Christmas '08

Our first Christmas with Parker!! We had a wonderful time. Christmas Eve was spent first at our house, then Grandpa Kirk's, then Great Grandma & Great Grandpa, and lastly Grandma & Grandpa Meirowsky's. Christmas Day started slowly with Santa gifts at our house, then over to Meirowsky's for lunch, and the finale was at Grandma Lisa's. Everyone was very thoughtful and generous and Parker made out like a bandit : animal farm set, sit-to-stand giraffe, walk behind lawn mower, helicopter, clothes, tractor, bath toys, dump truck, drum set, DVD of tunes, and lots of love. He isn't spoiled at all! Kevin, Parker and I would like to say thank you to everyone; we had a wonderful Christmas! We love you ALL!

Here is our Christmas through pictures...

Christmas Day...Santa brought animal crackers! He wouldn't let anyone close to those animals.

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Christmas Coming Soon!

Time goes so fast! Parker is almost 11 months old & Christmas is almost here. Parker is getting so close to walking. Grandma Lisa was over the other morning and he took 3 steps to her; it is so exciting as he gets closer and closer to walking. We have also been practicing using a spoon. It gets a little messy as you can see...

Today, we went and got Parker's hair cut for the first time by a professional. His hair was getting so thick in the back that I was struggling to cut it. He got to sit on a horse and watch Thomas the Train. Parker wasn't a big fan of holding still, but over all he did a good job.

Today was a big day, because after the haircut we took a trip over to Great Grandma & Bill's house where Parker got to open his first Christmas gift. He kept ripping off tiny pieces of paper and then handing them off. Too cute!!! He is going to be a neat-freak like his daddy! HaHa.

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Thanksgiving

It seems like forever that it was Thanksgiving, but I'm just now get around to writing about it! The Meirowsky's had a GREAT Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day we spent with Grandma Chris, Grandpa Tom, Aunt Jenny, Uncle JD, Great Grandma D, Uncle Bruce and Jason & Denise (along with their clan) stopped by for a while as well. As usually Grandma Chris made an awesome lunch with all the fixings - turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and don't forget dessert! Parker even got to enjoy the food ~ he has been eating off our plates now. We watched Tropic Thunder (Kevin and I kinda did - Parker keeps us moving and groovin' now-a-days). We finished up the evening over at our house with Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Kirk, Nancy, Aunt Loni, Uncle Eric, Aunt Cassie, Montana, Megan & Layton. They all came over to wrap up their day with some drinks and dessert. Then we had to kick everyone out because it was way past Parker's bedtime and Kevin had to get up at 3:00 to go to work the next morning. Kevin has picked up seasonal work at Target this winter, and has been enjoying it for the most part. He has first shift - there by 4 and off usually no later than noon. It has helped out financially to put those diapers on Parker that we seem to go through SO quickly, plus keeps Kevin busy, so he is not stir crazy all winter long. He is just waiting for that first big snow so him and Tom can go snowplowing!

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving...the following weekend we ended our festivities over at Great Grandma's house with her husband Bill, and my Uncle Brad and his family. We got stuffed again over there with turkey and the whole nine yards.

Mommy got busted here! I was in the kitchen making Parker's food for the week, and I look down and Parker was covered in bread crumbs. I don't even know how he had time to do this, but obviously he did! The Lazy Susan was spun open and Parker had grabbed the container of bread crumbs, crawled to the other end of the kitchen, opened the container, and had a great time playing in the mess! I know, I know...other mother's out there are thinking...that doesn't even count as a mess...it's such a small mess. This is just my wake up call that I can't take my eyes off him for a second!

Once again...are we entertaining Parker, or is Parker entertaining us?...you decide!

FYI ~ Kevin and I are SO excited! Tonight Grandma Chris and Grandpa Tom are taking over for us, so Kevin and I can go on a DATE! YEA! We were taking about it the over night and we haven't been out for dinner in over 2 months...that is crazy talk if you knew us before Parker!

Parker can...

crawl like a maniac! No problem getting from point A to point B. ...stand briefly by himself. He is so impressed with himself, and Mom and Dad are too! We are thinking before Christmas he will be walking. ...weigh a ton! Last time at the doctor was about 2 weeks ago and he weighed 24.9 lbs and was 30 inches long. Big boy! ...hear! Last Wednesday (the 12th) Parker got tubes put in his ears. The whole procedure went great; it lasted about 4 minutes. We had to be there at 6:30 am and Parker couldn't have any food or water. We both thought that would be rough for him since he usually wakes up expecting his milk, but we distracted him enough that it wasn't a problem. Everyone at the surgical center was very nice. They took Parker and gave him some laughing gas to relax him and Dr. Bunting got it done very fast. The worst part, for me, was seeing him all groggy from the gas. His eyes were all glassy and he was crying and throwing his body around everywhere. SO SAD! But as soon as we got in the truck he was better and then after a nap and some lunch he was back to the same old Parker. ...whine! He is getting the age where he understands that he can get what he wants if he can just drive Mom and Dad up the wall with whining. ...strum his lips and make everyone laugh! (See the first video at the beginning) ...wave bye-bye. And I swear he says bye-bye, it just sounds more like "dye-dye" and Great Grandma Aaron was there as proof. (Again, see the first video below) ...sits Indian style. Super cute how he crosses his feet. ...loves the SpongeBob SquarePants jingle. Whenever, that show comes on, Parker races over to the TV and stands up to watch it. ...enjoys swinging at the park. ...eat cheese all day and night. It is definitely a close second to bananas. ...splash all night long in the bathtub. He loves to splash and get Mom and Dad all wet. We have to lay down towels along the tub; I swear 1/4 of the water ends up outside the tub. ...turn the pages of a book as we read them. It is not what I would call graceful, but he likes to help. ...brush his teeth before he goes to bed. Of course, Mom and Dad do the dirty work, but he opens his mouth and lets us. Gotta keep those 4 teeth pearly white! ...nursing only once a day now; in the evening. We just took away the morning feeding and so far so good (maybe not for Mommy, but I'll get there). Parker is pretty spoiled. He still has never had any formula and it is not in the plans. Hopefully by the end of December he will be strictly solid food. ...play with electronic things all day. He loves remotes, cell phones, and laptops. He pushes buttons like he is really trying to figure it out. ...can say ma-ma and da-da and I think he knows what they mean. When I go to get him out of the crib in the morning and ask "where's da da?" Parker will look around, stretching his neck to look into the next room.

Grandma Lisa took some family pictures for a Christmas card coming soon. We couldn't help but take some of Parker since he was all dressed up. He really didn't enjoy the leaves very much.

Parker enjoys going to the park. The new playground equipment is GREAT!

Indian Style...

Big boy standing up.

Sunday, we went over to Grandma Lisa's house to help pick up leaves. Not sure how much help Parker was.

Parker was having fun in this video playing with Aunt Cassie's cat. WATCH OUT PARKER!

Saturday, we had a great time at Grandma Chris's house for Aunt Jenny's baby shower. We played some fun games and had some yummy cake and Jenny got some awesome gifts. All of this and she is BARELY showing...only about 2 1/2 more months! (I have no idea why the pictures are so small...sorry! I can't get them any bigger; technology is so weird sometime. I will work on it)