Phone Conversations

I called Christian this afternoon to tell her I was on my way to the store. When I hung up I heard Parker's conversation:

"Hewo? Uh huh. Yeah. On my way. Ok honey. Wuv you."

She's my shadow. That's a lot of pressure. 

"Poopair"

This is the latest of words I'm learning to translate from our almost two year old. This combined with me trying to get her to tell me when she needs to poo got me a bit excited this morning. "Mommy, poopair." "What?" Does she need to poop? Oh, no, there's a polar bear on bubble guppies. Just a "poopair."

It's Been So Long Since I Posted We Have More Kids!

August 5th we welcomed our beautiful daughter, Ryan.  It was a relatively easy pregnancy and I was SO ready when August came around.  It was hot, I was fat and it was time to get her little feet out of my ribs and for my back to go back to normal.  Turns out I was in pain because she was 8 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long!  She also hates to be swaddled, explaining the foot in the ribs. 

She is a month and six days old and is humongous! She's 21 inches and I would guess she's around 12 lbs.  She eats all of the time and sleeps rarely during the day and every three hours during the night.

Mom was here for about eight weeks.  She was a tremendous help and it was nice to have her here.  She'll be back in 17 days to watch the kids while Christian, Jill, Amanda and I go to the Austin City Limits Music Festival. 

Today I had my first trek out with the girls.  We went to the mall to return some shoes.  Fortunately, everyone was in a good mood.  So there I was with Parker in her umbrella stroller and Ryan in the Baby Bjorn.  Parker was good as long as we were moving.  Ryan slept. 

It's exponentially more difficult to go from one child to two.  It's emotionally draining and physically draining.  It will get easier but now it breaks my heart when Parker wants to be held and I can't pick her up because I have Ryan.  It doesn't help that the only thing Parker wants to do is watch Bubble Guppies on tv.  She carries remotes around and says "bubble?"  If I say no, she chucks the remotes.  We're working on our anger management.

Parker talks all of the time.  Sometimes I understand, sometimes I don't.  The other day Ryan sneezed and Parker said "bless you Ryan."  It was adorable and made my heart melt.  She likes to help with Ryan.  She especially likes to cover her up.  We're working on avoiding the head and face.  She also tries to give Ryan her binky, but just shoves it at her mouth.  Fine motor skills ARE important!!!

32 Weeks

We have reached 32 weeks!  One slow week at a time.  I'm trying my hardest to be patient, but the heat and my fatness (some call pregnancy) have taken a toll. 

T2, as she has been called, is doing very well.  Doc says she's big but we don't have any numbers.  Things are going well.  At our last doctor's appointment we found out that the C-Section is planned for August 5th.  Which is 50 something days away.  That will stand unless T2 has a wicked sense of humor and comes early.  Then we will still have a c-section, but it will be a HUGE surprise.

Parker has no idea what is in store for her.  If you ask her where the baby is, she'll point to my belly button and then kiss it and cover up my belly again.  Parker's Grams bought her a baby doll and her grandma bought her a car seat and high chair.  I'm hoping it preps her, but in reality it will only instill that babies are quiet, rag dolls that can be placed down anywhere you'd like.  I'm pretty certain she's going to want T2 to stay at the hospital. Fingers crossed she loves her as much as I loved Jill when she was born.  Seems to me that we will have to recreate some of the best pictures I have of Jill and me with Parker and T2.  Even the super dangerous ones where mom just let us sit on the counter without any supervision at all.  It's amazing I made it!

Patty Griffin at the Old ACL Studio

Last night Christian and I went to a special radio promotion on the UT Campus.  It was being put on by KGSR, a local station here in Austin, and their music lounge is under construction.  So KLRU, the PBS station, loaned their little studio.  Their little studio is Studio 6A where Austin City Limits has been filmed for years and years until recently.  There have been many legends on that stage and just being in the intimate little room was pretty cool. 

We were there to see Patty Griffin whom i've loved for years.  She has such a pure voice.  She has a new album coming out and she sang four songs from it.  For her last song she introduced Robert Plant and he sang with her also.  They have been dating for a year or so. There were less than 100 people there and it was AWESOME.

After the show Robert Plant walked within 2 feet of me up the stairs to see a friend he knew in the audience.  It was only after some research that I realized how truly amazing that moment was.  Yes, he's just another person, which is why I didn't oooo and aaaa, but he is a musical legend. 

I am so grateful to Sandra for calling the radio station to try to get us tickets and glad her southern charm and my pregnancy talked them into it.  The MC said that they had a greater response to last night's show than any other contest they've held on their station and that if you were there you either knew someone or were really really lucky. 

We weren't allowed to take photos during the show, but here is one from the radio station.

Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter our neighbor invited us to an egg hunt in their backyard.  There were about 20 kids and their parents there.  They had 500 eggs "hidden" in the backyard.  Being that most of the kids were under the age of 5, it was a cluster.

Parker had no idea what to do.  We ended up with 5 eggs in her basket, most of which I picked up and put in there.  And what I put in, she would take out.  She'd bend over, pick up an egg, break it open take out the candy and throw the plastic shell on the ground.

She was too enamored by the baseballs, soccer balls & three wheeler to care about plastic eggs.  Smart girl.

This face was one of the first I saw that reminded me of a face I would make.

Where's Parker?

Peekaboo!!!

Austin Rodeo with Aunt Jill

Jill came to visit and it was the last day of the Austin Rodeo.  Parker understands animals now, it was Christian's cheat day on her "diet" and Jake likes rides.  So we headed out to the rodeo.  Jake and his friend were let loose and given unlimited ride passes.  We went to look for the petting zoo and foods high in carbs and sugar. 

We found this longhorn hanging out behind some tents.  It was massive!  We couldn't get too close because he was pushing this rather rickety fence like it was made of toothpicks.  

Footlong Corndogs and unlimited sodas in a metal mug were next on the agenda.  We got the $12 worth on the unlimited sodas between the three of us.

We went into the barn where the kids were getting their cattle ready to show.  There were horses in their stalls too.  Parker wanted to touch all of them.  I was waiting for her to "moo" at a cow but we're still stuck on monkey, lion and owl noises.

All these cool places to hang out and Parker wanted to play on the bleachers. Cheap date.

The petting zoo was a hit.  It was hard to get good pictures since the animals and Parker are sporadic, unpredictable movers. Christian's goal was to not let Parker touch an animal butt.  Parker went straight for the exit when she was finished.  Lasted about 5 minutes, maybe.

Both Christian and I have issues going in circles, so Aunt Jill took Parker on her first carousel ride.  Jill tried to let us know that Parker really was enjoying it. Time for Disneyland!!!

The day ended as all trips to a carnival should, with Jake being upset that after spending $35-40 on a game he couldn't win the gigantic Pikachu Pokemon that he had his eye on.  Even after telling him how rigged the carnival games are, he cried most of the way home.  Poor guy.