Parker's first birthday: Part one

Our baby boy turned one on Saturday the 29th! (tear) I can't even begin to describe the joy that this first year has been filled with! We are so honored that God chose us to be Parker's parents and He continues to bless us each and every day!

This weekend was jam packed with family, friends, fun and food!! To kick off Parker's big birthday weekend we had a "friends party" at our house on Thursday. All of Parker's little friends who are also about to turn one, came over to the house for a barnyard themed party! Parker loved having his friends over, he clapped his hands as he saw them walking through the door! The weather was perfect for a fun picnic out in the back yard. Here are some party pics...

Decorations!

These were the party favors set out in the entry hall so our guests could take one when they left.

I had baby trail mix in the cow pails.

It consisted of Cheerios, Gerber puffs and dried fruit bits.

The food table

Cupcakes!

I make carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, the babies loved them!!

These were the food labels I made that I placed in front of all the dishes.

We had pasta salad, chicken nuggets, fruit salad and pimiento cheese sandwiches.

Parker was SO excited when his friends started arriving!

Jackie with Maddie and Elizabeth with little Reese

Julie with Chloe and Heidi with Jack

Parker devoured his cupcake

He's thinking where has this been my whole life??

Family pic

James came home from work to join in on the fun!

Opening presents

What a year sweet Parker! You truly have been the best baby and mommy and daddy can't believe you are basically a toddler now. You are growing up so fast and are learning new things every single day! As of your first birthday you...

* say "dadadada" I am STILL waiting on "mamamama"

* cruise around the furniture

* just starting waiving

* clap your hands when I sing "If you're happy and you know it..."

* eat anything I put in front of you

* just started milk, you're not too sure about the flavor

* are still nursed at night, we just dropped the morning feeding, you're on your way to being weaned!!

* are the fastest crawler I've ever seen

* still sleep 12 hours at night and nap 21/2 hours in the afternoon

* smile all the time

* are still trying to cut your two front top teeth

* LOVE the water, bath tub or swimming pool, your head is in the water

We love you Parker and we look forward to many more happy birthdays!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

On the move!

Parker is one active little guy these days! He no longer wants me to hold and cuddle him, if he's in my lap he wants DOWN so he can take off! It makes me kind of sad to think the days of just rocking him whenever I wanted are over. He's growing up fast and he keeps me on my toes for sure! :)

He LOVES the vacuum cleaner! I mean, when I pull it out of the closet, he squeals in delight and claps his hands. He follows it all over the house!

In the box.

I have to put him in his play pen so I can sweep/mop the floors, he loves to follow that around too!

My water baby!

Yes, he lays down in the water on his own as if he's trying to float on his back!

Pretty days

I know I haven't posted in a while, it's been too pretty outside to sit at the computer!!

Last week Parker was sick with hand, foot and mouth disease. Anyone ever heard of that?? I hadn't and was shocked to hear the diagnosis. Poor baby had blisters on his hands, feet and inside his mouth. He screamed when I tried to feed him and he had an upset tummy because it's actually a stomach virus. Anyway, we had to stay away from other kiddos for a week and thankfully we are back to normal this week!

The weather has been beautiful here (except for the wind). We've spent the pretty days playing outside, running with the jogger, taking Waco to the park and just playing on a blanket in the yard to enjoy the warm weather! Here are some pics to show you what we've been up to!

Beyond excited about his lunch!!

Loves to chew on my iphone. This would be his favorite toy if I would let it!

Kisses to Waco

Don't worry, there was actually no mouth to nose contact here.

He has just learned to throw his toys, it's hilarious to watch!

Big throw!

What a patient dog.

Somebody help me!

Our favorite song is

"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands". He LOVES to clap. In fact, when I go into his room in the mornings, he's always sitting up, smiling and clapping! Love my morning baby!

And now we're ready for bed! No clapping goes on after bath time! :)

11 months old!

Today little Parker, you are 11 months old! Just one more month until the big first birthday! Time has never gone by faster and you are growing up right before our eyes! To me and daddy, you no longer look like a little baby, and you are becoming so independent. I cannot tell you enough how much joy you bring to our lives everyday! You are the best baby...you sleep well, eat well, you wake up with a smile on your face every single morning and you just love life, we couldn't have asked for a bigger blessing!

This month you...

* are crawling so FAST, you are hard to keep up with and our eyes have to be on you at all times!

* you are loving big people food, I can just tear things up into smaller bites and you are pretty willing to try anything!

* you are sleeping 12 hours at night, straight through!!!

* you still just have two bottom teeth

* it is so much fun to watch you interact even more with your friends Jack and Blair

* you have little babbling conversations with yourself when you're playing

* pulling up on everything is your new hobby, no cruising yet

* bath time is a wet mess, you splash and splash until the bathroom and mommy are soaked!

* you have a high pitched squeal that you let out at random times, it's so cute!

* your favorite game is to play ball, you roll it across the room and then chase it as fast as you can.

* while mommy cooks, you have a favorite drawer you like to "rearrange" every evening, it keeps you busy while I cook! :)

Parker, we love you so much and can't wait to celebrate your very first birthday with you!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Happy, happy boy!!

Getting better at smiling for the camera!!

Are you finished mom?

Obsessed with the water coming out of the faucet!

He loves to put his whole head under it...I think the pool this summer is going to be super fun!

We have to wear those blue ear plugs now because of his tubes.

I know, I know, some people say they don't use them on their kids in the bathtub, but since I apparently have a fish on my hands, we use them! :)

Play date

My how our play dates have changed! Heidi, Brie and I rotate houses most weeks to get together so we can talk and our kids can play, and boy do they play these days! It's funny to think that we started out meeting at Starbucks with baby carriers in hand so we could sit and talk while our babies slept or just laid there. Now they are all crawling, pulling up, grabbing hair and anything else they can get their hands on. They are too cute and these girls are such a blessing!

Jack and Parker are not good at smiling for the camera yet! :)

Look what I can do mom!

Parker is very into crawling in and under things. (He's got Heidi's shoe in his hand, not sure where he was going with it!)

Sweet Blair, she's holds her own with these boys!

Squealing little monkey

Jack is wondering why I keep pointing a camera at his face!

Number Six!

Today, Parker got haircut number six! He is such a big boy in that barber chair, I mean I don't even have to pull out toys anymore! He just sits there like an old pro looking like this is no big thing anymore!

As a side note, Parker had a little ear tube surgery yesterday morning and he did great. The only hard part was when he woke up from anesthesia, he was super fussy, but nothing a little apple juice out of his sippy cup and a big long nap couldn't cure! When he woke up from his four hour nap, he was ready to roll! I got one picture of him on my iphone yesterday in his tiny hospital gown, but it's such bad quality, I'm not even going to post it!

By the way, if you read my blog often, you've noticed different backgrounds...I'm just playing around deciding on which ones I like! :)

Getting all wrapped up

Here we go!

Almost finished

Junior showing him the "buzzer".

SO handsome!!

Parker loves his barber, the feeling is mutual!

And now for a little random bath time fun...