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!

A One Year Old

And poof, he's one.

This kids growing up thing is something that I'm still not used to.  It's crazy how much they change.  They go from this little teeny tiny baby, to this big boy who loves to eat and crawl and climb on top of his brother whenever he gets a chance.  And it all happens in a year!

Right after I had Cooper, I couldn't imagine going through birth again.  It hurt.  But I knew I would forget, and I have.  I also couldn't imagine going through pregnancy again.  But everything that you have to go through, makes this time so worth it.  I want all the babies if I'm able to watch them grow, because it's really so much fun.

I was so relieved when I went into labour with Cooper at just over 36 weeks.  That's something that not many people say!  But I was ready to meet this guy.  I was ready for him to make our family just a bit more complete.  

And brothers!  Oh boy, it's been fun.  I was unsure of what life would be like with two boys.  And it is a bit crazier than I had pictured my life.  And I think it will be a bit more expensive than I had hope, because Cooper eats everything in site, and Parker makes me open everything and then says "I don't like that."  But I love watching them together, and I love that they have each other.

Cooper has been such a joyful, easy going baby.  I hope he has those qualities for the rest of his life.  I hope he grows into a kind, hardworking, generous person.

We have done a lot this year.  Life has been crazy busy.  But that's the way we've wanted it to a point.  We have these kids, who want to see the world that they live in.  So I love to take them places, watch them as they see something for the first time.  Parker has also grown up this year and understands so much more, and so I know exactly what I have to look forward to with Cooper.  But if he could stay a baby for a bit longer that would be fine by me.

Ok enough of my rambling.  All of this is just to say, Happy Birthday Coop!  We love you more than you will every know (until you have babies of your own).  

This is 30

I'm 30.

30 is one of those milestone birthdays for sure.  I remember when I turned 20 I heard that it was a good thing because nobody ever wants to go back to their teenage years, but everyone wants to go back to their twenties.  The twenties are full of fun times, finding yourself.

Well I've found myself.  And although it's crazy to me that I'm 30, I'm looking forward to these years.  I think that aging is difficult if you aren't where you want to be in life.  But I'm exactly where I want to be.  I had fun in my twenties, but those early years were also difficult.  My goal was to get married and have a couple of kids by the time I was 30.  And that's where I am.  I've been married for 5 years, I have 2 amazing kids and a good job.  So going into my thirties I'm incredibly happy with where I am.

I look forward to the next 10 years.  To watching my children grow, to travelling with my husband, to start spending time at the arena every night (ok I'm not actually looking forward to that, but I'm sure it will be fine once I'm there).  

With that being said, I had a fantastic day.  I spent the day at Adventure Room with my family, where we didn't escape, but we did have a lot of fun.  We went out for dinner and then back to my parents house for presents and cheesecake.  I got a necklace from the kids and stacking rings from Ryan, my brother and sister and my parents.  I also got the Ed Sheeran CD today (and this morning was able to get tickets to his Toronto concert, which I'm really excited about despite not typically being a concert lover).

It was a great day and I'm hoping that it means that my thirties are going to be fantastic.

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!  

The Terrific Twos

It's unbelievable how quickly two years goes by.  It's so cliche to say that, but it's true.  I feel like Parker was born yesterday.  And not only is he 2, but he is a big brother!

2 years ago I was in shock when I went into labour.  I didn't know what to expect with a 5 week early baby.  Those first few days and weeks were hard.  And there have been many difficult days since then, but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done.  

He's growing into a real person before our very eyes and it's crazy to see what a difference a year makes, or even a few months.  At 18 months, he was hardly talking.  He was saying the odd word that we could understand and a lot of words that we couldn't and basically spoke what we called "freaky deaky Parker".  There is a still a bit of Freaky Deaky Parker, but a lot more of what he says is understandable.  He understands most of what we tell him to do.  Whether he listens or not is a different story.

He can recognize all of his family members in pictures, his favourite person is still Bapa and he knows if his truck drives by.  
He still doesn't like to eat a lot of the time, but will catch me by surprise and eat tons all of a sudden.  
He likes to have his stuffed animals lined up on his bed when he goes to bed, but he can't actually sleep with them, so then he throws them all away.
He wants cookies and cheese all the time, but once we give it to him he rarely eats it.
He still loves his mo mo (milk)
He gives Cooper lots of hugs and kisses, covers him with blankets and turns on his vibrating chair for him.  If Cooper isn't in the vibrating chair, then Parker gets in it and turns it on for himself.
He loves trucks, cow cows and doggies.
He needs about 15 minutes of snuggles when he wakes up from his nap.
He likes to play the piano about as much as he likes playing with any of his toys.
He wears 12-18 month clothes and the pants still sometimes fall off if he's not wearing a cloth diaper.  He loves to put his boots on by himself.
He likes to sit on the potty but has no idea what to do with it.
Bath time is his favourite time and he likes to "scrub scrub scrub"
He sings Old McDonald by saying "EI EI EI" and his own songs and he's a dancing machine.
He thinks that if he keeps saying "pease" he will get what he wants.  And if he gives you a kiss he says thank you. So polite.

Favourite things to say:
Please
Thank you
Where'd it go (usually while hiding something behind his back - sometimes just his hands)
That's Daddy's (about something he's been told not to touch - it's always Daddy's)
Don't Touch (about something that he's probably touching)
Cow cow
Baby
Baby sad 

He weights 19lbs 10 oz and is 30.5 inches tall.  Although 19lbs is very small for a two year old, we went to the pediatrician and he actually is still following his curve.  He's just a teeny guy.

I'm pretty sure he hit the terrible two's early because the last few months have been challenging, and maybe it's the Cooper adjustment more than the age, and yet I love this stage that we are in.  He's learning and growing and testing his limits.  But he's so adorable at the same time.  I can't wait to see where the next year brings us!

Parker's 1st Birthday Party

The good thing about having a baby on a Saturday (there are a lot of good things about it, I highly recommend it), is that their first birthday is on a Sunday!  So I knew that I had to have his birthday party on his actual birthday because this won't happen for another 5 or 6 years.

I wanted to do something low key.  Pinterest and blogs tell us that birthday parties and showers have to be perfection, you have to spend a lot of money and have every single thing themed.  And although I love looking at pictures of those parties, I knew that I didn't want to do that.  It was too stressful, too expensive, and Parker is 1, so he could care less.  I had a slight elephant theme and a few decorations and a whole bunch of pictures from his first year.

I decided to have our immediate family (parents and siblings) over for a lunch.  I made chicken lasagna, we ate on our fine china which doesn't get used much and Parker absolutely loved his meal.  It was nice to have something with just the people who are truly the closest to him.  

Then at 2 the madness started as I invited my extended family.  They love an excuse to get together, but we are a really close family.  We also invited a few of our friends who have kids the closest in age to Parker and who have been involved in his life over the past year.  That's what his birthday party was about for me, it was about spending time with those who have made his first year great.

Parker and his pals.  Three of my favourite little boys!

Parker chose not to nap yesterday, but luckily everything went really well.  I put him down at 5 and he fell right asleep until I woke him up around 7:30!  Then he slept through the night and I had to wake him up at 8:30 this morning for his doctors appointment!

The cake.  All I wanted was to watch Parker eat cake.  And do you think he had any interest in it?  Nope!  He didn't know what to do with it, he ate maybe one bite and he didn't even destroy it.  But then my sister gave him some ice cream and that caught his attention.  The kid loves ice cream.  I don't blame him.

Much more interested in balloons than cake

Ice cream!

It was a great day, and I only cried once while I was putting my one year old to bed.  Because how does that happen?  One day you have a baby and then you have a one year old and I feel like it changes nothing and it changes everything.  

Parker at 1 Year!

Yesterday was Parker's first birthday.  How did we even get here?  It's is unbelievable how fast the past year has gone and how much Parker has changed in that year.  When they are newborns, they seem so exciting.  And then they grow up and develop personalities.  They become mobile and understand you (or choose to ignore you even if they do understand you.)  And that newborn stage seems so far away and so boring now!

At each age I have said that I love the stage that Parker is in now the most.  And that's a really good thing because I think that despite each stage having it's own difficulties, I have truly enjoyed the first year of his life.  I feel so lucky that we are able to take a full year off to be with our babies.  Parker and I kept busy this past year, and when we could we brought his dad along too!  We had a lot of fun.  And although the next year will be different as I'm going back to work I'm hoping that I can change that quantity time that we've been having to real quality time.

So serious because mommy wouldn't let him play with the blocks

Weight: 13lbs 12oz - I really wanted to get him to 15lbs by his first birthday.  Oh well.  He's still following his curve and the doctors aren't concerned.

Height: The doctor measured him at 28 inches.  My parents measured him at 26....I kind of feel like my parent's measurement is more accurate.

Feeding: Parker eats 3 meals a day and a snack.  He will eat pretty much whatever we are eating.  If it's easy to eat he feeds himself.  Sometimes we still feed him if necessary.  I try to make his meals as full of fat as possible!

Parker still basically exclusively nursed until we got home from Florida on January 9.  On January 10 the weaning started!  He had a cup here and there before that but had never really been made to drink from it.  For the first few days I tried to give him a cup as much as possible but fed him when I felt like I needed it.  It was usually about 3 times a day.  But at this point we are down to once a day before bed.  I'm not sure how long that will last.  Otherwise though he's doing great with the cup!  He uses a 360 cup rather than a sippy cup and it's working well.  And it's nice that he knows when he's thirsty and can go and help himself.

I feel incredibly lucky that I could nurse for basically a year.  It's such a weird feeling to be done though!  But honestly I'm happy to have my body back to myself and not be completely tied to Parker.  It was a great blessing while we were doing it, but it was definitely time to stop.

Milestones:  Parker learnt to climb stairs while we were in Florida.  Now whenever he's around stairs he wants to climb them.  Little rascal...

He stood for a few seconds on his own (according to his father).  But he's not walking yet unless he has something helping him.  He is getting sturdier so I can see the walking coming soon.

I worked a couple days this month and Parker stayed with Grams.  He did great while I was gone, didn't miss me and napped and ate well for Grams.  The first time I came home I left the room and he lost his mind.  The second time he just wouldn't let me out of his sight and wanted to snuggle.  So it's nice that he's fine all day, but I'm not going to lie, I like that he misses me.

Likes:  He still loves the bath.  He loves the pool, especially slipping in off the edge.  He really likes to eat macaroni and cheese, meatballs and banana.  

He likes to get into everything!  We finally child proofed our kitchen because he was getting into the garbage, pulling out pots and baby bullet items.  We have an open cupboard that he's always pulling stuff off of, we haven't come up with a solution for that yet.  In the bathroom he likes to play with the garbage, the toilet paper and sometimes even stick his hands in the toilet. 

He got a lot of toys for Christmas and he loves playing with all of them!

Dislikes: Being told no.  You just say no to him and he starts to cry.  He knows what he isn't supposed to do and will watch for a reaction, but he always does it anyways.

Nap time.  Until he realizes he's tired.  Most of the time he cries for 30 seconds and then is fast asleep.

What a year it has been!  We haven't enjoyed every second but we have enjoyed every day.  We love you Parker Pants!