Parker's Girlfriend

Parker had a girlfriend long before he was born. Joshua and I are so blessed to have Daniel and Cindy Stansberry for friends. Daniel teaches with Joshua and I swear they were separated at birth. They are so much alike...it is sickening at times. Cindy and I hit it off from day one and I feel like we've been friends forever, but it's only been 2 years! Cindy is also our official family photographer. She is the one who has taken all the beautiful portraits of Parker and our family. We are such good friends that Cindy and I just "decided" to get pregnant together. When Cindy found out that she was having a girl, it only seemed natural that she would be Parker's future wife. Parker and Lawson Todd...has a ring to it, doesn't it?

Does this look like hand holding to you?

He's already making the women smile....

What? I'm not supposed to be under the ottoman?

Gifted

Parker is trying his best to crawl. We are proud to say that he has mastered going backwards. We are pretty sure he is gifted because he learned to go backwards BEFORE going forward. He gets pretty frustrated though when trying to get a toy. He can't seem to figure out why it keeps getting further and further away.
On another note, Parker now has 5 teeth. Again...a sure sign of giftedness. (and also a sign that nursing might be ending sooner than Mommy planned)

Jumperoo

Mamaw and Papaw were here this weekend and brought Parker a present...a jumperoo. It was amazing to watch Parker learn in a matter of minutes how to jump. Now that he's learned how to "jumpy," he hasn't stopped. He even jumps in his sleep! It is so funny to watch him. I swear he thinks it is his "job" to jump. He's not interested in the tons of toys and activities on the jumperoo. He is simply interested in jumping...and making sure you are watching him do it.

**Again, ignore the annoying "Mommy" voice.**

Uncles!

Both of Joshua's brothers are in the Army. Uncle Jason is stationed in Germany and Uncle Jacob is stationed in Fort Polk, Louisanna. Both just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, which means neither of them had met Parker. One of the main reasons we started this blog was for them to see Parker and get to "know" him. This weekend they were both home and we were so excited to introduce Parker to his brave uncles. It was the first time since 2005 that all three brothers were in the same room together! Jacob is transferring to Ft. Benning in June and will be living here in Griffin with his beautiful wife Bethany (Aunt Bet Bet). Jason is also hoping to get assigned to Ft. Benning. We are so glad to have them both home and thank the Lord for protecting them while they were overseas. I'm trying not to think about all the "army" games they will have Parker playing soon.

Parker and Uncle Jason.

Uncle Jacob. I love this picture!

Three Generations of Todd men.

All together for the first time in 4 Years!

Compromise

Parker is doing great with his rice cereal. He is eating it twice a day now and seems to enjoy it. Mommy is loving the fact that it seems to be helping with the spit up issue. One problem is that Parker LOVES to chew on the spoon. I pretty much have to hold his hands throughout the feeding to keep him from grabbing it. He used to get very fussy and irritable when I wouldn't let him have the spoon with each bite, but we've reached a compromise. When he's eaten all his cereal, he gets to go to town on the spoon.

**Please ignore my annoying "Mommy" voice.**

Rice Cereal!

So we decided to try some rice cereal. I figured since Parker has teeth...it's time to experiment with some solid food. The first attempt was not so successful. Parker did not like all the attention of Mommy and Daddy hovering over him with the video camera and poking his mouth with some strange instrument that was covered in liquidy goo. You will see evidence of this in the video below. After we turned off the camera, Parker did much better. And by better I mean that about 20% actually got swallowed. We are on day 3 now and he seems to enjoy it much more. He is swallowing a lot more now and loves to gnaw on the spoon when we are done. We haven't jinxed our success by trying to capture another video. We will sneak up on him after he's mastered the skill.

Parker's First Christmas

All Parker got for Christmas was his two bottom teeth! That's right...he officially has two pearly whites. He was also fighting some bad chest congestion over the holidays prompting an emergency trip to the doctor on Christmas Eve and a postponed trip to Mamaw's house. Poor baby was just not feeling all that great on his first Christmas. We hosted the Todds here at our house on Christmas Eve and ate brunch with Granmamma and Grandaddy on Christmas Day. Parker was feeling so rotten that we didn't go to Mamaw's Christmas afternoon as planned. We finally made it to the mountains on Saturday and stayed with Mamaw, Papaw and Uncle Kolby until New Years Eve. Below is a slideshow of Parker's First Christmas! We hope your holiday was filled with precious family time like ours was!

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