Life's a Beach

I've had some great times on beaches before. I'll never forget watching the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea in Israel and in Italy. I'll never forget walking on the beaches in Malaysia and Thailand. But, those do not even compare to seeing my son play on the beach for the first time ever. He could not contain himself he was so excited. Everyday he would cry when it was time to leave the beach. He would keep saying, "back to beach, back to water, sand castle, waves, pelicans, hocker (helicopter), back to beach..." I don't have very good pictures of our week in Hilton Head. But, here are a few that turned out okay.

Parker's first sandcastle.

The family at Harbour Town

Cuter every day

The Grocery Store

On days like today I realize that life will never be the same again. I remember the carefree days of college grocery shopping that consisted of cereal, smoothies, or whatever I was in the mood for that day. The food would last weeks for me. I'd run into some friends, stop and chat for awhile. It was all round a joyous event for someone overly extroverted like myself.

Fast forward thirteen years. (Thirteen years?!)

I drive into the parking lot and immediately look to see if the "stork sighting, new mothers" space is available. I am not ashamed to still park there even though I'm not pregnant and I do not have a newborn anymore. The minivan mom usually gives me one of those "no you didn't" looks, but quickly takes it back when she sees me struggling with my SUV of a double stroller. I get the kids situated in their seats in the stroller and start my walk into the store.

Parker immediately starts yelling, "cookie, cookie, chocolate chip, sprinkles, cookie, cookie...". I walk in the store, look for the disinfecting wipes, grab a basket (that will hopefully hold all of my groceries for the week), and proceed to the cookie counter.

The lady always gives me two cookies. I'm not sure if it's because I have that look of desperation on my face or if she actually believes that Abigail needs a cookie too.

The first half of the store is usually pretty tame. We walk through the aisles and check off the list. Oh yes, and God forbid I ever forget the list. Lists are a necessity after popping out two babies. Parker eats cookie #1 and usually cookie #2, except for the small piece I break off for myself.

Then comes the second half of the store. The cookies are eaten, and the little arms look like "go go gadget arms". (Remember that show?) I swear Parker's arms are 6 feet long. This is where the game begins. He grabs. I grab back. Abigail screams. Paci in Abbi's mouth. He grabs the breakable bottle. I try to grab the bottle, but it goes on the floor and breaks. I look around. Hmm? Goldfish. I open the goldfish we haven't yet bought. All is quiet again.

And the pattern continues until checkout.

At checkout... Parker screams as I put the almost empty goldfish bag on the counter to be scanned. He stops screaming after it's scanned. Abigail screams when the cashier says, "hello." She doesn't like cashiers. My arm looks like I have a disease because I carried one week's groceries in a basket on my arm- you know the pink impressions. Parker puts Abigail's paci in his mouth. The bag boy tells me that Parker's too old to eat a pacifier and takes the pacifier out of my son's mouth while proceeding to tell me about a guy he knows who still uses a pacifier at night to sleep at the age of 31. I grab the paci, stick it in my pocket, and hope that I'll remember that it's a dirty one before I give it back to a child on the ride home.

Anyone want to go shopping?

Pictures

Abigail is getting so big!

Parker brings me the camera almost everyday and wants me to take his picture.

Abigail's room is finally complete! Well, I still have to put pictures in the frames...

I'm Incorporating Myself

For tax purposes I'm going to incorporate myself for my contract work. What should I name my company? Any ideas?

Our Weekend

Eric got to cash in on the birthday present I gave him. Sunday night he swam with the fish at the Georgia Aquarium. This is him with a whale shark swimming by him. The whole experience was fabulous for him and for us. It's worth the money. The kids and I got a "behind the scenes" tour for free while Eric got ready for the dive. We also got to tour the aquarium after closing hours, see how the tanks work, see the nurseries where they care for the fish, and the classrooms where they train the employees. We LOVED it!
Parker graduated to a toddler bed this weekend. The first night I found him asleep on the floor in the corner of his room with his blanket. Last night he fell out of the bed twice without waking up. Notice Nemo now sleeps with him.

Parker and Abigail enjoy watching Nemo together. Parker is becoming quite protective of his little sister.

What? Abigail is actually sleeping?

Hi!

Wow! Things have been busy around our house lately. A lot has happened since I last posted.

• My little sister, Abbie, had her baby, Cali.
• Abigail laughs now.
• Parker speaks in complete sentences.
• Parker knows all uppercase letters, half of the lowercase, and counts to 22.
• We wake up on average 4 times a night between the two kids. Stop the madness!
• I still haven't cleaned the basement/ downstairs. Ever.
• My aunt, uncle, and cousin from NM came for a week. Fun!
• The Laser Show no longer plays "God Bless The USA".
• 2 more pairs of pants fit!
• My kids' naps officially do not match. I'm home all day. Come over!
• Eric has bushy hair.
• Abigail reached out and grabbed an object yesterday.
• Rocky ate another chipmunk.

That's about it. I'll post pictures later.

Life

Our internet has been out for awhile. I'll update you with pictures...

Parker's favorite thing is to play "night night" with Abigail.

I made my first cake with fondant icing for Eric's party. It looked great, but didn't taste very well. Let me know if you have any tricks for making that icing taste good.


Who's enjoying the baby toys?


My little blue-eyed baby.