Christmas in Dallas

What a FUN Christmas this was!! Not only did we get to spend it in Dallas with my family, but this was Parker's first one and oh the memories we made! Parker and I flew there on Friday the 18thand then James drove down on the 22nd. We had a week full of activity. Shopping, the Rockettes, Santa visit, Six Flags Holiday in the Park, family traditions, more shopping and lots of time together with family.

On a down side, my "Dede", my mom's dad, had a stroke on the Friday that Parker and I got there. It affected the right side of his body and he is still in the hospital going through rehab to learn how to use his right arm and leg again and to regain his speech completely. We spent plenty of time up at the hospital cheering him up and cheering him on as he goes through this. I know with prayer and encouragement he is going to make it through this trial. Dede is a real go getter and is very motivated to get better!

We drove back from Dallas on Sunday the 27th and then had Christmas with James's parents at their house. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and it became even more special with having a little one to share the joy with this year! Thanks mom and dad for making it so special for us!!

Get ready, here are LOTS of pics from our fun week...

Arriving at Love Field, Parker greeting his very excited Neesie!

Parker and I went up to the hospital to see Dede when we first arrived in town. He was so glad to see Parker, it cheered him up!

Mom treated Carrie, Lindsey and myself to the Rockettes show. It was fabulous, I've always wanted to see them!

The next day we spent the whole day shopping at North Park. I LOVE this mall and crave it now that I don't live in Dallas. Anytime I come visit it's a must do situation! Parker is such a shopper! Aunt Sissy is such a big help! :)

Parker and Aunt Sissy seeing the ducks

This is one of my favorite pics...dad was so sweet and took Parker the whole time we were shopping at North Park. Parker fell asleep and they just hung out and let us shop!!

That afternoon, Parker and dad got haircuts together. Chalk another one up for Parker, this is number 3!

Pedicures with the girls!

So I had this grand plan of going to see Santa at North Park the day we were shopping there. We arrived at 9:30 am and all the tickets had been given out for the day basically. They told us to come back at 6:30 that night! I had no idea the North Park Santa was so popular...how would I? I'm in Amarillo, TX now where we have one terrible mall and that Santa is your only choice! :) SO, we went to Grapevine Mills mall on the way to Bass Pro Shop one day and we were the FIRST ones in line! This Santa looked just as real!

Waiting in line for Parker's first Santa visit.

Still smiling!

Success! No tears!!

James and Parker patiently waiting on me while I was shopping!

We have gone to Holiday in the Park at Six Flags ever since we were little kids. We have started going again that we are all adults and it's SO much fun!! We had a perfect night, in the 70's and not crowded at all! The next day it was snowing, we timed it perfectly!

The girls and the strollers

My cute mom and dad!

Leah and Parker with Neesie and Grandad

Posing with Frosty!

Riding the carousel.

Goofy sister pic showing off our new Uggs on Christmas Day!

Parker and his presents

Aunt Sissy gave Parker this stuffed monkey that he loved!

She also gave him this Elmer Fudd hat which I think is hilarious!! It's my favorite!

Neesie and Grandad gave Leah and Parker these precious chairs from Pottery Barn kids with their names on them. So cute! Parker is sitting up all by himself now!

So many new toys!

Our first Christmas as a family of three!

The siblings!

Ryan and Carrie with Leah, James and I with Parker and Lindsey.

Christmas with Dede at the hospital

Hanging out in the waiting area Christmas night. Yes, we were that loud family in the waiting area having way too much fun to be in a hospital! :)

Christmas at James's parent's

Loves the bows!

Santa brought him his first little red wagon!

Parker with his Nana and Geefather

Rice cereal

My little man is growing up so fast! Today we gave Parker his very first taste of rice cereal. He has been nursing exclusively so we were interested to see what his first reaction would be. Let's just say he wore more of the cereal than he ate and the faces he made were priceless! I'm thinking it's going to take a while for this to really catch on!? Here are some pics from the event...

All ready to go in the Bumbo seat!

Bring it on mom!

Getting my gear on.

Here we go!

Oh my!

Not liking this one bit.

And now I'm gagging! :(

Winter Park trip

Last Saturday James, Parker and I traveled to Winter Park, CO with some sweet friends from our old Sunday school class in Dallas. Blair and Jenifer Mathews, Dan and Julie Turner and Tim and Holly Griffin were the fun couples we went with and we had such a wonderful time! They all met us in Amarillo and then we took two cars the rest of the way. It was frigid while we were there, but all the more reason to sit by the fire and watch movies, play games, read magazines and fellowship! James and I both LOVE to snow ski so it worked out to where I would stay with Parker in the mornings and then James would take him while I skied in the afternoons with everyone.

By the way, can I just say that Parker was a champ? He made the 10 hour car ride perfectly and just hung out with us the whole time...love that baby!! In his short 6 months of life he's been up to his ears in a life jacket on a boat, sweated his head off in Disney World and froze with us in Winter Parker, such a trooper! :)

Winter Park was hurting for snow, so much of the mountain was closed. However, that didn't stop us from finding some awesome runs and having a great time! I don't have any pics of us on the mountain, it was below zero everyday on the slopes and if you took your glove off for a second, it was impossible to warm your hand back up!! ( I tried that one day when I answered my cell phone, bad idea!!!)

Parker and I found Santa's sleigh one afternoon when we were walking through the Winter Park village to meet everyone for lunch!

Three cute cooks

Jen and Holly made brownies and Julie did the dishes that night!

The boys watching football

Blair warming himself by the fire! :)

Julie, me, Holly and Jen

We had a great time making dinner together every night!

(the lighting in the condo was terrible, this pic is so dark!)

So you know those "high altitude" directions on the back of brownie and cake mixes?

It's true, you must follow those directions! Our brownies did not rise in the middle but they were still delish, just gooey! :)

Sweet baby hanging out on the play mat one morning while everyone skied. We had some great quality time together!

Just chillin in the sink. We got bored one night and wanted to see if Parker could fit in the kitchen sink...not really, we were giving him a bath and he had quite the audience! :)

Thanksgiving

This year was Thanksgiving was extra special. Not only did we get to celebrate with a baby, my parents and sister came up for the holiday...(I have not one picture of them in this blog, I will get those from mom and post more later!) It was so much fun to have mom, dad and Lindsey out to the ranch for a huge Austin family Thanksgiving! The weather was perfect, we even played outside in short sleeves!

We have so much to be thankful for and are grateful to God for all of our blessings! Here are just a few pics from last week..

Family pic

Parker's first Thanksgiving

Me, Olivia, Jane and Ann in the kitchen

This picture cracks me up, we were outside trying to get family shots and this one captures us trying to get the kids to smile...notice Meredith using the dog as a prop! :)

The Jim Austin family

Possible Christmas card??

Me and my beautiful sister

Let me explain this one...Tripp's wife Georgina loves doing yoga and she brought DVD's and mats so we could all have a post Thanksgiving meal session. We even had Grandmother Dottie doing it, she's in her 80's!!

It was warm enough to play tennis in the afternoons! This is Liesl and Adelynn on the court.

Jim and Ann and all their grandkiddos!

I think Parker started sliding off the four wheeler at this point, but Jim kept smiling while hanging on to him with one arm! :)

Happy 6 months Parker!

What a special day! Today Parker, you have turned 6 months old and experienced your first big snow of the year! Mommy and daddy can't believe it's been half a year since you were born! You are SO much fun and I'm not sure what we're going to do if you get any cuter! You have learned to roll over both ways and I catch you sleeping on your tummy all the time now! You love to pull your knees up under you and sleep with your little bottom in the air. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen!

This week we go see Dr. Fletcher for your 6 month check up and I bet we get to start rice cereal. You are still a pro at nursing, so we will see how this cereal thing goes. I like how easy and mess free nursing is, I know you must start solids at some point though!

Still no teeth, you are almost sitting up by yourself and you are very into pulling and grabbing everything. Hair, glasses, earrings...nothing is safe around you now! :) You love to hear you voice and it has gotten so much louder; you are perfecting your grunting, squealing and laughing. Mommy had a very sad moment this month when we were decorating for Christmas and we decided to move your swing into the attic. I almost cried when daddy took it apart because I thought about how fast you're growing up! It just seems like you were a little newborn in that swing sleeping all the time!

Parker, we love more every single day and you bring so much joy to our lives! We are looking forward to your very first Christmas with you!

Love,

Mommy and daddy

Holding my big 6 month old in the snow!!

Lovin' it!

Discovering the white stuff

Our house

Can Anyone Else Do This?

Parker has had the lovely talent of sucking on his big toe for several weeks now, but I finally caught it on camera. It cracks me up everytime! Today I had him on our bed while I was sorting laundry and when I looked over, this is what I found. The best is when he makes this loud sucking sound like he's never tasted anything so good! :)

YUM-O!!

You caught me mom!

I couldn't leave this pic out...this is how I found him yesterday evening.

Playing in the bouncer is exhausting!

What we've been up to

It's hard for me to believe that November is in full swing and that I can start pulling out my Christmas decorations in just a few short weeks, I can't wait!! I LOVE Christmas time and everything about it!

Parker has been busy so far this month, learning how to roll over and now doing it all the time! He loves to play on his tummy and he's even trying to pull his knees up under him. My world will be changing soon when Parker starts crawling! :)

Today he had his second haircut, yes you read that right, haircut #2 and he's five months old! He did such a great job this time holding still. He sat like a big boy in his Bumbo chair and let Junior work his magic on his hair. Not one tear or even a fuss, I was so proud of him! Here are some pics of our little man...

Getting haircut #2 and being SO good!

What are you doing back there?

He kept wanting to look in the mirror.

I think I'll just chew on this towel until he is finished!

All finished and so handsome, both of them! :)

I couldn't resist this shot, his little monkey rear end was too cute! :)

Playing hard on his tummy!

Look mom, I can roll over!

He LOVES his bouncer!

Fun with Waco in the backyard. Waco likes to sniff Parker!