Vacation Week - Day Two

Tuesday started out much like Monday! We went to a local park and played, then P insisted I stop at Starbucks on the way home (at least that's how I recall it!). Mama could get used to days like this ;)

Parker headed over to daycare for a few hours in the afternoon so I could get the second coat of paint on the basement walls. He really has a great time at daycare and that day was no exception. He and our provider's son were running hot laps in the house with the toy cars when I showed up. Makes me happy to see him having fun and playing so well with the other kids!

We had a fun night ahead of us as well. Good friends invited us to join them at the Indianola Balloon Festival, so off we went to meet everyone for a quick bite at Pizza Ranch.  Our little eater filled up on the goods at the Ranch, then we headed off to pick up Uncle Scott and Aunt Tina, who decided to celebrate their wedding anniversary at the balloon festival with us (they live in Indianola).  Tina lucked out on two days in a row of Parker time!

Just a couple of balloons were in the air by the time we made it, so we settled down on our blankets and enjoyed great company.  It was so much fun and Parker and I were sad daddy couldn't join us since he was in Omaha for work when we left, but we were sure to take lots of pictures so he wouldn't feel left out!

Just your typical purple people eater :)

Mom, look at all of those balloons!

Mom, what is wrong with his eyes?

Lemonade break (Aunt Tina insisted he asked for it)

And what goes best with lemonade? Corn dog of course.  You know, because we didn't just eat dinner.

Vacation Week - Day One

As I mentioned previously, last week I was on vacation. Actually staycation is a better term. There were a few projects to take care of around the house, the biggest being painting the basement. So glad to have that done!

Monday morning Parker and I decided to take it easy. Breakfast around 7ish, then a little play at home while mom did some cleaning. By 8am, P was loaded in the jogging stroller and off for a run at the local park we went!

I haven't ran regularly since the Dam to Dam in early June, so needless to say it was a struggle (thankful the mornings were still cool!) and I will not be sharing my turtle time. The important part is we got out and enjoyed the fresh air!

The Johnston Parks and Rec guys were doing work on the big kids area, but the little kids playground was still open. P loved watching them with their machines and trucks, yelling and staring at the men at any given time. He loves the slide and could have bounced on the horse for hours!

Ooh. What do we have here?

Mom.  Really?  I'm in the goofiest outfit ever.

Ook! Trucks!  Hey dudes.

We headed home shortly after to clean up and head to P's 18 month appointment (see previous post for stats!). Aunt Tina was nice enough to meet us for lunch afterwards. It was definitely a great start to vacation :)

Test - first post from my phone!

This is just a test, repeat this is just a test. Heehee. Sorry, I'm a bit of dork sometimes (my husband will attest to that, I'm sure).

I just downloaded the blogger app on my phone, hopefully this will help me in updating more often!

I leave you with a pic of P and I at the Omaha zoo enjoying the gorillas. Now off to go pout on my last night of vacation, back to work tomorrow. Boo!

**Edit**

Blogger will not allow me to upload the pic to my post and actually "publish" the post. Something about insufficient storage quota. Any clues on how to fix this?!?

18 Months!

Hey there! Long time no chat. Can you believe that the dude is already 1-1/2 years old!! Said so often, time simply flies when your having fun. And there is lots of fun being had in our house. Parker's personality is forming and showing constantly. He loves to laugh and snuggle Koda, giving him "loves". His dad is his best bud, but thankfully he still gives his mom cuddles and kisses. He's recently began climbing on the furniture and is using his chair as an apparatus to the ottoman and couch (why in the world would we sit in it?!).

The major news this last weekend - Parker's first tooth finally came in! That last bit of "baby" is finally gone - no more gummy smiles. It is his bottom left tooth and the right one will be popping through any day now. Best of all, so far there has been no change in his mood or sleep habits. Here's hoping every tooth comes on this smoothly!

Here is a list of the latest on P:

- Weighing in at 26 lbs. and 33 inches tall, he's right at the 67th percentile for his age. Let me tell you, the boy is a tank. Try carrying him for longer than 20 minutes, I dare you.

- He's a talking fool. First word several months ago was out, followed shortly by daddy. He now is also saying: up, down, mama, shoes, toes, dat (that), ook (look), book, ball, doggie.

- Meals are still a favorite for him. He's an awesome eater, only occasionally turning down the plain stuff. Even without the teeth, he's a big fan of meat. Unfortunately, he has figured out the lazy Susan in the kitchen, so he is always sure to let us know when it's snack time by emptying it out and bringing random items to us.

As you can see, he keeps us on our toes, but we are surely loving every minute of it!!

I've been on vacation this week, so more posts to follow with details of our adventures!

Party time! Parker's first birthday party...

Saturday, February the 4th was the big day of Parker's birthday party.  And in true Iowa fashion , the good weather surely didn't last long.  We were hit with a snow storm that morning (the Texans had to experience at least one snow fall ;))! Thankfully everyone was able to make the trek over to our house to celebrate that special day just about a year ago.  I'm pretty sure I can speak for all of our families when I say how happy we are to have Parker in our lives.  He has certainly brought us so much joy this last year!!

First of many pics - the cake! Daddy was very picky when it came to Parker's first birthday cake.  After checking out quite a few different bakeries, he settled on one that would create the cake. The theme of the party was a bit of a spin-off from our main present to him, and let me tell you, it was ALL boy.

Mommy and Parker all ready to party!

Parker soo excited for his guests to arrive!

The house was decorated with pictures of Parker - his pics with mom and dad here...

...And a few with some of his favorite peeps

You can't see the pics of his first 11 months on this banner, but take a look at that snow!

Chilling with Grandpa Nim

While Grandpa & Grandma Greenfield enjoy the snow ;)

Grandma & Grandpa Jensen - she is SO silly!

Birthday boy wearing his birthday balloon...just in case you can't find him :)

Time for presents!

Parker definitely got the hang of diggin in the bags!

Showing P the tricks of the trade - tear into the paper!

Look at those trucks! Hey, Jonathan - I got my eye on you, no stealing my toys!

Singing to the birthday boy

 And the moment we've all been waiting for.....cake!

You mean I can touch it?!

Just a taste of the frosting

Ooh, chocolate!

I wonder if they'll notice if I just smash my hand in here.

First cupcake = success!

Aww mom, is cupcake time really over??

After Parker took a quick bath to clean up (how he managed to get cake in some of his crevices, we'll never know!), he joined the party again to take a ride on his new truck.

I like to call this the "sugar high grin"

Oh yeah, I'm a big shot now ;)

And this is what I like to call "prelude to the melt down" face.  

Shortly after this point, the sugar high came to a screeching halt.  After some failed attempts at pictures with the grandparents, we decided it was definitely nap time.  Parker definitely enjoyed his first birthday and we were so happy to have all of the family together to celebrate it!

Here are a few pictures that are just so dang cute.  Parker hanging out with dad and Uncle Jonathan. 

Scholten boys.  Oh the trouble they'll show him.

For now, it's all sillyness and fun and games :)

The boy turns 1!

As his 15 month "birthday" quickly approaches, I feel it is well past due to post the details of Parker's first birthday and 12 month stats.  In honor of the big day, both mommy and daddy took the day off (actually we were off a few days as Grandma and Grandpa Greenfield made the big trip from Texas to celebrate with us!) to enjoy Parker's first birthday and reminisce that day exactly a year ago.  It's amazing that a whole year can pass, yet we remembered so much of the hours leading up to the wonderful arrival of our sweet boy (as detailed in this post Parker's birth story).  The weather this time around was the exact opposite, so nice that we didn't even need our winter coats - last year, complete blizzard that we feared would delay us getting to the hospital on time!

Parker's birthday turned out to be a busy day, starting off with his one year pictures with our favorite photographer, Amy Allen.  Parker was a trooper in our shenanigans (minus the rock incident) and Aunt Tina even took the time to stop by for a few pics with the dude. Here are a few of my favorites (although honestly, I love every one of the pics!).

my little cheeser!

Elephant - Parker stand off

Sharing a sweet moment with his Aunt Tina

 After lunch and a nap, we headed to the doctor to fit in his 12 month well child visit.  At exactly 12 months old, Parker weighed in at 22 lbs, 7 oz. and was approximately 29.3 inches tall.  Just for comparison, his birth weight/height was 6 lbs 8.5 oz. and 19.5 inches long.  After enduring the doctor visit and many shots (what a trooper, and on his birthday too!), we headed home to await the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Greenfield.  For dinner, we met them at Maid Rite, so naturally Parker had to experience his first meal there.  No pictures from that meal, but we did stop by the Coldstone Ice Cream shop afterwards for dessert, where we discovered Parker is a big fan of chocolate ice cream.  Definitely picked that up from both mom AND dad! :)

Chocolate ice cream 'stache

 

 

The next morning Grandma Greenfield joined us and surprised us with a yummy breakfast.  That morning Parker enjoyed some bananas, cinnamon rolls AND scrambled eggs.  If I haven't mentioned it yet, we've discovered that he likes to eat. A LOT.  I am glad that we do not have to worry about a picky eater yet, but on the same token I've begun to dread the end of a meal.  As many of you have witnessed, this usually results in a bit of a tantrum.  Also, if you do not feed him fast enough, he WILL let you know. The boy likes his food and the belly proves it ;)

To be continued with his birthday party!.........

Long time no see (teaser pics from Parker's 12 month shoot included)

So it's clearly been a long time since we've had a Parker post.  I promise to have his 12 month/first birthday party post up soon. In the meantime, here's a cute little teaser from his 12 month photo shoot.

A little backstory - our photographer has her studio in the East Village of downtown Des Moines, which with the older buildings, provide for some fun outside backdrops.  We thought it would be fun to take Parker outside for a few shots and at one point, he was on a step all by himself (such a big boy!).  Of course, being a curious boy, he thought he needed to check out the rocks and decided one of them would be tasty to try.  Needless to say, after we all lunged for the rock before he could swallow it, an immediate meltdown followed.  Yes, I am aware that he'll probably have worse in his mouth at some point, but I prefer to pretend it won't happen ;)

Yay, what a happy family!

Oh look, a rock.

No caption necessary - meltdown complete.