Dinosaur!

Dear Parker,

Lately you have had a mild obsession with dinosaurs. I think it started when we took you to the dinosaur exhibit at the Children's Museum. I didn't think you were extremely impressed because you didn't want to stay long, but for quite some time now, every time we talk about the museum, you talk about dinosaurs.

We bought you some cheap toy dinosaurs and you love them. You want us to identify each one by name. You even attempt to say "Teradactyl." (I have no idea how you spell that.)

Last week, your mom and I took you to musical rehearsal. The show we are doing this year is "Little Shop of Horrors." I was nervous about you being scared of the huge man-eating plant. You LOVED it. You pointed and said, "Dinosaur!" You think the plant is a dinosaur and I love it!

You also really love watching rehearsal. You are learning all the kids' names and you know that Matt and JP are the "dinosaur." The first rehearsal you attended you shouted on stage to your friends. "'Lise! 'Lise! Hi 'Lise! 'Lise, Come sit!" It was pretty funny. Last night, you were absolutely amazing. We were there for about 3 hours, you sat on a couch with your friend Maggie the entire time and watched the rehearsal. Only once or twice did I hear you giving commentary on the show.

I'm so proud of you, Parker, for being able to be so good like that. It really helped Mommy out. I won't really get to see you today as you should be in bed by the time I get home, but I wanted to take some time to write you a letter, share our experiences over the past few days and tell you that I love you.

I hope you have a good day with your Aunt Lauren and Nancy.

You are the best baby in the entire world and I love you.

Love,

Mommy

The best I can

Dear Parker,

Something is up with you. You aren't exactly sick, but you aren't yourself either. You've haven't been eating well, you've had either diarrhea or just really soft stools since Monday. You have this wicked cough at night that makes you cry for me. We just had you to the doctor for the pink eye and she said everything else looked fine, but I feel like something is up. AND I feel like I'm abandoning you in your time of need. All you ever want lately is for Mommy to play or cuddle or just be with you and I just can't. It makes me feel like a terrible Mommy to just get you up and then leave or to come home for 30 minutes and then leave again. I hope you know that I love you more than anything. In 2 weeks, it will be over, but I know that's a long time still.

You are the light of my life, baby girl and I know I'm not doing right by you, but I am doing the very best I can. I hope that you understand that.

You are so amazing and while I really want you to sleep well (for your sake) I kind of want you to wake up so that I can cuddle you just a little more.

I will see you in the morning, sweetie.

Love,

Mommy

Crunch Time

Dear Parker,

I'm really missing you today. Your Moms are so busy right now. We just agreed to do too many things. I'm sorry. I know you are feeling it. I can tell because whenever I get you up or come home from school, you just want to hug me and sit on my lap. Usually, you want me to play or give me a drive-by "Hi Mommy." I feel really badly that I don't get to spend very much time with you right now. Please know that I love you and I am counting down the days until we can have dinner together again.

In other news, you have pink eye. I felt so bad for you this morning when I went to get you up and your little eyes were gooped shut. You didn't even seem to mind. You just said, "Hi Mommy!" I almost started crying. You are so good natured.

We went to a wedding last weekend - your first. You did a pretty good job. It was kind of long, but you made it through. The bridesmaids were dressed in yellow and every time one would go up (or back down) the aisle, you would say, "YELLOW!" You were certainly the hit of the wedding. Even people from the groom's family were fawning over you and your cuteness.

I love you so much, Parker. 28 more days. We can make it. Things will get better after the musical - only 18 more days of that. You are so amazing and I am desperately looking forward to summer with you.

Love,

Mommy

The Big Game

Dear Parker,

Last night, your Moms' alma mater, Butler University had the opportunity to play in the National Championship Game for Men's Basketball. I wanted to write you a letter to tell you about it, but I'm not really sure that I'm going to do it justice.

When I started at Butler, the team was not consistently even making the NCAA tournament. My freshmen year, they got in and I traveled with the team to Detroit (how exotic!). It was an amazing experience. That is the only time that I have been able to travel to an NCAA tournament. Your Mom, on the other hand, got to go to other tournament games - including a heartbreaking loss to Florida. You should ask her about that when you get older.

This year was different. Until this year, we have been the underdog pulling out major upsets if we win. And, although many still considered us an underdog - and I suppose we were in many regards - we were winning. Not on last second "hail Mary" shots. We were just winning. We made it all the way to the Championship Game.

I don't know if everyone feels this way about their alma mater or not, but I was so proud. It goes beyond being excited that a team is doing well. It's being able to look at a group of people who are representing your University in such a positive way and feeling like you are somehow a part of it. I'm so proud to have gone to Butler, to have played in the pep band and to have supported the team through its ups and downs.

We didn't win the BIG game, but it was oh-so-close and they played really hard. We certainly didn't lose. We just didn't win. I hope that when you grow up, you find such an amazing place to go to college. You deserve it.

Go Dawgs!

Love,

Mommy

Easter

Dear Parker,

Today is Easter. We didn't go to church. You were very sick on Friday night, very cranky yesterday and haven't gotten much sleep in the last couple of days. So, we thought it would be okay if we let you sleep through church. I think God understands. You got up and we read an Easter book. You were absolutely covered in snot, so we thought we would get you dressed before letting you find your Easter basket. You, however, did not want to get dressed and were just crying so hard that we decided to let you run around in your diaper. We hardly ever do that, but you were pretty cute.

After you found and explored your easter basket, we headed to Uncle Stu and Aunt Lauren's house to have lunch/dinner with everyone. You slept all the way there and were pretty clingy and cranky still. You didn't really even want to hang out with your Aunt Stacy!

When we got home, you wanted to go to the park, so I obliged. When we were swinging, you started singing your "ABC's." You don't quite know all of them, but you asked me to sing with you and every time we finished, you would say "More Sing!" You can do A-G then you join in again around P-Y. You then get the lyrics at the end. It's cute! You are growing up and learning so fast!

I will try to post some pictures this week, but we are going to be so busy the next few weeks. I need to remember to not neglect the things that are actually important!

I love you, baby. I hope you are feeling better tomorrow.

Love,

Mommy