by Rachel | Family Life
One of the things I’ve looked forward to the most about Parker growing up is hearing him say actual words and expand his vocabulary. It started with just a few — mama, nana (banana), no, dada — but that list is growing quickly.
Say: Parker is obsessed with our golden retriever, Sadie. She usually spends a good amount of time at my in-laws’ house playing with their dog, but since my mother-in-law recently had knee surgery, Sadie has been at our house full-time. No one is happier about this than Parker, who loves to chase after Sadie and tease her with his toys. He calls her and every other dog he sees “Say!”.
Nananana: Not to be confused with “nana” (his word for banana, which he has been saying for quite some time now). Parker hasn’t yet mastered his l sounds, so the “lalalala” part of the Elmo’s World song is “nananana” instead.
Shoe: This boy loves shoes. He actually cooperates when we put them on his feet, and he even tries to put on other people’s shoes, while saying the word “shoe”.
Hi: His little voice is the cutest, but especially when he says hi. He knows exactly what it means and uses it in the correct context.
Byebye: This is a runner-up to hi for cutest word.
And then there are the sounds he knows. This is probably a very normal developmental milestone for a baby his age, but I still think it’s amazing that Parker can answer these questions:
What does a cow say?” Moo!
“What does a kitty say?” Meow!
“What does a doggy say?” Woof!
What does a train say?” Choo choo!
“What does a birdie say?” Tweet tweet tweet!
“What does a duck say?” Quack quack quack!
Parker will even make these sounds when he sees a picture or toy version, especially cows. He knows the ones I listed by heart, but he can pretty much imitate (or at least attempt to imitate) just about any word or sound. It’s fun to see which ones stick. I can’t wait to see where his language development is in just a few months.
by Rachel | Family Life
My best friend Katie is having a baby! She lives in New York City, so I was super excited when she said she’d make the trip home for a baby shower. She threw me an amazing shower last spring, and I wanted to return the favor.
Katie and Justin aren’t finding out the baby’s gender, so everything — from the invites, to the decor, to the gifts — was gender neutral. I got the idea for this cute clothesline from Katie, who did one for my shower (with all nautical clothing, of course).
My mom made most of the food, and my mother-in-law Libby pitched in with fruit and dessert. How cute is this watermelon baby buggy?! My mom had seen it on Facebook, and Libby (queen of watermelon around here) brought it to life.
It was so much fun having all of my high school friends together again. It doesn’t happen very often! I’m the only Springfield girl, so I was very happy that the rest of them made the trip home to celebrate baby Massimo. And Katie wasn’t the only one with a baby bump; Jennifer and Anna are also expecting.
I’m definitely the odd man out in this photo…no baby in this girl’s belly! Later that night after the shower, I went out to dinner with my 3 pregnant friends. Needless to say, I was the only one who enjoyed a glass of wine with my food ;)
by Rachel | Family Life
One of our favorite summer discoveries has been the splashpad at Southwind Park. We met our friends from mommy/baby group, Angie and her little cutie pie Janie, there for the first time a couple of weeks ago and both kids had a blast. They are just a few weeks apart in age, and it’s so adorable watching them play together.
Parker wasn’t sure about the water fountains at first, but he eventually got over his hesitations and headed into the action. He even tried drinking the water, which was hilarious. There were only a few other kids there, so they pretty much had the run of the place. We spent at least 45 minutes there until Parker got bored and was ready for the next thing.
Southwind Park also has a fun playground, so we headed there for some swinging, sliding, and climbing. Mostly climbing. Parker is really into stairs now, and would be perfectly content spending his time going up and down them over and over again. He’s pretty fearless when it comes to the playground equipment, which makes playing at the park a good workout for me!
We liked the splashpad and park so much that we ended up going back the very next day. We met a bunch of moms and kiddos from mommy/baby group, but unfortunately the splashpad was sooooo crowded (especially with bigger kids) that they didn’t get to play together like we had hoped. Parker still had fun, but I was nervous about him getting knocked down.
This dude loves being outside, and I love the nap he takes after burning off all that energy running around. We try to get out and do something active every day, even if it’s just going to Rotary Park (which is within walking distance). We did that one afternoon last week, and Parker had the time of his life running around the empty playground.
by Rachel | Family Life
How ridiculous is this face? It’s Parker’s new go-to expression, and he knows how insanely adorable it is. This baby keeps me on my toes as he becomes more and more like a little boy every day. Each new development reveals a new facet of his personality, and it is so much fun to get to know him better.
The last couple weeks have been pretty great. Since I’m on summer break, we’ve spent basically every waking hour together with the exception of a few hours of grandma time here and there. I try to keep our days as interesting as possible, because being cooped up in the house during the summertime is just wrong. We go on daily walks, take lots of trips to the park, and of course, get our pool time in.
Parker is still a huge fan of the water, though he doesn’t quite understand why he has to be in his floatie or in someone’s arms the whole time. He’s pretty independent for a tiny tyke. He is also way too cool for sippy cups; he’d much rather drink out of mama’s water bottle. Don’t ask me how, but he figured out how to drink out of the Camelbak — which is pretty amazing considering you have to bite the straw and suck.
When we do have some downtime around the house, Parker’s favorite activity is reading. This kid is obsessed with books! He likes to take them all off his bookcase and then plop right down in the middle, going from book to book. He flips through a few pages and then moves on to the next one. His favorites at the moment are Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy and the That’s Not My…(Dinosaur/Kitten/Monkey) series.
I’m going to miss these lazy summer days when the pace picks up next week. We will head to Denver for a long weekend on Thursday, and then it’s back to work for this mama (only 4 days a week). As usual, summer is already going by too quickly and I’m trying to soak up every last drop.
by Rachel | Family Life
On the morning of Parker’s birthday, we took him downstairs so that he could open up his BIG gift: a brand-new playroom! I’m so happy we caught the reveal on video, although he has since grown much more excited about it than he was that morning.
This playroom has been a work in progress since the day we moved in. We referred to it as the “Bozo room” for the longest time, because this is how it looked originally.
I wrote a blog post about the beginnings of our playroom makeover way back before Parker was born; it only took 15 months to complete this little project! Isn’t it amazing what a coat of paint and foam tile flooring can do to a room?
The last week or so before Parker’s birthday, we spent just about every evening downstairs putting in the floor, decorating the wall with decals, putting together the furniture, and slowly moving in the toys. I took some photos before that last step, so in these photos the room is looking pretty stark. Trust me, it’s chock full of toys now.
It was actually my mom who came up with the ocean theme for the room. I had chosen the wall color last year just because it was bright and pretty, but I didn’t really have a them in mind. Once we agreed on the ocean theme, we ordered the blue foam tiles. Zach found the decals online to complete the look.
My mother-in-law ordered the Carolina craft table from Pottery Barn Kids as a gift for Parker. It comes with two different sets of legs, so there are longer ones for when Parker gets bigger. We also have chairs for the table, which we are storing in the closet until Parker is old enough to use them.
The nautical rope mirror is also from Pottery Barn Kids. I found the frames at Target, and filled them with some of my favorite photos from Parker’s first year. Never did I expect that those photos would be one of his favorite parts of the room!
Here is a close-up shot of the photos. It’s so funny to watch Parker go up to the frames and touch them, and then look at each photo. He is a little vain when it comes to pictures of himself ;)
The wooden letters are from Hobby Lobby. I have added a few more decorative touches to the room since these photos were taken, though I wanted to keep the walls pretty sparse (besides the decals). I imagine one day they will be full of Parker’s art work.
Parker received SO MANY TOYS for his birthday that this room was pretty much a necessity. I love that it is self-contained; there is a door to the downstairs family room that can be completely shut, so when we are playing in the playroom, he almost forgets that any other rooms exist. It’s big enough that we don’t feel claustrophobic, and with all the toy choices, he doesn’t get bored easily.
This summer has been insane so far, and we haven’t had much time to spend at home as a family. After Zach gets home from the World Cup in Brazil (yeah, that’s a different topic for a different day), the plan is to start hanging out in the basement more often. I don’t think Parker will have a problem with that!
