Laura,
You deserve a trip to Tahiti, a week at the Salish, an aupair from France, a manny from Down Under, a Starbucks for life gift-card, a labor with no contractions, a massage a day, a chef from Italy and then a cruise to his homeland, a front row seat to Keith Urban, and a whole lot more "thank yous" for all you do for us as a family...but hopefully this Seattle Sunset candle and Nordstrom $ will do for now. You are one amazing mom!
We love you,
The boys
As I waddle to and from MOPS, preschool, the grocery store, church, and our friend's and family's homes, people cannot help but take one glance at the big bump that is my belly and ask when are you due?
Soon, very soon. And thank you for asking, stranger in HomeGoods.
After that question, another question often follows: is Parker ready to be a big brother?
'Hell yah I am!'
I wish I could put it into words - and I guess I am trying to do just that as I sit at my laptop and process the last nine months with Parker. From the moment we told him there was a baby in his mom's tummy which meant he was going to be a big brother, Parker has incessantly declared his love for 'baby Popsicle'. Although we have told him his brothers real name, Parker is dead set on 'baby Popsicle' and never skips a beat when people ask him about it.
Many times a day Parker will stop what he's doing to hug, kiss, pat, rub or gaze at my belly, while throwing on a pair of drunk/googly eyes and slowly saying Mooooom. It's baby Popsicle! My baby brudder is so toot. He is already so loyal and protective, making sure no one tries to ride in baby Popsicle's car seat or step foot into his room. Parker loves to read his Big Brother books, and proudly wears his new title. Imma good big brudder, mom! Imma teach baby Popsicle how to pway baseball and gowf and basketball... Hey dad, I'm baby Popsicle's big brudder!
These little proclamations and sweet moments with Parker fill my anxious heart with so much joy, gratefulness and hope for what is to come. The bond that these little guys will build and the love that we're all about to experience for a tiny human we have yet to meet. We're on the brink of some major changes under our roof and I know our transition to living life as a family of four will feel overwhelming, exhausting, and frustrating at times...yet hearing Parker's enthusiasm, seeing his eyes light up when he talks about baby Popsicle, and feeling his little arms wrap themselves around my belly while he 'sloppy kisses' the baby fills me with so much excitement and peace as we watch, waddle, and wait for baby brudder to come home.
Our often-articulate toddler threw me for a loop recently. He kept repeating a phrase that I just could not quite crack.
"Mom! Sing da happy crappy oh."
E-I-E-I-O?
"No. Da happy crappy oh!"
Umm...say it one more time, buddy.
"You know! Da happy crappy oh. Sing it pwease!"
Hakuna Matata? Like from the Lion King?
This went on and on for many a'days, with me often reverting to singing a quick and awkward verse of Hakuna Matata, to which Parker would give me a sort of sympathetic aw-thanks-for-trying-mom kind of glance. We both knew I wasn't picking up what he was putting down, but instead of getting frustrated he just kept clearly, confidently and patiently repeating the same words. DA-HAPPY-CRAPPY-OH. Boy was determined to get me to understand his demand.
Then, it finally hit me, as we were dancing in the kitchen.
Da happy crappy oh is THE HAPPY SONG by Pharrell Williams. Naturally ;) Since our great discovery, we've sung, shuffled our feet, and clapped to many rounds of Happy. And happy we are.
This weekend we buttoned up Parker's standard holiday plaid shirt - this time throwing a blue sweater over the top to switch things up a bit - and headed into Bellevue for our annual family Santa visit. This is one of my very favorite traditions, and I'm always SO curious as to how Parker will respond to the big man in red.
A few days before, I began talking with Parker about all things Santa.
'Hey bud. What would you like to ask Santa Clause for this year?' I asked.
'Um....?' he pondered with a very twisted lip, scrunched up nose and eyes gazing up towards the heavens. We call this the stroke smile, and he likes to bust it out when he's deep in thought...
He thought for another minute or two while I rephrased the question.
'What present do you want to open on Christmas day?'
'Um....? OH!' he had finally come up with something, and I was curious if that something would give me a good excuse to hop in the car and head to Target...
'A hat! And...and, and a turtleneck! Nes, a purple hat and one red turtleneck. Dat's what I want from Santa.'
What the hell? How a two-year-old, born in 2012 even has the word turtleneck in his vocabulary is beyond me. And why he'd like to add a turtleneck and purple hat to his wardrobe is an absolute mystery.
Something tells me next years wish list will be a bit more lengthy with a few more toys and gadgets added to the mix - so today I will happily cross "Target" off my to-do list and instead enjoy the simplicity of this holiday season with my little boyfriend who needs nothing and dreams of nothing more than joining the Red Hat Society...
I love love love the anticipation of Christmas. As soon as the Halloween candy is consumed, one of my favorite tasks to accomplish is updating our family photos and creating Christmas cards. I usually stay cooped up for one snowy day during our annual November Sunriver trip and scour each and every holiday card deal and design online. Last week, I settled on our design and placed our order and I'm SO excited to receive them in the mail then begin the task of writing, sealing, stamping and sending out a stack of cards to the ones we love the most.
This year, our sweet friends Jen and Kyle Sanders, of Jen Sanders Photography, joined us in our new neighborhood to snap some family photos. They look as though we traveled to the very top of a mountain and through the rustic gates of a lush tree farm - when in fact, we trekked across our street and about thirty steps down the road. Score! Nothing beats convenience when you're wrangling a tired, cold and hungry tot. As I scroll through the images of green trees, smiling faces and itty bitty boy ties, I couldn't be happier with the warm Christmas vibes filling my screen.
Time to hit up HomeGoods & deck the halls!
Lately, I have been telling Parker, I love you so much.
To which he usually smiles and responds, I so much!
For a long time he's been saying some variety of, eye wuv wu, which is sure to melt me every time....but these days, this so much! response has been killing me softly. It is really specific and special moments like this that I hope to remember forever.
Firefighter Parker and his trusty sidekick, Siren, celebrated Halloween 2014 in style. For both, it was their first year trick-or-treating and they couldn't quite get enough. As the doubter realist of the crew, I set my standards low, low, low - and made sure to tell Jordan multiple times that Parker was most likely too young to understand the creepy concept of knocking on stranger's doors...in the dark hours of evening...to collect sweets that we most likely would not let him eat.
Jordan listened as I expressed my complaints concerns, and then happily watched Parker prove me wrong as he enthusiastically ran to "anodder house! mo candy! trick-or-treat!" The kid partied hard and us parents kept him out way too late.
Mom knows best? I guess not every day.
