How you know time outs may not be working...

When your kid is this happy to be there!

How do you know when dad has been on vacation from work for a while now??

When he's gotten this good at hairstyling...and takes pride in matching accessories!

and he's this good at putting an outfit together on a toddler!

How do you know it's time for that glass of wine???

Anytime you can get this to happen....well maybe not anytime, but anytime after 4:30.

Don't get worried that I've developed a problem....the above picture doesn't happen nearly often enough!!

Santa Baby

What a special Christmas we had! As they say....a baby changes everything!

We went over to Nana and Poppy's house on Christmas Eve for dinner and to open "stuffers"....more on that in a minute...

Growing up, Santa's elves always came to our house while we were at church on Christmas Eve and stuffed our stockings so we would always open those that night....

Only, as the years went on....the elves started to get a little lazy.

Things didn't so much fit into the stockings anymore, and "stuffers" now look like this....

Addison had a lot of fun and really got into the opening of gifts this year. I'm sure she pretty much thought the last two days have been the greatest in her life. Hopefully by next year, she'll start to understand the real meaning of Christmas.

Graham really didn't know what to think, but he looked cute anyway.

Christmas morning was so much fun. We caught up on some sleep in the morning since Graham really likes being up all night and opened gifts from Santa around lunchtime.

Addison made sure that Graham had one of his new little trucks right beside him.

She really is starting to pay more attention to the little guy and always seems concerned when he is crying....wanting to make things better...such a sweet big sister.

We hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and wish everyone a Happy New Year!!

And here is our Christmas letter for 2009

Merry Christmas from The Parsons! We hope that you are having a wonderful 2009! This year has flown by, and I can’t believe that 2010 is just around the corner! We have had such an exciting year, and God has blessed our family in so many ways.

Graham Clayton Parsons arrived December 2, weighing in at 7 pounds and 20.5 inches long. He has been such a joy and seems to be a very laid back baby. I have no idea where he gets this from. =) He just loves being held and is happy as long as he is in someone’s arms.

Addison is full of energy! She is 20 months old and a very busy toddler. She is easing into her new role as big sister and loves helping mom change diapers. She takes this job very seriously! In the last few months, she has become quite the ham and loves putting on a “show” for whoever is around. Speaking of “show”…that has become her favorite word, and she will repeatedly request this while holding out the remote to whoever will oblige her. I may know where she gets this from…..

She is also enjoying a “mommy and me” music and motor class at Boni’s Dance Studio.

Andy and I have also had a busy year. This summer we put our house on the market and moved across the neighborhood…one street over. We thought it would be an easy move, only moving 8 houses away, but quickly found out that NO move is an easy move. The two-month ordeal was all worth it though. We love our new house and were glad to get settled in August, a few months before Graham arrived. Andy also enjoyed a guys’ trip with his newly – retired dad and brother, Mark, to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone Park in August.

I am enjoying spending time with our family of 4! I’ve tried to capture as many moments as I can in pictures and share it through our family blog, parsons411.blogspot.com. We are still trying to sneak in a trip once in a while as well. Thanks to loving grandparents who were glad to watch Addison, Andy and I were fortunate to get away in March to one of our favorite destinations, Northern California. We enjoyed staying in Carmel, driving through Big Sur, and finishing up in Napa Valley.

We wish you and your family a wonderful year ahead filled with love and God’s blessings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

With love,

Andy, Melissa, Addison & Graham

Time is Flying

Look who's getting big??!!!

7 pounds, 12 ounces to be exact.

Which means the little big guy gained a whole pound in the last week!

And what a week we had....

Grandpa and Grandma Lois were in town....thank the Dear Lord.

They spoiled us and both grandkids with love and attention and HELP all week.

We also got to celebrate Christmas a little early with them.

Addison was thrilled with her presents...especially this guy!

Loves him!
Grandma and Grandpa with all 5 grandkids....hard to get everyone in the picture and impossible to get everyone looking at the same camera.

Dinner is a lot more fun with all the cousins!
Graham was tuckered out
Three generations of Parsons! See how excited Graham is? Fist pump!!
"Aunt" Sheila and Addison's friend, Beckett came to play lots and we loved every minute of it!
Nana is here to help this week which for Graham means another set of arms to hold him
Pure handsomeness! I love this little guy!
And he loves his paci.....the things they come up with. This "WubbaNub" is new since even Addison was born. It's a little lovie stuffed animal sewn to the paci so they clutch it and won't lose it. Genius. If you look closely, he's hugging on his little bear.
Love it!

Mr. Mom

Andy went back to work today and we're all a little sad.

He was such a champ last week, that I started thinking...."Hey, this 2 under 2 thing isn't all that hard!".

I am still blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa here all week helping out and loving on the kiddos, so I won't have to quite face reality for a few more weeks.

I have to enjoy it while I can.

Here are some pics from the last week....

I love this sleepy newborn stage....

The staredown.... Andy got a lot of those last week.

And some of this.....
Then we decided to take her to see Santa.....
Notice the death grip on the Goldfish and the fight to get out of his lap

But she was much better after some chocolate milk and daddy chasing her around Market Street

Such a sweetheart....Graham is hardly ever out of someone's arms. He's quite content to be cuddled all day but took a short break in his swing.

The pics that I don't have to share are the ones from our first family "photo shoot" last week.

I had lofty goals.

I thought that it should be no problem getting a 19 month old and 5 day old to take some angelic pictures so we could quickly get a Christmas card together.

You know...maybe one of Addison bending down to lay a sweet kiss on the sleeping baby's head..

Or at least a cute one of the four of us with Addison smiling for the camera.....

Or one of them in their Christmas outfits with her loving on her new little brother...

Nope. None of them happened. And not for a lack of trying. Addison was screaming and crying her head off right from the beginning, and little man had a diaper incident and "showered" dad while he was trying to change him.

We got ONE family picture.

And Shannon is a miracle worker...especially with what she had to work with. Dad took Addison out to the car for the remainder of the session, and we finished up the newborn pics. I'm excited to see those and will share as soon as I can.

More Pics of 2 Under 2

It's been a busy week, but we're finally home and getting settled in as a family of 4!

Let me take a second to brag on my wonderful husband. He is "off" work for the rest of the week and will probably gladly return on Monday, but he has been AWESOME this week taking care of his family. Because of the C-section, I have not been able to do much but nurse the baby, try to sleep, and hang out with Addison as much as I can, while Andy has had to do pretty much everything else. He's been great at it too, and I'm so proud and thankful to have the best guy in the world be our rock right now.

I know that you guys are really just wanting to see pics...and I've got them a little bit on overload right now. So here we go.....

I didn't take very many belly pics this time around, but here Graham and I are the night before his big debut......

My girl and I .... who is totally attached to dad right now.

I just miss hanging out with her and am having to try to find the balance of giving Graham what he needs and loving on her while recovering....not easy to do.

Big sis meeting Graham for the first time

I don't think she knows what to make of this all yet....
Playing peek a boo with her new little brother

Such a proud big sister....the little ham!


It was great to have visitors at the hospital. We did not have to stay as long this time because thankfully Graham did not have jaundice like his sister did, so we were only in the hospital from Wednesday - Saturday. Our experience this time was SOOOO much better. We had the most wonderful nurses and Graham spent each night in the nursery so I literally had the best 3 mights of sleep I've had in a year!

Here is Tami Laugharn with sweet Graham
Many of you know how much I wanted a little "snuggle bug" since my girl has always been Miss Independent. I think I got him. Graham is quite happy sleeping on me, being held as much as possible, and definitely a little snuggler.

Graham and his daddy
I was so excited for cold weather last week because it gave me a great excuse to bring him home from the hospital in an obnoxious, but incredibly cute little reindeer outfit. We are loving having a little Christmas baby.
Jacqueline loving on Graham
A rare shot of his beautiful eyes. When he is awake he loves taking everything in, but so far this little guy has been quite the sleeper!

Not a lover of the bath. The only time he cries is when he's cold and naked...diaper changes are the only "rough" time.

Glad to be warm again!

Addison enjoyed showing him his new playmat

We're so thankful for our new little man! We love you Graham!