Sunday, November 7, 2010

Our Saturday

When I was getting this.... ...the rest of my family was doing this.
It is no stretch to say they had MUCH more fun than I did. Dad went with them, he was just taking the picture. This is my 9th year to be cpr certified. I started needing it for lifeguarding and have continued getting it for school. At this point shouldn't I be able to skip the class and just take the test?? At least they had updated the videos this year. The videos are still hilarious. The actors were quite serious about their roles. Even the teacher laughed at the "choking victim".
Moral of the story: hiking on Monte Sano > cpr class. Unfortunately now Ben is sick so I am sure hiking in cold weather was not helpful. Hoping Parker and I don't catch it!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Special Announcement

My wedding rings fit again! I haven't worn them since July. I pretty much broke my finger in 3 places trying to get them off my pregnancy-induced swollen fingers after a day at the beach, so I have been afraid to put them on since then. Now I can go in public with Parker without people thinking I had a child out of wedlock. Wow, I think that is the first time I have ever typed the word wedlock. Anyways...happy to appear married again. Now I just have to get used to wearing jewelry again. It took me forever after we got engaged to get used to the feeling of a ring.

Speaking of getting engaged - we will be at the location of our engagement in a few weeks. I am looking forward to Destin for Thanksgiving with the Calverts/Hobbs! I have only been to the beach in the summer so I can't wait to see what it's like in cold weather. Hope we still get some time in the sand (minus the bathing suit). Can't wait to hang out with these guys...

(Ben, Joe and Andrew: one of my favorite pictures ever)

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween

Apparently Parker was not too excited about his first Halloween. I don't blame him, it's not my favorite holiday either. I am still scarred from my sophomore year at Auburn. I dressed up as a "cereal killer" with a plastic knife and cereal boxes attached to my clothes with red sharpie all over them. Yes it was last minute BUT I thought it was still obvious what I was. Unfortunately people asked me if I was a pantry all night. Excuse me for trying to be creative... ;)
My friend, Ally, had found these cute pair of scrubs for Parker before he was even born and I was hoping they would fit for Halloween. I have missed my scrubs since I have been away from school so I decided "Dr. Calvert" needed a nurse.
We went to my parent's house that night to see the trick-or-treaters and eat dinner with them. Since Parker is too young to actually enjoy going house to house my dad and I decided to just stop by/show off our cute Dr at the Ware and Abernathy houses. We even got a few goodies. Mrs Terry disappeared for a while and returned with Parker's first halloween basket and we got Cheez-its from the Abernathys. Parker (I) really enjoyed them!
Mom found my first Halloween costume and we just had to put it on Parker as well. Mom made this, and it's very special. So here is Halloween 1986....
...and Halloween 2010.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Many faces

Here are some of the many faces Parker makes. I realize this blog has quickly become full of poorly taken pictures of just one person...but I'm not gonna apologize ;)

"Content now that you are changing my diaper" face
"Just finished eating so I will continue to suck air" face
"PLEASE stop taking my picture so many times" face
"You are boring me" face
"Wide awake/furiously moving my arms and legs" face
"Again...stop with the pictures!!!!!" face
"Feed me now" face
These are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to his facial expressions. He such an active baby, and he always keeps me entertained.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Had to share

My little man sure knows how to stick out his lower lip!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Scarecrows

Last weekend my cousins, Emily and Grady, were in town from Nashville. My GiGi took us all to the Botanical Gardens to see the scarecrow exhibit. It was very interesting with lots of creative ideas. I didn't get pictures of all of them because I had my hands full with the little guy. Ben took most of them. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and fun to spend time with family.

Parker started out in the stroller. He normally loves it. But.....

This is how we spent most of our time there. Ben and I took turns holding him. Is it sad that my arms were sore the next day?
Ben stopped to take pics of the flowers. They were beautiful.

Here are some of the many scarecrows:


M*A*S*H
Jack Sparrow
Pinocchio
Richard Simmons?!? I could see it after we read the label but I had no idea who this was supposed to be at first. Guess the hair and short shorts should have given it away.
Wizard of Oz
E.T.
The boys with Superman
Fiona. Our family loves Shrek.

2 months

I meant to take tons of pictures on the day he turned 2 months but the day got away from me. Thankfully I snapped a picture of him on our bed before we headed out for the day. This is his "I know you want me to smile but I am just gonna halfway grin at you" face. I get it a lot. I tickle him, talk to him in funny voices and make weird noises all to get a huge smile out of him but this is usually what I get. I will take it, I happen to think it's pretty darn cute.

Here is a few things we have learned about our 2 month old boy...

- There is no being chill with this boy. He is either moving or sleeping. Even in his sleep he moves like crazy unless he is swaddled! If he is tired of sitting or laying in one position he will let you know with a scream. This makes it difficult to do things around the house when he's awake (which you would see if you came over...embarrassing).

-Speaking of screaming, he's a pro at it. He's even cute when he screams. Pretty sure only a parent can think that. Here is the list of things that can stop the screaming:
1. Going outside. It is amazing how quickly he gets happy once we walk outside.
2. Loud noises. I was making pumpkin bread/muffins with him in the kitchen and he was not a happy camper. I turn on the hand mixer (cringing because I assumed this would
upset him) and he fell asleep within seconds. Who knew?? I heard a vacuum works for
some. I might have to give that a try.
3. Car rides. Parker and I have explored all of Huntsville at this point. In the first month
of his life we hopped in the car if nothing else would work. Unfortunately that tends to eat
up your gas so now we are opting for smarter financial decisions.
4. Rocking. Sometimes this works like magic and other times it does nothing for him. But
he loves to be rocked. Am I spoiling him? Maybe. Oh well.

- I am so thankful that he has no problem going back and forth between breastfeeding and bottle feeding. I have come to terms with supplementing. Honestly, formula is easier but I still want to continue breastfeeding as along as possible. He will eat whatever you put in front of him, whenever you put it in front of him. He has never refused a bottle and he drinks it all every time. I love how he looks after he eats. He almost looks drugged. It's so cute. Side note: wonder how many times I can say cute in one blog post?

- We had to 2 month check up and it went well. He weighed 11 lbs 6 oz ( 50th percentile) and was 23 5/8in (75th percentile). This was a huge improvement after having to go get weight checks every few days because he wasn't gaining weight. He has very sensitive skin, and a mild case of eczema, and really bad cradle cap. Poor baby. We are changing everything we use at bath time and hoping that it helps. He also had 3 shots at the appointment. He cried for a few seconds, then whimpered and then smiled. I was impressed! He had more issues with Dr Scott listening to his heart than the shots. Crazy. We are very happy with our pediatricians office. Dr Scott spent lots of time explaining his skin, the shots, developmental milestones, etc and he never seemed in a rush to move on. I didn't even ask lots of questions, he just volunteered the information. Being around the medical field from school I know that is not something to take for granted.

- He has a huge smile when decides to share it with you, is never silent, has the most dramatic and loud yawn, enjoys his bouncer, likes to try to hit things with his hands, is somewhat attached to his paci, has very strong legs, falls asleep in the baby bjorn, enjoys walks around Big Spring Park, looks like his daddy, has hazel eyes, and has tons of family that loves him very much.