Parker is 2!

Today is Parker's official 2nd Birthday. He technically won't be 2 for another hour and a half, but it's close enough. Parker celebrated his birthday with his friends and extended family a few weeks ago at Chuck E Cheese. You can see a few of the pictures his Aunt Megan took here.

Today, his mom and I celebrated his real birthday with him by opening the rest of his presents. We actually gave him a little cookie cake last night as you can see below.

So far today we have played with our new toys, been to Gymboree, and ate lunch. Currently, Parker is taking a nap. Once he gets up, we will probably play with more of his toys and then go to the pool for a little while. We love the pool!

Thanks to everyone who made the trip to be with us for Parker's very special day. I will update the blog with more photos and adventures throughout the summer.

Parker was a fireman today!

Today at Gymboree was pretend to be a fireman day. Parker loved playing with all the pretend fireman things like a ladder to rescue a kitten stuck in a tree, a pole to slide down to get to the fire truck, and a fire truck that took the pretend fireman to the fire.

Here is a quick pic of Parker and I trying on hats.

Here is a video of Parker steering the fire truck. Sorry for the unstable image, I was trying to keep up with him. :)

So you think you can dance?

As you may or may not know, Parker loves to dance. Here are two videos featuring his dancing prowess. The first is one of him grooving to the iPad commercial. No matter what he is doing, when that commercial comes on, he stops, turns towards the TV, and begins to get his groove on.

The second video is from Gymboree this morning. Christen told me that the other day the school he attends was playing Who Let the Dogs Out when she arrived to pick him up. She said that he was just dancing his buns off. Well, today they played that song while we were waiting to start our class at Gymboree. He is a little more reserved here, but you can see he is moving to the music. :)

Love me some BBQ

After Gymboree today, Parker got his first taste of Spring Creek BBQ. He thought it was pretty good, especially the mac-n-cheese. But as you can see from the "after" photo, a lot of it ended up on his clothes.

Here is a blow up of some of the more obvious stains. :)

Parker's 1st Birthday

Well, I know it's been more than a month since the P-man's 1st birthday, but I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from the event. So, let's get right to it...

Sure it wasn't made by the Cake Boss, but Megan and I tried really hard to make Parker's first cake memorable AND tasty. I think we achieved both goals!

A pretty nice spread for a 1-year old. Heck, he didn't even know what was going on, but I bet he will be impressed when it gets older and sees these pictures or reads this blog.

Before we lit the candles on the cake and opened the presents, we all enjoyed some pizza. Parker had never had pizza before and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

After cutting it up into more manageable pieces, he tried it. Once he got over the initial shock of having a different textured food in his mouth, he really liked it. Of course, what food doesn't he like? :)

After pizza, we lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday, and cut the cake. Once again, Parker wasn't quite sure what to do with it. He just sat there and stared at it for about a minute.

Then we gave him a spoon to use. Although he doesn't know how to use it properly, sometimes putting a little food on it (in this case cake) and putting it in his mouth, helps to get him going. He didn't eat much of the cake, in part because a good portion of it ended up on his face.

Then it was time to open presents. This is the tunnel that Great Aunt Susan got him. He loves tunnels. We play in them all the time at Gymboree. When he was younger, he was scared of tunnels, but now they are so much fun and he really likes the one he got for his birthday. Thanks!

Aunt Megan gave Parker a wagon that contained big legos. Parker loves to play with the legos. He mostly destroys the creations his dad makes, but that it ok. We like to play build and destroy before bed sometimes. Thanks Aunt Megan!

Once everyone left, we got cleaned up and Parker put on his Batman outfit. We got this when we visited Six Flags in San Antonio over the Memorial Day weekend. Doesn't he look like a superhero?

Finally, the morning after Parker's first birthday, we all got up and made breakfast. You can see here that Parker was a good helper for his dad. He offered to shake the pancake mix while the skillet was heating up.

So, all-in-all it was a great birthday. Thanks to everyone who came over and shared it with us. Thanks for all the wonderful gifts. Parker really loves everything he got. We hope to see you all again really soon. Lots of love!

Better late than never

Well, I haven't been good about posting new items to the blog lately. I have been really busy with work and although I think about taking time to upload some photos and video, I always seem to run out before I get around to it.

So, here is a recent photo and video that I meant to post several weeks ago. This picture is of Parker playing with me from the other side of his baby gate. He thought it was funny that he was on one side and I was on the other. It kind of looks like he is in jail, doesn't it? :)

The video is of Parker playing with his arch. Although, I am not convinced he knows exactly how to use it. Judge for yourself. Regardless, he loves tunnels and arches. He was scared of them at first, but after playing with them at Gymboree a few times, he has grown to love them. His Great Aunt Susan gave him one for his birthday and he loves to play in that. I will try to get some pictures of that to post as well.

I plan to get some more pictures and video this weekend, and I will try to get that posted this week. Sorry it's been so long. I will try to be more regular.

Making progress...

Today was Father's Day and it was good. Parker woke me up with my gift. He even helped me unwrap it (sort of). I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a new iPad. Really cool!!! We are going to have a lot of fun playing games and reading stories on it.

After we had breakfast, we went to Gymboree. I have been wanting to show you all how well Parker is crawling now. It won't be long before he will be walking. Check out this video of Parker chasing me before we started our class today.

Then, the teacher was starting to pass out maracas. All the kids were waiting patiently, except Parker. He wasn't rude, but he simply crawled up to the teacher and looked at her and grabbed two maracas. She then told all the kids to come get their own maracas if they wanted to. Parker, without help from anyone, grabbed these two maracas. I couldn't believe it... orange and blue! I think he is getting ready for his freshman year at Auburn. :)

Parker is learning to crawl

Parker has made some progress in the last few weeks. He is begining to crawl. Right now it is more of a series of lunges, but it's a start. Yesterday at Gymboree he showed off his new talent to everyone there. Check out his form!

Later that afternoon, I assembled his new toy. It's a car, but it rides more like a motorcycle, and since I just got a new motorcycle, that is what we call it. :) Anyway, he tried it out a little this morning after breakfast and I think he likes it. Watch him in action!

A fun-filled weekend!

This weekend Parker had a lot of fun. First, we went to the Gymboree Gym. He loves seeing all his friends and playing on all the equipment. Today's activity was to try to problem solve about how to get something that was out of reach or behind something else. Parker still can't crawl, but you can see that he is trying.

Next, Parker got to go to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He saw a bunch of people and had a lot of fun at the petting zoo and the farmer's market. Parker got to ride on a carousel and even tried on a few cowboy hats. At the end of the day, he was very tired and slept really well.

On Sunday, Parker helped dad with the taxes.

Fun at the Gymboree Gym

We made a trip to the Gymboree Gym today. This was Parker's first time to this gym. Now that he is 6 months old, he is eligible for classes at a gym that is closer that than the previous one we tried out. He had a lot more fun today because he is more aware of things and able to interact better than we he was younger. Below are some pictures and one video I took of our time at the gym.

Parker loves to be on his tummy now. Here he is on a half bean bag having a blast!

This was Parker at the top of a slide that he went down three times and loved it!

Here Parker is signing along with the group to one of the many nursery rhymes we sang.

Parker loves to be on his back and look up at people. He always laughs and smiles when we do this.

Below is the video of Parker on the half bean bag trying to figure out exactly what the heck is going on.

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.