6
A New Friend!
Filed under: General | Tags: | May 6th, 2012
Parker has a new friend! Brandon and Brittnie welcomed baby Clara Anne this past week and we’re all so excited to finally have a little girl in our group!
Congratulations Brittnie & Brandon! Can’t wait for these kiddos to be the best of friends!
6
I know I say this all the time, but I really can’t believe its already been 5 whole months! Time is literally FLYING by and I wish every single day that I could make it slow down.
Here’s our favorite little guy at 5 months…
always so happy!
EVERYTHING goes in your mouth…immediately. I’m pretty sure you’re working on some bottom teeth…
You love to sit in the bumbo while we eat supper at night.
You know how to roll both directions! You seem to prefer your tummy these days because if we lay you down on your back, its not very long before you’ve turned to your side or flopped over onto your tummy.
We don’t go back to see Dr. Dickerson until you turn 6 months, but we weighed you the other night and think you are pretty close to about 17.5 lbs! You are wearing some 6 month clothes, but mostly 9 months and we’re about to finish up our last few size 2 diapers and will be moving into the size 3′s this week! I cannot believe how quickly you are growing!
You’ve been eating cereal for a few weeks now and we’ve started mixing it with pears instead of formula and you seem to like it much more. Gigi feeds it to you most mornings and we’ll probably start feeding it to you at night also. You’re still drinking the fancy formula, but you’re doing really well on it, so we’ll stick to it. You are still eating 5 oz. every 3-4 hours and that seems to keep you pretty content. Sleep is still pretty consistent for you. You go to bed between 8:30-9:00 every night. You take a bath (which you still LOVE), play on the floor in your room for a while, and then we have some sweet Mommy & Parker time singing songs and rocking until you’re asleep. Daddy feeds you again around 11 and you sleep until about 5:30 or 6:00 most mornings. You are definitely a sleepy head…Gigi says you usually don’t wake up for the day until 9 or 10!
I know as soon as I say this, something will change, but I FINALLY (I know, 5 months in) feel like we’re in a really good routine and we’ve finally got the hang of this. I felt like this right before I went back to work and then that changed everything, but now I feel good about things again. I can’t wait for summer to be here so I can spend my days with this sweet little angel!
1
Landscaping 2012
Filed under: General | Tags: | May 1st, 2012
It seems as though major landscaping projects have become the norm for us the last few years. Last year, we did flower beds and planter boxes in the back yard and this year we tackled the beds in the front. Ever since we bought the house 4 years ago, we’ve hated the front flower beds. The bushes were too big and blocked so much of the house and they grew so fast, that one of us was out trimming them at least once a week…it was awful. About a month ago, we were doing yard work and after trimming the bushes, Matt decided that we were done with that task forever and cut all of them out! I was so excited, I could hardly believe it was finally happening.
this was what we had after he trimmed them…they pretty much blocked the entire front of the house & made the porch look tiny.
finally…a blank slate!
total transformation! We’ve got purple fountain grass, encore azaleas, 2 kinds of hosta, giant blue iris, hydrangeas, & Hawaiian Ti. We just love it!
20
Our Life in Pictures
Filed under: Family, General, Parker James | Tags: | April 20th, 2012
I’m so behind on blogging that it’s not even funny. I never wrote Parker’s 4 month post and now that I’ve found time to sit down and blog, he’ll be 5 months old next week and the 4th month is a distant memory.
talking…this boy loves to talk & most recently has become a screamer…it’s downright funny to listen to
the Easter Bunny came to see Parker!
Parker with most of his cousins on Easter…I think we were missing 7 “kids”
Our first Easter as a family of 3!
Playing on the floor at Nana’s on Easter
watching his cousins hunt for eggs
this pretty much sums our little guy…he is always so happy! We love you so much Parker-man!
20
Bluebonnets!
Filed under: Family, General, Parker James | Tags: | April 20th, 2012
Of course we had to get pictures of our little cutie in the bluebonnets…it’s a Texas tradition!
10
Asking my sister to keep Parker for us has been one of the best decisions ever! If Matt and I can’t be at home with him, I can’t think of a better person to keep him for us. She’s just wonderful with him and his face absolutely lights up every time he sees her. I feel bad that she has to be up and at our house so early in the mornings, but she has a couple of hours once she gets there that she can relax and enjoy some coffee since Parker sleeps until 8 or 9 most mornings. He’s a pretty easy going little guy and she usually gets a couple of good naps out of him before I come home. We are so thankful that he gets to stay home, play with his toys, sleep in his bed, and be hugged and kissed all day instead of stuck in a day care full of babies and germs.
Not only is she loving on my sweet baby when I can’t, she also cleans the house for us! I feel bad that she’s cleaning up after us, but I must admit, I love coming home to a clean house. She vacuums, cleans the kitchen, washes bottles, does our laundry, makes our bed, & cleans the bathrooms…it’s just fabulous! I try to pick up every night before we go to bed so she doesn’t have to work all day long, but it seems like she just finds stuff to do. I used to be a control freak about how my laundry was done or the way my house was cleaned, but now that I’m not the only one doing it, it’s not that big of a deal. At this point, it just needs to get done…who cares how or who it is!
We love having Jillie so close to us. I feel like she and I have grown so much closer just in the last year and its so much fun! We hang out all the time now and I’m having a blast!
12
Exhausting
Filed under: Family, Parker James | Tags: | March 12th, 2012
I can pretty much sum up my life right now in just a few words…”different”, “exciting”, “fun”, and “exhausting”. I’ve been back at work for 3 full weeks now and I’m beyond exhausted.
I’ve found myself dozing in the evenings before supper when our little guy catches a few winks himself…the other night, Matt snapped a picture of us and I think its pretty telling of how thing are going around here…
yes, I was resting my head on my sweet, sleeping baby’s head. We both snoozed for a while like this, so I guess it didn’t seem to bother either of us!
12
3 Months!
Filed under: Family, General, Parker James | Tags: | March 12th, 2012
Parker James, you are 3 months old! How is that even possible?
I’m a couple of weeks late in getting this written, but month #3 has been a big month for you (and us)! To start the month, we took our first trip to Abilene since you arrived. We had a great time at Kappy & Chief’s house for the week, though I realized just how hard it can be to be away from home for an extended period of time with a baby! Sometimes its just easier to be at home.
Talking to Chief!
You are talking all the time now and interacting with everyone around you. Every afternoon and evening after we get home from work, you always smile so big at your daddy and me and “talk” to us about your day with Gigi. You have become quite the storyteller, little boy!
You pretty much hate tummy time, but sometimes you will tolerate it for a minute or two and other times you cry as soon as we put you down. You’re very strong and can hold your head up really high and the other morning you even rolled over for me! You haven’t done it again since then, though you’ve definitely come close. You’ll do tummy time on our chest and you do a really good job holding your head up when we’re holding you up against our shoulder, so I think you’ll be ok. We’re still working to help you like being on the floor on your tummy. You love to watch the lights & colors on the TV, so maybe if we put you on your tummy where you could see the TV…we’ll have to try that, little guy! We also discovered this month that you sorta like sitting in the bumbo chair. You can hold yourself up really well for a few minutes before you get tired and want out. I’m thinking it won’t be long until you’re having a good time in your jumper and activity chair that we’ve got waiting for you upstairs!
Maybe this tummy time thing isn’t so bad…
You’re still a great sleeper, most of the time. We moved you to your bed upstairs last month after you outgrew the Nap Nanny. The first few nights I was too nervous to leave you up there by yourself, so I slept up there with you. The first night was a little rough, but after that you’ve done great! I also think you’re pretty close to sleeping unswaddled. Every time I go to check on you or get you out of the bed, you’ve gotten your arms out and you’re all sprawled out. I’ll probably keep wrapping you up just so you don’t get cold, but maybe we’ll start leaving your arms out. We give you a bath most night and put you to bed around 9:00 every night and you sleep until about 5:00 AM! We feed you at that time and rock for a few minutes before you go back to sleep for a few more hours. When you wake up for the day, Gigi is at home with you and y’all hang out for the rest of the day. I know that you eat, take a couple of good naps, and play on your mat, in the bumbo, and your bouncy seat while we’re gone. You love your Gigi so much and you’re always so happy when we come home to you.
You love bathtime!
After bathtime last week! My sweet little ducky
You really seem to love church. You’re usually awake when we get there, but you love the singing and it always puts you to sleep. You don’t seem to be as big of a fan of Bible class though. Really, I think the problem is that you want to talk to everyone, not sit quietly! You and I usually spend most of class walking around the building to keep you happy.
We’ve also found out that you’re allergic to dairy and most likely soy proteins, so we’ve had to start feeding you a hypoallergenic prescription formula. You’ve been on it for 4 weeks now and most of your symptoms are almost completely gone! We’re so glad its working to help you feel better. You’ve also gained some good weight now that your tummy is feeling better. You up to about 15 lbs now! You are wearing size 2 diapers, even though we have a bunch of 1′s left…I guess we’ll have to hand those off to baby Clara for her to use. You’re also outgrowing your 0-3 month size clothes and most of your pj’s are too small for your long feet. Some still fit, but some are getting to be too short on you and some are starting to get tight on your arms. Guess its time to move to the 3-6 & 6 month sizes!
I also had to go back to work this month. It was no fun to leave you and I miss you terribly during the day, but I do enjoy getting out the house for a while and its fun to come home to you and see your face light up when you realize its me!
Parker, your daddy and I love you so much and we love having you in our family! It is so much fun to see you growing and changing right before our very eyes. We can’t wait to see what this next month holds for you!
2
Some Scary Facts about Public Education in Texas
Filed under: General | Tags: | March 2nd, 2012
I love my job. I love teaching. I love spending my days with teenagers. I love seeing the progress they make from August to May and knowing that I am helping (most of) them become productive members of society.
Unfortunately, the education system in Texas (and probably the U.S. as a whole) is horribly flawed. The average school year in Texas is about 180 days. Out of those 180 days, students spend between 8 and 10 days taking standardized tests. For high school students, 2 of those tests are given at the end of March and the rest are given over the course of a whole week in the middle of May. Please explain how testing students ALL day long, for a SOLID week is going to give you an accurate reading of their success for that school year and what they have (or have not) learned. A teenager has an attention span of about 40 minutes and then they need to move on to something else…it’s no wonder the average student struggles on standardized tests. All that aside, what if the kid is having a bad day on test day? What if they don’t feel well, had an argument or fight with someone that morning, what if their home life is unpredictable or their parents are virtually nonexistent? How do the state government officials expect to get a good reading on our students success by looking at one test given on one day throughout the course of a full week? It’s just not fair. And why do these tests matter so much? Colleges don’t look at their scores as part of the entrance process, employers don’t care how they did on them either. Why does the state place so much emphasis on them? Figure out another way to hold teachers accountable.
I find it slightly ironic that people are so concerned with the results of these tests and continue to raise their expectations, yet they continue to cut funding for public education. If you’re not pleased with the test results, how can we be expected to improve results with decreased funding to our schools? Our class sizes are increasing dramatically every single year and we’re getting fewer and fewer resources with which to work. Most districts in Texas can’t even afford for students to have textbooks at home, we only have classroom sets of books.
Our superintendent sent us some eye-opening statistics this morning about funding for public schools in Texas.
State’s Budget by School Year:
2011-2012 – $25.6 Billion
2012-2013 – $25.4 Billion
2013-2014 – $21.9 Billion (That’s a staggering decrease!)
Every school year, Texas enrolls an additional 80,000 students. How are we going to education 80,000 more students in 2013 school year with $3.5 Billion less in funding? It’s a scary thought…
Including inflation, the state’s education budget should look like this:
2012-2013 – $28.6 Billion
2013-2014 – $29.4 Billion
Education in Texas needs major reform. Our lawmakers need to get their priorities in order. You cannot continue to raise expectations, but reduce resources and expect positive results. It just doesn’t work like that. Stop doing our kids a disservice and give the teachers the resources we need to help these students be as successful as possible, whether they move on to college or the workforce post high school.