Happy Blogiversary

Can't believe two years of blogging has already flown by and yet, it has.  Day in the Parks is no longer a baby blog, we've moved on to a toddler blog and, according to the Goggle, the average age of the top 100 blogs out on the web is 33 months.  Just another half year and we'll be in that ballpark!  I realize this is not a top 100 blog, but I've grown pretty fond of the pictures and stories posted here and I hope everyone continues to check back often.

I have a ton of photo shoots coming up with my wonderful friends who are letting me click away at them to work on my skills.  My first newborn session is tonight with a week old newborn- pictures coming soon!

In the meantime, I've been mildly obsessed with taking pictures of the sun and sky lately- here are some of my favs that I've taken with my iPhone over the past few weeks.

Blessing and light,
Rebeccah

Baby Shower

My best friend Maria is nearing the home stretch of her pregnancy- yay!- and to celebrate, Baba and I threw her a baby shower at my house yesterday.  I was too busy running games and making sure people ate too many cake pops and mini chocolate mousses to snap many photos but it was a lot of fun to see so many people (high school friends and their babies included) and, as Jason put it, to "hang out and talk about babies and vaginies" all day- ha!

10 more week (give or take) until the baby makes his debut- can.not.wait.

P.S. I promise better blogging very soon- new computer and internet on the way at our house and I have a ton of "photo shoots" coming up so check back in a week or so.

Taxes

Andover Cinema

Every Tuesday is $5 movie night at the Andover Cinema by our house.  It's not a discount theater so they show first run movies and Jason and I have been taking advantage of the cheap tickets and Baba's desire to spend time with Eva.

Tonight's choice? Expendables 2! Total macho man movie but I actually loved the first Expendables.

Love my mini-date nights with Jason :-)

Weekend Exploring

We spent the weekend up at the camper and on the way home we stopped in Ogilvie- a small town with an abandoned antiques mall- and I snapped a few cool photos with my iPhone of the mall, road and neighboring corn field.  I love shooting the odd and ugly- enjoy!

As always, click on any photo to open up a full screen slide show

Bath Time Fun

Eva looooooves baths, she'd take one every night if we had the time.  I snapped a few shots of her last since these are the types of photos that everyone loves seeing in 15 years at graduation parties :-)

13,000 Views

Happy Monday everyone!  We've plugged away and logged yet another thousand views here at Day in the Parks.  Thanks so much for keeping up with the going ons of our crazy, busy, joy filled and blessed life.

~Love the Parks Family 

Baby Train

And with a visit to the doctor's office this afternoon the baby train has left Station Parks for good.  I had a 12 year IUD put in, meaning I'll be 40 before I need to worry about getting knocked up again.  A tiny part of me is sad; growing up I never pictured myself being a mom with only one child, and Jason and I have gone back and forth over the years about whether or not to have more kids but, at the end of the day, I’ve never had the urge to have another baby like I did with Eva.  I wanted her with every fiber of my being, and I sort of expected I’d get that same feeling again someday but… almost 5 years later, I’ve still never had more than a “maybe it’s time to have another so Eva isn’t an only child” desire.  I’ve never needed another little baby to cuddle or hold.  So, I guess I’m the rare mom who stops at one.  Of course, if we did have another baby, it would be loved and adored beyond measure- but kids come with so many other things these days.  The sheer thought of affording $300 dollar a week daycare again on top of Eva’s almost $10k a year school gives me cold sweats.  And as much of a good (dare I say great) baby as Eva was, there’s no guarantee that #2 wouldn’t be a screaming devil who has colic and hates sleep.  Add to that the fact that I almost died having Eva and the decision has just sort of become clear to us. One and done.

I talked with Eva about it last night, I said that mommy won’t be making any more babies in her belly, so she won’t  have a little brother or sister.  She was sad at first and kind of made a pouty face, but when I explained that it’s because she’s so wonderful that she’s all that mommy and daddy need and that it means she has so many more opportunities to do fun things, she gave me a big smile and said okay.  It might be hard on her over the next few years.  It’s so prevalent to have a sibling that she might feel like an outsider, but we’ll have lots of fun hanging with baby Jack once he’s born and I’m sure she’ll make other only-child friends.  Nearly 25% of all American households now only have one child and only-child families are the fastest growing type of families in America and Western Europe.  

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when I left the doctor’s office today.  I didn’t know if I’d cry or just be in a bad mood from the uncomfortable procedure… but as I walked out the door and the sun hit my face, I surprised myself with how happy I was.  It was almost like a weight, the weight of having another baby or not having another baby, had been lifted and I could smile at the fact that I have the rest of my life to devote to the most perfect daughter I could have ever asked for.  No more second guessing or wondering, I know we made the right choice and I plan on spending every single day being the best mom Eva could ever hope for! 

Sicky Poo McGoo

Eva's school called on Monday afternoon to tell me she had a temperature of 102 and so, for the first time in her 1 1/2 years there, I had to leave work to get her.  Considering her old daycare called every time she had a fart stuck sideways, I consider myself pretty dang lucky for her school's overall healthy kid level.  As my friend LaRae says, once you take babies and dirty diapers away- with all their germs and guck- you take away 99% of the cause of kids getting sick at school.

So we spent Monday night at home being pitiful on the couch, Tuesday was a bit better and I even ran two errands, but Wednesday was still a no go so Baba came to the rescue and stayed home with her.  Side note: I have officially become one of those moms who cannot miss work on certain days, even if her child is sick.  I don't know whether to pat myself on the back for having a career that actually requires my presence or cry for being one of those working moms... jury is still out.

She's back at school today; just in time to be well enough to make it to gymnastics tonight.  I think she planned it that way but hey, a little Baba and Mama time never hurt anyone!

Burning up!

Tyson could tell something was up, he's never gotten in bed with her like that before

Feeling better!
p.s. I have no idea why one of my eyes is open more than the other...

This photo's actually from last weekend but was too cute not to share :)

Be Happy... It's Almost Friday :-)

Have a Blessed Friday!

Sorry we've been a bit MIA lately, we still haven't committed to an internet provider at the new house so blogging is a challenge and with Katie's visit I've just been focused on other things. 

Life is good, as always I can't complain.  Jason and I both work a lot these next few weeks and then lots of fun at the end of the month; Maria's baby shower, Minnesota State Fair, in-laws in town for the Labor Day holiday and our first party at the new house (complete with bounce house!)

~ Love and light to you all, have a wonderful and joy filled weekend ~

Katie Visits Eva

Okay so my best friend Katie didn't only visit Eva, she came to visit me as well but, by the looks of the photos I snapped over the 5 days she was here, you'd think it was the Katie and Eva show all the way.

We did some touristy shopping, ate good food, saw an artsy movie, went to a Twins/White Sox game, napped, watched tons of Olympics and spent lots of time with little missy miss.  Katie is hands down the greatest human being to ever walk the earth (if you know her, you know I'm actually not exaggerating) and it's always good for my soul when I get to see her.

Eva will not stop talking about going on her first plane ride to visit Katie in Colorado! We miss you already Katie!! :-)