Parker has loved playing Peek-A-Boo for a long time but he's never initiated it or been the one to "hide" on his own. We have either covered Parker's face and then removed the cover and said "Peek-A-Boo" or we cover our own faces. Last night, when Paul put Parker to bed and gave him his blanky he started doing this on his own. Paul called me into the room and showed me what Parker was doing. I think we played Peek-A-Boo for 10 minutes. It was great. Parker was obviously proud of himself and had a great time. I'm so glad we were able to capture this "first" on video.
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Peek-A-Boo
Parker has loved playing Peek-A-Boo for a long time but he's never initiated it or been the one to "hide" on his own. We have either covered Parker's face and then removed the cover and said "Peek-A-Boo" or we cover our own faces. Last night, when Paul put Parker to bed and gave him his blanky he started doing this on his own. Paul called me into the room and showed me what Parker was doing. I think we played Peek-A-Boo for 10 minutes. It was great. Parker was obviously proud of himself and had a great time. I'm so glad we were able to capture this "first" on video.
Friday, January 25, 2013
THANK YOU
I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you who read our blog. I checked out the "stats" recently and there have been over 20,000 hits to this blog. Thank you all for caring and wanting to keep updated on our little family. It means a lot.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
My New Years Resolutions (a bit late)
1. Give up chocolate.
Well, not for the whole year or anything crazy like that but for the month of January. I maybe overdid it in the chocolate department around Christmas and I feel like I need to make up for it.
Yes, I am grumpy since we are now 23 days in.
And yes, I have cheated three times. But I promise there were legitimate reasons each time.
Promise.
2. Go to church more.
On a fairly consistent basis, we have been able to get a nurse to watch Parker twice a month so Paul, Alexa and I can attend church together. We are hoping to boost that up to three times per month. Neither Paul or I are very good about attending church without the other one but I'm going to try to do better about this when we can't get a nurse.
3. Find a new hobby.
Right now my main hobby is baking. That's great and all except that my metabolism doesn't work as well as it used to. This is making me sad...and chubby. And since we all know how much I detest exercise I guess I'll have to do better about cutting back in the dessert area.
I did stumble upon a new blog today that I'm pretty fascinated with. It's written by Ana White who is a mother and homemaker in Alaska who builds stuff. Really awesome stuff. I'm inspired and now have all sorts of crazy ideas. I may have to convince Paul to let me use a power tool or two which may or may not be a good idea but we'll see what comes of this. I've also been inspired a lot by all of the DIY projects on Pinterest so maybe my new hobby will simply be creating things and discovering my more crafty side.
4. Step out of my comfort zone and allow God to use me and my experiences for a bigger purpose.
I've already started to do this. I don't believe I have mentioned on this blog that I took a leadership role with my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group this past fall. I am now the finance coordinator. I actually like it very much and was pretty ecstatic that we were able to come in $3.00 under budget for our fall semester.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. The coordinator of our group asked me if I would be willing to speak to the group about my experience with Parker. My initial reaction was to run and hide. However, I felt a tugging at my heart like I've never experienced before. After telling God "No" for several weeks I finally agreed to do it.
If you know me very well at all you know that public speaking is not a strong suit of mine. In fact, in high school and college when I was asked to speak to the class, I would get VERY nervous, get a blotchy rash, shake like a leaf and I came very close to passing out on several occasions. After all, I'm the girl who eloped in Hawaii to avoid a big, church wedding where I would have to be the center of attention. However, I have agreed to speak to the group of 30+ women and I think I'm feeling at peace with it. I'm trusting God and hoping that sharing my story will be helpful for some of the Moms who attend our group. My topic is going to be "When Life Doesn't Go as Planned". Wish me luck and pray that I don't pass out.
So, that's it. Four resolutions. They are all do-able and realistic so hopefully I can be successful. I should add "Exercise Four Times A Week" to the list but if I did that I'd probably just throw the whole thing out. So, I'll stick with what I have and keep you updated on how things go.
Well, not for the whole year or anything crazy like that but for the month of January. I maybe overdid it in the chocolate department around Christmas and I feel like I need to make up for it.
Yes, I am grumpy since we are now 23 days in.
And yes, I have cheated three times. But I promise there were legitimate reasons each time.
Promise.
2. Go to church more.
On a fairly consistent basis, we have been able to get a nurse to watch Parker twice a month so Paul, Alexa and I can attend church together. We are hoping to boost that up to three times per month. Neither Paul or I are very good about attending church without the other one but I'm going to try to do better about this when we can't get a nurse.
3. Find a new hobby.
Right now my main hobby is baking. That's great and all except that my metabolism doesn't work as well as it used to. This is making me sad...and chubby. And since we all know how much I detest exercise I guess I'll have to do better about cutting back in the dessert area.
I did stumble upon a new blog today that I'm pretty fascinated with. It's written by Ana White who is a mother and homemaker in Alaska who builds stuff. Really awesome stuff. I'm inspired and now have all sorts of crazy ideas. I may have to convince Paul to let me use a power tool or two which may or may not be a good idea but we'll see what comes of this. I've also been inspired a lot by all of the DIY projects on Pinterest so maybe my new hobby will simply be creating things and discovering my more crafty side.
4. Step out of my comfort zone and allow God to use me and my experiences for a bigger purpose.
I've already started to do this. I don't believe I have mentioned on this blog that I took a leadership role with my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group this past fall. I am now the finance coordinator. I actually like it very much and was pretty ecstatic that we were able to come in $3.00 under budget for our fall semester.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. The coordinator of our group asked me if I would be willing to speak to the group about my experience with Parker. My initial reaction was to run and hide. However, I felt a tugging at my heart like I've never experienced before. After telling God "No" for several weeks I finally agreed to do it.
If you know me very well at all you know that public speaking is not a strong suit of mine. In fact, in high school and college when I was asked to speak to the class, I would get VERY nervous, get a blotchy rash, shake like a leaf and I came very close to passing out on several occasions. After all, I'm the girl who eloped in Hawaii to avoid a big, church wedding where I would have to be the center of attention. However, I have agreed to speak to the group of 30+ women and I think I'm feeling at peace with it. I'm trusting God and hoping that sharing my story will be helpful for some of the Moms who attend our group. My topic is going to be "When Life Doesn't Go as Planned". Wish me luck and pray that I don't pass out.
So, that's it. Four resolutions. They are all do-able and realistic so hopefully I can be successful. I should add "Exercise Four Times A Week" to the list but if I did that I'd probably just throw the whole thing out. So, I'll stick with what I have and keep you updated on how things go.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Video Games are Good for You
I remember when I got my first Nintendo. As in, the original Nintendo NES. I didn't have any sort of video game prior to that and I thought it was the best! One of my favorite games was Tetris. I was competitive with myself even at a young age and I continuously tried to beat my own score.
Then a bit later on, I got my first Game Boy. Tetris was by far my favorite game to play on that little black and white screen. And...yes I was still on my quest to beat my own score.
When the original Nintendo and the original Game Boy were no longer cool and got tucked away in a closet somewhere, I didn't play Tetris much. In fact, I didn't play any type of video game very much. Until...we joined the modern age and finally got smartphones. Paul and I got eachother i-Phone 5's for Christmas. I don't really know how we functioned without them for so long. They really do everything. And although I have many game apps on my phone, my favorite is...Tetris! The problem is I think I'm addicted.
I think I have officially beat my all-time Tetris score. I was convinced I had probably also reached the world-record level for Tetris but I googled it and unfortunately that's not at all the case. What I did learn in my google search is the following, "According to research from Dr. Richard Haier, et al. prolonged Tetris activity can lead to more efficient brain activity during play. When first playing Tetris, brain function and activity increases along with greater cerebral energy consumption, measured by glucose metabolic rate. As Tetris players become more proficient, their brains show a reduced consumption of glucose, indicating more efficient brain activity for this task" (source: Wikipedia).
So...Tetris is good for you. And maybe it's OK to be addicted to this particular game. That's what I'm going to tell myself anyway.
You didn't know I was such a geek did you? Well, now you know.
Then a bit later on, I got my first Game Boy. Tetris was by far my favorite game to play on that little black and white screen. And...yes I was still on my quest to beat my own score.
When the original Nintendo and the original Game Boy were no longer cool and got tucked away in a closet somewhere, I didn't play Tetris much. In fact, I didn't play any type of video game very much. Until...we joined the modern age and finally got smartphones. Paul and I got eachother i-Phone 5's for Christmas. I don't really know how we functioned without them for so long. They really do everything. And although I have many game apps on my phone, my favorite is...Tetris! The problem is I think I'm addicted.
I think I have officially beat my all-time Tetris score. I was convinced I had probably also reached the world-record level for Tetris but I googled it and unfortunately that's not at all the case. What I did learn in my google search is the following, "According to research from Dr. Richard Haier, et al. prolonged Tetris activity can lead to more efficient brain activity during play. When first playing Tetris, brain function and activity increases along with greater cerebral energy consumption, measured by glucose metabolic rate. As Tetris players become more proficient, their brains show a reduced consumption of glucose, indicating more efficient brain activity for this task" (source: Wikipedia).
So...Tetris is good for you. And maybe it's OK to be addicted to this particular game. That's what I'm going to tell myself anyway.
You didn't know I was such a geek did you? Well, now you know.
 |
| My top endless score on Tetris |
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Isn't It Lovely!
Who knew a girl could get so excited about a utility sink next to her washer and dryer? Well, it's pretty darn great let me tell you!
This area wasn't set up to add a sink so Paul had quite a bit of extra plumbing to do. Good thing I married such a handy guy. Thanks Paul!!!
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