Pictures!

We went to the mall on Monday and this is how we HAD to leave-

with Parker pushing his own stroller.

Okay, so there is an explanation for the LSU shirt. My cousin, Trevor, has given a verbal commitment to play baseball for LSU in the Fall of '11. Trevor thought it was be so funny for Parker to get a LSU t-shirt for his birthday. As hard as it is for me to admit this, it looks pretty cute on him. Maroon still looks better on him though!

My Uncle Kevin & Aunt Anita own property in Oakwood, which is a little over an hour from here. We went and visited them last weekend and Parker had a blast. I took lots of pics on my camera but don't have the uploading device to upload them right now;

this is the only one on my phone.

Daddy? Truck? Work. Truck?

As I said earlier in the week, Parker has started associating Caleb with his work truck. Now when I say anything about Daddy or work (anyone's work at that matter) he says "truck" and points outside. It's cute.

In Parker's mind everyone who works drives a truck and that's all Daddy ever does. :)

Bye-bye Wings & Mullet Man; Hello Clean-Cut

Today Parker got his first haircut at GreatClips. His barber was Edith and she was great with him! He sat in my lap and he did fine until she made him put the cape on. He screamed and cried the WHOLE TIME until she was finished. He loved the sucker at the end though! She would get him calmed down and then he would start up again as soon as she would try to get him to hold his head a certain way. She only used scissors and just cleaned up around the edges. I will take a pic of his new "do" later.

PS Parker does not have a black eye or anything from his incident yesterday. :)

1 WHOLE Week!

Woohoo! I met my first goal of blogging for 1 week. Now I'm going to shoot for a month.

Today when I picked Parker up from school, he was a little banged up. He collided on the playground with another kid and is banged up- a strawberry on his forehead, a little scratch under his nose and a busted lip. The teacher had blood on the shoulder of her shirt. It looks like he may have a black eye/ cheek tomorrow. It doesn't seem to phase him though.

These things happen, especially for little boys.

Daddy?

Parker is extremely observant. He notices UPS trucks from pretty far away and always says, "Daddy?" - yes in a cute little questioning voice. This afternoon we were almost home and a UPS truck drove by us. Parker said, "Daddy?" I replied, "Parker, I think that is Daddy... let's go see."I turned our vehicle around in the middle of the road and followed the UPS truck. Parker got very excited; he started slapping his legs, laughing and shrieking in excitement! I was so worried that it wasn't Caleb since this area around our house isn't always on his route. Thank goodness it was! Parker got to see his Daddy for a few minutes!

Road Trip!

Yesterday we went to my aunt and uncle's (Kevin and Anita) property in Oakwood which is a little over an hour from here. They just put a building on their property and are going to make it into living quarters. They have a camper and all the fixings out there now and it's perfect! We had a great time and Parker was in heaven!!!

Parker took a 30-45 minute nap on the way to Oakwood and we were really worried about how fussy he was going to be. He was in the happiest mood and played the entire time we were there! We tried to get him on a horse to take some pictures in his cowboy gear and he didn't want any part of that. He would only pet the horse, Lana, occasionally and on his terms. I will put pics on here as soon as I find my new disk reader for the computer.

We had pork chops and the works for dinner and it was delicious! We are for sure going to go visit again in the near future. It's just the perfect distance that we can make it in a day trip.

89!!!!!

HaPpY 89th BiRtHdAy, PaPa!

Today was my Papa's 89th birthday! He's 89 AND still lives in his home AND still is independent AND still works outside some. I hope that when I'm 89 I'm still as active and independent as Papa. Since it was such a big birthday (his last one in his 80's) I called him twice. Once before lunch and then tonight on the way home. He seemed to have a good day. He went to El Fenix again. (We went last weekend while we were in town to celebrate his birthday.) I told him that we were going to have a big party for him next year on his birthday and that I would start planning it. He said it'd better be a big party if you're going to plan it for a year. :) I agreed.

It was so sweet talking to my Papa and to hear how grateful he is to be still living. He is the ONLY one in his family to make it out of their 70's (and there weren't many who made it to their 70's). He told me that the Good Lord has been watching out for him even before he served the Lord.

You see, Papa wasn't always a believer. He was a permanent on my prayer list to know the Lord for years! My sophomore year in high school (winter of 1998), we (me, my mom, Nana and Papa) went to Vegas for the NFR. After we got back, he went to have some tests run because he had been having trouble breathing. He thought for sure he had emphysema due to smoking for so many years. The doctor did a stress test on him and was shocked that he had driven himself into the doctor. He told him to go immediately to the hospital and check in that he was in serious condition and needed surgery ASAP. Papa did just that. He called my Nana at her work and told her that he had admitted himself to Irving Community Hospital on doctors orders. I vaguely remember going to visit him that night and him just hanging out in his hospital room with his normal clothes on along with heart monitor.

A few days later he had carotid artery surgery (he was 90% blocked or something crazy like that). This was right before Christmas and they let him come home for Christmas Eve/ Day with our family (he doesn't remember much though). The day after Christmas he went in for heart surgery and let's just say, he didn't come home until Spring Break (mid-March) that school year.

During his surgery, they couldn't get him to stop bleeding and he laid open for 3 days. We really didn't think he would make it. I remember going to the chapel several times and hearing my Mom and Nana pray for him- for his healing, but more than that, for him to know the Lord. I also remember my Aunt pulling my cousin and I aside in this little room and telling us that there was a good chance that Papa wouldn't make it and that we may want to consider going to see him. We did. I saw one glimpse of him and the memory of his swollen hands is still engraved in my mind. I saw him for just a few seconds, cried really hard and ran out. I also remember my Mom, Nana, uncle and aunt taking turns staying the night in the ICU waiting room so that they could go check on him at least once an hour. They would literally transform the waiting room into a little bedroom- shut the blinds, pallet on the floor.

The doctor's finally got him to stop bleeding and on his way to recovery. It was a roller coaster ride and I remember times when we didn't know when or if he'd make it back home. According to doctors he wasn't supposed to be able to talk again; his left vocal cord was paralyzed from putting the breathing tube down him so many times. I can't even remember off the top of my head all of the struggles he went through to get out of there. We did get to bring him home during my spring break in March, but he had therapy of all sorts to go through. I drove him to some appointments and errands... it was fun and I enjoyed him being home. He was truly a changed man. He started going to church with Nana which he had NEVER done before!

I'm not sure what my Papa went through personally while he was in the hospital, but I do know that he came out a changed man. I would put money on it that he had an encounter with God. He is a walking, talking, breathing miracle and Papa, I have been so blessed to have you as my Papa these past (almost) 27 years! I hope and pray that I got your good health genes! Enjoy this last year of your 80's and get ready for your 90th birthday party! Remember, you said you'd live at least 89 more years! (I figured it up that if he did that, Parker would be 21- that would require a trip to Vegas!)

Friday!!!

Today Caleb's mom came and kept Parker while I went to Anderson to sell jewelry. This morning, Caleb and I left at the same time and Parker broke my heart. As I was getting ready he came in the bathroom like he normally does and was visiting with me. I told him that I was going to work but that Mammy came to play with him. He puckered his lip out and wanted me to hold him. I held him for a few minutes and then had to finish getting ready. When it was time for Caleb and I to leave, I told Parker by and he grabbed my neck and was hugging me while saying, "Momma! Momma."

I know they had a good day full of wagon rides and what not.

Day #4

Yesterday Parker and I ate lunch AND dinner at the park! We had a GREAT TIME! He loves, loves, loves being outside!

Tonight Jennifer Minter came over to keep Parker while I went to Bible Study and Caleb was at work. He cried on and off for us the whole time she was here. :(

Day #3.... I'm on a roll! :)

So last night we were watching tv and Parker was running around. He picked up the remote, faced it to the tv and changed the channel. Caleb said, "Parker, did you change the channel?" Parker nodded his head for a good 45 seconds. It was so cute to see him nodding repeatedly.

Tonight Parker didn't have on any shoes and he was in his closet. He's not supposed to play in his closet so I went in there and asked what he was doing. He turned around with a boot in his hand. He then ran over to his glider and sat in it for me to put the boot on him. *side-note: I swear I think I drank too much Anderson water when I was pregnant because he is so obsessed with his boots. (Anderson is a very COUNTRY town.)* I grabbed the other one boot, some socks and fixed him up. He was wearing a t-shirt, diaper and his boots. He then went straight to the back door and went outside to play.

I took a video of him and will try to post it later- I couldn't figure it out right now.

Few pictures from the past few weeks....

Day #2 of 7- Check

Woohoo! Our pics are uploading to the blog! I hope I didn't speak too soon!

Today we went to Mainly Music at our church. This is our third week to go and Parker finally started participating towards the end. I took a quick picture of him with his red scarf that they were pretending like was a caterpillar they were singing out.
After Mainly Music, we've been going to a park near the church to eat lunch and play with a few of the other moms. It's always fun! He fell asleep 2 minutes after I put him in his car seat to come home. :)

We've been contemplating on moving him to a "big boy bed." Although he hasn't climbed out yet, we have talked about if we should or not. Well last night, in the his sleep, Parker pulled his diaper off and just like Caleb described it to me this morning, it looked like a disaster zone of pee in Parker's bed and even on the floor. So I was changing his mattress cover and sheets out this morning and just left the mattress on the floor to see how he would sleep on it today. I thought he looked like such a cutie and I had to take his pic:

Can I do this?!?!?

So tonight I went to a gathering with some girls from church and we made a "Bucket List." For those of you who don't know what that is (I didn't before today), it's a list of things you want to do before you die. I put on my list that I want to blog for 1 year. Blogging takes the place of a diary and it would be fun to look back and read stories I posted on here (mainly about Parker). On the way home from the meeting, I thought what better day to begin this than today? I also thought about saying I want to do it for a year; that's a long commitment. I think I should start with small goals and see how long I make it. So my first goal is to blog every day for 1 week. **To all you readers out there, please help to hold me to my goal.**

So to kick off this whole week of blogging (remember I'm starting with a small goal of blogging everyday for a week), I wanted to share a funny story of Parker from church last Sunday.

Last weekend we went to Irving for Ashley Daniel's bridal shower, my Papa's 89th birthday AND Caleb's parents 30 anniversary. On Sunday morning we went to my grandparents church, Oak View Baptist. Parker usually sits with us during the music part and then my Gramps takes him to the foyer and they have some good Great-Gramps and Parker bonding time. When it was time for the part where they welcome everyone and the church is extremely quiet, Parker got down in the church isle and started rolling around. (Thank goodness we were on the back row!!) I picked him up and tried to re-direct his behavior. He went back to the isle, rolled around a few times, and started yelling "bye-bye." At this point, I was on the verge of embarrassment. I once again picked him up and tried to re-direct his behavior. He then leaned under the pew, grabbed his bag, sat on the floor, started yelling "bye-bye" multiple times and then stood up and brought the bag to me while yelling "bye- bye." Needless to say, it was his time for some bonding out in the foyer. :) At the time I was pretty embarrassed, but now it's pretty humorous to me. It amazes me that he knows his bag and didn't grab my purse.

I'm sure tomorrow I will have another funny story that Mr. Parker did! :)

Here's to day #1 of my week of blogging!

Got a few stories for ya.....

It's been a while since I've updated. (I feel like I start every blog out with those words, but what other intro is best suited?) I hate blogging without adding pics. Our internet won't let us upload pics on here so I was updating when I was at the office. I've been really busy lately with real estate and the limited time I'm in the office, I've been tied up with work. I decided that I just need to write in here and worry about adding pics later.

Here are a few stories from the past few weeks that I thought were worth sharing....

Last weekend I was watching Parker play with Caleb. Parker had on a t-shirt and a diaper. I was watching him waddle in the hallway to his room and noticed his legs. I don't know what it was about me watching his legs, but it hit me that Parker really isn't a baby anymore. He's growing way too quickly. I want time to SLLLOOOW DOWN!

Yesterday Parker set his milk down and it spilled. I saw it and said, "Oh, Parker your milk made a mess. We need to clean it up." I grabbed a towel and wiped it up. I threw the towel in the laundry room floor to wash. A little bit later the same thing happened in the kitchen. I said, "Oh no, Parker! Your milk made a mess again." He disappeared for a few minutes and in the meantime I grabbed a towel and wiped it up. Once I was finished he returned with the same towel we had used earlier to clean up the mess. Man, you talk about me feeling like two inches tall. He poured just a tad of milk on the floor and wiped it up. That night at dinner there was a napkin on the table. He picked up and cleaned the table off and wiped his face.

It's so cute watching him do things.

His school had an Easter Egg Hunt two weeks ago. I have a video to upload, but can't get it on here. UGH. It wasn't much of a hunt though. Parker is the oldest in his class so he just walked around and threw a few of the eggs. The other kids just sat there. Now I understand why they only wanted each child to bring three eggs to the "hunt." Anyways, we were talking with his teachers after the hunt and they were telling us stories about him.

One of his teachers, Ms. Debbie, has been a God-Send for Parker. He is her little side-kick. I knew they were buddies for a while, but apparently I didn't realize how much they adore each other. A few months ago the director approached me about beginning to work with Parker on sleeping on his nap mat because he would be moving out of the infant room where they slept in cribs into the toddler room where they slept on nap mats. I decided to just send the mat to school and have them work with him. After all, they were the ones who broke him of screaming at bedtime. Well, when it's time for the kids to go to sleep, Ms. Debbie goes in the nap room and begins getting the kids to sleep. Parker goes and lays down on his nap mat and waits for her to join him. She said that sometimes he starts "talking" and she just asks him to be quiet and he does. After she gets all the kids to sleep, she will lay down with him and he's out like a light. Now WHY won't he do that for us at home?!?!?

Tonight he was playing on his train riding toy and I asked him if I could take his picture. He said "cheeessseee" and half smiled. I said, "Oh, Parker that wasn't a very good picture. Can we take another one?" He jumped off the train and sat on the front door mat and posed real big for me. I still didn't get a very good pic, because he jumped up after his quick pose and came over to my lap to look at my phone to see the picture. He's so smart.

Caleb gets up with Parker in the mornings and that is their time together. I love it because it's so cute to hear them interact and it allows me to stay in bed until 730 or 8! It works out great for everyone. :) Every morning Parker wants a waffle, aka "wa-wa," (and over Easter weekend we were out of waffles and Parker was pretty devastated- needless to say, I bought a huge box to stock him up). Anyways, the other morning Caleb opened the freezer to get the waffles out and the coffee fell out of the freezer (yes, we keep our coffee in the freezer... weird, we know) and Parker picked it up and put it back in the freezer for Caleb. Caleb was very impressed and bragged on Parker saying, "Wow Parker. That was so nice. I appreciate your help. What a big boy you are." Parker looked at him and started clapping. Caleb just laughed.

We realize he is a huge sponge. We just hope and pray that he doesn't absorb our bad habits. :)

March Picture Update!