Just a Teensy Post

It's been a busy couple of months. Mikey and I went to California to visit my family, my sister-in-law Hannah got married in Atlanta, we vacationed in North Carolina, and now we're back in Miami. Whew! I have so many pictures to share. It's a bit overwhelming, so I'll just upload a few to tide you over for a little while.

Here's boy with his papa at the beach in California.

And with his daddy in North Carolina. I love his little face!

On a blanket made by one of Nathan's cousins...

With me!

With his auntie and cousins.

The Babe

So, I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. The internet was down for a few days, but that leaves me about four and half weeks without an alibi for the five weeks it's been since my last post. I post on Instagram every so often, and I text a few family and friends pictures of Mikey almost every day. Maybe that's why it feels like I haven't been completely out of the social media world. 

Anyway, here are some pictures of the boy, which are already weeks old. Yesterday he discovered his right foot, and today he had his first bites of rice cereal. Time flies... 

Here he is in his dad's office, surrounded by a jungle of books.

A few weeks ago he started doing this fake cough thing. I think he likes the way it sounds and the attention he gets when he does it a lot. I got a shot of him doing it on a walk the other day.

Lub this chub. Lub, lub, lub. I want to eat his thighs sometimes.

Here we are on a rope swing. He loves being outside with the breeze on his face.

And here's the "reality check" picture. As in, he's not happy all the time. We took a road trip to Atlanta for my brother-in-law's wedding. As you may remember, Mikey h-a-t-e-s the car. Hates. After only a few minutes of crying he gets a horrible blotchy rash on his head and his eyes have bright red rings around them. 

I was very, very nervous about the drive, but overall he did amazingly well, especially on the way back. I sat in the back with him and played the court jester for many, many hours. He even managed to sleep a few winks. Sweet relief! Thank you to all the praying saints out there.

Nathan got this shot of Mikey at about 4:30 in the morning. He's so sweet.

Here are all of the Parker siblings. What a beautiful family.

Here's Uncle Andrew in his new Facebook profile pic, hoping that the tuxedo and Mikey's belly will attract a lady friend.

The wedding is about to begin!

Congratulations Sarah and Philip! Y'all are the greatest.

And upon our return, Mikey started blowing raspberries.

And all of a sudden he was in a big boy stroller.

And enjoying some mint moose tracks from Publix. I die.

Here's to hoping for more frequent posting... Comments always motivate me (wink wink).

Jungle Mania

Thanks to some friends from church, we got free tickets to what they called "an overpriced South Florida attraction", Jungle Island. It's basically like a small zoo. The animals looked sad, though. 

This was a sedentary tiger. Note the claw marks on the glass.

Swinging monkeys

Lazy gators

Squawking birds

And Nathan's fave, the lions. Here he is sweetly introducing Mikey to the cat in the distance.

Wow, that's mighty close.

Oh, you want to offer our child to the lioness as an after-school snack?

The male didn't seem to mind.

While my crazy hubby was baiting the lions with our baby, it started raining, then raining harder, then raining cats and dogs, then raining lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! We got absolutely soaked. All three of us.

I asked Mikey if he liked pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

He thought I was pretty funny.

I probably asked him the same question 20 times, and he laughed each time.

Gotta love that!

Those smiles were what got me through the following two hours of him screaming in the car on the way home. Oy.

Big Weekend

These pictures of the ordination/installation/baptism weekend are all jumbled up, and I'm far to lazy this morning to order them. So, let's begin.

We went to a famous South Florida fruit stand called Robert Is Here. Check out the link! It's a great story about a kid starting a business at his bus stop. Here is Mikey pictured with the famous Robert himself.

Here's a picture of Nathan being prayed over during his ordination and installation ceremony.

Here's Mikey and Papa enjoying the Florida sun.

Our dear friend, Pete, came to preach at the service, and he managed to fit in some snorkeling with Nathan in Key Largo.

Mikey was in this swim suit and rash guard for about five minutes. It was too small, he was too hot, and it probably wasn't even worth it for this not-so-good picture.

We had a lovely dinner at Sundowners when the sun was setting. How apropos. 

Guess who surprised us! Wilbur came out from California and just walked up to us in Key Largo. So sneaky! It was such a joy to have him there for the service.

Nathan's sister, Hannah, and her then-boyfriend-now-fiance came too! It was so special to us that they got engaged in Miami.

Here's Mikey giving me the stink eye for dressing him in a sweater vest for his baptism. Nathan is praying

Papa Mike Bear and Mikey

After church that Sunday, Mikey started reaching out for toys for the first time. My dad couldn't help but buy him this Curious George when he tried to grab it. Mikey now sleeps with it, and when I put him down for a nap, I tell him that he's going to enjoy some Georgie time.

Mikey was very intolerant during the baptism part, so Nathan stuck his pinky finger in the baby's mouth.

Here we are listening to the vows.

Mikey's about to get sprinkled!

And there it is.

There they are! Reverend Doctor Nathan Parker and his son, Michael Harrison Parker. It was so special to have both of our dads (after whom the baby is named) there to witness it.

And it was so special to share the morning with our new Pinelands family.

Hooray for Missed Flights!

My dear friend from college, Kristin, and her family (well, most of them) missed a flight to Haiti for a mission trip, and they just had to spend the day with us. It was spur-of-the-moment, it was serendipitous, it was AWESOME. The kids played to their hearts' content outside on this beautiful property, I got to catch up with my friend, we shared lunch and dinner together, and we looked at pictures from college. Good stinkin' times. 

The first time I met Sydney, she was barely walking at our wedding. Now she's holding Mikey!

Here are most of the O'Berskis. We missed you Ellie and Hudson! Maybe we'll see you next time your family misses a flight...