Summer Highlight #1- Weekend With Dad

Since summer has come and gone and there are many things I still wanted to document, I decided to post some "summer highlights" along the way in addition to trying to stay caught up on all our more recent activities. I am learning life is a daily adventure filled with lots of fun, chaos and the challenge of keeping of with two very busy boys! Bear with me as I flashback to some fun times we have had over the past few months.


One of the things I have loved about having two boys is watching them interact with Mark. Parker and Jonathan love time with their Daddy. When Father's Day weekend came along Mark wanted an evening with just our family of four.
First we went to eat. As you will see by the pictures below, eating out is quite the experience. Thank goodness we were by a window with a ledge to put things out of reach from our very curious dining companions!



After dinner, we went to the park to see one of Parker's favorite things - ducks.

Mark and Jonathan shared some dessert.

We finished out the evening relaxing and pushing them in the swing. In case you don't know, they have VERY different personalities :)

On Sunday, after church, lunch at home, and a nice long afternoon nap, we went to my sister's to spend some time with Grandad. Heather and Chad cooked out for us and the boys got to swim with their cousins.

It was a great weekend spent with Dad!

One Year of Jonathan

It is hard to believe I am typing the words "one year" in this post. It some ways it represents one of the hardest, if not the most exhausting year of my life. In other ways it represents an accomplishment that I have in fact survived a year of trying to raise two babies eight months apart. But mostly it is another reminder of God's faithfulness with the "surprise blessing" to our family. I may not have chosen this for myself but He had other plans and they included Jonathan Mark. Happy Birthday Jonathan!

On September 1st, 2009 we welcomed an 8lb 10 oz baby boy who now is right at 24lbs.

He was 21 inches long and now is in the 97% in height measuring 32 inches

His eyes have stayed blue and his hair is getting curlier by the day.

He has changed from a child who seemed to cry constantly into one is "so happy" according to reports from childcare workers.

In the beginning he wanted to be held constantly but now has taken his first steps and wants to be on the move without restriction or confinement.

His first word was "ball" which is also one of his favorite toys to play with.

He is quite stubborn and has a mind of his own.

He has brought some added chaos into our home but also many laughs.

He adores his brother which has become one of the biggest blessings to watch as their relationship develops.

He is happiest around people and is quite talkative.

He loves to "unload" things- books out of a basket, toys out of a container, food off of his highchair, tupper ware out of the cabinet, toilet paper off a roll, and water out of the water table.
Responds to Jonathan, Little J., Johnny Happy, and simply J

He has changed so much in twelve months and we have also changed as we learn to parent this independent baby boy into a young man after God's own heart.

The Photo Shoot

I recently arranged another photo shoot with my dear friend, Arlene in June. I wanted some nine month pictures of Jonathan and 18 month pictures of Parker. Since Jonathan has been sitting up well for awhile and Parker is pretty sturdy on his feet we decided pics by the pond in her backyard would be perfect. In addition, my sister and I decided it would be a great Father's Day gift for dad to get pictures made of all the grand kids. When I asked Arlene if we could work this in as well, thankfully she said the more the merrier! As I have learned time and time again pictures with kids and babies always turns into an adventure.

We started with the cousin pics first. It is already complicated enough to get one child to smile much less all four at the same time. Parker is always the hardest subject. It requires lots of jumping and making an absolute fool of yourself to get him to smile. You also have to stay level with the camera while doing this so Parker is looking at the camera and not up at you. Arlene has learned to snap as many as possible and then hopefully one good picture will come from it. Well, she worked her magic and we got a really good one of all four.


Next we decided to try some by the pond. Although the scenery was perfect it really made Collin worried the babies were going to fall in. So in most of these pictures he looks really tense and appears to be holding on to the boys for dear life. He is so sweet and protective of Parker and Jonathan.


We also did some individual shots of each child. Collin and Brooke are growing so fast.

Parker became very interested in a rock. This expression is classic Parker.

After the cousin pics, we decided to shoot Jonathan's nine month pictures first before he got cranky. It doesn't take much to get a smile from him (thank goodness). What you don't see is me hiding behind plants so I could be close in case Jonathan lost his balance. He never fell but he did have an "exaggerated lean" that resulted in part of his body landing in the pond. Thankfully this was after we took most of his pictures.

This was by pure accident. He can not perform the "gig em" hand signal on command yet.

After J's pics, we needed a little break, a cold drink, and some air conditioning before Parker's pictures. As we were previewing a couple of pictures, Parker knocked over Arlene's coke glass. It splattered EVERYWHERE! Thankfully we got up the computer, phone, and other camera equipment before they got wet. It splattered on the couch, chair, wall, rug, floor, and even made it into a nearby closet. We were all amazed at how much it took to clean up one diet coke.

We took Parker out in yard and let him sit by the pond. I love these pictures of him because they seem to capture his personality. He is a very quiet and observant child. He seems to ponder new surroundings trying to decide if he is OK with things or not.

In conclusion while we were taking Parker's pictures, mom was inside entertaining Jonathan who proceeded to fall and bite his tongue in the process, causing some blood. In the words of Aiyah, "it is not a simple thing to take pictures of the boys, it is an EVENT." An event well worth it. Thanks Arlene!

The First Swim

It has been such a busy summer filled with lots of adventures already which include many pictures and chances to fall behind on blogging. So I am going to do my best to catch up on the summer so far - hopefully by the end of the summer!

I decided this summer I needed to recruit some swimming buddies, a.k.a. "The Girls", a.k.a. Melissa and Carrie. We know several people with pools that are free for us to use, but with two boys walking and crawling everywhere, it made me nervous to go by myself. I am so thankful for the girls. They have escorted us to swim at least once a week and are always such a huge help to me. And of course the boys are always more than happy to spend time with the girls!


Poor Jonathan, with his sensitive skin like me, I keep him covered as much as possible. Thankfully he doesn't mind too much.


A wrinkled foot = A sign of a good time in the pool!

Eighteen Months of Parker

It is hard to believe that we have had the privilege of having Parker in our family for a year and half. It is a little strange to think that is was 2 years ago we were just getting approved by our agency to begin the waiting process of getting matched with a birth mom. One year ago, we were finding out Parker would be a big brother for the first time. And now here we are watching Parker grow out of the infant stage and into becoming a toddler. I took him to the doctor on Friday for his 18 month well check. The doctor said he looked great. We were pleased to see he has now gained enough weight to move from the 3rd to the 10th percentile ( he now weighs the same as his brother who was 22 lbs at his well check 3 weeks ago). He is also in the 80th percentile for his height. He is walking everywhere and getting into lots of things as he explores everything around him.

Some of Parker's Favorites:

• Favorite Food: fruit- he has added bananas to his list of fruits
• Favorite Drink: milk
• Favorite Song: Cosby Show theme song
• Favorite Book: I Love You Through and Through
• Favorite Toys: lawnmower at Aiyah and Grandad's, and electronic things like cell phones and remote controls
• Favorite Words: "bye-bye", "more", "Yay"
  
• Favorite Animal: ducks
  
• Favorite Game: "Boo"- his covers his eyes and plays peek a boo
• Favorite Activities: wrestling with Jonathan, playing in the dogs' water bowl, "conducting" when he hears a song he likes, climbing into his high chair when he is hungry or wants a snack, pretending to talk on the phone, looking at his books, turning the light on and off in his room, and climbing stairs