The long(ish) update!

Ok, so I actually typed up the update and thought I posted it just over a week ago. I wondered why I wasn’t getting any comments on it. Not even one... It was kind of strange to me. Well, turns out, I only saved as a draft rather than publishing. So sorry! I swear I did it! Ha ha! I don’t think I’ve ever had that problem before. I am adding a few things since it didn’t post when I meant for it to and more has happened since then. Somehow I lost the pictures that were here so I will have to add all of them in a separate post.

We really haven’t been up to too much; just hanging out.

Mommy:
I have been doing the same old thing… watching kids and taking care of the family. One of the girls I watch is my friend, Steph’s daughter. Graycen will soon be disappointed as her last day here is in a little over a week. She is only 12 days older than Graycen and its Graycen’s first real friend. Sometimes they don’t get along so well, but hey, that’s 2 year olds.
In honor of Emilie’s birthday a few of us ladies got together for some chatting, nummy food and smiles. It was so nice to see some familiar faces and get to munch on some great Italian food. We met at Buca and it was so good. I had never been before. And can’t believe all along I had been missing out on that food. Thanks for the good time Missy, April, Liz and Jill!
I was lucky enough to be able to make it out to one of David's shows - FINALLY! If you can believe it, it was my first time. I had a blast and it was fantastic to finally see him perform. I know he was happy I was able to come. He only thanked me about a million times. It felt good to go. It felt good to get out. I even had some drinks.. something I haven't done in years. That is nuts!
I got the tattoo on my foot that I have been longing for! Its 3 flowers on a small branch. It is on the top and side of my foot and the end of the branch kind of wraps up around my ankle bone. I was going in expecting the pain to be just the worst ever and I can honestly say it wasn’t that bad. Sure, it hurt like hell, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I would definitely do it again. So I guess that means I will be getting one on my other foot – eventually! It’s been like 5 years since my last so I was LONG overdue! If you're looking for a good place to go - we found a good guy! His name is Benny and he works at Fluid Ink in St Paul.
For Valentine’s Day we lucked out and were able to go to a movie together. We have already seen more movies in Parker’s 8 months of being born then we did of Graycen’s 2 years. Isn’t that crazy?? My sisters came over during the day while we caught a matinee. It was nice to get out even if it was only for a little bit.
I'm sad because my friend, Steph, is only going to be here in MN for another week. Her husband is in the Marines and they are relocating to Virginia next week to be with him. :-( Steph, you will be missed very much! You and Hailey!
My mom is coming over to watch the kids tonight. David has another show and I am able to go. It'll be a super easy babysitting job as both kids will already be seleeping when I leave. They don't go on until between 10 and 11 so I have plenty of time to get those kids to sleep first!

Daddy:
David has been working, like usual. He’s had a couple shows lately and they have been good for him. They’re trying to build up more of a fan base before their cd release party. It will make it all the more successful and with a bigger turnout too. He and Dino have also had my cousin, Nelle, in the studio lately. She plays the acoustic guitar and has a great voice! They’re trying to help her get her stuff recorded and I think they’re doing a pretty good job!
David went the week after I did to get another tattoo himself. It’s been about 2 years since his last tattoo so I am glad he finally went. He got it on his chest. It was an unexpected place for him but I like it. It looks good.

Graycen:
Graycen is rapidly approaching 3. In just about a week she will be 2 ½ and that is just nuts to me. Where does the time go? Her vocab is ever expanding and I swear the girl is older than 2 ½. She talks in sentences and she can definitely voice her opinions. Sometimes I have to kind of stand back and soak it all in. The fact that she can communicate with us so well makes my days so much easier. She loves to play with the food for her kitchen and with her kitchen. She’s all about pretending lately. It’s so cute.
Last week we were lucky enough to go to the Children’s Museum just Graycen and myself. It was a day that I didn’t have the youngest girl I watch and Hailey was home sick with her Steph. David had gone into work but came home early so Graycen and I could get out! We had such a good day. We went to the museum and played. It was probably about 2 ½ hours that we played. Afterwards we had some McDonald’s. I swear she was in heaven getting all of mommy’s attention all day long. What a lucky girl. It was the day of the nasty snow storm that we had. The ride home took us 1 ½ hours to get from the museum to New Brighton. It was horrible!
Over the weekend we were asked if Graycen could be a flower girl in our good friend's wedding. I am so excited to shop for a flower girl dress for her! She's going to look adorable!!! One thing that is really nice is Dana said we could get whatever dress we wanted. That will make things easier. I still requested a picture of her dress so I would have something to try and coordinate with. If you have any recommendations on where to get a good dress please let me know!

Parker:
Oh Parker. The boy is not a good sleeper at all. Never has been. He naps for 30 minutes at a time and has almost since the day he was born. Well, minus the brand new baby sleeping all the time sleep. It pretty much sucks. Don’t even get me started with bedtime. He needs to be rocked to sleep and then for the first 2 hours or so, he wakes up like every 25-40 minutes. It sucks. We attempted sleep training but I realized (after about 3 weeks with great progress and then a HUGE setback) that I was rubbing his back in the middle of the night to get him back to sleep. He then was relying on it in the middle of the night to go back to sleep. After that he got an icky cold so we had to completely stop. Now, we are ready to start up again. Wish us luck!
He’s got two teeth on the bottom and they are so cute. He talks (babbles) all the time. He is sitting so well and playing with toys. Just the other day last week I had set Parker down in the living room to play with the toys while I was doing the dishes when all of a sudden he was screaming bloody murder. I come out and he is sitting in front of the TV with his face smashed into the safety gate in front of it. He scooted his way almost all the way across the living room. When did this start?? Now within 10 minutes he makes his way across the room to play with different stuff. It’s adorable! I swear, before we know it, he will be crawling, standing and cruising. Oh man. Just last night he pulled himself up using the laundry basket. He was sitting and pulled himself up to a position where he was propped up on his knees. I know it’s not all the way but he’s working on it.
Parker was just introduced to the Baby Einstein video “Baby Neptune” last week. He had never seen one before. I totally should have gotten out the camera and caught his reaction. He just loved it. I have never seen him smile so much and get so excited about something. He seemed to especially love the puppets that they show. Graycen loves Baby Einstein videos, too. I guess they both do now!

I am sure more has happened for all of us but I just can’t seem to remember what. It’s been so long that I posted that I forget everything we’ve done in between. As I think of things I will post them.

Oh, we finally got our big TV that we’ve been wanting! We bought a Panasonic 50” Plasma. Let me tell you, it is amazing! I never really thought I would enjoy it as much as I do. I also got my Wii and Wii Fit that I have been wanting so bad! If only I used it now. Ha!