So Sweet

Where we live, we seem to have the biggest problem with our internet and getting it to work, so when it is up and running I have to take advantage. Sometimes when Parker has trouble getting to sleep, Joe is really good at helping him get to sleep. This is one of those instances when it is just perfect. He is so peaceful with his daddy, and although I don't think that Joe would ever admit it- Parker has him wrapped around his finger...

How can you resist?

Sometimes it seems like there are the days that just don't go as well and nothing seems to be working. That being said when you have the cutest little boy ever and he smiles at you, you can't help but feel better about things. Parker has such a great disposition and is such a sweetie. He is my little shadow and I wouldn't change a thing.

I admit it...

Ok, when I was in first grade I LOVED the New Kids on the Block. I had the shirts, tapes, slippers, bedding, a Jordan ken doll. I really had a crush on them. Now, 15 years later they are out again, and I must admit, I reallly like their new song. Kudos to them however for being able to have hits after being out of the biz for that long. Anyway, that is why if you notice on my playlist it has their song that it is there.

Bubbles Bubbles

I got this "Bubbles Bubbles" book at a garage sale about a month ago and the only reason that I got it was because it had a baby Ernie in it and Joe really likes Ernie. Little did I know that Parker would end up LOVING the book. It is his favorite book and it is really simple.

Bubbles bubbles on my nose, (touch nose)

Bubbles bubbles on my toes. (touch toes)

Bubbles bubbles in my hair, (touch hair)

Bubbles bubbles everywhere. (tickle everywhere)

Bubbles bubbles float on top,

Bubbles bubbles POP POP POP. (touch 3 times with each POP)

Bubbles bubbles fly so high,

Count 1-2-3 as they go by (count to 3)

Bubbles bubbles are so much fun,

Bubbles bubbles for everyone. (throw up hands)

I think that one of his first words may be bubbles. But he gets so excited when you pull the book out and read, and when he gets fussy, if you whisper it in his ear, it helps him to fall asleep. Oddly enough (not really) with as many times as I have read the book, I have it memorized.

Laundry

Parker enjoys when I fold the laundry, mainly because he like climbing over the piles and getting into the clothes, but the other day I left the laundry basket in the living room and went back to start another load and found Parker ready to help with the laundry.

Great Yard Sale

Before Parker was born Joe's family would go garage saleing and I would tag along. I didn't usually find something that I would get but it was a family activity and so for that I enjoyed going along. Now since having Parker I have discovered that people sell alot of nice toys at their yard sales and I figure that I would rather have more nicely used toys than pay full price for brand new. So, I went yard saleing by myself on Saturday as Joe had to go into work for a little bit. I had my list and route planned out but along the way I saw a nice bright sign with an arrow pointing to a different sale. So I took a little detour and followed the signs and I am sure glad I did. They were having a sale with alot of Fisher Price and Playskool and I got the whole lot for $10.00- not too shabby! I guestimate that the whole lot would be worth about $85.00. My mom came over later and I was showing her the toys that I got and she looked over at Parker and asked which toy he was playing with. I looked over at Parker and said "Our tape measurer" I am glad I didn't pay full price for the toys!

Update

I have another site that I blog on www.kim.busymommy.us. I blog on there about personal stuff, but I also get paid to blog too. I have decided that that blog will be the paid blog (with some personal as you have to have those too) But this blog will be the strictly personal blog.

Grass and Yardwork

For a while Parker has been hesitant with going on the grass, he doesn’t seem to like the feel. It is really funny to watch him try to avoid touching the grass at all cost. Today, however, he seemed to have concord that obstacle. We were outside working in the yard and I had him on the driveway and he was playing with his car. Before I knew it, he was crawling on the grass and booking it towards the neighbors tree and bark. So much for the grass as a babysitter : )Today as I posted earlier that I worked in the yard, I did some edging and weeding and added some more bark. It looks a lot better and I feel like the house looks nicer. My brother came over yesterday and mowed the lawn while I edged and used the weedwacker.

Original Post July 18th, 2008

Teeth

Ok, I have been putting off writing this post only because I have been trying to get a picture to go with it. Since that has not successfully worked, I will put the post, and them add a picture when I can. After going to Parker’s 9 month check up and the dr. said that his tooth seemed to be coming in- it did and within 24 hours, so did the other. He has 2 little teeth on the bottom and they are so cute, and he likes to chew on things with them. I was nervous that I would really miss the gum smile and I think that because they are not big enough yet to show when he smiles it works because I am gradually getting used to it. He is such a great little boy and we couldn’t love him more.



Original Post July 9th, 2008

4th of July

This 4th of July we wanted to start a new tradition. We went to the big 4th of July parade that was held a few cities away. Thank heavens we had some family that stayed the night so that we could get a spot, and we went about an hour earlier to find them and get ready. It was pretty fun and I think that Parker enjoyed it pretty well. He started off awake, then ended up falling asleep through all the noise. It was pretty funny. Later that day we went to our families house for a BBQ, games and fireworks. Parker did really well with the fireworks, I wasn’t sure how he would react but he seemed pretty mesmorized by the lights and noise. (The picture below is him with his daddy waiting for the firworks to start) He was pretty tired by the end of the day, but we had alot of fun.

Original Post July 7th, 2008

Hiking

On Saturday my husband and I took Parker hiking up to a cave close to our house. It is about 1.5 miles one way and then the cave tour is about 1 hour long. I put Parker in the baby carrier that we have for the hike. You climb about 1060 feet in the 1.5 mile, so the trail is pretty steep. I’d like to think that I am in pretty good shape, but I felt pretty beat after the round trip. Going down was pretty hard too because I had an extra 20 pounds in the front. Note to self- don’t gain 20 pounds. All in all we had a really fun time, it was fun to get out and have some family time.

Original Post June 23rd, 2008

9 Month Checkup

Parker had his nine month check-up today. Crazy how fast the time has gone! He was 29inches long (76th percentile) and 19.14 lbs. (27th percentile) His height has slowed up, and his weight has too. They had to poke his finger to test his iron levels to make sure that he is not anemic, and that tested fine, and he was so good, he did not even cry. Then Dr. Bailey came in and we talked about how things were etc and he went over to start the check-up and Parker started crying bloody murder. He had been fine, but as soon as Dr. Bailey came over, he freaked out. The check-up was a little tricky with Parker crying the whole time, then as soon as he was done, and I could pick Parker up, he was fine. It was interesting. The doctor said that it feels like Parker is cutting a tooth, and I haven’t felt anything out of the norm. Once we came home and we were playing I stuck my finger in Parker’s mouth and a tooth is actually popping through. It has completely come through the gums and it just has to come all the way up. I am not ready for this, I love his gum smile! I am debating between getting some professional pictures taken before the tooth completely comes through…

Original Post June 12th, 2008

Swimming Pool

Yesterday at the grocery store they had little baby pools on sale for $3.99, I thought, what the heck, it isn't that much and Parker does really enjoy the water. So once I had gotten home I inflated the little pool and let Parker play with it while it was empty. He had some much fun, and it was really cute to see him crawling in and out of the pool. I hope that he will like it when it actually has water in it.

Original Post June 3rd, 2008

What's Next???

Yesterday Parker decided to venture out and do some things that he has not done before such as, discovering the bathroom, he pulled himself up on the toilet and decided to splash in the water. Note to self, leave the toilet seat down. Then with his cute little wet toilet water hands he decided to unroll the toilet paper from off the roll. Lots of fun for him, but note to self, toilet paper now belongs on the top of the toilet not on the holder. He decided that he really likes the dishwasher and after emptying the dishwasher I went into the bathroom to check for any cups and Parker decided to climb up on the dishwasher door. Note to self- keep dishwasher door closed unless I am right there next to it. And while I was unavailable later in the day, Parker decided to play with the 02 and gas sensor that we have plugged in and press the test button. A very shrill LOUD beeping noise when off I ran out of the other room and he was speed crawling towards me crying. So cute, and sad and it made me laugh just a little. Note from Parker, he isn’t going to play with that anymore. So, that all happened in one day which makes me wonder just what will happen next…

Original Post June 3rd, 2008

Splashing

Parker has discovered splashing, and it is so cute! I gave him a bath the other night and I started lightly splashing the water, he thought it was hilarious. He was laughing so hard he got the hiccups, then he started to splash too. He, unlike me didn’t lightly splash though, he used all the force he could and got water everywhere, but he thought it was funny, so it was all good. Once he was done I lightly splashed again and he kept laughing and then he would have his turn to splash too.

Original Post May 29th, 2008

Standing

So, Parker is getting very good at pulling himself up and standing. He is getting pretty good at pulling himself down too. Which is good because he likes to pull himself up on everything he possibly can. He is such a sweetheart and before he figured out how to get down he discovered a new trick with his hand. He holds his hand up high until you come and pick him up. It is so cute, somewhat like when you put your finger up in a restaurant until the waiter comes. He has fallen backwards a few times, but is getting better with his balance. Thank heavens!! He has been pretty fussy lately, so I wonder if he really is teething, but I can’t tell…

Original Post May 22nd, 2008

Update

Well, I have been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to write. Parker is keeping me on my toes more than I thought possible. He is no longer doing the army crawl, he is full on crawling and dang he is fast. He has learned how to pull himself up- first it started out as just to his knees and now he can pull himself up on his feet. He likes to get into EVERYTHING! I am excited for him, but at the same time, he is such a little busy boy. He does not like to stay put.

Original Post May 15th, 2008

Milestone

So I could tell that Parker was getting tired this afternoon. I tried to rock him to sleep, but he was interested in what was going on outside. I decided to put him in his crib and we played Peek-A-Boo for a while and he was having fun. I ended up leaving the room while he was occupied by his mobile and went to write an article. After about 10 minutes I noticed that it was very quite in his room so I quietly tiptoed into his room and found him asleep. He has never gone to sleep on his own, in his crib without crying. I was so excited, he is still asleep and this is a longer nap than he usually takes so I hope that this happens again.

Original Post April 25th, 2008

Singing

Interesting how much your children love you for the things that you may not think you are good at. I have never thought of myself as a singer in any form. Typically before having Parker the only time I would sing was when I was in my car, by myself and the music was louder than I would actually sing. Since having Parker I have found myself singing to him more than I thought I would and he loves it. Sometimes when nothing else will calm him, my singing the great song “I like to Eat” quickly calms and comforts him. I don’t even know why I started singing the song, but it always seems to work. If he seems to get sad, or grumpy I can just go up to him and start singing and he quickly gets a smile on his face. I love how unconditionally your children love and accept you for all the things you do, and didn’t think you could do.

Original Post April 15th, 2008

Camping

This weekend we are going camping and off roading with some friends and their children in Moab Utah. We haven’t even left yet and I can see this being more slightly more difficult than camping with out children. I have started making a list of all the items I need to make sure to bring so that I don’t forget anything… 2 pages later I am starting to realize that we may need to get an extra trailer to bring all of his things… I may need to narrow down the list some. I will have to make a post once we get back with how the trip turned out. It should be fun and interesting all at the same time.

Original Post April 9th, 2008

He's Mobile

He has done it… Parker has figured out how to do more than roll. Last night he took his first “crawling” motions. He does more of the army crawl rather than the actual crawl, but he likes being able to move. This is somewhat scary as I haven’t baby proofed the house yet. I somehow thought that I would have a little bit longer before this happened. Plus, and even scarier part is that once they start to crawl, walking is typically not far behind, and I am really not ready for that. I will just have to see how his crawling progresses.

Original Post April 4th, 2008

Homemade Baby Food

I decided early on that once Parker started into the solid foods I wanted to make my own. For some reason, I didn’t quite trust the baby food that had been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long. Plus, why is it that the baby food never smells like the food it is supposed to be. Seriously, carrots should smell like carrots. So, after looking at a few sites, I decided that I was ready to try. In the first try I made sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, squash, pears, and applesauce. Quite the endeavor, I know. That being said, I had so much fun! Who know that steaming vegetables and pureeing them would be that fun. For those that would like to make their own all I did was-

1.Buy the vegetables, or fruit.

2. Prepare the food, peel the food, take out the seeds if needed and then cut them into smaller pieces.

3. I steamed the food to make them softer. (you can also bake them) I steamed the food separately and once soft, moved them to the blender.

4. Start off with about 1/3 cup of water and add that and from there add the water as needed. You will want the food to be somewhat thicker in consistency, but not too thick.

5. Once the food is to the desired consistency you can either put the food into ice cube trays, or buy some smaller disposable freezer containers. I used Glad. You can use them again as they are dishwasher safe. I found those easier to use as Parker eats more at a sitting than the ice cube sizes. If you do decide to put them in the ice cube trays, once the food is frozen you need to transfer them to another container like a freezer safe bag. You can then freeze the food for up to 6 months. When you are about ready to use them, you can just pull them out of the freezer and stick them in the fridge to thaw. I really enjoyed making the food, glad that Parker enjoys them, and feel better about what I am feeding him.


Original Post April 2nd, 2008

Soon to be Crawling...

In the past couple of days Parker has decided that merely rolling from back to tummy is not enough. He now rolls both directions, crawls backwards, gets up on hands and knees and rocks, and can pretty much get into anything he wants with a series of the listed motions. He is very inquisitive and especially likes cords…. this could be a problem! It is fun to see how much he is changing, but at the same time, I like him being a baby, and the more independent that he becomes, I do feel a little sad. But, it is exciting, and I know that he is having fun!

Original Post March 31st, 2008

Teething

I think that Parker is starting on the painful process of getting his pearly whites… The past few days he has been unusually fussy, and not quite as easily consoled. This morning he woke up early and I could tell that he wanted to go back to sleep, but he just wasn’t able to. I had the teething gel in his handy tray and quickly applied some in the hopes that maybe it was what he needed. He quickly quieted down, and fell back to sleep. I am not sure that I am ready for this! I love his little gum smile, and once those teeth start coming in, it will never be the same. But, all the same, I am sure that he will look adorable with his little tooth smile too!

Original Post March 27nd, 2008

Pictures

Today I went to get Parker’s pictures taken. I only wanted to get the $9.95 special since at 2 months I got a ton of pictures. Hindsight, I would get more at 6 months than at 2 months. For the 2 months, a good picture was one that he was not crying in. Not that he is typically a crier, it was just not a good night. This time there were so many great pictures to choose from, but I had to narrow it down to one. Amazing how bad you feel when you eliminate pictures of your child. You still have the child, but somehow you feel that you are saying that I don’t want that one of you. Maybe that is just me, but it was tough. I am planning to get another picture when he is 9 months, and then get another larger picture package when he is 1 year.

Original Post March 22nd, 2008

Sleeping Continuation

Well, an update on the sleeping senario. Parker did not do well at all last night. Around 5:00am he decided that he just didn’t feel like going back to sleep. I guess it was good so that I could get an early start on the day, I just had not anticipated it starting quite so soon. Tonight I put him to be around 8:30 and in the 1.5 hours since, he has only woke up once, and cried for maybe a minute. I am hoping that this is a good sign for tonight, we shall see.

Original Post March 22nd, 2008

Sleeping

Parker has not been the greatest sleeper. He prefers to sleep with me, and wakes up frequently. Typically you can just give him his pacifier and he will go back to sleep, but with the consistant waking up, I don’t get good sleep. Since Joe has been gone this week on a business trip, I have decided to let Parker cry a little bit longer before I go in there to see if he can fall back asleep on his own. He cried about 5 different times once I put him to sleep and I did not let him cry longer than 10 minutes each time, 3 times he fell back asleep before the 10 minutes and 2 times, the cry was different, a more difficult cry, so I went in to make sure he was ok. All I had to do was give him his pacifier. We will try it again tonight, we will have to see how it goes. My biggest frusteration with this is that I have read that if you let them “cry it out” it can lessen you baby’s trust and I really don’t want that to happen. When he is up and about, I will make sure to really focus on him.


Original Post March 18th, 2008

Birthday

Today is Parker’s 6 month birthday. It is crazy how quickly the time has passed. He had his doctors checkup on Monday and is 27.8 inches, and 17.5 ounces. He is in the 90th percentile for height and 49th percentile for weight. Long and skinny~ He is such a sweetie and such a happy baby. We are so blessed to have him. I was thinking of getting some professional pictures taken for this milestone.

Original Date March 12th, 2008

Date Night

Joe and I had our first date night on Saturday (since Parker was born). We dropped Parker off at my parents house and went up to go to the Utah Jazz game. Joe had gotten the tickets from a vendor at work. We had tickets for dinner at the Sky Box and then our seats were on the 13th row. We had alot of fun, and I only called my mom once. It was nice to be able to spend some time together and not be interrupted by Parker. Parker was asleep when we picked him up around 11:00pm, and unfortunantly once we took him home he woke up and it took quite a while to get him back to sleep.
Orig Date March 11th, 2008