How Monday Got Away From Me...QUICKLY!!!

With Parker's big birthday celebration over, things were about to get back to normal...Oh yea, what WAS "normal" again?!  Perhaps I wasn't ready for that just yet.  Well, as I've found over the years..."Ready or not...HERE IT COMES!"

Justin and Sarah were both going to work on Monday and wanted to know if I could bring Parker home with me for the day and night.  "Sure!", I said, happy to get to spend a little extra time with my "Baby Girl".  And THEN I remembered something...I had to have my blood test today (ugh...).  You remember that little "souvenir" that I brought back from Costa Rica (I refer to it as the "RW" these days; I just can't stand the word...).  Anyway, I have only been on my medication for 2 weeks now and every 2 weeks I have to have a blood test; Monday was to be that day.  OK...let me vent just a little bit at this point (it tends to make me feel better...).  EVERY time I have to take one of those pills...and EVERY time I think of that little spot of hair missing in the back of my head, well...it just makes me MAD!  Most of you know how I am.  I am a germ-o-phobe!  And I consider a "RW" to be a GREAT BIG GERM!!!  Not to MENTION that I can no longer wear my hair in a "high ponytail"! OK, now I'm done and I can continue with my story.  So, of course, I would keep Parker Ann; she would just have to come along with me.  Surely that wouldn't be too much of a problem...

My memory has waned since I was a young mother.  However, I quickly remembered as I prepared to take Parker with me to the lab.  The first obstacle I encountered was the car seat.  I have my own and bought one of the safest ones on the market.  The only problem is...one must have an engineering degree to operate it.  Once I got her all hooked in properly, I knew from experience that unhooking her would be even more difficult.  OH WELL...at least she was SAFE while buckled in it.  The second thing that I pondered was how much stuff I needed to take inside with me.  For one short second I thought about not taking the diaper bag in...I ran a quick scenario through my mind of a poop diaper...perhaps running out of the legs...OK, so I just threw my wallet, keys and phone into the diaper bag and dashed in.  I must say that while waiting to have my blood drawn (which ended up to be quite a while...), Parker was SUPER GOOD!  (Whew!!!)

With that out of the way, I just needed to make one more stop.  We ran to Target to get some juice and a few other things and by the time we left, I noticed that it was almost lunch time for Parker.  WHERE did the time go?...I just can't seem to stay on any sort of "baby schedule" (ugh...).  I put her back in that car seat and poured some of the juice into her cup, handed it to her and took off for home.  I kept glancing in the back and she was sucking on that cup and her eyes were getting really heavy.  THAT'S when I started reaching back and shaking her leg and saying (in a sing-song voice...), "Parker, don't go to sleep...you still have to eat..."  And then she was asleep (sigh...).  As soon as we got home, I tried to get her out of that steel trap of a car seat and she woke up.  After eating lunch, she was definitely ready for a nap; I just needed to change her diaper first.  I grabbed a diaper, some wipes and a tube of Butt Paste.  Just as I took the dirty diaper off, I noticed that I had NOT grabbed the butt wipes, but the hand and face ones.  Hmmm...Butt, Booger, Hand and Face; they're all the same, aren't they?! She let me rock her to sleep (which she usually does not do...) and then the phone rang! UGH!!!  I got her BACK to sleep and very carefully laid her down and she immediately woke up!  UGH AGAIN!!!  I did what Sarah always tells me to do but never can bear to do...I let her cry it out.  5 minutes was my limit; luckily she was asleep again by then...

As I sat down to work a little on my computer, an email came through from the illustration consultant on my children's book.  I ended up having to go through all of the illustrations and make notes for edits, followed by several more emails and THEN I was finally ready to get some work done.  The Fed-Ex man came to the door and although I had taped a note on there saying, "Sleeping Baby...shhhh", the dogs heard him and began to bark!  Parker woke up.  She had gotten a good nap though, so I was confident that she would not be fussy the rest of the afternoon.

Before I knew it Robby was home from work (WHERE did the day go?!) and I had nothing made for dinner.  He said not to worry about it;he would fix something for us later.  I fed Parker ravioli and diced peaches, bathed her and got her dressed for bed; which consisted of giving her tummy drops, allergy medicine, gum gel, turning her i-pod on and putting a pacifier in each corner of her bed.  I placed her in Robby's lap with her Lovey and yet another paci and in no time at all...she was out.

My memory may have waned, but some things certainly came back quickly.  Babies take a lot of time and they have a lot of needs that sometimes cause the day to just get away from you.  BUT...in the end, it is SO WORTH IT to get to share an entire day with my precious "Baby Girl"! 

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Move Over Angelina Jolie...Parker Ann Is Taking To "The Red Carpet" Today!!!

It was to be an event fit for a movie star.  Parker Ann's birthday, that is.  Not only was there printed invitations, home decorations and a special birthday outfit...there was also paparazzi (aka:  The Grandparents!)

There was only 2 things that I was really worried about (yes...for a 1 year old's birthday party).  One, I wanted to make sure that Robby had an air pump to inflate the Rody (a bouncy horse...) I had bought as one of Parker Ann's presents.  And 2...Caitlin had volunteered Robby and herself to bake and decorate Parker's "personal cake".  Sarah had been showing Caitlin a photo of a cake she had torn out of a magazine one day and before I knew it, she had volunteered to make it for her!  WHAT was she thinking?!  It would be the weekend after her first week back at school and we would not be back from Miami until the night before the party.  When we rolled in, Caitlin had all of the necessary items to make the cake, but as I suspected she convinced her dad to assist her (do the most of the work...) with this task.

You see, during Caitlin's senior year of high school, she talked her dad into taking a cake decorating class with her...she said it would be a "father-daughter bonding experience".  Oh, they went through the aisles of the store buying pans and sugars and icing dyes with all sorts of bags and tips...and quite frankly I was glad that she had not asked me to take this class with her; it was WAY out of the realm of my comfort zone.  As with everything Caitlin does, she goes into it in a BIG way.  I could overhear her telling her dad the plans she had for ALL of the future cake decorating classes they would take...why one would think that eventually they were going to open a bakery to rival "Carlos Bakery".  The first few classes went well, with both Caitlin and her dad being the over-achievers of the class, however, suddenly Caitlin announced that she would not be able to take any more classes.  WHAT?!  Well, she told us that decorating with those bags and tips was causing her hand to hurt and cramp up so badly that she most likely was getting carpal tunnel syndrome!  SO...the cake decorating tools are now only taken out for special occasions...Parker Ann's 1st birthday party qualified for that!

After quite a lot of fussing and directing and another round of my kitchen being blown up, the cake was finally compete...only about a half hour before the party!  Then, it was off to make the delivery.  It was my duty to hold that little creation on the way there and I must admit that I was nervous about being the one with that responsibility...if anything happened to that cake between our house and theirs, I suspected I would be in a WORLD OF TROUBLE!
Robby getting ready to bake the cake.  I helped too...I licked the bowl!
And...The first layer of icing is done...
Second layer of icing and green piping...
Rolling out the fondant...
Fondant dyed and cut into a "P" for Parker!
Pink Piping done...
The cake is ready for delivery...
Silver candle holder and 1 tall skinny green candle added to the cake









We got the cake there and safely deposited on the table and held out breath to see if it was acceptable...thankfully it was (WHEW...).  I then headed out to finish decorating the front door, take a few pictures and then all of the guests began to arrive.








Parker Ann was walking around now like a pro; enjoying showing off this new skill of hers.  After eating her lunch, Sarah plopped down in the middle of the living room with her to open the enormous mountain of presents that were awaiting.




1st Birthday Card to Parker Ann from Poppi and Ya Ya
1st Birthday Card and 1st pair of Nike's to Parker Ann from Uncle David
LSU cheerleader uniform from Papa Bob
WHOA!!!  Parker Ann driving her 1st car!
This is as good as it's going to get for seeing the Birthday Outfit...CUTE matching hat that she would rather play with than wear on her head!
Waiting for the Birthday Cake!!!

Are they SERIOUSLY  putting this WHOLE cake in front of me?!
Let's see how this tastes...
Yummm...Pretty Good!
OK...Pretty DELICIOUS!!!
Let's try those Nike's on...
YEP!  Uncle David was right...These ARE the "Tool that will take me into the TERRIBLE TWO'S.  They WILL help me jump higher to reach things I am not supposed to get into AND also keep me from getting caught since they will make me run FASTER....
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, Parker Ann!




























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A Year In The Life Of A Ya Ya...

I cannot believe that on the 28th of this month, Parker Ann will be 1 YEAR OLD!  It seems like only yesterday I was so very impatiently waiting for her arrival.  I can remember being excited but also somewhat anxious at the same time.  Was I grandmother (Ya-Ya...) material?  What would my role in her life be?  Would I be good at my new job?  Would she like me?  Would she love me?  Would we bond to the point that she would eventually recognize me and smile at that recognition?  This grandparent thing was new to me and I desperately wanted to be good at it!

I have found that people adjust to change.  It is often times not easily done...but they DO eventually adjust.  Just like Parker Ann was adjusting to being out of the womb and in a new world, I was adjusting to a new chapter in my life.  Lots of my friends were already grandparents and they seemed so at ease with this.  "Perfection" is what it looked like to me.  However, Robby always says that my expectations tend to far exceed reality.

As a parent, I have observed others and thought many times that their lives were straight out of a fairy tale.  Mine had been chocked full of "real" stuff...like pure chaos to be exact!  Where most people had organized photo albums chronicling their childrens' entire childhood and completely filled in baby books, I had a box full of scattered photos that I was STILL attempting to get organized to go into a set of empty albums.  And those baby books?  Well, I HAD one for each child...with their name in it; didn't that count for at least something?  With my first grandchild I had determined that things would be different.  And so I pulled out my camera...dusted it off...and began this journey into "Blogland".  THIS would be a study in discipline where I was concerned.  I had always WANTED to keep those photo albums and a "life journal" as well.  I was gonna do this thing!

So, I have blogged about Parker Ann since well before she was born.  And now that she is about to turn one year old, I have decided to re-share a few of her pictorial journey of her first year of life...
Welcome to our world, Parker Ann!
1st Parish Fair
First Halloween Carving Contest
1st Christmas Festival
1st "Rogenmoser Cookie Cook-Off"
1st Christmas season of parties
1st Christmas Eve church service
1st Christmas morning at Poppi and Ya Ya's house
Snoozing in Ya Ya's lap...
Getting on my feet!
Eating...one of my FAVORITE activities!
"Sleeping Beauty"...Is there ANYTHING sweeter than THIS?
I LOVE my stroller rides!
Ready for church
Playing with my toy...
1st summer to swim
I'm a FAST crawler!
Helping check out groceries
Loving on my panda that I got at the San Diego Zoo
On the beach in California...Already a "Beach Babe"!
"Just give me my Puffs and nobody will get hurt"!
I'm a BIG girl now...I get to sit in a highchair at restaurants
1st 4th of July celebration on Cane River
Cooling off in the pool Ya Ya bought me for her house
1st family wedding...I'm second cutest to the bride!
Hey!  I'm a DIVA...They LET me sit in the middle of the table!
1st trip to a water park
1st visit to The American Doll store
Ready for my 1st rodeo!
I'm on my feet and WALKING now!

Well, Parker Ann's 1st year has flown by...and now it is time for a celebration!  Her 1st Birthday Party has been planned out to a tee.  The invitations have been sent, decorations bought and gifts have been purchased.  However, NOTHING could ever compare to the gift of joy that this precious little girl has brought to our lives!





































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