Happy Halloween!

I know...it's a little early, but I wanted to go ahead and get these posted because I am leaving the house tomorrow at 6am and won't be home until closer to 3pm...and then it's Parker's nap time, and I must admit...I may try to lay down for a bit, too! So Happy Halloween to you all! Beware...there are quite a few pictures because I could not choose! So here's our little Hershey's Kiss...










And in honor of Flashback Friday...here are 2 pictures from Parker's 1st Halloween last year. I remember that she was 6 weeks old and still very colicky (if you'll remember the video from a while back that had her crying....). And so every morning she would wake up, have her first bottle, and then I had about 1 good hour until the crying commenced for the day. I remember being nervous about putting her in the costume (I guess maybe it's being a 1st time mom thing???) and not wanting her to get upset (like she always did)....And it's even funny to me that I waited until exactly Halloween day to put the costume on her for pictures, when I could have done it anytime while Geoff was home to help! Anyway- I look back and kind of chuckle in my mind...and I am grinning as I write this. Just thinking how much things have changed in just one year. Not just her, but how much we have changed...



And these are just a few pictures from the church's Trunk or Treat this past Wednesday night. There wasn't really anything for her to do, but she sure did enjoy walking around everywhere...

She really loves her "lovey"...

This is Parker's "lovey"....


She loves this thing! If I could have picked the thing that I knew that she was going to carry around with her everywhere she goes, I probably would have picked something a little cuter. But no...this was her choice and ever since the day she found it, they have been pretty much inseparable.

The whole idea of her having a "comfort" item came to me right before I started back to school in August. There was this little stuffed dog that says "Little Cutie" on it that has plastic hands and feet for teethers that she liked...so about a week before school started, I thought that I would try to put her down for her naps with this "Little Cutie." It seemed pretty effective. It amazed me how almost immediately she was becoming attached to this little thing. She would hold it and kiss it...it was sweet.

Then one day, not long after school had started, we were playing in her room and she found this little doll. She appeared to like this one even more than her Little Cutie. So making an already long story short...this has been her "lovey" since late August. She sleeps with it, walks around with it, kisses it, hugs it....she'll go find it when you say "where's your lovey???" It's really cute...

Anyway...tonight after dinner, she finished before me (surprise!) and she was extra ancy to get out of her seat. So I decided to go ahead and let her down. She immediately started walking around, talking...the usual. I took another bite...looked up...and her lovey was in the dog's water bowl. Ughhh...(and I had just washed that thing on Sunday!). So I hurried up, started a load without her noticing it was missing. Whew....

Then the time came to put it in the dryer. I am usually so good at hiding this, but I thought I would be so super-sonic fast that she wouldn't notice. Wrong. She saw it...started pointing and saying "ah...ah...ah." Uh-oh.... I gently moved her out of the way, closed the door, and started the drier. Let me tell you...this was the saddest cry ever. Her bottom lip was out and everything. She was pulling at the door trying to open it...just looking at me like..."what are you doing to me???" I felt so bad because this wasn't like the normal times when she is crying when she can't have something that she wants and we just let her cry and get it out of her system and then she is fine in 30 seconds. I truly felt bad because this is hers. She takes it with her to the sitters, she holds it when she's sad...even when we check on her at night before we go to bed, she is holding it 90% of the time (so sweet...).

I tried to comfort her...no such luck, but then quickly took her into the other room and began showing her other toys and after about 2 minutes she was fine. These are the pictures I took when her lovey was dry...

(reaching into the dryer....)

(pulling it out...patting and talking to it...)

(then, without prompting...began hugging it and smiling...)

(I told Geoff this is probably the most natural smile we have ever gotten on camera because I didn't have to do anything to make her smile...)

Costume Party

Here are just a couple of pictures from last night's costume party....

Is this thing scary looking to you?

So tonight Geoff and I are going to a Halloween costume party where I will be a hunter that shoots Geoff, who is the deer. We got the costume today because that is the way we seem to do things around here, no matter how hard we try to do them early...they seem to get done last minute... Oh well... Anyway- when we got home, Geoff wanted to try it on to see what Parker would do. We thought "...surely she will be scared..."...not that we were trying to scare her, but you know what I mean. But no....right when she saw it she started smiling and walking towards it. Then she reached for it...

And she even gave it kisses...

It was hard to get her face in the picture because she would smoosh her face into the deer face (which is actually constantly being inflated with air)...


Oh...and then we had to put on more shoes... (this was right before we gave her a bath...which is was a little early today due to the party tonight...)

This morning...

Parker is really into shoes these days (Geoff is concerned for this profound love of shoes so early in her life! haha). She is always bringing us her shoes then sitting in our lap for us to put them on her. Today she brought me her sock (singular)...

13 months old...(yesterday)

I finally figured it out!!!!

Well...sort of.... I've been messing around with this photoshop software for a while now, but I get confused really easily (surprise, surprise!), so I usually just revert to what I have somewhat of a grasp on how to use...iPhoto. But tonight I did it....I finally figured out how to do this...


I'm not really sure if I did it the "right" way...and I know that I still have so much to learn....but this is definitely progress and I am excited nonetheless!!!

And so...the parenting begins...

These pictures only briefly explain what it is like to try to study/get some work done while Parker is still awake. She wants to be everywhere I am, doing whatever it is that I am doing. Truth be told, I do love this....but at times it can be a bit trying.

...smile pretty for the camera...

I had a test on Wednesday, but I was home with her on Tuesday. I sat down on the floor with her to play, but realized after about 15 minutes of sitting there, that she didn't really want anything to do with me and that she was doing fine playing by herself. So I thought to myself, "I should try to read some notes while she is playing, instead of just waiting until she goes down for a nap." Nope!! There's something about me just sitting there, and then there's something about me just sitting there and reading. It doesn't really work out. She started whining and pointing...I gave her one little packet of notes thinking this would buy me some more time. Nope! She kept pointing. She wanted my pencil. "Ok!" I thought..."I give her my pencil....I have 5 more minutes." Nope!! She took my pencil, then proceeded to take all of my papers with her to the floor where she began "writing" on them. I just laughed and gave up.

Is it possible that she has hit the terrible 2's early??? I mean...seriously....I used to say that Parker was pretty well-behaved in public, the hard part was just getting her in her car seat. I now officially retract that statement. It is still hard to get her in her carseat, but today at our Wal-Mart trip, she proved to be less than a little angel. There was the throwing back of her head, screaming, arms flailing....it was good times I tell you. I even let her walk a bit...big mistake on my part because when we were on the card aisle, she thought it would be a good idea to take all of them out and put them on the floor. Mommy was not so smart with that decision. But I will tell you this....one of the last times that I picked her up and she threw her head back and I was feeling somewhat defeated and helpless, I reminded myself...."I am bigger than you, and I am the boss!" (I think the boss thing may still be up in the air!) So at this point, I am determined to put her back in the seat of the cart...I do succeed in this...only she ends up facing backward....and alas...we have silence. I did get many stares due to having my child in the seat of the cart backward and without the little seat belt fastened....but hey....you do what you have to do... and my hands were on her the whole time. So my eyes were opened once again to see a different side of things. Things are not always what they appear, and yes... I was letting my daughter ride in the cart backward, which I guess is considered dangerous, but I also consider it dangerous when she is mid-fit, throwing her head and neck all around. These fits, I guess you can call them, have really been escalating the past few days. We really try to pick our battles, but at the same time, we don't want to reward her for this behavior... and so we let her throw her fit...especially when it is something that is for her own good. Geoff and I were talking tonight about how we've been shaping her behavior since she was born, but now we feel more like "parents" because we are really trying to teach her that we can't always have the things that we want exactly when we want them!!!

Pumpkins!

My friend Jodie and I took another trip to the arboretum this morning. It was absolutely beautiful out there! I mean...it really always is...but I have really only been during the spring time, and so to see all of those fall colors and pumpkins and squash was really neat as well.

These are the first 2 pictures of Parker that I took....the sun was shining right in her face. I am laughing as I type this, and I was laughing then...it was as if her face was stuck like this for about a minute...

And here are just a few more from the day...


The hay was a pretty big hit as well...

I did finally get Parker to smile by hitting the pumpkin that was beside her, but then I was too close to her and so the shot wasn't too great...but hey.....she is smiling...

We tried to get a group picture of all 4 girls, but this is what Parker had in mind. Poor Sydney...she was so patient...just sitting there waiting for her picture to be taken....

So this is as close as we got for a group pic....(yep...that's my girl....)

"You've got to be kidding me..."

Those are the words I said to Parker after I walked away from her briefly and found her like this....

She was almost done with her yogurt (that I was feeding her), when I sat it down in front of her with her spoon (because we are starting to encourage her to feed herself with the utensil...that is....when we are feeling on the brave side...)...and she was actually doing pretty good. She wasn't really "scooping" it up, but she was "dipping" her spoon in there and then placing it in her mouth. So I got up to do something (I can't remember what it was off the top of my head right now....but it was either get another napkin or a kleenex) and then I heard Geoff say "Uhhhhh..." and then I saw her....I chuckled and said, "You've got to be kidding me..." It was pretty cute, I must say....and a fairly easy clean up since it is so thick (I did find the spoon in her booster seat so I don't know if she dropped it and couldn't get it, so decided to take this route instead???). And another funny thing about this whole situation is that Geoff was actually sitting right there at the table when all of it happened.....

a fun Saturday...

Today, Parker and I spent the day with my cousin Julie's kids...Daley and Isabella. They are 6 and 3, respectively... and wonderful! We played outside on their swing set for a bit...

Well...I say "we", but honestly, Parker was just fine sitting in this chair...

It can be pretty challenging at times to get her to smile for me when I have the camera out. I seriously think that I may have scarred her when we first got this camera and the flash was so bright that it it made her eyes water. So now...when I get the camera out...she basically runs the other way! Oh well...

But it was so fun taking Daley and Isabella's pictures because they acted like they didn't mind at all. And would even throw a cute pose in every now and then...

I tried to get a good picture of the 3 of them together....but Parker wasn't too willing...

And then I tried again.... (...and I love this picture...)

And then here are just a few pictures of Parker...