3. Years. Old.

Motherhood is weird.  You think you are ready for it but are scared that you aren't.  Then all of a sudden you go into labour (sometimes early and unexpectedly) and all of a sudden you are responsible for this teeny tiny human.  They send you home with teeny tiny human as if you know what you're doing.  And the easy parts are feeding them, getting them to go to bed, having baths, although at times those things all seem extremely difficult.  But the real hard part is being responsible for the person that they become.  Making sure they are a decent human being, kind, sympathetic.  Hopefully in high school they won't make stupid choices and have bad friends.  Hopefully people like them.  Hopefully some day they find a job that isn't just a job but that they truly love going to every day, and maybe a spouse and a few kids of their own.  Oh the pressure. 

But for today, I'm just going to enjoy a three year old.  I've never had one of those before.  

Last night Parker ate his supper without a fight.  Then before bed he was hungry and wanted a sandwich.  For my 23 pound 3 year old, this is not something that happens ever.  Maybe three will be a different year!  I doubt it, but I can hope right!

The past three years of my life have most definitely been the best ones.  Instead of looking to the future, I'm often hoping that it won't come so quickly.  I just want my kids to stay little because although the days are hard, and Parker is stubborn and some days we all want to cry or scream or both, the days are amazing.  

He loves Paw Patrol, pogos, the bath, his brother.  He loves any toys with wheels or animals.  He loves his people - his grandparents, aunts and uncles.  He thinks B and Nole are one person.  I guess it makes sense, he always sees them together.  He thinks Auntie Tal lives at Gram and Gramps house.  He never questions why Auntie Amy and Uncle Jamie have so many pets, because what could be better than that many animals!  And Carema is one of the only people he actually eats for.  He loves Daddy's shop and being outside.

He hates clothes that feel funny, he hates being told what to do (sometimes) or not getting his way.  But once in awhile when you ask him to do something he says "ok mommy, I'll try."  He's shy and slightly introverted, but with us once he starts talking it's sometimes hard to keep up.    

I thought second borns were always your headstrong children, but I think Parker might be ours. Although he's little it's fairly impossible to get him to do what you want him to do if he's not interested in doing it.  

This boy is our everything.  Watching him become a brother has been amazing, he's so good at it.  It amazes me how from such a young age Cooper really looked up to him.  We are in for some trouble in the years to come with these two!

Happy 3rd birthday Parker boy!

Field Trip with My Big Boy

Parker had his first every field trip last Tuesday!  We went to the apple farm with his preschool.  I had been trying to think of something I could do just with Parker, and while I had originally planned on taking Cooper as well, I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to spend some one on one time with my big boy!

It would of been closer for us to drive ourselves, but the bus was half the fun!  Parker talks about school buses all the time, so getting to ride on one was a lot of fun for him.

While there, we went on a wagon ride, picked some apples, played in a sandbox, saw some cows, and of course ate a few apples.  

 

I think we both had a good time.  It was nice to be able to fully focus on Parker.  The funny thing is, I'm not really sure he cared much that it was just him.  He was actually very confused in the morning and when I told him we were going on a field trip he kept saying "baby come too".  When we left him at my mom's, he looked at Cooper's car seat and said "where baby?"  I'm sure it was nice for him to have some time without Cooper, but I also like that he seems to miss him when he's not around.  

Outtakes from our Eleven Month Pictures

Our little photoshoot sure was interesting this month.  I couldn't even get one picture of him laying down on the backdrop that I've used every month because the little stinker sat up and crawled away by the time I stood up, every single time.  

But, I still love all of these crazy pictures of him moving around, because that's what he's like now.  He doesn't sit still.  He loves toys, so sitting still next to blocks and a stuffed animal is just never going to happen!

 

What happens if I push this block over the edge?

It's gone!

 I brought Parker in to try to get a nice picture of the two of them together.  I should of known better.  Parker brought his apple.  Look at Cooper looking at it.  You can't keep food away from this one.

I told Parker to hug his brother.  Unfortunately he still has the apple.

So he hugs his brother, while holding the apple as far away as possible.

Preschool - Here We Come!

Parker started preschool this week!  It's a big deal and it's not I guess.  I guess it's a big deal because it's larger class sizes than he would get in daycare and probably a bit more structured.  But he has been in daycare before and will be going back, so it's not like he's never left my side.

That being said, there was a little bit of a separation issue when I was dropping him off because for the past 10 months he has either been with me or family that he knows well.  So he seemed very confused that mommy and Cooper weren't staying with him.  He wanted me to play on the slide and with the diggers.  Then the teacher got out some trikes and he got on and he could care less about me.  

When I was talking to him about going to preschool the other night he would say "ride school bus".  I don't think anyone told him he was going to ride a school bus, so he put that together on his own.  Luckily he forgot about it and didn't seem too upset that we got him to school in the van.

When I picked him up (2.5 hours later...see it's not a huge deal!) he was sitting nicely in the circle and was excited to see me.  

I can't wait to see where this year takes him, the friends that he makes and the things that he learns!

Cow Cows and Puppies

The funny thing about kids is that when you do activities that you are sure they will love, they usually could care less.  And when you do something that they shouldn't care about, they usually love it.

This weekend, I thought it would be fun for us to go play with puppies and see some cows at a farm up the road.  Because of kids being finicky about what they enjoy, a free farm is the perfect Saturday afternoon activity!  Because the boys barely cared about the puppies and were pretty afraid of the cows.  

 I guess I can't really blame him.  When you are 2.5 feet tall, a full grown cow must seem pretty massive.  It's much more fun to see them in a field as we drive by.

Baby cows are slightly less scary.

But they both loved the swing set.  Because you know, swings are everywhere...

A Harry Potter Inspired Room

When Parker was moving into his big boy room, I thought it would be really neat to do a Harry Potter inspired room.  Parker is obviously too young to choose what he wants in his room and I knew I didn't want to be buying him character bed spreads or anything.  And obviously I love Harry Potter and am really hoping that I can push that love onto my kids if at all possible.

I'm hoping it's not overwhelmingly Harry Potter.  I think that everything in there is kind of neat, but maybe that's just me!

I started with the decal that I bought off Etsy.  There are a few Dumbledore quotes that I love and I was going to choose one of those, but then I came across the one that said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" and nothing could be more fitting for our little trouble maker.

He also has "Whoo Whoo" on his bed, his very own owl for him to take to Hogwarts. 

I also bought a lumos/nox decal for the light switch.  For those non-Harry Potter fans, Lumos is the magic word to turn a light on your wand and Nox is how you turn it off.

Then I did a little gallery wall.  I didn't want it to be a whoa! Harry Potter! wall, so I tried to mix things up a bit.  I bought two pictures off Etsy, the Harry Potter glasses and the Hogwarts version of Starry Night, which I thought was really neat.  Then I added a couple of Parker's newborn pictures.  The double frame has a picture of the Hogwarts Express that I took at Universal Studios and a picture of the train tracks that are used in the movie that my cousin took while in Scotland.  I love that I was able to throw in a few real photographs that are still related to Harry Potter.  Then I arranged all of the frames around my wand, which is actually Ginny Weasley's wand.

One of the first things that I bought was this chest for the room that is supposed to be the type of chest that Harry would take to school with him.

On the shelf I have Parker's illustrated Harry Potter books, a Marauders Map, a white owl or Hedwig Scentsy and a Gryffindor scarf.

Finally, what has been holding this room up is the DIY items.  These things always take me longer than expected!

First up is my Free Dobby sock holder.  For those who don't know, Dobby is a house elf.  House elves must serve their family, unless they are freed by being presented with a piece of clothing.  Harry freed the Malfoy's house elf Dobby by presenting him with a sock.  But this also serves the useful purpose of being a place to hold mismatched socks.  Too bad I have about 20 of those right now and there isn't actually enough clips for them.

My second project was a flying keys mobile. I cut out wings from a Harry Potter book, glued them onto keys and tied them with fishing line onto the mobile.  

I really like how everything turned out and hope that some day Parker thinks it's neat when he finally understands Harry Potter! 

And this is real life.  So his room does have a mess of toys in the corner and a playpen, because some days the big boy bed just doesn't work out for us.

Hogwarts Starry Night - Etsy
Harry Potter glasses print - Etsy
I Solemnly Swear decal - Etsy
Lumos/Nox Decal - Etsy
Ginny Weasley's Wand - Universal Studios Orlando
Picture Frames - Homesense
Scarf - My Mother-in-law :)
Ceramic Owl - Scentsy
Marauders Map - Indigo 
Bed Spread - Ikea
Chest - Antique Warehouse
Keys for Mobile - mixture of Amazon and actual antique keys found at an antique market

Bed Time

Bed time routines.  We have never had much of a routine with Parker because he always did fine on his own without having a strict routine that had to be followed every night.  But now the routine is just hilarious.  

Tuck him in, give him kisses, say night night, take his temperature, line up all of his animals, and he knows when one is missing.  Give him milk.  Say night night, close the door.

5 minutes later he's likely knocking on the door because he ran out of milk.  Fill up his cup, more kisses, say night night, close the door, hope he stays in bed.

It's not really so bad, mostly just makes me laugh.  

Parker at 2 years

Parker wasn't super cooperative for his 2 year pictures.  You would think we would be past the uncooperative stage, but apparently not.  

I kind of went over most of the things about Parker in his birthday post, but thought I would add a few extra details.

We went to the pediatrician and the doctor last week.  The pediatrician weighed him at 19lbs 10oz and 30.5 inches tall, but with all of his clothes on.  The doctor weighed him at 18lbs 4oz with less clothes on, which means he actually lost weight when he had that flu.  

Sleep: Parker goes to bed around 8:30 usually, but since I'm at home we are a bit more flexible.  He will wake up anywhere between 7-9.  You never quite know what you are going to get...

He often wakes up at least once in the night and wants milk.  We have been giving him water instead and that seems to do the trick.  

Feeding:  He can eat tons when he wants to.  Then he will go 3 days without eating hardly anything and I don't know how he does it.   He usually really likes pasta, lately seems to do ok with peanut butter sandwiches.  He mostly wants to eat cookies and veggie sticks.  And he loves the baby food packets and wants to eat them all the time, so I have been buying a lot of them lately because I just want him to eat.

I'm trying not to give into making him different food though.  It's hard because we need him to eat, but I don't want to get into the habit of giving in when he just doesn't want to eat what we are having.

He sits at a booster at the table now instead of in his high chair because he seemed to eat better when he was at the table with us.

He's still so small for his age, but when you look back at the size of him a year ago, he has really grown!  I just pulled out the sweater he's wearing in his one year picture for Cooper to wear now.  What a difference!

Parker's Birthday

It's about time I actually posted some pictures from all of Parker's birthday celebrations.  The boy was spoiled, like normal.  He had a birthday dinner with Ryan's family, one with my family and then on his actual birthday he got to go to McDonald's.  Lucky duck.

He got a Little People camper from Aunt Amy and Uncle Jamie and absolutely loves it!  It opens up and sings songs to him or he can close it and push it around.  It was definitely a hit.

Grandma got him some coveralls so that he can work outside with Daddy!

Grams and Bapa got him farm plates and swimming lessons.  We start swimming lessons next week, and from the way he's been practicing his floats and bubbles in the tub, I think he's going to love it!

Auntie Tal and Uncle B-Rad got him Hunter boots.  Or got every child that will ever be in our family Hunter boots.  You would think this wouldn't be exciting for a kid, but Parker loves boots because he can put them on himself.

Fine China for us, a Cow Cow plate for Parker.  Not that it mattered.  He wanted nothing to do with his supper.

 He got ice cream cake because he typically likes ice cream more than real cake.  Maybe not the best idea since he'd had the flu that week....I will spare you the details, but an hour later it was pretty disgusting.

 On his actual birthday we went to McDonald's for supper where Parker had fries and chicken nuggets.  

 

And last but not least, Ryan and I got Parker a tricycle for his birthday.  He really liked it even though he can't quite reach the pedals and doesn't know how to use it.  But we are hoping that this summer he can kind of figure it out and bike around the campgrounds with us!

 So that's the birthday that never ended for our sweet two year old!