Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween afternoon, Parker & I headed down to downtown Edmonds to go Trick-or-Treating with some friends from Church.  We ended up seeing about half the church, not to mention about a dozen people I went to High School with.

Parker was (again) pretty overwhelmed and not too sure what to make of things.

This is Parker's friend Emi, she (and her Mama) were dressed up as the cutest Bumble Bees.

Parker got his first taste of doughnuts, and then he started enjoying the evening a little more.

This is our friend's little guy, Isaac.  At the moment, Parker is close with Isaac's big sister Emily, but give it a few years & these two are going to be tight.

Recognize his costume?

Hard to believe Parker was ever that little.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Thursday was Keith's Dad's Birthday, so we all headed down to Puyallup for dinner.

Of course, there is the requisite photo of all the grand kids:

Compared to last year's photo, I think they've grown a bit:

Piper was having a love-fest on Parker all afternoon.  Fortunately, now he's getting big enough that I'm not so concerned that he might get squashed in all the loving.

Harvest Party

Our Church had their annual Harvest Party on Friday.  So, we put Parker's costume on him and headed over for some fun...whether he liked it or not.

It was insane!  They had a bouncy-house filling the ENTIRE foyer of the sanctuary, plus two more in the gym.  Parker was seriously overwhelmed, this was his expression pretty much the entire night.

Well, we tried, I'm sure he'll appreciate it more next year.

14 Months!

Our baby boy is 14 months old!  I can't believe he's getting so big!

Parker had his first slumber party at Grandma's house this past weekend.  He did great, I'm pretty sure that Mama & Daddy missed him more than he missed us.  Although...

I don't know if it was the slumber-party or that he's teething, but Parker's been a lot more clingy lately.  He's started crying whenever I put him down.  I always tell him, "don't worry, Mamas always come back", and he's started looking at me with a look that clearly says, "Well, that's what you say, but you completely forgot about me on Saturday, good thing Grandma was there or I would have been stuck!"  But give him a few more days and he'll be asking to go back!

Parker has recently started kissing us on the lips, it is the cutest thing ever!  Don't get too close or he'll give you a big smooch!

Some of Parker's favorite things right now: pretty much any sort of food, tearing apart Velcro, putting things in & taking things out (of anything), reading books, chasing after Daddy (or Darcy), clapping, anything he can put in his mouth, pull books and/or shoes off the shelves.

Parker is in SUCH a fun, happy phase right now.  He's also become more cuddly; when he's playing, every once in a while, he'll crawl over to my lap, rest his head on my chest for a minute, then crawl off back to playing.  Sweetest thing ever!

Some other fun facts about Parker right now:

He's sleeping 11-13 hours EVERY night, it's awesome!

He will answer nearly every question with "Yeah!"

Parker has recently learned to wipe his own hands & face at the end of a meal.  It's not something I taught him, he picked it up on his own.  He doesn't do such a great job, but what he's lacking in cleanliness he's making up for in vigor.  It's so cute, especially how proud he is of himself each time.

I think he weighs about 20-ish pounds now, but nearly every time we are out in public, someone asks me "how old, 7 or 8 months?"  So I guess he's not as big as I think.

Parker loves to talk to himself in the car, he talked nearly the entire way to Puyallup on Saturday.

We are so lucky to have this little dude!

Parker's Friend

This is Emi, one of Parker's best friends.  We missed the shot, but just before this, they were holding hands and Emi was giving Parker a big hug.  (like how their outfits even coordinate?)

Children's Museum

After reading Denise's blog post, I had to see if I had any photos of Parker enjoying the Children's Museum.

...not so much.  But at least he didn't hate it.

But I'm willing to blame the photographer, I found it rather difficult to take a decent picture with a giant camera around my neck and a suddenly-clingy kiddo in the other.

But the Need kids had a great time.

Parker did find a few balls that he enjoyed playing with, even though I spent most of the time keeping them out of his mouth.

He also loved watching all the big kids playing.

But his VERY favorite part was the stairs up to the tree house.  I don't have any photos of that since stairs with Parker are a 2-handed process at the moment.  He LOVES to go down the stairs head-first.  Maybe fun for him, not so much for his Mama.

He also loved putting anything & everything in his mouth.  I don't think this is the best place for a non-walker in an extremely-oral stage.

Denise left me alone with all four kids for a few minutes while she moved her car.

No one got hurt, so I think I was successful.

So, it was a fun trip, but I think it will be about 100% funner in a few months when Parker can walk and reach all the toys on his own.  Until then, we'll just enjoy the stairs at home.  (Hopefully he'll be over his fear of slides by then too).

One more picture!  We ran into some friends from church at the museum.  Alisha got this cute shot of Parker & me:

Parker's Pumpkin

Living on a busy street with long driveways, we don't really know any of our neighbors (one of the few faults this house has).  But, we do know the girl in our front yard.

Her garden this year was about as successful as ours.  She only got one pumpkin and it was pretty tiny, so she gave it to Parker, it's just the right size for him.

I love these mornings

It's about 50/50 most mornings whether Parker will wake up happy or screaming his little head off.

He sure is cute on the happy mornings.

Our week ~ in review

Tuesday:

Parker loves books, particularly pulling them off the shelf and then crawling all over them.

Wednesday:

Waking up...

This is often how Parker looks when I come to get him up from his crib.  Either this, or standing in the same position only screaming his head off.

His favorite cupboard in the kitchen.

Thursday:

We went to the aquarium with Jared.

Parker got to see an octopus up close...

We watched the seals...

...and we saw lots of fish.

But Parker's favorite part was going up & down (and up & down) the three stairs in the underwater dome.

Friday:

Playing cards with Jared

(I think he's looking forward to going back home where it's quiet and they have TV)

Can you believe I lost with this stellar hand?

One of Parker's favorite things is to chase the doggies and pull their hair.  Lizzie is trying to find a place to hide (she went in there all on her own).

But, soon Parker discovered how fun the crates are, so now no doggie is safe in their crates (that's Parker's snack bowl he put in the crate).

Now, Lizzie has taken to sitting in Jared's lap so he can pick her up when the grabby little monster comes around.

Saturday:

Parker got his 2nd hair cut.  It was much easier to do with him sitting in my lap, but I did a terrible job.  I think I might have to go back at him with the clippers to even out a few patches.

Sunday:

Parker discovered how to get into the dishwasher.

Earlier, when Keith was emptying the dishwasher, Parker was taking his shoes off & putting them in the dishwasher.  It was completely unacceptable to him that it remain empty even for a few minutes.