when blog friends become real life friends...

....sometimes you get get to spend the whole day hanging out.  and when you do {like how we got to hang out with  mandy & bennett on tuesday}, these are the things you do:

you walk around the state's capitol in the misty annoying rain, because when you live in washington state you don't let a little rain ruin your playdate.

you bundle your babies up & get them outside because that is where they're happiest.  even if their blankies are getting soaked by the aforementioned annoying rain.

you go to really really tasty local sandwich shops & stuff your faces with french dip sandwiches...

...and of course you take pictures at said sandwich shop.

then you take pictures of each other with your babies...

...and then you take pictures of each other on the streets of the city.  with weird local city dwellers walking by you & giving you weird looks.  because you are bloggers, & that's what you do.

yes, that is my giant face.  nice to meet you.

and then you part ways & promise to do it again soon.  but it won't be soon enough, because we had an absolute blast & wish we could have fun days like this everyday!  can't you just see the excitement in p-ray's face?

he can't contain himself.

seriously, we had so much fun with these guys.  if you're not familiar with mandy & bennett, then you really need to check out their blog "a sorta fairytale."  bennett is one of the cutest, bright eyed little boys you'll ever see & mandy is such an amazingly talented photographer.  i could look at her pictures all day long.  and sometimes i do.  and that wasn't meant to sound as creepy as it just did.

...and that was our day!  we loved it.


and we love your votes. truly madly deeply.

wordless{ish} wednesday: p-ray's got game.

"so uh... you come here often?"

oh parker.

{linking up with a little king & i, paper mama, supermom, parenting by dummies, live & love out loud, baby baby lemon, angry julie monday & a beautiful mess.} 


that look definitely deserves a vote... right?  i thought so too.

eleven months.

don't worry, i'm not gonna get all mushy on ya & go on & on about how crazy it is that there is less than a month left until my baby turns one.  i'm actually beyond excited.  is that weird?  parker gets more & more fun everyday & even though when i find stray newborn diapers in the back of his dresser i do have to stop a minute to say "aaaaaaaaaah" i honestly don't miss the newborn days.  i loved them, i enjoyed them, but i wouldn't for a second want to go back.

eleven month old parker is the best parker yet.

this little boy is so silly.  he is so playful & funny & does things just to make you laugh.  his favorite game at the moment is "where's parker?" in which he covers his tightly closed eyes with his fists, whisks them away, & then giggles when you say "there he is!"  yeah, it's peek-a-boo, & it's adorable.  a few of the shots above back me up on this.

he self-entertains like a champ & will just go from toy to toy to activity to activity all day long.  but, of course, he prefers you to play with him & i don't mind a bit.  his favorite thing to do is to work on his walking thing... you know, the thing babies push down the hall when they're learning to walk.  and i say "work on" because he kinda looks like a little mechanic, opening & closing the lid, putting in & taking out toys, pushing the buttons & then rechecking everything again.  he takes it very seriously.  he is getting really good at assisted walking, but it's hard to tell how close he is to taking off.

he is down to one nursing session a day {early morning time} & usually takes about four bottles of formula a day.  he usually eats three meals of solids & will eat just about anything.  if he hasn't made some growth improvement at his next check-up then i don't know what else to do.  we are packing this kid full of food 24/7.  but i think he has grown.

here he is all growed up to eleven months.
{compare previous monthly pics here.}

parker loves music & bounces up & down to dance.  his favorite word is "mama" but he frequently says "dada" & "baby" too.  he throws the occasional tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants, but then again, who doesn't?  he is super attached to his blanket & loves snuggling with it & sticking it in his mouth.  he initiates wrestling & loves to crawl & climb all over you.  he went on his longest road trip this month & was a champ while he rode fourteen hours each way to utah & back.  while on this trip, he cut his sixth tooth but it was no big deal.  he had his first overnight slumber party away from mom & dad this month when he stayed with grandma & grandpa & was absolutely perfect.  he is so loving & affectionate & gives great hugs & snuggles & will come crawl to you just to sit in your lap.  he is super funny & will repeatedly do things if they get a laugh.  he still freaks out when sam comes home & becomes his little shadow for the rest of the evening.  he loves his baths & would stay in the warm water all night if we let him.

he is sleeping from about 8:30 pm to 8:30 am & wakes up once around 5:30 to nurse.  he seems to be transitioning to the one nap a day schedule but i am still fighting for that second nap.  he is still wearing size four diapers, eighteen month onsies, & 6-12 month clothes.

and he is still so darn cute.

love this kid.


i love your votes too. i really really do.

"get to know me monday." - w.4

so i have quite a few questions that were left unanswered from my "ask my anything" post way back before our hawaiian vacay.  i've been meaning to answer them because they were all really good ones, so i'm gonna pick a few & answer them each monday for the next few weeks.

amy r. asked {via email}:

"is there anything about your pregnancy that you regret doing or not doing?"

so there's really not much i would change.  i feel like i worked out a ton, i didn't go crazy with eating crap but still indulged plenty, i kept going to work until the day i delivered, & i tried to enjoy every moment.  i took belly pictures every week & blogged about my pregnancy, too.

when i think about my next pregnancy & what i might do differently, i plan on eating healthier because i've heard your body doesn't recover quite as quickly with your second pregnancy.  i want to do weekly belly pictures & updates again & i don't think i'll be in as big of a hurry for it to fly by.  this time i know how much work the baby is once he's outside of the belly!

**********************************

emily asked:

"how did you & sam meet, & how long did you date before getting engaged + how long were you engaged before you got married?"

oh man, this should really be a series of posts in itself {which i really wanna do some day}, so i'll keep this short & sweet.  sam & i met while going to washington state university.  we lived in the same apartment complex & had some of the same friends.  i would notice him walking by my apartment everyday on his way to get the mail & i found ways & reasons to "bump into him."  now i would say i merely strategically placed myself in places where i could strike up conversations with him.  but, i have friends who use words like "stalker", "creeper", "psycho"... whatever, it worked.  he eventually asked for my number, we started hanging out, that led to dating, which led to marriage, baby, & the rest is history!

we dated about a year and a half before getting engaged.  but ya know what?  i was ready to marry this guy after the first date.  not joking.

we got engaged october 2005 & were married december 2005.  yup, two month engagement!  i'm living proof you don't need months & months to plan a wedding.  ha!

************************************

amanda asked {via email}:

"how do you organize your photos?  do you have a system?"

i don't have a system, i have iPhoto!  having an iMac makes it easy peasy.  all my pics get dumped into iPhoto & then are grouped as events.  it's pretty sweet.  but when i take one & edit it for the blog, i save it in a "blog pictures" folder which is subcategorized by date so i can go back & find the picture later according to date of post it was in.  make sense?  it works... until i can think of a better way to do it.  haha.

************************************

ok, that's it for now!  i'll answer more questions next monday.  if you have questions, go ahead & ask 'em in the comments or send me an email & i will try to answer them in the order they've been asked.  i'll just keep on doing these posts on mondays as long as i have questions to answer!

thanks friends.

click twice to make my day.  that is seriously all. it. takes.

steppin' out saturday {ikea + pizza}

{linking up with harper's happenings for "steppin' out saturday"}

are you enjoying how parker is doing the same arm motion as the bear on his shirt as much as i am?  yes, take a closer look & see that his arms match the little bear's perfectly.  my baby already understands irony.  i told you he's advanced.

we took a little family field trip to ikea today.  it was one of those "oh hey, let's drive an hour to ikea to buy those one things."  so we do.  then we get there & we're all "oh wait, we don't really feel like spending money on those one things.  let's buy some random toys for parker instead."  so we did.

it was worth it.

you might think sam is texting in that picture.  he's not.  he's watching ncaa basketball tournament games on his phone.  i have a feeling his heart wasn't into our ikea trip today.  that's ok.  he was into the pizza that came next.

and what was parker's favorite part?  he was really into the giant red straw he got to play with at dinner.  he thought it was hilarious to have air blown on him through the straw & to have water dropped into his mouth out of it.  but to bite it at the same time as dad?  that was hysterical.  it's the simple things in life, i guess.

and then i snapped this quick sunset shot as we drove down main street.  so that was cool.

linking up with mommy & me monday at "really are you serious."

know what else is cool? voting for us! we love ya for it.

weekday recap - {in iPhone pics} w.19

i may as well just caption this week in one line and say, "this week amy was sick & parker crawled around entertaining himself."  but alas, i don't caption in the third person, that'd be silly.  and even though my pictures are 99% parker shots this week, i still feel like his antics need explanation.

so let's do this.

this is utter shock in p-ray's face.  because i hardly ever have the tv on during the day & this morning we watched TWO movies.  i know, go crazy.  he watched bolt & finding nemo while i drank orange juice like it was my job.

i hit the hay come nine o'clock & it was dreamy.

this is me hiding from the camera.  trust me, it wasn't pretty... just ask parker.  he's laughing at just how awful his mom can look on day three of the sickness-no-shower-no-makeup-routine.

sam was able to get home a bit early to take me to the doctor.  and this is where the week gets a bit better.  antibiotics are miracle workers my friends.

and also?  a shout out to sam, for stepping it up this week & waiting on me hand & foot while i was sick.  at one point he even piled the blankets on me, poured me juice, made me toast, & said "why don't we eat snacks & watch movies?"  win.

day three of parker being shut in the house with his sick mom & he started getting creative with his activities. for example, he really enjoyed make-out sessions with his reflection in the oven & pushing the dining-room chair cushion around the house.  i took pity on the kid & decided to brave a walk outside to get some fresh air.  it was enjoyable... until we got rained on.

also on parker's list of fun activities?  watching basketball from dad's lap, looking cute & squishy in the bathtub, & glaring at mom when he gets taken out of said bathtub.

oh thursday.  day four of being sick at home.  parker is now resorting to hiding his toys under the couch & then giggling to himself when he finds them hours later.  gotta give him some points for creativity, right?

and we all love story time almost as much as parker loves his blanket {middle pic}.  seriously, he now drags that blanket with him everywhere & 75% of the time it's in his mouth.  that's an actual statistic, i did research.

on friday morning parker woke up with some sniffles & coughs.  and when i say morning, i mean 5:30 am friday morning.  and although those aren't the same symptoms i had, i decided to play it safe & spend the day at home & let p-ray take it easy.  and this is when he got a bit delirious, as evidenced by that middle pic.  what a weirdo.  a cute, silly, little, weirdo.

and friday night, we left the house.  YES.  for the second time this week {first time was doctor's appointment}, i left the house to get some food.  and for the record, it was delicious.  and also for the record?  i'm feeling much, much better.  back to normal.

...so here's to next week being much more exciting!

Did you take your "week in camera phone" pictures? 

there's only one rule to linking up... your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog .  and if you wanna be really cool, post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.  the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=82074" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:




we dropped out of the top 10 during our time off... please click twice to vote! :)

what does spring 2011 & parker have in common?

they're both playing with my emotions.

we had a gorgeous day here in the pnw & although i'm still feeling pretty under the weather {strep throat! yuck!} & it may have been the drugs talking, i felt good enough to bundle parker & i both up & head out for our first official walk of spring 2011.  three straight days cooped up in the house was too much.

there were lots of signs of spring on our walk.  the sound of lawnmowers, birds chirping, the smell of fresh cut grass, cherry blossoms overhead, newly bloomed daffodils, & p-ray & i both wearing hoodies as opposed to rain coats.

but it was a bit of a mistake, me trusting seattle weather like that.  we got three-quarters of the way around our block & it started to rain on us.  awesome.  but at least i got to snap a couple spring-ish pics first, ya know, so we could remember the high points.

and how is parker playing with my emotions you ask?  ummm, because each day i seriously wonder if this kid could possibly get any funnier, or any cuter, or any sillier than the day before.  and somehow he still does.  do i say this too much?

have i turned into that mom who thinks her kid is like, the smartest kid in the world?  or that each time he does something new, it's the most amazing thing ever?  ummmm, yeah.  guilty.  i'm that mom.  because...

...c'mon.  how many kids can pull off the "one-handed-single-eyed-peekaboo" maneuver & then follow it up with the "toothy-side-eyed-smile" as smoothly as p-ray?  not many my friends, not many.

a sidenote:  ya like the look of that little sock puppy that's kinda half in the picture?  then make sure you've entered my giveaway for a similar sock animal from turtle & rye!

c'mon. you're impressed by parker's maneuver's too, right?  put your money where your mouse is & vote :)

a good life giveaway! - {turtle & rye}

it's giveaway day... yay!

it's no secret p-ray & i have a thing for sock monkeys & other assorted sock animals, so we're both pretty super excited about today's giveaway.  we're also excited because kim, the brains & talent behind turtle & rye, was kind enough to send p-ray his very own turtle & rye sock animal!

we even got to pick it out, & customize it just for parker.

when you visit turtle & rye, you can pick out what animal you want & in what sock pattern.  it's super fun.  we are in love with our little turtle & rye sock puppy.  he is so soft & squeezable & the perfect size for parker's little hands.

can't wait for your animal to be made up?  well, she also offers all kinds of pre-made critters that are just waiting to be sent to good homes.  check out her etsy shop to see more.

and now, kim has offered "a good life" readers their very own turtle & rye sock animal.  she whipped up these super cute sock bunnies... just in time for easter!

{when you enter this giveaway, you will be entering to win one of these cute little sock bunnies... you'll get to choose which one when you're drawn}  

here's how to enter:
• just visit turtle & rye & leave a comment here telling me which item you love or what sock animal you would love to have custom made in the future.

but wait, there's more!

from now until april 14th, kim is offering 10% off any item in her shop when you use discount code "agoodlife".  

you should totally do it.

giveaway ends thursday march 31st at 11:59 pm PST.

good luck!


like fun giveaways? click twice to vote & we'll keep 'em coming!

wordless{ish} wednesday: at the pool

we split up our travel last week in two days & stayed at a hotel with a pool.  but rather than relax & enjoy dipping his toes in the hot tub {which was more like a lukewarm tub}, parker was very concerned about all the loud & rowdy kids doing cannonballs & running around.

he is very mature for his age.

how about a couple of click to show some love?  pretty pretty please?

we're home!

after fourteen hours of traveling, we made it back home last night.  that's the good news.  the bad news is that i've been super sick today.  boo!!  luckily parker doesn't seem affected {thank you flu vaccine?} and sam has been taking good care of me.  like, making-me-drink-orange-juice-like-it's-my-job care of me.

being sick sucks.  swallowing is super painful, i have a fever of 103+, i go between shaking with chills to ripping off clothes because i'm sweating, there's a constant ring in my ears, & my head feels like i was smacked with a two by four.  poor me!  at least i'm not nauseas, right?

someday life will resume as normal around here, i promise.  in the meantime, here are a few pics from our road trip.  parker was a rockstar.  when he wasn't sleeping he was sitting in the back singing to himself & playing with toys.  he has morphed into such a little boy these last few weeks & we've been having so much fun with him.  it is such an amazing privilege to get to spend my days with him & i am so lucky to be his mama.

and this last picture is just to remind me of a time when i wasn't sick.  those were the days.

i may be sick but your votes make me feel better.  really, they do!