Father's Day 2013

We celebrated 3 wonderful and most important men in Parker and Matt & I's life.  We started out at IHOP with my fam, and then went over to Papa and MawMaw's house for some fishing. 

Next stop (after naptime) was Nannie and Poppie's house. Parker had a great time helping Poppie make homemade icecream in his new Vitamix blender.

What a great day it was!  Parker is so blessed to have such an amazing group of men in his life.  He adores them all so very very much!

my puddle jumper

We had a scary storm roll through last night.  Luckily it only resulted in some trees falling down, power outages, and whole lot of puddles.  When our power went out we went outside to join the cul-de-sac crew in some puddle jumping fun.  I am typically the mom who really has to try to let go when it comes to my boy getting down and dirty.  I am usually the one who is wiping his mouth when he eats and cleaning dirty hands as soon as he sticks them in the mud.  I try to let go.  I really do.  And last night I did.  I let my boy run and jump and play in the puddles and mud to his little heart content.  He was having so much fun, and I was having just as much fun capturing his excitement on camera. Memories are being made sweet boy. Wonderful memories.



Love this action shot



Cars were driving by checking out the damange. Parker didn't appreciate them interupting his fun.

a little bit of this & that

We've been doing...

A LOT of this...

A little bit of this...

And none of this...

We spend most of our days in our back yard baby pool.  I rack my brain trying to come up with fun things for Parker and me to do.  I found out about story time at the library and took Parker last week.  It was awesome! Parker loved it! It wasn't just "story time".  The lady incorporated songs and activities for the kids too.  We had a blast and will definitely be making it a weekly activity.  The best part was that it is completely FREE, which I know Matt appreciates.  We also make it to our neighborhood park and pool a few times a week, and try hard to make a play date with Lauren and Charlie Kingman at least weekly.  So far, it's been an awesome summer (when it isn't raining). 

As for how potty training is going, ummm, let’s just say it's not going.  Parker isn't ready. Honestly, I think Parker is ready.  I think.  However, after one day of training, I realized it was I who was not ready.  I know I am being completely selfish and lazy, but I just can't deal with it right now.  We are having too much fun exploring and going on adventures to have to stay home and clean up pee and poop from the carpet... and the couch... and the high chair... and the deck. So, yup, after one day, I quit! We'll pick it back up after our Hilton Head trip in couple weeks.  Or maybe when he turns 3?!?!

Well, naptime has come to end. Now to come up with something to fill our time for the next 5 hours :) 

big boy bed - night 1



Yesterday morning. Yep, my life for the past year +. You see where Parker's foot is?
Yeah, that is where my head normally is. Awesome. Not really. It was time to nip this in the bud.



Yesterday afternoon. Ahhhh, much better.

Parker took a nice 3 hour nap in his new bed yesterday. It was re-assuring that night time would go just as well.  He was super excited when we put on the railing last night, and we even went out and bought some steps that lead up to the bed. He was pumped, and so was I.  So, when it was time to go to bed, we went into my bathroom to brush our teeth like normal.  When he was done he ran to climb onto MY bed. I told him "No, remember, you are sleeping in your new awesome big boy bed." I mean, how could he forget? We talked about it all day and he was so excited about it.  I guess he didn't truly understand what we were talking about.  He screamed and cried "NOOOO" for about 2 minutes. When he stopped crying I asked him to pick out a book to read.  He replied with "No, night night".  Uh ok.  So we (yes we) got in his bed and fell asleep within a couple of minutes.  I quietly snuck out.  Wow that was easy, right?! Wrong!

I went to bed kind of sad and worrisome without my little snuggle buddy.  I finally fell asleep, but was woken by the screaming of "MAMAMAMAAMA" at around 2:30 a.m.  I felt like I had a newborn again as I sluggishly found my way to his room to calm him down.  I got in bed with him and ended up passing back out with him until 6 a.m. when I made it back to my room.  30 minutes later... "MAMAMAMAMA" was screaming through the monitor.  Ugh. He is awake. For good.  I don't remember that last time I felt this exhausted.  Parker was happy, and the first thing he said to me was "Candy?" Damn-it.  He remembered last night when I told him he would get a treat if he sleeps in his bed the whole night.  So, yes, baby, you got some smarties for breakfast. Mother of the year award will not be going to me today. 

Longing for better nights.... and praying for a LONG nap today.  This momma is going to need it!

summer sickness

Ahhhhh, this blog post is the first one written from the comfort of my couch rather than behind my desk. And it feels oh so good.  We had a busy morning, so I laid down with Parker for his nap for about an hour.  I woke up to the door bell ringing and Layla going CRAZY. So I raced down stairs to hush the neighbor boy through the window giving him the "SHHHHH... Parker is sleep signal".  Seriously, I was about to lose it on him.  Nobody can knock on the door b/w the hours of noon and 3 or I will bite your head off.  Now I'm awake, which I guess is fine b/c I can update this blog and keep track of me and Parker's adventures this summer.  So here I go, as I watch P on the monitor and anxiously await his wake up time so we can hit the pool.

Friday was our true first day of summer.  I was super pumped and had big plans for the two of us.  Yeah, they were all ruined when Parker came down with a wicked virus and eye infection Thursday night.  I spent the next 3 days quarantining the poor boy and trying to keep his 104+ fever down.  It sucked. And I was so bummed to start off our summer this way.  Oh well.  He is better, and I'm excited for a fun week ahead! 

This was Thursday night. About 30 minutes after that Parker was laid out with 104.5 fever. Kids are so weird.

Poor sick baby.

We went big boy bed shopping. Parker loved the one's with "ladders". No, we didn't get it.

We still tried to tie in some learning time while he was sick.  He can count of to 13 now all by himself.

You can barely hear his little voice in the video, but he was saying each number and then I would just repeat the number he said.  We are working up to 20, and I hope to have that, along with knowing his ABC's by the end of summer. 

The boy had fun helping at Trader Joes today.  However, this was high-stress for his momma!