Around Here

Around here, chocolate is a very important and not to be neglected food group

Around here, we sing a lot of songs (mostly Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me)

Around here, the laundry piles up often

Around here, sleep is cherished

Around here, oatmeal gets served for supper occasionally

Around here, we love sidewalk chalk, PBS cartoons, coloring, and play-dough

Around here, potty training with the oldest child is complete

Around here, sometimes we don't eat dinner until 8:00p

Around here, we give lots of hugs

Around here, the to-do list is so long we don't even know where to start

Around here, we've been listening to music on cassette tapes on a boom box that was purchased at Goodwill

Around here, we are going to have to get another Doug (for those of you that missed that post, it was our fish)

Around here, when we lose a couple of pounds we make up for it with cookie dough (and lots of it)

Around here, the one plant that was thriving and stayed alive for more than two years was pulled off the table along with the tablecloth when the oldest child fell off the dining room chair

Around here, sometimes we stay in our pajamas until lunch time 

Around here, we are amazed at the huge spiders outside the house and think they're pretty cool (as long as they stay outside)

Around here, we are awaiting a weekend when there is nothing to do or get done

Around here, we go to the Doctor A LOT

Around here, making your bed is optional

Around here, we get very excited about the milestones (no matter how big or small) that our kiddos meet

Parker's Celebration

We had Parker's ONE year birthday bash on Saturday.  There were just over 30 people attend his celebration and we felt so blessed to have so many people come and make Parker's birthday special.  

When Parker got his trach, he was no longer allowed to eat by mouth and has been getting all of his feedings through his g-button.  We have tried feeding therapy and taste trials a few times in the past without success as Parker just hasn't been able to swallow safely.  We are currently trying taste trials again and we thought what better thing to taste than this:

 

We got Parker his own little cake and let him squish it between his hands and make a huge mess.

We didn't let him eat any of the cake but did let him have a few licks of the 

BRIGHT

GREEN

SUGARY

FROSTING

And, it was a huge hit!  Parker has never responded this positively to any of the taste trials we have done before.  I'll have to let his therapists know that we should just use frosting and Parker will figure out this eating thing in no time!

Parker wasn't the only one who enjoyed the cake,

Alexa and her new friend Jentry thought it was pretty great too.

Then it was activity time.  Parker absolutely loves balloons so we had everyone create their own balloon face for him.  

It was really fun to see what people were able to create with magic markers,

 party hats, construction paper, yarn,

 ribbon, googly eyes and stickers.

There were definitely some very imaginative, creative and fun people in our midst that day.  

How impressive!

  

And Parker enjoyed his balloon creations very much!

So much so in fact...

he crashed!

There were some balloon casualties but for those that did survive, they are now hanging up on our dining room windows and Parker is still enjoying them very much!!

Happy FIRST birthday to my little big boy!  We love you so much and are very proud of you!!

Parker's First Birthday

My little boy is ONE today!  I can hardly believe it.  It's been a roller coaster of a year but I'm so proud of Parker and all he has accomplished!  Here's a slideshow video of Parker over the past year. 

Perfect

I really wanted to get pictures taken for Parker's first birthday.  We haven't gotten any professional pictures taken since Parker was born because we didn't want to expose him to public places and thought the whole thing sounded just too overwhelming.  Well, Parker has been doing very well and I started getting excited about getting some cute pictures of the kids.  I found a great photographer but sadly her schedule is full for a couple more months.  Hopefully in the future we will still get pictures taken with her but I really wanted something for Parker's first birthday so I picked a place in town that is quick, cheap, and you get your pictures the same day.  I thought it would be a good time and loaded the family up for our adventure.  

It went just perfect.  

Really. 

I promise. 

Parker was definitely NOT tired, grouchy, or overstimulated and loved getting his picture taken by a complete stranger. 

We, of course, did NOT bribe our two-year-old daughter with skittles to get her to smile.

And I most definitely did NOT go tanning in a bed that was too powerful the day before and did NOT top it off by grabbing the wrong make-up in a rush to get ready that day which resulted in me looking like an oompa-loompa.

No, luckily none of that happened.

But despite of it all, we somehow or another still ended up with some keepers...

 

Perfect isn't as much fun if you ask me.

POOL=LOVE

Since the splash park was such a hit, we decided to take Alexa to the pool.  She had filled up her potty chart with stickers and this was her reward.  She hadn't been to a pool in over a year so we weren't sure what to expect.  Well...it didn't take long at all for her to realize the pool was the best thing ever.  She fell in love. 

 

Now she just has to talk Mommy or Daddy into going back and getting in the COLD water.  That may require a few sticker charts.