My Favorite Color is Yellow...Yea!!!

That is a normal saying out of Parkes' mouth these days. And these are his only yellow pjs we have for him compliments of Vanderbilt Children's Hospital when he had his hernia surgery a year ago and as you can tell they are getting close to not fitting. I have to wash them on a regular basis as they are the only pair he wants to wear. He talks about favorite colors all day long going through mommy, daddy and parkes' favorites then going on to ask me what other friends and family members favorite colors are....he knows Uncle Brian, Matt and Keri's favorite colors so they are spoken a lot as well. And we have also now moved on into letters as well, and he likes to announce that his favorite letter is "P" for his name.

We had our monthly doctor's appt today to hear the baby's heartbeat. Parkes was so excited to go with me, and he behaved very well. He announced last night pointing to the ultra sound picture that "that's my baby sister." So we will see. The heartbeat was 145 which is right about in the middle for those guessing. I did wonder at the beginning of my pregnancy how much Parkes really understood about it and that a baby was in there, but I'm starting to believe he really is starting to get the idea now that my belly is growing of course just to the level of a almost three year old.

And finally, sorry it has been awhile since I have posted (for my many many readers out there), we are in the process of having to get everything for the most part wrapped up on our home renovation/remodel (or at least this stage of it) before an appraisal and all has to be completed by next friday. So if you wonder where we have been or where we will be for the next week or so that is it. And if you do see us and we seem in a daze and not really up for communicating that is what is wrong with us. Poor Brandon who has worked amazingly on the house is about exhausted from waking up at 6 to go to work to only come home and go to work upstairs until 10:30 or 11, but at least there is an end in sight. And the joys of an older home which we do so love he doesn't always love right now when he is trying to get things to line up and floors not to slop.

School Picture

Our little boy had his first school picture last week and I got the proof today and it is the most adorable picture (of course I am his mom so I'm a little biased, but even his teachers said how his was the cutest...I think it's the hair and I'm sure they told every mom that) so I thought I would share it with y'all. He still loves school and adores his teachers. He is such a social child that it is so funny to watch him interact with the other kids. I get a glimpse of what he is like in school because this year he is in my mom's and my class on the Tuesday morning Bible study we do and he has found himself a little friend in that class that they run around together talking to each other nonstop and playing games constantly. Hopefully she will have better luck then I am at getting him potty trained because she likes to tell him about how she used the potty and that he should to. Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Bad Week and It's Only Thursday

Well I started out this week on Monday shocking myself on a plug and getting to go into the hospital to get hooked up to a fetal monitor for a couple of hours, but luckily everything was okay and I had some small cramps probably due to dehydration, I learned the aderaline of the shock dehydrates you, but no contractions or anything and baby was moving and strong. So if that wasn't enough for one week last night after getting Parkes to bed Brandon calls me upstairs to help him move a door over and sure enough that same plug (which is the only one out of the wall as the electrician got the rest in but for some reason this one has stayed sticking out just enough from the wall to get me) got my leg as I walked by it. I don't think it actually shocked me this time, but did feel warm so called the doctor again who proceeds to ask me if my house was safe to live in, but I didn't have to go into the hospital this time as I had no contractions and the baby was kicking like crazy (probably mad at me). So needless to say I have been banned from going upstairs by Brandon and my doctor until it is completed, and first thing Brandon is doing when he gets home tonight is fixing that plug. So just say a little prayer for this baby that I can stay accident free for the next 15 to 17 weeks. And we should hopefully actually be moving our bedroom upstairs in October as carpet is scheduled for a week from Monday so I will post pictures of it soon...it looks so good now that there is drywall and paint on the walls. Oh and to keep everyone in the loop with our baby names I think we are actually leaning towards Bryant Edwards now for a boy (and yes I know it came from Bear Bryant, but I do like the name on it's own and I got the name Sage from my soap so I figured I couldn't say no to something from Brandon's favorite sports team).

High School Football

We took Parkes down to see his Happy and Memaw (he did call Brandon's dad what we thought was Pappy but we have now noticed he is actually calling him Happy like our neighbor's name) and we stayed to watch Brandon's high school's homecoming football game (I know they have it really early). Parkes was very taken with the cheerleaders and thought that they were singing to him as he said. Brandon and I then left him with them so we could come back saturday and go to the Ole Miss/Vandy with Matt and Keri which sadly Ole Miss did not win as they did not seem to be able to tackle anyone, but did have a terrific fake punt. But it was fun to get to yell out a few Hotty Toddys even though we were in the Vandy section with were our season tickets are (the people around us are very confused by us as for the past two weeks the four of us have showed up in the colors of the other teams too bad we won't be able to make it to the Georgia game wearing Keri's teams colors and that they aren't playing Florida there this year and wear Matt's teams colors because then they would really think we were crazy). Then with just 5 mins left in the game Brandon saw the Alabama/Arkansas score and got really stressed out, but luckily we found a tent right outside the stadium after the game where he was able to watch the exciting last 6 mins of that game and Alabama win so he was in a good mood for the rest of the night. We went and got Parkes Sunday night and got to hear all about his fun night at the fair were he rode every ride he could with his Aunt Brittany who he adores. And lucky for me he slept in until 8 this morning from his long, exciting weekend!!! Maybe here soon I will have a post that doesn't involve football, but with a football fanatic husband it pretty much consumes our fall which I don't complain much except for too many NFL games I could do with only watching the Titans and Giants.

Day out wth Thomas

This Sunday we went with our neighbors and their three boys to ride on Thomas the Train. It was raining pretty hard when we woke up but luckily let up for when we got down there. Parkes had a great time on the train and playing around afterwards. Here's some pictures from the day.

Our Polite Little Man

Just a quick post about how sweet Parkes was last night at dinner. He really doesn't ever eat much dinner anymore unless it's cheese and crackers so last night he was excited that with the mexican lasagna we had cheese dip and chips which he moved the bowl of cheese dip onto his plate and used his spoon to eat it. But then when he finished he proceeds to look at me and say "thankthank for dinner mommy. 'cuse me please." What a sweet boy...I have tried really hard to push all the manners so they just become second nature for him, but it still usually takes me asking him to say it so it was a nice surprise for him to do it on his own.Then he went and got Daisy's food from the kitchen and took it to her in the den and feed her piece by piece. Daisy has really come around on her feelings towards Parkes as she has realized he is her ticket to getting all kinds of food.

Where Parkes likes to sleep now...

Last night we put Parkes to bed with his cars and books so he could play a little before he falls asleep...it usually takes him about an hour after we lay him down so he takes some toys with him. Well when we went in there to check on him before we went to bed this is where we found him. He had moved all of his pillows and blankets to the floor and fallen asleep there on the hardwood floor. Parkes has also developed quite the imagination lately. He is always making up stuff whether it is to hide under the butcher block and tell me he's in the doghouse or to hand me some imaginary object that I am to juggle. And in the last month he has finally started to sing for us. Parkes refused to participate in any type of singing activity for the first two and a half years of his life whether it was at church or with just me, but he has finally decided to start singing and serenades us all the time now with "Jesus Loves Me". He, however, from riding in the car with Daddy prefers to sing a heavy metal version that he sings while headbanging or playing the air guitar.

Brandon and the Smoker

If you have talked to Brandon in the last 6 months he has probably mentioned the smoker he is building. Well here it is, not quite done but enough that he could use it this weekend (the doors will be replaced with some custom made doors that will look a lot nicer). So just as a little background, Brandon has never used a smoker before in his life nor does he know anything about smoking food, but still decides to build a smoker large enough to smoke a whole pig with the brick from what used to be the chimney on our house (he cannot waste anything). So Friday night he decides that he will build a fire in there to get the walls built up with a little smoke before he actually smokes briskets on Saturday. I walk out there after he had been out there for about 30 minutes to check what was going on and there was smoke covering our whole back yard and the neighbors. So after me convincing him that maybe something is not right, i told him that he had to put out the fire before the firetrucks showed up, go apologize to the neighbors and promise me he would never use it again. Well luckily our neighbor knew a little more then Brandon about using a smoker and gave him some very helpful tips and he was able to use it without all the smoke and cooked up some wonderful brisket and ribs for us to enjoy with friends on Saturday. I wish I had pulled out the camera Saturday night and captured Parkes, Jay and Abby James running around playing because they were having a great time. And yes the background of those pictures is what half of our backyard looks like right now (I did have Brandon fence in an area that was kid friendly so Parkes and I can go outside) as we attempt to consoldate Brandon's shed, refence in the backyard with the added space from removing all the shrubs, and of course all the things Brandon just can't throw away because one day he might just need them.