Week 23

I almost can’t handle the cuteness that is Parker’s 23-week photo. The thigh rolls, his little hand waving, and that almost smile…kills me. Sometimes I just can’t comprehend how lucky we are to have this adorable boy in our lives.

We’re also lucky that Parker is a wonderful traveler! He proved that this past week during our trip to Florida, which is actually the second time he’s been so far in his short life. We turned my music therapy conference into an opportunity for a little family getaway, with my mom there half the week, and Zach there for the other half.

Parker did AMAZING being away from home for almost a week; he flew like a champ, put up with us keeping him up way past his bedtime almost every night, and slept well in the hotel room. He was a good sport about meeting all my friends, too, which is a good thing because I had lots of friends who wanted to meet him! The funny thing is that Parker actually got recognized when he was with my mom and Zach, thanks to Facebook. My celebrity baby :)

Parker at the beach

While I was busy doing conference things, Zach and Parker went on several adventures. They visited Neptune Beach, where Zach took this amazing photo of Parker in his happy place: next to the ocean. We realized back in August during our trip to Naples that he LOVES the water, and that definitely has not changed.

Parker at Jaguar Stadium

These two got to explore Jacksonville and enjoy the warm weather while I enjoyed the inside of the conference hotel, but I did have a chance to soak up some sun when we went to Orlando on the last day of our trip. I was SO happy we had the chance to meet up with my friend Vanessa, her husband Luis, and their sweet baby Kennedy while we were there.

Vanessa and Kennedy

After breakfast with them, we met up with our friends Wade and Jenni and their little girl, Caroline, at Downtown Disney. We made the most of our day in Orlando, to the point where we just about missed our flight home!

Family at Downtown Disney

We literally arrived at our gate just as the doors were closing, and were the very last people to board the plane. Luckily the flight wasn’t completely full, so we had a row to ourselves.

We had a rude awakening when we landed in St. Louis; it was FREEZING outside. Zach still had on shorts and I only had a light jacket, since it had been 85 degrees in Orlando. That’s always the hardest part of returning from vacation, but luckily we’ll be heading back to Florida right after the holidays.

Living in the Midwest is good for a few things, though; you can’t get photos like this in Florida.

Family in leaves