Our Newest Addition

Justin and I have always wanted our children close in age. This summer we started discussing our second child. It took two and a half years to conceive Parker, so we've wondered if we'd also have difficulty with our other children.  This time God blessed us with a child quickly. It's funny how our timing can be so different than the Lords'.
On August 25th I helped run a school supply giveaway to children who can't otherwise get what they need for school. As I was cleaning up my station at the end of the day, the Life Center Church janitor was helping me load my car. As we walked away, he turned to me and asked if I am a Jesus girl. When I told him I am, he said, "The Lord told me to tell you that you are going to have a baby." He smiled and walked away. No sooner did he leave did I wish I had asked him when! Does that mean soon or eventually? Would it be a natural pregnancy or an adoption? That short conversation did give me peace, knowing and trusting that I would have another child.
Towards the end of September Parker and I joined Justin on a work trip to San Diego. When we returned home I began to suspect that I was pregnant.  When Justin arrived home from work on the 24th, I ran upstairs and took a test. Positive! I decided to put the test in a gift bag and handed it to Justin. When he opened it, he was surprised! We were both in shock. Parker was sitting in his high chair wondering what was up with his parents.  It was special to have him part of our moment. We even got him to say "baby".

On October 16th, we went to see our OB, Dr. Nelson, for an intake appointment and ultrasound. It turned out that I was 6 weeks pregnant. The baby was very small on the ultrasound pictures. It sort of looked like a shrimp. We could make out the head and curved body. It was fun to see this stage of development!

The baby is in the center of the black.  The head is the larger, white circle on the left and the body/legs curl up along the head on the right.

Justin and I decided to keep our new baby a secret until 12 weeks.  This was difficult! One person, however, figured it out. Tiffany asked me if I was pregnant the week after Justin and I found out.  I thought that her and her husband, Derek, figured it out because they knew I was taking extra naps and had turned down a drink or two.  It turns out that God told her. She was praying and heard the words "Fear Not" and she knew! This is a big deal for Justin and I. If you've read our Presentation Sunday blog post, you remember that we went to a special service to receive prayer while trying to conceive Parker. A woman prayed over us and kept repeating the words "Fear Not" to us. Soon after I found out I was pregnant. When I told Tiffany about our experience, she reminded us that in the Bible those words were used when God wanted people to know good news was coming.
Luke 2:10: "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy".  
In Luke 1:12 an angel of the Lord said, "Fear not, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth."
Luke 1:30-31: "The angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus."
It's amazing to me how much the Lord cares about us and how he takes care of us. It's not always in our timing, but it's always in His.  This baby is in God's perfect timing. He or she is a miracle and a gift. Praise God.

We were so excited and about our new addition, that we wanted to make the baby part of the holidays. It's fun to be pregnant during these special occasions because we have something extra to celebrate.  When went to the pumpkin patch before Halloween, we got 4 pumpkins. The baby needs one too! We hoped no one would think twice about an extra pumpkin sitting on our porch.

This pregnancy has been quite different than my first.  With Parker I was hardly nauseous. This time, I felt quite sick the first trimester. I was even unlucky enough to throw up a few times.  I was am just as tired. Last time, I was busy teaching 27 students and this time I am chasing a one year old.  Both don't allow for much down time.  Of course, I welcome the sick feelings because I know these are signs my baby is healthy and growing. It is all worth it for a new, precious little one. 

November 20th, Justin, Parker and I went to Maternal Fetal Medicine at Saint Joseph's Hospital for an extra ultrasound. This was to detect for any possible complications. We don't have any reason to believe there would be an issue. Our OB always offers it, so we thought we'd do it just for extra piece of mind.  This ultrasound was a lot of fun. It was more in depth than normal and we got to see our baby's heart, brain, and other vital organs. The baby was much more developed than the last ultrasound, even though he or she was only about 4 centimeters. We could see him or her wiggling around and waving arms and legs. Exciting!

You can see the baby's profile on the left and his or her body on the right. The legs are curled up.

One Year Old: A Monster Celebration

I can't believe I'm already writing about my son's first birthday! It is crazy to think that our little boy is turning into a toddler. It feels like he was just born. Justin and I have been doing a lot of reflecting on the last 12 months. We've had so much fun with our boy. He is sweet, funny, easy going, friendly and silly. We couldn't be more proud or feel any luckier than we do. Parker is simply amazing.

Since Parker was a monster for Halloween, that gave us the idea to have a monster themed party. Let's be realistic...one year olds don't care about their birthday. First birthdays are for parents and grandparents. I'm okay with that. Parker can have a say in his next 90 parties, but this one is mine! I love a good party, so I planned for a month or two and came up with some pretty fun ideas for decorations. I found a lady on Etsy who created an amazing invitation, and I look at Pinterest for cake and cupcake ideas. It all came together extremely well. My good friend, Tiffany was a life saver and helped me decorate the cake and cupcakes. I couldn't have gotten them done in time without her!

We are lucky to have so many family members who live close by and who love Parker so much. There were about 20 people at the party. Parker is one blessed boy!

Here are some shots of the decorations:

Party Fun:

Parker threw each eyeball on the floor

October

Parker has been really in to talking and making hand gestures lately.  Parker waves hello and goodbye to people that he meets. He also loves to clap. He will clap for himself after doing something cool like climbing onto the couch or stacking blocks.  He also claps if he hears it on TV. I think once he clapped at himself for clapping. Parker also copies more of our words. He's tried to say things such as "great grandpa (sounded like papapa), grandpa, doggy, fishy" though he doesn't say them on his own and we aren't sure he understands the meaning. 

Parker understands most of what we say. We can tell him "go find your teddy bear" or "where are your ears" and he complies. It's pretty amazing to see him figuring out new things every day. It allows Parker to become more independent and to express himself.

Since Parker has 8 teeth, we figured it was time to start brushing. I've heard horror stories about parents fighting with their kids to get them to brush, so I was a little nervous. I had no reason, apparently, because Parker loves it! He started giggling while Justin brushed. Now whenever Parker sees us brushing, he asks for his toothbrush.

The cupboards in the kitchen are off limits for Parker, except for one. When we are in the kitchen, without a doubt, Parker will make his way to "his" cabinet. In it is his food, cups, bowls and spoons.  He usually pulls out everything he can reach and puts it on the floor. Parker especially loves the spoons. He will take them out and carry them around the house. It is not unusual to find a spoon on his floor, in our bed or on our bathroom floor. Parker has even napped with a spoon. In fact, he has one in his crib with him right now. Parker took two spoons on a walk with us last week. I don't get it. Why are they so fun? We'll have to ask Parker to explain this to us in a year or two. Some people's kids...

As the holidays approach, Justin and I are excited about starting new family traditions.  We have been going on fall walks and playing in the leaves. We also took Parker to his first pumpkin patch. What a fun day! We bundled up and found a family-owned patch in Port Orchard that was perfect. They gave us a wagon to pull Parker in, which he loved. We sipped apple cider as we strolled around and enjoyed the farm. There were animals to feed and a play set. Parker walked through the pumpkins but wasn't as excited about he pumpkins as we hoped. He pretty much just wanted to play with the wagon. We did get him to hold still for a couple pictures. We are already looking forward to coming back next year!

Halloween fell on a Wednesday. We decided to join our friends, the Snyders, in the Proctor District for trick-or-treating. The boys are really too little for trick-or-treating, but it was something fun to do, and of course we wanted to show off their costumes. Parker didn't care at all about the candy, but loved walking around and people-watching.  He even made some monster sounds! After, we headed to the Snyder's for pizza and passed out candy to neighborhood kids.

Here are some fun images from this month:

September

Right now Parker is saying: "hi dad", "hi kitty", "no" and "all done".  He mimics some of our words like, "oh no", and "night night" but doesn't use them on his own yet. He signs and makes many gestures such as: wave, more, high five, no, all done, food, milk, night night. Most of these he does with prompting only. It's fun to see Parker develop language and it is so helpful to know what he wants. I'm sure it cuts down on his frustration as well.

Parker love the stairs! When we're in the kitchen and take our eyes off him, before we know it, we hear squealing and laughter and thumping as he's climbing up. I think he mostly gets pleasure out of us chasing after him.  Once at the top, Parker likes to swing the gate open and closed. He would do it for and hour if we'd let him.  One thing that is not working so well is going down. Parker is not interested.  He might go down one or two stairs before he gets bored and tries to jump off.  Yikes. We're trying to use Cheerios as bate for practice. We'll see how it goes.

This month Parker discovered the slide. We started going to Kandle Park, near our house, and it is fabulous because it has a big kid area along with tot-structure that babies can climb on complete with baby-sized slides. Parker goes down all by himself and squeals the whole way.  It's a lot of fun to see him lighting up with excitement.

The biggest accomplishment of the month was walking! Parker was taking steps in August but at the beginning of September was able to walk across most of the room. By the end of the month, Parker got fast and pretty sure on his feet! He definitely still falls often, but it is neat to see how fast he's gotten the hang of it.

Justin has a yearly work conference in San Diego. This year, I'm not working so Parker and I decided to invite ourselves along. Justin is so sweet for letting us join him. I'm sure it added a little stress to the beginning of his trip, but it worked out well. Parker was perfect on the plane ride down. He slept on Justin's lap most of the way, and we were able to entertain him with a book, snack and the iPad the rest of the way. The first two days Justin had meetings and events most of the time so Parker and I kept busy around the hotel. We went swimming, walked around downtown, Seaport Village and San Diego State University.  When Justin's conference wrapped up, we switched to a hotel on Mission Bay. This allowed us to be closer to the beach and where we lived while in college. We met up with friends, played in the sand, road bikes on the boardwalk and swam in the pool. Perhaps the best day was when we went to Sea World. Parker loved the Shamu Show. He liked the splashing. Parker was also able to touch starfish and bat rays. I think he mostly liked to put his hands in the cold water and try to lick it. Our kid is gross. The plane ride home wasn't as easy as the first one. Parker was grumpy for a good 40 minutes before we got him to go to sleep, but once he did, he slept the remainder of the flight.All in all, it was a fantastic family trip. San Diego is one of our favorite places and it was fun to share it with our son.

Checking out the view

San Diego State University

Rachel and Scott Putting Parker to Bed

Parker's food dislikes: cantaloupe
Favorites this month: Cheerios, cheese, blueberries, Eggo Waffles, pasta, deli meat, chicken breast, green beans
If Parker is hungry, he signs "food" with his fingers to his lips.  When he gets full, Parker drops his food on the floor, which Roscoe loves.  He also often signs "all done". 

Parker is still a handful in the bathroom while we are getting ready. Parker thinks its fun to open the shower door, take things out of the drawers and lately has been putting his hand in the toilet. Needless to say, our showers have been very short. 

 Roscoe (and most cats) bumps his head on people to show affection. Parker obviously was paying attention because every time he sees the cat, he bumps him with his forehead. Parker has transferred this to all fuzzy things. He head bumps stuffed animals, blankets, Mom & Dad, and other children that he meets.  We went to a baby music class at the library and Parker chased down the teacher's hand puppet to head bump it in front of the group.  Hopefully people find it cute rather than creepy.  

Our son is all boy.  He loves playing in the dirt. In fact, he will often walk directly to a dirt bed and sit down right in the middle. Parker doesn't mind getting messy. He does, however, like to eat rocks.  We have to keep a close eye on the little guy!

Parker is getting slightly more clingy to Justin and I. I doesn't cry when we leave him with other people, but he is starting to be more shy. At the church child care, Parker often wants to be held the entire time. He doesn't seem to care that the ladies have to take care of other children too. Hopefully this will pass fairly soon.

Parker continues to have a even, mellow temperament. He is an observer. This is a comment we hear a lot from strangers. He is always looking around, taking in new sites, sounds.  Parker is usually shy at first in new situations, but quickly warms up. He knows what he wants, but at the same time he isn't stubborn if he doesn't get his way. Parker is starting to be more silly. He knows when he is being funny and likes making us laugh with silly faces, dancing or sounds.  He's pretty entertaining. Who needs TV?

Our big boy has outgrown his infant seat. His little legs were hanging over the edge so we decided it was time to move to a convertible car seat. It is still rear facing, and will be until he is about 2. Parker seems to like sitting more upright because he gets a better view.

Parker has transitioned to 2 naps. He still sleeps from 8pm-8am each night. Around 9:30 Parker is ready for his first nap which lasts 45 minutes to an hour. He goes down again around 2 for another hour or hour and a half. His nap times are constantly changing depending on what we are doing that day. We are lucky that Parker is good at being flexible.

Justin is working on getting his son to the major leagues by exposing him to lots of baseball early on.  We went to a Mariner's game early in the month with our friend, Allison.  Parker enjoyed watching the crowd and hearing everyone cheer.  We were lucky to be there for an event were kids got to run the bases after the game. At that point, Parker was just walking, so he was able to participate. Justin helped him walk the whole way around. He loved it! He has a huge smile and especially loved high-fiving the crew as he crossed home plate. Parker even made it on the Jumbotron!

At the end of the month, we got invited to a batting practice at the Tacoma Rainier's Stadium.  It was fun to watch Justin pitch and hit. He's still got it! Parker loved playing with the balls and bats. We are excited for him to join little league in a few years!