Procrastination station

I have always been a bit of a procrastinator and today is no exception. I really should take advantage of the fact that Parker is napping and get some much needed sweeping and mopping done but the thought just makes me want to bury my head in the computer (doing it now) or reading a few chapters of "eclipse". Yeah, I go sucked into the twilight series and no, I don't go and read at the high school so I feel less nerdy for being into it. I am going to be going back to work in a couple weeks and I am starting to literally lose sleep worrying about how this is going to work out. How am I supposed to be a great and dedicated boss, mom and wife all at the same time?! This could take some finagling but I am determined to do it! Okay, onto something not so stressful...
We had a real date last night! We had my sister-in-law, Andrea babysit and got to go to a nice dinner at a new restaurant, Ambrosia, out in the valley. It was delicious! We had a glass of wine and talked then headed to Twiggs for dessert and a cocktail. We had planned on seeing a movie after that but decided that we would rather rent one, cozy on the couch and eat microwave popcorn. So, we picked up Parker and did just that. We had a great night- Kyle had also surprised me with some gorgeous diamond earrings after, of course, we said that we weren't doing gifts. Apparently, Kyle had already bought them so it didn't count, at least in his eyes :)
If you are on my Myspace or Facebook, you will see that we had some great pictures taken of Parker. I have been wanting to do this for a while and finally had my brother-in-law, Tim's fiance, Katie over to take them. She is a teacher and does this on the side and for never taking baby portraits, she did a fantastic job! It was a bit of a learning experience for all of us but was fun too. Parker only lasted about an hour before a meltdown happened but we did get some great shots. I would like to get more family portraits done soon. Ya know, one more thing! Okay, enough of the procrastinating, it's lunchtime now.

Another growth spurt?!

Stylin' in Auntie Monika's shades

The little one has been napping a lot again lately. He has also been unusually picky too. It's not too bad, I can figure out what he needs pretty easily. The not-so-easy part is trying to hold him in his preferred position (at that moment) while helping him keep in his binky, grabbing his burp rag, reaching for laundry, loading the dishwasher and fiercely staring down dust bunnies all simultaneously. I think that God has trained me well though. All the years in very muti-tasking jobs is paying off and I have always loved a good challenge!

We have had a great week of visits. I am really trying to see all our friends and family before I go back to work in a couple weeks. We met up for coffee with my friend Cate and baby Claire in the afternoon on Wednesday, My sister-in-law Andrea and nephew Ethan Wednesday night, my friend Mica and her mom Janie on Thursday and Parkers Aunt Monika, Aunt Becky and Grandpa Anderson on Friday, and had the Parkerts over for dinner at some point, but I really don't know what day that was. Maybe Parker is just trying to tell me to keep still for a day while he rests up from hugs and kisses galore but I just don't want anyone to miss out on seeing that precious face! I know I am trying to do a bit much when I can't even remember what day of the week it is (seriously!) So I am sitting here, blogging, sipping on coffee (that has chilled since I started this) still in my jamms while Parker naps in his swing and I try to ignore the housework that I should get to that has piled up during this busy week and the fact that I should get into the shower. Call me crazy, but I LOVE this life!!

Morning snuggles with Mom. My favorite time!

Hangin' with Grandapa

Grandpa on diaper duty!

The great escape

Last night we had a babysitter for the first time! My sister, Monika has been really wanting to watch Parker one on one pretty much since the day he was born. She finally got that chance yesterday when we went to Kyle's work Christmas party-yes, I do realise that it is February. We got to get dressed in clothes not covered in spit-up, I tried to fix my hair, and of course we were running a bit late so I had to do my make-up in the car (hence the not so cute picture of me, but it was the only one we had time to take). Parker did pretty well! He really loves Monika and her fiance, Dan and they did a great job with him. We left just after 6pm, Parker was pretty pooped out so he fell asleep by 8:30 but started to stir an hour later. They were so cute and didn't want him to be upset so they got him out of bed and cuddled with him until we got home at just after 10pm. He ate a little and zonked out and didn't wake up until 6:45 this morning!!

We had a nice time and it is great to know that he is in good and loving hands if we ever want another night out together.

One step at a time

I am so proud of Parker! Yesterday, I decided that it was time to get him out of the cradle and into his crib. I figured that now is the time to do it so that if any problems arose I wouldn't have to deal with getting ready for work at 4:30 am yet. So we had him take his first nap in the crib yesterday afternoon. It was a short one, only about 20 minutes long, but he did fall asleep in that time. I thought, "why stop there?" and made the decision to try to get him to sleep in it overnight. I have to admit, I think this was harder for me to do then him! I did in fact shed a few tears which could have been hormonally induced or I was just having a bit of separation anxiety. Either way, it really was harder for me. Parker seemed extra pooped out last night and so I started his nighttime routine a bit early and he was asleep by 8:45 and into the crib without a hitch. I expected to be up shortly after putting him down, just figuring that once he noticed that he wasn't in our room he would freak out. But when I woke up to a few not-so-freaked out cries at 5:23 this morning needless to say I was so proud that he slept for that long! I went ahead and fed him and pumped a bottle too- and now he is in his swing sleeping yet again. This may actually work!

His first nap in his crib

On another note, Parker is going to have a babysitter for the first time tomorrow night! We are going to Kyle's work Christmas party (yes, I know it's late) and my sister, Monika and her fiance, Dan are going to take care of the little one for the night. They are really excited and I think it will be nice to have a night out with the hubby. Wish us luck on this next step!

Our shiny new tax return

This is our 2008 tax return. Kyle did a great job putting money aside so that we now have all our doctor bills paid off and we were hoping that our tax return would be spent on something fun but our appliances had other plans for that money.

We had a feeling that our dryer was having some issues just shortly after we got home with Parker. It decided that it didn't want to dry clothes anymore. This happened to be just a temporary thing (which was nice because our fridge went out that same day and we HAD to get that fixed- not fun and super spendy - ugh!) so we just thought that maybe a wire was loose since it is a bit older and it started to work again on its own a day or so later. Well, a couple weeks ago it did it again only this time the heat didn't come back. Kyle figured that it had a bad element and since it was going to cost us about half of what we bought it for, and that we bought it used when we moved into our house, we decided it was time for a new unit. We set a price we wanted to stay around and ended up having to spend twice that (those things are so spendy!) and after we shopped our butts off (not literally, to my disappointment) we decided on a nice LG front load set from Best Buy. If you know my husband, you know that when we have to buy any large items, he sure does his research! He usually takes about a year- yes, a year-to make any final decisions but we were under a bit of pressure with spit-up rags and poopie outfits piling up. Needless to say, I am so proud of him for lining up our finances to do this and all the trouble he went to installing our new set. This set is great though- it holds a ton and cleans everything so well- it even takes out those mustard-poop stains from Parkers clothes! I have actually been looking for things to wash around the house.

It may not have been how we would have liked to spend our tax return but it's no biggie, we really needed it. We always have next year! now.....what else can I do a load of tonight?