Soccer

We have had a lot of new things happening lately.  Parker started soccer this week.  He had so much fun.  He really beats to his own drum and soccer was no exception.  He kind of kept to his own pace with running the ball.  The kids were just so cute out there.  Most of them are 3 and 4.  Parker was the youngest, but he did pretty good for his first time out there and first time with an organized sport.  The coach was great with them.  My little man was loyal to his personality in that he loved to get affirmation from the coach once he did what they were told.  When he would kick the ball into the goal, he would run to the coach and say “I did it!  I did it!”  The coach would of course high-five him and Parker loved it.

Daddy left work early so he could go with us to the first practice.

My little man is really growing up.  He was very much in his element being able to just run and play.

He may not have always followed the directions, but he did listen to a lot of them.

It was a beautiful day to be outside.  The fall weather is moving in, and I LOVE it!  It will be so fun going out to the soccer field every week and enjoying the fresh air.  Chloe loved being outside too.  She just smiled and cooed.  She and I hung out in the shade cheering for our favorite little boy.  Now, we have to check on some soccer shoes.  Naturally, I was the only mom who had not put soccer shoes on my little player!  I was a little surprised.  It didn’t seem to bother Parker though!  This is probably not the last time something like that happens to us.  Just a guess.

First Ever 1st Day of School

Parker started preschool today!  It was a really last minute decision, but he is in and LOVES it.  I woke him up this morning by whispering in his ear, “do you want to go to school today?”  He jumped up and said “Yes!  I do want to go to school.” He moved slowly, but we finally made it out of the door.  I learned to allow a little more time to get ready from now on.  I can only imagine when he’s a teenager how slow the process will be. 

My growing little man ready to go!

Really thinking this through at first.

 

How I spent part of my morning while Chloe slept in her car seat.

I finally snapped a picture of this cutie smiling.

This was our 1st Day of School Dinner Party.  We wanted to wait for daddy to get home to celebrate, so I let Parker choose dinner and we had little party horns and everything.  He chose to have chocolate chip pancakes, turkey bacon, and strawberries.  It was a yummy meal.  I can see a tradition starting here, and I love it.

Really tired of pictures at this point.

Of course he had a blast at school, and he loved his teacher, Ms. Becky.  These are some of the things he told me when I picked him up.

The 1st thing was, “mommy I didn’t push and hit anybody.”

When asked what he learned today, he said, “I learned Jesus.  I learned apple.”

I asked if he made any friends, and he said, “I got friends, but I don’t know them names”.  Me: “You don’t?” Parker: “No, because I didn’t ask them what they names was.”

He lit up with a huge smile on his face when he was telling me about music time.  He said when they were done dancing, Ms. Becky gave him smarties.  Then followed with “mommy, smarties are my favorite.”  Ms. Becky just has no idea the friend she just made!

Two Months

Chloe is 2 months old today!  She is a growing little girl too.  She doesn’t have her appt for a couple of more weeks, and I haven’t weighed her myself, but I bet she is about 10lbs now.  She has started to get somewhat of a routine down.  She doesn’t like to sleep as much as her brother did.  She will take a couple of naps a day and sleep great while you are holding her, but she wakes up a lot at night.  She has the occasional good night where she sleeps 5 or 6 hours, and we love those nights! But she seems healthy and content most of the time.  She eats really well, about every 3 hours.  She doesn’t have any problems with reflux like we thought she might, so that is great. 

She has smiled a few times and has started with those adorable noises babies make.  I haven’t been able to catch that smile on camera yet though.  She still wears her 3 month clothes.  Her feet are still tiny and all of her shoes are huge on her. 

We love her dearly and enjoy the good times with the crying times!  She is a cuddly baby and loves to be rocked and held.  She LOVES her swing too.

We celebrated by heading out to the park today where Parker had the time of his life.  He LOVED it out there.  It was hot, but he played in the fountains and stayed cool.  We will definitely be visiting the park a lot this Fall.

It was hard to catch him not in motion.

Chloe slept.

He played and ran.  He also ate the yummy cookies that another mother brought for her kids!  I will have to remember to take snacks for this little eater.

Isn’t this the cutest little monogrammed outfit?

Parker Mayes

I really should be sleeping right now, but I wanted to type out a few things about my little man that I want to remember. He can say the funniest, sweetest things sometimes. He can also be a Mr. Smarty Pants, but I choose to remember the sweet and funny things!

He is so friendly, and I love that about him. He will usually talk to people even if he doesn't know them. The other day at the dr's office while we were waiting at the lab, he decided he wanted to sit beside this elderly lady. I said down on the other side of him, and he talked and talked to her about everything that was happening in the waiting room. It was so cute. She didn't understand half of what he said, but she was so sweet to listen and entertain him. Her husband came in a few minutes later and sat on the other side of me. I offered for us to move, but he didn't want that. Parker made his way quickly to the husband. He sat down in the seat so proudly and looked up at him and smiled. The man asked what his name was, and Parker said "Parker Mayes Stephen". Which is his name, but he got his middle name and last name mixed up. But hey, he knew his full name. Then, this is the first time he's ever done this, he said "what's your name?" The man told him his name was James, and Parker quickly told him he had a train named James. Such a sweet little moment to see him engaging in conversation like that.

I love to hear him talk to his sister. He has heard us say things, so he will say things like look at those tiny fingers, hey precious, good morning sunshine, and of course I love you Chloe.

He also has many conversations with his stuffed animals in his room.

He will try to repeat things that Brent and I are talking about and it's hilarious to hear his version of it.

He likes to name the Braves players now. He loves to talk about "Pinske" being in the outfield!

He comes to my room every morning (if he's not already snuck in in the middle of the night) and tells me the sun is up so it's time to get out of bed.

He loves to tell me what girls can't do, but boys can. He will say "that's dangerous for girls mommy" or "that's dangerous for you, but not for boys".

I know there are a million other things, but I will post more when I can think of them all. I just wanted to get some of them down before I forget everything!

I love that little guy so much.

Chloe is 1 month old

This little bright-eyed beauty is one month old tomorrow! I can hardly believe 4 weeks have passed, and they have been exciting, sweet, precious, exhausting, and trying weeks. We are so blessed with our 2 children, but sometimes I forget that in the wee hours of the morning when I am so sleepy I can barely hold my head up to feed Chloe. I forgot how tiring those first few weeks can be. I can see some routine beginning to form though, so that is great encouragement. I also have no clue what I would do without Brent helping me out so much. I have a whole new appreciation for those who have no help and raise kids.

She is a sweet, cuddly little girl. She loves her mama right now for sure. I love that she can be screaming, and the instant I pick her up and speak to her, she calms down. I love that she is looking at us more and more. I love that she looks like me. I love that she has such petite features about her. I love that she has great piano fingers right now and hope that one day she will want to play piano. Although I never played, I have always loved listening to someone play the piano. We'll see if she likes it too. I love that she can sleep through her loud and active big brother. I love how he kisses her head too. And gives her the paci when she cries. I love having two kids that I can hold and hug and kiss and love. I love that when I feel like two kids are overwhelming me, one of them does something that makes it all better. And God is reminding me through them of the blessing they really are. I love that when I lose my patience with my strong willed little man, he still loves me and wants to hold me. I love that right now he is in his bed supposedly taking a nap, but he is talking to all of his stuffed animals. I love that I have a husband who will gladly let me sleep late or nap even if both kids are wide awake. I love that I can totally rely on God to carry me through this season that seems to have lots of ups and downs, but is filled with joy.

Somehow writing all of that totally changed the perspective of my day! After I have been to the doc with Chloe, had her foot pricked AGAIN, dealt with a couple of toddler meltdowns and a busted lip, told a certain toddler for the 15th time today not to put his sister's paci in his mouth, I was really beginning to go a little crazy in the head! Thankfully, in the quiet and still moments, God reminds me of all of the wonderful things and the crazy days seem to lose momentum.

And back to the reason I started this post. Chloe had a check-up today. I was a little concerned about her color still looking a bit jaundice and she has had some ups and downs with eating. Spitting up more, eating less, and some issues with her bowels. Not to mention a few nights of her just screaming out seemingly in pain. I just thought it best to take her on in for her one month appt and not wait until the scheduled one next week. It looks/sounds like she has a little bit of reflux issues, so we are going to try some Zantac for a bit. I am really hoping that helps. And I just need to watch my diet a little better and stay away from milk products for a few weeks and see if that helps her. She also had to get her bilirubin level checked again, and I haven't heard from that yet. On a postive note, little miss has gained 2 lbs. and that is great! She is growing at a great pace and that makes me happy! So we know she isn't hungry at least.
Today, she was:

9lbs, 3oz (2 lbs, 7oz more than when she was born)

21 in long (1.5 in taller than when she was born)

Blog Revival

If you are here reading this now, I thank you!  You are a dedicated follower because obviously I have not updated in a while.  My background picture actually expired, and I had to decide whether to revive this blog or not.  I was really leaning towards not, but I decided today that I would just try again and see.  I know several family members who would love for me to continue this.  It’s just hard to find the time and the words.  I feel like it’s easy to make your life appear perfect and good on the internet, but not so easy to just be real knowing anyone can see your words.  Since we are expecting another precious little one in a couple of months, I know the fam would appreciate some updates.  So I am going to try to update and try to be real all at the same time… hold on world!!  I also will love having some of these memories of my kids when they were small because I do an even worse job at keeping any sort of mommy journal.  I kept Parker’s baby book up to date for about the 1st 4 months.  We’ll see how this goes folks!

In the meantime, just a little peek into our world right now…

Parker is 2yrs and 7 months old and having the time of his life.  He is saying the funniest things lately and loves to sing.  He also loves to pitch a fit!  We are deep in the throws of terrible 2’s, but he can still be the sweetest, cutest little thing in all the world.  He is growing up really fast.  We are also starting with the potty training.  Lord help me!!  I will be honest and say I have not looked forward to this at all.  I would honestly keep buying diapers and be fine with that until he’s 6.  But, he has really shown interest lately, so I should heed the signs and start working with him, I guess!  I just hate the mess!  He has peed in the potty twice though, so we are very excited for him.

Baby Chloe will be here in 2 months!  Crazy!  We are getting her room ready and making the furniture switch soon.  She already has some cute little outfits and shoes.  They do make the cutest little girl clothes!  We are anxious to see how she looks and how her personality is.  I look forward to seeing how Parker will be with her.  I know he will love her and make her laugh, and I am sure she will love him.

12 Weeks and Sugar Blues

I can hardly believe I am already 12 weeks pregnant.  Time is really moving fast.  And I am sure it will move even faster with 2 little ones.  So I had my monthly check-up yesterday, and all was fine with baby.  The little heartbeat was just pounding away.  My doctor told me she would be surprised if this wasn’t a little girl.  Her heartbeat was around 155, and I guess the word is that the higher heartbeats belong to the girls.  I think it’s because we’re so emotional and feel everything with our hearts.  My guess anyway!  I am a little skeptical of statistics like that, but we shall see!  Then I read Kelly’s blog where her little Hollis had a heartbeat of 150, so maybe it is a girl, I don’t know.

I had the dreaded task of taking an early glucose test yesterday too.  My sugar was high in the prenatal labs, so I had to go ahead and get that checked.  I was really not looking forward to it.  I mean, who does, really?  And it was as bad as I remembered it being with Parker.  Except this time, I had the pregnancy nausea to throw into the mix.  I survived though.  I put on my big girl clothes and used a little positive mental reinforcement to survive.  No need to describe!  I am really praying for everything to be ok, and that if I do have GD, that the Lord will give me the discipline I need to follow a healthy diet and deliver a healthy baby.  No matter boy or girl, I just want us to be healthy.

On a positive note, I lost 4 lbs since my last OB visit!  How that’s possible, I don’t know, but I was thrilled.  This is the first time in my life that I actually lost weight through the Christmas season!! 

Back to Normal

Things around here are getting back to normal after the crazy busy holiday season.  The only bad part about that is daddy is back at work.  We got a little attached to him while he was off for 2 weeks, and then we had to let him go back to work.  Someone has to bring home the bacon, I guess.  It was nice to have him around though.  When Parker woke from his nap yesterday afternoon, he said “I want daddy come home”.  He’s lost without him right now. 

We had a great time with family and friends over Christmas and got really spoiled.  All 3 of us!  We usually dread all of the traveling and moving from place to place, but we actually kind of enjoyed it this time around.  It wasn’t so bad and the traveling was easy.  It helps that Parker was just pretty much perfect in the car.  We were expecting much worse! 

Our decorations are put away now, and everything is back in place.  Well, except for all of the toys I can’t figure out what to do with.  That will come soon enough though.  Right now, I am really enjoying some down time.  We actually stayed home all day yesterday!  I don’t know if anyone else is like this, but I like some home time and some down time quite often.  Not just here and there, but quite often!  I just like routines and a feeling of ‘normalcy’, whether it’s normal or not.  The occasional spontaneous behavior is fine and good too, but some routine has to be thrown back into the mix. 

Well a little someone is trying his best to cuddle with me… so I gotta go!