More Phone/Instagram Pics

Before Haircut - slightly crazy... He has a tad bit of hair

After haircut showing off :)

 I'm not real sure if it was the haircut or what but I quickly realized this weekend my baby is a full-on toddler these days.  He just looks so grown up all the sudden!

On a walk... We were on his trike and his foot got stuck.  So he refused to get back on it.  We had drinks in the basket and he insisted on carrying both mine and his water... And stopping every five feet to "yell" at the puppies who were barking at him on the path. 

PK thought I needed all these tools to make supper the other night.  Such a good helper!

These are just my camera pictures from the past week.  I've really fallen behind getting pictures off my camera.  Hopefully this week if it's too cold to be outside!

We used the trimmers/buzzer on his hair on Friday night.  He wasn't too sure about it.  Kept telling me no.  But once we committed there was no turning back.  

Checking out the Pigs

Pushing his LOUD Semi around

Reading Truck Book

Parker Update

We’ve been keeping busy lately; no doubt about that. PK loves being outside and does not understand rain or cold. Nor does he understand boundaries. When we are out for walks he is insistent about trying to walk up to sit on people’s door steps or check out their garages!


Every day I think he is learning new words/phrases.
Some Favorites:
Daddy,
DA!,
Mommy,
Karker (Parker),
Papa! (when he hears something loud outside. He must relate loud trucks/motorcyles to his grandpas )
Crackers
PEEZZ (Please)
Yeah (he still agrees/answers to most things – tho when he says no he definitely means it),
See ya,
He said “bye bye Armor” this weekend,
Sinky (stinky),
Poopy (when he farts and poops),
Boots, shoes, coat, hat, pants, socks,
Car, Tractor, Truck,
Cooollddd, brrr,
He says the same thing for Blanket every time but I’ve yet to figure out what he is saying,
When we ask a question sometimes we get "umm" as an answer, then jabbering,
Memo (Yellow),
Book,


Likes/Dislikes:

Loves being outside,

Rides on his trike or in the wagon,

Being where he isn’t supposed to be,

Bananas, crackers, pears and yogurt,

Likes brushing his teeth and combing his hair (also tries to put his lotion on),

Hates sitting in the tub and likes showering with daddy now instead,

Loves his blankies,

Doesn’t like much meat yet (except pork sausage and ham) or potatoes,

Likes “reading” his books to us,

Crawls around on the floor pushing tractors around all night,

Loves having the tent set up (but you must “sit” with him – he points at you and says “sit”)(it’s a little small for Kris and I),

Loves a couple of his stuffed animals (mainly bear and puppy and gives lots of hugs/snuggles),

Gives kisses and brushes teeth before bed,

Is getting sassy (bossy) lately,

Loves watching the birds - when we get up in the morning we have to open the shade to see the birds,

Likes guacamole (eats it off of the chips and redips or just eats big spoonfuls of it),

Cracks himself up daily,


Parker is entering a new phase lately where he is just full of it. Almost like he’s hyper non-stop. “No” means absolutely nothing to him anymore. Keeping Kris and I on our toes now. You never know where he’s at or what he’s getting into when it’s quiet. He’s so matter of fact when he’s “talking” that it just cracks me up. We’ve had those little training toilets in the bathrooms since he was little and this week he’s started talking about “going potty”. So he will go sit down on it and rest his arm on the bathtub and point at me to get out. It’s pretty hilarious. The other night he farted and then went running towards the stairs. I found him upstairs sitting on the potty thing. (he’s still fully clothed during all this but at least he’s showing some interest). He’s also had the puppy going potty. The other night we were sitting in the tent and he started talking about poopy and took off with his puppy to take him to the potty. It was pretty funny to see the puppy sitting on his potty in the bathroom.

Quote of the weekend heard from the neighboring bathroom… (my husband) - “we have to wash your butt; it can’t be stinky for all those girls at daycare, you can’t let them know how stinky it is until after you get married”. Nice… lol.

Cheese!

Wearing Mommy's yellow shoes around

Chasing pigs out at Kyle's

Just Chillin - Life is Good - Blankie, Water and one shoe!

Random Pics

My boy and his cheeser

Easter Goodies

Out for a walk

Such a stud

We've been busy outside lately!  This past weekend we hung insulation above the garage and then a wall in the shed.  Then on Sunday we went up to Mom and Dad's house to help them clear away a couple dead trees (and cut firewood). 

Parker loves being outside; it's getting worse and worse to make him come inside.  He isn't interested to say the least.  He just wants to be out checking things out.  He knows he can't go past the sidewalk without having someone hold his hand.  So he runs over to me and drags me down the sidewalk when I get outside if he's out there with Kris.  We walked down to see the ducks the other night; very exciting.  He yells "duckkkyy" and "biiirdddyy" the whole time! 

I have better pictures on my good camera but I've fallen behind on getting them off the memory card. 

Life as the Mom of a Preemie

This isn't meant to be me complaining... I just need to share.

____________________________________

Maybe it’s my personality or maybe it was the experience we had but I’m not ready to go through it again. Don’t get me wrong. This life as a mom has been amazing; I love my little man more than anything else in this world. But no, I am not ready to have another child. Am I scared? Heck yes. Life as a mom of a preemie is hard. It sucks. I had a different experience; and yes, I might have taken it to extreme but it’s all I know. Life changed that day and there was no stopping it.

First, please don’t take it to heart if I don’t want to hold/touch your small baby. When we spent time in NICU it was basically a crime to touch a baby without washing your hands. When you enter the room, again when you go to touch him, right after you change a diaper and after you eat. You learn that is what you “must” do to keep your tiny baby healthy. So when you go to touch my baby and I have a minor heart attack, please wash your hands. I will do the same in return or I will simply not touch or hold your baby; I have a snotty toddler at home. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just know no different.

When I get choked up thinking about our hospital experience, please realize that it was a lot different than your experience. I didn’t get sweet hospital pictures, family visits in the room and most importantly to take my baby home! I walked miles (or seemed like miles to a recovering body) the first days after having a baby just to see him. I cried every night I had to drive home without my baby. I would leave the hospital around 10:30-11 at night to drive home, take a shower, pump, sleep for a couple hours, pump, go back to sleep and get up at 6 so I could be back at the hospital by the 7am feeding. It was rough and trying. Again I know no different.

By being in the hospital he had a schedule. We had a schedule. And we stuck to it. You tell me he needs to eat every three hours, guess what I’m going to follow instructions and do so. Maybe my personality made it extreme but we have a schedule and we stick to it. Even to this day.
This was purely my choice… but looking back pumping for 6 months was not what I should have done. When you have a baby that doesn’t have the suck/swallow reflex and nurses telling you that breast milk is the best thing for his development, there is no turning back, you do what you have to do. At least that is what I thought. But every three hours, 24/7 for months wears a person down. I truly hope it helped him because it was rough and painful.

Development is tough, it’s worrisome. It about takes you down. I worried all the time about Parker’s development. What I could do, what I should do, what I wasn’t doing… I’ve never came out and talked about it but around 12 months we started therapy because he wasn’t crawling/eating/doing “normal” things. We found out that he in fact was ok. But that year of worrying and then starting therapy is something that is not normal.

So when you ask if I’m ready for another child, please take my “experience” into consideration. Would I do everything again? Absolutely. I wouldn’t trade my little man for anything. I would sacrifice it all again for him. I’m just not ready yet.

Edit - 4/9/13 - In no way what I said above was meant to mean that I am ungrateful for what I have.  We have a healthy and happy little guy.  My heart breaks for those that spend more time in NICU, have further development issues, have children with disease at such a young age, those that are trying to have babies, those babies that have been lost and the foster parents that love and have to let go.  I am forever blessed.

Family Picture

We went and got family pictures taken a couple weeks ago.  PK wasn't having it with any pictures by himself, so at least we got a family one.  I had to tickle him to get him to smile; he was very somber while we were there. (until we were done of course)