Whirlwind

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind in the Thomas household!  Between planning Parker's birthday party, taking care of two little boys, cleaning, cooking, and my little photography business we are staying busy!  We welcomed cousin #2 into the world last week!  Noah Paul Helmintoller was born on August 25.   I got to go up and take some pictures of the new family of 4.  So much fun!  Here is my fave...

I know this is only 3, but it was past big sisters bedtime, and she wasn't feeling it at this point.

He looks just like a little Helmintoller to me!  They are back in the hospital with jaundice, so if you could say a little prayer for them, I know they would appreciate it!  

I have 2 photo sessions planned for the end of this week!  I can't wait!  I just love taking pictures.  Especially of sweet babies :)  If you don't follow my photography blog head on over to hopscotchphotography.blogspot.com and check it out!  You can also "like" my facebook page to see all of my latest photo sessions!

Ok, enough about business :)  Let's talk about Mr. Parker.  He will be turning 3 in less than 2 weeks!  I can't believe I am going to have a 3 year old!  He has been such a blessing to our lives.  I love being his mommy.  He definitely keeps me on my toes though!  About a 2 weeks ago, I took ALL of Parker's toys away for several reasons that I will not go into.  Let me just say the terrible 3's have hit our house FULL FORCE!  Love the boy to death, but he is a HANDFUL!  Ok, so back to my story.... I explained to him why I took the toys and what he must to do get the toys back.  Well, after 2 weeks, he has not earned his toys back.  So yesterday, he had been playing with a few toys on the coffee table for a while.  Well several hours after seeing him with the toys, it registered in my very tired mommy brain that all his toys were put away.  Where did these toys come from?  They were his bath toys!  I mean the child is sneaky! He is also resourceful!  The day I took his toys away, he turned a small photo album into a steering wheel!  Ha!  I made a mistake last week by  letting him pick out 2 of his toys he got back.  Of course he picked his tractor and trailer and his big Wal-Mart truck.  His FAVORITE toys.  Well, after that he did a few things that earned him more toys.  When I told him that he could go pick out a toy, he said, "No thanks, I have my big truck."  GREAT.  I just blew all the leverage I had!  The boy is too smart!  Love him to death though!  

Playing with his big truck.  The only toy he had at the moment.  Don't feel sorry for him.  Like I said earlier, that is the only toy he wanted!

Harrison is growing like a weed!  He is doing much better sitting up!  He rode in the grocery cart like a big boy for the first time today!  I would also like to add that I pushed the boys in the carts with the little car on the front.  I have refused to push one, but with Harrison riding up front, that was my only choice! It wasn't so bad after all.  It kept Parker entertained.  I wish I had gotten a picture with him in the car, but I forgot!  Anyway, Harrison is trying so hard to scoot.  He just can't quite figure it out.  He pushes up on his feet, booty goes up in the air, and his face pushes into the floor.  He did go up mostly on all fours today, but I still think we have at least a few more weeks before he starts crawling!  

Big boy riding in the cart!

I guess that is all for this family update.  I always have so many things to say, but then I forget by the time I get a chance to write it down. :)  Have a great week!

Harrison is 6 Months!

Harrison is 6 months old!  I can't believe it!  He is growing so fast.  We had his 6 month check-up and shots :( today.  Thankfully, my mother-in-law went with us, so I didn't have to be in the room when the nurse (or the shot lady as Parker refers to her as) gave him his shots.  He was a champ, but Mrs. Karen said he gave Nurse Jodie the evil eye when they walked out.

Harrison's statistics:

Height: 27 1/4 inches, 78%
Weight: 17lbs. 5oz., 50%
Head Circumference: 44cm., 50%

Harrison is 1 1/4 inches longer than Parker was at 6 months, but Parker was over 1/2lb. heavier.  I think it is so fun to see how they differ at each age and milestone.  Parker had 2 teeth and was sitting up by himself by 6 months.  Harrison doesn't have any teeth and is starting to sit up, but only for a few seconds.

At 6 months, Harrison is still as sweet as ever.  He smiles all the time!  He loves to laugh, stick his tongue out, make a motor sound with his mouth/lips(if that makes any sense), and he LOVES his feet.  If he is lying down, sitting in the bouncer, or his car seat, he usually has his toes in his mouth!  It is the funniest thing.  Food wise, he has tried avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans, pears, peaches, apples, bananas, and prunes.   He will eat it all, but he loves the fruit.  He is not too fond of avocado anymore.  So far I have been making his baby food.  I didn't make Parker's food.  So far so good!  It might get a little tricky now that he is starting level 2 foods.  As long as I still enjoy it and it's not stressing me out, I am going to continue to make his food.  We'll see how it goes!  He takes anywhere from 4-7 ounces of milk.  He is mostly wearing 6-9 month clothing, but he can wear a few 12 month things too.  He is not super chunky, but he is very long!  Must have gotten that from the extended family ;)  He goes to bed around 7 or 8 and sleeps till 4, 5, or 6!  Monday morning he slept till 8!  That was a welcomed change!  Hopefully he will do it again soon!  He usually take about 3, 1-1 1/2 hour naps during the day.

Harrison is such a laid back baby.  He just kind of goes with the flow.  If his bottle gets clogged, he will just suck away until I notice.  That happened today, and I didn't notice for several minutes!  He never fussed.  If Parker's bottle clogged, everyone in the neighborhood would know about it :)  I guess that's about it.  I will leave you with a few pics of my sweet 6 month old!

Cha

The funniest thing happened today.  For a few weeks now, Parker has been talking to himself.  Not just talking, but carrying on  a conversation.  Sometimes it involves him yelling at himself!  One day I heard him yelling, "You are NOT a diesel truck!  YES I AM a diesel truck!  No you're not!  Yes I am!"  It was the funniest thing I have ever heard.  He was dead serious.  Well today, we were talking on Skype with my mother-in-law and I heard Parker talking to someone in his room.  When he came back into my room, he said his friend had to go home.  We asked him what his friends name was, and he said, "Cha".  I am not really sure how one might spell that, but it's sounds like Chad minus the d.  Parker said, " I'm going to go pick him up like a fork lift!"  He went back to his room and I heard him say, "Does your tummy hurt?  Yes.  Okay."  He then brought Cha into my room so we could meet him.  We tried to talk to Cha, but Parker said he can't talk.  The whole imaginary friend thing cracks me up.  I mean, where do kids come up with this stuff???  I am sure I will be writing many more stories about Cha in the future.  Let's hope he doesn't stick around for too long though :)

1st Trip to the Library!

Yesterday, I decided to get the boys out of the house and go to the library!  I am ashamed to say that this was our first trip.  I have been putting it off because Parker can be a little loud sometimes, and I wasn't sure how he would behave.  He did great!

We got to the library at 9:30, but it didn't open till ten.  We walked down to the park and played for about 30 minutes.  It was SO hot.  Parker was ready to cool off in the air conditioned library.  I had to sign up for a library card  first and then we were off to the children's books.  Parker kept trying to pull books off the shelf!  Library rule #1: Do not re-shelve the books :)  We ended up with a Curious George book, Little White Duck, and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that type.  Parker was SO excited about his Curious George book.  He wanted to "drive" it up to the check out counter.  Those of you who know Parker, know what I mean by "drive". :)  So far Parker has loved reading his library books.  We are going to go back tomorrow and check out some more!  I am loving the library as well!  It is going to be a great rainy day/cold weather outing!

My Boys

As I said yesterday, Parker and Harrison love each other so much.  Parker can always make Harrison smile and laugh, and Harrison can do the same to Parker.  Parker usually wakes up a little cranky, so sometimes I will bring Harrison with me to wake him up.  It almost always makes Park wake up with a smile!  I did this yesterday and couldn't help but snap a few pictures!

This one is my favorite :)

Moving on... I am afraid Parker inherited my sweet tooth, as well as, my love for butter.  Here is the evidence.

Yes, he took a bite out of the stick of butter!

 I was putting some clothes in the washing machine, when Parker came into the laundry room and said, "Yum, yum.  That butter is yummy for my tummy!"  I asked him if he had eaten some butter and he said yes.  I went and opened the refrigerator door and this is what I saw!

I left a stick of butter in the fridge and he found it! All by himself!  Now, I do not eat butter by the stick.  He must have gotten that from my sister Rebecca ;)  I guess I need to put the butter in a place where he can't reach!  Never a dull moment in the Thomas household.

Lastly, I wanted to record a small milestone my sweet Harrison has reached.  He has started to sit in the tripod postiton!  He is a little wobbly, and he eventually falls over, but it is so cute!  He is growing so fast!  Here are a few pictures of my growing baby boy!

Excuse the blur :)

3 or 13?

Sometimes I feel like I am raising a teenager instead of an almost 3 year old!  The other day we went to chick-fil-a.  On our way, I asked Parker what he wanted to drink.  He finally decided on sprite.   When we got to chick-fil-a I ordered his food and asked him what he wanted to drink.  I just wanted to make sure he hadn't changed his mind.  He said, "I TOLD YOU IN THE CAR I WANTED SPRITE!"  Well excuse the heck out of me!  I mean seriously Parker? You are 2!  You just never know what is going to come out of his mouth!  I asked him to say 'usually' the other day, and he said, "No.  That is ridiculous!"  Sometimes it is so hard to keep from laughing.

While I am on the subject of Parker, I want to record how much he loves his baby brother.  You know, so I can remind him when they are a little older and fighting like cats and dogs.  ;)  If I call Harrison 'my baby', Parker will say, "No he's MY baby!"  Sometimes he will share him with me ;)  It is the sweetest thing.  I try to soak it all in now, because I know the fighting will start soon!  Maybe sooner than later.  Harrison rolled over to one of Parker's truck the other day kept trying to "play" with it.  Thankfully Parker was asleep :)

Sweet Brothers

Love this boy