid songs to all sorts of trucks.  You are able to identify the following trucks:  cement mixer, garbage truck, dump truck, food truck, crane truck, concrete boom pump, fire truck, ambulance, digger (excavator), and bulldozer.  I’m sure I’m missing a few, but as we drive down the road you are always pointing them out to me and mom has definitely learned a few lessons as it relates to trucks. 

We rented a condo and stayed at the beach in Galveston for a long weekend.  The weather wasn't that great as it was pretty cold and windy for a good part of the trip.  But, you didn't seem to mind.  We just strolled up and down the beach with the wagon.  You didn't particularly care for the water, but you didn't mind being in your swim suit while it was cold.  Your favorite part was the foot washer coming in from the boardwalk.  You through the biggest fit every time we left the foot shower.  You did great on the overnight vacay!

Daddy also built you a sandbox, but you don't play in it very much.  It requires lots of participation from me or your daddy and we don't particularly care for playing in sand very much.. so therefore, you don't play in sand very much.

You are a very good meat eater and will eat pretty much anything if we call it chicken, steak or sausage.  Your favorite foods are steak fajitas with refried beans.  You can eat refried beans like you’re a trash compactor.  It’s quite amazing.    You don’t care for any vegetables and you are even picky with your fruits… you will eat blueberries or strawberries and sometimes peaches or apples.  It’s real hit or miss with fruit.  You also like cheese and of course YOGURT.  You eat yogurt every day. 

We just enrolled you in gymnastics class and you are CRAZY in that class.  You run around like a person who just found out he won a million bucks.  But, you smile and laugh and have fun.  You do nothing the teacher says and lose focus in about 5 seconds.  BUT, I have discovered you are picking up things from gymnastics because at home you will try to do a forward roll, you can do a straddle, you can do a pike, you jump and can do a tuck.  So, you are paying attention, but you won’t do it at gymnastics.  You love the trampoline the most.  On side note, on July 7^th you finally did the trapeze at gymnastics!  This is a huge win because it required you going up there all by yourself and letting the coach help you.

Most of all, you just really, really love your daddy.  You love doing anything with him and he puts so much energy into playing with you.  The love is mutual kiddo.  I love watching you two together and you’re so smart because daddy is so patient with you.  He has the patience of a saint with you.  You two are always laughing and he teaches new things to you all the time.  I fully believe you’ll be building engines with him by the time you are 5.

One of your current phrases is “Better” but it sounds like “Betta.”  If you get hurt you’ll ask me to kiss your boo-boo and then will look at me and say “Betta.”  It melts my heart.  You also say “I love you” and will generally repeat anything we say.

You are going to be a big brother!  I know it’s going to be a tough adjustment for you, but you will be a great big brother!  You will teach him so much and I can’t wait to see you two become best of friends.  You haven’t really figured out that mom is going to have another baby, but you will soon!  J

Here are a few more fun facts:

• ·     You wear size 5 diapers, but mom plans on potty training you in July.
• ·         You eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and typically have a snack in the AM & PM
• ·         You sleep from about 8:30-8:30 on the weekends with a 2.5 hour nap and you sleep from about 8PM – 6:30 AM on the weekdays with a 1.5 to 2 hour nap at daycare.
• ·         You wear size 18-24 M clothes—2T is still a little big with the pants being very long.
• ·         You are 37” inches tall  (90%) and weigh 30 lbs (70%)
• ·         You tell me when you’re ready to go “night night” if we’re reading too long and all mom has to do is drop you in the crib, tuck you in your blanket with your animals and off to sleep you go.  I love this about you.  You’re such a great sleeper!!
• ·         You love your elephant still and its definitely your security object.
• ·         You love stuffed animals and pretty much one of your animals is your favorite animal at some point.  My favorite saying is “Pooh Bear” when you talk to Pooh.  It’s so sweet sounding.
• ·         We just moved you into a bigger room, but we have left you in your crib.  I don’t see why we should mess up a good thing.. so I’ll wait to put you in your big boy bed for probably another year or until you figure out how to climb out.  We’ll see!
• ·         You know your colors, can recognize letters a through f when you see them, know that numbers exist, but I can’t get you to really count in the right order.  You know all your animals as well as their sounds.
• ·         You know the ‘abc’ song and “Baa Baa Black Sheep”—though you won’t actually sing them.  If I pause somewhere during the song you will tell me what the word should be.
• ·         We are conquering your fear of water and you have mastered the water slide at our favorite water park, Noah’s Ark.   
• ·         The only game you will play on the iPad is Peak-A-Boo barn which lasts approximately 4 minutes.
• ·         You like to help mom cook and you kneel on the stool at the counter and help me stir and pour.

We love you baby boy, always and forever.  I pray that you always be this sweet, smart boy with heart of gold.  I can’t wait to watch you become a big brother in the next 2.5 months!

Parker's 'cheese' face!

Happy Easter!

You did not like getting into bluebonnets-- you just called them "weeds".

You love to make goofy facial expressions.

Playing at the pool at Noah's Ark.

Sea World!

What you can't see here is the fact that we're tempting you with lemonade.

Happy Birthday Parker!!

Parkers 18-month Update!

My sweet boy Parker,

I can’t believe you are 18 months!  Where does time go?!  I feel like it was just yesterday that we celebrated your one year birthday.  The past six months have been filled with so many adventures and you’re growing up!  You got your first haircut which really made you look like a little boy instead of a baby. 

Your personality comes out more and more each day.  You babble a lot more and like saying mama and dada.  You know which one is which and point at us a lot.  You also raise your little hands up to your head and say, “no” when you are trying to say, “I don’t know.”  I’ll ask you, “where are your shoes, Parker?  Can you find your shoes?”  You’ll raise those little hands up and look at me with those blue eyes and say, “No?”  But you will go look for them.  You also know your friends names at schools.  You’re favorite friend’s name to say is Enda.  However, this also sounds very similar to “all done.”  You can say Annabelle – “Annie”, Nathan—“Nay Nay”, Reya, Sophia—“Phia” and a whole host of others.  However, you will NOT say your name for me or dad.  You will say Parker all day long at school the teachers tell me, but you won’t do it for me.  I really want to hear you say your name!

You are really good at giving hugs, but you generally like to give hugs after you have hit someone.  You are definitely a little rough at times.  When you don’t get your way, you think you can just hit something or someone.  But, you know that’s wrong so you will immediately give a hug.  Then, you will hit again.  Then you will hug again.  Repeat.  I love Parker hugs, though.  You hug really tight and will sometimes pat on the back and tuck your little head into my shoulder.  Those are the best.

Being outside is still your most favorite thing EVER.  You will just stand at the door and cry if we don’t let you go outside because you might possibly naked, have no shoes, its raining, its cold, its dark, etc.  You don’t care.  You want outside.  You love to find acorns and hold them in your hands.  You will collect so many, that you don’t understand that your hands are full.  You are starting to hand some of them over so that you can collect more.  I have even caught you eating them.  I sometimes wonder how many acorns it takes before you become a squirrel.  They have to be getting upset with you taking all of their acorns.  You have thrown up after eating too many acorns, so I think you are starting to learn your lesson.  We go for walks to the park, to the zoo, bike rides, etc. just about every weekend.  You also love it when it rains and you can get wet outside and jump in puddles.  Basically, you’re a boy.  Inside and out.

You like to brush your teeth before bedtime.  Really, I think you like the taste of the “toothpaste” and enjoy sucking it off the brush.  But, you let me brush all your teeth so that’s what counts.  You climb up onto the stool and put both your hands up on the countertop with a big smile on your face.  You can barely see over the counter even with the stool and you’re usually naked while we brush your teeth, so it makes for an adorable memory. 

You also enjoy taking a bath now.  It was a long time coming.  Right around your first birthday was when you decided you hated taking a bath.  You wouldn’t sit down in the water, would cry nonstop and no toy could sway you to calm down.  Eventually, I decided I would just climb on in with you.  I had to do this for about a week.  Let me tell you, taking a bath with little water that is just ‘warm’ is not that enjoyable for mom.  But, you liked it so I kept doing it just for you.  Dad couldn’t take the cold… he only did it once.  ;-)  We practiced washing our legs, feeling how the soap felt on the wash cloth, played with the toys and that seem to calm you down to where you weren’t afraid to sit in the water.  You’ve been taking good baths ever since!

You love your daddy.  But, this is just more of the same.  You really love to play chase with your daddy.  You don’t sit down at all at home.  You and him are pulling zebra and a truck around the house on a string and giggling like crazy.  You have developed a little affinity for books.  You are big fan of, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.”  (…I don’t know why she swallowed that fly, she won’t say why!--- you love this part of the story and will hold your hands up and say, “no” because you don’t know why!).  You mostly like just looking at the pictures of books and saying the sounds of the animals.  You also like all truck books.  We have truck book that plays sounds (honk the horn of an 18-wheeler, siren of a fire truck, dump truck, etc).  You like to listen and push the buttons on that book.  You also like your Blue Truck books, though you don’t want them read to you.  You just want to find the blue truck on each page and say, truck (“uck”).  You should also know that daddy has tons of books memorized already.  He has your blue truck books, the old lady book, and chica chica boom boom all memorized.  Maybe a few others I can’t think of.

You are paci free.  We’ve been paci free since around Thanksgiving.  You weren’t using it at daycare anymore, so I think we were just using it as a crutch around the house and in car rides.  So, one day I just put them away and you didn’t even notice.

You are obsessed with stuffed animals.  You sleep with about 8 of them in your crib.  You carry 2 or 3 in your arms.  We still have stuffed dog (from ikea that is life-sized) that you call “dog” and you like daddy to chase you with it.  But, you will cuddle with all of them, still.  You just grab everything that will fit into your arms and then tuck your head into them and fall to the ground.  It’s quite adorable.  The way to your heart is with a stuffed animal.

Mom & Dad went on their first vacation that you didn’t come on (Mexico).  Mom and Dad had a very good time, but really missed you!  Though, I don’t think you really missed us.  You had so much fun with DD Nana and T-Pa!  Really, you did.  They have some good pictures to show for it.  When we came back it took you a couple of minutes to realize that we were really back.  I think you were kind of in shock.  Then, you went CRAZY for the rest of the evening.  You were running around, banging maracas together, playing “Away in the Manger” on the toy Nativity set and just generally being crazy.  You were just super excited, I think.  It was sweet.

You are still my little sleeper.  I love that about you.  We are eternally grateful and I pray to Jesus that you will always be this way.  J  You go to bed between 7:30 and 8 and sleep until 8:30 on the weekends (we wake you up at 6:40 on weekdays).  You take a 2.5-3 hour (2 hours at daycare) nap at home as well starting around 12:30/1.  Even if you wake up early, you just sit and play with your stuffed animals until we come up and get you which is always at 8:30.  You also tell us when you want to take a nap and walk yourself to the stairs.  All we do is drop you in the crib and you bury your head in your stuffed animals and walk away.  I really think getting rid of the baby monitor has helped with this—we never come get you when you wake up.  You know when we are going to come get you.

You are doing well at daycare.  You know some of your colors.. red, yellow, blue.  You also know a lot of animal sounds (horse, goat, lion, bear, sheep, cow, bird, frog, dog).  I’m very impressed with this.  You also love to paint.  Mom bought you some finger paints and a giant roll of paper for you to play with under supervision.  If you see paint, you get really excited!  You know exactly what to do.  You stick your whole hand in it and then make 1,000 handprints.  I love it!  You have gotten a few illnesses (cue Hand Foot & Mouth) over the past 18 months, but you handled them like a champ. 

We are working on getting you to hold hands more frequently.  You like to just run off and our neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks, so it makes mom really nervous.  You aren’t really into riding in your stroller.  You’d rather be out running crazy.  You will ride in your trike though still and will ride in your wagon.  You also like to push the strollers and pull the wagon.

What other adventures have we done?!  We go to the zoo a lot and let you be free.  You will pay attention to the elephants, but for the most part… you just like to walk up and down the ramps that are at each exhibit.  We went to Arkansas for Labor Day weekend and you got to ride on your first boat with Uncle Travis.  He also pulled you on your first tube ride!!!  You didn’t care for the life jacket too much, either.  Mom also took you to see Santa.  You weren’t a huge fan, but you did like the stuffed monkey the photographer had, so that calmed you down.  J

You love, love T-Pa.  I think in general you seem to like men more than females.  Must be a boy thing.  You just adore T-Pa.   You stop whatever you are doing when you hear his voice and say “Pa, Pa, Pa” over and over.  Ya’ll have a good time together—you carved pumpkins, did yardwork, went on walks, etc with him over these past few months.  You like DD Nana, too.  You always pick up my phone and say, “Nana,” because you know you she will pop up on the screen (FaceTime).

You watch absolutely zero TV.  Zero.  You have no interest. 

You are such a fun boy, Parker!  You are so energetic and full of life.  You exhaust me sometimes!  We always stay busy with you and laugh with you.  I’m so glad you are mine.  Here are few other bullets for your 18-month milestone:

·         You wear size 4 diapers and BM twice a day.  You get the worst diaper rash ALL the time!  If your poo hits your bare bottom, it’s all over.  Apparently, you are really allergic to the acid in your poo.

·         You tell me when you have “Poo Poo.”  I think we are close to potty-training!

·         You wear size 12-18 month clothes.  You can only wear jeans/pants if they have elastic in the waist band.

·         You wear a size 6 shoe.

·         You are pretty good eater, except for when it comes to vegetables.  I’ve tried everything, I feel like.  You will sometimes eat carrots.  And sweet potatoes… do those count?  There are some days that I feel like you just don’t eat, but then another day you will scarf your entire meal down.  My philosophy is becoming, you’ll eat when you’re hungry.

·         Your favorite foods are spaghetti (glad this hasn’t changed!), chicken nuggets, blueberries, yogurt, waffles, orange slices from chickfila (must be from chickfila.. or else you won’t eat them), bananas, hot dogs, hamburgers, grapes, steak and mashed potatoes.  We always give you what we have dinner as well.  You will eat most meats and fruits it seems.

·         You know where your hands, feet, toes, eyes, nose and ears are.  When we say, “Where are your hands, Parker?” you raise your hands up real big and then clap them together!

·         Your favorite stuffed animal is elephant.  You call him “elpha.”  Your next favorite stuffed animals are giraffe, dog and lamb.

·         For some reason, you are rebelling against getting your fingernails clipped.  It’s like going to battle with you and the clippers.

·         We’ve started doing time-outs with you and you aren’t a very big fan of them.  I usually have to sit on you to be still.  We also will swat your hands or leg if it’s particularly problematic.  But, you’ve started swatting us back, so I think I may stop doing that for a while.

·         You love, love to swing.  I think you could swing at the Park for over an hour.  You especially love it when someone runs under the swing… you think its hilarious (cue Mom & Dad pretending you’re going to hit us while swinging).

·         Still have a thing for water outside… the muddier and bigger the puddle, the happier you are.  You don’t even care if its cold outside.

·         You like to chase after live dogs in the park.  Once you get to pet them though you are usually done and walk away.

·         You will play on the playset at the park and will go down slides.  But, you pretty much only do all of that if some kid catches your attention and you try to copy him.  Otherwise, its all about the swing.

·         You have almost all of your teeth!  Your bottom incisors are still growing in and then all we have left are the back (two-year old) molars.  YES!  I can’t wait to be done with teeth!

·         You don’t care for going to church nursery.  In general, you have a hard time being left with people that you don’t know.  So, it doesn’t help that the church nursery staff changes in your room quite a bit.  You cry pretty much the whole time and look relieved to be picked up every time.

·         We got you a Duplo block set that you are entertained with.  You know how to connect up to three blocks at a time.  I call that success!

You have changed so much in 18 months baby boy.  You become more of a ‘person’ each and every day.  I love watching you learn new things and seeing your personality shine through.  I can see that you are going to be a bit hard-headed and you get frustrated when things don’t work for you right away… that’s mom’s perfectionism coming out.  J  Mom and Dad love you baby boy, always and forever.

Still loving the water.

 

You like the cozy coupe now.  You won't use your legs, but you will gladly be pushed anywhere in it.  You can also get yourself in it, too.

This sums up your lake experience exactly.  Life is good with T-Pa.

Also sums up you and me perfectly.

Swinging at the park.

Santa is not so bad if you have a pink stuffed monkey.

Can you tell that this was the first day of Hand Foot Mouth?!  Us either.

This was our Christmas card photo this year.

******

Other pictures from my cell phone:

Parker with his teacher, Ms. Roxy.

The cutest Woody ever for Halloween!

This was during our trip to Mexico.  See how much fun you had with T-Pa and DD Nana?!

First haircut!



School pictures!!

Bath time giggles!

This is what happens when you can't go outside.

You bang your head all the time that requires ice.  This is the only way we can keep the ice on your head.

Stuffed animals.  Picture says it all.

Spaghetti Lover.