Two year old questionnaire/Photo Shoot...

I have fallen in love...

There are so many people who say that when your baby is born and you first lay eyes on them you feel a love that you never knew you had.  I always knew that I was not a real "baby person"...meaning that I don't love the baby stage so I was not expecting to feel those feelings immediately.  Well, I can honestly say that with neither one of our children did I feel that instant love connection, and since both of our children were colicky that feeling did not happen for quite some time.  It is hard to fall in love with a colicky baby that screams hysterically every night for hours, interrupts your normal sleep schedule and needs to be cared for 24/7!

Today, though, I can say I fell head over heals in love with Peyton!  I know it has slowly been happening but today when I had some time with Peyton by myself while Parker was sleeping I looked at her and became so overwhelmed with emotion and love for her that I wept!  It was a really special moment for me with Peyton that I will never forget!  I have wanted to feel this way since she was born but I couldn't force it...it had to happen naturally.  I have definitely had moments during the past couple of months where I felt so guilty for not having that strong sense of love for her and that has been really hard for me so I am really thankful for today.  I know this love will continue to grow stronger and stronger and I pray that God blesses Peyton and my relationship in the months and years to come!

Lessons from a two year old...

Parks has been two for less than a week and already he is wise beyond his two years!  Today while Parker was "cooking" some eggs (Easter eggs) for Peyton and myself I pointed out to Parker that it was not fair that Peyton had four eggs and I only had one egg!  I explained that I was hungry and needed more eggs!  Parker then looks at me very seriously and shares his wisdom with me..."Mommy you need to share with other people"!

Love this boy!  Excited to see what else he has to teach me!

My baby is TWO...

Really?!?!?  I can't even believe that today we celebrated two years of Parker's life!  He has grown into the most precious little boy ever.  He has a timidness about him that just melts our hearts...his sweet little voice and innocent nature makes me such a proud mommy!  I smother him with kisses and tell him 100 times a day how much I love him because I never want him to wonder.  Joel and I feel like God has place Parker in our lives to enrich it and really to appreciate the small things...like a giggle, a slobbery kiss, a squeal of delight when he makes a basket, prayers saying thanks for the ABC's, slowing down to notice and appreciate Robins, and so much more.

Today was all about Parker...he got to pick everything we did!  He definitely was very into it being his birthday too!  He woke up saying, "Happy Birthday Parker"!  Throughout the day he requested we sing "Happy Birthday" to him several times!

For breakfast he picked a cereal bar of course...his favorite thing to eat!  We had afternoon plans of heading to the library for story hour but before we left Parker decided he wanted to take a nap!  He has been doing that lately asking to go down to sleep!  Silly little guy!  So after nap time we ate lunch (PB&J and bananas) and then went to ZCS to pass out a birthday treat, Smarties (Parker's fav), to Joel's class.  We had discussed all morning that he would walk around and hand out his treat and it seemed like he was ready for it but when we got there his shyness took over and Joel had to help him do it!  They all sang "Happy Birthday" to him too...so cute!  As we left he exclaimed, "I shared treat!".  At home he took a long nap and then when Joel got home we all played outside...our first nice day this spring!  

For dinner we headed to BW3s for chicken nuggets and then to Chuckie Cheese!  Park's loved playing the basketball and football games and got so excited when the tickets came out!  I really wanted to stick around for when the Chuckie Cheese mascot came out and threw free tickets (I'm Dutch...I love all things free!) so Parker could get a better prize.  Parker, however, was not as excited as I was.  He started getting really scared when we said that Chuckie Cheese was coming out soon and saying he wanted to go home!  We left Chuckie Cheese with Parker near tears and repeatedly saying "I no like Chuckie Cheese!"  Ha!  Joel and I had a good laugh over that!  The sweet employees at Chuckie Cheese didn't want Parker to leave without seeing Chuckie Cheese so they had Chuckie meet us at the door!  We had to kindly tell them Parker did not want to see Chuckie Cheese and quickly get him out of there before he did see him.  I think he could have nightmares about Chuckie!  

We ended the night with cupcakes and gifts (he had to remind us about the gifts...we almost forgot)!  We tucked him in and he requested "Happy Birthday" one more time.  A little bit after we had tucked him in I could hear him singing "Happy Birthday" to himself in bed!  Such a funny little guy!

Happy Birthday Parker!  We love you so much and hope you are blessed with many more birthdays!

Birthday Weekend...

We decided not to do a birthday party every year for the kids...we are going to keep things more low key in hopes of instilling a stronger sense of appreciation for gifts when they do get them.  Grandpa and Grandma Lambert came over the weekend before Parker's birthday to give him a few gifts though...you can't stop them from spoiling him!
Needless to say he loved everything!!!  It was all sports related so we knew the gifts would be a hit!  Tee-ball set with baseball glove and baseball, mini basketball, fishing pole and sporty sunglasses!