To Do: Laugh Out Loud

Oh kids, they say the darndest things!  (Not Parker...not yet!)

Example #1 (Jude, friend, age 5)
You've heard me tell you funny stories from our little friend, Jude.  You may recall he was slightly disappointed that we didn't name our baby "Usher."  Well, his family came to visit us a few weeks ago for their final trip to Little Rock. When talking about us moving, he asked "Are you moving to Big Rock?"


Example #2 (Anonymous, nephew, age 4)
I asked this particular nephew (identity not being disclose to protect those involved) to leave the bedroom so I could put my pajamas on.  He looked at me strangely and asked, "Why do you wear pajamas?"  I told him I was putting them on so I could get ready to go to bed.  His reply: "Oh, my mom and dad don't wear pajamas...they sleep naked."  Oh my!  TMI!

Example #3 (Natalie, niece, age 10)
Where you find Parker, you will find Natalie if we are all together.  So last weekend we almost always had Natalie in the car with us.  This once shy girl has really come out of her shell.  On one particular car trip, she informed Matt and I that her family was "gross."  When asked why she said that, she proceeded to outline at least one feature for each family member (except herself of course) which gave them the label "gross".  She told us about mom's bad habit scratching her head, dad's daily bathroom trip (and when Matt asked her why...she was like "duh..#2), and something about Nathan's underwear.  The best part was texting my sister to tell her that Natalie was telling us these family secrets...and watching them sweat over what we had learned!


Example #4 (Cole, nephew, age 6)
While dressing Parker one day, our nephew Cole watched.  We told him that the outfit Parker was wearing came from Texas.  He asked, "Has he been to Texas?".  I told him that he had, but he was still in my tummy.  Matt then told him that Parker had been to Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, and Illinois.  Cole, who has speech difficulties, then asked "Has he been to Boobie?"  (meaning, the small town of Boody that is just minutes from our hometown.)

Example #5 (Nathan, nephew, age 8)
So I saved my favorite for last.  If you have ever met Nathan, this story probably won't surprise you.  The setting: my grandpa's funeral.  Since my grandpa had lived 94 years (quite amazing), his funeral wasn't a boo hoo affair.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to Nathan during the service --no, not because he likes me, but rather, he wanted first dibs on Parker after the service.  Near the end of the service, the minister had people in the crowd stand and share stories about grandpa.  After a brief silence, she asked "Does anyone else have any stories or memories they would like to share?"  Nathan leaned over and asked me in all seriousness, "Does it have to be about him?"  Oh thank goodness he asked!  Who knows what he would have said!!

To Do: Move to Illinois!

It's been a few weeks since we had anything BIG happen in our lives.  So it's time to add more spice, don't ya think?

Ready or not...we are moving again!  Peoria, Illinois here we come!!

We've actually known about this for awhile (but surely childbirth is a good reason why I haven't had the chance to blog about it yet).  Matt was asked to consider a position at the Mossville plant (1 of 4 facilities in the Peoria area) in November.  In order to not get hopes up for our family/friends back home, we decided not to tell anyone until it was final, which was shortly before Christmas.  He even snuck back for a weekend to interview (just a few weeks before I was due--luckily I didn't go into labor!)

Peoria is about 2 or 2.5 hours from where we grew up.  (Looking at the map above, we lived East of Springfield, right in the middle of the state).  So while we will be able to see our friends and family more often, this also means we can sleep in our own bed at night too!  And honestly, it sounds crazy, but I really don't know the Peoria area very well at all--so I know adventures await!  Matt is really excited about his new position.  But, I think both of us sort of dread the winter months ahead.  We have LOVED the past 4 years in the south!  Maybe in a future blog, I'll share what we will miss most.  It's pretty likely that this will be our last move for awhile--awhile, maybe not forever!

  

It is without hesitation to say that Caterpillar has been so good to us.  We are especially grateful that they are still able to offer a relocation package.  We have just started the process of trying to get our house in Arkansas on the market.  We also have a quick trip planned to Illinois this week to do our own quick version of House Hunters (one of my favorite shows!).  Since this will be our 5th house in 8.5 years, we are kind of masters.  But maybe more like picky.  Oh I hope I am not one of those annoying people who hates every house!  

Matt starts his new position mid-April--so the next few weeks/months will be oh so crazy!  But we seem to like crazy.  Maybe Matt and I are just crazy!  We're not scared of change :)  Bring it on!

So we will see some of ya'll soon (and yes--I'm still going to say ya'll)

To Do: Compare Baby Pictures

For 9 months I wondered what my baby would look like.  

Maybe I should have just stared at Matt's baby picture.

Gee--Do you think they look alike??

Parker John

Matthew John

We knew right away that if we had a boy, his middle name would be John--named after Matt's dad.  John is Matt's best friend, and for me, has taken on the role of dad to me as well.  Many people have told us (John included) that it wasn't very shocking that John was the middle name.

As for the name Parker, we just stumbled upon it.  I sort of hate to even admit this, but back in the day when I used to watch Rosie O'Donnell's talk show, I remember I liked her son's name, Parker.  When we sat down one night on the computer to look at baby names, Parker was one of those names that we BOTH said we liked...and that was unusual.  As soon as we said Parker John, it just stuck...and we knew right away that this would be our boy name.  (We also quickly picked out the potential girl's first name--but that is still a secret--just in case!)  Having worked with kids, I especially liked the name because I didn't know any kids (especially bad kids) with that name.

Earlier I told you that one person guessed the name correctly.  It was our neighbor, Lindsay.  But I will tell you that she had a slight edge.  Since her son's name is Jonathan, we did slip and told her that the baby's middle name was John.  While she had many name guesses (and later submitted Andrew as her final guess), she did tell us one time that she had a cousin who just named their baby John Parker.  She then said, maybe you could name it Parker John.  Somehow we managed to keep a straight face!  Amazingly, when we joined Lindsay's family for Thanksgiving this year and got to meet the baby John Parker, our giggles didn't give away the name.

You may also remember me telling you about our friend's son, Jude, who was insistent that our baby was named Usher.  When his mom announced "Parker is here", Jude replied "But his name is Usher."  She said she convinced him that Usher was his middle name.  Jude visited us this weekend and informed us that he liked the name Parker...because Spiderman's name is Peter Parker!

My nephew, Nathan, also objected to the name.  He had a friend whose last name was Parker and he told us we needed to pick a "real name", not a last name!  But as you can see here, I think he got over it.

To Do: Finish the Nursery

I realized today that I never showed you the final results of our nursery project.  Leave it to us to make it a little more challenging...though, honestly, the challenge was fun!  

Sure we could have just went to Babies R Us and picked out a coordinating set of crib bedding, wall decor, etc.  But nope.  We like to be unique.  And thanks to the introduction of Pinterest into my life this summer when I wasn't working, I stole someone else's amazing idea.  And thus began the collection, or should I say scavenger hunt, for all 26 letters of the alphabet.  

Not only were letters more difficult to find than I expected, you have to understand that both Matt and I are a little bit of perfectionist.  We not only wanted a variety of colors, but also sizes, textures, and depths.  And I have to say, that I am so pleased with the result!  Ready...

Trust me--it looks better in person!  The room isn't very big so it's hard to get a good picture.  Most of the letters we picked up when we visited the antique show on our Texas trip. (And those 13 letters had to be flown back with us!) Our favorite find there was probably the "w" whistle sign.  I admit, I was a little worried about it, but Matt's eye was right of course.  Matt cut out the A and the Y.  He also constructed the I from orange and blue crayons (Go Illini!).  We covered the V in multi-colored buttons but later spray painted it a dark purple, as it was too contrasting with the Z.  I also wrapped the concrete N with yarn to give it some color and texture.  For the X, I used modge podge to add map paper, making sure to include all the towns we have lived in (see, perfectionist!)

Thanks to my neighbor Lindsay's mom, we were given the awesome letter Z.  Her mom works with a teacher who paints letters in her free time.  I sent her with the comforter and told her to use her best judgement to make the Z match.  Isn't it amazing??  It turned out so much better than I could ever have imagined.

I'm really very lucky to have a handy husband!  He may have grumbled a bit when I showed him yet another Pinterest project that I wanted him to replicate, but in the end, the ruler growth chart is his pride and joy.  Best part is, we can take it with us wherever we go :)

After having no luck finding a lamp that I liked, I had a brain fart to use alphabet blocks.  Again, the husband came in handy, turning the jar into the lamp.  And you may notice that Parker already has a CAT dump truck on that shelf.  Brainwashing starts early!

Hopefully Parker loves his new room.  He always seems to be looking at the letters when we change his diaper.  I bet he is already memorizing the alphabet.  So smart that boy!  And if he doesn't like it, well too bad, he can change it when he turns 16!

To Do: Have a Baby (No Biggie)

So, what did you do after Christmas?  I had a baby!  

"Mateo" has arrived...and it's such a relief to be able to call him by his real name, Parker.  

Ok, so it took me 34 years to be convinced that I could do this.  And the fear never really went away.  I just knew I had to deal with it.  I've told you before, but my pregnancy was so good all 9 months.  I thought for sure that meant I was doomed and would definitely be telling you my labor horror story. (What?  People tell pregnant women those? )  But...I'm not going to be one of those moms.  Nope, because my labor was good too.  Well, thanks to my epidural.  Ah, that stuff is just amazing!!  

I have to say, I was a little giddy that my water broke on it's own.  I'm now one of those 10%.  While I was 2 days past my due date, I still was a little shocked when it happened just 45 minutes after I went to bed.  It's just a funny feeling to feel like you are peeing yourself at this age!  And I had to laugh, because before I could even make it to the bathroom to change from my pjs, Matt had flown out of bed, grabbed my bags and had them in the car!  And really, I felt better than I had all day.  Maybe that was adrenalin!

I'll spare you all the details of delivery, but I still can't believe how fast it went.  Thanks to pain meds and the epidural, I actually was able to get some sleep.  We got to the hospital around 10:30pm on Wednesday.  The nurse came to check on me at 7am when they changed shifts.  She couldn't believe I hadn't got my epidural yet.  But right about then, I started getting some pain so I told her to go ahead and put in the request.  I think it was less than 5 minutes before Mark, my super hero med man, appeared.  I literally had only 3 painful contractions.  And then the best thing ever invented kicked in.  I went back to sleep for a few hours and it wasn't until 1pm that I got a funny feeling in my butt.  (Yeah, the books don't tell you that!)  Little did I know that I was ready to push.  After a brief panic attack (because I noticed my epidural bag looked empty), there was no turning back.  2 hours later, the little (ok, not so little) guy was in my arms!  

My doctor had been telling me for weeks that he was going to be a little guy.  I think she was just as shocked as I was when he arrived.  She kept saying "oh, I was so wrong" and as she handed him over, she guessed that he was over 8 lbs.  She kept telling me "I don't know where he was hiding."  I can just say, I knew that his kicks and moves that last month were painful for a reason.  I just thought for sure he would have a long, skinnier face...I just couldn't get over his round head!  And I can't help but wonder if my addiction to sweet tea led to those chubby cheeks that I can't kiss enough!

In a way, I wish I could replay those first few moments when we first met.  It's all such a blur.  I think I was just in shock that I had really delivered. (and so grateful I didn't have a c-section!).  Everyone tells you that you will feel instant love, but hearing that and feeling that are so different.  I had just waited so long to see that face, and I couldn't take it all in fast enough!

Matt did good too.  He enjoyed watching the contractions on the monitor and telling me when it was time to push.  He was so supportive and a good cheerleader.  I can tell you that the experience would not have been the same without my amazing labor nurses!  

Jill (the one on the left) was with me nearly non-stop.  She was so comforting and encouraging.  Dorothy just came in to get something, but ended up staying to join the festivities.  I never would have imagined that I would be making up songs, telling stories, and laughing so much during labor!  I'm so grateful to have a photo of them, because I adore them so much and they were such an important part of Parker's birth story.

Now I want my family to know that despite my great labor experience, it's still  a good possibility that Parker will be our One Hit Wonder!  So don't be getting your hopes up that Parker will get siblings.  And I just want to say "Ha!  And you thought I wouldn't make it through labor!"

Welcome to the family Parker!  We've waited a long time for you and now we can't imagine life without ya!

To Do: Buy Matt a truck

Note: Pretend like this is a new development.

My husband is perfect is nearly every way.  (Yes, I realize it's almost Christmas time.) He's also nearly identical to his own dad, John...well, except for this one thing.  Matt loves to switch vehicles!  So when he got a truck at the end of October, he decided to keep it a secret until his dad came to Little Rock to visit us in November.  John just smiled...and likely his nose flared a bit (a trait they both share).

In the 18 years he has been able to drive, Matt has owned a few vehicles.  Here's the stats:

1. 1989 gray Pontiac Grand Am with 2.2L turbo

2. 1997 red Ford Ranger (later driven by his sister and converted to a monster truck)

3. 1999ish white GMC Sonoma

4 . 1996 red Ford Ranger Supercab (sold it to that identical dad in 1998, who yes, still has it)

5. 1994 white Pontiac Sunbird (sold this to his Aunt Kara)
     * Also had a work van during this time
    
6. 1999 white Chevy Shortbed

7. 2002 taupe Ford Taurus (formerly my car)

8. 2007 silver Dodge Ram
     * Sold this when CAT was doing major layoffs and we wanted to get rid of a vehicle payment.

8.5 2009 red scooter (couldn't make it up the hill to our house in Little Rock; sold to CAT employee who  still drives it to work daily)

9. 2005 taupe Ford Taurus (barely made the drive from South Carolina to Little Rock to South Carolina)

10. 2007 white Ford Edge (bought it in South Carolina to get cheaper taxes right before we moved)

11. 2008 Razorback Red Ford F150 (Matt swears that "Mateo" will drive this one day...he has to keep it awhile anyway...Mateo has to wear this shirt we got him)

Other Notes:

* We started dating in 1998 when he had #5

* We got married in 2003.  He has since gone through 8 vehicles in that 8 year period.

* Let's do the math: 33% were white; 33 % were neutral (gray/taupe/silver); 33% were red
* Matt's dad has had 6 cars in the past 30 years. He still drives and owns 50% of them!

* Matt has a very patient, understanding, loving wife.

To Do: Wait for a Baby

Waiting, waiting...waiting for a baby (My 4-H House sisters know how that chant goes!)

Holy cow!  It's only a matter of time.  Everyone tells you that the time will fly.  I think those first few weeks, when we knew but were waiting to tell, were the longest. Part of me wants him to hurry and get here, but part of me is not quite ready. 

Here's a new belly shot for you, along with a sneak peak at the nursery. I'm still waiting on the letter Z to arrive, then I'll unveil the final alphabet project!


As most of you know, I'm a worry-wart. Big time!  My friend, Jamie, will tell you that I worry about crazy, irrational things.  But ironically, I'm not as worried about child birth as I thought I would be.  (I reserve the right to change this statement as I enter the hospital though).  Sure it took myself a few many years to be convinced that my wimpiness could handle birth, but now I know I have no choice.  Thanks for all those who shared their horror stories, but really, I just don't want to know what to expect come d-day.  We are all off better that way.  We skipped the $65 childbirth class--sorry nurses, you will just have to tell me what to do.  (Like I'm going to remember anything anyway...I know I'll be panicked!).  I used to be worried that my water would break in some embarrassing public location, but I've since learned that only 10% actually have their water break naturally anyway, and it's almost always at night.  Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself there. 

I'll be the first to admit that I have had an easy pregnancy.  It's probably God's way of encouraging me to do this again sometime.  The last few weeks have brought about the feet in my ribs, the constant acid reflux, and swollen hands (I've managed to get my wedding ring off, but not the other ring...shoot!).  And I even have the waddle going on most days.  But really, it's not bad at all.  I imagine that "Mateo" is probably more anxious about getting out.  I think this may be his thoughts:

My doctor told me a few weeks ago that I make pregnancy look easy.  I assured her that she would be earning every $ on delivery day! (Crossing my fingers that SHE actually is my delivery doctor!). 

It seems as though not unveiling the name has been more torturous for everyone else.  Only a little longer people!  We picked out our boy and girl name almost instantly after we found out we were expecting.  It will be so nice to actually use it!  But the worry-wart in me worries that with all the anticipation, people will be disappointed or won't like it (which is exactly why I don't want to hear that BEFORE the name is given...I'll just keep changing my mind).  But for those of you that are curious, we will give you a hint: It did make the list of Top 100 names of 2011.  That should help you narrow it down.  Oh, and only 1 of you has guessed correctly :)