Sorry it has been soooo long

Sorry it has been so long since my last post I promise not to go so long between posts next time;) I am posting a whole bunch of pics from the last few weeks. Many are from July 4th when we were in Kansas City! We had such a great time as always. We went to Dinosaur Cafe (think that is what its called) Parker loved it! I also had to post pics of my cupcakes I made on the fourth they turned out really cute and tasted sooo good;) We really haven't been up to too much other than trying to get ready for daddy to come home. Right now it seems to be consuming my thoughts ha ha ha as I am sure you can imagine. I am really sad because we have done some fun things in the last couple of weeks but I couldn't find my battery charger for my camera so I didn't catch any of it:( Luckily I finally found it just in time for daddy to come home, do NOT want to miss getting pictures of that. So it really is official our baby is truly not a baby anymore. With everyday that passes he gets more independent and learns something new which its usually a new word! Parker is really starting to talk, it cracks me up because he will try and say anything you ask him to, and sometimes well most often it comes out sounding hilarious! Yes I am that mom that asks him to say things like "watermelon" and "cantaloupe." Oh it is just too funny! So in the last two days he has just started to take off with his talking. He walked into his toy room and went running to Elmo and said "Melmo" apparently he really has listened to me all those times I was referring to his Elmo doll and then my neighbor has watched Parker for me a couple of times, she was outside today when "we" (Parker with his bubble lawn mower) were mowing the lawn and he yells out "Hey Kim" ha ha ha! Cracks me up. He is really learning how to string words together to form sentences it's so amazing to see it all click. His favorite thing to say right now is "stop it" wonder where he learned that;) My friend brought her new baby girl over and when she started to cry Parker walked over with his finger pointed at her and told her to "stop it." Oh dear;) We have known all along that he wouldn't stop talking once he started and I am really starting to realize that I am probably going to want to pull my hair out when he is actually able to say everything that he wants too. Between him and Michael I will never get a word in! Well hopefully in the next week or so I will be blogging about daddy coming home and posting pics from his homecoming. Please pray for his safe return, and if you want to throw in a sooner than later return that would be great too;)

So it's been awhile, a LONG while since I have last blogged so I need to be a little bit better about that. It's funny I thought for sure with Michael gone and no distractions once Parker went to bed I would be able to blog all of the time BUT with Michael gone and doing the whole "single" parent thing I am EXHAUSTED every night. And about the only thing I want to do is look at fb, watch a little tv and go to bed;) Thinking and typing takes too much energy, ha ha ha! No, I love blogging just need to take the time to do it. We have tried to stay as busy as possible as we have done through out most of this deployment. It helps pass the time, plus I feel so fortunate to be able to stay home with Parker I want to get him out into the world doing hands on things as much as possible. Although venturing out without any help at times is a little overwhelming, if you have met Parker you know he is a BUSY bee! He NEVER stops if his stroller isn't moving then he is whining to get out, he wants to go, go, go! My mother came to visit and as always it was fantastic. I was pampered courtesy of my husband at the spa! I got my hair done and a massage, it was sooo amazing! It's funny I even enjoyed the car ride to the spa I turned up the music and sang the whole way there. And not once did I have to push play on the dvd, hand back a sippy cup, pass snacks back, get hit in the head with a bouncy ball, or console a crying toddler! It was wonderful, although I was excited to see my lil man after my spa day away from him. While my mom was here my cousins from AL came to visit and brought their beautiful baby girl!!!! We had such a great time visiting with them, but Parker was SUPER fussy the whole time and I just knew something was going on with him. Sure enough his fever spiked later that night and so I decided we should just go ahead and take him to the ER. Nothing was making him comfortable and when he only wants to snuggle in your lap you know something is wrong because as I stated before he doesn't stop for two seconds. So luckily we were in and out in 30 minutes, yes you read that right 30 minutes it was CRAZY. But don't worry we made up for the great time by searching forever for a 24 hour pharmacy. It ended up being his ears. He had a double ear infection. Poor baby. So he seems to be doing much better and our ped said at our follow up his ears looked great. Oh and he weighs 36 lbs now YIKES, such a big boy. We are really starting to count down the days until daddy is home. Can't wait!!! We miss him so much!!!!! Well I will try to blog sooner;)

passing the time until you are home;)

Wow what a busy month April has been!!!! Busy is great when you are trying to make the time go by faster;) April held many special days like my birthday which I was surprised to receive an email with a gift certificate to a day at the spa from my wonderful husband!!! April also is our anniversary which once again held a wonderful surprise a beautiful bouquet of lilies and roses!!!! I think the best part of April was getting to spend a weekend with two very special friends of mine. Our first military base to report to was Fort Bragg. Of course I knew NO one when I moved there to be with Michael after we were married, I had just left a wonderful teaching job and left all of my friends and family and the only home I had ever known. So it was very scary to say the least. Long story short I met two women who husbands were also in the same training as Michael and they quickly became our friends, family, and support all in one;) I was very lucky to have been moved here with one of those friends but our other friend stayed stationed in NC after her husband graduated. With all of our husbands away she decided that her and her daughter would make the flight to come visit Jess and I!!! It was fantastic all the kiddos together!! Addison, Resa, and Parker, how fun it was to see them interact and of course to spend time with my two great friends. Seeing Ashlee when we first got to the airport brought on a lot of emotion for all of us, we very soon were all teary eyed, there is a bond between us that is very strong we are all facing the same hardships and really understand one another. It was AWESOME! So of course saying goodbye was rough:( But Parker and I will be making the trip to NC next summer when the hubbies are away again. We also visited Chuck E Cheese for Parker's friend, Ethan's second birthday. Parker thoroughly enjoyed running around playing on everything he was in kid heaven;) As for me I have really been getting into crossfit lately, a style of working out and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I workout with a trainer three days a week and I am now a protein eating machine, I am eating "clean" as she would call it. I am seeing the results and fast. Its honestly been amazing to see how far I can push my body, it has given me so much confidence to realize how much I really can handle, she pushes me and I am LOVING it. It also helps to focus my attention on myself for a bit, because as we all know once you become a mom its easy to lose yourself in your child, I LOVE being a mom but I have to remember myself as well. Even more so when it's just Parker and I, I have to keep my energy high to keep up with my lil monster:) I hope this finds all of you doing well:)

Happy Four Year Anniversary Baby!!

Tomorrow April 20th is our four year anniversary! Truly that was the best day of my life, I always knew in the back of my mind that something was special about Michael. Dating wasn't easy for us between the age difference, the distance between us, and different backgrounds we struggled at times to make our relationship work. But one thing always held true in the three years that we dated the realization that not being together was far worse than any trial or tribulation we had to go through to make our relationship work. He truly had my heart from the moment we went on our first date. He is my rock. I have learned so much from him in the seven years we have been together, he makes me want to be a better person. I love the way he looks at life and often times I see myself striving to stay as positive about things as he does. He is a firm believer in God, a devoted, loving husband, and an incredible, caring, hands on father. I pray that Parker has his outlook on life and drive to always better himself. We only get this one life here on Earth and I thank God, THANK God that he has led me to such a beautiful man. I am so in love with him and although we can't be together right now just knowing he is my husband is enough to keep me smiling. I love you so much baby and I am so proud of you and our beautiful family. Thank you for always listening to my needs as a wife, respecting my role as a mother, and understanding my feelings as a woman. Happy Anniversary baby, I can't wait to celebrate MANY more with you! I truly don't know what I would do without you!

Easter 2010

We were so blessed to have Nana, Papa, Jeremy, and his girlfriend Bliss visit for Easter and my birthday! My birthday happened to fall on Easter this year, which I think was the first time ever. We had a wonderful weekend, Papa spent most of the time working on our yard and getting our landscaping all beautified for summer. It looks incredible!!! He also spend several hours painting our master bedroom, which now looks fabulous! My birthday was also fantastic I got lots of great gifts but the best gift of all was a phone call from my husband and a day at the spa, he is so great. I think the best part of the whole weekend was watching Parker hunt Easter eggs. He totally picked up on it and went to town finding and placing every egg in his basket until it was full. I think his favorite part was eating all of the candy. Overall it was a wonderful weekend and I can't thank my family enough for doing the "man" jobs around the house, I truly am blessed to have them;) Oh and Michael I posted a picture of how clean the garage looks, my dad also straightened that up because well its just not an area I keep very organized ha ha ha!!!