9 Months - First Christmas

It sure was fun seeing how Parker would react to our Christmas traditions.

I brought him to see Santa on the Tuesday before Christmas. The line to see Santa was long, but he just jabbered the whole time. Upon getting to Santa I put him on Santa's lap. I wasn't surprised when he handled himself well. I was however surprised that he didn't try to pull Santa's beard or hair. I told Santa he wanted his two front teeth for Christmas.

See Santa I need my other tooth

Christmas Eve Parker broke two teeth. So now he has a total of 5 teeth. He is learning to use his little chompers. I just wish he would reserve it for food and not my neck, arm, knee, etc.

On Christmas morning Santa brought just what Parker wanted....

PAPER, BOXES, & . . . window washer fluid.




There were a few gifts that said Parker's name on them. He for the most part didn't want anything to do with them.

The-Christmas-Spirit

My Christmas tree if finally up!!!

Follow this link for a wonderful Christmas video:

The-Christmas-Spirit

I'm ashamed to say I worried about the tree before the nativity set.

I'm far from perfect and needed this reminder.

May you find CHRIST in Christmas this year.

Parker's Stair Adventure

Our lives just got a little more exciting. . .



Parker can now climb stairs Its funny how they sneak up on you and learn these things. Lucky both Troy and I saw him "practicing" at the same time. Troy from the bottom of the stairs, and me from the top. We were both able to run and help him finish getting to the top of the stairs, and then coach him back down. He was pretty tired by the time he got to the top, but he did pretty good for his first time. I have to say its fun to see him learn new things. I wish they would tell us when they about to try something so we could watch them and make sure they don't get TOO hurt.

OK OK OK maybe we should invest in a child gate or two.

8 Months - Time to baby-proof

Parker is now 8 months old. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. This month has been a fun one, and Parker has continued to grow and develop normally.

He is now eating solids 3 times a day

And he love to play with balls. He's pretty smart and has found if he throws the ball on the bottom shelf of the bookcase it will come back to him.

He is now officially crawling (although he still arm crawls sometimes)

A few days after he started "really crawling" he started "climbing" Nothing is safe now. He can now touch the VCR and DVD player, and can get books off the second shelf of the book case. He can also pull the drawers out of Troy's dresser. BTW I just went and checked on him after putting him down for a nap, and found he had pulled himself up, and he was STANDING at the side of his crib. All in all we really need to get to baby proofing.

LOOK Mom more buttons to play with :(

Climbing to the fireplace :(

He likes to spit. CUTE unless he's eatting.

Binky Battle

Parker loves his binky

Parker started out with a unruly desire to suck. I didn't want him to suck his thumb, because I figured when the time came for him to give up the sucking I could take away a binky, but I couldn't take away his thumb.

It took a while for him to keep the binky in his mouth by himself. We usually would have to hold it in so his little tongue didn't pop it out. He eventually got to the point he would hold it in himself, and it rarely popped out.

Recently he got to the point where he seemed to really love this little binky. It would give him great comfort. At night I would put him to sleep, and just put the binky in his crib with him. He would usually find it and start sucking away. If he would wake in the middle of the night he would cry for a short period of time, and then find his binky and go back to sleep.

Most recently he has decided if he throws the binky out of his crib he can just cry and cry and cry, and we willl come to his rescue. He did this for a few days, and then I decided he's just going to have to learn how to go on without it. Normally I wouldn't worry about a almost 8 month old having a binky, but given the situation I saw no other way.

The first two night were REALLY REALLY LONG. The first night I fed him at about 3am and then laid him back in bed. (Normally this is when he would find his binky, and fall asleep). He started to cry. I tried to let him just cry, but after an hour of crying, and then hearing him start to cough I went and comforted him. The next night he started to cry and I went in there and tried to hold him and comfort him, but he wanted nothing of that sort. Eventually I fed him and held him some more until he went to sleep.

Last night. . . . he slept over 8 hours and then I fed him, and he went right back to sleep. YIPEEE SKIPPY

I'm guessing our problem isn't over, but last night sure was delightful!!!!

Do something you love!!!

Parker ready for run with mom

Just because you love something doesn't mean you have to be the best at it. For that matter you don't even have to be good at it. All that matters is you enjoy the time you spend doing it.

MANY years ago I was a "fast" runner. I enjoyed it, but found myself running for others rather than myself. Today I run for myself. If I see a duck and want to watch it I'll stop and watch. I may not be as fast as I once was, but I enjoy the time I spend doing it, and that is all that matters to me.

I still push myself at times, as I find joy is seeing what the limit of my body is, but I do it on my own terms.

7 Months - Harvesting our pumpkin

Our monthly tradition is to take pictures of Parker. This month I decided to bring him to Garner Village to take some pictures of him with their wonderful Halloween decorations as the background. I told our friends about it and after their son fell in love with a pumpkin costume we decided we would go together.

Parker wasn't to thrilled to have to sit on the prickly hay, but he did quiet well. I learned it is much harder to get a good picture when you increase the number of babies in the picture.

I can't believe Parker is already 7 months old. For his 7 month old milestone I got him the H1N1 flu shot. He wasn't really to thrilled about the gift, but he forgave me really quickly.

Parker now has 2 complete teeth.

He getting better every day at getting around. He is getting really good at the army crawl, and will get on his knees, but hasn't actually crawled on them yet.

He loves to play with anything he shouldn't have (electrical cords, outlets, paper, plastic bags, etc)

He loves the tags on anything. I don't know what it is about the little black and white care instruction tags on blanks, plush toys, and pillows, but I'll tell you they entertain him.

He has really started liking his binky. If he sees me holding it he'll open his mouth really big so I can put it in for him. I hold it out for him to grab and put in.

He's is now eating solids twice a day and doing really good with it. There have been a few things he's made faces like he doesn't like it (like rice cereal mixed with water), but he eats it any ways pulling faces the whole time.

He truly has been a blessing, and it sure has been fun watching him grow and develop.

Parker and his best buddy Weston!

Bath Time Fun

Parker loves his baths, and I love his laughs and smiles.

They usually start out calm

Soon the splashing begins

Man does he love bath time.

First Camping Trip

On Saturday the 26th we went up to Spruces campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon for an overnight camp out with some friends of ours. It was CRAZY fun. We were the only ones there with a kid so they were so happy and willing (or should I say demanding) to hold Parker. I was worried Parker might get cold and not sleep well, and we would have a long night, but I'm happy to report he slept great, and was really happy the entire time. I hope we make this an annual tradition (that is, until they have kids j/k).

2 long sleeve onsies + 2 pairs of socks + 2 blankets + 1 hat + 1 heavy sleeper = 1 sleepy WARM baby.

A rare site, me holding Parker.

First Trip to the Zoo

After school on Thursday the 24th I met Parker and our friends Niki, and Weston as The Hogle Zoo. Parker enjoyed being out of the house for the afternoon, and I enjoyed walking around the zoo.

We go to see the WAY CUTE baby elephant,

And the EQUALLY AS CUTE baby giraffe,
(We also saw the ADORABLE baby tigers, but I didn't take a picture of them)

The SCARY leopard

And we even took a ride on the train and got DANGEROUSLY close to some bison, and who's idea was it to forget the fence around them. OK so they were on the far side of the field but still. . . Where was the fence.

It was a great opportunity, and I can't wait to bring him back next year.

6 Months - Halfy Birthday

I can't believe how time has flown by these last few months. It sure has been fun to watch this little one learn and grow.




This month has been a fun one:

Parker has loved playing with friends almost every day while Mom goes to school.
He has become a champion roller and can now roll across the room.
He has scooted forward a few times (usually to get something he shouldn't have like the remote).
He can sit-up for brief periods.
Usually sleeps 6-8 hours straight at night.
Sleeps good during the day at least one day a week.
He is for the most part a happy kid.
He is also starting to get some little pearly whites. (It looks like he's getting 2 on the bottom)
He is now getting big enough that I no longer enjoy carrying him in the front carrier.
We still aren't sure what color his eyes will be, right now they are a blue-brown combo.
He has learned to love jumping.


To celebrate Parker making it to 1/2 a year we gave him "solid" food.

He did really good with the food. It was like we couldn't get it to his mouth quick enough. He also really liked holding on to the spoon. We finally had to get him a spoon to play with so he wouldn't go crazy when we kept taking the spoon away from him.

I have to admit I have mixed emotions about this. I really enjoy nursing Parker. At times it is hard but for the most part I've had a good experience. At the same time, it sure is nice to get a little relief and know I can be gone for longer than 2 hours and Parker would be fine.

Grandpa Max

July 9, 1926 -- September 1, 2009

Troy's Grandpa's earthly mission is complete, but his memory will live on. Parker seemed to know what was going on better then we did. I was getting so frustrated with him the night of Grandpa's passing, because I he was being so fussy. It wasn't until later that night we found out grandpa had passed. I'm grateful we were able to visit with him not too long ago and got these pictures of him holding Parker.

Memories of Grandpa:
*Always "dressed up"
*Always happy
*Always had a punny line (Troy has a similar since of humor)
*Always had ice cream, and as you would eat it he would warn you, "You better watch out it might get in your mouth."
*Very Friendly

I remember going into his workshop and was fascinated by the bags of sawdust, I always wanted to take it home and put it into a big pile and jump into it like a pile of leaves. My dad somehow would always convince me that I didn't need to.

I will alway share the mission experience in Ireland, they served a church education system mission there 10 years before I did. I actualy remember singing "We will bring the world his truth (Armies of Helaman)", that song has been my favorite childrens hymn ever since.

While my grandparents lived in there old house there never was a visit without ice cream, Grandpa was always the one to scoop out the ice cream.

When we would eat over (maybe it was before ice cream) we woulod have to wash our hands, and when we were realy little grandpa would help, especially for drying our hands. Grandpa would hold the towel over his open hands and when I would put my hand in the town he would rub our hands vigorously until they were dry.

Every birthday Grandpa (and Grandma) would take us to lunch, our time of one on one [two]. It was even more special due to us rarely ever going out to eat as a family. We would always (when we were really little) go get a "Whopper" from burger king, Grandpa always said they were the best burgers.

Grandpa was a car man, he always would notice the cars make and models around him, and always drove.

he had "golden plates" that he made, I'm guessing for seminary, and showed us grandkids at a family night with all of the grandkids.

Whenever we would get a glass of water he would use the same line of "be careful it will get your mouth wet"

We are happy that families can be together forever.

5 Months

Man how time flies when you are having fun. I can't believe Parker is already 5 months old.

He has learned to roll over from his back to his front.
He now gets mad if he wakes and is swaddled.
He is sleeping better during the day.
He is nursing less often for shorter periods???
He loves to put anything and everything in his mouth.
He enjoys being outside.
He loves baths.

We are happy and proud that he is healthy, and growing.

Tour of Our Lemon-aid Stand

As requested here is a tour of our new house (AKA our lemon-aid stand). We hope to paint it in a few years to a more mellow color.

Front View
Front Room (it will probably be empty for a while)
Entry Way (I must say I love the tile that goes all the way to the kitchen, but not a fan that the kitchen sink is so visible from the front door).
Kitchen
Dining Area
Upstairs Bathroom
Master Bedroom

Office/Spare Bedroom

Parker's Room

DOWNSTAIRS

Family Room

Creative/Game/Play Area

Laundry/Storage/Sewing Room

Spare Bedroom

3/4 Bathroom (it doesn't look this good in real life)
Backyard (With our friend Gabe who we are tending)

Now that we are more settled we are really loving the place. I'm enjoying having so much open space. We still have a lot of work to do, but we will have plenty of time to get everything we want done in the coming years.

Thanks to all who helped make this move possible. We appreciate those who helped by moving our things, watching Parker, and cleaning both the new place and the old place. We feel blessed to have such great friends.