Parker's 2nd Birthday & Justin's Birthday

Super behind on the blog...so I was thinking where to start?  The first pictures I found were of Parker's 2nd birthday so I'll start there!

We decorated his room after he fell asleep the night before so when he woke up it was balloons everywhere!

We opened presents before Justin went to work.  He loved his scooter!

I took the day off of work and took the kids to Arctic Circle for lunch.

That night we had family and friends over for ice cream sundaes and cupcakes!

It was such a fun day.  I love this kid!  He has so much energy but is so sweet!  He LOVES milk!  He always has his sippy cup with him full of milk.  He is so tall for how old he is!  On his 2 year appointment he was 50% on his weight and 85% on his height. 

We didn't go to dinner that night because we had just gone to dinner a few nights before for Justin's birthday.  We went to Ruby River that night.  The kids love going to dinner with us...such a special treat and it definitely makes for fun memories.

My Baby's 1!!!

Parker's birthday was awesome! I took the day off so we could play all day! So we took it pretty easy, but he definitely had my attention all day! We got him a car seat so he can turn around (which he absolutely loved riding in it the next day. He kicked his feet and smiled all the way to grandma's house), ball popper and clothes. Parker has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom), his main words are mom, dad and dog. He says dog when he sees a dog, a picture of a dog, or any other animal including our rabbits and fish. He also started walking just days before his birthday. That night we had everyone over for brownie sundae's while Parker enjoyed his over sized cupcake cake! It was so fun and he definitely enjoyed the attention.

Parker brings us so much happiness! He's always smiling, giving huge wet kisses, and loves playing with Mya. He follows her around everywhere...most of the time she likes it. He watches out for her - if she's crying, he cries or gets very concerned. They really love each other and they get along really well. My favorite is car rides when they laugh at each other in the back or Parker starts singing/humming because Mya is singing.

At his 12 month appointment, he weighed 23.5 pounds and was 95th percentile on his height. He's very curious and into everything, but I love it. It's so much fun being his mom!

Roseola??? Never Heard Of It

Parker's had a rough last couple of months teething. At the end of January, I took him to the doctor for an ear infection. Two weeks later, I was certain they were still there the way he was pulling on his ears and not sleeping good. But when I took him back, it was just teething. He has had his top 4 front teeth all coming in at the same time! A few weeks ago, the first of four popped through, but he still acted miserable. I took care of that with Tylenol or Ibuprofen but last week was awful! Monday night he had woken up and I noticed a fever and by morning it was still there. I gave him Tylenol (which I had been for days now because of his pain) and figured the fever went along with the teething. Wednesday he was fevering again. He was so hard on Wednesday. He couldn't even fall asleep for his naps because he was so restless but at the same time I could tell he was so tired! I called Justin up and asked him to give him a blessing. In my eyes, he's been suffering from these teeth for 2 months now. That night Justin gave him a blessing that his sickness would leave his body and he would no longer be uncomfortable or in pain and he would be able to sleep. I didn't really think much about the sickness part leaving his body. I just thought he's had a lingering cough from his cold almost a month ago so maybe it was that.

Another thing about Parker, he has eczema, so rough cheeks or little bumps are usual. I had noticed bumps on his neck, under his chin, but just figured he was sweating or hot there. Thursday morning, I noticed the back of his neck was now all bumpy. I put some cream on it (the same I use for his eczema) and left for work. By the time I was done with work, it had spread to the back of his ears, down his back and onto his chest. They were small red bumps all over. My mom mentioned Roseola to me, which I had never heard of. When she told me it was a type of Measles and gave me a print out of the symptoms and everything, my thought was he didn't have a high fever and that must have just been from teething. Also, his second of four teeth had poked through this day, too, so all of his misery was from teething. The next day the rash was worse. It bothered me all day and even called to see if his doctor had an opening, which he didn't so I didn't want to take him to another doctor. (I'm a little biased about my doctor, I guess). By now, the rash was over his face, past his hair line, completely over his belly and spread down into his diaper area. He never really got it on his legs.

Thursday and Friday I had a hard time. Here he had just had a blessing, and the morning after he now had new problems. I have a strong testimony of priesthood blessings...I don't doubt their power, but I was very confused. Thursday night I had a hard time sleeping thinking about all of this. In my head, I sort of told my Heavenly Father that I have faith in blessings, and I heard Justin bless him well, so why was he now rashing all over??? I just wanted help understanding so I would also know if I needed to do something. After work on Friday Parker and Mya took a nap and I searched (again...like I hadn't already done this numerous times) rashes to see what it could be. Everything was leading me to roseola. Even when I typed in Allergy rash the results took me to some one's blog. This blog had a little girl just about Parker's age who was teething and her daughter had a low fever and then a rash. Facts about Roseola is it's usually a high fever that can sometimes cause seizures, but Parker's wasn't ever way high (probably because I had him on Tylenol). This lady wondered if it was an allergic reaction and had a daily recording of signs and had taken her daughter to the doctor daily and by day 3 they decided it was just Roseola (this lady's in Malaysia). I felt like this was my answer. Every search I had done told me it was Roseola. It's the only rash that looked like what Parker had. It helped me to see that the blessing had taken a sickness away that I didn't even know my son had and the fever went away immediately and Roseola ends in a rash, so I guess that's all it was doing. Saturday night his rash had pretty much faded and by Sunday, it was gone.

Other facts about Roseola/Baby Measles/Sixth Disease:
•It's a virus that commonly affects children from 6 months to 2 years-most common age is 9-12 months.
•It is contagious, but not very and is spread through oral secretions
•The fever can be from 103-105 degrees-which can cause seizures-that can last up to a week
•After the fever, a rash that starts at the neck appears and spreads onto the back and front.
•The rash is not itchy
•The best way to treat it is Tylenol.
•It usually does not cause long term effects.
•Professional treatment is usually not required - you just have to wait it out.
•It's not seasonal - can get it any time in the year.
•Call a doctor if you can't get the fever down, child's not drinking, or if your child has a seizure.
Want more info? Mayo Clinic

Parker's 9 & 10 months!

Okay, I got way behind with blogging so I never posted his 9 month milestone...but tomorrow he'll be 10 months, so I'm combining them.

By 9 months, Parker learned to wave! He could then start eating ANYTHING that he won't choke on and he loves that! He did have ear infections again and they're all healed up...I'm crossing my fingers that his current cold won't result in more ear infections.

10 Months! This kid is EVERYWHERE!!! He's into everything and he's so funny! Last week I heard him in his room...he was supposed to be asleep but he just hadn't fallen asleep yet (it had been 20-30 minutes). So I go in there to see what was up and I'm surprised with a diaperless boy! He was happy, but his bed was soaked. It was one of those moments where I wasn't laughing a lot when it happened, but I think it's hilarious today! He loves wrestling and just started getting into cars...it's cute because he makes sound effects! Parker is so close to walking! He can stand by himself, and he walks along furniture or holding my hand, but just hasn't gotten to the point of walking. He is very affectionate! He's always giving hugs and kisses, he's a total boy...can't hold still in church and is loud, but who was I to think he would be another Mya??? Definitely his own personality and I love it! Mya is one of his favorite people. He loves playing with her and there's an immediate smile when he sees her. He talks a little...he says Momma, Hi Momma, Bye bye momma, momma, uh oh, momma, has said dad 2 or 3 times, oh, did I mention he says momma? Not bragging...that's just mostly what comes out of his mouth. The other day I was trying to get him to say Dad and he looked right at Justin and said Momma. Stinker. He can say it, but chooses not to. He's so funny. Such a joy to have him added to our family!

Parker's 8 Months

Parker's 8 months! Here's what he's learned this past month:
Crawls up the stairs, now can say mamma, still LOVES food but he's now eating crackers, cereal, baby cheetos and alphabet bites, he has 2 teeth, crawls everywhere! and gets into everything! He is so wiggly and does not hold still. I seriously think he's got to be the cutest baby boy ever (I'm a little biased). He started to sleep through the night agian but that only lasted a week or two. He's so much fun and oh ya, the BIGGEST MOMMA'S BOY!!! He screams when he's playing (what can I say, he's around girls all day and we make girl sounds) and loves eating paper. He weighs 19.5 pounds (which is only 6 pounds lighter than Mya). He's still the smiliest boy and so much fun to have around!

Teeth!

Look close! Parker now has teeth! Yesterday his two bottom teeth poked out! It's about time. Last week was a rough one for him with those little teeth coming in. He had diarrhea and major diaper rashes last week (Mya is the same way every time she gets a new tooth). We're both glad they finally popped through!

He's now 7 months old. He's now crawling on his hands an knees and is pretty proud of himself for being able to say "Ba" (I know, not a word, but he really does get excited everytime he says it-it's funny). He's growing fast! I can't believe how fast it's going and he's so much fun to have around!

Ear Infections!

Mya and Parker have been sick for the past couple of weeks. Mya's pretty much good to go now. She got it way bad and last week Justin took her to the doctor after complaining about her ears. She had 2 ear infections and shortly after being on Amoxocilin started improving a ton and is now doing great.

Parker started showing signs of a cold hours after Mya did. I immediately went and bought another humidifier to go in his room so they could each have one going at night. This humidifier is amazing! Moisture was dripping from his walls and I couldn't see outside of his window it was so humid. When Mya started sounding like her cold was turning into croup, we had her sleep in Parker's room since his seemed like a sauna. Parker's cold never got way bad but Sunday and Monday he seemed the most miserable. He seemed feverish and so cranky. Sunday night he slept a total of 15 hours and seemed so much better the next day. I honestly thought that this was the peak of his cold because he hadn't gotten way bad up to this point. During his cold, he's had his moments where he would skip a bottle or be more clingy than other times, but overall, he was still an easy and just as smiley baby! There were 2 different occasions I saw him play with his ear, about a week ago and last night. But when I would start watching a lot to see if I should call the doctor, he'd quit. So I thought that maybe he was just playing with his ear or he had wax (this boy gets a lot of wax). Today we took him to the doctor's and the whole time he was just smiling at everyone and so happy. After the doctor checked his ears he asked us if Parker is always this happy then went on with a story about how his one boy was like that. He was always so happy and one time he had a cold for 2-3 weeks but Dr. Pruitt never got worried because he was happy the whole time. One day his wife called and asked him to bring his scope home because his son had runny wax coming out of his ears...so he knew that his son had had ear infections and they had ruptured. His son never lead them to think he was in pain or gave them any reason to think he had an ear infection. Then he tells me that Parker's ears are jammed pack and he's surprised his haven't ruptured yet. So then I if Parker has ear infections and he said, oh ya. On a scale of 1 - 10, he's a 10.

I feel so bad! He's probably been in so much pain. But that says a lot about Parker. He is the kind that is so happy and easy going. I just wish he would let us know...

Here's some pics from the 2 weeks they were both sick:

6 Months Old!!!

I can't believe Parker is 6 months old already! Here are some things about Parker:

•He army crawls everywhere!
•This boy LOVES to eat!
•He loves to smile and laugh, and when he does, it's a chain reaction to making everyone around him happy.
•He and Mya love each other. (They are so cute together when we go on drives. I'll hear them talking to each other-Parker will just babble at Mya and Mya will hold his hand or his bottle if he needs to drink it. Sometimes they'll get each other laughing. She's such a good big sister to him!)
•He is such a momma's boy!
•He gets so excited to see Mya or Justin. When they walk in a room, he'll start kicking his legs and digs his head in my shoulder, excited for them to come see him.
•He things crinkling paper is hilarious. (Mya thought ripping paper was hilarious when she was this age) I was at work stuffing packages and he was belly laughing so hard. It took me a minute to realize he was laughing every time I would crumple up newspaper.
•He loves TV. I know, that's bad. But he seriously loves it and good luck getting his attention when baby einstein is on. (No, we don't watch a lot of TV in our house and I don't put Baby Einstein on very often. Only when I have to get something done and he's not letting me.)
•He loves bathtime and recently learned to splash. (Mya does not love this when she takes baths with him.)

How did he spend his 6 month milestone? Sick. Poor kid has a cold along with the rest of our family. I had no idea that having a little boy would be so fun. I love it!

My Cute Kids!

This is what I got to wake up to this morning! They both wake up in such great moods! I just love them!

4 Months!

Parker turned 4 months on the 3rd and with that came the doctor appointment. He is 90% on his height and 50% on his weight. He is the happiest baby and blesses my life so much! Just one look at him and he's smiling at me and just makes my day...even if I was ornery. He also is eating food now! He loves it. After a week and a half of eating either rice cereal, one container of fruits or veggies, or a half a jar of meat, he now will eat 3 times as much rice as he did and will now eat a half jar of meat with an entire container of fruits or veggies - always followed with milk. He loves food! Such a boy! Mya and Parker get along so well. Whenever we are driving in the car, I always hear Parker babbling or laughing at Mya while Mya's doing the same to Parker. She loves giving hugs and kisses to Parker and she's such a big help with him! We love having Parker in our family!
(First time eating cereal)