First Birthday

Where in the world did this last year go? I can't believe that Parker was ever this small. I'm so grateful that I get to be this lil dude's mom. We definitely have our days when we're both in tears (especially with all these stupid pregnant hormones!). But he is the highlight of my day when he wraps his arms around me and gives me a big hug with pats on the back, or when I hear his old man belly laughs. He is such a little weirdo, and is so much like me and Taft it kills me. He's super shy until he's checked out his surroundings and feels comfortable, like his mom. But once he's used to who he's with, he doesn't stop talking and telling stories like his dad.

Parker's birthday didn't start out very ideal. He had his one year check up, and had to get 4 vaccines and blood drawn. It took me and two other nurses pinning him down while a third drew blood. Since he kept squirming and screaming, it took forever for them to find a vein. I pretty much felt like the worst mother ever.

Birthday dinner with the Parker's, busting out his "ta-da" trick. (Check out the video a post before this and it'll make more sense.)

Showing off his new tool belt. And yes he did spend the majority of his birthday in his diaper. It's too much work to keep this kid's clothes clean when eating pizza, which is what we had for dinner, so he ate naked. I didn't want to get him dressed to open presents just to get him naked again for dessert.

Cash and Dad helping open presents and show him how they worked.

Parker wasn't sure what to do with the cupcake and just kept sticking his finger in the frosting, so Cash helped him out a little bit.

Once he figured it out, there was no hope for that poor defenseless cupcake.

Parker loves books. He tells big stories while he reads them that are apparently really funny cause he's always laughing. He'll even growl and do different voices while he's reading. I love it!

You'd think that since he's not crawling yet, he'd be easy to keep from making messes. Nope! I left the bathroom for a sec to get dressed, and hear my blow dryer start going. I came back in the bathroom to find him taking everything out of the shelves.

He loves icecream. I think he ate it a little too fast and got some sweet brain freeze action.

We were so blessed to have such a happy kid. He rarely ever cries (unless it's a dinner time tantrum, or cause mom left the room), and almost always has a huge grin on his face. He loves flirting with all the girls he sees and gets really frustrated when they don't respond to him. Sound like Taft at all?

If he had it his way, all he'd eat is cheese and fruit. I totally cried when he decided he was old enough to eat the string cheese by himself and didn't need me to rip it up.

I could talk about my lil man all day. I never thought I could love someone so much, besides Taft of course. I absolutely love being a mom. I love seeing his face light up when we get him out of bed, or when he accomplishes a new trick and he's so proud of himself. I can't wait for Parker to be a big brother. He loves babies and playing with them, so hopefully he'll be a good helper.