Where, Oh Where, Are My NEW BALANCE SHOES!!

Parker has been SUCH a great helper lately.  I have been teaching him to pick up our den every evening after he drags his toys in there.  We're still working on the whole "Putting the item BACK on his shelf" but he is definitely getting all the toys BACK into the play room.  Which, for right now, is FINE by me!

Wednesday, we spent about 20 minutes before going outside to play on his swing set by me standing in the middle of the den and telling him what to pick up and take back into the playroom.  (It took a bit longer because the poor kid would get distracted with every toy and start to play with it.)  I could have finished the entire thing in less than 2 minutes... but I really want him to be responsible for his own mess like ASAP.  I was a HORRIBLY messy kid - and it has dragged over into my adulthood (don't EVER ask to look in my bedroom or bathroom) so I'm hoping that by making him do this at a young age, he won't be as messy as I am.

SO - that being said... we are also teaching Parker to pick up his shoes every day and put them away.  Well, he has put my NB tennis shoes SOMEWHERE but won't tell me where.  He definitely remembers taking them and he will tell me that he put them "away" for me... but only God and Parker know where that "away" is.

My NB shoes were about 5 years old - and have been my solid running/working out/every day/walking shoe for that long as well. The soles are FINALLY starting to wear away and I'm really beginning to have sore feet after workouts... so I figured it was time.  My awesome mother-in-law, Mimi, gave me money to buy a new pair for my birthday - but I still want my old ones back, too!  I've kept a few pairs of old tennis shoes lying on the floor of my closet and I've actually had to wear them the past week while working out.  But NOTHING beats the feel of my New Balance 992 shoes... they are my favorite.  I have graduated to the 993 shoe and actually got them in the mail last night (YAAAAAAAAY!) - but I'm going to try my best to only wear these during work outs - and wear my older ones for every day wear.

I can't WAIT to see where those stupid old shoes end up... knowing Parker they are in the most random - yet obvious spot.

24.5 week update!

If you're reading this Thursday morning, say a quick pray that I'm passing my glucose test!  Eek!

Other updates:

• 30 pounds gained.... ugh!  WAY over the weight chart line people.  I'm guessing it's 8 pounds in each milk-maker... 5 pounds in the BOO-ty... 2 pounds on each hip... 4 pounds of fluid... and 1 pound of baby!
• I took about 10 days off from working out due to Park's sickness last week and 2 weekends in a row of being out of town.  I jumped back in with full force on Monday and every day this week!  It is SO not easy working out - I can REALLY feel the extra weight lately.  But I've made it this far - surely I can make it another 3 months, right?
• Heart burn has been HORRIBLE - really started flaring up the past two weeks.  I have it constantly.
• I am craving Coke like a mad woman - but unfortunately it makes the above bullet point even worse so I'm refraining.  Although I do take full charge of Chris' Coke if he orders it while we are eating out - which is hardly ever!
• Still don't know the sex!  So funny because I was skeptical that I would start to cave around this time... the time that I need to be working on the new nursery, planning for clothes, etc.  But - I honestly am not.  I get asked this a lot, "Don't you want to bond with the baby?  Don't you think knowing the sex will help?"  Well - yeah - I do think it would.  But I am too busy bonding with my precious 2-year-old right now to even think about it all that much.  Park is seriously the MOST fun right now - we are having a blast with him and I don't want to take anything away from that.  I'll bond with baby #2 when it comes out... for now... all eyes are on Parker in our house!  :)
• I think I'm really going to miss being pregnant... I am really enjoying this pregnancy.  Even though I complain about the weight gain - blah blah blah - it's really not that bad.  Besides the weight gain, everything else is great.  I LOVE feeling it move in my belly (it moves WAAAAAAAAAAAY MORE than Parker ever did) and I love that I have this little miracle in my belly that no one else can experience except me!  
• No idea on names yet... and I don't think we're going to decide until it's born... sorry - I know that's annoying!  :)  Our goal is to have "some" favorites in our mind - and to spend the first day or so deciding on a final name.  I am totally in love with Parker's name - and I just want to get the same feeling when I hear the new baby's name.  But I just can't get there not knowing the sex.  But - even our favorites we're keeping to ourselves.  :)  Sorry - no name poll like I had with Parker!
• Park is still SURE it's a "Baby Brudder"... we'll see if his senses are correct... in November!
• That's it!  XO - Hillary

Mountain House!

When I got to the cabin on Saturday afternoon Park was busy playing in the front yard with his new bat and ball that daddy bought him!  He played it all afternoon and evening too :)  Papa, Uncle Scott and his girlfriend, Lauren, had a fun time teaching him to swing!  Mimi kept hidden all weekend reading the Twilight series.... Oooo I've been there!

Park absolutely LOVED being at the "Mountain House" as he called it.  When he was (supposed to be) napping one afternoon, we could hear him  singing in his room, "Hi Mountain House!  I Wuv You Mountain House!"  Crazy kid!

Tongue out... thinking REAL hard!

 Lauren, Park and Uncle Scottie!

 Scott the floating head.... don't ask.  This picture was shortly after I told Scott I thought he was destined to have ALL girls one day... you could say he got a LITTLE upset. :)  I love teasing my little brother!

 Saturday night we enjoyed an AWESOME dinner in downtown Helen at Nacoochee Grill then headed back to the cabin to watch a movie.  Sunday morning, we slept in til 8:00 then got ready to go hike to see Anna Ruby Falls!  Here we all are on the cabin porch before we left.  Park was being a little difficult...

 Park loves his Mimi and Papa!  Mimi took a break from Edward/Bella world for a picture.

 Scott and his sweet girlfriend, Lauren.

 Park was such a mess on our hike to see the waterfalls.  He had this crazy "O" face the entire trip up.  It was a pretty hard hike for a 24 weeks pregnant mommy and a 2 year old boy - but we got through it pretty well!

 This not-so-little snake gave us all a surprise!  Chris had never seen a rattle snake in the wild before so he was in "awe" over it while I got as FAR away as possible as QUICKLY as possible - after taking its picture of course!  I'm glad the flash didn't make it mad!

 We made it!  Chris, Scott, Lauren and Parker at the base of the falls!

 My sweet fam at the falls!  Hiking up a mountain 30 pounds heavier than normal is no easy feat... I think I'll wait to return til I'm back to pre-baby #2 weight!

 Park was EXHAUSTED on the hike back down! Even though Chris was sweating non stop - he loved this moment  :)  Who wouldn't!?

We had such a fun weekend with Chris' brother and parents!  We ended our trip by having an awesome lunch at Giorgio's in downtown Cumming (one of the last 3 contestants of the Bachelorette owns it and it was featured on the show last week so I have naturally been craving it since then!)

Chris and I have the cabin reserved for one more weekend in August for our "baby moon" and Mimi and Papa are coming up to our house to watch Park for the weekend.... can't wait!  :)

"Late" Birthday Celebration 1!

 We started my "real" birthday celebration 4 days late when Park was feeling all better!  Cinco - a fab Mexican restaurant a few miles from our house - offers a free birthday dinner within 7 days of your birthday!  Who could pass that up!  So - we invited all the family in town for Whit's shower the next day out to eat!  Whit surprised me with a cookie cake - YUM! - and Park had no problem blowing all 8 candles out for me :) 

Yeah - you can thank my sweaty face to the jalapeno I just ate in my pico de gallo!  Yikes!

 Whitney's in-laws - Marmie and Papa - came to join us!  They were in town for Whit's baby shower on Saturday.

This pic may be confusing - this is Jac with his Aunt Whitney and Uncle Doug... Jac was in town with his mommy (my sister, Ash) and his little brother Miller!  They were also in town for the shower.  Miller actually got really sick during dinner so I didn't get a picture of Ash and Mill.

 And Papa and Mimi (Chris' parents) were in town because Chris' boss offered his cabin in Helen for us to use this weekend!  So Mimi and Papa came up to North Georgia to see the exciting town of Helen!

 Uncle Scott came too!  By the end of the weekend, Uncle Scott was by FAR, Park's favorite uncle! 

 Mimi and Papa at dinner!

 We took a picture like this a few days after Parker was born and decided to take another! The earliest fam photo is at the bottom.

 Mommy at 24 weeks pregnant with her sweet boys!

 My sweet friend, K8 reminded me of this funny story about the night in the picture below....  go here to read it!  Some crazy drunk lady tried to kiss 2-week-old Parker on the lips!  Wowza!

 

After dinner, Chris, Park, Scott, Mimi and Papa headed up to Helen to get settled into the cabin!  I joined them later on Saturday after Whit's baby shower.  More on our fun Helen weekend later!  :)

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

My actual 28th birthday ended up being a little bit of a whirlwind... My Poppy fell and broke his hip, my Nano was in the process of being moved to a hospital and when I got home from work, I found a lethargic little boy laying on my couch.  Yeah, Parker came home with a 104 degree fever from camp that day!  Chris and I scratched all plans of going out to "celebrate" in light of everything else going on. We ordered pizza and loved on our sweet little boy at home - would you believe this sweet little man actually had a 104 fever in this picture below?  

 

Chris was a wonderful husband and surprised me with a birthday cake (after I pretty much warned him that if I didn't have one I would be devastated...).  He apparently couldn't remember my birthday a few years ago when he didn't get me a cake so we ended up driving around our town looking for a Dairy Queen that sold ice cream cakes until about 9:00.  His memory stinks.  Anyway - no worries because we "remembered" to get the cake and we had a low key evening at home!  Jon and Robin came over and we watched the Bachelorette and ended the night by being in bed by 10:30 just to wake up every hour to go check on Parker's fever. 

The next day - fever still super high - although he was acting pretty much normal.  I began wondering if this little man had figured out how to fake a fever!

He charmed me to pieces while at home with him.  He went outside and picked a flower and gave it to me... when I asked him what it was for he said it was for his "Petty Momeeeee".  I love having a little boy!  :)

We went to the doctor on Tuesday - nothing wrong - just a bad virus that we had to let "run its course".  So annoying.  So the rest of the week consisted of his fever NOT going away and him acting more and more sick.  By Thursday, he was acting VERY sick and NOT eating anything.  So - back to the doctor we go!  Still nothing - and the doctor said if he wasn't better by the next day, to bring him BACK in for blood work.  But she felt pretty confident that it would be gone by Friday.  I was SURE she was wrong.  Thursday consisted of a pathetic little boy lying on the floor.  Thank the good Lord for Sesame Street - I was actually able to get a lot of work done on Thursday from home!

 So - Friday rolls around and he's all better!  Thank goodness!  We did not cancel our weekend plans of a birthday dinner Friday night with lots of family in town, Whit's baby shower on Saturday and a fun Saturday and Sunday weekend in Helen with Chris' parents and brother.  More on all that later!  :)  My birthday week ended MUCH better than it began!  :)

Mommy and Me - Savannah Trip!

Chris went on a 3 day fishing trip with his company to Panama City - so Parker-Man and I decided to go visit my parents in Savannah!  We had such a great time together - and Parker LOVED having his Nana and Hoppy's undivided attention for 2 days! My birthday was on Monday so my parents gave me the greatest gift by chasing Parker around while I chilled out :)

I left work early on Friday and we got to Savannah just in time for dinner!  We ate out (seafood of course) then headed to downtown Savannah so mommy could get some candy at the candy store!  (Mommy ended up spending $30 at the store - Whooops!)  We had to wait a few minutes for Hoppy to go get his car and the rain started to fall so we darted inside  a shell store and Nana showed Park all the different shells!

 She told him he could hear the ocean in this one - he was UH-MAZED.

 We stopped for a super quick picture before the rain started to fall too hard!  Me at 23 weeks pregnant (and an additional 27 pounds) with my little man.

 Saturday, we spent all morning at the beach!  Park had a BLAST!  There was a storm brewing around - but it never really rained on us - but it made for some major waves!  Parker LOVED standing in the water and being completely toppled over by the waves.  The waves would knock him down and he would just laugh and laugh.  He even loved for the waves to go over his head!  Crazy kid!

 Park and his Hoppy!

After 4 hours on the beach - he was WIPED out!  I sort of loved this moment :)  Nothing soothes the soul like your baby sleeping on you - when they aren't such a baby anymore.  This is literally the first time he's done this! 

 Sunday, I talked my parents into skipping church so we could go to the pool!  I bought some swimmies for Park's arms and he actually started swimming on his own!  I was so proud - we spent a few hours at the pool then headed home around nap time.

Jac and Miller stopped by the pool for a few minutes to say, "HI!"  Mill an Parker are only about 4 months apart - Parker is older even though he's not bigger.  I can already see the trouble brewing between these two in the future... If their schemes are anything like what Park's dad used to put together, I'm in trouble.

Jac was pouting about something... who knows.

Cousin Love and Summer Camp 2010

Parker and KK used to spend every day together since my sister, Whit, and I shared a nanny for the first 2 years of Park's life.  Well - since Parker now goes to school closer to our home, he and KK don't get to see each other near as much but they miss each other dearly!  Both of their mommies' busy schedules just keep them apart for much too long!  We definitely look forward to afternoons we get to spend with KK - these two have such a sweet friendship. 

 Quick trip down memory lane - here are the two little buddies when Park was about one month old and KK about 7 months old!

 This week, Parker was supposed to go to day camp with Kayley ALL week long!  He was SO excited about this and talked about it for several days before camp even started!  He went the first day but ended up coming home with a 104 fever!  YIKES!  So - he has been home with mommy all week (yes - he still has a fever 3 days later) but we were able to get our picture of them on Whit's door step before camp day #1!  The picture on the left is from camp last summer - and then camp this summer!  What a difference a year can make! :)  Love these two kiddos!