Love Jones: Happy 1st Bee-Day to Parker!!!

***warning: this is a LONG blog, but it will be mostly pics!***

This was the craziest year to date. It absolutely flew by. We had MAJOR ups and a few downs. The adjustment of going from a family of three to a family of four was tough. Our lack of sleep coupled with a strenuous work schedule and a sassy toddler created some chaos around here. But we made it! Parker is an amazing addition to our family and truly completes us. We are so in love with these kids.

We shared in the 1st birthday celebration with our good friends, the Spencers. Their daughter, Hadley, turned one just three days before Parker. We have many of the same friends anyway, so we thought it would be fun to have one big barbecue...or BEE-BEE-Q.

The party was a bumble bee theme and sooooo cute!

To check out all of the party pics and some from his actual birthday, click here

Parker is crawling and cruising all over the place. I still think we have some time before he will walk. He is a chatty little guy, like his sister. He says Mama, Dada and we swear he said Happy the other day. We don't really count these as his "first words" because he seems to be just babbling and not associating the words with people or events. He has 8 teeth (4 on top and 4 on the bottom) and one big molar on the way. We threw away every last bottle in our house in an attempt to go "cold turkey" and switch to the sippy cup. So far, it is going okay. He gets frustrated with it, but I can tell it wont be long before he gets it. Parker had his 1 year check up and it went pretty well. We think he may have a peanut allergy (he broke out on his face after eating some). So the doctor drew blood to run a series of food allergy tests. We should have the results back in a week or so. Here are his stats:

Weight: 21 pounds (25th percentile)

Length: 29 inches (25th percentile)

Still a little guy, but growing at a nice, steady pace. We finally switched Parker into a rear-facing car seat and he is LOVING it! So much better now that he can see out of the window. We also put Peyton in a high back booster and she feels like such a "big girl". Her favorite part is that it has a cup holder. :)

Parker got his first real haircut last week too! He looks so handsome! He did great, but really did not like it when she used the clippers. It was so funny!