Does absence make YOUR heart grow fonder??

We hope it does, because it's been a LOOOOOONNNNNG time since we sat down a wrote a little about what's new with us. So here we go.
The monster is becoming more and more mobile. He's a year old now, so we are pretty sure he thinks that gives him the right to torment us even more than he used to. Sometimes he crawls around chasing us, and that kid has gotten FAST at the crawling! Fortunately we are still faster (unless he catches us off-guard, like during a nap. In which case he LOVES to pull our tails.) He still uses crawling as his primary mode of transportation, which is fine with us - using all fours to ambulate has worked fine for us for all of our 7 years. Why anyone would want to ditch using the front paws and only walk on the back paws is beyond us. But he's trying. He can make it about 4 or 5 steps now before he falls down, but Sarah hasn't been quick enough to get any good video of it yet. Maybe one of these days.
And did we mention the kid is still huge?? His 1 year old check-up put him at about 26 1/2 pounds and almost 31 inches long. So in one year he has gained about 17 pounds and has grown 10 inches. He has FINALLY started to slow down and level out on the growth charts though - he's now in the 75th-90th percentile for weight and length instead of the >95th like he has been until now.
Tooth count update - we are up to 7! And he has figured out how to use them on people. Luckily he hasn't tried to chomp on us yet, because we are pretty sure he won't like it very much when we bite him back....
Sarah STILL doesn't have any pictures from Christmas or Parker's birthday to share. If anyone knows how to download full size pictures from Snapfish without having to pay for them please let her know! Otherwise, she will need to get the pictures emailed to her by their respective photographers. Stay tuned...
In the meantime....the lady human is back to school. This semester she is studying pediatric nursing and nursing care of parents and newborns. And the man human is addicted to video games. That's all he does once the lady human and the baby human go to sleep.
So here's just a couple pictures and a short video of Parker and his friend Mason playing with some of Parker's Christmas and birthday gifts. Those boys are going to be heartbreakers one day - at least that's what their mamas say.

The boys playing basketball and tee-ball.

Parker showing Mason how his new car works. (I don't know why this is hyperlinked and I can't figure out how to unlink it...)

Here's Parker taking Mason for a spin in the ol' coupe. Mason wasn't having a lot of fun...

That's all for now. We will try to update you again sooner than it was this time.

Until then,
the cats

Remembering

So I have figured out that when it comes to taking pictures of my child at special occasions I pretty much suck. I don't have very many pictures of Parker at Christmas, so I'll have to wait until his Aunt Heather sends me some that she took with her camera to post to the blog. But that's not the point of this post anyway. This post is for remembering....

It's been a year. (ok, so technically Saturday it will be a year). OH MY GOODNESS IT'S BEEN A YEAR. I can't even believe that my little man has been with us for a whole year. For those of you who aren't familiar with his entry into the world, here's the story.

Ryan and I found out on April 25th, 2007 that I was pregnant. I was excited. I was terrified. Ryan was all giddy like a kid at Christmas. That started what were 9 of the most uncomfortable, nervous, and wonderful months of my life. I battled through the 14 weeks of all day sickness (anyone who has ever been pregnant knows that "morning sickness" is a load of crap - that stuff lasts ALL DAY!), as well as heartburn, expanding waistlines and bra sizes, seemingly sleepless nights, couch sleeping, gas, shortness of breath and endless hunger. I cherished every kick, roll, punch and hiccup that I was blessed to feel on a daily basis. I became attached to this little guy growing inside me and felt like I already knew everything about him before he was even born. My due date was January 2nd or 3rd (can't remember exactly), but I prayed that he'd be born before the end of 2007 for tax and insurance purposes. But no such luck. My little miracle had no intention of joining us on the outside. I had my 40 week doctors appointment on January 2nd. Up to this point there had been no changes to my cervix to even begin to suggest that this baby was in any hurry to be born. But I was optimistic for this appointment. I brought in 2008 by spending hours on New Year's Eve sitting on my couch having contractions that were 7 or 8 minutes apart (they stopped after about 5 or 6 hours). So I thought surely this check up would be different. Dr. Holt would tell me that I had begun to dilate and we could go ahead and induce. However, there were still NO CHANGES to my cervix. No dilation. 50% effacement. The baby hadn't dropped into my pelvis. I cried. I actually sat in my doctor's office and cried. I told him I was done being pregnant. I told him I couldn't make it the 5 more days he wanted to let me go before he would induce. We knew my baby was going to be big - a 38 week ultrasound estimated his weight to be 8.5 pounds already - that's in the 95th percentile for 38 week fetuses. I asked Dr. Holt what the likelihood was that I would end up needing a C-section even after we induced, since we knew the baby was big and my pelvis was narrow. He said it was pretty likely. So we opted to schedule the elective C-section for the next day, January 3rd. Was I bummed that I wouldn't experience actual labor? Yes. Childbirth the way I had imagined it was not going to happen. I look back now and couldn't care less - the end result is the same.

We were scheduled for a noon C-section on January 3rd. So we got checked into the hospital and we waited. They put me on the monitor to keep an eye on the baby's heartrate and any activity I was having as far as contractions went. (Turns out I was actually having contractions when we were admitted - but they were very weak and pretty far apart. We proceeded with our plan to have the C-section). We watched the clock and it seemed like an eternity until we'd meet our son. Noon came and went. And I was still not being taken to surgery. Dr. Holt had been called over to deliver a lady that had just been admitted next door whose baby decided it was coming NOW and would not wait until we were done in surgery. So she welcomed her miracle. And I was still pregnant. The nurse came in and said it was going to be awhile before we went to surgery - Dr. Holt had just delivered a baby and was going to go back over to his office for a while to see a few patients. This did not make me happy. More waiting to meet my son.

Since it was going to be awhile, the sisters went down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. While they were there Dr. Holt went in there to get him some lunch (going to see patients at his office?? Nice try, doc). My sisters must have sent him some evil glares as he perused the food line and tried to make his choice. He put 2 and 2 together and realized that these were my sisters and they were waiting to meet their nephew. He dropped his plans for lunch, walked back to the Birthing Center and told the nurses it was time for my surgery.

I was taken to the OR at about 12:20. The anesthesiologist got my spinal anesthesia in place (on the 2nd attempt - OUCH!), I was laid out on this tiny operating table and Dr. Holt came in to prep my belly. "I just saw your twin sister Sarah! Y'all are definitely identical!" Little did I know at the time that this encounter with Heather was what made him decide to get the show on the road! Anyway, Ryan was brought in and the operation started. I felt lots of tugging and pulling, but no pain. And then the geyser erupted when he broke my water and I knew I was just seconds away from the best moment of my life. "This is a huge baby!" was what I heard over the sheet. And then the cry. Oh that cry. The sweetest, most invigorating sound a mommy can ever hear. The tears started to flow. Ryan looked at me (tears flowing down his face) and said "He's beautiful!" I was given a quick glimpse before the pediatrician took him over to the bassinet to check him over. I watched as she checked him out and gave him a passing grade. And still I was crying.

They got him all cleaned up and wrapped up and let me have a few seconds of snuggle time to meet my sweet baby boy before they took him back to our room for more checks and to weigh him.
Then they handed him to his daddy who took him to meet the crew. So Dr. Holt finished closing me up while Ryan was introducing Parker to everyone who was there for his arrival - 3 sets of grandparents, Aunt Laura, Aunt Heather, Aunt Megan, Uncle Jason, Uncle Travis, and Pastor Karl. That scale reads 9 pounds, 11.5 ounces. Dr. Jatzlau (the pediatrician) poked her head into the operating room to let me and Dr. Holt know just how big this kid was. Upon hearing the weight, Dr. Holt told me that he was sure I'd made the right call when deciding to opt for the C-section rather than waiting and inducing in a few more days.

I was taken to recovery and everyone was kicked out of the room so I could finally meet my baby.

And thus started the most challenging, exciting, rewarding, trying, beautiful experience of my life - the experience of being a mommy. Parker's mommy. I was in love. And now, a year later, I'm still just as much in love with him as I was that day - January 3rd, 2008. Happy Birthday my little monkey. Mommy loves you today and always.

Firsts and Last

So it's been awhile since I caught you all up on what's going on with us - I apologize for the delay. Things are getting busy with Christmas right around the corner and Parker's 1st birthday only 9 days after that. I'll try to clue you in on what's been happening with us (and I hope to not bore you too much!)

Parker survived his first Thanksgiving and of course wanted to eat everything that was on everyone else's plates. He's very fond of mashed potatoes, and we found out he thinks dressing is pretty darn good too. He wasn't real sure about the turkey, but since he is lacking in the teeth department we didn't give him ample opportunity to try that.

Speaking of teeth...THE COUNT IS UP TO 3! He has both of his bottom middle teeth and one of his top front teeth has broken through. We can tell that the other top front tooth should be breaking through anytime now. Preliminary findings suggest that Parker inherited his mama's teeth....sorry kid. We will start saving now for your braces.

Another first - Parker had his first haircut! We didn't cut a whole lot, April just mainly trimmed up the back and cut the long hair that was growing over his ears and driving me nuts. I knew at any time people would start coming up and saying "Aww, what a cute little girl you have!" I couldn't let that happen, so we opted for the haircut before the first birthday. He did surprisingly well for the event - I held him in my lap and let him play with my Blackberry and he sat still enough for April to give him a straight cut. Once he loses interest in that Blackberry I think we'll be in trouble...

Yet another first....Parker made his very first phone call on a REAL phone to a REAL person (not just that lady who comes on and says "You're call cannot be completed as dialed, please hang up and try your call again." - he has called that lady about a million times already). Nope, just the other day Parker dialed up a real person. He was playing with the phone and I saw that the screen said "Talk" so I took the phone from him as usual and hung it up. I didn't hear his lady friend's voice, so I hit redial to see just who he called (thought maybe he had hit Redial then talk). I found that Parker called the following number...91142876325648. Notice those first 3 numbers..... A mere 5 seconds later my phone rang, caller ID said "Fayette County". Yep, it was Mr. Dispatcher Man and he wanted to know if there was an emergency since 911 had just been called from this location. I laughed and apologized and said that my 1 year old son was playing with the phone and somehow managed to dial 911 and then hit "talk". He giggled and said that that is one gifted 1 year old. I apologized again and he told me to have a nice day. If Parker is dialing 911 when he's less than 1 year old....what the hell is he going to be doing when he's 4 or 5????

I only have one real "Last" for this post....Parker will be 1 in just a couple weeks. We think we may have possibly bought our LAST can of formula - HELL YEAH! We are certain we will soon be feeling the effects of our "raise"!

Here's a couple pictures of all the fun Parker had at Grammie's and Papa's house while we were housesitting for 2 weeks. He had LOTS of fun stuff to play in!

The girls also had a great time staying at Grammie's and Papa's...

Isn't this the cutest kid you've ever seen?? Don't you just want to give him everything he asks for??

Even with the world's worst case of bed head, the kid is freakin cute...

And finally, a little video. Parker has figured out how to clap all by himself, so now he does it all the time. The video is of the first time he did it.

Alrighty. Now you're all caught up. Hopefully I'll get time to post again before the new year! Merry Christmas everyone!
-Sarah

PRICELESS!

This is WAAAAAAAAAY BETTER than monkeys riding motorcycles or even Dubya dodging a pair of size 10 loafers! (Sorry for the crappy quality, hope you can see it well enough to enjoy it... and yes, he was totally asleep!)

More to come...

Quick Update

No folks, we have not fallen off the face of the earth. We are housesitting for Parker's Grammie and Papa while they are on vacation. So, I don't have my camera USB out here to upload pics or video. Look for a new update with new pics and maybe even a video next week when we are back at our own house!

Upstaged

Hi everyone, it's Parker. I just wanted to post a real quick entry just to say that I'm a little teed off. You see, I am the oldest cousin. My cousin Landon is 6 months younger than me, and my cousin Annelise is still in my Aunt Laura's tummy doing some growing. Being that I'm the oldest, I should be the FIRST to do everything. Well NO....that darn Landon has upstaged me! I FINALLY got my first tooth a few weeks ago, and wouldn't you know it, now Landon has gotten not only his first tooth, but also his second tooth. And here I am, still waiting for my second tooth to poke through. It's not fair, I tell ya! Here is Landon getting all these teeth and he is still too young to eat real grown up food. I'm old enough for the steak and potatoes, but my mommy and daddy won't give me steak yet since I only have one tooth to try to chew it with. (But they do give me potatoes, and I do LOVE ME SOME POTATOES!) Well guess what Landon, I'm still bigger than you and can beat you in a crawling race any day!

You could probably tell from the last thing the kitties wrote that my mommy and daddy love to embarass me. Well, here is some more proof. If only I could dial the phone (and actually talk in grown up language), I would call CPS on these two in no time at all!

Mommy thought I was looking especially adorable this morning just sitting so patiently while she and daddy got ready for church. So she took a picture of me being such a good boy. I rewarded her with a tongue-filled smile for the camera.
I don't really have anything else to say today, and it's about my bedtime anyway, so I'll just leave you with a couple of movies of me.


Have you ever seen a kid go from perky to pissed off in a matter of seconds??? All my mommy and daddy have to do is give me my little 4-wheeler and BOY DOES THAT THING MAKE ME MAD! See....

Also, I found these new fun toys in the kitchen. Mommy keeps telling daddy that he needs to "baby-proof" them so I don't pull something out and end up hurting myself. I don't know what "baby-proofing" is, but I hope daddy never does it! Also, I am speaking in my secret Parker language in the video. No one will ever know what I am saying....

Alright people, I'm out for now. Happy Turkey Day to you all - hopefully these crazy grown ups will actually let me taste some!

-Parker

Monkey business

Ok, we are convinced. Our humans have completely FLIPPED THEIR LIDS.

CAN YOU BELIEVE that humans PURPOSELY dress their miniatures up in get-ups like this?

Seriously, check out the look of despair in that poor kid's eyes.

But wait....it gets weirder. As if ONE small person dressed as an animal wasn't enough...a little while later we glanced outside and saw this.....

Yes, that's right, 2 small children dressed as animals. That's Parker's friend Mason, although if we were Mason we are sure we wouldn't be friends with Parker anymore if it meant having to get dressed up in a ridiculous outfit to get to see him.

AND THEN all 3 humans left for a while and we are told that while they were gone they found this.....That's a turkey, my friends. Parker's cousin Landon dressed as a turkey. Poor guy is only 4 months old and could not even effectively protest the madness.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??? We are SO, SO, SO thankful that they didn't get ahold of any strange outfits in our sizes! We definitely would have been scarred for life.

So there's been a big to-do around here in the past few days because Parker FINALLY got a tooth. Well guess what people...we were BORN with teeth. That's right, 26 of 'em, in perfect working order. Did anyone make a big fuss about that when we were born? Nope. Absolutely not. When will you people learn that we cats really are superior to your species!?!? We don't have any pictures of the tiny tooth to share, because the little monster HATES for anyone to try to look or feel in his mouth. But we promise, there's a tooth there. One tiny tooth. Right there on the bottom. Whoopedeedoo.

That kid keeps us laughing though. He has learned to dance. That's all he does anymore. Music or no music, the kid is constantly dancing. We shot this video as proof. (Ok, so it is entirely possible that he is making a nice little present during the shooting of this video, but he never gave up the dancing in the process. Perhaps the dancing actually helped to "move things along" a little better??!?!) And yes, we realize that he is dancing on a pole. Keep your filthy jokes to yourselves (especially you, Uncle Cody, Uncle Jason and Uncle Russell).

Ok, that's all we got for this week.

Until next time,

The Weishuhn Cats