Parker is 4!

My sweet Parker turned 4 at the end of December.
He was super excited for his birthday.

Eating Special birthday breakfast
(junk cereal)

When he woke up in the morning I told him Happy Birthday and even sang to him. Several times throughout the day I would sing a birthday song to him, either the traditional 'Happy Birthday' or one of the primary songs-
Every time he would just look at me and when I was finished he would say "I want to just sing Rudolph, instead." So we sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer a handful of times on his birthday.

That evening we had a combined birthday party since my nephew's birthday is just a few dats after-- and my sister and her family were in town.

A couple days later we went to the doctor. Parker was so brave with his shots he had one little tear roll down his cheek- and then just wanted hugs afterwards. It was so sad and sweet.

At the doctor he was:

 39.4 lbs--60th%

41" tall--60th%

And a few pictures of my handsome boy:

Nursing his pink bear

Hammering some packing foam in the backyard

silly

Rockstar!

And some things going on with Parker lately:

He is super smart and makes some amazing connections. And generally speaking he is, I think, much more logical than the average 4 year old. But he recently has started saying things which are obviously correct, but then he looks at me like- "See, mom- I figured it out"
Simple silly things like.
"If we go outside- then we'll be out there, but if we don't go outside- then we'll be in here"
"If it's cold then it's cold; if it's hot then it's hot"
You get the idea- perfectly infallible logic, however unimpressive the conclusion is.
One that I loved though (and it did seem pretty smart)
I don't remember what it was but he kept trying to take something away from Aria and saying that it was his. I told him it was everyone's. And he responded "If it's everyone's, it's just the same as if it is no one's" And if you think about it, he's right.

Parker loves helping. He loves to run and grab something, help stir, help with Terra, etc. And he is such a good brother.


Parker doesn't talk like a 4 year old- He uses big words.
He was in the hospital for a couple of days, and needed to be carried since he couldn't walk on his own. I offered to carry him and he said "Actually, I would rather have Daddy carry me instead" The nurse was shocked and even laughed a little at the way he said it. But then he added "Because you're just a little bit more shorter than Daddy."
I'm not rephrasing his sentences- he really uses the words actually and rather.
He'll also say: perhaps, compared to, especially, regarding and few more I can't think of.


Parker loves trains. Seriously, he's obsessed. A pretty good amount of what he got for Christmas and his birthday involved trains in some way.

Parker has an unbelievable imagination. He's always playing pretend, and as he's gotten older it has gotten more involved. It would be hard to explain some of his imaginary play- but believe me- it's awesome!

Every night before bed he wants to "Talk about my good day" So we just talk about the things he did during the day.

Oh, how these 4 years have flown by! It makes me want to cry- but I also love watching him get older.

YouTube

So I set up a YouTube Channel.

I just have a lot of videos of the kids that are so fun- some I have posted to the blog, but many I did not share before.
Click here to see it

This is more for the grandparents I guess, but if you are having a bad day you can pop over and watch my super-amazingly-almost-painfully cute kids. I'm sure it will make you smile.

It made me smile for sure. I plan on adding more, but what I've done so far was so much fun to do- because I got to watch all of these videos of my kids.

I said things like:
"He/she was so little!"
"I forgot that he/she used to do that"
"My kids are so cute!"
A lot.

It makes me want to do even better about capturing all of the fun things my kids do so I can look back and remember them forever!

Parker's Pregnancy

So I did Parker's birth story last year for his 3rd birthday and it made me think about my pregnancy with Parker. I was not keeping a journal at the time and hadn't started the blog yet- so here's a post that is mostly for me. Read it if you like but I can't promise it will be interesting.

After Jason and I had been married a little less than a year, we decided to start trying to get pregnant. Jason had a job lined up for after graduation, and we were about to buy a house- so why wait? Plus I was convinced that it would take months to get pregnant so we might as well get started. Ummmm job and house yes, taking months...no.

I actually had an irregular cycle and got pregnant IMMEDIATELY. I mean within days of when we started trying.

Of course I didn't know that right away. But just a short time later I came home from work on a Monday and I just went to bed. I didn't eat dinner, I didn't even talk to Jason. I dropped my shoes and purse in the middle of the floor and fell asleep on top of the bed. I was too tired to take off my uncomfortable work clothes or even get under the blanket. I just went to sleep. I woke up to my alarm and went to work feeling exhausted all day. A somewhat similar pattern continued all week.
I was pretty sure that I was pregnant- but I hadn't taken a test (it was way too soon for when I 'should' have been able to) So, on my lunch break, I walked over to the Walgreens in the parking lot of where I worked.

My walk over there confirmed my suspicions. See, I never had a very good sense of smell. At the bank everyone would talk about the way that money would smell when it came in from Subway, or Einstein Bagels or Cold Stone of something. I never noticed the smell. But on my way to Walgreens I walked past a nail salon and a Subway. Both smells overwhelmed me as I was just passing their front door. I knew that if I could now smell the Subway smell- then I must be pregnant.

I still wanted to take a test, because- you know, that makes it real. So I bought a test, took it home and planned to take the test, tell Jason and then when the 3 minutes were up we would go look. Well- that didn't work. It showed up with a positive sign before I could even set it down.
So I told Jason- and there was much rejoicing. We had a due date of January 6th.

Anyway- I continued to be tired for the next few weeks (just not quite as bad) and I got morning sickness. I threw up a few times a week (from 5 weeks to 18 weeks) but I felt nauseous all day and I got super motion sick all the time. I wore motion sickness wrist bands and that helped, a little. But mostly I just had to wait it out.

At each appointment they would measure my fundal height. I was way too big. At 13 weeks I was measuring where I should have been at 19 weeks. We would find out why later. Otherwise things were going well.

Me and my baby belly at 17 weeks

We had the ultrasound in Early August.- I told you, we got pregnant fast... and I was able to take my pregnancy test really really early. And My fundal height continued to measure off the charts. Well, when we had our ultrasound we found out that Parker was way too big. He was measuring 15 days older than we thought.

They moved his due date up by two weeks- December 22nd.



The Gun Show



Parker made it easy on us... it was very clear that it was a boy. We had already picked out the name Parker James if it was a boy- so we were all set for December.

They realized that my fundal height would be off by two weeks because of the due date change, but that still left me measuring about 4 weeks too large. The ultrasound helped show the other reason. I had too much amniotic fluid. You know how they say you need to have a full baldder for your ultrasound? well- they made me go to the bathroom in the middle of the ultrasound TWICE- because with a full bladder and excess fluid it was actually too hard to see anything with the ultrasound.

What's the deal with ecxessive amniotic fluid? This is not a dangerous condition in pregnancy- it just meant that my belly was going to get very big, and Parker would have plently of room to swim around :)

Well life went on and we got closer to the due date.


32 weeks at Disneyland



Why was I at Disneyland when I was in my third trimester? Don't ask me - it wasn't my idea. The whole Tieman family went. I hoped they're not offended when I say it was not as much fun as a trip to Disney ought to be. We had some fun, but I couldn't go on most of the rides. My feet were disgustingly swollen by the end. I constantly had to pee which meant lots of trips into public restrooms- yuck. 32 weeks is not a good time to spend several days just walking around- especially with a super impatient husband who wants to practically run from ride to ride instead of going at a slow pregnant waddle pace.

A couple of weeks later, I was a fat pregnant bridesmaid at my little sister's wedding.

Then, I quit work and sat on my butt for a few weeks waiting for Parker to show up.

On my due date- December 22nd.

See, my belly really did get big. Most women's stomachs will measure between 38 and 40 cm when they are 40 weeks pregnant. I was 49. It was awesome. EVERYONE would come up to me and ask if I was having twins- quite a while before my due date even. That's what excessive amniotic fluid will do for you!

I was also pregnant at Christmas.

But finally the big day came, on December 28th, and we had our precious Parker to bring home.

So that's How Parker joined our family--For the birth story go here.

From 3 to 4

So, I got a little behind on the blog- and I've been catching up. Parker turned 4 on December 28th. So now I will do my traditional month by month pictures of Parker between his 3rd and 4th birthdays.

This first one is one that I never blogged about but should have. Parker loved going to primary- and he would constantly play 'church' while he was at home (Like multiple times a day). He would go to the loft set up chairs 'plug-in' one of the play microphones and have pretend prayers, talks, singing time etc.

Playing church in January

With stuffed animals in February

Handsome boy in March

At the park in April

May

A Big brother in June

Reading at the cabin in July

Ready to swim in August

Silly face in September 

October

Finger Painting on himself in the bath- November

My handsome guy- December

Santa

My cute kids in Santa hats

Dressing Up

Aria loves getting dressed and dressing up.
She tries to get dressed by herself every morning, and very often she refuses help so she goes out in ridiculous outfits, with shirts or pants (or both) on backwards or inside out.
She also likes putting on accessories, backpacks, purses, hats, gloves, bracelets, etc.
Here's a good one:

 High heels, gloves, a purse and sunglasses, with her 'nunny' (bunny)

 Aria with her favorite purse (she has several)

Then she swung it over her neck and said "buckbuck" (backpack)

Then one evening (After dark) I said we were going to go for a walk

 She went and got her heels again, with her purse, sunglasses and hat.

Even though it was dark she wore those glasses and that hat the whole time.

I seriously love this little girl.

6 Months

Terra turned six months old on December 26th.
I took her to the Doctor on the 30th and here are her stats:
16lbs 0oz 50th%
26" tall, 50th%
Head circumference was about the 75th%

Terra is doing great.

She still isn't the best sleeper, especially during the day, but she sleeps through the night at least a few times a week.

Terra is the best cuddler. She curls right up against you and it is so sweet.

She loves to eat baby food.
I should really get a video of it, but she'll be in her high chair whining while she waits for me to be ready to feed her-- and then the instant I put the spoon in her mouth she makes this cute/happy sound and starts to smile- she seriously loves eating.

Eating Ice Cream ;)

Terra does not 'crawl' yet, but she can move all across the room, and if she's motivated she'll go FAST.

She can also sit up.

Right when she turned six months she could only sit up for a minute, or she would tripod (like the picture above) but today she took a bath with Aria and they were in there for almost an hour, and she sat up the whole time.

Terra still has no teeth, which seems normal for my babies, and I'm happy about it- I LOVE a big toothless baby grin- and I'm in  no hurry to see that go (or to nurse a baby that has teeth- I've yet to experience that!)

Also, I don't remember what grievous sin I committed, but Heavenly Father is apparently punishing me. 

I know this because:

1. Terra has problems when I eat chocolate.

2. Terra is not ticklish.

Why must I have a baby that is not ticklish at all, and not be able to eat chocolate--WHY?

Oh well, I still love this chubby little baby like crazy

We're glad she's been around these last 6 months.

Temple Lights

Early in December we took the kids to Mesa to see the Temple lights.

It was fabulous- our kids LOVE Christmas lights. and we went early enough that it wasn't too freezing or very busy at all.

I carried Terra in the carrier zipped up under my jacket the whole night. 

People were dying with the cuteness of seeing this chubby little face popping out under that hat

My other kids happen to be pretty dang cute, too!

Our whole family!

We love Christmas lights, but it's really great to go see them at the Temple where we are surrounded by the real reason for the season- I'm so grateful to be sealed to my family in the Temple and for My Savior, Jesus Christ.

Crowded

I love my munchkins- and I guess they love me.

Proof:

All 3 kids sitting on me.

Suzy Homemaker

So I found this Market on the Move thing here is Surprise and I can get bulk produce for CHEAP- 

but seriously it is in BULK- and I was able to freeze large amounts of zucchini and green beans and we ate lots of melon, but to preserve some large amounts of cucumbers and tomatoes I canned my own tomatoes and made my own pickles.

Canning scared me for a long time- but turns out it's not as bad as I thought- I survived! I am totally proud of myself!