Sleepy boy....

So, one night I gave Parker a bath a little earlier than usual. (He was extra messy!) I got him all ready for bed in his PJ's, but since it was only 7:00 I decided it was a little too early for bed. So, I let him play in the playroom for a little bit so that I could fold some laundry. I was not even gone 10 minutes when I realized that things seemed a little too quiet in there. I was certain that he was up to trouble. So, I snuck around the corner to try and catch him in the act and when I got to him he was totally passed out on the playroom bed! At first I couldn't see his eyes, so I thought he was just laying there. Once I realized that he was asleep I ran to grab the camera to capture the moment. After snapping a few pictures, I just went ahead and picked him up and put him in bed. He did not even open his eyes, and went straight to bed for the rest of the night! It is just really funny b/c he does not sleep anywhere other than his crib. He never falls asleep in the car, on the couch, etc. I guess he had had a pretty big day for a 2 year old and just couldn't stay awake any longer!!! We have already painted Parker's room and are in the process of making it into a "Big Boy Room." We plan on making the transition to the big boy bed soon, and I am hoping he falls asleep as good in that as he did that night in the playroom!

Gatlinburg Getaway

I am a little behind in getting this posted, but things have been a little chaotic around here lately. For those of you that do not know, Anthony started a new job 3 weeks ago!!! This is an awesome opportunity for him, and he is so excited to start this new chapter in his career. He has been in WI for training the past 3 weeks, which means Parker and I have been here by ourselves! Luckily, Anthony has been able to come home for brief weekend visits, which I am SO thankful for. Next week is his last week in WI, and we will be SO glad to have him back home for good after that. We have both missed him so much!

Anthony, Parker, my mom, dad and I decided to take a last minute road trip to Gatlinburg to get away for a few days back in mid April. We wanted to do this before Anthony started his new job, and before my mom started her radiation treatment. We had an AWESOME time! We stayed at a resort that had an indoor water park right there, and we took advantage of going there 2 different days. It did not take Parker long to warm up to it at all, and he had an absolute blast! He loved going down the toddler slides, and loved floating with us on the lazy river! We also did several "touristy" things, went out to eat, etc. I have to say, Parker did amazing throughout the whole trip. He did great in the car, he slept and ate good while we were there, was in a great mood, and he even did good at all of the restaurants! He also loved being able to spend some extra time with Grammy and PawPaw, and run back and forth from our room to theirs! All in all, it was a really great little Gatlinburg Getaway!!!

Please continue to keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers as well. She goes into the hospital on Monday for her radioactive iodine treatment, and will be there in total isolation (no visitors allowed) for around 3 days. After she gets home from the hosptial, she will not be allowed to see me, Anthony or Parker for at least 7 more days. Please pray that everything goes well with her treatment, and that she recovers fast!

ENJOY THE PICS!

" HE'S TWO"

Well, we can't believe it...but our "baby" turned Two on March 31st! On his actual Birthday we were able to hang out as a family and enjoy the beautiful day outside! Parker LOVES being outside, and he had a great time playing on his new slide from Giggie and Poppy. I posted some pictures above from our backyard adventures that day! We also celebrated by having a Birthday party on March 30th with family and a few of his little friends. I tried not to go as overboard as I did last year, but of course got more carried away than I originally planned...oops! We did an "Elmo theme" since Parker is pretty obsessed with Elmo right now. My sis-in-law, Jessica, made his adorable (and yummy) Elmo cake! I wasn't sure how much Parker was going to understand this year about his Birthday. I kept telling him beforehand about his Birthday and turning 2, and he would look at me like I was crazy. He ended up really enjoying the party though, and I think he liked being the center of attention at times! He opened his first present, and decided he would rather just open that one and play with it and not mess with the rest of them! After convincing him that it would be fun to open the rest, he had a great time tearing into them all. He got some great things, and is officially spoiled rotten :) He really enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday, and even helped me blow out the candles at the end! It was such a fun day, and I think Parker enjoyed it as well!

Here is one of the recent things that Parker has learned since turning 2. When you ask him, "Parker, how old are you?" He holds up 3 or 4 fingers and says "TWO." It is the cutest thing ever. I guess he can't quite hold up just 2 fingers, so he just holds up however many he feels like and says he is 2!!

The past two years have gone by SO fast, and I can't imagine what the future years will be like! It has been so amazing to watch him grow and change. It seems like every day now he does or says something new, and he constantly keeps us laughing, smiling, and sometimes yelling...but hey...he's a 2 year old now, what do you expect?!?!?

Family matters...

Family is one of the most important things in life to me, and recently my mom got some very unexpected news. For those of you that do not know, my mom was recently diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Cancer. She has been suffering from severe headaches for the past year, and went in for an MRI for her headaches, and that is when they found the nodule on her thyroid. They told her they wanted to do a biopsy, but that 90% of the time they came back benign. Unfortunately, my mom fell in that other 10%. Last Friday, April 4th, she had thyroidectomy surgery. The surgery went very well, and they romved her entire thyroid as well as several lymphnodes surrounding it. She is at home recovering from the surgery now, and will meet with the doctor in about a month to discuss the next step in the process. More than likely she will have to have a radioactive iodine treatment sometime in May. This has obviously been a very hard time for my mom, and my entire family. We all love her so much, and we hope and pray every day that she fights this cancer and can get back to living her life again very soon! Here is the good news out of all of this...

1) Every doctor has told her that if you are going to have cancer, that this is the kind you want to have. While in my opinion, there is not a cancer out there that you "want" to have...it is still very encouraging to know that it has such a high cure rate. They are very optimistic about her treatment and full recovery!

2) My mom is one of the most loving and caring people I know. There is not a single doubt in my mind that she is an amazingly strong woman, and I know in my heart that she will get through this! She has a ton of family and friends rallying around her, and we are all here for her 100% of the way!

3) She is an amazing Grammy to Parker. Parker has now started calling her "Nanny" b/c he can't quite say Grammy. I don't think she cares what he calls her, as long as he calls her something :) He has become very attached to his Grammy lately. Whenever she leaves, he screams and cries "No, Nanny, Nanny." (keep in mind that he generally does not even do this for me and Anthony, he just waves to us and says "bye bye") The bottom line is that he loves his Nanny, and she loves him! No matter what is going on, Parker can always put a smile on her face, and that makes me happier than anything in this world!

I am attaching a recent picture of Parker with his Grammy. Please keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers, and I will post updates as we know more!!!

Pooper and Parker

Yes, that says Pooper and Parker. Parker has decided that "Pooper" is a better name for the dog than "Cooper." He goes around all the time saying "Pooper, Pooper." He also tells him to "sit" and "go" most of the time, which I guess are two things that he hears us say a lot to Cooper. Lately, Parker has just become OBSESSED with Pooper and practically won't leave him alone. These pictures are a typical night of him rolling around on the floor and playing with Pooper. I have to say, Cooper is SO great with him, and just lays there and puts up with anything Parker throws his way. I think it is b/c Cooper knows that Parker will sneak him food whenever we are not looking :) We have been trying to teach Parker to be gentle and nice with Cooper, so he does not think he can roll around on every dog this way. So, now his new thing is to go up to Cooper and pet him and say "Nice, Nice." Which actually sounds a little bit more like "nass, nass" when he says it, but you get the point. Anyways...just thought I would share these pics! Check out the curly hair also. This was kind of a humid day, so it was out of control. He does not have a chance of having straight hair with me and Anthony as his parents!

- Oh, and please excuse all the dog hair all over his shirt. That's what happens when you roll all over a 100 lb Pooper.

Update from the fam

Just a quick update to let you all know what has been going on at the Collins house. Parker is getting adjusted to his new daycare, and so far it has been a MUCH better experience than the last. Morning drop-offs are still pretty hard on him, but he calms down really fast and is happy the rest of the day. They are so much better at communicating there, and it makes all the difference in the world. The past couple days he has started "talking" to his teachers, which makes me feel good. Parker will not have his little version of full blown conversations with just anyone, so that makes me think that he is getting more comfortable with them. I'm sure it will just continue to get better and better!

We are also 90% sure he is getting his 2 year molars, which has really not been fun. He was not a good teether with all of his first teeth, and this has been even worse. He is drooling again like he did when he is a baby. If he would keep a bib on now, I would have one on him 24/7. He is having a hard time eating, and can be very cranky. One minute he will be fine, and the next he is throwing a big fit. He will put his fingers in his mouth sometimes and say "ouch, ouch." Poor little guy! I am just ready for them to pop through!

His newest sentence is "I don't know." He will hold up his hands (like you would if you were acting all innocent), and says "I not know." You can ask him a question like, "Parker- Did you just do that?" Or- "Parker- Did you dump all of these toys out?" And the response is, "I not know." It is actually really cute, and funny how he uses it in the right context.

I can not believe that Parker will be 2 in a little over a month. I am still in denial I think. The past 2 years have just FLOWN by, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us all! So, I guess that is about it for now. 0h- and Anthony and I are both doing fine. Not that you read this to find out about us or anything:) But, we are doing great as well!

The Big 3-0!!

So, Anthony turned the big 3-0 this month! For a little while longer, I get to rub it in that I am 28 and he is 30. He loves when I say that :) For his big day, I had a whole day planned out full of surprises. He got to sleep in that day, which is a treat all in itself. When he woke up, Parker and I had decorated downstairs with a bunch of 30th Birthday decor. He opened up his presents from Parker, and then we headed to The Jump Zone in Franklin. The Jump Zone is this indoor inflatable bounce type place, that has "open play" several days a week. We had never been there with Parker, and I was a little hesitant that he was still going to be a little too young. Well, as you can see from the pictures below...he LOVED it. We all had an absolute blast, and ended up staying for a couple of hours. We will go back for sure, and would recommend it to anyone with kids Parker's age or older. That afternoon, we took Parker out to my parents house so they could watch him for the night. Anthony and I had dinner at The Palm, which was amazing. We met up with some friends after that for a rare night out on the town (We never do that anymore). All in all, it was a wonderful day and Anthony was VERY surprised with everything. I just wanted to share a few pictures from the day with you all!




Getting warmed up!








Daddy had as much fun as Parker did...maybe more!




Getting ready to get dropped down the slide!




The rest of the pictures pretty much speak for themselves!