Eliza is one!

Last Saturday, my niece turned ONE! And yes, it has taken me until now to blog about it. :) We were happy to celebrate the happy occasion with Eliza and her family.


Thomas was happy to have a front row seat for cake time...




It didn't take Eliza long to get the hang of digging right in...


And not long after that, her parents decided she had had enough...


Eliza cleaned up quite quickly and happily rested in the arms of her mom...


And Thomas...he was just happy when it was his turn to have cake...


It was a fun party and we were so happy to be able to be there. I cannot believe it has already been a year! Thomas had a ball, and made a new friend, too. These two boys had a ball!

Eliza, we look forward to sharing many, many birthday celebrations with you!

Out for a drive

I've needed to make this post for a few weeks now, but things have just been too hectic. Today though, for the moment the house is quiet and both boys are napping. It is sheer bliss. I'm on the couch, catching up with Tivo and feeling like every minute is giving me the rejuvenation that I need. So I'll take a moment to finally share this post.

Thomas loves driving his Jeep and Parker gets more and more interested in it each time he sees it. Parker loves just t sit in it (strapped in) and just play without it moving. The boys' daddy is far more trusting than I am though and he actually has let Thomas drive Parker around. It actually tuned out just fine.

(I don't know why Thomas has on pajama pants. I guess we didn't change him after his nap. Oops.)

Apparently Parker felt the need to hold on tightly for dear life...


Maybe we should have been a little worried when Thomas decided to copy Parker...while driving. "Look Mom, no hands!" ???

(If that doesn't work (there should be a video above this line), the link is here.)

Parker was a little chatty...


And then they drove off into the sunset...or something like that.


It's so awesome to watch brotherly love grow...


Let's hope they always stay that way. :)

Time to lower the crib

Parker woke up crying from his nap on Friday morning, but he should have been smiling. He has been sporadically sitting up on his own a few times here and there over the past month, but Friday was the first time he sat up in his crib all by himself. This is what greeted me when I walked in to "rescue" him from his tears:


He was a little happier about it when I went in to get him after his afternoon nap (he woke up happy that time):


I'll be lowering the crib tomorrow!

And just for fun, here's a walk down memory lane to the first time Thomas sat up in his crib all by himself...November 27, 2006:


It's so fascinating to me how you can raise two kids seemingly the same, but they develop at a pace that is all their own. Thomas was crawling at seven months, and never did commando or army crawl. Parker has still not mastered the traditional crawl at 10.5 months, and just recently learned how to army crawl (and he gets ALL over now). Thomas could pull himself up to standing at 7.5 months, and yet right now Parker has still only managed to figure out how to pull up to kneeling, not standing. And of course, if you figure by date, Thomas sat up in his crib at 7 months...and Parker is six weeks from being one.

HOWEVER, Parker is way ahead of Thomas verbally and his fine motor skills. Whatever category things like waving and clapping fall into, Parker is way ahead on those things as well.

I think it's good. Parker is still developing well within range (just as Thomas did with his verbal skills...it was just later in the range), but he is staying a baby a bit longer. Since he is likely our last, I'm thankful that he has needed me a bit longer. I try to remind myself all the time to savor all of the baby things. It doesn't last nearly long enough! Before I know it, Parker will be talking back to me. :) Or maybe he won't learn that "skill." One can dream, right?

Learning from grandparents

It must be wonderful to be a grandparent. You hear this all the time, and I'm sure one day I'll learn it for myself. From my eyes, it's great to see my children with their grandparents. The love and adoration from both sides is so heartwarming. They get to play with each other and have all the fun, and at the end of the period of time, the grandparents get to send the kids home. They get to give lollipops and cookies and not discipline and tough love. And that's the way it should be, of course. I'm in no rush to become a grandparent myself, but I can already see how it can be one of the greatest jobs in the world.

This weekend we are spending some time with my parents, and it's fun to see the boys learn new things here. Thomas had a little golf lesson...


And he was so thrilled with himself to see he could hit the ball quite an impressive distance!


Meanwhile, Nannie was teaching Parker how to clap...a golfer's clap, perhaps?


And the most important lesson of the day...how to relax and swing:

Spring is springing

We're spending a few days at my parents' house and it's the perfect place to see spring springing forth! One lesson learned though...bees are hard to photograph!

Springtime in SC wouldn't be right without Carolina Jessamine...


Bees like the crabapple tree, too...


As the dogwood trees start to bloom, you always know Easter must be right around the corner...


And of course, the azaleas...


I love Spring!


And another great part about Spring, it's time to roll your pants up and dip your feet in the water.






And for those who aren't quite ready to dip their toes in the water, just a little time in the grass will do just fine.


Thank God for beautiful Spring days!

From the mouths of babes

This evening while I was making dinner, Thomas was riding around on his little car (powered by his feet) all about the house. He stopped at the refrigerator and was mumbling something. I decided to listen more carefully and thought he was saying something about "a number two combo." I said, "Did you say something about a number two combo?" And he said, "Yes Mommy, I'm going to get a number two combo from 'Chick-a-Lay.'" That's what Thomas calls the place we all call...



Apparently, he has been present for one too many stops at the Chick-Fil-A drive thru with his mom (who always orders at #2). In my defense (and good for him, too!), the #2 is the chargrilled chicken sandwich. :) Hey, what can I say...the cows made me do it...


That little boy (Thomas)...he's 35 months old today and he never stops making me smile.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thomas doesn't have school this week (spring break) so we were able to go check out the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown this morning. We met up with a few friends there and had a good time. The parade was short and sweet, but filled with all the things little boys enjoy!

After waiting for about 10 minutes, Thomas was happy to see something finally coming into view (and we could definitely hear one of the pipe bands!):


(Parker, as you can see, needed to warm up to the idea of the parade, but once it got going he did cheer up!)



The boys perfected their waves so that parade riders would throw candy and goodies their way...


Thomas thought Charlie the Riverdog was pretty neat:


There were several bagpipe bands and Thomas enjoyed each one (and Parker was mesmerized)...


There were lots of cars in the parade. Thomas got really excited to see the older ones like this one:


And this one...


There were a few traditional parade floats (about which Thomas exclaimed "LOOK AT THAT MOMMY!!!!"):


There was a more modern fire engine at the end of the parade, as usual, but this one was more interesting...


After the parade, we ran an errand downtown and then headed over to our usual Tuesday play/lunch date at Lily & Sarah Ellen's house. The lunch table was pretty crowded today:

(Bailey, Abigail, Thomas, Porter, Margaret Anne and Lily)
That doesn't include the three babies and three moms! It was a fun time, as usual.

And just before it was time to go home for naptime, Taryn stole a little cuddle time with her two girls and my two boys:


All in all, it was a very happy St. Patty's Day!