It's been a little while now.

I realized today, when Emily commented that she hadn't seen pictures of Parker in a while, that I need to post some pics of the kids! Here are some pics and then updates at the end!!

Hanging out with his activity gym - sucking on his fingers (like usual!)

Showing you how "The force" is with him.

Little Turkey #1 on Thanksgiving morning.

Little Turkey #2 on Thanksgiving morning.

His first time in the exersaucer. He liked it!

Parker wanted to go tubing with daddy & Graycen.

Graycen was just ready to go!

Walking up the hill with daddy to go down for the first time!

Daddy sliding her around to get a feel for it.

Playing in the snow with daddy.

She didn't like going down the hill with David on the tube also. She wanted to be a big girl and do it alone.

Have to have hot (warm) cocoa with marshmallows afterwards!

Parker at 5 ½ months –
The little (BIG!) guy is rolling over constantly. He rolls from his back to his stomach but gets mad because he can’t go back the other way. We haven’t started him on cereal yet. At his 4 month appointment the doctor was commenting on his ridiculously dry skin. She recommended we wait another month or two to start cereals since we may experience food allergies. Now that he is 5 1/2 months old we’ll probably start it soon.
He is getting better with his sleep. He was teasing us with full on, sleep through the night sleeping until about 2 months ago. Now he is up about every 4 hours. I know we’re at the milestone stage where this will happen. We deal with it by having toothpicks hold our eyes open!
He loves to lie on his activity mat and play with his fishies, sitting in the Bumbo or playing in the exersaucer. He does switch from extremely happy-go-lucky guy to sounding like he’s being murdered in a split second when he’s unhappy. His cry is so loud ALL THE TIME!
He jabbers all the time, laughs all the time and smiles all the time. He is the smileiest little baby I have ever seen. You can always get a smile out of him without too much effort.

Graycen at 2 ¼ years –
“Daddy, Mommy, look at me!” This is the saying that comes out of Grycen’s mouth the most. It’s adorable but can get so annoying sometimes. We thought we had quite the talked on our hands before – ha! She doesn’t shut up now. Talking in full sentences, asking questions, figuring out how to put different words together to achieve the result she is looking for. It’s amazing.
She can count to 5 with no help and to 9 with some help. Her favorite song is “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” complete with the motions.
Playing with Parker is something she has gotten really good about doing. She likes being the big sister and helping me with things – sometimes. When Parker wakes up after her in the morning, she comes in the room with me shouting, “Parker, it’s ok! I’m here! Mommy’s here, Graycen’s here!” Then she will sit next to him and pat his head telling him, “Parker, good mooooooorniiiiiing,” in her cute singsong little voice. Like always, she likes to read her books, color, cook food for anyone that will ‘eat’ it, watch movies, sign, sing, dance and just all around play!

Mommy –
I am currently getting stuff together to get prerequisites done for nursing school. I was going to apply for nursing school for the Fall 2009 semester, but I was such an idiot and forgot about my assessment testing and missed it. The deadline for submission of application and having your testing done was December 1. Of course, when was I supposed to go take my test? Two days before Thanksgiving. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. There are quite a few pre-reds I would have had to complete by September and it would have been a little bit of a struggle to get them all done. I mean, I could have done it, but it would have been tricky. So, now the plan is for me to get everything done and apply for the fall 2010 school year. I am pretty excited!
I have found a new love for the sewing machine. I haven’t had much time to be able to do my fun extra-time things lately, but that’s ok.
I went to the eye doctor about a month and a half ago and found out I have 20/20 vision. I could use reading glasses if I absolutely felt it were necessary but the eye doctor said (in not so many words) it would be a waste of my money to get them.
The same day I had my eye appointment, I had an appointment with the dermatologist to have a full body skin check, to get some moles and skin tags removed and to get some medication for my head and face. It was a good appointment. She took off 5 moles and prescribed me some medications, thankfully! I was surprised with how painless it was to have the moles removed. She waited on the skin tags until about a week and a half ago when she wanted me to come back to see how the medications were working and how the removals were healing.
When I went back a week and a half ago, she had to go back and take the entirety if a mole that was on my back. She had called me on the evening of Halloween to say that there was something about the cells with the mole that they didn’t like and were recommending it be removed entirely. So, I definitely won’t fight that one! I went back, they cut me open, cut it all out and stitched me up. I had to have 6 stitches on the surface. Poor David had to clean it out for me since I can’t reach it.
I’ve currently lost 22 pounds and still going…


Daddy –
It’s that time of year again. Holiday season in retail is never fun. He’s swamped with work 100% of the time that he’s there.
Their album is currently being mastered and they have to wait for them to be pressed. Looking at another couple of months until it is ready and then I am sure there will be a huge cd release show for them. I know David can’t wait for that to happen!
David has his eye doctor appointment on Thursday morning. The poor guy needs glasses so bad. I know he is excited for this, too. Since now he will be able to see well! I am excited because he looks so cute with glasses on!