theparkerfamily.org

Author: evancparker

  • first walk

    []
    ECPA20091021_0322, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    we took our first walk around mount pleasant tonight … well, our first walk that didn’t involve coming back from the hospital or going to the pediatrician’s office.

    fwiw, the lady sparkler is laughing in the picture because she couldn’t figure out why i was (temporarily) refusing to take the picture … until she saw a nubile young twenty-something with a ridiculously obvious thong-line walk out of frame.

    you can’t say i’m not well trained.

    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: first walk, mount pleasant, washington, dc

  • #500

    [Hurricane Andrew Relief (circa 1994), Homestead, Florida.]
    ECPA20070918_x021, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    it’s hard to believe, but this blog entry brings me to 500 posts over the last five years. so it’s navel gazing time, although i certainly don’t mean to imply that my previous 499 were directed anywhere other than my midsection.

    i started blogging back in 2004 … i was bored, i was recently single, and i had just survived a near death experience at the hands of a happy young Christian soccer mom driving a hummer.

    when i started blogging, i held absolutely no pretense that anybody was reading. i blogged purely for myself, to give my future self something to look back on and remind me of the things i had seen, the places i had been, and the things that i had done.

    that still (mostly) holds true even today. i have an absolutely horrific memory, so need to write things down or they are lost for good.

    don’t get me wrong, i’m absolutely cheesed that other people are joining in the fun as i chronicle all sorts of embarrassing stories about the lady sparkler, but in the end … i blog because i never want to forget what happened, or the look in her face or what i was thinking at the time.

    with that in mind, i apologize for the banalities that are coming down the pike. with baby sparklet, i have doubled the wonderful women in my life, and will certainly be doubling the silly, stupid things that i want to write down so i don’t forget.

    here’s hoping that the next 500 will be as much fun as the first.

  • bellybutton

    []
    ECPA20091023_0367, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    we have a bellybutton …! tonight during the 6pm feeding, whatever was left of sparklet’s placenta made a break for it.

    it took about 10 minutes of sparklet and i pawing around the bed, but we finally found it right where mommy would have found it later tonight while trying to fall asleep.

    at least sparklet didn’t try and stuff it down her diaper.

  • birthdays

    []
    ECPA20091018_0269, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    We got an email a couple of days ago, from Auntie Foster Mom Adventures. It went something like this:

    I know that new parents don’t have time to do research, so I did some important research for you.  Here is the scoop on your daughter’s birthday.  As if I didn’t already think she was cool, her stock went up even more now that I know she shares her birthday with Lady Margaret Thatcher!!!

     
    (Note the three exclamation points after old iron britches…)

    Oddly enough, we already know at least four friends who feature October 13th as a birthday, and it is just one day off what was my maternal grandfather’s birthday (October 14th).

    Anyway, friends not withstanding, here is the list of October 13th luminaries:

    • Ian Thorpe (Australian swimmer, 1982)
    • Summer Sanders (American swimmer, 1972)
    • Billy Bush (E!, 1971)
    • Nancy Kerrigan (American figure skater, 1969)
    • Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, 1967)
    • Rob Schneider (Saturday Night Live, 1965)
    • Jerry Rice (NFL wide receiver, 1962)
    • Ari Fleischer (White House Press Secretary, 1960)
    • Marie Osmond (singer and actress, 1959)
    • Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, 1947)
    • Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys owner, 1942)
    • Paul Simon (singer, 1941)
    • Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister, 1925)
    • Molly Pitcher (American Patriot, 1754)

    Frankly, I’m jealous. Any list with Molly Pitcher and Sammy Hagar is company that i’d want to be a part of. The lady sparkler’s (May 25th) is almost as cool:

    • Anne Heche (actress, 1969)
    • Frank Oz (The Muppet Show, 1944)
    • Dixie Carter (Designing Women, 1939)
    • Ian McKellen (actor, 1939)
    • Miles Davis (jazz trumpeter, 1926)
    • Mr. Bojangles (actor, 1878)
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson (essayist, 1803)

    By comparison, my birthday (April 5th) is a little “cerebral”, which is another word for “lame”:

    • Colin Powell (Secretary of State, 1937)
    • Thomas Hobbes (philosopher, 1588)

    Why couldn’t *I* be like Marie Osmond?

  • found: mushmouth

    []
    ECPA20091018_0257, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • photos: the first weekend

    []

    photo of the week // week one
    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: the first weekend, washington, dc

  • guestbook: auntie melissa

    []
    ECPA20091018_0259, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • eyeballs

    []
    ECPA20091017_0235, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    it’s the little moments in child rearing that are so special … it’s realizing that your baby has all four limbs, and all in the right place. it’s the first time that you wipe someone else’s rear. it’s discovering that your baby has not just one eyeball, but two.

    the good news is that sparklet has been sleeping like a brick. she’s slept through feedings, slept through car rides, and even slept through being dropped on her head (kidding!). the bad news is that, up till now, we haven’t had independent confirmation that sparklet has eyeballs.

    but with this morning, sparklet’s eyeballs are out and a blazin’ … looking anywhere and everywhere. of course, that’s only until we try and feed her … which is when she goes back to sleep.

    not that we are complaining. the lady sparkler and i have gotten waaaaay more sleep in the last two days than any new parents would have the right to expect, which is okay by us.

    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: we’ve got eyeballs, washington, dc

  • guestbook: grandparents

    []
    []
    []
    []
    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: grandparents, washington, dc

  • “hook ’em horns!”

    []
    ECPA20091015_0191, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    three possible scenarios for this picture:

    • first “hook ’em horns” sign, in support of the University of Texas at Austin
    • sparklet indicating she’s ready for her first cell phone
    • gang signs

    the lady sparkler is pretty certain it is the former, but i’m banking on the latter. i hope she picks out a good honduran street gang.

    UPDATE: Texas beat Oklahoma this afternoon, so we (and “Auntie Texas-in-Africa”) are now absolutely sure it was the former.