Well that was quick...

How can Christmas possibly have come and gone already? It breaks my heart how quickly time flies nowadays. I am constantly reminding myself to embrace every moment and take everything in. I don't want to miss a beat, or atleast no more than I have to.

Parker turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve. He is getting so big and changing so much. He's still the happiest and most smiley baby, but he's so smart now! He's rolling over like crazy now. It's too cute. He's even getting pretty good at sitting up...of course, he still tips over frequently, but he holds himself up for good lengths of time! We're eating fruits and veggies, now. He certainly prefers the fruits right now. He has made several messes for us by grabbing whatever it is that we're eating or drinking. He wants whatever we have.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was such a blessing to experience it with Parker this year. He definitely completed things for us. He, of course, got an abundance of toys and clothes. We tried hard not to overdo things though. We visited all of the family throughout the day and he did pretty well, considering. He never really got a good nap in so he was a little whiney, but not too bad! He loved playing with all of his new toys. Every time you put something new in front of him, he drops whatever he has in his hands and grabs for the new toy. He loved trying to eat all of the pretty presents and ribbons! As fun as the day was, he was extremely happy to be home that night. Poor guy was tuckered out (and so were we!). We're still trying to figure out what to do with all of the toys.... I think I need someone to come organize my house for me!

Parker's 1st Fantasy of Trees Gala

Parker's 1st Thanksgiving!

Parker's 1st Snow!!!

Here a few of my favorite things when it comes to our baby boy:

-that big sleepy grin he gets when I come in to get him from his crib in the mornings

-the way he whines after nearly every bite of his vegetables once he's gotten a taste of the fruit

-how excited he gets when he sees someone he loves

-the way he kicks his legs like crazy when he gets excited

-the sound of his soft breathing once he falls asleep while we're rocking before bedtime

-the way his breathing gets excited when he's in the jumperaoo

-the silly face he makes when you put something in his mouth that he wasn't expecting

-how proud he gets of himself when he jumps on his own

-the way he manages to pout and laugh at the same time

-the laugh that escapes when we fly him in the air

-the sweet baby smell he manages to keep

-putting him in his jammies and snuggling in our chair before bed

-the way he gets so tired and can't manage to hold his little eyes open to finish a bottle

-the way he reaches up to touch my face when we're laying in the floor playing

It helps to think of these things when I'm at work and can't be with him :(

Look Alike :)

This little boy look very much like I did when I was baby, especially from the nose up. He does have James's mouth for sure, though! Here are just a couple of pics to compare! :)

A little recap...

Well, a very lovely lady pointed out to me that my blog said I was 57 weeks pregnant!! Everyone was impressed with my figure at 57 weeks preggo!! Haha! :) I have completely neglected our blog! Obviously, a lot has happened since my last post (at which I was 34 weeks pregnant!). I'll just touch on the major events!

We welcomed Parker James Waddell into the world on June 24, 2009 at 5:23 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 19.5 inches long! He was the most beautiful newborn baby you'll ever see! And boy, was I lucky. I had the most amazing labor and delivery. We went in for my weekly checkup with the OB at about 11:00 that morning. We were happy (and surprised) to find out that I was already dilated to 6 cm and 100% effaced! I was extremely surprised because I hadn't had the least bit of pain from contractions! The happiness soon turned into shock when Dr. Moffatt told me that it would probably be best if we went ahead and got me into L&D. WHAT? I wasn't ready at all! I didn't even have my bags with me! But, because I had tested positive for the Group B Strep, she didn't want to take a chance on not getting the antibiotics in me before he was born! So, off we went. She broke my water at 12:30, I received an epidural at about 2:30 or so, and was fully dilated by 5:00. I pushed for 11 minutes and he was here! Piece of cake :) Haha! I was extremely blessed to have such an easy time with everything.





We had to stay 2 nights in the hospital because of the Group B strep stuff, but we went home on Friday afternoon! It was such an amazing feeling to have us all at home, as a family of 3!

Parker has done extremely well. We haven't had any sickness thus far and he is a very good eater! He has stayed at about the 25th percentile in his weight and height. At his most recent doctor's visit (4 months), he weighed in at 13 lbs 14 oz and 24.5 inches long! We started rice cereal last week, which has been fun. He eats it really well! I'll put up a pic of that next time. He is such a happy baby. He smiles all the time and has recently started giving us some laughs! He discovered his voice last week and has been jabbering and squealing like crazy :)

We took Parker to the beach when he was only 5 weeks old! It was a great time. He slept the whole way there and back! I felt like we packed up the whole house just to be gone for a week though!

Since then, we've had lots of firsts! First trip to Dollywood! First shots :( First juice bottle! First time in the Bumbo, jumperoo, etc... This boy definitely loves his mommy! He's so attentive and just takes everything in. I love to watch him absorb everything around him. He loves to watch football. He loves the tv period (great..). He loves his passy. He loves to be snuggled, mostly when he's sleepy. He has the biggest dark blue eyes. He looks just like I did when I was a baby (I'll put up comparison pics soon!). He's a great sleeper, atleast 8 hours most nights! He HATES the car and screams in it most of the time (fortunately, this developed after our beach trip!). He loves to look at himself in the mirror. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past 4 months.

We're looking forward to many more firsts! I'll try to do much better about keeping this blog updated! He's too cute not to share! :)

34 Weeks and Counting!!

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since my last post! I don't have time for much, but I thought I'd throw a couple of pictures on here! We officially have less than 6 weeks to go if all goes accordingly! The showers are over and it's time to get things in order! The carseat is put together, it just needs to be installed in the car. We've started organizing the nursery and going through all of the gifts to figure out what we still need, which really isn't a whole lot. We're good on blankets and bibs for sure! I think the bib count was about 60 as of last week. I do still need the pack-n-play, swing, and high chair. We have lots of gift cards to put towards those items, though. I am getting more excited with every day. I am so anxious to meet him and hold him in my arms and be able to pour out all of this love and joy I'm feeling. I still can't believe he's almost here...July can't come soon enough! Keep us in your prayers as we approach the delivery of our first child!

Here is me and baby at 31 weeks before we went out for James's birthday dinner!

And here we are at 31 weeks, 6 days at the baby shower we had from the church! Lots of goodies for Parker!

Here are my three Vera diaper bags that I can't wait to carry!

The rest of the pictures are from our 3D Ultrasound which was on May 6 at 31 weeks, 2 days! He looks perfect and everything is right on track These pictures make me even more excited about seeing and holding our baby boy. I love him so much already that I can hardly stand it!

Springtime and Kiddos!

I'm so excited that springtime is officially here. I absolutely love this time of year. I don't usually get excited about the spring, but there's something about it this year! Maybe it's that we have our own house and get to plant flowers and make the front yard look presentable. Or maybe it's that all the cold and drab weather has not helped with my pregnancy blahs (you know, those days where you feel ugly and huge no matter what you try) and now it's warming up and the sun is shining. Or perhaps it's because the cold winter brought with it some HUGE KUB bills and we're finally seeing a nice little decrease since we can turn off the heat! :) All I know is that I'm so excited for spring!

We've been able to get out and walk around the neighborhood a couple of times and let Ollie out to run around the back yard. He has loved that! It's been so nice. I need to get some pictures of him outside...note to self.

Here's the most recent pictures of my growing tummy. It's certainly popping out there now! Week 23

We baby-sat my little cousin Mackenzie a little while back...what a fun time! She's a rotten mess! I love her! While we had her, I thought I'd break out the camera and try to get some cute pictures...a lot easier said than done with an active 18 month old!! I ended up chasing her around the house, but I did manage to get a couple of cute ones! I was exhausted by the end of it though!!!

Last week, the Crawford's came over and we took advantage of the pleasant spring evening! We got the kids outside and they let me get some practice in with my camera! They are so cute, I can't stand it! Brylee was hilarious with her posing. Such a drama queen, even at age 4! There was a whole lot going on outside, so it was hard to keep Tripp's attention. He wanted to watch the neighbors who were playing basketball and the couple who was out walking their dog (have I mentioned how much I love my small little neighborhood...it's just right for us!). Anyways, here are a couple of my faves from that night:

We finally got our mini vacay booked. We're going to Destin the weekend of James's birthday (and Mother's Day) for a 4 day thing. We can't really afford to use up a whole week's worth of vacation right before the baby comes, but we feel that it'll be good for us to get atleast a little break before our world gets turned upside down with baby Parker! I'm looking forward to it in a serious way!!

Well it's Friday, and I couldn't be happier! Hope everyone has a great weekend!