Baby is 2.......

Wow. It is hard to believe that my baby is 2 years old. I mean seriously, am I even old enough to have a 2 years old (no comments from the peanut gallery)?

Saturday, August 22nd, we celebrated Parker's 2nd birthday at Fox Lake Park. It was awesome. He had friends and family both there. When you look at the pictures, you can truly see how much he is loved. He had a wonderful time, except when it came to opening the gifts. Can you believe that he wanted to keep them wrapped......He only wanted the cards. At first I was so embarrassed, but then I had all the other kids come and help me and it turned in to lots of fun. Once Parker so the other kids helping and watching he came to watch, but still only wanted the cards. When it came time to eat the cake he was way to funny. He had been asking for the "baby's birthday cake" for two days. After we sang Happy Birthday I cut him a piece of cake. Well, he wanted nothing to do with that. Instead, he decided that he wanted to eat the whole back off the cake. It was way to cute. Each time he took a bite he would smile great big. Priceless I tell you.

The day after his party, we packed Parker up and he headed to Chiefland with Gama and Poppy for the week. Yes, that's right.....a whole week. He seems to be doing great, but mommy is not doing so great. I have learned that all I do definitely revolves around him. He has become my whole world. The since of emptiness that I feel is awful. I asked Justin if he felt empty and his response was "the house seems empty, but I don't feel empty". He is just so happy that Parker is having so much fun. I too am glad my baby is having fun and getting to spend time with Justin's family, but that hasn't made things any easier. Below is the first letter I have received from Parker while he has been away.......

"Hi Mommy!Today we are swimming "first thing" (that means in the morning and not in the afternoon).....first thing to gama is about 10:30!I am teaching Bridget what it is like to follow her everywhere asking her what she is doing!!!! Even when she goes to the potty.....she has learned to "shut the door :o) )I am really eating good......this morning I had my Milk aka coffee.....and cheerios in my snack cup.....then my gama was eating raisin toast and I wanted a bite! I told gama to make baby toast too!!! I ate half of my piece and shared the other half with Bandit.....speaking of Bandit, I THINK HE IS TIRED.....HE GOES OFF AND HIDES AND WHEN I FIND HIM HE IS SLEEPING....My gama and poppy think you and daddy are real troopers for letting me go to gama's house for a whole week!!We are having sooooooooooooooooo much fun and I am being suchagoodboy! We have to go now....the pool is "calling"
xxxxx0000000x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x
Parker James"

If you don't think that is cute you need to check your pulse....hahaha. Today he has gone to preschool with Gama for the very first time. Things went very well. He painted mommy and daddy a picture, ate his lunch like a big boy and then he even took a nap like all the other kids. After his nap, he had a snack and then headed to the playground. What a big man.
Oh well. Got to get to bed. Chat soon.

Mommy.....I woken.....(a.k.a. worken)

Sunday morning I was doing some dishes and getting Parker's bag ready for church when all of the sudden it became very quite in the house. Normally, when things become so quite it can only mean one thing ....... that Parker and Hunter are together and doing something that they shouldn't be. After drying my hands off I decided to go check things out. As I walked down the hall I peeked in to Parker's room, but there was no sign of him or Hunter. As I turned around I hear this little voice say, "Hey mommy. I woken (a.k.a working)." As I stepped in mine and Justin's room here stands Parker at the clothes hamper throwing his little pretzels that are shaped like fish into the hamper. As he would throw them in, Hunter would stick her tong through the holes on the hamper and catch them. What a way to start out a Sunday morning. I decided that there was no harm being down, so instead of me getting upset and Parker throwing a fit, I just left the two of them to play.

Ok. For a kid who doesn't like loud noses, can someone please explain to me why the drums are Parker's favorite instrument. After church yesterday a friend of ours who plays the drums at church took Parker up to the drums and let him play them. It was so cute, but very, very, very loud. He would hit the drums and then look at me and say, "Baby bum, bum (a.k.a. drum).
On Saturday, due to the weather (60% chance of rain) Parker and I were unable to go to the beach, so the two of us, and Hunter, played outside from about 10:30 until just before 2:00. He has really gotten in to riding his four wheeler. He will hop on that thing and say, "Bye, bye. Bob Builder woken". He will then come and give me a kiss and tell me to have a good day. You know, if you ever want to know who you are and what you are like, step back and take a look at your child. It really makes you think. The things Parker says and does are the things I say and do to him (except for that awful temper). Every day before I leave the sitters, I give him a kiss, tell him I am going to work and then I tell him to have a good day.

Well, all is looking good for the 2nd birthday party, all except those darn tropical storms. You know, what is this all about. We haven't had a storm all year and then we have to have three pop up the week of Parker's birthday party which is planned to be outdoors at the park. Go figure. How well. Being the person that I am I have reserved the church gym as a back-up location if we get rained out.

Justin had a great time yesterday playing golf with Ken Griffey Senior. They had a great game of golf, shared lunch and then discussed hunting. How awesome!! As soon as he gets me some pictures I will share them with you.

Ok. Must get to bed. The next time I post will probably be after Parker turns two. I will up date you on the party and how Justin and I are doing with Parker spending the week in Chiefland. Chat soon.....

Tuesday night my department at work and their family's all went to dinner together. I was a little nervous that things wouldn't go well with Parker since the evenings are his worse part of the day. Just to be on the safe side, Justin drove separately incase he and Parker would need to leave. Well, because Parker is such a person of routine, he was a little out of sorts when we first arrived. By the time everyone else began to show up he had adjusted to the change and the rest of the evening was a breeze. He was a hit. He used his manors - yes mam, no mam, thank you and please. Also, once dinner arrived he put his little hands together and looked at me and said, "may man" (aka - amen), so he and I said the blessing. How cute is that.

Justin has a big day coming up on Monday, August 17th. He will be playing golf with Ken Griffey Senior. How cool is that. I will do my best to have him snap some pictures so that I can post them here on the blog. Me, still working on Parker's 2nd birthday party, as well as his scrapbook. The decorations for his party are all good to go. The theme this year is airplanes. I am hoping to get his cake ordered by the end of the week (have to wait until Sunday since the RSVP date is the 15th of August). The food is going to be pulled pork sandwiches, hotdogs, chips and drinks. The party is scheduled to be at the park from 4:30 to 7:00 (as long as there are no hurricanes). If it rains I have an indoor site for back up. Justin and my dad will be building a corn hole game this weekend for the adults. You are probably thinking to yourself "Why is she going all out. Parker is only turning two and won't remember any way." Here's why. For me and Justin, Parker is such a miracle that I want to make his birthday one big celebration. He is the little guy that we didn't know if we would ever be able to have. What a blessing.

Holding Back the Tears

I am not sure why, but I am having a way harder time with Parker turning two then I did when he turned one. Is it because he is turning into a real little boy and is not longer a baby?

My mom and dad arrived home late last night from vacation which they had been on for about 10 days. Since we hadn't seen them in such a long time I invited them over for dinner after church. Parker was so excited to see them (as we were). After dinner was over and we were all ready for a nap I packed Parker up to head to Nana and Papaw's for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. Well, after getting his stuff put in his little backpack I put it on him and they began to walk back to Nana and Papaw's. As I watched my baby walk down the sidewalk with his backpack on holding my dad's hand it took all I had not to cry. As they continued on their way, mom turned around and said these words,"Before you know it you will be standing right there watching him get on the school bus." Great. Thanks mom.

As a mom I have learned that one of the best things in life is to watch my baby grow up, but at the same time, it has become one of the hardest things for me to handle. Knowing that I will never experience these stages again is one of the hardest things ever, so I do my very best to watch and take it all in, even if that includes playing on the play ground in Florida in the middle of summer. Yesterday I took Parker to the park and the two of us (yes, the two of us) went down all of the slides, we walked to the lake and watched the boats, we watched the airplanes fly over head, saw birds and to top it off we looked for squirl. Watching him taking in all of the beauty that God has created gave me such a smile and filled my with such joy. God is such an awesome god!

As a working mom it is hard for me to always have the time and patience that my baby deserves, but you can sure bet that if I had to choose between cooking dinner and playing trucks, Pizza Hut is just a phone call away. If you are reading this and you are a parent please remember this....your baby will be all grown up before you know it. Please take all the time you can to love them and love on them. They are a precious angel sent to you from God and there is nothing in this world that can ever replace them.

Crazy ..... Me?

Ok, so it has been a while since my last post, but it is really not my fault. Things have been off the wall crazy. Just days after my last posting, Justin and I had to make an emergency trip to the doctor with Parker to receive an epi pen shot. The poor kid had this awful rash all over. It looked as though he had a blistery sun burn from the top of his head down to his waist. Also, his eyes were swelling shut and his tong began to get the rash on it. The day before my best friends little girl had the exact same thing, except her's went down her whole body. At first we thought it was the peanut butter the kids had eaten, but once Parker ended up with it the doctor believes that it was something else. He said that it was so strange to see two kids with the exact same reaction like Parker and Kassidi's.

After that, I got to spend the next week at work with our auditors for our interim audit. I appreciate all they do, but they really stress me out and drive me crazy. I mean seriously, surely you have more to do then sit around and pick apart spreadsheets and formula's and so on. If only it was as easy as the numbers are there and everything balances, but it's not. I must say that my interim audit was far better then my year end audit last year, but I am still looking for that gold star. These auditors are still new to our organization, so I am still working to get everything laid out just as they want. Hopefully I will get that star at my upcoming year end audit.

Once I wrapped up my week with the auditors, I had to prepare for an all day reunion with Justin's side of the family. Not that I wasn't excided, I was just worn plum out from the week. Saturday morning we headed over to Justin's cousins house. I must say, we all had such a great time. The guys started playing corn holes about 11:00 in the morning and didn't wrap up until almost 9:00 in the evening. Parker had a great time playing and swimming with all of the kids. He even played his own little game of corn holes and football. One of Justin's cousins has a little girl that is only 16 hours older then Parker. She and Parker could be twins. It was so cute. Everyone just loved listening to Parker and couldn't believe how much he could talk.

Oh well. To wrap things up, life is good for us Wasson's here in good 'ol Titusville.