14 Months

You actually turned 14 months old on the 26th. This blog is a few days late, because your daddy and I are on vacation in Avila Beach, Ca. 

So let's start with the saddest part of the month, when you got the stomach flu. Other than small cold, this is the first time you’ve really been sick. You were sick for about three days, but the first day is the worst. By the second day, you were holding your food down. We made sure you drank a lot of Pedialyte so you wouldn’t dehydrate. You were extra sleepy and cuddly, and by day four you seemed back to normal again.

But on to other news:

Milk comes in a sippy cup now. You were a bit resistant at first (you loved your bottle, after all!) but now you’re transitioned to using your “big boy” sippy cup.

You’ve been busy this month.  You are always walking now. If you’re moving, then you’re on your feet.  It’s truly rare to see you crawl anymore.

You learn new words every day! You love to demonstrate that knowledge. Something you like doing is showing off the body parts that you are able to identify. This includes: toes, nose, ears, mouth (sometimes) and... head. :)

Something new for you this month: bubbles! You LOVE bubbles! You love watching us blow bubbles, you love catching (or eating!) the bubbles. You even love just holding the bubble bottle. I’m just sorry I haven’t captured any pictures of it yet.

Another thing that’s new is that you’ve been napping in other houses. It used to be that you wouldn’t sleep anywhere but your own crib (and maybe your car seat). But twice this month you slept in a pack n play in someone else’s house. The first time was on the Fourth of July. We went to some friends’ house for dinner. At 7:00, we put you down in your pack n play in a back bedroom. We expected you to scream and cry for a long time, but you hardly fussed! You slept peacefully until it was time to leave. We were SO proud of you.

Then, when we went to visit Daddy’s Auntie in Freemont (who fed you your first “whole” banana, which made you VERY happy!), you slept in the car on the way there…

…And you took a good, long nap in your pack n play! Again, we were so proud of you, and we’re just happy that you’re able to sleep out of the house! This benefits you as well as Mommy and Daddy!

Just some more cuteness:

Another new thing is you’ve learned how to brush your hair. You learned it after watching Mommy brush your hair. It’s super cute when you do it, and you seem to really like it:

And... some more cuteness:

You continue to have a fascination with hats (“Ckkk”). You like wearing them for short periods of time, but you especially like making Mommy, Daddy or Grandpa wear hats. You’ll take the hat off out head, then prompt us to put it back it back on. You’ll do this over and over for several minutes.

 You’ve taking a liking to shoes (“Gah-k”)this month. You like holding shoes, whether it’s your shoes or Mommy or Daddy’s shoes. You really like doing this during a diaper change. J

Parker, you continue to be such a JOY to us. Though you do have a contemplative and serious side, you also have a really silly side too. You’re a very happy little guy who likes to smile and giggle. You continue learning new words and new things every day and it's super excing to watch you grow! Mommy and Daddy both really love this stage that you're in. 

We love you so so much, little Bubba! We can't wait to see what God teaches you next month!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Some silly pictures:

Happy 13 Months!

Parker,

Today you are 13 months old! 

You've been taking your new title as "toddler" very seriously this past month. You went to taking a few shaky steps, just before your birthday, to full-on walking across the room! You can walk by yourself, though  you're still pretty wobbly at times, and you do much better if you're holding on to someone's finger.

You've taken quite an interest in a lot of your "toddler toys." You especially like your puppy and helicopter.

But your absolute favorite are your cars from Grammy. You LOVE them, and you learned how to say car very quickly. 

Also this month, Daddy was in Kentucky for a week, so you had some fun Facetime chats with him:

While Daddy was gone, you and Mommy stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the week. You had a  lot of fun spending so much time with them!

You got to hang out with Justin Beaver:

Play in the pool:

 Play with the hose (you discovered your love for the hose this month!):

See the kitties:

You continue to call your bottle "ya-ya" which is super cute

You're saying a lot of new "baby gibberish" words. One of the first new words this month was "bah":

Our favorite new sound--which we haven't yet caught on film--is a "leh-der, leh-der, leh-der" sound. We can't figure out how you do it, but it's been your favorite saying this past week. 

You've also learned your own version of Grandpa (ga-pa) and Grandma (ma ma ma ).

You've moved into many 18-month clothing sizes, though some of your 12-month sizes still fit okay. 

Also, this month, your fifth tooth came out. You can kind of see it in this picture, to the left of your two bottom teeth:

You still LOVE to eat! You are enjoying cow's milk, which you get three times a day, 7oz for each bottle. We just recently tried giving you milk in a sippy cup, which you weren't a fan of at first. Hopefully, it's something you'll get used to as we try to wean you off using a bottle in the next few months. After all, you're a big boy toddler now! :)

 You have been SO much fun this month. You are all smiles and giggles, and it's fun to watch you waddle your way around on two feet. Since daddy is home for the summer, you've had a lot of "father-son" time while Mommy is at work, and you seem to really enjoy that. No one makes you laugh like Daddy! 

You've always brought us joy, but we feel like this month has been super special as you've been full of even more laughs and smiles. We love watching you explore your world, discovering new things to say, do and look at each day. 

We love you, little man! And we can't wait to see what next month brings!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Parker is 12 Months Old!

Parker,

Our little baby Bubba, we can’t believe you are twelve months old. Say goodbye to the infant stage, and hello toddler!

There are so many new and exciting things that have happened this month. Let’s start with your mobility. You are a super crawler now, and can crawl anywhere in lightning speed! You can stand independently for a long time, especially if you are focused on holding something. You have taken a few steps at a time, but you aren’t really walking around yet.

You went to see your new doctor, Dr. Zubach (who was also Mommy’s doctor when she was little!), on May 10th. You weighed 21.3 pounds and measured 29 inches tall. We are super happy to see your weight gain, as you are now in the 30^th percentile for weight instead of the first percentile.

You have moved up to size 4 diapers and are fitting snug into your 12 month clothes. Actually, some of your 12 month sizes are too small, so we've pulled out some of the 12-18 month sizes for you!

You are quite the chatterbox when you’re in the mood for it. You understand a lot of words now, and if we say any of these words, you’ll point to them or look at them: snuggly, paci, Mommy, Daddy, Jack, Elmo, book, fan, and bottle. You probably understand a lot more than that, and we just haven’t realized it yet.

You are a curious little explorer! You love to crawl around Mommy and Daddy's room, or your room, and open every drawer, pull off every toy from the shelf, and see how high you can reach or climb. 

You’ve also started saying a few words. The first word we really noticed was when you say Jack’s name. You say “ck” when you see him. So we think “Jack” was your first word!

 And by the way, Jack is really becoming your buddy! You love to play with him, pet him, and hold his leash when we go on walks.

When you want your bottle or food, you say “ya-ya-ya!” very enthusiastically. 

And just recently, you’ve learned how to say "up". You say “ah-bbbb,” kind of like you’re making a little raspberry sound. We’re so proud and in awe of how fast you are learning things!

Other new things… we got a gazebo in the backyard and put a water play table out there for you. You really like the water table. You enjoy splashing and we think you just love the fact that you’re outside, which seems to be your favorite place to be!

Also this month you got an Elmo chair and a Fisher Price walker—both of which don’t seem to really impress you much. We think that’s mainly because you don’t know how to really use them yet. But we know you’ll like them once you do. 

Oh, and you got your first Elmo doll this month--thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

You went to your first birthday party this month—actually you went to two in the same weekend! First, you went to your friend Abbey’s first birthday, and then you went to Chloe’s first birthday the very next day. You did awesome both times! You are very social, and you had a great time playing with the toys and other kiddos. You also are quite a fan of balloons. :o)

One of your favorite new foods is pancakes! You love them! 

 We have loved seeing your personality develop this month. You are a super silly and happy boy. You are really growing into your giggle, and we find ourselves doing whatever it takes to get you to laugh. You are very ticklish, and your daddy is the best one to get you really laughing with tickles! 

Goofy face!

Silly paci face!

Happy boy!

 We love watching you grow each day, as you discover new words and new places to explore. You are the light of our lives, and we love you so much, little man! We are thankful every day that God has put you in our lives. Though we are a bit sad to say goodbye to your days as an infant, we are super excited to watch you grow as a toddler! There are so many things for you to still discover, and we're so happy to get to be with you every step of the way!

We love you so much, Bubba!

Mommy and Daddy

Happy 11 Months, Parker!

Parker,

You are 11 months old—just one month away from being a YEAR old! 

This month has been a blast! You’ve finally put on a good amount of baby weight. I’m pretty sure you’re close to 20-21 pounds now, which gets you out of the 1^st percentile for weight… I’m sure you’re closer to the average mean. I think this growth is mainly due to the fact that we switched you over to 100% formula this month. Mommy was sad to stop nursing you, but we really felt like this would help you gain the weight you needed—and it did! 


You are in 12month clothes now. Most seem to be the 9-12 size, but some are a bit bigger... the 12-18month size. You are just barely still in size three diapers, but our next purchase will be size 4's. 

We've had many outings to the park, when the weather has allowed us.

You had your first Easter this month. We decided to do a Easter basket next year when you have a bit more awareness of what's going on. But you did receive a few gifts: a new Easter suit and some Easter books, one from us and one from grandma and grandpa. 

On Easter, we went to your great-grandpa Harold's birthday celebration. You met a lot of family for the first time. 

You love our new couch and spend a lot of time walking along the edges, wishing you knew how to climb up by yourself. :)

Also, this month was your first visit to the Zoo! We went with grandma and grandpa and I think you had a lot of fun. Though you didn't really see a lot of the animals, you loved being outside with all of the people and big trees. You had a great time looking around, taking it all in. 

"please, please. no more pictures. I'll sign autographs later."

You love exploring Mommy and Daddy's bedroom. You like to see how many drawers you can open and what else you can get into. You especially like pulling books off the shelves before Mommy can get to you. :)

You've discovered the door stopper:

You really enjoy laying on our bed, playing with the fan remote. 

All in all, you are a happy boy. You are curious, adventurous, and have a great little sense of humor! 

You also know how to put on the sad puppy-dog eyes when you need to. 

We look on with both excitement and a bit of sadness as we are about to celebrate your last month of infancy. And then will come the next chapter: toddlerhood. Yikes! We love you so much, little man and we're so thankful God has brought you in our lives. 

Love, Mommy and Daddy