Top 10 of 2010

My Favorites of 2010 (all amazing.awesome.important. But not in order!)

1. The birth of our son Parker. Our little family grew on 6/28/10. Parker weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz.
2. Lily starting kindergarten. At the ripe old age of five, Lily joined the world of academia.
3. Celebrating our first wedding anniversary. 5/23/10 will always be our special day. I was sooo preggo though-it was a little over a month til my due date!
4. Becoming a SAHM- I got let go of my first REAL job ever due to layoffs. But, it turned out to be such a blessing that I get to stay home with my kiddos.
5. Becoming members of New Season Church. I blog about this all the time, but what an amazing change in our lives! I was hoping to have pictures, but I will after Parker's baby dedication this weekend. That will be a post itself.

6. Lily's fall tee ball team's undefeated season. These kids were dynamite! Watch out this spring for the Fireballs!!
7. My Golden Birthday-When I was little, I always thought about turning 25 on the 25th. It wasn't the most exciting birthday, but I had a great day, and my childhood fantasy became a reality. I don't know why it was such a big deal to me, but I was really looking forward to it. Now, to stay 25 forever.

8. Lily following in her daddy's footsteps by playing ball. Lily became a ball player in the spring of 2010.
9. Visit from my aunt and uncle. Maureen and Steve flew all the way here from Cape Cod to see my home and visit with our family for two glorious days. It was their first time getting to see where we lived and everything! By far my favorites ever, and I was so glad they got to experience Atlanta-including the Aquarium and Centennial Olympic park and our favorite places to eat!
10. Becoming a mini-van mom. Maybe not the COOLEST thing that's ever happened to us (well, Lily thinks so) but we have SO much room, the van is SO safe, and it is pretty sweet as far as minivans go (we even have a DVD player). Plus, it totally dominates the Jeep on gas mileage.

Nights of Lights/Wilson Christmas

We took the kids to Lake Lanier Resort for the Nights of Lights. We stayed overnight at the lodge, went to Santa's village, and we had breakfast with Santa. We also got to stop at the Mall of GA on the way there, and we hit Bass Pro Shop on the way home. We then went to have Christmas time with my mom and sisters and ate yummy Italian. It was great having Shane off work for five whole days! I'll let pictures tell the rest...

Parties and such

It's been fun around here! We had Shane's company party on Sunday, which was a blast! Lily and Shane's little brother Chase won second prize in the gingerbread house decorating contest. Coldstone giftcards--yummy! The kids got to bowl, play laser tag and bumper cars, play lots of games, and meet with Santa. And of course we got to eat. Shane won $100 in the White Elephant game.



I also hosted my own Christmas party, with a few friends around here and sweet Katherine drove all the way from Sandy Springs to come too. It was fun-snacks, wine, and presents. I really enjoyed it, and P was so good. Shane took Lily on a date night to dinner and see Tangled, and she was just tickled.

Lily has been having lots of fun with Christmas projects at school, and she has her Christmas party on Friday. The kiddos read Polar Express and do crafts and get to wear their pjs. I can't wait to take pictures. I just purchased cute mugs and yummy chocolate for her teachers gifts. So original right? She'll be off for two weeks-yikes...

What else, what else...We are getting baptized on the 26th at church, and Parker is getting dedicated on January 2nd. We love attending New Season, and I am so happy that Lily loves it too. It's been an amazing change in our lives, and we are so thankful!

Hmmm... and of course P. Parker actually DOES have teeth now. His two bottom ones are coming in. Wow, he has been a handful! I love him to pieces, but good grief, Mommy has been worn thin! And has been bitten! He is trying to start crawling, and he is also about to move to 6-9 month clothes. Oh, and I just got him a great Fisher Price Jumperoo, which he seems to like, but man, that thing is huge! I wish I had an extra room for all my baby equipment.



And lastly-here is one of my goals for Christmas break: quiet time (he he he. My mother always implemented quiet time til I was like 12, whether you napped or not. Seems like a good tradition to start around here too.)

The holidays are here!

I love this time of year...especially seeing it through my kiddos eyes. Promising a blog post/update this week!

Almost December!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We celebrated with all the Mahaffeys-there were over 20 of us there. It was great. We have so much to be thankful for. Parker had a great first Thanksgiving-although he was way overstimulated. Not a minute went by someone wasn't in his face. I know he's hard to resist, but Parker was so. over. it. He slept pretty poorly last night, but he's taking a great nap right now.

I went to Walmart at midnight. It was crazy! I have never been Black Friday shopping. I may never go again.

Here are the kid's wishlists this year:

Lily:(condensed)







Parker: (in the works)




I can't believe it's almost December! What a wonderful time of year.

Cloth Hiney!

I have a surprising announcement.

We have switched to cloth diapers.

Don’t freak out. Most people I have told do. It’s very odd to me. I have heard, “You’ll regret that,” “Ew,” and even, “Are you bored?” I’ve tried not to take offense to these comments because I have to remember that people don’t really know how cloth diapers are now. Although, let’s be honest, of course I took some offense. Shane and I made the decision because it’s better for our baby, our wallets, and of course, the environment (pretty important). I purchased Simply Cloth diapers from Simply Baby, online. They were really inexpensive, and they seem to be great quality. They are one size, adjustable-they will last until he is potty trained. Amazing. And they have the cutest designs. Loooove them.

I don’t need pins, I don’t have to fold them. They are pocket diapers-where you stuff inserts into the diaper. To wash them, I run them on a cold soak in the washer, and then wash in hot with free and clear detergent (Shane got All). And then toss them in the dryer-though, I’m thinking of letting them hang outside to dry when it’s warmer outside.

The thought that I won’t be buying disposables anymore is amazing. And Parker looks adorable-per usual!

Quick Stats/ Homemade Baby Food

From the doctor last Thursday...

1. Parker weighs 15 pounds, 2 ounces, putting him in the 50% (I know, I was shocked too. I thought he was huge).

2. Parker is 24 1/2 inches long, putting him in the 31%.

3. Parker got two shots and one oral vaccine. (slightly fussy, but overall, AWESOME!! So proud of him) He nursed afterwards, which really seemed to help IMO. Endorphins and what not.

4. The white spots I thought were teeth were NOT teeth. I forget what they called them, but I stand corrected!! No teeth for this baby yet.



Also, I am now officially making baby food! I started on Monday, and I made a few batches of bananas. It was super easy. For most foods, you have to steam or bake them and then puree them, but with bananas (and avocados and a few others), you don't need to steam or cook them first. I learned everything from dear friends and www.wholesomebabyfood.com. Today I made a BIG batch of sweet potatoes that will last a long time. All you do is steam or bake, puree, put in ice cube trays, freeze, and then pop out and store in a freezer bag. It's super easy to pull out a cube or two and heat them up when it's meal time. I hope he likes them! We'll be starting those Monday. I'm planning on introducing one new food a week for now. We're still moving slowly. I need to get some funny pictures, but I never seem to have my camera by me when he's eating.

Finally, a SUPER belated Halloween picture-my little witch and little skelton!

Belated 4 month post

So much for a four month post. We actually had to cancel Parker's four month checkup last week due to insurance ISSUES, but luckily, things have been resolved and now he is going tomorrow.

So...at four months-Parker is still eating every three to four hours (breastfeeding four months and counting, confident that we will go much much longer!) We have very casually introduced some rice cereal (made pretty soupy with lots of mommy milk). He looooves it, but sometimes it stops him up, so I am slow to really start it. And shocker-it didn't change his sleep patterns at all! People say babies will STTN after they eat baby food, but I really don't believe it now. He still wakes up once a night to eat around 3, or he'll sleep til 5 30 and then eat. Much better than the insanity that was last week. We've been doing some sleep boot camp, and he has been STTN more and more. Being positive WORKS!

He has three little teeth still coming in, the only thing you can see are the little white buds. Could be why he was fussing during the night last week. But I just got him an amber teething necklace from the Inspired By Finn website, and we looooove it. I would recommend them to anyone. And they look insanely adorable. Lily got one too, even though she obviously isn't teething. There are lots of other health benefits to wearing amber.

We've been attending church, and we're going to a informational class on Sunday about becoming members, which is really really exciting for our family. We know a great couple with three kids and one on the way who introduced us to the church, and I am so thankful that they did. Parker went to the nursery for the first time Sunday, and of course, he was an angel. I snuck a peek during the service, and he was snuggled up with a lady in a rocking chair. He won't do that with me!

I can't wait to scan in the kid's portrait from The Picture People last night. $9 for six sheets! I'm excited to share!

Comparing Babies...

Here is Parker at 4 months (as of tomorrow) and Lil at 5 months. I have the same walker, and Parker started sitting in it yesterday. To be honest, I don't think they look anything alike. What do you think? Maybe the same nose, but the eyes are definietly different. I do have to add, Parker is about the same size NOW as Lil was around 7 or 8 months. Check out those chunky cheeks! I thought he had alot of hair, but I forgot she has needed a hairbow since she was 3 months!

Tomorrow, I'll try to remember to do Parker's four month post. So much exciting stuff has been happening-well, exciting in baby land, that's for sure!

LilyBell-you can just tell by these photos what a happy and cheerful baby she was! Also, her hair was so dark, but it has been dirty blonde since she was one.




Parker P-still testing the waters, but I think he likes it so far! He looks alot like a Mahaffey in these pictures.

Obligatory Pumpkin Patch Photo Shoot

We took the kiddos to the pumpkin patch this past Sunday. Daddy was off work, and we were excited to get out. The weather was warm and awesome. I only got one good picture of Parker. He slept most of the time, and I wasn't about to mess up a good thing.





Then we took our pumpkins to Shane's parent's house and carved one of them. I can't wait to bake the seeds. Yummm... It was a great day!







In other exciting news, Parker has been trying out his Bumbo. He is really confused and tilts sideways, but hopefully he'll get the hang of it. I also took his picture in his rocking chair, and I realized that he is such a big boy now. Four months next week, I can't believe it!