Little Moments Like That

Life is SOOO very precious right now at our house. Parker is learning so quickly and it warms my heart to hear him say new words daily. He is the sweetest big brother and very giving with his hugs and kisses. He gets so excited when Avery comes into his room in the morning and lays in bed with him or when I lay them side by side for diaper changes. Sometimes when I only need to change her diaper, he'll come lay next to her anyways. It warms my heart. 

Avie is growing so quickly! She's so strong and I can tell her hair is starting to grow... in the back... we may have a business in the front, party in the back look for a while. The good news is that her crocheted headbands can hide that for a while! Dressing her everyday gives me a high (seriously.... it's SO fun!) and I've decided she needs more bows. A girl can never have too many (and there is no such thing as too big!).  Avery is a love bug. If she's not asleep, she wants to be held. While that can be difficult sometimes, it is so very precious and I'm doing my VERY best to cherish these sweet moments.

Here are some of my favorite moments I've captured on camera this week:

One of Avie's 1st smiles!

I love how alert she is here! She loves baths!

Be still my beating heart.... I loved this outfit on her! So girly!

and the duck obsession continues... He's waddling like the ducks on TV

A DUCK!

My favorite 3 boys!

"The Parker".... my t shirt, bobby, hand in hair... ready for bed!

I thought this was so sweet! Showing Avery how to do tummy time!

Parker's idea of playing with his water table is playing IN it.

Yeah, I live for little moments like that (well, technically these.... but that's not how the Brad Paisley song goes that I was determined to make the title of this blog post! haha)

Pools, Play dates and Pilates

We had a play date today at our house. I just love getting Parker and my buddies together for casual, care-free play dates. By September, Avery will have 3 new play buddies that we are thrilled to welcome to the group! We started out with the kids in the backyard playing in the pools and ended with lunch and complete destruction of the house. I think every one of Parker's toys got played with today which is great because when we put them back in his bins, they were rotated and its like having a whole bunch of new toys! I love my friends. They held Avery so I could accomplish things, cleaned up toys, helped make lunch, dressed Parker.... they're pretty much awesome and it makes having these big play dates doable. I took a whooping 8 pictures today and didn't even manage to get all of the kids in them nor a single mom.... picture failure. I need to be better about taking pictures of the grown ups too! They just aren't as cute (no offense!) haha. Here's what I got:

Parker and Logan moved the water from one pool to the other...so helpful!

Don't feel too sorry for Avery... I think she only sat in here for 5 minutes! There were plenty of people willing to love on her!

Precious Parker

"The Parker"... its hi's signature move

Brooklyn & Logan

Today while my friends were here, I got these super cute, jcrew shorts in the mail. (I would copy the picture but it isn't saving it as a jpeg... and if it isn't a jpeg... I don't know how to do it!) Basically, they're navy blue and white seersucker shorts with pink anchors embroidered on them. Very Taylor. WELL... I opened them up in front of my friends and we all declared how large they looked and how they'd never fit (flattering, friends!). So, of course, they fit. Major bummer. Of course, I love them and I want them to fit but I want the tag to say the same number is said before getting pregnant with Avery. I've officially hit a plateau on the weight loss and it seems like these last 4 lbs, I'm going to have to actually work off. Bummer, I know. With Parker, 2 weeks and I was back into my clothes. Not so much with baby girl! So now I've officially decided it's time to be active again, eat bunny food (salads), and stop buying Dr. Pepper even though I feel like I NEED it to function. Maybe I'll take up pilates. I hear good things about that in the toning department which is really what I need. Who am I kidding... I'll never stick to that. I basically just need to get off the couch and Baby Bjorn Avery during her "I must be held 24/7 phase" she's currently in. Hopefully, that'll do it. Goal: 1 month from today... I want these shorts to be too big!!!

Lake Day!

My last post was about Parker's love for water... this is part II! We spent Sunday up at the lake with my parent's and sister. What a fun, family day we had! Parker was IN HEAVEN! He got to see all the things he loves most in life: nana, water and DUCKS! He spent the majority of the day in the water being thrown. The higher, the better! He also has his 1st fishing experience!

Parker's 1st fishing experience

DUCKS! Well geese but they qualify!

1 of the 1000 times Parker made them throw him!

Failure haha Thankfully he came up laughing!

Super Parker!

Swimming lessons from dad! Would you believe he jumps off the dock into the water and swims back to the ladder all by himself wearing his puddle jumper! I'm so proud!

Sister and Avie pic!

Princess Avery's set up

It must be tough to be so loved!

Overall, a GREAT family lake day and Parker slept A-MAZ-ING-LY!

Nemo and the Little Mermaid

We have a little fish on our hands! Parker has become quite the swimmer. Well... he at least thinks he is. He has NO fear of water which surprises me since he has so many other fears. The neighborhood pool recently upgraded the kiddie pool to have a graduated entrance, mushroom, shooting water and fountains... he could care less. He is a "big pool" swimmer and will only go to the baby pool during adult swim (which he doesn't understand and we are THAT family dragging our kid out of the water crying). He's doing great swimming with the puddle jumper after his splash balls. Parker's FAVORITE thing to do in the pool is jump in.... over and over and over. He gets mad if you don't let him go all of the way under. Once he comes up, he takes a breath and then puts his face back in the water to "swim." It's so cute!

Getting a ride to the other side of the pool from dad

Since she's a red head, we'll call her "The Little Mermaid" for the purpose of making this blog post title cute... but she's actually never been in the water other than the bath (which she loves!) BUT... she looks precious basking in the shade in her strawberry bathing suit and car seat equipped with a fan! Tough Life!

 

 

 When I can't take the kids to the pool, we get out Parker's little crab pool.

Please note the laminated picture of ducks in his hand... they needed to swim too apparently.

This is all he does in it anyways so it's a perfect size!

 We don't discriminate when it comes to places to swim! We went on a boat ride Thursday night without bathing suits... but who needs a swim suit when you're a boy and you desperately want to swim?! Moms, have you ever let your kid swim in a normal diaper? HILARIOUS... they look like snails because the diaper puffs up big like a shell. We got a lot of laughs out of that gigantic diaper that was doing absolutely nothing....other than providing comic relief!

Swimming with poppi

Swimming with ducks! This was the equivalent of swimming with dolphins for Parker. I'm pretty sure his life is now complete. 

Our "Little Mermaid" lives a tough life, as you can see. Yes... her diaper is huge. I ran an errand and forgot to leave my mom a diaper. She pooped and mom improvised... with a size 2 diaper she found of Parker's. Whoops.

We were in the pool again today and are off to the lake in the morning! Parker is going to turn into Nemo by the end of this summer... and hopefully our "Little Mermaid" will actually get to get in the water a bit later this summer when she isn't so new and vulnerable to ickies. Until then, the boys swim and the girls bask in the shade!