Pearce Matthew Parnell

Pearce was born Wednesday, January 25th. He weighed 7lbs, 12 oz and was 20 inches long. I wasn't there on Wednesday but left Dallas first thing in the morning on Thursday to meet my new nephew. My first thought was that he was absolutely beautiful and looked just like Chris! He has the cutest little nose and is so sweet! He hardly ever cried, loved to be cuddled, and has made his parents two of the happiest people in the world! I can't wait to spoil my new nephew!

 

Lora (Gigi)

 

Mama and Papa

Cliff (Pops)

Edie (Mimi) and Cliff (Pops)

Our little Razorback... 

Lora got Pearce his first little piggy bank and she, Mommy, and Mama contributed his first money!  

I stayed the night with Carrie so that Chris could get a good night's sleep, and all we did was hold and love on Pearce and take pictures!

I'm already missing him and can't wait to see him again! Wayne, Nathan, Charlotte, and I are going back down to visit in a couple of weeks! Since Charlotte is obsessed with babies, I can't wait to see what she thinks about seeing a real one, and Nathan has already practiced holding a baby using Charlotte's dolls :)

Nathan Loves His Mommy!

Two days ago, Nathan's friend Jake came over to play. While they were sitting at the table having a snack, Jake asked Nathan if his daddy was fun. Nathan of course said yes and told Jake how they wrestle every night. Then Jake said that Daddies are more fun than Mommies. I was putting the dishes away, but was listening to how this conversation was going to go. Nathan said, "Yeah, mommies always tell you no." And then Jake said "Yeah mommies should just go to outer space." Then Nathan said, "Yeah Mommy, go to outer space!" So this conversation goes on for a while about how they would have so much fun if mommies weren't there and then the daddies could just take them to the park and to the movies. I have to admit I was a little sad listening to them. I chimed in saying, "But who would fix you all dinner and lunch? And who would tuck you into bed and rock you and sing to you?" Jake kept saying "Daddy will!" And Nathan copied everything Jake said. It got to be kind of a game and we were all laughing about who is more fun, mommy or daddy. Well, after Jake went home, Nathan was helping me clean up. I had kind of forgotten about the outer space conversation when Nathan came over to me and gave me a big hug and kiss. And he said, "Mommy, I don't really want you to go to outer space." I said, "Really Nathan?" And he said, "No Mommy, I would miss you. You're my mommy. I love you, and you're fun too." It was so sweet because he kept telling me all night that he really didn't want me to go to outer space. It was like he was worried he hurt my feelings. That's my sweet boy!

What are Nathan and Charlotte up to?

Well, Charlotte is starting to talk more and more every day. The words that she says pretty clearly are: Mommy, Daddy, Mama, Boppa (Papa), up (which has 2 meanings...up like she wants to get up and she also says it for "cup"), dog, ball (bah), hi and bye. Nathan is the best at getting her to try new words and practicing her old ones. I'll overhear him quizzing her while they are playing. He taught her "hot dog" but it's not one that she uses often :) Last night they were playing on our bed while Wayne and I were watching TV. Nathan got her to crawl under the covers, and we could hear Nathan going over all of her words and adding new ones. He was so proud when he taught her two new words (and we shouldn't have been surprised to hear what they were!). Nathan ripped the covers off of them and said, "Mommy! Daddy! I taught Charlotte new words!" And then to Charlotte he says, "Charlotte, say Poo-Poo" And she said it! "Now say Tee-Tee." And of course she said that too! He was so proud of himself, and Wayne and I just looked at each other like we're not surprised that's what he's going to teach her. They went back under the covers and played school some more. Nathan tried and tried to get her to say "eye brow" but that was just a little too challenging :)

The two of them are playing so much more "together" now. Charlotte just loves doing whatever he does which has its pros and cons. Sometimes Nathan just wants to do his own thing and gets frustrated when Charlotte tries to join in...like when he's playing with his dinosaurs and builds a big forest with all of them and then she comes over and knocks them down. But other times, they really play well together. The other night I was cooking dinner and Nathan asked Charlotte to play spies with him. He got his rolling back pack, a play sword for each of them, and was telling her to run and hide because the bad guys were coming. She followed him all over the house and did whatever he told her to do! It was so cute because Nathan was making up all sorts of stuff and doing karate moves, and Charlotte just copied him. He told her to hide under the table and wait for him to come get her, and she did it. Then he told her to follow him into the living room and she did it. It was the cutest thing!

The other thing that Nathan is loving right now is a series on Netflix called "Dino Squad." It's a cartoon type show about dinosaurs that also teaches a lesson. Usually I just turn one one, but don't sit and watch it with him. Well, last week Nathan just watched one of the episodes and was then being overly sweet to Charlotte. He let her play with him and if she knocked something over, he didn't get mad. If she wanted a toy that he was playing with he gave it to her. I remember him saying, "Come here Sweet Girl, do you want to play with my cars? Oh, you want this one? Ok you can have it. Here, let me help you put it on the track." So I said, "Nathan, Mommy is so proud of how sweet you are being to Charlotte! You are such a good big brother!" And this is what he said to me..."I just don't want to be a bully because bullies are mean, and I just want to be nice." I asked him where he learned about bullies thinking they must have talked about that at school, but he said it was on Dino Squad. So I thought how great it is that he likes this show and is really learning something!

Girl's Weekend

This weekend, Charlotte and I went to Austin to visit Auntie Carrie.  Wayne and Nathan stayed in Dallas to go to the Cotton Bowl.  Chris, Darien, Mike, and Stuart all went to the game, too.  We got to Austin Thursday night.  Friday afternoon, Charlotte and I went to Carrie's school to see her kids.  They were sooo cute!  They had fun playing with Charlotte and I had fun reliving my teaching days.

Charlotte loved playing with all the toys in Carrie's room. 

Is Charlotte trying to tell Auntie Carrie that her room needs some cleaning? 

I had fun reading a book to her kids.   

Then a little someone decided to come and help me :) 

What a happy girl!  Charlotte had fun doing whatever Carrie and I wanted to do.  She hardly ever gets to be with just me, so I think she was in Heaven! 

Especially when Auntie Carrie painted her toenails... 

AND her fingernails! 

Charlotte was Auntie Carrie's little buddy this weekend! 

WORN OUT! 

Saturday we got up and got ready to go to lunch and do some shopping.  We decided to do a little photo shoot before we left.  Maybe I'm biased, but I do think Charlotte is the CUTEST little girl in this world!! 

My sweet girl! 

How could I not take a ridiculous amount of pictures of this little cutie? 

Carrie never did maternity pictures, so I decided she needed to and I needed to be the photographer!  I think she looks so cute!

It looks like Charlotte is saying, "Whoa, that's a BIG belly!"

I love this picture of Carrie! 

The photo shoot made us all hungry, so we ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  Little Miss Charlotte was a perfect lunch date!  We had so much fun with Auntie Carrie.  I can't believe the next time I see her, we'll meet Baby Pearce, too!!!