Fire Station

Our ward playgroup went and toured a local fire station. Since I know my son pretty well, I figured that he would want to go. I thought that he would act like he didn't care while we were there, and then he would talk about it all day long afterwards.

And I was pretty much right. He was so excited to go. When we got there he got nervous, and seemed on the verge of tears for a little while.

He didn't want to go into the fire truck or go sit on the back of the brush(?) truck... until his friend Lincoln did those things. So thanks to Lincoln for being a good example to my son.

Here's Parker trying to climb out of the fire truck ASAP


And Parker sitting by Lincoln

And then, of course, for the rest of the day Parker talked about it. On the way home he hardly stopped to breathe when he was telling me about their beds, and the ambulance, and the jackets, etc.

So we had fun and I'm glad we got to go. And I love my silly Parker and his super-shy-uber-cautious little self.

Dancing and Playing

So first... yes both my kids are in their skivvies in these videos. Parker is usually dressed- this was a unique circumstance for him. But lately, that's the way Aria is like 75% of the time at home. She's a messy eater, and bibs don't work with her so she ends up crawling around in just her diaper most of the time.
Now that that is out of the way you can watch my nearly-naked children and all of their cuteness.
Here is how Aria dances.

It's all in the arms

And then the kiddos playing together.

This must my favorite thing in the whole world. Having a child is magical. Having two is twice the fun. But when your kids love each other and play together- it is something beyond fabulous.

Random Stuff

Parker got a little too excited with the stickers
Peek-a-Boo!

Swinging in the backyard with my babies

Parker tried ribs for the first time..... mmmmmmm

Playing in the balls


Flying like Peter Pan, singing "you can fly, you can fly"

Baby Parker

Parker loves to hear about when he was a baby. Most often he'll say "Talk about me being borned" One day he had me talk about it for like half an hour and I ended up getting a little emotional (surprise, surprise). So the next day he asked me to talk about when he was born, and after a couple of minutes he asked me to "Be crying because Parker was born"

Anyway, he has learned a lot about when he was born, he knows it was in December, near Christmas. He knows it was cold outside, but not cold in the hospital. And he knows who came to visit him, etc, etc, etc. And now he loves to look at pictures of when he was in the hospital and when he was a newborn.

Last week when Parker was in the hospital he got a little confused; he kept saying he didn't want to be born.

But a few times he asked for Kyle to be there. I think that was influenced by this picture:

Cousins together on the day Parker was born. Kyle and Parker were born just 17 days apart.

But the best picture is this one: Parker laying on my lap when he was 3-1/2 months old.

The reason that this is the best picture from Parker's early months is because of how he reacts when he sees it:

He laughs like that every time I bring up that picture.

I love this boy!

In The Hopsital**

What's been going on in our house this week? Well....

On Monday morning Parker would cough a little then he would say "I don't feel good" and then throw in a few more coughs. I thought that most of the coughs were fake. They sounded fake and he has taken to pretending to be sick or hurt in order to get extra attention. So I figured he was fine; but when he complained multiple times I gave him both of his allergy medications, just in case.

Monday evening his cough became a very dry, 'barking' cough. So we pulled out the cough syrup, humidifier and we tried to give him some extra fluids. Overnight he coughed constantly. And he had a temperature of 102-103 all night- even Tylenol and cool rags and cold drinks didn't help.

Tuesday he is struggled to breathe and coughed, and whined and cried a lot.

We went in to the Doctor. He was diagnosed with Croup. He was given a shot of steroids, and a breathing treatment with albuterol. Parker didn't like the shot, and he HATED the nebulizer, and since his breathing didn't improve we used the nebulizer again- this time with epinephrine. The only thing that would keep him calm during the treatments was me singing 'I am a Child of God' I probably sang it a thousand time that day.

Anyway, still no improvement in his breathing, so we were sent to the Emergency Room. Another breathing treatment and a chest X-ray later we were discharged with a prescription for an oral steroid.

So he was much better Tuesday night and Wednesday, then Wednesday night was bad, I mean Horr.i.ble. Thursday morning I called the Doctor again, and they told me to take him back to the hospital. He got a heavier dose of medicine and we were sent on our way.

Now he's doing pretty well, we're just working to keep the kids separate. Croup gets worse and worse as kids get younger, so we really don't want Aria to catch this.

Parker's favorite part... the ID bracelet they put around his ankle each time.

They also gave us a free stuffed duck and a book- I guess they give stuff to kids when they visit the ER to keep them happy.

It's been a rough week though, lots of waking and worrying at night. Lots of whining and tantrums (mostly from Parker, maybe a little from me).

**Hopsital is how Parker says Hospital, it's so cute. He talks about it a lot since he knows he was born there... but that's another post

Bath Time

I happen to think that my two kids are the two cutest kids on the planet. And being in the bath magnifies the cuteness. Oh, and towel pictures too!

Splash Park Time Again

It's that time of year again.
We've been heading out to the Splash Park.

We've already gone a few times and I expect to go many many more times before the heat is gone. (Last year we went at least once a week all summer long)

Kids in swimsuits are adorable, so I have a few pictures that were taken before we even left the house.

This is one reason why it's fun to have a girl. I think Parker is ridiculously adorable, but honestly he NEVER looked this cute in a swimsuit:

Parker put together this outfit himself. (If you couldn't tell) His bright green striped swim shorts, a red and white striped shirt that he calls "Amberica" (since it looks like the American flag) and a camo cowboy hat

Aria has a goofy hat too

Aria climbing the stairs before we go- man I want to devour that yummy looking thigh
Two little bums as the babies go up the stairs.


Eventually I do put the camera down and we leave the house.

Once I got there early, so I showed Parker (and Aria) the big tunnel nearby. He learned about echoes that day.

Parker trying to grab the ladybug he had been watching:

Sometimes Parker will play in the water.He loves to play with these blue spray guns.

But he still spends a lot of time looking like this:

He often ends up avoiding the water, and just watching all the other kids play- I don't get it, but hey, if it makes him happy- then whatever

Aria on the other hand kind of likes the water

And playing with toys

She also enjoys trying to eat rocks and leaves.
For some reason Parker loves to eat at the park or the splash park so I always bring plenty of snacks.

I guess playing at the park makes you hungry...

and thirsty...

and tired.

And who doesn't love a good hooded-towel picture?

Growing Up

So Aria has started taking steps. Can you believe it? A newborn baby about to walk! Okay, okay so she's close to 10 months, it just fells likes she's a brand new infant.

And worse.... communication! She has clearly understood when we sign milk, more, and eat for awhile now, but she has now used one of her own. She signed 'bath'. Twice. Which is an appropriate word for this girl to learn: she loves the water and she loves the bath.... a lot.

This picture is completely unrelated, but I can't resist posting a picture of my princess

Weight Check

Yesterday we had another doctors appointment for Aria.

Two months ago she was dropped under the 10th percentile for weight and was labelled as a failure to thrive, then one month ago she had gained nearly a pound and was sitting right on the 10th percentile, well, now she is 16lbs 4 oz- still cruising along the 10th percentile.

She is 27" tall so she maintained the 25th percentile for height.

Since all of her blood work came back normal and she has been gaining a normal amount of weight over the last two months, they don't see any reason to worry at all. She's just showing signs of being petite. Which is always just fine, especially for a girl

Born of Goodly Parents

The other night we had our friends, the Holdaways, over for dinner and FHE, and Tatum brought some awesome Book of Mormon dress up clothes for the occasion:
Jason fleeing Jerusalem with his daughter:

Going and getting the plates:
Lehi and Nephi playing with a dump truck:

These boys were so cute... walking around with swords and robes. I loved it.