Bubbles

Parker isn't to fond of the baby bathtub. I think it's because he feels uneasy and slips around. So the other night Russ decided to take a bubble bath with him. Turns out Parker loves the bubbles and was sooo cute in them.

Not so good fortune

Last night Russ called me at gymnastics and wanted to meet up for dinner at a new Asian restaurant we found. It was pretty late, but both myself and Kaitlin were hungry so we decided to go.

After we ate dinner (which was real fast...the service was good)...they brought us fortune cookies. Kaitlin's fortune said "you will never have to worry about a steady income." Good for her...I hope it's true.

My fortune on the other hand wasn't so nice. It said that I need to "work on improving my exercise routine." Not exactly what I wanted to read after eating a bunch of fattening food at their restaurant. It is true though...I am looking for new exercises to do to get myself back in shape. ..I just didn't need a fortune cookie to tell me that.

Black and Blue at School

Yesterday morning Kaitlin was walking down the hall to her classroom when one of the other teachers opened the door and smacked her in the face. The doorknob hit her right in the eye and it bruised right away. Poor Kaitlin didn't even see it coming. I gave her a big hug and kiss and got her an ice pack right away so it wouldn't get any worse. The teacher felt real bad and kept apologizing. It didn't get as bad as I thought it would, but she can still notice it and she points it out to everyone. Lesson learned....walk on the opposite side of the hall from the doors.

Picnic in the park

Two Sunday's ago I decided to take the kids on a picnic. Kaitlin was real excited...she has been bugging me about going on a picnic for a while now, the weather just hasn't been right. But that Sunday was pretty nice so we packed up our lunches and walked to the park.
It was nice and quiet at the park and the kids sat and ate lunch and played on the playground while Parker and I sat on the blanket. Parker seemed to enjoy being outside and the kids had fun running off some of their energy. We will have to do that more often since the park is just down the street.

Kristi's shower

Yesterday was quite the baby filld day. Kristi is due to have her new little one in 3 weeks so yesterday we had her baby shower. Just having the shower itself took some convincing since Kristi said she had everything and didn't want one since it was her 3rd. We were not going to let that happen though, a baby is worth celebrating. So we called it a diaper party. Everyong was supposed to just bring diapers and a dish, but we all think alike and everyone brough gifts too.

Renee let us use her house for the party since it is a hugh house and she is the only one there. Renee and I also thought alike about gifts for Kristi and we both made diaper cakes. Kaitlin helped me make it and we painted letters to make baby Chance's name.

Dallas was in charge of the cake and was trying to get Carol's daughter to make it, but she wasn't able to get it done in time. Instead, Dallas got the fixings and myself and Yelena make cupcakes. I think they turned out pretty good. Russ even gave me an idea to fill them with pudding (it sounded hard, but was pretty easy.

We played all the traditional games and Yelena won 3 of them. She was a good winner though and only took one gift and let other people take the rest. That was so nice of her. I won the "guess how big the belly is game" which was pretty easy since she was pretty much the same size I was at my shower (I guess that wasn't very fair though, I gave Kaitlin the gift).

The kids spent most of the party outside at the pool/hot tub. I couldn't believe Kaitlin spent so much time in the water. Renee heated her hot tub, but it was still only 70 outside and a little windy. I guess when you are a kid it doesn't matter.

Kristi got a ton a diapers and I'm sure she will be set for the first couple months. Her mom also make her blankets, blankets and more blankets. She should be set on almost everything now...since she said she didn't need anything. I just hope she had a good time. We didn't have a lot of time to plan, but I think it turned out pretty good.

Take your child to work day

Last Thursday was take your child to work day. I gave Kaitlin the choice between going to school or going with me to work. It was theme week at school and Thursday was Bring a teddy bear for a tea party day so she had a tough choice. She decided it would be fun to go to work (she likes sitting at my desk and drawing with my markers).

We got to work and saw that everyone including Marty brought their kids in which made the day that much better. Before lunch the kids got to see all of our secret tech equipment to "find the bad guys" and they got a ride in the police car. Kaitlin also had fun passing out the mail and putting all our papers in the shred bin.

Then right before lunch i was walking around with the kids and we ran into Craig...(this is the part Kristi didn't blog about because I'm sure she wants to for get it). Craig asked the girls what they got to do so far, then he said he had some handcuffs that they could play with. Kadence turns around and says...."my daddy has handcuffs.." Craig with a funny look on his face asks why her daddy has handcuffs...and she says that he uses them on mommy. Oh the funny...Innocent things kids say. Kristi has since been making sure everyone knows they are toy handcuffs and they all played with them in the living room while playing dress up. It's okay Kristi...you can stick to that story. :)

We took the kids to lunch at Johnny Rockets...it was a fun time full of greasy food and milkshakes.

After lunch the kids went and colored in the front room with Erin. Kaitlin had a great time and didn't want to leave. It was gymnastics night so we had to try to hurry and leave work, get Parker and get to gymnastics before 6. She wanted to come back to work after gymnastics so I told her that no one would be at work then and that instead she could just come back with me next time there is a bring your kid to work day.

Roll over

Yesterday, April 22nd, Parker learned to roll from his front to his back. When we put him on his tummy he can push himself up, then he flips over. When I saw him do it last night after Russ brought him home I started crying cause I felt like I was missing everything since he first did it earlier that day at his grandma's house. I know I'm not going to miss everything, but it is sad when he does something and I'm not there to see it. He is trying real hard to go from his back to his belly, but he hasn't quite got that yet. He can get about 3/4 the way then he gets stuck on his arm. I'm sure he'll get it soon. He's growing so fast :(

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!!!!!

One of my worst nightmares is that my house catches on fire while we are at home and I have to rush to get all the kids out. Well...that nightmare came true tonight. Russ was working in the on the Rhino in the garage (like I told him not to) and I was in the house reading Kaitlin and Parker their bedtime stories. We got to the last page of Kaitlin's story and Russ throws the door open and yells "clair...come out here" in a panicked voice. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I had a pretty good idea. I grabbed up the kids and ran out of the house to see the Rhino in the garage on fire!!!!

Russ was pulling everything that was on fire out of the garage so I quickly grabbed my keys, put the kids in the car and drove across the street all while calling 911. So many thoughts were going through my mind. "Are the kids okay...did they inhale any smoke???"" ""Is my whole house going to burn down and we will have nowhere to live??"""

The Fire Dept was there in no time (less then 2 mins)...Kudos to them. I'm now glad I live so close to a fire station. The firefighters had the fire put out then the police got there and blocked off the street so no one would get to close to them. They ran through the house (I know it doesn't matter in a time like this, but thank goodness I cleaned my house yesterday) and made sure everything was safe to go back in.

While this was going on I was sitting on the curb across the street with the kids chatting with one of the officers. He was joking with us (since I work for metro he was saying that he was sorry for me). Before he left I had him grab a firefighter to check the kids out just in case. He said everything sounded good and they should be fine (there was no smoke in the house, but I wanted them checked out to be safe).

In less then 20mins the fire was out and everyone was gone. We are clear to go back in the house, but I'm sure none of us will get any sleep tonight. If I sleep at all I will probably be checking on the kids every hour to make sure they are okay. Living with Russ I'm sure getting used to saying "I told you so." I'm just glad everyone is okay and my house is fine. The Rhino on the other hand is a different story....

I miss my little man

I started going back to work this week and it seems to be a little harder this time then it was with Kaitlin. I think it's because with her she got to go to work with me for 2 hours and I picked her up at 1pm and got to spend the rest of the day with her. This time I have to work until 5 so I only get a couple hours with Parker before he falls asleep.
Monday was my first day back to work and it was probably the worst. I must have called home 4 or 5 times. I was so worried that he wouldn't take the bottles good or that he would forget me. Everything turned out fine though, and he remembered who I was. As soon as I picked him up he went straight for his food. It has gotten a lot better since then. Now I only call once or twice.
Russ took this week off of work to stay home with Parker (or at least he said he was going to). He has ended up spending the morning home then Parker goes to Russ' Mom's house for the rest of the day and he goes to work (he just can't stay away). It's good though...I know his grandma wants to spend some time with him. She is off work until the middle of May so she is going to watch him instead of daycare.
Now the only thing I'm worried about is not being able to make enough milk for his bottles. I'm going pretty good I guess (I can usually make 5 bottles a day when I'm at work), but I still don't think I make enough. So to help out I went and got the herb Fenugreek which is supposed to be FDA approved and can up milk production by 200-900%. I'm crossing my fingers that it will work.
So everything is going fine I guess...I just miss my little man. At least I have this Friday off so I can spend a whole 3 days with him and Kaitlin.

A day at the museum

Yesterday we decided to continue our week of exploring what there is for kids to do during Spring Break and we took a trip to the children's museum. We got off to a rough start and didn't leave the house till 11am. Then, when we were almost there I realized that I forgot my camera and had to turn back (can't forget the camera...it would make blogging no fun).

We got to the museum around 1130 and drove around the parking lot for 10mins trying to find a place to park. For a place so popular they sure have a small parking lot. We ended up finding a great parking spot and headed inside.

On the first floor we did a lot of different stuff. Kaitlin got to explore a pretend village that included a bank, grocery store, auto shop, airport and a fake bathroom. She ran around collecting money and buying groceries. She even pretended to use the fake bathroom (while people were walking through looking at it...I couldn't help but laugh). She also got to explore the water tables, and stand in a giant bubble. We must have played at the bubble table for 20 mins.

After we got done with the first floor we took a break so I could feed Parker. We found a little snack room with vending machines and Kaitlin sat and ate a Reeses while Parker ate.

Next we ventured to the second level. There Kaitlin got to walk in astronaut boots, learn about nutrition, sound and electricity. She also stood in the hurricane room and felt what it was like to be in hurricane winds (75 mph). After it got to about 50mph she was laughing and banging on the door to get out.

Before we left Kaitlin sat down in the craft room and made a little mermaid mobile that she hung on Parker's stroller. We didn't leave the museum till about 3pm...we would have stayed longer but Parker started getting real fussy and we still needed to eat. Next time we will pack a lunch so we can stay longer.

Hole in (a lot more then one).....

Yesterday Kaitlin, Parker and I decided to check out this new mini-golf place we discovered down the street from our house. Kaitlin was so excited. She wanted to go Last Friday, but we waited till yesterday just in case Russ and Charlie wanted to go with us.

We got there around 530 and Kaitlin went straight in and picked out her golf club and ball. It was a pretty cool place because it was all indoors and lit up by black light. Parker was good for the first couple holes, but after that he decided to cry the whole time. Kaitlin did a good job. It took her a couple of hits to get the ball in the holes, but she was having fun. It took us about 1/2 an hour to get through all 18 holes so next time we come we will have bring more people so we can be there a little longer.

After we got done golfing we went and picked up dinner and ice cream. A good way to end our fun outing.

Time for a change

Today was the second day of Kaitlin's first Spring Break, and my last week off work. I've been trying to think of things to do to keep us busy and having a little fun. Later in the week we are going to visit the natural history museum and go play mini golf, but today we had a girly day at the salon and got our hair cut (we both thought it was time for a change). I called up Russ' sister Susan last night and she was able to get us in this afternoon at her salon.

Kaitlin was first in the chair. She said she wanted Sue to straighten her hair and give her bangs. Sue looked at me when she told her that and asked if it was alright. I told her it's Kaitlin's hair and it's her choice (I was worried that the bangs wouldn't turn out cute though...luckily I was wrong). Sue did a great job and Kaitlin loves her new hair cut.

When it was my turn I couldn't figure out what I wanted her to do. I was going back and forth between cutting it short or keeping it long (my hair was down just past my bra strap). I asked her for her opinion and we decided to go between the two and keep it a little long...but not to much that Parker will grab at it. It turned out good...I like it.

After she was done we sat and talked for a while. I learned a lot and she offered to come help with getting Charlie to listen (for some reason she seems to be the only female he will listen to besides his grandma).

We left the salon around 2pm and headed over to the mall across the street so Kaitlin and Parker could see the Easter Bunny. The line for the pictures was short so we got in and out pretty fast. Parker slept the whole time (didn't even get a chance to see the bunny) and Kaitlin insisted on me being in the picture so she could sit on my lap (she said it was because she wanted me in the picture, but I think she was a little afraid of the guy in the costume). The picture turned out okay...at least good enough to pay a fortune for two wallet size photos.

We got done with the bunny and walked around the mall a little, then headed home. It doesn't sound like we did a whole lot, but it seemed to fill up most of our day and made it go by fast. I hope the rest of the week will go by a little slower.

APRIL FOOLS

For those of you who read the engagement blog and said congrats....thanks, but April Fools. You guys are silly to think that I'll ever be engaged....it's a nice thought, but probably never going to happen. Made for a good joke though. :)

sterp throat and a sleepover

Two weekends ago Kaitlin hosted her fist sleepover. She had previously gone to Ashlyn's house for a sleepover and now it was our turn. Ashlyn showed up to our house around 3pm (which was good because that gave the girls time to play together before Russ and Charlie got home. Ashlyn's mom said that when they were at her house the went to Ashlyn's room and stayed there the whole time (pretty much leaving her alone). Not the case at my house. Once Charlie got home around 5pm all I heard about was he's doing this or she's doing that. He wanted to play with the girls, but they just wanted to have "girls time" with barbies and baby dolls and didn't want him to play. That was a recipe for a very long night. He wasn't happy with the fact that they didn't want to play with him (I was torn between letting them do their own thing or making them include him), so he kept bugging them the whole night. What made it worse is Kaitlin's friend is the biggest tattletale. Every 2 mins she had something else to tattle about. She even came and got me at 10pm to complain that Kaitlin fell asleep watching a movie and forgot to tell her she was going to fall asleep. The next morning wasn't as bad. They decided to play with Charlie so at least I didn't have to deal with that situation. Ashlyn stayed till 11am, then her parents picked her up so they could go to the shark reef.

After Ashlyn left Kaitlin came and fell asleep on the couch next to me. She wasn't acting herself when she woke up so I asked her if everything was alright. She said she felt fine, but when I felt her head she was burning up. I gave her Tylenol and it let up a little, but wouldn't go away. I chalked it up to being overwhelmed by everything and waited till the morning. Monday she still had a fever so I kept her home from school hoping that it would go away. Her only symptom was a fever, other then that she acted and said she felt fine. Tuesday morning when she still had a fever I took her into the doctor. They said it was strep throat. I was a bit shocked since she said her throat didn't hurt at all. She ended up staying home with me till Thursday.

Between the sleepover and strep throat it was a busy week and to top it off when she got back to school Thursday she found out she was "Star of the week." That meant she was supposed to do a poster board about herself and her favorite things by Friday. I told her teacher that she probably wouldn't have it done by Friday (1 day for a project like that isn't fair) and he didn't seem to care to much. He said "but we normally present them on Friday during show & tell." I couldn't believe that he said that. She was sick and he expected her to do a project in 1 day. I talked to him a little more and convinced him to let her turn it in on Monday. Kaitlin being such a hard charger went home and actually finished her project that day. I was proud of her, but still think it was wrong of her teacher to ask that of a child who was sick all week.

my brothers are 17!!1

Last week Austin & Kenneth turned 17. I can't believe it, I must be getting old. I remember when they were born and watching them grow up. We celebrated their birthday at my grandma's house on Sunday. My mom and dad couldn't make it because my dad had just got home from the ER because he was having real bad abdominal pain (it must have felt life threatening for my dad to go see a doctor). Turns out he had kidney stones and they gave him 2 shots of morphine so he was stuck home for the rest of the day and my mom had to take care of him.

The party was fun though. It was myself, Kaitlin, Parker, Aunt Teresa and her family, Uncle Dennis, all the boys and my grandma and grandpa. That was the first time Parker got to meet any of them. When Kaitlin was born I got a picture of her with all her uncles (they thought it was so cool at the time). Now being older it's not cool anymore and it made them feel silly when I had them take a picture with him, just like they did with her. What made it better was that Parker decided to go poo when he was sitting on Kenneth's lap.

Parker and Greatgrandma...

6 week check up

Today was Parker's 6 week check up. I can't believe how big he is getting (they just don't stay little for very long). He is now 11 lb 2oz and 22.5in long. The doctor said he is above average in both height and weight and is very healthy. He was supposed to start getting shots today, but the doctor said they just ran out and had to order more. We are on the list to be called when they come in (lucky Parker).

New happenings:

He is now cooing (every now and then)

On march 20th we had our first real smile. I tried to catch one on camera, but I'm not fast enough.

I go back to work in 2 weeks which is going to be so sad. I'm going to have a hard time not being around him all day. Russ is going to stay home the first week I'm back to work so it will make the transition easier. He is just getting so big so fast it makes me sad to think that I'm might miss something. I know it wil be alright though because I remember feeling the same way with Kaitlin and everything turned out just fine.

Engaged!!!! finally

Last night we had our first experience with leaving Parker with a babysitter (okay not really a babysitter...just grandparents). We have to get him adjusted to a bottle for when I get back to work so we figured it was a good time to start. Russ also said since we haven't been out on a
date" in probably about 3 or 4 months he wanted to go out to dinner. So we went to one of our favorite places....the Geisha Steakhouse.

Dinner was great, even though i was constantly thinking about how Parker was doing. We both got the geisha special (lobster, steak and chicken). The dinner comes with a drink, but I had to give mine to Russ since I can't have any alcohol. We got through with dinner and Russ said he wanted to talk. He apologised for not being around much lately (he has been working late nights for the past 3 weeks) and said that he was going to try to take more time off. He even said he was going to take a full week off when I go back to work so he can spend more time with Parker. Then he thanked me for taking care of Parker all the time and doing most of the work. Then unexpectedly he gave me a box...with a ring. He said it was something he wanted to do a while ago, but was waiting to find the right ring!! I couldn't believe it....I think I laughed a little at first...but then I said yes. Not the most romantic night, but great none the less. So I guess that means I'm ENGAGED. We probably won't get married for another year or two, but we are one step closer.