100 Things About Parker!

Tomorrow is our baby's FIRST BIRTHDAY! Since it really should have been today (May 11th), and since tomorrow will probably be a CRAZY DAY, I thought I would post what he wrote about himself for you all to enjoy on his special day! We love our boy!




1. My name is Parker Brian
2. I was born on May 12, 2006 around 4:43 am in Fullerton, CA at St. Jude Hospital.
3. My mommy was induced the day before on May 11, 2006 at 8:30 am!
4. She was VERY impatient for me to get here and drank castor oil on May 5th…she went to the hospital that night with contractions, but they gave her a shot and sent her home several hours later. I was in NO HURRY to leave the womb!
5. I was delivered by Dr. Robyn Lawton, but my mom thinks her nurse Pam helped her more!
6. I weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20" long.
7. For the first several months of my life, I was in the 97th percentile for height, weight and head circumference!
8. Around 6 months I started slimming down.
9. My weight is now in the 50th percentile, but my height and head are still in the 97th!
10. Parker was the first boy name that my mommy suggested that my daddy actually liked…the name just stuck!
11. I am SUCH a Parker! My parents can’t imagine me as anything else.
12. I was named "Brian" after Brian Hovey—my dad’s best friend that was killed in a tragic accident on January 13, 2005. He was a really handsome guy...so am I!
13. I have a really cool namesake uncle named Brian also!
14. My daddy loves to take me running…he took me for the first time when I was 2 weeks old at Craig Park in Brea, CA.
15. The stroller broke in February when my mommy took me for a jog.
16. I haven’t gone since—I really miss it!
17. I slept through the night for the first time when we went camping at Spruces in July 2006…I was 2 months old and slept for 12 hours!
18. My mommy can count on both hands how many nights I’ve slept through since!
19. She’s determined that my future siblings will be better sleepers!
20. I have 5 cousins that will be in my same grade in school—Jeremiah, Rachel, Jacob, Sadie and Blake.
21. The first four are 6-8 months older than I am.
22. Blake is only 5 weeks younger than I am!
23. I have been on SEVERAL road trips!
24. We drove to Utah from California in June when my Great Grandpa B passed away.
25. We drove to Utah again in July for a Gadd family reunion.
26. My daddy drove home by himself and my mommy and I flew home a few days later on her B-day (August 1st).
27. I slept during the whole plane ride! I'm sad that I missed it!
28. We drove to Utah AGAIN in September.
29. This time we were MOVING there!
30. I’ve lived in three places—Brea, CA, South Jordan, UT (with my Grandma and Grandpa Gadd), and my current home.
31. I made the drive from Utah to California with my mommy and Uncle Michael in February 2007 to visit my Aunt Kimberly, Uncle Devon and cousins Taylor, Luke and Blake.
32. That’s FOUR TIMES in one year!
33. I visited my Grandpa and Nannu in Tennessee for my first Christmas.
34. I slept in the big closet in my mommy and daddy’s room so that it would be nice and dark!
35. I loved visiting Grandpa and Nannu—I’m dying to go back!
36. While I was at their house, I got my first two bottom teeth!
37. The trip wore me out, however, and I came home with my first ear infection.
38. My cousin Blake got sick, too!
39. In California, I lived really close to Grandpa and Nannu—my mommy and I went to their house almost every day.
40. My Nannu was the first to get me to smile! I was about 6 weeks old.
41. Before moving to Utah, my Grandpa, Nannu and Uncle Michael moved in with us in our little 2-bedroom apartment in La Casa Brea.
42. We all left at the same time—my Grandparents for Tennessee and us and Michael for Utah. We left my Aunt Kimberly in San Diego without any family!
43. Michael was a missionary in Honduras when I was born.
44. His special missionary prayers are part of the reason I’m here! My mommy and daddy (and their families) prayed really hard for 9 months that they would have a baby.
45. I have the GREATEST extended family! I am so blessed!
46. I loved living with Grandma and Grandpa Gadd so they could get to know me and my fun personality.
47. I still get really excited every time we go to their house—Grandma is my favorite babysitter! 48. Their neighbors have a dog—I get really excited every time it barks at me!
49. I got sick several times last winter—two ear infections AND pneumonia!
50. I got my two front teeth a few weeks ago—finally—they’ve been killing me!
51. I never really liked the binkie or bottle as an infant.
52. My mommy finally (for her) weaned me about 2 weeks ago…I kind of miss nursing, but I’m starting to really LOVE the bottle! I get excited when I see my mommy or daddy making it!
53. Thanks to my daddy, I LOVE ELMO! He does the best Elmo voice EVER!
54. His Elmo impression helped him get on the Price is Right—trust me, I was there (in my mommy’s tummy…my picture was on her shirt).
55. My mommy and daddy love watching me sleep—they tip toe into my bedroom every night to look at me before going to bed.
56. My bedroom has a barnyard animal theme—Nannu bought my bedding for me—I love it!
57. I love animals! I point to them in all my books and whenever we see them in real life!
58. Now I fall asleep really well on my own. This hasn’t always been the case!
59. When I learned to crawl (in March—at 9 ½ months) I also learned to stand up in my crib. This caused problems with my sleep. For a few weeks my mommy knelt by my crib with her hand on my chest so that I wouldn’t stand up until I fell asleep!
60. I knew she was there all along—silly mommy!
61. I have super blonde hair and big blue eyes.
62. I get comments on both everywhere we go!
63. My Aunt Marci gave me my first haircut a few weeks ago…it was getting beyond long!
64. It’s still pretty long on top so I can have my signature do—a faux hawk!
65. I love books!
66. My parents started reading to me almost the day I was born (and while I was still in my mommy’s tummy).
67. My favorite toys are my mommy’s cell phone and keys.
68. I ruined her last phone with my saliva. She gets mad at me for sucking on it, but it just tastes so darn good!
69. I am attached to a plastic spoon—I take it with me everywhere I go. I even sleep with it!
70. I am—and always have been—VERY vocally expressive.
71. I’ll let you know how I’m feeling at any given time.
72. I love to be held and cuddled…I would be happy if my mommy carried me around ALL DAY LONG!
73. My doctor’s name is Dr. Brian Good, but I’ve also seen Dr. Michael Johnson several times…he has the same name as my uncle!
74. Besides California, Utah and Tennessee, I’ve also been to Cokeville, Wyoming after my Uncle Jake and Aunt Jaclyn got married.
75. I’m going to be an early talker (unlike my daddy).
76. My first word was "no," but I babbled "ma ma" and "da da" before that.
77. Now I have several words.
78. I can say: ball ("bah"), bye (also "bah"), no, dog ("dah"), woof woof ("ub ub"), ma ma, da da, ah-oh, and Jacob ("a-kuh").
79. My favorite thing to do, however, is stick my tongue in and out while saying, "leather, leather, leather…"
80. I also like to say, "doy-dee, doy-dee, doy-dee"
81. I learned to crawl up the stairs last week.
82. I also learned to stand up in my high chair—watch out!
83. I used to love sitting in the bathroom sink, but I’m not allowed to anymore because I always try to crawl out.
84. I love unloading the Tupperware cupboard—I make sure everything’s on the floor where it belongs—daily!
85. I get really mad at my mommy for not letting me climb on the dishwasher door when it’s open.
86. I think it’s funny to spit food out. I am also very amused by throwing things on the floor and watching my parents pick them up over and over. (I say "ah-oh" so they’ll think it’s an accident...I think I have them fooled).
87. I love taking baths! I try to dive into the tub from my mommy's arms, but she doesn't let go! 88. I am starting to like the park.
89. The swing scared me at first, but now I love it!
90. I’m super ticklish. Come to think of it, I said tickle once! ("ta-kah, ta-kah")
91. Last week I pulled a mini dresser over onto myself. I cried and so did my mommy…she’s such a baby!
92. I have 7 Great Grandparents alive, one that passed away right after I was born and two that I met in Heaven before I was born (my Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson).
93. My parents speak Spanish to me at meal times.
94. They also try not to feed me anything with hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup—sometimes I sneak a taste of the unnatural "good" stuff, though!
95. A lady who works at Sam’s Club told me the other day that I was the cutest baby she’d seen all week!
96. My parents can’t remember life without me.
97. They miss sleeping in (and through the night)
98. But they think I’m worth ANY sacrifice!
99. I am a VERY loving baby who brings joy to everyone I meet—stranger or not! I’m here to make the world a happier place.
100. So far I’ve been very successful!

A few after-thoughts:

• As a newborn, I brought new meaning to the term "projectile poop"…my daddy was changing my diaper one day and it sprayed out of my bum and went EIGHT FEET (he measured)!
• The same day, my mommy was changing me and it sprayed my bedroom door.
• My parents had eaten at Don Jose’s the night before…my daddy blames it on that!
• For months, my parents liked to "tag-team diaper change". My daddy would hold my legs while my mommy wiped. My daddy still prefers to do it this way, but my mommy won’t let him get out of the dirty work!
• Sorry to those who don’t like talking about this sort of thing…it’s a regular conversation item in our house!

One more after-thought:

• When I was a newborn, I LOVED to be swaddled! That was sometimes the only way my parents could calm me down. They would swaddle me, then whisper SHHHHHHHH really loud in my ears! My daddy was the master swaddler! It worked EVERY time!