Halloween!

Last night we attended our ward's Trunk or Treat. It was so much fun to watch little Parker get the hang of it. When he finally figured out what was going on, he walked from car to car with a little dance in his step saying "Cool! Cool!". It was very cute. These were the only pics I managed to get actually at the trunk or treat:
We discovered that Parker likes hot dogs. The twins, however, apparently do not. (I can now officially say I've puked in a storm drain. No alcohol required.)

Checking out his loot after we got home:
Look at all this yummy candy he gets to share with Mom and Dad! :)

After a nap today, he brought me his boots from his costume. He had me put them on and he's been wearing them for a few hours and loves it! He keeps looking down and says "Boot! Boot!".




Isn't he just too cute for words? I love my little man and all the smiles he gives me each and every day. I love you, Parker!

New Pictures!

We were able to see the babies again today! I have been looking forward to this day for a week. I was so excited I could hardly sleep :)

It was very surreal to watch their little tiny hands move around thier little tiny faces. And, of course here are the ultrasound pictures:

This is "Baby A". She was so cute and kept rubbing her eye with her little hand. She was also kicking her legs around all over the place. The doc tried to look for gender, but didn't see anything, so for now they are both girls! (I really hope one grows a petey-bud)

I'd also like you to meet "Baby B". HE (I hope) was a little stinker and moved right as this was snapped. Oh well. This was the best picture he offered, so I'll take it. He kept his little hands right close to his little mouth just like Parker always did.

I am however thinking they may both be the same sex because the heartbeats were rather close in rate today. One was 136 and the other 144. Only 4 more weeks and we'll know for sure!

Cow Patties Cloth Diapers: Tell-it Tuesday: How to make edible play dough

Super fun idea from a blog I follow, Have fun with it mommas!

Cow Patties Cloth Diapers: Tell-it Tuesday: How to make edible play dough: "Sorry this is a day late-seems to be the theme of my week so far--but seriously, how can you frown with this is staring back at you.... On..."

I dreamed a dream, again.

Last night I had another dream about huge monstrous snakes all around me.I have learned that when you are pregnant and dream about snakes, it means you are having a boy. Hmmm....

Last night, I dreamed a dream...

that I gave birth to 2 girls and a frozen turkey (?). I'm not very sure how a frozen turkey plays into it, but now I am a little less confident that one is a boy and one is a girl. My dreams are normally pretty accurate.

Now I'm even more impatient to find out what I'm having!

I love my husband, even when...

...he doesn't know how to put on a diaper correctly, even after 17 months of practice.... I'll explain:

Yesterday, I slept until 1 pm because I had worked the night before. Brad was on Daddy duty and when it was time to change Parker's diaper, Brad said he had had enough because he had leaked every time. Sure enough, this particular diaper change was a poopy one and he had leaked all down one leg. Brad tried to pass it off to me, but I encouraged him to take a full days turn since I do it most other days. So Brad changed his diaper and off we went to my parents house for Sunday dinner. When we got home, I picked Parker up and felt that he was very wet and must've leaked or spilled his water all over. I took off his clothes to get him ready for bed, and lo and behold, this is what I found:

Bwahahahahaha! I was laughing so hard I could barely take the picture. The one side of his diaper was giving him a full-on wedgie. That right tab was barely attached on to the front and the left tab wrapped all the way to the right side.

I love my husband.

Heard the Heartbeats Again!

For the past few days, I have been cramping and experiencing a pain I hadn't ever felt before. I had an appointment today to ensure everything was alright and the babies were doing well. I got to hear the heartbeats and one was noticeably faster than the other, which just encourages me even more that one is a boy and one is a girl! So, I decided to do a poll here on my blog so we can bet on the babies' genders.

I'll make it fun and whoever ends up being correct will get a little something for winning the bet. :)

Bottled Energy

Just a little note to say....

Oh how I wish I could bottle my son's energy!

He just goes all day long.

And I just sit all day long...

Hopefully when 12 weeks hits I will magically have the energy I need and the nausea will go away.

A girl can hope...

Twins! Twins! Twins!

I just wanted to document somewhere about the moment we found out were having twins and everything that led up to it.

We first found out that we were pregnant with an at-home pregnancy test. I took one the day after I was supposed to start, but it was negative, so I really thought we were not pregnant. A few days later, Aunt Flo still hadn't decided to show, so I took another and lo and behold! We were prego!

Brad says he knew all along because I get moody when I'm pregnant! Sorry, honey!

I wasn't nauseated like I was with Parker, but I was SO TIRED! Every morning I would wake up and it felt like I had just worked a graveyard shift without any sleep before or after. My limbs would feel heavy, as if I had taken a sleeping pill.

The nausea kicked in at about 6 weeks and it was AWFUL! It was so much worse than what I had with Parker and I couldn't keep anything down :(

Anyway, the reason I tell you all this is because I started to wonder why this pregnancy was knocking me on my butt, and why was it so much worse than Parker? I chalked it up to the fact that now I was chasing a toddler around and I wasn't able to rest and sleep whenever I wanted.

There was a moment when I was at work. I was walking down the hallway from the staffing office to the stairs and I was wondering if I would ever want to be pregnant again if it was this exhausting when you already had kids to take care of. Then this feeling just hit me. I knew in my heart that I was having twins. I just knew.

I ended up dreaming of two little babies and whenever I started to think of Parker meeting the baby, I thought of two little burritos. I told a few of my friends that I had this feeling that I was having twins, but qualified it with "But I'm probably just freaking myself out".

Then, on Monday night, Brad had a dream that there were two heartbeats on the ultrasound....

Fast forward to Wednesday, Brad, Parker and I packed up and went to meet Dr. Lister for our ultrasound. (I switched my OB this pregnancy, thank goodness!) After we went through my history and paperwork, I hopped up on the table for the ultrasound.

We saw the first one, and he/she looked just like an upside down gummi bear, moving it's little tiny arms and legs in some kind of gummi bear dance. So cute! Dr Lister said, "There's your baby! See his heartbeat?" and the only thing I said was "Is there only one?". She simply said she didn't know yet. She measured Baby A, we listened to his/her heartbeat, and then she looked for any other little babies. Brad was in the corner, "I hope there's only one.". Then Dr Lister said, "Nope, sorry Dad, there's two!". We both thought she was joking around, but sure enough, there was the second little gummi bear, joining it's sibling in the Secret Gummi Bear Dance.

Brad and I both let out "No way.'s" and "This isn't happening.'s" and "Are you kidding?'s".

Brad even asked the Doc if this was another lady's ultrasound and she was playing some sick joke. But no, she never said just kidding before we walked out the door.

So there you have it! We are definitely having twins, and somehow I knew weeks ago that I was growing 2 little beans!

TWINS!

Yep, you read that right. Not only am I pregnant, but we found out today that there are two little gummi bears bouncing around inside my belly. It may be a little early to post that we are expecting, but who can hold twins in for another month?

I can't. Obviously.

And here is the picture to prove it:

TWINS! Oh my word, and the little man will only be a few weeks shy of 2 when these little babies come, imagine my life? Hehe

Sorry to everyone if I become a hermit for a while....

I suppose I should also mention that I am due April 18th, and I am merely a little more than 2 months pregnant, 30 more weeks never seemed quite so intimidating...

Yum

I have been a long time fan of those yummy lettuce wraps from PF Changs and Pei Wei and stumbled upon a recipes that comes dangerously close from allrecipes.com and I just had to share! This Rachel Castro gets all the credit, but I did tweak a few things for my personal liking and personal taste. Perhaps one day I will post pics of these yummy, yummy things, they were all gobbled up way too fast when I shared them with my Relief Society ladies!

Adapted from the recipe:
Asian Lettuce Wraps
by Rachel Castro
from allrecipes.com

16 Lettuce Leaves
1 pound ground pork
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
¼ C hoisin sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
¼ tsp Asian chili sauce (optional)
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 tsp Asian (dark) sesame oil

Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not to tear them. Set aside.
In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground pork in oil, stirring often and reducing heat to medium if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. When onion starts to become clear, add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chili pepper sauce, and stir. Stir in water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil. Continue cooking until the green onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add pork and stir.
Serve with lettuce wraps, using dipping sauce if desired.

Dipping sauce:
1 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
½ Tbsp chili sauce
Pinch of sugar
Green onions

Combine and drizzle on meat mixture inside lettuce wraps before eating.

I am done with poo.

I feel that I must have been punished. Someone, somewhere must not have been pleased with my post yesterday. So I am here to apologize and clear the air.
Whoever inspired my son to take off his poo filled diaper and finger paint with diarrhea this morning, I am sorry. I would MUCH RATHER clean a runny cloth diaper, than a poo-caked crib and baby. Thank you. I hope there will be no further misunderstandings.

As for everyone else, I am pleased to let you all know that I will be opening my house for free room and board! The only condition? Follow Parker and I in our daily activities and clean whatever poo-filled adventure Parker may throw at you. Anybody interested? ;D

Make Your Decisions. Wisely.

I have a story to tell, but first a little background. A lot has happened in the many weeks since I have contributed to my blog, but one of the biggest little lifestyle changes has been our leap into cloth diapering! Now, I know that cloth diapering is not the norm, but I have been pleasantly surprised for the most part. Parker has long had a big problem with diaper rashes. I have tried all sorts of creams, different wipes, etc. to no avail over the problem rash. It has been quite a pain in the butt. (Pun intended)

I have recently discovered babysteals.com, and became a dedicated stalker. I have a friend from work who does cloth diapering, so when there was an awesome deal on GroBaby cloth diapers on babysteals.com, I knew I had someone I could turn to to answer questions, and after researching the GroBaby system, I decided to go for it!

It took a while for me to really love them. The inserts are made from organic cotton, so they require multiple hot washes to remove the oils from the cotton and increase absorbency. It took a few washings after the initial prep washes for them to become leak proof. But since then, I have been in love! The rashes are now few and far between and I loved the idea that I never had to buy another diaper if I didn't really want to.

Keep in mind that I started these when Parker was 1 year old. So his poo was, shall we say, more adult like. So the most I had to do was (sorry if this is too graphic, but if it is, you may want to stop reading now...) take a wipe and flick it into the toilet. No mess, no problems, and I wondered why more people don't jump on the wagon.

So I have been Gun-Ho on these diapers and would recommend them to anyone and was looking forward to doing this full-time with my next child. Until yesterday...

Recently, Parker was placed on antibiotics for an ear infection. Think of the side effects of antibiotics. Did you find one that would fit nicely into my cloth diaper story? Ok, good. Now, come with me back in time to yesterday, which is when my story begins....

Parker has been taking a nap, and I have been taking life easy today, after all, I work tonight. Life was good, life was easy. Then, I hear Parker wake up. I walk up the stairs, turn the hall and open his door, and HOLY COW! I get punched in the face by the most AWFUL stench I have ever known my son to produce. Eyes watering, and gasping for air, I lift my bright-eyed, I'm-laughing-and-making-fun-of-you-through-this-smirk-on-my-face son out of his crib, grab another GroBaby set and make a mad dash out of Parker's gas chamber. We made it, alive but few gas-fried brain cells short, to my room where I proceeded to rid Parker of his gas bomb of a diaper.

We'll fast forward through the diaper changing process. I doubt you'd like to relive that. Anyway, now we come to the part where Parker turns over, stands up and toddles away as I sit, staring at this diarrhea filled (I mean filled. FULL.) CLOTH diaper. For a moment it is just me and the diaper. I must be in shock because I cannot think. No thoughts. At all.

The first thought that eventually comes to mind is "This is going to stain. Bad."

Next thought, "What now?". I thought about just throwing it in the washer as is, but soon thought of and pitied my poor defenseless washer, and just couldn't inflict that sort of grotesque punishment on the poor thing. Besides, who knows if I would find pieces of last nights dinner stuck to the sides. Gag.

I eventually make it into the bathroom where it soon becomes a staring contest between me, the diaper and the toilet. It was a good fight.

The toilet stood there, unfaltering, so stoic.

The diaper, swimming in Parker's dinner, double-dog-daring me to do what it thinks I might do. Then there's me. I just stood there. The toilet almost won. It was all I could do from chucking the diaper in the garbage can outside and not give it a second thought. But, be proud, I did not give in to the toilet's intimidating stance. I could not believe what I was about to do. Stick my hand in the already disgusting toilet just to let it swim with diarrhea. (Supress a gag.)

Then, I remember my cute green cleaning gloves with gray and white trim I scored for a couple bucks from Wal-Mart. I apologize profusely to the glove as I pull it on, assuring it that this is it's job in life and better you than me, cute green glove. Better you than me.

Now, there I stand, me and the diaper vs the toilet. I took a deep breath (killing more brain cells) and went for the dunk and flush. Dunk and flush. Dunk and flush. I will spare you the graphic details, but I assure you, this is not an activity I will ever look forward to again.

As I finish, I think to myself, people WILLINGLY do this on a day to day basis with breastmilk poo? Really? I can't believe what I have let diaper changing come to as I wring diluted diarrhea poo water out of the diaper and get it into the pail.

I get everything cleaned, scrub my poor cute green cleaning glove, clean up the stray poo pieces that flew out with the first flush (Gag.) and promplty track Parker down, take off the GroBaby, and strap on a Huggies.

Monkeys Are Fish

Once again feeling a little spring fever-ish, I packed my little man up and met my mom for a day at the zoo! Adult admission is 9-12 dollars, but I opted for a Couple Membership which can get 2 adults and all children in for 1 year, which costs $60. At the advice of the nice lady helping me, I only put my name on and "Guest" as the second adult, so I can bring anyone with me that I wish!
First stop were the monkeys. After Parker seen them playing and climbing all over, I guess he decided they were fish, and signed "fish" to every monkey he saw. Unfortunately I don't know the sign for monkey, so I couldn't correct him, but I will be better prepared for our next trip to the zoo.
For most of the exhibits, Parker was unfortunately not quite as thrilled with the animals, but more interested in either
A) the fencing/wood slats/metal bars that keep you from getting too close
B) the cute little blond 4 year-old girl that we met up with time to time or
C) the water in the exhibits
So just for your information, in the couple pictures that Parker is looking off to the side, he's staring at the cute little blond girl :)

He also liked the lemurs

Next comes the elephants and rhinos:

He didn't quite know what to think about all the noise this elephant was making

Grammie pointing out the rhino

Up close! And probably my favorite photo of the trip.
Next came the big cats that unfortunately, Parker didn't care too much about, but he did like the waterfall!
There is a tiger hiding behind the pine tree in this pic

And perhaps the animal that came in a close second with regards to Parker's reaction would be the Bat-Eared Fox. He thought this little guy was funny, he just giggled and giggled at him.
Even though the little man wasn't too intrigued by the animals this trip, I am still looking forward to frequenting the zoo. It was nice to get outside and look at all the animals myself. Parker loves to be outside and behaved himself the whole time. I am happy about my investment, and you can look forward to more zoo blogs in the future!

Aquatic Animal Fun

This past week, I got tired of sitting on my bum at home, and begged my sweet hubby to take Parker and I to the Living Planet Aquarium. I had been there before when it was smaller at the Gateway. And for those of you who don't know, if I was forced to live my life over again, I would have become a Marine Biologist and spent my life swimming with dolphins, sharks, and all the tiny little exotic fish. I LOVE anything to do with the ocean, and I was stoked that my hubby agreed! It's about an hour drive for us, but so worth it. It is still rather small compared to the other great aquariums in the country, but hey, it's Utah, and how often do we get to see aquatic life?
The admission price for an adult is $9, and a year membership is $20, so I thought why not? and got the membership and ended up going again the very next day with my mom, Brittany and Kayden. It was so fun both times, and Parker LOVED it.
The first night, Parker got frustrated he couldn't actually reach out and grab the fish, and that stupid glass was his enemy! Poor kid, but he figured it out.

There are interactive areas of the aquarium, including pushing buttons to hear different animal noises, and Parker is his Father's son and cannot see a button without pushing it, so pushing buttons took up a good chunk of our time! He also loved this frog kids are allowed to play on.


And, of course, who can pass up the sting ray pool? While Parker never actually touched a stingray, he loved the water just the same.


We never got a good picture of the penguins, but Parker was so intrigued and could have watched those cute little guys play all day long.

Also, while at the aquarium, we discovered he does pay attention to his Baby Signing Time video and knows the sign for fish! I was such a proud Mommy. These past few weeks he really has been a sponge and has been showing off all that he can do!

Parker's First Park Outing

This is a week late, but last Sunday, Brad and I decided to take Parker to the park. At first, he didn't quite know what to think of it, and by the end he was more concerned about the sand, and not the toy. He did manage to eat a handful (I really mean eat, he consumed it, not just tasted it), and made my first-time mom heart beat a little faster! He's not ill yet, so it just made him stronger, right?
We also gave Parker his first haircut this week. I forgot to take a before pic right before, but you can so how long it was in the park photos. Now I can torture the poor kid and spike it! Ha Ha!
I love my growing little family, and cannot believe that in two short weeks, my baby boy will be one! The time really does fly by super fast!
He is also learning so much! He is now mimicking people, especially his Daddy. Dad taught him to put his binky on his head (why, you ask? Because it's Brad.), and now he tries to put just about everything of his on his head. He loves me to read to him and turn the pages himself. He is still crawling and hasn't quite built up the courage to take his first steps, but I'm perfectly OK with that! He also loves other kids and loves to watch them play. He can wave hi/bye, and every once in a while he says mama or dada, but it hasn't become very regular so it's hard to tell if it's just coincidence. The other day I bent down to put Parker on the floor so I could get him dressed and as I lowered him he cried NO! No! and cried when he made it to the floor. It was so funny I just laughed until I cried... it was too funny. Either he's sleep-deprived, is getting to the temper-tantrum age a bit early, or he's a redhead :D, because nowadays he's having a hard time when Mommy doesn't let him have his way! But most of the time, he just smiles and jibber jabbers all day.
I love my little family and couldn't be happier!