Just a brief update on Parker's therapy. Today was the first day of back-to-back appointments. We started with speech at our normal time, followed immediately by occupational therapy. I wasn't sure how he would respond to the second therapist since it had been over a month since seeing her, but he did great. He did walk in with her (that will come) but he didn't fuss when she took him. This new schedule also overlaps dinner time so it will be interesting to see how it works long term, but today was a great start. I am so excited to get into the swing of things adding OT and PT in the next month.
Am I a terrible mom for posting all the photos of the things my kid hates doing?
He had no interest in any pumpkin tonight, except the bowl that would be filled with guts! He was much happier playing with cars and watching Sammy and Eve.
That left the carving to the grown ups. Jimmy is more traditional and I like to be quirky at times.
Blank Canvas
Oh My!
Mine required a little planning...I tried to really go with the whole costume theme!
We have a very busy spring on the wedding front! This last weekend was the first of 3! My cousin Felicia got married in Nebraska, so we made the 400 mile drive to celebrate. Parker does not like to be restrained these days unless he is constantly entertained...it was a rough trip down at times. I was especially excited for this wedding because Felicia, her sister Melissa, and I were pretty close growing up. She is only a year younger than me so it just worked to hang out! In case I haven't mentioned it, I have a large extended family (47-ish first cousins on my mom's side!) This makes family stuff pretty eventful!
The wedding was held at a hotel/event center with a fun "water park" area. We spent Saturday morning at the pool. It was a little chilly, but we still had fun splashing.
Cousins Jayden and Cody Racing!
And a trip to Nebraska is never complete without a stop at Runza! If you are not lucky enough to have experienced a Runza, then you will just have to Google it!
Parker's First Runza
There WAS an actual wedding amidst all of the other fun! Felicia was gorgeous. She had an amazing lace beaded dress that was so elegant. It was a beautiful ceremony.
Parker wasn't too interested in the festivities, but he enjoyed being outside! It was almost 70! It hasn't been that warm in MN yet this year so it was a welcome change.
After the ceremony we had a blast with family and danced the night away! Parker isn't much of a dancer yet, but I think he has potential.
Jimmy and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on Thursday. It seems like just yesterday and forever ago all at once! We have been blessed these last 4 years. Just a little stroll down memory lane.
We kept our celebration pretty low-key since we have some other expensive fun things planned for this year. I made Jimmy a card that was inspired by this cute idea I found via Pinterest. I simply used Word and different fonts to create mine.
I was also blessed with a lovely vase of flowers when I got home. They really put a smile on my face! They just scream SPRING!
We had a simple dinner at home and it was perfect! I am so thankful for the amazing husband and son God has blessed me with.
We have seen a bit of a boom in Parker's communication over the last few weeks. He has been "saying" ma ma" and "da da" for a while, but it is sometimes hard to tell if those are directed to us or just baby babble. The noises he makes and intonation he uses have changed significantly. We have also noticed that his level of understanding is increasing as well. It is fun to know that he understands things I say to him or ask of him. We have been trying to get some of this on video for a while, but he kept being camera shy! We finally captured it a few days ago.
Hello! It may not have been a perfect "hi," but it was wonderful in THIS mama's eye! I am so excited to see how his speech and communication changes over the next several months.
It has been a while since I made a home project update. I did some work this weekend (and last) as I am slowly whittling away at the checklist. Last weekend I finally cut the gas valve access hole in the sheetrock and installed the last surround sound speaker! Jimmy was very excited because he got to do his magic with the final installation of the receiver and sub-woofer! This weekend I got the AV cabinets that my dad built installed and trimmed out. Now I just need to get the doors installed so Parker can't play with all the buttons (which he loves!) These are "hidden" beneath our stairs, which serves two purposes: no big TV cabinet to take up floor space and NO CORDS! The second is my favorite, especially with a crawling and curious baby! I also got another section of base trim installed. My mom watched Parker on Saturday so I could get a lot of this done and I am so thankful!
Speaking of Parker, he is doing great! As I posted last week, he popped his first tooth. The second one is coming close behind and we have been dealing with a few cranky moments. One of his favorite pain relievers is cold watermelon. He sat on the kitchen floor for 10 minutes just gumming on his mesh teether. It was the quietest he had been in a couple hours...
We also tried a new food this morning, eggs! It didn't go so well. He is not a fan of them...I am not sure if it is a texture thing or a taste thing, but he was not having it! He did enjoy playing with them though.
That's it for tonight's update, see you all again soon!
We took our first family vacation last weekend to Milwaukee. It is quite the drive with a baby, but we have made a couple trips to Nebraska so he has become quite the road warrior! It was a quick trip since our main purpose was to catch the Brewers-Twins game on Saturday, but we had SO MUCH FUN!
We drove out on Friday night and got to hotel about 9:30. Parker must have been a bit mixed up because he didn't go to bed until 11:15, which is really late for him. After waking up we went to breakfast. Our hotel had a great continental spread of hot and cold dishes! Then we headed to the pool! Jimmy likes to say that I take advantage of ALL the amenities when we stay at hotels, but the pool is always my favorite! We got test out Parker's new life jacket for on the boat this summer. He seemed comfortable in it and it kept him afloat!
I love his little board shorts!
We also got to use Parker's new float toy. We are going to have so much fun in this thing!
Then we took a tour of the Miller Brewery. We are not huge beer drinkers, but it's kind of the thing to do in Milwaukee. We got to see the packaging and shipping facilities, the brew house, and the historic caves where Frederick Miller originally stored his barrels of fresh beer. It was a pretty exhausting morning for Parker so we made a speedy departure when it was over.
In the filling and packing area
Not quite sure what to make of all the boxes....
So tuckered out
About 5 minutes later...
After a brief nap and a stop back at the hotel we headed to Miller Park! It is a much different atmosphere than Target Field. They have on-site parking and allow tailgating,which allows Milwaukee's finest to indulge in their favorite pastime for hours before the game even starts! (It's drinking, in case you didn't know.) That fact aside, it is a really neat park. If you are going to have a roof, that is the way to do it! It is the only fan-style retractable roof out there which gives it some fun character. the outfield walls also open up to give a real outdoor feeling. It was also a LONG game again, almost 4 hours. Having a baby along always adds uncertainty to situations, but we made it to the end!
View from our seats
Taking another snooze
We got to see the famous SAUSAGE RACE!
Parker upset when the Brewers tied it up in the 8th
Luckily, in the 11th Plouffe hit a huge home run! It gave us the lead and eventually the win! Parker was very excited about this and couldn't help but express himself!
It was a long game, but a fun one!
I would say this vacation was a smashing success! I can't wait for the next one!
This week started out GREAT! I had a day of pampering and shopping with my mom on Saturday. Sunday was the round 1 of birthday festivities with Jimmy's family (Jimmy and I share August 19th as our birthday.) We had a pool party followed by some tasty BBQ ribs, fried chicken and all the extras.
Work finally started to get manageable by Tuesday and last night was round 2 of birthday festivities with my family. We gathered for more BBQ (can't ever get enough!) and good family time. I also had a very special surprise for Jimmy. I ordered the most wonderful cake in the world. It is from the same bakery we got our wedding cake from and was one of the flavors we had too. Jimmy has said this is the only thing he wants for his birthday for the rest of his life! It is a white chocolate raspberry cake from Penny Steele Custom Cakes. He was so excited!
Everything was great until we got home. I heard water running in the basement and sent Jimmy to check it out. Something was not right. There was water on the bathroom floor and our water heater was making some strange noises. I called my dad (he always knows what to do) and he walked me through turning everything off. I got to wake up early this morning to price out a replacement. Luckily we got our gas company to come out right away and at the best price (on short notice.) Needless to say, we have a new family member!
If that big wet mess wasn't already enough to make me cry (it was), I miserably failed my glucose test today. Everything was going great for my 24 week appointment until they took my blood. I didn't realize there was an "automatic fail." I thought if you failed the 1 hour, you took a 3 hour test. Nope! If you fail bad enough they just say you have gestational diabetes... More crying ensued... I feel like an absolutely horrible mom for being in this situation. I am going to try to do everything to get it under control with diet so I don't have to start taking insulin. Still, the selfish side of me is trying to figure out how I am going to live without ICE CREAM? And the piece of cake I had last night is probably my last for a while. I guess I will be adding some gestational diabetes meal ideas to this blog.
The only consolation to today is that I know tomorrow will be better. I am going to see one of my best friends, who just happens to be preggers too! Our children are already betrothed! I hope your weeks have been just ups and no downs like mine. Real crafting will resume again next week. I can't wait to get back to my sewing machine!
I am new to the blogging world and am excited to share my adventures with you all (which is no one yet...) I guess the best place to start is the beginning of the journey that has brought me to motherhood.
I met my husband, Jimmy, in the fall of 2007 after being set up on a blind date by a close friend. Who ever thought those things actually worked out?! 16 months and 9 days later we were married. At 23 and 28 we had plenty of time to think about starting a family and decided to enjoy married life for a while.
About a year and a half later we decided it might be time to start a family. One thing that you will learn about me is that I am a bit of a control freak and can be a perfectionist... Those two things don't really go well with trying to start a family. Of course, there are certain actions that will help you along in the process, but even if you do everything right it doesn't mean you will make that baby. After 4 months of trying I was getting a bit discouraged (which is silly since it takes the average woman 6 months!) so I stopped "really" trying. Yes, I stopped trying. I was really pushing the topic and it wasn't helping things. My first piece of advice to those looking to start a family is to take it slow and not too seriously for the first few months, it will make the experience much more enjoyable!
Sure enough our month "off" ended in a positive test! We were so excited and a little nervous all at the same time. My pregnancy thus far has been very uneventful. I had no morning sickness and very few other symptoms. At 7 weeks we got to see our bean for the first time. I never thought watching a heart beat 144 times per minute on a fuzzy black and white screen would bring me to tears (Jimmy too!) 13 long weeks later (last Thursday) we had our anatomy and gender scan! Everything measured well and HE looks very healthy. We are very excited to welcome our little left fielder (Jimmy's words) around December 6th.
That leads us to today (21 weeks down, 19 to go!) I am a crafty mommy-to-be that is also on a budget! I hope to share with you my experiences with pregnancy and some of the fun crafty things I am doing along the way. Nearly all of the decorations and accessories in my nursery are going to be handmade (including the bedding!) I hope you enjoy this journey with me as my baby (and belly) continue to grow!
