One More Day

I've only got one more day . . . I have to go back to work on Thursday, and it is going to kill me. I know a lot of you thought I was cooking up some plan to stay home and send Michael back out into the workplace, but that's just not a choice we can make right now. Believe me, we've looked at it every way possible, and we just can't do it. We would happily give up the income and change our lifestyle, but I don't work for the salary, I work for the health insurance. In case you haven't been paying attention, our son needs good health insurance. So, somehow on Thursday morning, I'm going to drag my butt up, get ready and leave my sleeping husband and two children at home :(

Attention Co-workers: You DO NOT want to talk to me on Thursday. I will be in a VERY BAD mood.

I'm going to miss out on things like:

This - Parker's morning play time

And This - Brayden's morning play time

And This - Finger painting and a face massage during Speech Therapy

And This - Early morning bright eyes

And This - The kids learning how to play together

It will be hard, but it is what my family needs. I will just try to remember that at the end of the day, I can come home to THIS --

The Boy Who Doesn't Know How to Laugh

I know I've told you guys that Jordan and Brayden act like wild animals when they get together, but you really have no idea just how funny they can be. On Monday, Jor came over for a little while after school. She had to do her homework before she could play, so she went in the living room away from Brayden. He tried and tried to get her attention (yelling, throwing toys over the gate, etc), but Jor just worked away on her reading assignment. After she was finished, she went in to play with Brayden. . . by that time, he was mad at her so he ignored her. He literally turned his back to her when she tried to talk to him. It was so funny! He's way to young to be playing those games!! After a little while, he got over it and they had a good time. Here is a video of them playing the "smack Jordan in the head and she will scream" game -- very entertaining!

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I'm not sure how well you can hear it in the video, but Brayden gets SOOOOO cracked up but he does not laugh out loud. He holds it inside somehow. I've never seen anyone hold laughter in like he does, but we've tried everything to get him to let some air out, and he just doesn't. Oh, well, he's having a good time even if he still doesn't know how to laugh :)

Now, here are some pictures of Miss P-Gab from today -- just because I know you enjoy her cuteness :)

A Pretty Girly Girl, An All-Boy Boy, & A Song

Since Parker G is now 6 weeks old and we can lighten up on the germaphobia, we all went to church today. It was nice to go together, and it was very fun to dress PG up like a girly girl :)

I feel pretty -- oh so, pretty :)

Thank you for my beautiful hairbow, Tabitha & Addy :)

Bray Boy had another fun day playing outside. He loves being outside, but he gets so hot!!! His core temp was at about 2 million degrees today, but he had such a good time that he did not want to go inside. He got his first skinned knee (or skint knee if you're from Bell Co - haha) today when he fell down on the driveway, but he didn't even wimper! What a tough guy ;)

Poor little boo-boo! We tried to put a bandaid on it, but he just ripped it off -- he's all boy!

Hey, Momma -- It's time to head upstairs and hit the crib. I'm beat!!!!

Now for the song -- I just LOVE this song. If you haven't heard it, you're missing out! It is called "The Blessing" by John Waller.

Let it be said of us

While we walked among the living

Let it be said of us

By the ones we leave behind

Let it be said of us

That we lived to be a blessing for life

Let it be said of us

That we gave to reach the dying

Let it be said of us

By the fruit we leave behind

Let it be said of us

That our legacy is blessing for life

This day

You set life, you set death right before us,

This day

Every blessing and curse is a choice now

And we will choose to be a blessing for life

Let it be said of us

That our hearts belonged to Jesus

Let it be said of us

That we spoke the words of life

Let it be said of us

That our heritage is blessing for life

For your Kingdom, for our Children

For the sake of every nation

Parker's Gorgeous Grins & Brayden's Nice Moves

Parker Gab is such a good baby. . . she's just a dream :) Last Saturday morning, Parker gave us her first social smile -- how exciting! This whole week, she been having "smile time" during the day. She just has a period of happy time where she will smile and play with us. We love it!!! When she smiles really big, she gets a little dimple in her right cheek. You've got to work extra hard to get a dimple smile :)

A new diaper? That makes me happy :)A bottle?? Now that makes me REALLY happy :)

Brayden has also been having a very happy week. I got the camera out to take a picture of his sock protest (which he does all the time - he even throws them out of his crib at night), but he started acting like such a goof that I just turned on the video. He even signed baby for the camera -- that is sooooo adorable!!! You've just gotta love these dance moves, too :)

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Sunny Sunday

We had a beautiful day today, and Brayden Boy took full advantage :) He is definitely all boy, and we've decided that he doesn't need a sand box -- he would be perfectly content with a box of rocks!!! I didn't get a picture of it, but he spent most of the day playing in the gravels at GG's house.

How 'bout a little hoop action, boys?

How can you not melt when you see this face???

Bray Boy on the move!!!

Mixed Emotions -- A little happy + a little scared :)

P-Gab did not get out in the sun today -- a girl's gotta protect her lily white skin!!! She still had lots of fun, though. Napping on GG, napping on Aunt Emma, napping on Momma. . . you get the picture.

Here's Baby Angel in her crib. Brayden wore this sleeper when he came home at almost 6 months old & Parker has already filled it out at 5 weeks!!!

Road Trip

On Saturday we took a road trip to see my grandparents and than went to Michael's sister's house for our niece's birthday party. . . man, it was a long day!!! We spent almost 7 hours in the car and only about 3 hours visiting between the 2 stops :( Hopefully, Daddy won't be committing us to any more out of town engagements anytime soon!!! It's good to see family, but kids can only take so much time in the car!

Mims & Paps w/ my kiddos -- I love this picture :)

Hey, Daddy -- Here's what Parker G thinks of your road trip. . .And Big Brother backs her up . . .

Nothing Cheers Me Up Like a Package Delivery :)

I love to shop online because I love getting a package delivery at home :) I have been anxiously awaiting the delivery of some clothes for the kiddos and also a replacement gate that the gate company promised me (apparently we got a "defective" gate, so they are sending me a new one. . . I'll let you know how it works out!). Today we got the clothes, so Brayden Boy had to try them all on! Here are some of my favs --

Oh, Momma -- do I have to try on these clothes???

Sure these jeans will work -- in another year or two!!!

I said NO HORIZONTAL STRIPES!!!Does anyone see a problem with these shorts? Are denim capris in style for boys this year??Oooohhhh, Papaw -- I'm ready for you to start heating the pool :)

Last summer, this was one of Bray-My's cutest shirts:

So, imagine my delight when I found out that it is still available! I was also delighted to get these cute shorts. (He is running back to me after taking a break to give Baby Sister a kiss.)

Don't worry, Baby Sister. Momma got you some new stuff, too!

Unexplained Struggles

Although my blog doesn't always show it, our lives are not all sunshine and rainbows . . . we've had a rough week. No, it's not night time feedings or newborn fussiness that I'm talking about. . . it's the unexplained struggles of a 19-month old boy.

About a month ago, Brayden started showing some signs that the "terrible twos" were going to come early. . . tantrums, hitting, throwing -- you know, toddler stuff. I wasn't too concerned. It is, after all, what comes with this age. So, we dealt with these behaviors with patience and re-direction. So far, I've been very impressed with our ability to stay calm and matter-of-fact while saying "no hits", "no throws", and "that is not nice" about 1 billion times per day. My sister has had many laughs since she witnessed a tantrum one day, and I responded in my ultra-dorky voice, "It's OK, Brayden. Everyone gets angry." We've been calm. We can handle this. Or so I thought -- This week, we've entered a whole new world of "issues". . .

About 4 days ago, Brayden started head banging. Yeah, that's right, he is banging his head against anything and everything when he gets upset or when he wants attention. He head bangs on walls, on doors, and on the floor. He picks up things and hits himself in the head, and if he doesn't have something readily available, he makes a fist and hits himself. He is banging his head HARD. Hard enough to leave bruises, and hard enough to scare me. He is also not sleeping. Brayden has always been a good sleeper (with some periods of exception, like after his surgery), but now he is fighting going to sleep and he is waking up many, many times at night. When he wakes up, he bangs his head on his crib.

Everything I read says that we are supposed to ignore this behavior. That makes sense, it is obviously an attention-seeking behavior that we don't want to encourage, so we shouldn't give it any attention. However, every fiber of my being wants do something to stop him. This may be the hardest thing we have been through so far. . . and it is wearing me out. The head banging has definitely declined each day, but there were still some really hard hits today. How do I help him? How can I help him when I don't understand what is wrong? Is this related to Parker being here? Is this related to the cardio appt? Is this something else? Am I just reading too much into normal boy behavior?

I thought about not posting about this, and DH didn't want me to, but I feel like I need to. My blog is usually "light and airy". Sometimes I avoid the real stuff of life because I'm afraid of dealing with it or I'm afraid of being judged . . . with this issue, I'm guess I'm just afraid that someone will think something is "wrong" with my son. I often think about the reason that I spend so much time reading other blogs -- it is the connection that I feel to people when they are open and honest. I've been touched, inspired, and educated by other bloggers, so don't I owe it to them to share some of our struggles?

Parker is 1 Month Old

Happy 1 month birthday, baby girl. I love you all the way!!!

Time Warp (No, Not from the RHPS)

Maybe it's because I haven't been out of the house much lately, maybe it's because I have no routine, or maybe it's because I've lost my marbles . . . but I'm in a time warp. I had this realization this week when Brayden had a cardio check-up and Parker turned 4 weeks old. Time is . . . well, it's fluid.

Brayden's cardio check-up went great. Everything looks and sounds good. The pc said that we could stop giving him Lasix. YAY! We are down to 1 med per day, and we are going to have a big party when we finish up our 9 months sentence of INH in May! It is surreal to me that his surgery was only 4 months ago -- it seems like it was forever ago. Brayden is doing so well. He is so active, so healthy. The surgery is like a distant memory, and I can't even remember most of the details. It almost seems like we've always been post-repair. I'm in a time warp.

Oh, I'm not sure about this, Momma!!I didn't do anything sneaky, I promise . . .

Knock, knock -- is anyone home???

Tomorrow, Parker will be one month old. I can't remember having her here for a full month. I can't remember Brayden being a big brother for a month. No, it seems like she just came home yesterday. How can such a month -- not just any month, a special month, the first month of my daughter's life -- seem so non-existent? I'm in a time warp.

Ahh, the better to see you with, my dear!

Oh, I got this head control thing down -- I don't need support!

That's right, Brayden . . . "Bow to your sensei!"

The Great Gate Escape

Our house has been a "gated community" for a while now. . . but we've run into some serious gate problems this week. The gate below has been up since July or August. It is great -- you step on a little foot pad and push it open with your knee and you kick it closed -- no hands! This has worked great for months, but the problem is the Brayden TOTALLY knows how it works! Once he picks up another pound or two, he'll be out the door!

Now, here is the REALLY big problem. We put this gate up after Parker came home and we realized that sometimes Brayden needs to be separated from the baby -- sometimes as in any time she is in the swing or the bouncy seat and not in complete protection!

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We didn't realize that this crappy gate was held together with Velcro until we heard the first little RIP when Brayden figured out that he could just take the thing apart! We tried switching the gate around so that the Velcro was on the opposite side, but as you can see in the video, Bray can still rip it down with one hand! The gate is a Summer Infant Sure and Secure Custom Fit Gate -- do not buy it! I think I'll e-mail Summer Infant and let them know that the gate is neither sure nor secure.

And here is the newest challenge --

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We've avoided putting a gate on the stairs b/c I was pg and clumsy and well, we had gates everywhere else! Now we've got to get a gate on the stairs . . . and we've got to find a replacement for the Velcro crappola that we have for the play room -- anybody got any suggestions???

Easter Pictures

I hope that everyone had a great Easter! I didn't get many good pics b/c Brayden Boy was NOT cooperative. . . it's a shame -- he looked very handsome! Parker G was a beauty queen, too!

This is the closest we got to a family portrait. Bray was bucking like a bronco in every other shot!!!

Momma & her Pretty Princess :)

Little Handsome :)

Just the girls -- these three are gorgeous!!!

If he can reach her, he will kiss her :)

The blue-eyed beauties! Tia is so in love with Parker, and it is so sweet! She has 3 baby dolls that she plays with all the time now -- she named them Brayden Mynor, Parker Gabrielle, and Parker Gabrielle :)

Only in Kentucky!

Business first -- We just ordered our announcements for Parker, and they are so great!!! Sarah Havard got some amazing portraits of my kiddos, and I would love to share :) Please e-mail me your address if you would like to receive an announcement in the mail. My e-mail address is jkmag4@peoplepc.com (don't worry if you've got another e-mail for me, I've got a few!).

Now, Only in Kentucky -- so a couple of posts ago I mentioned that Brayden had been enjoying a string of 80-degree days. . . well, today I look out the window and see snow! How did we go from 80s in March to 30s in April? It's Kentucky, that's how.

Here's a view of the snow from our back deck. I dream of the day that you can see less than 20 houses outside our window!! DH just thinks it's cool that the corner of his garage made it on the blog!

Finally, what you really came for -- the pics of the kiddos (or "the babies" as they have been labeled by my family)!

Ain't no sunshine when it rains -- Brayden gets depressed when it rains. At home, he looks out the window and acts sad on rainy days. I took this pic on Tuesday night while we were coming home during a MAJOR storm. The rain was a downer for Bray-My :(

Momma's Little Cupcake -- I thought this shirt was sooooo cute on Parker G! I wish you could see her pretty blue eyes, but the pics never look right on here! Several people have commented about the color of PG's hair. . . we don't know what color it is, it looks different every day! It's either blonde or strawberry blonde or light brown or red. . . but it's always pretty :)

Parker Passed & Brayden Took a Nose Dive!

I don't think I mentioned it before, but Parker did not pass her hearing screen at the hospital. They did it on 2 different days, and she did not pass on the right side both days. I wasn't there for the first test, but I went with her on the 2nd day. The test is set up so that each ear has to get a score of 160 within 15 minutes. She passed on the left pretty quickly, but the right side never got out of the 60s - that was a long 15 minutes of me saying, "come on, come on, come on" in my head. They told us that Cesarean babies can have more fluid in their ears (I guess it gets squeezed out if they go through the birth canal??), so it was probably nothing to worry about and that they would re-test her in a couple of weeks. At first, I did not stress about it . . . but as time went by, the worry started to creep in (doesn't it always?). Around the middle of last week, I was pretty much convinced that she was deaf and that we needed to get to work on our sign language skills immediately!

So yesterday we went back to the hospital for the re-test. The lady explained the test to us again, showed us the monitor and said that each ear needed to get to 160 within 15 minutes. It took baby girl 1 minute and 38 seconds to pass both ears -- Whoo-hoo! Good girl, Parker :) Momma really needed that!

Best seat in the house -- Parker loves to relax in her car seat. I'm thinking about just setting it in her crib at night so that we can get some rest!!!

On to Brayden's nose dive -- I have seen many cute pics of your kiddos playing on playgrounds, and I have been tempted many times to let Brayden try out the play area at the mall. Yesterday, Mom and I took a short trip to the mall to look for some shoes for Bray. He's a big ol' size 4 now, so I thought we would have more options (I was wrong, we found nothing!). There weren't many kids playing and he had been so good -- so, I asked him if he wanted to get out of the stroller and play. He signed play, so I took him out and happily planted him down in the middle of the play area. Little did I know that I was feeding my sweet, innocent boy to the wolves!!! Brayden walked around a little . . . he didn't venture far, and he was really more interested in looking at us than any of the brats, I mean, kids that were playing. After a few minutes, he walked back over to me, and I was asking him if he was ready to go. About that time, a little girl came running by and ran right between us. Then a little boy came chasing her. As he ran between us, he stuck out his arm and clotheslined my sweet Bray-My. The clothesline was pretty rough, so the boy then fell on top of Brayden. Poor Brayden Boy!!! He went face first into the carpet, and it scared him quite a bit. I scooped him up, wiped the dirt and tears from his face, and went into ultra-baby mode. I felt like such an idiot for leaving my poor baby boy out in the open with maniacs, I mean, kids running around! He has carpet-burn on his little nose :( I put some Aquaphor on it last night to soothe it, and it looks better today. . . no more playgrounds for us!!!

On a side note -- yes, I realize that that my son is destined to be a sissy-boy, because I leave him no choice!!! Also, the little boy really didn't mean to hurt Brayden, he was just chasing his sister and got out of control. His grandmother did make him come over and apologize to Brayden, too, so that was nice.

Oh, my nose!!! Can you see the carpet burn??? How about the HUGE molar in his mouth? This boy has the biggest teeth ever!