Oh so much to talk about!

I wrote this post back on April 7th, but I tried to update a few things as of today (in red).

As many of you already know, we are expecting another little bundle of joy on September 6th! That makes me about 18 weeks (now 24 weeks)... so just another few weeks before we find out if we are adding a little boy or girl to our growing little family! Update: We are having another baby boy! We could not be more excited... Jerod and I were both secretly hoping for a little brother for Parker to play with :)

Any ways, I now have more than just Parker's milestones to keep up with, which is more of a reason to get back into blogging! Apparently my new years resolution to update this more often was a big fail, but hopefully this will kick my butt in gear! Better late than never, right?

As far as Parker goes, there is so much to catch you all up on! First of all, his vocabulary is expanding every day! I didn't realize that one day he would just figure out how to talk... but it seems as though that has happened! He tries to repeat everything we say! Here is a list of his favorite words:

• Ball (he started off saying "gawl," but corrected himself within a few weeks): Parker discovered the soccer ball back in march! We had a couple of weeks of beautiful weather so we would go out and kick Jerod's soccer ball around (this is now his favorite activity). He now goes around and points to anything that is round and says, "ball!" I had no idea there were so many circles and spheres in this world!


• Papa: Parker and I spent several days in Tullahoma back in March (when Grandam and Pa-Pa came into town). Between Papa Dave and Pa-Pa Bill, Parker caught onto this word very quickly! The only problem is that he has now decided that everyone is Papa and refuses to say Mama and Dada! Update: he is now back to saying Mama and Daddy, although Papa is still one of his favorite words!


• Out (ALWAYS sounds like the not-so-nice word for hiny): This is a funny one! He LOVES to play outside so stands at the back door all day, pointing and saying "a$$"! We try to correct him, but he insists he is saying it correctly! Update: he now legibly says "out" when referring to wanting out of his high chair, but still uses the dirty word when referring to outside! Come on... you gotta laugh a little :)


• Bo (sometimes BoBo): the name of Heather and David's dog!


• Bye: he says this while waving


• Please (sometimes sounds like pease)


• Book


• Dog (sometimes sounds like gog)


• Woof, woof, woof (His answer when asked what a dog says. He sometimes howls with the neighbor dog too!)


• Duck (every bird-like animal (and sometimes all animals) are ducks)


• Quack, quack, quack (His answer when asked what a duck says. However, he sometimes gets confused and just answers "duck, duck, duck!" Ha!)


• Baby (sometimes sounds like may-me): If asked where the baby is, he will usually point to my belly and then kiss it! Sometimes he decides the baby is in his belly, where he will then point before trying to kiss his own tummy! Too funny!


• This and/or that (when pointing to something he wants)


• Mmmmm (when he tastes something delicious)


• Hot: Parker considers anything that is steaming or smoking, warm to the touch, lights up, or is off-limits (we might be using this one to our advantage a little) hot! He holds his palm up to the object (without touching it) and says "hot"!


• Hi: he says this while waving.

Parker also blows kisses when you tell him you love him, gives TONS of real kisses, give high fives and fist pumps (which he ends with an explosion noise), and understands entirely too much of what we say! I didn't realize we would have to start spelling things so soon!

Other than his rapidly expanding vocabulary, Parker has achieved some other milestones! One of his favorite achievements to-date happened on Monday (April 4th) when he figured out how to crawl out of his pack and play! Talk about a happy baby... he found freedom! Ugh! Many of you already know that Parker is not a great sleeper as it is... so now the problem is to figure out how to get a baby who does not like to sleep to sleep in a place where he does not want to sleep when he knows he can get out?! The other problem is that now that he has mastered the great escape from the pack and play, the crib will be a cinch! In fact, we already caught him almost crawling out of it when he was only seven months old (no joke!)!

On the topic of sleeping... the child has still only slept through the night once in his entire life! He has been MUCH MUCH better recently, and only wakes to take a bottle of milk before going back to bed, but it is still exhausting waking up every 2-4 hours! We are working on getting him on a schedule, but considering we travel almost every weekend (if not during the week too), it is really difficult for everyone to have a routine! Especially considering he sleeps in different beds everywhere we go!

Update: Parker is SO MUCH better about sleeping these days! He has finally learned to eat enough to keep him full through the night, so he no longer wakes up for a bottle! If he does wake up, he is easily "shushed" back to sleep. He is still not sleeping in his crib, but now that we are on a better schedule, Jerod and I are brave enough to try to tackle this one again! Wish us luck! By the way, we have also figured out Parker just does not require as much sleep as other babies his age... he does usually get around 8 hours though, so we can't complain too much!

There are still lots of updates to catch you up on, but you all know I could write a novel on this subject, so I will stop there for today!