Parker's First Christmas

We arrived at my aunt's house about 5:30 pm on Christmas Eve. We wanted to get there a little sooner, but with Parker, everything takes a little bit longer. When we finally made it, everyone was ready for dinner. We had a Mexican dinner with homemade goodies like guacamole, queso, enchiladas, and empanadas. It was delish! Parker had apples and carrots as you can see.

Grandma had a great time visiting with Parker, as did he with her.

Parker got A TON of gifts from the family. I think we may have to add a wing onto the house just to accommodate his new stuff.

Drums... now that is what I am talking about!

Parker was amazed by all the commotion of the day's activities. Although he won't remember any of it, I think he had a good time.

A Trip to see Santa!

Parker made his first trip to see Santa in the flesh this afternoon. Not surprisingly, he was very well behaved and in very good spirits. Here is the best shot from the 1 hour wait and 2 minute photo session at Memorial City Mall. Happy Holidays!

Visiting the Cousin's House

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, we visited family over the Thanksgiving holiday. During the trip, I attempted to take some Christmas photos of the kids (Maddie, Maria, and Parker). The original idea was to take some of the girls by themselves, then take some with Parker. Unfortunately, after about 15 minutes of trying to get a good shot of the girls, they weren't interested in taking any with Parker. The following is a pictorial chronology of my attempt:


This was my test shot using Parker as a model to verify the lighting. You can see he is really interested in doing this for me. :)


This is the best image of Maddie and Maria. As you can probably imagine, I was having a tough time getting both of them to smile and look at the camera.


This was a cute candid I took of Maddie laughing while we were trying to corral the other kids for the group photo.


Before we gave up on getting all the kids together, I snapped this cute image of Maddie and Maria decorating the tree.

And finally, we realized it just wasn't going to be a good day for pictures of Parker. I snapped a few frames, and this was the best one. Luckily, I tried again the very next day and got some great ones that I will feature in my next blog post. One of them will be the one we use for our Christmas cards this year.

In the Jumperoo!

Here is a quick video post of Parker in his cousins' Jumperoo. The kids' voices you hear in the background are his cousins and the other random noises are his aunt and uncle cleaning up the kitchen after tearing into some Thanksgiving Day leftovers.

Parker's 1st Thanksgiving

Well, Parker's first Thanksgiving was full of new experiences. Some of his firsts included:

1. His first time to North Carolina
2. His first time to fly in a plane
3. His first time to see his cousins on his mother's side of the family

The plane ride was a little over 2 hours long and luckily he slept the entire time. Parker was fussy a little while were sitting at the gate waiting to board the plane, but other than that, it was an uneventful trip. Hopefully the ride home goes as smoothly.

I brought my camera along on this trip, so I should have some good pictures to post in the next few days, but for now these pictures I snapped with my iPhone will have to do.

Parker is buckled into his aunt's car seat as we made our way to Target to pick up some essentials like diapers, formula, and wipes.

Parker is sitting in his cousin's Dora the Explorer chair. He is wearing his "Baby's 1st Thanksgiving outfit".

Rooting for Auburn! War Eagle, Hey!

Parker is all set for tonight's football game against Kentucky. Yeah, I know, Kentucky isn't a perennial powerhouse like next week's opponent, LSU, but that's no reason not to get all dressed up and root for the team! Below are some pictures from Parker's pre-game activities, which include eating, sleeping, and... well, you know! :)

Play Time for Parker

A few weekends ago, we went to the Gymboree Gym near the Galleria in Houston. They offer a free trial of their playtime service, so we took advantage of the offer. We got there about 15 minutes early and we signed in. Then we got Parker ready to have fun. They laid out a small parachute and we all placed our little ones on a blanket on the parachute. The facilitator sang songs and lead activities like blowing bubbles, clapping, and snapping. Parker seemed to like it and he definitely liked watching some of the other babies. We plan to go back if we can find a more convenient time and location for his classes. The Galleria area is kind of hard to navigate on Saturdays. Below are some pictures I took with my iPhone of the days events.

Parker No Likey the Shots

So last Friday we took Parker to get his first set of shots in a series of three. He is just over two months old and these shots are recommended to be given at two, four, and again at six months old. Oh boy... the next few doctor's visits should be fun. Here are some videos I took that I believe are self explanatory.

Prior to the trip to the doctor's office:

The first vaccine was an oral syrupy fluid:

The next few vaccines were... well, you can see for yourself:

Tyson, Still not Sure

Part of the morning ritual is to feed the baby. Typically, Christen will put him in his Boppy pillow on the bed while she makes the bottle. Then she just feeds him while he lays in the Boppy because it holds him at the proper angle. This morning, Tyson and I watched Parker while Christen made the bottle. Of course Parker was crying as he usually does when he is hungry, and Tyson wasn't sure what was going on. He's been good with the baby, but I think he still isn't sure what this thing is.

Second Attempt at Pictures

Alright, a good photographer never gives up. Good thing, because the second round of Parker Pics was more successful. Although we had to stop to feed the little squirt between wardrobe changes. The fruits of our labor are below. Enjoy!!!

At the Pool in Gulf Shores

Last week we took Parker on his first road trip, it was our biannual family reunion and we went to Gulf Shores, Alabama. He did pretty well... he slept most of the time. We started out on Saturday, August 1st and drove from our house to Beaumont, where we stopped off to visit my aunt and grandma. We had lunch at the Black Eyed Pea and then went back to my aunt's house to visit for a bit before getting back in the car for the trip to New Orleans. We stopped there for the night, at my sister's new place in the garden district.

Since we had to bring almost everything we own with us to support our little bundle of joy, it took several trips to unload the car and get set up for the night. Then we tried to get some rest for the remainder of the trip to Gulf Shores the next day. We were slightly successful. When we woke up, we decided to go to breakfast at Slim Goodies Diner on Magazine. It is a great place. If you are ever in that part of New Orleans and are looking for a good greasy spoon, this is it. Then we got on the road and made it to Gulf Shores about mid afternoon on Sunday, August 2nd.

While there we spent most of our time tending to Parker. We didn't make it to the beach, but we did sit out by the pool one afternoon and we even introduced Parker to the water. Here's some video my sister shot of his first pool experience.

Splish Splash, Parker Takes a Bath

We have given Parker a few baths now. Averaging about two a week. All in all, they have gone fairly well. It mostly tolerates it, but he doesn't like for you to take your time. We are getting better about being speedy, but you can only go so fast when you are trying to clean a slippery, squirmy little thing. Here is a video of one of his first baths a few weeks ago.

Parker's First Photo Session

Well, being a photographer, you know it wouldn't take me long to attempt more professional looking pictures than just snapshots of Parker sleeping, crying, or doing something cute. While those are great pictures to have, I really wanted to try to take some nicer pictures that we could use on baby announcements, display around the house, and give to family. Well, let's just say taking pictures of a newborn is quite challenging. I definitely need to try at least once more, but I think it may be a few time tries before I get some really good stuff. Here are some of the results from the first couple of attempts.

What a Week!

Well, it has been almost an entire week since I last posted anything. A lot has happened in that week, which is part of the reason I couldn't update this blog like I wanted to. Anyway, Parker was finally able to come home on Wednesday. He had been off the IV for almost two days and his blood sugar had stabilized. That means that they didn't have to find a place to stick him again after the IV in his head fell out. But, they did have to remove and replace his feeding tube (from one nostril to the other) because he pulled his first one out. You can see in the picture below that the feeding tube is now in the right nostril whereas before it was in the left nostril.

But at least Parker started eating more regularly. Christen and I went to the hospital three to four times a day on Monday and Tuesday to check on him and feed him.

Once we finally got him home, he crashed in his Pack-n-Play. You can see from this picture that he is quite comfy in it.

Since then, we have been just trying to adjust to Parker's three hour sleep-eat schedule. It's been challenging so far, but we are up to the task. We will let you know how it goes in the weeks to come.

Everyone is Doing Well

Here's the latest...

Everyone is doing well. Mom and I are home and trying to recover. Parker is still in NICU and will be for at least another day, maybe a few more. His blood sugar levels seem to be fine, but they need to ween him off the IV that is keeping those levels up. Hopefully his body starts to produce enough sugar on its own soon. The really bad thing is that they have to keep changing the location of his IV. So last night and this morning it was in his foot as you can see from the photo below.

We visited Parker several times last night and this morning. The picture below is of mom and Parker before an attempted bottle feeding.

The other thing that is keeping him in NICU is that he has been hard to train to accept a bottle. In fact, he has only fed from the bottle a few times. The nurses say that sometime bigger babies have a tough time adjusting to feeding that way, but they are confident that it will click with Parker in the next few days.

Of course, I am sure it is kind of hard to live your first days of life attached to all these wires and machines. The pictures below show all the sensors and tape that is on his body and the machines that he is connected to 24 hours a day.

The final time we tried to feed him a bottle, he was supposed to eat 30 mL of formula. After 10+ minutes of trying, he had only accepted 1 mL. So the nurse fed him through his feeding tube. That's right, if this kid hadn't been through enough, he had to have a tube shoved down his nose into his stomach so that he can been weened off the sugar water drip. He seems fine with it, but it just the idea that he has to endure all this and he is only two days old. You can see from the picture below that the machine with the green screen is slowly pumping the formula into his tube while he sleeps. At least he is getting his nourishment, but it will be much nicer when we can take a bottle every time.

Well, now you are caught up. Christen and I will be going to the hospital several times a day to check on Parker and try to feed him. We will keep you updated on his progress!

Parker in NICU

Well, Parker was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit last night due to low blood sugar. The doctors say it is nothing to worry about. They need to watch him closely so that they can work to bring his blood sugar to more normal levels. Right now he is on a sugar water drip. His levels look good and he should be able to go home with us tomorrow. Poor guy had to get stuck twice (once in each arm) for his IV. Good thing he won't remember any of this when he is older.

Notice the IV in Parker's left arm in this picture.

Notice the IV in Parker's right arm in this picture. Apparently, the tape was causing an allergic reaction on Parker's skin so they had to move it.

We Moved to a Post-Partum Room

Yesterday evening they moved us into a Post-Partum room. It's a little nicer in that it is bigger than the Labor and Delivery room we were in and it has more places for visitors to sit. But the greatest thing about the room is that it has a hook on the outside of the door so we can finally hang the sign my Aunt Ish (Susan) made for Parker. She is a wonderful artist and was an art teacher for a long time in Beaumont. Now she just does this kind of stuff for friends and family mostly in her spare time. Megan, my sister, was kind enough to fill in the appropriate data. Everyone that comes to our room loves the sign and wants to know where we got it. Thanks Ish!

First Photos of Parker

Well, yesterday was a bit of a busy day as you can imagine. Here are some of the photos of Parker I took yesterday. I will post more from last night and this morning.

Happy Birthday Parker!

Parker made his entrance into the world in grand style. He let everyone know he was here. After a while though, he calmed down and just tried to adjust to his new environment.

The First Night

Arriving at the hospital at 9:00 pm, we quickly made our way to the Labor & Delivery ward on the 3rd floor. The hospital is nice and the accommodations are quite comfortable. Below are some pictures I took when we first got settled in.

Where Christen slept. Not too bad!

Where Patrick slept. Not too good!

The heart rate monitor showing 148 beats per minute.