Parker's First Birthday In Review

**You need to begin looking at the pictures at the bottom of this post. They are in backwards order. :)

Mommy still in shock that her baby boy is 1:

Daddy and the big birthday boy:

Brandon holding Parker as he eats his birthday "surprise":

Sebastian and Parker:

Waiting for his food at Cotton Patch, where we ate his birthday dinner with the Core's:

Admiring his birthday sign:

Parker's MDO Teachers, Ms. Debby and Granny Reva:

Crawling through the tunnel:

Fishing at the festival:

Parker went to Mother's Day Out and they had their Fall Festival.

They are on their way to the Fall Festival:

Happy 1st Birthday, Parker!

Wow. It's hard to believe that exactly one year ago at this moment (5:13 pm) Parker was born. We can't even fathom just how quick this past year has flown by. People always say that the time goes by quicker the older you get, well we are only 26 and we don't think it could go any faster!!!

Over the course of the year, Parker has changed so much: from a diet that consists solely of milk, to now feeding himself finger foods; from waking up every hour and a half to eat, to sleeping 13 hours straight (although that doesn't happen often); from a precious no teeth smile, to a 6 tooth grin that makes our heart melt; from not being able to hold his head up, to not being able to keep up with him as he crawls around the house; from eating, sleeping and pooping, to playing, babbling and going 90 to nothing.

There have been a ton of firsts for not only Parker, but for us as well. We both thought that we HAD to have at least 8 hours of sleep to function the next day. We both thought that we were busy and didn't have any free time. :) We both thought we had life figured out and a picture in our head of how parenthood would be. Man, do we laugh at all of these things now!

We could go on and on about all the firsts from the past year, but we would be sitting here for a long time typing away. We have a lot of special memories that we will cherish for a lifetime and we'd like to leave you with a few pictures of our little family from the past year (we tried to put them in order, but it didn't work):

A&M + Tricycle = Coolness

One of my mom's friends', Brenda, gave Parker an A&M tricycle before he was born.

Every time I hear from Brenda, she asks if Parker is riding that tricycle yet.

Well Brenda, he is!!!

Sorta.

Yesterday morning I had to go in the garage for something and Parker went with me. He saw the tricycle and started playing with it. I picked him up to bring him back inside and he wouldn't let go of it. I had to bring the tricycle inside. I pushed Parker around the house on the tricycle. I thought that one push around the whole house would be sufficient. I was wrong. After a couple of pushes around the house, I had to finish getting ready. Parker played with his tricycle until he had to get ready and left for church. It's still in our living room.

Needless to say, he loves his A&M Tricycle!!

I'm not sure if it's the tricycle that he loves or the fact that it's A&M!?!?!? :)

Running Water

Parker has discovered that he can turn on the water in our bathtub AND throw toys into the tub with running water. He likes to stand next to the tub to watch the toys and water. Sometimes he will turn the water on and then crawl off. If I turn the water off, he crawls back over to the tub and turns the water back on. We go back and forth- on and off. It's so funny to see what small things entertain him!

Just a few pics....

10.10.09- After the A&M / OSU game.

10. 06.09- In his car seat.

10.21.09- At his Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Cody's house. He LOVED their chair!

10.21.09- His Daddy just cracks him up!

Weiner Fest '09

For several years Caleb and I have been wanting to go to the annual Weiner Fest here in College Station. It was always held on a weekend that we had something else going on. This year we took Parker, Ranger and Patches. We had all had a great time. Patches walked on his leash. Ranger refused to walk on a leash, so we had to carry him. Of course Parker enjoyed being outside and loved watching all the dogs. Neither of our dogs raced this year, maybe next year. Here are a few pictures from the festival:

Flap Your Right Arm If You Love Food....

As most of you know, Parker LOVES to eat... he always has and he comes by it honestly! :) His latest love is Gogurt. It's yogurt for when you're on the go. You just squeeze the yogurt out of the tube and into your mouth- it's a pretty clever idea and it's tasty too! Each time I get a Gogurt out of the fridge, Parker goes nuts!

Tonight after Parker had eaten cottage cheese, diced peaches AND green beans (the peaches and beans he fed himself), he was STILL hungry so I pulled out a Gogurt. (He actually ended up eating two Gogurt's.) He went CRAZY! He started flapping his right arm around in circles and kicking his feet. I couldn't get it opened and the first squeeze in his mouth quick enough. I tried to take a few pictures of this excitement, but really, the pictures don't do it justice; I really need to bust out the video camera so you can all get the real experience.

*The pictures are a little blurry because he's so excited and moving a lot. :)

Play Time

Here are some pictures I took of Parker playing this afternoon

once he was home from Mother's Day Out:

Parker has a little "ball pit house" that he LOVES to play in.

Here he was peeking out to check on the dogs.

He's playing in the floor with some of his toys, again watching the dogs. :)

Deciding which toy he's going to play with.

He won't sit still and smile for me anymore!

He's VERY active and into EVERYTHING!

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Parker!

Where have the past 11 months gone? If the first 11 months are any indication as to how quick the next 17 years are going to go, then we don't need to blink too many times! I can't believe that in one month our little man is going to be celebrating his first birthday!

Here are a couple of pictures of Parker and one with Patches watching the rain this morning:

Patches and Parker are buds.

He's watching the dogs try to get in my lap as I take this picture.