Fort Fun...

Sometimes I am convinced that Joel and I had children so we have a chance to do all the things once again that are only acceptable for kids to do...like building forts for example!  Last night we tried our creative genius to rig up a fort in the living room.  Nothing too fancy to start with...just a chair, the edge of the couch and a blanket.  We all took our turns trying it out...nice!  Well, then we went on to add sides, a tunnel to get in the front, a flashlight and toys that lit up so we could see the cool lights in the fort!  Parker absolutely loved crawling in and out of the tunnel entrance, and it appeared that he totally understood it's use!  I can tell that this is only the beginning of our fort building days!  On to a bigger and better one next time I am sure!

First word...

****Drum roll....****

!BALL!

Ha Ha!  We have been discussing who would win the honor of being the first word..."Dada" or "Mama"...I guess we both lost to the ball!  I am not completely surprised though since he has an assortment of 20+ balls that he is encouraged to play with every day...throwing, shooting in the basketball hoop, fetching and chasing them around the house! 

On January 24, 2012 we were eating dinner while Parker was playing on the floor in the kitchen with a ball, and as he chattered away we both looked at each other and said "Did he just say ball?".  After listening for a little longer it was apparent he was saying "ball" over and over again, and he knew that he was referring to the ball in his hand!  We had a lot of fun getting him to say it more and more!  I think secretively Joel is hoping that his interest in the ball will be an indicator of his abilities in sports that use a ball!  

Look out!  We have entered a whole new world...Parker is starting to talk!  Hopefully "Dada" and "Mama" are soon to come!

Freeze frame...

This time in our lives, especially Parker's life, is just the most precious time ever! Today I was feeding Parker a bottle after he got up from his nap, and I was looking at this baby (but hardly even anymore) and thinking how amazing he is. As I rest my head on his I feel his fuzzy hair tickle my face. I kiss his soft cheeks that are still warm from his nap. I am surprised they don't look worn from the hundreds of kisses that fall on them every day by Joel and myself. He stares up at me with those beautiful eyes...the perfect combination of Joel's eyes and my own...blue with flecks of yellow around the pupil. He bats his long eyelashes that I know will some day steal the heart of the girl he loves. His little nose moves in and out with every gulp of the bottle. It is such a round, perfect little button nose. His mouth greedily sucks away at the bottle with his juicy little lips pouting out around the bottle. My eyes fall down to his chubby hands that always rest on my arm while I feed him. I notice every crease, wrinkle, little finger nail, dirt under some of his nails and little hairs that are growing under his knuckles. Even though it is the middle of the afternoon he still is wearing his fleece monkey sleeper because he just looks so cute in it and I am declaring today a jammie day for both of us! The little monkey faces on his feet look back at me smiling and I can't help but smile...and then a tear falls too. Could life be any better than this? I just want to freeze this moment and live in it forever! I have never felt so much joy, had such a sense of meaning in my life, been so content and not concerned with much more than raising this little boy the best way I know how with God's instruction. At the same time I have never been so scared either. Scared that I will lose it all. People always say better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. While I do agree that I would not trade this love for anything the thought of losing Joel and Parker is more than I can bear to think about. For now I will live every day like it could be my last, and I will love my boys with my whole heart for as long as I live. The rest is up to God to decide.

What is love to me on January 23rd...

Love to me is finding out that your husband got you your favorite cookie from Cafe' 58 on the same afternoon that you bought him his favorite cookie from Cafe' 58! I love you Joel!

Crocodile hunter...

Apparently Parker has been watching some Discovery Channel without me, and has learned the tactics of the crocodile. You may not know what crocodiles do when they catch their prey...they bring them under water and roll and roll and roll to disorient their prey. This is the exact scene during Parker's diaper changes now! His diaper changes have progressed from birth to 9 months...crying every time we had to take off his clothes to change his diaper is how it all started, next we progressed to laying calmly and sometimes even smiling, then a toy was required to get through the change, recently attempting to pull the blinds off the wall has been the challenge so we let him play with the blinds string (under close supervision of course!), and just recently Parker has started the crocodile roll of death! I dread changing his diaper now! I try to be as funny as possible, sing as many crazy songs as I can, tickle his little feet and whatever else I can think of to just get through, but all of those tactics usually only get me to getting the original diaper off! Then the barrel rolling starts and there is crying, twisting and pretty much pure pandemonium! Poopy diapers are the worst! I just finished changing one so the chaos is fresh in my memory ! There was poop on the changing table, Parker's foot, his clothes and then smeared on the new diaper....aughh! The minute I pick him up though he transforms from an angry rolling crocodile to my sweetheart whom has stolen my heart every day for the past 9 months and all in the world is right again! Until next time...

First Snow...

It took until the middle of January to get actual snow this year!  We bundled Parker up in his snowsuit, and took him outside for a few minutes to experience the crazy white stuff that was falling from the sky that he often watches out the windows.  The wind was whipping so much and it was freezing so it was a short play time!  Also his snowsuit was a little bulky so it was hard for him to move at all!  He wasn't quite so sure about it all...it takes a little getting used to!  We bought him a sled a few days later so the next snow fall we can pull him around the neighborhood...can't wait!

Down on the farm...

I am really into buying and selling things on Craig's List lately. It feels so good to get a good deal on kid's items that you know have the potential of being broken quickly, and even better to clean out the clutter in our basement and get cash for it to go towards our new living room furniture! My recent purchase was a John Deere ride-on tractor for Parker. He is still too little to propel himself on it, but he likes to ride it and have us push him around! So adorable! I have a feeling Great-grandpa Nagelkirk is going to like it too!

Mirrored friend...

I would say Parker's best friend is his daddy (and I think I am a close second!), but recently Parker has found a new friend. It is someone that he has seen since birth, but is just realizing that he can interact with him for the first time...his reflection! We have a large mirror in our bedroom, and while I am doing stuff in our room Parker plays with his friend in the mirror. He smiles, giggles sometimes, kisses and unfortunately hits his friend! I had been trying to catch this interaction for a few weeks on camera and finally got it today!

Mommy's little helper...

Now that Parker is a crawling machine he follows me around the house the entire day "helping" me with whatever I have to do. Some of his favorite things are the following...

Folding laundry...translation...laying on top of the laundry pile rubbing his face (snotty nose and drool) on all of the clean clothes and eating the socks.

Loading and emptying the dishwasher...translation...pulling himself up on the door and trying to grab the dishes.

Making the bed...translation...trying to pull the sheets and blankets off the bed and laying on the pillows so I can't put them up on the bed.


Cleaning up the house...translation...pulling paper out of the paper recycle bin, throwing his toys every where, eating shoes, drooling all over the floor, cleaning out the fridge, tipping the plant over on the living room carpet, and eating the Cheerios off the floor (this really is helpful!).

Rub-a-dub-dub, one cute boy in the tub...

Parker LOVES bath time!  He splashes the majority of the water out of his tub, and likes to play with all of his toys!  Drinking the bath water has recently become a little bit of a problem, but hopefully we caught it in time!

Emmitt playdate...

Emmitt came over and played for the whole day last week and the boys had such a good time following each other around.  Emmitt has the same shirt as Parker so I dressed them as twins for the day!  There were only 2 times where they both were crying at the same time so I am chalking this up as a great playdate!

Happy New Years....

We rang in the New Year with our friends at Little Mexico restaurant! Alison rented out the top of the restaurant and all of our friends were there along with all of their friends...I think there was a little over 100 people there. There was a dance room, our own bartender/bar, treats and a photo booth...the whole night was fabulous! Well, I guess there was a little glitch...we planned on putting Parker down to sleep at Gritters, but when we got there Parker refused to go to sleep so we left the 3 middle school girls to put him down themselves (lesson learned...not a good idea!). Several phone calls throughout the night informing us that Parker was crying and refusing to go to sleep made us decide that Joel was going to leave, and bring Parker home. Just as he was about to leave they called and let us know he was finally sleeping! The rest of the night was fabulous!














Now that the craziness of Parker being a newborn is wearing off and we are starting to feel like life is getting more scheduled I decided to set some New Years resolutions. Here they are!

1. Read one book a month.

2. Be intentional about avoiding gossip.

3. Join a mom's Bible study at church.

4. Make a meal for another family once a month.

5. Play with Parker while he is awake and do chores while he sleeps.

6. Run the 25k Riverbank Run.

7. Accomplish 2 things off my Life List.

8. Pamper myself at least once a month...pedicure, facial, hot bath, massage, etc.

9. Purchase a photo shop program and learn how to use it.

10. Finish the basement remodel.

I also have chosen a word to be the focus of the year 2012.  My word is "COMMUNITY".  I hope to invest in meaningful relationships with people in my life and continue to build community with people who are different than me and also people who are similar...CABLE group, Women's Bible Study, other Engedi church members, friends, family and co-workers.  I am excited to see what God has in store for our family in 2012!