One year old!

I cannot let another day pass without taking a moment for Parker's one year update! Today is Mother's Day...and it was Mother's Day last year when he was due. This year, I feel so incredibly blessed to spend this Mother's Day with my two beautiful boys. I just cannot believe Parker is already one!


I took these pictures quickly the day before his birthday (I needed them for his party), and the lighting was not good. I should have tried again, but I decided to just stick with it. So they aren't the best...


It's so hard to believe that it has been a year since we were in the hospital, starting to get to know our sweet little boy.


At first he slept all the time and we wondered if he would ever wake up. I mean he slept all.the.time. Then he finally woke up, and before long he was smiling all the time and starting to really show his personality. Here he was at 4 months.


From birth he has been so different in many ways from his big brother. They look very different, Parker has always been a great sleeper (unlike his brother who STILL doesn't go to bed without a bit of a fight most nights). They have hit physical and verbal milestones at different times, but through it all, it has been so much fun watching them become brothers.


And he went from being born with a head full of hair to not having much hair at all...


To now having a decent head of hair with quite a bit of little curls. He seems to have inherited his mother's funky wavy hair on top and in the front. Thomas' was curly at the ends, but Parker's seems wavier/curlier all over. We'll see! But for now, it looks like this:


His Daddy likes to play with it. Poor kid.


He is such a sweet, sweet boy. He frequently climbs into my lap and puts his head on my chest. That's probably what I love most about him right now. The moments when he wants to cuddle with me warm my heart. When he is sleepy he will lay his head on my shoulder or chest and suck his thumb. He just seems completely happy and at peace and I love those moments so much. That's when I want him stay little forever! Thank you for a wonderful first year, our sweet, sweet Parker! You make my heart smile.


At 12 months Parker:

• Likes to babble, laugh and smile. In terms of "words," he says "duh" when he sees the dog and mouths "woof, woof" when I ask him what a dog says. He sometimes remembers that a cow says "moo" and he will say that. At the very least, he will repeat it when I say it. He also says balloon ("baboo" or "badoo"). He loves to eat bananas (or as he calls them, "nana"). He says Dada, mama and some other indistinguishable babble. Most of the time he uses things with the "d" sound ("duh" and "dis"), especially when he is pointing at or gesturing toward something. Sometimes repeats something that sounds like "night, night" when we say that to him.
• Crawls on all fours most of the time now; but if he wants to get somewhere quickly, he resorts to his commando crawl.
• Pulls himself to standing all the time and attempts standing up in the middle of the floor, but he's still not too steady on his feet.
• Is not that close to walking...which is fine by me. He sometimes will take a few steps when I'm holding his hands and encouraging him to move his feet, but not too much. I'm quite okay with him staying a baby a bit longer.
• Loves to clap and will clap if we say something like "good job!" or "that's right!"
• Is always pointing and babbling and trying to get us to understand way more than we do.
• Adores his brother and tolerates his fair share of sibling abuse when Thomas tries to give him a little too much love.
• Loves to take a bath...but is getting really hard to keep seated during bathtime. He thinks it's a funny game to stand up every two seconds despite my pleadings to sit down.
• Will try to eat just about anything and he shovels down food so quickly that I think the guy who eats all those hot dogs in one sitting would be impressed. I'm not sure where the food all goes! I just know I cannot put it in front of him fast enough. For example, today at lunch he had a jar of baby food banana/rice/something and then a handful or two of Cheerios (before my food arrived). Then he had a bit of watermelon, some cantaloupe, orange (first time for all three of those things), butter beans, black eyed peas and ham. He also has tried and loves chicken, meatballs, turkey burger, black beans, navy beans, lima beans (LOVES limas!), wheat bread, waffles, eggs, apples, blueberries, strawberries, and more things I'm sure I can't remember at the moment.
• Is not too fond of green beans, peas, apples (he eats them, kind of, but mostly just chews on them for awhile and spits them out) or any type of bean with a thicker skin.
• Will squeal if he sees something he wants to eat and I can't get it too him fast enough. The word "squeal" probably doesn't accurately describe it. He has a high-pitched squeal that will make every diner in a restaurant turn their head. It almost hurts your ears. I'm trying to figure out how to stop it, but he's not understanding me just yet.
• Naps twice a day (usually 9:30ish and then again around 2:30ish). He's not a great napper, but I could put him down at 7 (if I could manage to get him down then) and he would go to sleep without a fuss (or much of a fuss) until 7ish the next day. We struggled so much with bedtime with Thomas, but Parker goes down so very, very easily. If he cries ever, it usually only lasts for 5-10 minutes and that is exceedingly rare.
• Understands many things such as, he will wave "bye-bye," he will push the garage door button if I tell him to "push it," he will give kisses if asked (and if he's in the right mood), he will put his hands on his head if you ask him where his head is, and he will cover his eyes and play peek-a-boo if asked.
• Nurses 5-6 times a day (I'm trying to decrease this number now to 4-5), and will have nothing to do with a bottle or milk in a sippy cup. I've yet to try him with cow's milk yet, but will probably try after he sees his pediatrician for his WBV and she gives the go-ahead (that is on Tuesday). I'm not sure when he'll stop nursing and if he will decide or I will. We shall see.
• Still sucks him thumb quite frequently. Sometimes he will put a paci in his mouth and even though Thomas uses one, it just seems so strange to me to see Parker with one in his mouth. He is just my little thumb sucker. :)
• Has seven teeth (four on top and three on the bottom). The top front two are very spaced apart and all of the ones on top are coming in in a different direction. He's the poster child for why babies should not suck their thumbs.
• Enjoys being outside and always looks up when he hears an airplane and searches for it in the sky. He has to be closely watched outside though as he will put anything in his mouth (acorns, grass, sticks, etc).

I thought I'd share far too many of his monthly pictures. Even though they aren't great, they show a bit of his personality (and he does have one!). He doesn't like to sit still (at least not for pictures) and he likes to try to be funny and try to make us laugh. He is a squirm monkey!








He mostly just wanted to do this...


And Thomas, who closely supervised the whole thing, just wanted to get in the chair with his brother. Then they both just jumped all over each other. Sometimes these boys cannot stop moving!


Whew! That was a lot! I must say, even if no one else reads everything, I really enjoy coming back and reading these months and years later. It's amazing how fast they grow and change!