Giving Thanks

What a weekend we had.  It was bitter sweet. Bitter because I was away from my baby boy for 4 days/3 nights... longest I've ever been away from him.  But sweet because my best friend, Molly, married such a great guy.  It was also "sweet" because I got to spend some great quality girl time with some of my closest friends.  We had a wonderful time in Hilton Head and the grandparents did an exceptional job taking care of Parker and making sure to send me updates on him.  Lots of updates.  I so appreciate my in-laws and parents... more than I could ever tell them.  They took on a HUGE task of switching him on and off over the weekend.  He had a blast, and according to them, he didn't even ask about his beloved mamma. Although that news stung a bit, I was happy to know that he was having so much fun with his grandparents to worry about where I was.  Here are just a couple of the MANY pictures and videos I got over the weekend of my boy.

Coloring with Grandma

Fast asleep at Nannie's house.  He sleeps just like his mamma does!

 

A really short video, but Parker has on Grammie's glasses, and it is too hilarious not to post.

It was the most exciting thing to go pick up Parker on Sunday afternoon.  I literally jumped out of my car and couldn't have run fast enough inside Nannie's house to grab my boy.  Oh the look on his face was priceless.  He almost bursted into tears he was so happy to see me.  And the feeling of him gripping my neck with his tiny little arms and hands was hands-down one of the best feelings.  He wouldn't let go of me, and I honestly did want to ever let go of him.  Missed him SOOOOOOOOOOO much! When we got home, to my surprise, I soon learned that his vocabulary had expanded greatly over the weekend.  He learned so much from his grandparents over the weekend. I was amazed at all the new words and partial sentences he was saying that I've never heard before.  The biggest surprise to me was the manners he came home with.  Over the past 4 months or so I've really been working with him saying thank you and please.  He would always repeat it, but never willing did it on his own.  Until now. Every time I handed him something yesterday he said "thanks"! WHAT?!! I didn't prompt him or anything. Then we were sharing some chips and he looked at me and said "more chips please".  WHAT??!! My boy has manners! So, to Nannie, Grandma, and Papa.... Thank you for teaching our boy to give thanks! It is the cutest!

And one more thing I must document before I leave this post.  Parker went pee pee in the potty last night! Yay! He is totally not physically ready to start really potty training, but last night was the first time he asked to go on the potty AND ACTUALLY WENT!

Ok, so here are some fun (but horrible quality) I-phone pictures from the weekend...

Getting our groove on! Matt & I love to dance at weddings. Even if we look ridiculous!

BIG thanks to Molly and Tom for having such an awesome and fun wedding! Love you guys!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We had a very busy weekend.  Probably the busiest we've been in a long time.  The weather was perfect, and we soaked up just about every minute of it!  We had 2 kid birthday parties on Saturday, I had a bridal luncheon on Sunday, and then we went over to the Wilson's to dye some eggs and play outside.  Parker had a blast and so did we!  Here are just a few pictures from over the weekend.  This will probably be the only post for this week since The Wilson's and Howell's will be heading out of town on Thursday for Molly and Tom's wedding in Hilton Head.  Sure am going to miss my little guy! This will be the longest time I have been away from him (insert sad face).  I'm looking forward to our adult weekend in HH celebrating my bestest friend, Molly!  Hilton Head or Bust!

Friday bird feeding at Papa and Grandma Musselmans

Wesley's Birthday Party. Parker fell deeply in love with an older woman (Lily is 3).  He chased after her on the playground yelling "LILLY, LILLY, LILLY". So freaking cute!

 I'm obsessed with how he is looking at her in this picture...

Birthday party #2 on Saturday. Decorating cookies with Daddy.

Sunday activity... Egg dying.

 Showing me the "final product"

LOVE this...

 Playing with Aunt Bean. Who Parker ADORES. Kept calling her "BEAN!"

 So stinkin cute in their hats!

Love this one! They were mesmorized by Chris doing yard work. 

Until next time...

"H" is for Hell

So, I have a little confession to make.  If you are an immediate family member or a close friend then you already know my embarrassing little secret.  I cringe every time I have to admit this to someone, as I once swore that I would never be "this parent".  Here I go... Parker sleeps in our bed. 

Ugh, I thought I would never ever say that.  I would never give in and let our child take over our king size bed.  Yeah, you know that little saying "never say never"... that applies to me in this case.  I use to laugh at people who let their kids sleep in their bed.  I mean, why on earth would you start this habit?!  Well, let me tell you people, it was the stupidest mistake I've made to parenting to date, and I promise to not let it happen with the second child.  With Parker it just all happened so quickly.  I didn't see it coming.  Last February, P got sick with a stomach virus.  Matt and I were worried sick about him constantly throwing up in his crib all night, so we wanted to keep an eye on him.  So, we did what any responsible parent would do... put him in the bed with us, put a towel under him, and comforted him throughout that LONG night of throwing up over and over and over again.  Poor baby was sick as a dog that night.  Well, then for some reason, he would NOT go down in crib the following nights.  Or he would go down, but would wake in the middle of the night and cry until I came and got him.  I do know one thing... in the middle of night when you are exhausted and all you want is for your baby to sleep... you will do ANYTHING.  Well at least I did anything.  I was 1/2 a sleep and had to work the next day, so I would get him and just put him into the bed with us.  Well, here we are, a year later, and he is STILL in bed with us.  However, now I put him down in our bed, barricade him in our king size bed by putting millions of pillows around him, and then join him sometime around 9:00.  Matt and I usually sleep pretty poorly.  I have tried in the past to put him back in his crib, but the little guy climbed his way up the crib and fell out.  Needless to say that scared the $hit out of us.  The crib was even on the lowest setting!  My boy is a determined little guy, and he was having none of it!  We should have just bought a big boy bed then, because he had obviously outgrown his crib, but we didn't. 

To date, Parker's favorite position by far is "H is for HELL".  Meanwhile, it's Matt and I's worst nightmare when trying to get a good night's sleep.

Here is another one of his favorites... This one's called "The Roadhouse Kick"

In the past, we use to have the "Petty Zoo", but we kicked Layla out of the bed a few weeks ago, because it just wasn't working.

My girlfriend, Lauren, sent me this one the other day... So true! Our nights always start of as the "perception", but quickly turn into "reality".

We do have a plan to end this chaos.  Starting this June, when I'm off for the summer, we are going to buy him a big boy bed and start the process of sleep training him.  I know it's going to be hard, but I can't live like this anymore!!

My other girlfriend, Ashley, sent me this one of all the sleep positions.  It's hilarious! There is not one on there that Parker hasn't tried.  I also love the fact that my girlfriends know my situation and forward me these internet pictures.  I'm pretty sure they're actually poking fun at me though :)

"The Stalker" is the name of the bottom right picture.  That one cracks me up, and has no doubt been true for Parker at times.
You can't really read the "names" of each position on this one, which I think is the funniest part, so I'm going to list them in order from left to right starting with the top row:
Top Row: "Booby Trap", "The Dog House", "Snow Angels", "H is for Hell"
Bottom Row: "Donkey Kong", "Jazz Hands", "The Neck Scarf", "The Stalker"

"OUTSIDE"

After a very stressful day at work on Friday, I was more than ready to spend the weekend with my boys.  "Outside" was the theme of the weekend as Parker constantly DEMANDED we be outside at all times. "Outside, outside, outside" he would cry if we (God forbid) went inside for a minute.  We spent both Saturday and Sunday outside practically the entire day.  We did A LOT as you will see from the pictures.  We played t-ball, we blew bubbles, we rode in the play car, we rode a bike, we played in the empty pool, we chased Layla, we drove to the park, we walked to the park, we went to best buy, we checked out the doggies at Pet Smart, we wore hats, we got icecream.... just to name a few.  Of course I had to capture every bit of our weekend, and finally we ended our Sunday night by going out for Mexican, which I hate Mexican food, but let's face it, Mommy needed a margarita STAT!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we also went to another consignment sale.  This time, I didn't find any clothes, but I found 5 books, 5 puzzles, & 1 Elmo DVD for $12!!! STEAL! Parker sure is enjoying my new hobby!

Parker thought it was HILARIOUS that Layla got in the pool with him...

However, he was furious when she jumped out and wouldn't come back in after many of his attempts to scream "Layla pool" to get her back in.

Love this picture with my boys and their hats!

Parker browsing best buy. Like father like son. He looks like such a big boy to me in this picture.

This boy loves him some icecream!

Bubbles!

Everytime he got in his car he would say "Bye Bye". So cute to me.

Daddy played golf, so Parker & packed up and went to our local park in Kennesaw.

When Daddy got home, we all (including Layla) walked to our neighborhood park. Love this shot of my boys...

His feet just barely touch the pedals, but he's almost got it.

Ending our weekend with Mexican dinner. Mmmm, my margarita was so much appreciated!

Even after our weekend had come to end, and Parker was bathed and put in his jammies Sunday night, he would look over at me as we lied on the couch together and whisper to me in this devious sort of voice and say "outside?".  Seriously?!?! Heck no, it's bedtime my dear! This Mamma is exhausted!