Since you've been gone.....

...Er, actually, since I'VE been gone a lot has happened. Obviously it would take me forever and a day to update everything that we've done in the last 3 months, so I'll give you the quick rundown.

• I got another tattoo! Well, it's technically two (one on each shoulder) but I say one. It's a pair of swallows. I got them for the kids. Swallows represent loyalty and pride. They always come back home and I would like to think that I am home to Graycen and Parker.

• We got family pictures done by Emily Schnick, who happens to be an old friend of David's family. It was sort of a One Year birthday shoot for Parker/family picture day. We went down to Hidden Falls in Highland Park and Emily shot our pictures. She did a FANTASTIC job! You should go check her out!


• Parker turned one! Woo hoo and Boo Hoo all at the same time. My little baby is officially a toddler now and it's such a bittersweet moment. He started walking about a month after his birthday and now he's all over the place.

• Parker was officially diagnosed with food allergies. After a scary discovery that he was allergic to peanuts (I had to call 9-1-1 even) we had the allergy testing done again. Turns out he is allergice to peanuts, eggs and soy.  We now have to be very aware of what he eats and always carry around EpiPens. I'll write more on this one later.
• Our sweet niece, Ava Mae, was born to my little brother, Zach and his fiancee, Emma on June 28. She is absolutely adorable!
• Graycen went and spent the weekend up north with Grandma, Grandpa and Buttons. Now, Buttons is their dog and while up there those two created such a bond. She sure loves that puppy. This was her first time away from home so it was pretty rough on myself, David and Parker. Parker was so grumpy and whiney the whole time she was gone. Poor guy missed his sister. She had a great time though! There's another trip in the works, we'll just see when it will be!

• We made a trip to Como Zoo and the kids enjoyed it like they always do!

• As a family we went out to this mini family fun day at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove. Graycen had fallen asleep on the way out there so she was a grump for the first little bit that we were there. She got to do a few little crafts, but her favorite thing was when she got "a tattoo" on her cheek. She sat till long enough for the lady to paint a tiger with a rainbow on her cheek. It was pretty cute.

• Graycen was a flower girl in our friends, Dino & Dana's wedding. She was adorable in her little dress and tiara. She wouldn't cooperate for pictures, but did so well walking down the aisle with Bobby (the ring bearer) It was a beautiful wedding and we couldn't have been happier to have Graycen in it.

• Graycen was asked to be flower girl in another wedding! Our niece, Katie, is getting married next August and her and Josh decided to ask if Graycen would like to be their flower girl. She was super excited when I asked her if she would like to. Of course we accepted!
• David and I got a night out and went and enjoyed Jason Mraz at the Xcel Center. He was amazing, as he always is. His openers were Bushwalla, K'Naan and G. Love & Special Sauce. The show was fantastic!!

• The whole gang made the trip to the fair. The kids were great and they both fell asleep in the stroller, which allowed more time for David and I to stroll around and look at more stuff (and of course, eat more!)

• I made Ambassador at school. In short, what this means is I'm kind of like an honors student/teacher's aide. I will be graduating with additional honors because of it. You're chosen based on your grades, attendence, behaviors and participation. I'm very proud to say I have kept my GPA at 3.89 and have only missed 2 days of school. Not too bad!
• We met up with my aunt Diane at the MN Zoo. Graycen instantly became her bestie and they hung out the whole time. It was a great time, the weather was perfect and since the fair was going on - we really had no traffic there!


• We tried to get Graycen into Head Start. Did you know there are income guidelines and waiting lists to meet to be able to get into this program? That's crazy to me, but whatever. Anyways, because I am in school we actually meet the income guidelines right now BUT there is a huge waiting list. There were 174 kids on the list ahead of where we would be had we chosen to put Graycen on it. The average wait time to get her in - 8-14 months. No thanks, we'll find somewhere else.. even if it means we have to pay to get her in there.
• Graycen turned three! We had a mini celebration at my aunt Rae's house last Sunday when they had a BBQ and we brought a cake and it turned into a little party.

• 
  
  Saturday was her actual birthday and Ma (David's mom) came down for the day. Our plan was to hit up Como Zoo after we went brithday hopping for the girl, but there was seriously no place to park over there. It was horrible. Change of plans - we went to Applebee's for some lunch and then went back home. Both kids fell asleep in the truck on the way home and Graycen stayed asleep. We waited awhile then woke her up so we could do cake and presents before Ma had to leave for home. It was a good day.

(don't know why the cake is sideways)

I'm sure there's more but my brain is fried for the moment. If I think of something I will add it in.

Happy Half Birthday Parker!

I can't believe our little (BIG) guy is 6 months old already. Where does the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday that Graycen was born. Oh man!
Parker had his 6 month well baby check today, coincidentally. He checks out healthy, like usual, and a big guy! His stats were: Weight - 21 pounds 6 ounces (97th percentile) and Height - 28 inches (90th percentile) He's a big guy, just like his sister was.

• He loves to roll over and gets mad when he can't reach something or roll back.
• He loves to sit for short periods of time and just today, while sitting (unassisted) he reached for a toy that Graycen had in her hands. I couldn't believe he kept his balance, too!
• He started rice cereal just about a week ago. We held off due to his skin irritations. It has been confirmed today that it is Eczema. Go figure - he has skin problems just like his mommy.
• He mostly sleeps through the whole night - usually waking one time to eat and then going back to sleep.
• Naps are still shorter than I would like them to be (at 30-45 minutes each), but apparently they are considered "normal" as long as those naps in combination with his night sleep add up to where they should be.
• He loves watching Graycen play, dance, talk - whatever! He thinks it is funny when she cries. Graycen hates that!
• He loves the Exersaucer, Bumbo, his floor mat and his bouncer chair. Well, he pretty much loves everything as long as he isn't left alone to lay on the floor with nothing to play with/look at.

The boy is getting too old, too fast. It's only a matter of time before he's crawling and before we know it, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. Oh my gosh!

Huge Update

So, I realize I haven't posted for real in like a month now. That is just crazy. I'm sorry everyone! I will try to be better at this (again!) In the last month a lot has happened:
We went to the fair, Graycen turned 2, we had a visit from ma, Parker turned 3 months, Graycen started potty training, Graycen attended her first Mary Kay party, we went to the apple orchard.. see a lot of stuff happened!
Since I have already started this post I am going to write everything out and then I will create another post with the millions and millions of pictures.

August 30 - Graycen and Parker's first trip to the MN State Fair
David happened to have a half day at work. He got home at like 12:30 and we decided just right then and there that we were going to the fair. We found a parking spot (which was a good close one!) got everyone unpacked and headed in. We no more than left the gates when David got a call from Dino. They were on their way to the fair and wanted to know what we were up to. Since we were already there he asked if they could meet up with us. Sure! So, we ate some stuff, walked around and just had a good time. I had been waiting for the fair since I was pregnant with Parker so I could eat all of this nummy stuff and since I am on Weight Watchers, i chose not to indulge in everything I had wanted. I ate corn on the cob, a couple of fries and too many of Sweet Martha's cookies. Graycen had her first roasted corn on the cob as well as her first Sweet Martha's cookies - oh no, she's hooked! Graycen fell asleep right before we left and slept until we got home. She was a mess and definitely needed a bath when we got home. My feet were also disgusting. I couldn't believe it. Parker slept the entire time we were there. Go figure.

September 5 - Graycen turned 2 years old!
Graycen woke up in a good mood this day. It's like she just knew it was something special. We didn't do anything, really. I had the boys to watch and we celebrated her birthday with them with mini, pink, sprinkled cupcakes at lunch. After the boys left her aunties and nana stopped by to deliver some birthday gifts. She had a blast and was a riot - dancing for everyone! Later on we played some Guitar Hero III (Graycen absolutely LOVES GH) ate some pizza and bread sticks, which David picked up from Little Caesar's and just had a good family night with the birthday girl. We put her to bed and reflected on the last two years. Always a way to make me cry!

September 9 - Graycen attended her first Mary Kay party and was a total diva!
So, I had a Mary Kay party. Graycen was home and awake while this was going on. Being the total girl that she is, she wanted in on this makeup thing. So Natalie made up a little makeup tray for her and let her go to town. I didn't mind! Graycen put lipstick, liner, eyeshadow, blush and lotions all over her face. She definitely looked like she was ready to go to war with her war paint. It was so cute!

September 13 - Ma came down to visit and celebrate Graycen's birthday
Ma was unable to come down the weekend of Graycen's birthday to celebrate it with her so she came down the following weekend. Ma did the traditional grand kid birthday day - took her shopping! Graycen got her winter coat, some footie pajamas, socks and a new pair of shoes.Oh and of course, it wouldn't be a birthday without a toy too. She bought her a bag of Mega Blocks (which Graycen just loves!) We were sad to see her go - as usual - and always wish she could stay longer.


September 17 - Graycen started potty training - successfully!
For some reason today was the day that the whole potty thing really struck Graycen as something she wanted to be involved in. We have been trying the potty thing but haven't been pushing it. Lately we kind of pushed it to the side since it seemed like she really wasn't too interested. Well, today was different. She decided at one point she wanted to go potty while I was going. I said OK and let her hop up on the big potty (she LOVED this!) she went and was super excited. She jumped down and yelled, "I did it! It's awesome!" we high-fived and she ran out to tell David. He got excited and came in to look. She repeated the above again. It was too cute. All day long, about every 5-10 minutes she said she had to go potty so we decided to bring her potty chair out of the bathroom and let her run around sans undies all day to see how it went. Much to our surprise, she came to me telling me she needed to potty but kept pointing to the big potty. I took her in and she pooped. First day really on the potty and she pooped. Of course, I had to get a picture of it. She was so proud and so were we!
Since that day she has been doing GREAT with potty training. She doesn't wear a diaper during the day and uses the potty all day long (the big and little - whichever she feels like at the time) She only wears a diaper to bed and nap time which the past few days she has been waking up dry!! YAY!! We were out for about 5 hours this weekend and had her in a pull-up. She kept it dry the entire time- telling us when she needed to potty. As a reward/motivational tool we let her pick out big girl undies on Saturday. She picked a pack of Dora and a pack of Ariel. She loves them and is so excited to wear them! This is going great *knock on wood*


September 20 - Our trip to Emma Krumbee's Apple Farm
We had anther family day and went out to Emma Krumbee's in Belle Plaine. Let me just say, I feel like we wasted our time and money. We drove for an hour to get to a place that wasn't worth the $5/adult we had to pay to get in. Basically we spent $20.95 on a half peck of Honeycrisp apples. Yay!
There was a hay pile that you could jump in, on and off of. Graycen enjoyed that part! They had scare crows which people made all around. We looked at them but Graycen didn't really care about them. They had, what they would like to call a petting zoo. It wasn't. It was a fenced in area which contained some miniature horses, donkeys and goats. All of the animals were in the shade next to the barn and really only came up to the fence if you had some feed. We made our way back to the car and that was about it. Boring, right? Next time (which will be later this season) we are going to try out Afton. We'll see how that goes!

September 22 - Parker turned 3 months old!
Where has the time gone? Parker is already 3 months old. He smiles like crazy, has GREAT head control, sits in the Bumbo chair, chats with you like he's never going to talk again, sleeps through the night, naps so well and well, he's just a great baby! He's continuing to be huge! He is rapidly growing out of the 6-9 month clothes that we have already. It's just nuts! He watches Graycen with so much intensity. It's adorable to watch him stare at her. Graycen is doing so much better with him than she had been. She doesn't hit him anymore, thankfully! when he cries she gets concerned. It's cute.

Parker at two months

So, Parker is 2 months old today and I can hardly believe it! I just don't know where the time goes. It honestly makes me kind of sad. Before we know it, he'll be turning one.
Parker surprised me with his first laugh today. I was bouncing him on my knee (trying to get out a burp) when a huge smile emerged and then came a laugh! I thought it was a fluke. I continued to bounce him and he laughed again....and again! I tried to duplicate it when David got home, but no luck. Maybe tomorrow?
He is awake so much more during the day. It's great! He is an AWESOME sleeper at night (something we didn't have so much with Graycen) He typically sleeps for about a 7-7.5 hour stretch from between 8-9pm and 3-4:30am, wakes up to eat and then back to sleep until between 7-8am. I was lucky enough to get an 11 hour stretch on Tuesday night. He slept until 8:30am with no middle of the night feeding. I couldn't believe it!
He does great with tummy time. Graycen (and just about every other baby I know) hated tummy time.
Here are some pictures of him from today.

Mad because I put him down to take his picture.

Happy because I picked him back up and put him on my lap.

5 Years

Today is our 5 year anniversary. I can't believe it has been 5 years. So much has changed between us and in our lives since the day we got married. We have lived in a handful of places, gone through the "friends" you have as you readjust to life in a different way and have had a couple of different jobs. The biggest change is our family life- we have one beautiful, intelligent, exuberant daughter and a son on the way. We are so proud of our children and so proud of the little girl we have raised Graycen to be. I couldn't imagine our lives any differently and that's ok with me!

Last night I made David a card. I haven't made a card since Valentine's Day and it felt really good to make it. I like it more than any card I have ever made. It's simple but cute. Here's a picture of the outside/front.

Hi Parker!

Last night I was sitting there feeling Parker move around like crazy and watching my belly morph into crazy shapes while he moved. David came over to see/feel it all. He started talking to Parker and then got Graycen to come over. He kept saying "Can you say hi to Parker? Can you say hi?" She rubbed my belly a little bit, waved and said "Hiii...Pahkur" David and I looked at each other and instantly both of our eyes welled up with tears. It was such a sweet moment and I am glad we were both home for it. I wish we had it on video but at the same time am very happy we don't - it can always be a moment that we know about and can remember together.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

Last month we took Graycen to Target to get her 18 month/Easter pictures taken. I didn't post the online images because we were going to surprise David's parents with them (by sending them in the mail to them without their knowing) Well, my dearest ma, she decided to join Facebook, where I have posted Graycen's pictures, and she saw them! So... no surprise anymore and I can post them here now.
She sure loved the "mumnies" (bunnies)
These are the 2 prints that I ordered, but you can go here and use 'Kristine Jones' as the guest name to view the rest of them! Enjoy!

Night #1 Down, Nap #1 Down

As we speak, Graycen is sleeping - in her big girl bed! Last night was a little rough. Not as rough as I had expected but let's just say, I am very tired today. She woke up about 45 minutes after I put her to sleep and was back to sleep within 10 minutes. I just sat there and rubbed her back - thankfully, it worked. I checked in on her before I went to bed at 11:00 and she was sleeping on her mattress that I put on the floor next to her bed (for just in case purposes) I re-covered her up and went on to bed. She awoke again at 12:57am - UGH - and I didn't get back into my bed until 2:02am. That sucked. Her eyes were wide open and I was so afraid she wasn't going to go to sleep. She then continued to sleep the rest of the night and until about 7:30 this morning! YAY for our first night in the bed.
I put her down for her nap in her bed and she was just fine. It may be too soon to say, but I think this may go better than anticipated. Fingers crossed.

sad

That's the best word to describe how I am feeling right now. Tonight is the first night that we have put Graycen to sleep in her toddler bed, in her room. It's such a bittersweet feeling - I'm happy because she went down extremely well *knock on wood* and that she is in her own room, but I am sad thinking about her no longer sleeping on her mattress in our room. I will miss her little breath and her hand brushing my arm when she 'needs' me in the middle of night...tear :( BUT - I won't miss having to tip-toe around my own room and hoping I don't need anything out of there once she is asleep.
Once I put all of her bedding in there today, she went right into her room, plopped up on the bed, laid her little head on her pillow, covered herself up and said "night night" She knows what the bed is for and I think her having her own significant little bedding made her understand it is her bed. When we went in to bed tonight, I had our bedroom door closed to see what she would do and she went right into her room and climbed up in her bed. This makes me think she likes it!
Here's to hoping all goes well and she enjoys sleeping in her bed!

What a difference a week makes!

It's crazy to think Graycen has only been walking for a week. She is nowhere near as wobbly as she was last week. I took this video over the weekend for Betsy to see. Now that she has started walking..there is no stopping her. She still crawls around sometimes, but mostly, she wants to walk. Way to go Graycen!
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I can't believe she is one today!

Breakfast Time

Lunch Time
After Dinner and Getting Pictures Done
Bed Time

I really can't believe that one year ago this little one was born! Ever since I started this blog, I kept thinking of all of the wonderful things I would have to say when her first birthday finally came around. Here we are...and I am at a loss for words!

We waited so anxiously through the entire pregnancy to find out if we had a little baby Grayson or a little baby Graycen. If you haven't figured it out, Grayson was for a boy and obviously, Graycen, for a girl. She came out with lots of hair and she was gorgeous! It seems so weird to me that one whole year has gone by already! Little Graycie has done and learned so much in that time! She is inches from walking and then the real fun/trouble begins! She crawls, cruises, stands, talks, claps..everything! She actually says words. Duck, Ny-ny, Mama, Dada, Ernie. Aww...

Well, I don't have a whole lot to say. which really is a rare thing. We are taking things a little easy today and getting her pictures done this evening. I will post that later! We'll do a little birthday dinner and our own mini-celebration. The big celebration is on Sunday!