Loving the Christmas season!

The D household is enjoying the holiday season.  I've always loved this time of year, but it's even more magical now that Parker is a toddler.  This post is going to be full of holiday pictures!

Parker is enthralled with Christmas trees - he points to them, says, "ho, ho, ho," and tries to say, "tree."  We stop and look at trees whenever we get the chance.

 

 

Our Christmas tree is pretty pitiful this year.  I didn't put up ornaments because I figured Parker and Murray would knock them off.  One of my two strands of lights is dead and the stores were sold out of the same kind when I tried to buy another strand, so it only has lights on the top half.  Parker doesn't care; he is in love with our tree anyway and always makes me turn it on in the mornings.  I finally found the star and put it on top yesterday which made Parker love it even more!

One strand of lights works

 

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care.  There sure are a lot of them with 3 people and 5 cats living in this house!

We drive around looking at Christmas lights often.  Parker points to them and says, "ooohhhhh" and "ho, ho, ho."  We planned on decorating our house but hadn't gotten around to it due to bad weather and sickness in the household.  Even though it's just a week until Christmas, today I decided that we HAD to put something up since Parker loves it so.  We did a quick and dirty job - took less than an hour - but I am so glad we did!  Parker had fun "helping" and loves having his own decorations outside.

Helping

The bear and snowman are his favorites

Saved lots of time by not hanging lights

Parker likes seeing Santa in books and on his pjs, but he still doesn't want anything to do with the big guy in person.  However, that hasn't stopped him from trying out his empty chair a couple of times.

 

We went to a holiday party at Lily's house.  As always, Parker and Lily were adorable together.  They really do seem to like each other.

Kisses

Hugs

I really messed up with my Christmas cards this year.  First of all, getting a 16-month old to stay still for pictures, much less getting him to smile, requires patience and a whole lot of luck.  We weren't all that lucky, so the pictures for the card turned out so-so.  I waited until my sister visited last week to get a family picture, and by the time I got my card order in online, I was cutting it close for the cards to get to me before Christmas.  Right now, they are still "in production," and I am prepared to have to send them out after Christmas.  Why didn't I think to go to a local store and have them made there??!!  If you're expecting a card from us, we haven't forgotten you!  I'll send them as soon as I get them.

I'll close with a shout-out to my friend Stephanie.  This summer, she gave me an impressive number of boxes of hand-me-downs from her son.  Whenever Parker starts outgrowing his clothes and I begin to wonder what he's going to wear, I dig into her boxes and find a gold mine of nice, stylish clothes and lots of functional basics.  Those hand-me-downs make up at least 75% of Parker's wardrobe.  Thank you, Stephanie!

And another note about clothes: Parker is at the awkward stage between 12 and 18-month size clothes.  12-month clothes are getting too short, and 18-month clothes are long and baggy.  So if you see him walking around in high-waters or with his belly hanging out or tripping on the hem of his jeans, please don't judge!  We're doing our best!

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

16 months and grateful

Parker is 16 months old today!

He is so goofy!

We had a nice Thanksgiving visiting Himal's mom.  9+ hours in the car with a toddler can be trying, so we drove mostly at night.  I did some major Black Friday shopping, so much so that my purchases wouldn't fit into Himal's mom's car and Himal had to bring the van to rescue me!  Unfortunately, it rained when we were planning on going to the beach.  Himal and I also had to endure awful football losses to our big, in-state rivals; that part of the holiday was brutal.

We are so thankful every day for our sweet little boy.  This year, we are also thankful because I AM GOING TO BE ABLE TO QUIT MY JOB!!!!!  While we will have to stick to a stricter budget, this is the best thing we could hope for.  If Parker were one of those kiddos who consistently napped for 3 hours each afternoon, working from home would be easier, but he's not, so it's not working for us.

For all of Parker's life, my weekdays have looked like this: wake up when Parker does (~7:00 or 7:30 AM); be a full-time mom all day; once Himal gets home after 5:00 PM, hang out as a family of three, eat supper, and give Parker a bath; put Parker to bed around 9:15 PM; do a chore or two; go into my home office and START working around 10:00 PM or so; work until after midnight.  Add in some nights when I have to get up with Parker, and I'm completely exhausted and never able to recuperate.  Poor Himal is stuck alone in the living room 5 nights a week.

We absolutely cannot wait to have normal couple time together and for me to have time to do chores and leisurely activities of my own in the evenings.  I will probably quit around the middle of January.  I am thrilled that Parker will have a well-rested mom during the days and that my nights won't be spent slaving away in my office.  I'm also excited that the house will be cleaner.  I'll also have more time to update the blog! 

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving!  Happy December!

   

Christmas spirit

The D family is in the Christmas spirit early!

Parker isn't totally on board with Santa this year.  He does know that he says, "Ho ho ho!"

We decided to go to the Christmas lights at the zoo this week since the weather wasn't so cold.  Turns out, it was a great decision because it wasn't crowded at all.  I mean, who goes to see Christmas lights before Thanksgiving week?  (Besides us?!)

He had a good time even though he looks unimpressed.

You have no idea how much I love this cutie.

Parker had his 15 month check-up yesterday.  I was expecting no shots or maybe just a flu shot, but he had to get 3 shots!  He has had a fever and no appetite today.  Poor baby.  My little P is still long and lean.  He measured 32.25 in. (78th percentile) and 23 lbs, 3 oz (30th percentile).

Parker is a dance machine.  Whenever he hears a good beat (and sometimes it must just come from his head), he starts bouncing up and down with the cutest bobbing dance.  He likes to climb on things and can do most playground steps and slides all by himself!  He often pats the floor next to him when he wants us to come sit beside him; it's adorable. 

He doesn't say too many words but recently added "ticky ticky" as he points to his belly when he wants me to tickle him.  He continues to understand more and more of what we say each day.  It's really cool to witness.

He had a play date with Lily yesterday.  The two cuties interacted more than they used to while playing.  It was fun to watch.  Parker is really loud and vocal compared to Lily.  He shrieks a lot when he's excited.

These two are so sweet!

Parker is at a stage where he does not like getting his picture taken.  He often shakes his head "no" when he sees the camera.  He refuses to smile for the camera.  In order to capture a smile, you have to trick him or pull out the camera quickly and snap a picture before he realizes what's happened.  Here are a few rare captured smiling moments.  Adorable!

 

 

Catching up

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted!  We've had so much going on with Halloween and visitors and football games.  We are expecting a big life change soon that should result in more frequent blog posts.  I'll tell you about it when it is official.  For now, I'll just catch you up on what we've been doing with lots of pictures in random order.

Happy Halloween!  Auntie joined in on the fun.

 Carved a pumpkin

Pumpkin patch

Auntie is a blast

Hi!

A night on the town for a wedding

Big and G visited for trick-or-treating

First sucker.  Messy!

Fun times with grandparents

15 months old

First tailgate.  Drooled on dada's jersey

Hip carrier is a lifesaver

Zoo with my cousin and his kiddos

Fun day trip

First football game

Loves his kitties

Adventures

We recently visited Auntie M and Uncle

Parker loved playing with their dogs!

They took us to a battleship

We had a blast hanging out with them!

We met up with Big and G

And explored a new zoo

We all went to the beach!

Parker was in heaven

He got really, really sandy

Then, we visited our friends Piper and PJ

And met Star Wars characters.  Parker was NOT a fan

Then, mama, dada, and Parker went to the beach

Parker had some rough sick days

But he powered through and visited some sea turtles

Back at home, we enjoyed having dada off between jobs. 

We went to the fair

My little thrill-seeker loved the bee ride

And he and Lily liked watching the horses