What a legacy!

Dear Parker,

This week marked a big event in our family; your Gigi and Granddad celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary, and your Marmee and Poppa celebrated their 34th. All in one week! You see, Parker, you are so lucky to come from a family where your grandparents have been married for so long. That's not very common in this day and age. Do you know what that means? That means that both sets of your grandparents loved their kids and each other so much, that no matter what, no matter all the hard times they went through, they chose to stay together and love each other. Parker, marriage isn't easy, and you'll find that out one day. But it's so important that you put God first, and then the rest will all work out. You and your cousins are very lucky to have this as a legacy to follow one day.

Your daddy and I already pray for your future spouse because we were so lucky to have parents who prayed for our future spouses..and look what happened! Daddy and I met and fell in love and got married and had you!! All because we had parents who love the Lord and pray for His will in their children's lives. So we promise to do the same for you, buddy. I specifically pray that you will find a woman who loves the Lord first and then loves you as much as we do. Daddy and I promise you that no matter what, we will always love each other and we will always do our best to set an example to you of what a Christ-centered marriage should look like. So, Happy Anniversary grandparents! We love you!!!!

Our weekend

Since Phillip works on the weekends, it's up to P-man and me to entertain ourselves. This weekend was absolutely perfect. We seriously had the best time. I'm including a few pictures of some cute things he did, but I'm also going to list a few:

1. I caught him with the back door open trying to push Tulip outside. His hands were on her butt, and he was pushing. She stood her ground, though.

2. I missed him for a minute but knew he was ok when I heard the chirping noise from "The Very Quiet Cricket" book. He was in the office "reading".

3. He was very cuddly this weekend. I don't know what I did to deserve the honor, but he was. I enjoyed every second of it!

4. We were playing outside with Ana Bella and he got into the grease can hanging from the grill. Thank goodness Brandi was quick on her feet. She grabbed the dishwashing liquid, and we stripped him down and hosed him off. Ana Bella just stood there going, "oh my gosh..."

5. (See pic) He continues to improve on his multi-tasking abilities. Here he is riding his toy and reading at the same time. That is talent.

6. He played with Ana Bella. He was pretty shy at first, but he warmed up eventually. I forgot to take pictures until the very end of the night, so this is the only decent one I got.

7. He hid my phone. Yep, took me a while to find it, but I eventually did.

8. He played on his John Deere tractor. It's so amazing how he's finally learned to climb on his riding toys and play with them. He's really taken a big interest in the tractor lately.

9. He recaptured my heart...again. Every.single.day.

Playtime!

We went to a local inside play place the week before school started so we could spend one last "family" day together. Because Phillip works weekends and is in class during the week, his days off are Tuesday and Thursday. So, Parker and I won't get days off with him this fall. We had the best time just playing, and we even went to McDonald's for lunch. It was Parker's first trip to Mickey D's and to be quite honest, he wasn't really that into it. I guess that's good, though!

He loved the kitchen and the blue sand!

His favorite thing was opening and closing this door. He even got on to another little girl for locking it!

Some cute things

I have a few cute things I need to post before I forget them.

1. He is mimicking us now. The other night, I was holding him and I cleared my throat. He started laughing hysterically, and then he proceeded to clear his throat, too. He can also mimic coughs, grunts, burps, etc. He's gotten really good at repeating what we say. Today he was sliding down a slide, and Phillip was saying, "One, two, three!" So Parker started saying, "do, dee!" with the same inflection on the number three that Phillip had. It was hilarious!

2. He now grabs your hand and directs you where he wants you to go. This morning, we were in his room, and he left to go in the other room. I didn't follow, so he ran back in there and looked at me expectantly. I didn't catch on, so Phillip informed me that he was wanting me to chase him. That was it! I chased him, and he LOVED it! He was reading in his room this afternoon, and I left to go check on dinner. A few seconds later, he came out of his room fussing at me because I had left (even though I told him where I was going). He grabbed my hand and took me back to his room.

3. I am amazed at how he's developed physically. He can get on and off of his picnic bench without help. He can also climb pretty well now, and he's learning how to ease off of big pieces of furniture. And he's recently become really good at spinning around in circles. I guess watching Cousin Abby twirl around is really paying off.

4. He knows how to hold a phone. He props it on his shoulder. He also pretends the remote is a phone.

5. This morning, he left the room and we heard the back door open. We went in the kitchen and he had let Tulip out in the backyard. Tulip was standing on the back porch, and Parker was waiting on her in the doorway. That's what happens when we forget to lock the door. But, I'm starting to think Parker may be ready to take on some chores (like taking sister out to go to the bathroom).

6. He doesn't clap like most children do. He uses one hand and claps on his stomach. Not sure if we missed that milestone or what. Actually, I don't think clapping is a milestone. He can grab your hands and clap them together, but when it comes to his hands, he uses one on his stomach.

7. He says "bye" to everything. If you let the water out of the bathtub, he tells it bye. If you say all done, he tells the food bye. If you close a door, drawer, lid, etc, he tells it bye. This is not something we taught him, so I think it's pretty smart that he's figured out what bye actually means...it's the end of something.

8. I love this age. I feel like we can teach him anything right now.

Cooking?

Settling in...

Yep, we're setting in to a routine. I pretty much go back to work starting tomorrow, so the Petty household is getting back into a routine. A much needed routine! I thrive on routine...it's just in my genetic make up I guess. Don't get me wrong, this has been an incredible summer, and I feel so lucky to have gotten to spend so much time with Parker and Phillip, but I was designed to get up at a certain time, be somewhere at a certain time, work during the day, and come home to a happy baby in the evenings. Yep, I said it, I actually enjoying working. So I'm a bad mom, think whatever you want, but I like it. I love, love, love my job, coworkers, and the sense that I'm accomplishing something outside of raising my child. Plus, I feel very lucky to be in a profession where I get so much time off to spend with my family. Trust me, I am a better mom/person for working! Anyway, that's my soap box for tonight! Here are a few pics of the last few days of summertime.

Guess who discovered the water hose?

He's soaking wet here!

We made a final trip to see baby Will.

He likes to carry the straw cup in his mouth without using hands. I'm telling you, he's really good at multi-tasking.

Parker's new best friend is his cousin Lily. He can even say her name. It sounds something like, "Liyi". Anything she does makes him laugh. He calls Abby, "Babby" and he'll refer to Will as "baby", but he doesn't pay a lot of attention to him. Oh, except for that one incident where he gently patted Will on the cheek. He was being very loving, I promise!

So, it's back to reality here.

I am going to include a note to Parker for his book.

P-Man,

We had the BEST summer! We spent our days playing, swimming, reading, and loving! Your daddy didn't have class for the entire month of July, so we got to spend a lot of quality time with him (when he wasn't at work). You were so entertaining this summer. You learned to talk A LOT! You love, love, love playing outside, but it's been really hot this summer, so you haven't gotten to go out as much as you'd like.

You had several play dates with Zane-O; I'm amazed at how well you two interact. We sure are going to miss him when he moves off! But we will definitely make trips up north to visit him.

We spent the month of July traveling. We went to Aunt Mere's twice. We also went to Mountain View for the Petty family reunion, Branson with Marmee and Poppa, and to Texarkana to visit the entire family. You are a pretty good traveler as long as you can watch Veggie Tales on your DVD player.

Oh, and I have to include this: Now when you want my attention, you'll specifically say, "Mommy" and then you will tell me what you want. Like you'll say, "Mommy" and I'll say, "What?" and you'll say, "Ball" when you want me to bounce the ball. Or if you're just looking around for me, you'll call my name until you find me. I LOVE it!

Daddy and I love you more than you'll ever understand (until you have a baby of your own). You complete our family, buddy. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Love,

Mommy

Welcome to the world, Baby Will!

William Thomas Sewell

August 1, 2010

10:32 am

9lbs 5 oz.

20.5 inches

Absolutely perfect!

Lily is such a good big sister! She won't let anyone else hold him when she's around!

Big sister Abby didn't want to get rid of her ring pop, so she just stuck it in her mouth while she held him!