our little man...is not so LITTLE anymore!

On the 20th, we went to Parker's 4-month doctor appointment. Dr. Carson said that he is doing GREAT! His eye, although still goopy, is showing no signs of infection, so as far as that goes he is set! Thanks Dr. Liz for getting him started on drops so quickly! He is now 16 lbs. 5 oz. (90th percentile) and 26 in. long (also 90th percentile). We can't believe how much he has grown since last month. He is now sleeping about 11 hours at night, and we love it! He does new things all the time and we are anxiously waiting for him to start rolling over...he is just SO CLOSE! He also got some shots at his appointment. I am always amazed how well he does with these. He cries for just a couple seconds and is over it. We are also so proud and we hear other kiddos in other rooms screaming and ours is giggling right afterward! I am sure that this will change as he gets a little older, but here's hoping! After his appointment Parker and Mommy headed to the Tri-Cities for a weekend visit! We missed Daddy a bunch! We got to go to the hockey game and it was a blast. On Saturday, little guy and I headed to Yakima for my friend Ashley's baby shower. It was fun to see Ashley and get to share some of my "new-mommy-wisdom" haha, yeah right! After the shower we headed back for another hockey game! Parker was so funny and once he got tired would cry and get the saddest look on his face everytime the crowd got really noisy! We couldn't help but laugh. On Sunday, it was nice to just relax and hang out with my mom. I have missed her so much. Then, we headed back to Cheney in the afternoon so we could spend time with Trav when he got home from work. We really missed him, and I think he was really missing his little buddy after not seeing him for a couple days. It is so sweet. Parker is absolutely obsessed with Trav in the last month. Every time Trav enters a room and Parker sees or hears him he is compelled to stare and giggle. I love watching them together too. Parker just laughs and laughs. His laugh now is a very high-pitched squeal. Sometimes I think he is fussy, when he is really just laughing or concentrating. It took me a week to get used to his new noise and realize he wasn't actually being fussy. Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks!

Parker has started to grab his toes and tip over. It is so funny to watch him roll back and forth!

We have started giving him rice cereal in the afternoon and he is doing pretty well with it!

We always have a bib on him now because of his constant drooling from chewing on everything. I keep checking to see if he has any teeth coming in...none yet!

He is so close to rolling over...I always have the video camera close during his "tummy time."

I love his little polo shirt...so cute!

We just love him so much and he is getting so big so fast. Here is a little video of him "screaming" aka laughing and talking while playing on his activity mat last night, it was hilarious. He was doing it so much before I brought out the camera, but you get the idea!

Happy 4 Months Parks!

I cannot believe that my baby boy is already 4 months old!
These last 4 months have just flown by...but they were all equally wonderful. Parker is so big now and I can't wait to see how much he weighs and how long he is at his 4 month well-baby appointment on Friday. It seems like we were just bringing him home from the hospital. I remember how nervous I was to bring him home...I was so scared that I was going to do something wrong and that I wouldn't know how to do anything right. At first you are all nervous and concerned about everything...then 4 months goes by and you are able to totally roll with the punches. The words "oh well" are used a lot now! He is doing so many new things now and I can't believe my eyes sometimes.

Some of this past month's accomplishments are:

• finding his feet
• 
• lifting himself up when on his tummy
• 
• playing in his new ExerSaucer
• 
• almost rolling over (he gets all the way on to his side...then can't get any further quite yet)
• sitting up (assisted...he's still a little too small to do it all on his own yet)
• passing a toy from one hand to another
• sleeping 11 hours at night (Mommy & Daddy love this one a lot...but he started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks...so we are not surprised that he is a great sleeper now)
• we tried some rice cereal from a spoon the other night...and he did pretty good!
  
• he is talking so much more now and making all sorts of noises
• mastering the spit bubble-raspberry noise
• his giggle is soooo infectious...it is more like a high-pitched squeal and it is hilarious!
  

A special thanks to my mom...aka Nonni Donna...for coming up this past weekend to babysit while Trav and I went to dinner and a movie.
It was a great break and we loved having you! She also brought up a new ExerSaucer for Parker! It is so cool and has so many fun things for him to play with. It is also nice because he can stand, rather than lay all the time. Thanks Papa Kev-O and Nonni Donna for the huge new toy. Travis affectionally calls it "the monstrosity!" Parks loves his new toy so much! I think he was getting bored with all of his other ones! It was so great to get to spend a whole day with my mom, going shopping and having lunch. I have missed her so much...especially in the last several months. I can't wait for June when we will all be in the same city again! I get to see my family again this coming weekend.

After Parker's appointment on Friday, we are headed to the Tri-Cities then to Yakima on Saturday for my friend Ashley's Baby Shower. We are all so excited to welcome baby Madilyn Joy Jaeger into the world at the end of March! It was fun to be pregnant at the same time as my sister, then my other sister (sorority sister) found out she was pregnant! What a blast! I hope that Madi and Parks will be great friends growing up. I can't wait to see Ash this weekend, it really hasn't been that long since we last got to catch up, but it seems like it!

Just some extra pictures (mostly for my dad who only checks the blog for the pictures, so he probably didn't even read this little blurb!)

happy heart day everyone

I know that people say that Valentine's Day is just "a holiday invented by Hallmark", but I think it is a wonderful reminder to tell those in your life that you love them. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in all the day-to-day things going on that we forget to just simply say "I LOVE YOU BECAUSE..." We always say it because that's just what we do...but it is nice to put some real thought into why! As I was pouring my heart out in Trav's card I realized all the things that I always think, but forget to tell him.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

So I have a ton of new pictures that I have taken in the last couple days that I just have to post...but there were too many adorable ones and I could not narrow them down any more!!! Not much to report from the Guion House today. Parker is back on track and out of his fussy attitude from the last couple days, Yay!

On a super wonderful note my mom is coming to visit this weekend and I can't wait to see her! (My dad isn't sure if he is going to be able to make it or not yet because of his soccer coaching schedule...but we would be thrilled if he came to visit too) I'm sure Parker is excited to see his Nonni too! He gets to hear her and I gab on speaker-phone everyday, so it will be nice for him to actually get to see her again! She is also going to watch Parks for Trav and I so we can go to dinner...just the two of us...and I'm sure spend the whole time talking about Parker anyway!!! Either way, we are excited! My mom is one of the best friends a girl could ask for and I have looked up to her (and my dad) my whole life. They are the most amazing parents and I hope that I am as good a parent as they have been. I also hope that Parker has a fun and close relationship with Travis and I like mine was with them!

Play Ball!

Well...it was about time for a new video! This was hilarious. I think the best part of it all is that it took place in the middle of a fussy day for Parker. He really isn't fussy that often at all, but the last two days have been a little trying! I thank God that we did not have a baby that is fussy all the time, and I think it makes it harder when he does have a fussy day because we just are not used to it at all. In this video, Parker is in his swing because he was being crabby and didn't even want to be held. He started being a grouch in the swing too, so I tossed his soft baseball rattle onto his lap. As soon as I tossed it, he started giggling so much! So, I did it again, and again...he thought it was so funny. He found it even more hilarious if the ball hit him in the face! It was the highlight of my day...I hope it makes you smile too!



The last two days, because of an unruly 4 month old and taxes have been packed full of stress! I am just not used to Parker crying while going down for naps...come to think of it, Parker barely cries at all. If you are not familiar with the sound of a crying baby, especially your own (the sound that can tug at your heartstrings and make you want to pull your hair out all-in-one) it is a very tough noise to take for even 20 minutes! It didn't help at all that Travis and I were working on getting our taxes done at the same time. I remember doing our taxes last year, and it was nothing compared to this! It is hard enough to make sure that you put everything in right, but this year we had to worry about how to put in Trav's EWU loan & scholarship information, our new dependent info, and W-2s (1 for Travis and 2 for me). I was so frustrated by the end of it that I had to walk away. With Parker crying in the background I could not focus enough to even attempt to get them done. It finally got to the point where I was so frustrated that Travis sent me off to take a shower and de-stress while he finished them up. When I got out the taxes were almost done and there was a margarita waiting for me on the counter!

just some pictures of my sweetie (and some of deacon too)

I swear his eyes get more and more blue everyday! I love it.

You can kind of see that the snow here is slowly going away...we are just hoping that more doesn't come in its place!