Well, that explains everything then, doesn't it?

Kenley has been experiencing some bizarre jealousy lately, and told me the other day that I am just HER Mommy and only SHE grew in my tummy and Parker grew in Daddy's tummy. I mean, it does make sense. These two sweetie pies are so different in so many ways, they couldn't possibly have grown in the same womb. Especially as Parker becomes more mobile, James and I are noticing more differences all the time. For instance...

*One of Parker's favorite activities is to crawl over to the dog water and sit and splash in it. My first child did this maybe two times.
*He has brown, curly hair (exactly what I THOUGHT my blondie Kenley would have).
*He throws things. Food, toys, anything he gets his hands on. Throwing things has never even occurred to my little girl.
*He doesn't have much love for the paci. Oh, what a welcome change that is.
*He actually fell asleep in James's LAP in church on Sunday. This is actually a first for either kid, my little munchkins NEVER fall asleep in public without a great deal of effort.
*He repeats sounds that you make to him (a milestone that Ms. Independent skipped altogether, and I thought was sort of an imaginary miletone up until now).
*Oh, he is a busy boy. Always crawling at top speed, snuffling and snorting with a huge grin on his face.
*He's a total daredevil. He pulls up on everything and explores all over the place, resulting in lots of bumps and bruises.
*He has never outgrown his over-active startle reflex. Still a loud noise, burst of laughter, or overly exuberant toddler shriek will make him burst into tears. And then I laugh at him.
*He actually grows.
*He gets into EVERYTHING. He puts things in his mouth constantly, and there are lots of small choking hazards to choose from with a two year old sister.
*Kenley always needed a tight swaddle, a paci, and a room free from distractions to be able to sleep. No crib toys for her. Parker on the other hand, will just chill in his crib for a while, climbing all around, playing with the Fisher Price Crib Aquarium, jabbering, and then he'll just eventually fall asleep.
*Um, he won't wear shoes?

I hope it doesn't seem like I favor Kenley since I mostly blog about her. She is just so entertaining these days with the funny things she says. But Parker is such a gift to our family, such a sweet and happy little man. He loves life and everything about it and his smile just lights up the room. He's got these huge, fabulous marshmallow cheeks that just beg to be kissed. He eats and eats and eats. He flaps wildly and grins ear-to-ear when he sees us, and seems overjoyed that he gets to be our baby. He's flexible, mellow, and exceptionally good-natured - your stereotypical middle child (not making any announcements here, just assuming he won't be our last kid). Oh, we adore this little boy. How could anything be more precious?

Um, no. It's winter.

So Kenley runs in this morning holding her swimming suit and goes, "I want to wear my swimming suit! I want to go to the beach!" Seeing as how this morning it was 49 degrees and POURING, it was no on the beach. But I decided to say yes to the swimming suit. She ran back in later with some winter accessories that I believe James helped her to put on. By the way, she has a perfectly cute swimming suit that does fit her, but she was preferring this blue one ("my Ariel swimming suit"???) which actually belonged to me when I was a baby. Oh, and by the way, I got the Princess video up and running on my previous post.

Obsessions

Okay, this totally random post will be about one of Kenley's obsessions and two of mine. Here's Kenley's: Disney princesses. I know, it's generic, but when it's your own kid it's still so dang cute. I took a little video of her saying the names of all the princesses for your viewing pleasure.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Sooo.... now for my obsessions. First I want to talk about reality TV, specifically shows that are genuinely good, and ones that are so bad that they are good. In the genuinely good category, I have to give a shout-out to The Amazing Race, particularly this season's finale, which was the best episode of any TV show that I've seen in a LONG time. If you haven't watched this show, you need to. And this season's winners marked the first time my favorite team has ever actually won. Woo hoo! And my new favorite show that is bad it's good: Crowned. Oh my goodness. It's a mother-daughter beauty pageant reality show. So awesome. I can't even tell you. It is such a guilty pleasure. A few weeks ago a team got eliminated because they decided to do hula hooping for their talent, when they really HAD singing talent and just didn't "make the most of it." Don't even act like you could make better TV than that.

My second obsession is a new one, and that is statcounter.com. You can install a statistic tracker that shows who visits your blog and how often. It's totally weirding me out, actually. Just this weekend we've had visitors from Missouri, British Columbia, San Clemente, New York, New Jersey, and many others. I don't know anyone in those places. Who are you? And it shows if they get to your blog through another blog, so I can see my little bloghoppers. Today we had 27 different visitors to the blog. It makes me wonder if I should be more private, I had no idea we were getting so many views. Thoughts on this, my other blogging friends? Anyway, it's quite cool and I check my stats more than I care to admit... :)

Oh, I almost forgot. Kenley has a pink jacket with a unicorn on it and she calls it a baby goat. "Wait Mommy I say hi to my baby goat HIIIII baby goat!" Hahahahahahaha.

More from the holidays...

One of the best parts about Christmas is getting to see friends who are in town for the holidays.

Breakfast with the Parrish clan: Whitney, Dustin, and baby Cade; Collin, Maxine, and baby Isaac; and Sheena, Jake, and little Lila. We love to see any of the Parrish sibs when we can. Whitney and I have been good friends since Freshman year, Sheena is just like another sister to me, and Collin and James were roommates. So we have a lot of memories and a ton of fun!






Then we met up with our friends Stacey and Kurt, in town from Tennessee. We got to meet Micah and Hannah, who they adopted from Ethiopia in August. We LOVED Micah and Hannah! They were such sweet and polite kids, and I was so excited to be able to finally meet them!



Then we had our annual RB Girls Christmas Breaksfast. Each year we try to get together with whoever is in town. We always miss our girls who are stuck with their in-laws, but it's a great chance to reconnect and catch up!


Jen Taylor, me, Erin Muir, Amanda Lilly, Krystal Humberstone, and April Fisher (sorry girls, just stuck with the maiden names)

More cute Christmas

I realized that I only put up pictures of our Christmas with Dad and Joanie, so I thought I'd put up a few more.

Opening presents from the Hampton family:




Nancy (my mother-in-law) made those cute matching sweaters for the kids. Then Kenley and I got BYU beanies and James and Parker got Utah beanies. Luckily Hamptons got adult sizes so the beanies actually fit on the kids' huge heads.

Christmas with Scott, Mom, and Kirk:
My mom was nice enough to get Kenley some Hello Kitty band-aids (or "tapes," as Kenley calls them).
Scott's pile of presents to be given. These boxes are not even taped shut, by the way. His other gifts were in his pocket.

Pinky Pinkerton and the Daredevil Dude

Can you tell what Kenley's latest obsession is? Pink. Everything pink. Luckily after she wears this one outfit for the week, she has nothing else solid pink and has to resort to normal clothes. Funny Kenley quote of the day: As we're driving in the car tonight, Kenley goes, "Mommy! The moon is chasing me! Hurry, moon! Hurry, hurry!"

Here's a little video of Parker crawling that I promised to put up for my in-laws. What's funny is that he is soooo much LESS mobile than he thinks he is. He can crawl and get up on his knees, but he always comes crashing down, and that has led to more injuries already than I think Kenley has had in her entire life. Poor little guy. Yesteday Kenley slammed his face in the door, and he fell near our fireplace and got a brick imprint on his forehead. Then today he was trying to pull up on our coffee table and fell and smacked his head on the corner of the leg. You can see the mark in this video. I know what you're thinking. But childproofing is for sissies. He's apparently quite resilient though, and doesn't seem any worse for wear.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

This kid could raise herself

Today I could hear Parker and Kenley squabbling in the other room...

ME: It sounds like someone's being a little mean in there!
KENLEY, remorsefully: It's me.
ME: Do you need a time-out?
KENLEY, contemplatively: Um, yes. Sorry Parker. Toddles into her bedroom and says over her shoulder, Two minutes, kay Mommy?

What do you even do with that? She cracks me up.

Can't think of a non-sacreligious title for this next one...

So you all know that Kenley is scared of sirens. Completely terrified. But she has this little friend named Parker whose daddy is a firefighter, so now when we hear the siren, we talk about how maybe it's Parker's daddy, and he's a helper, blah blah blah. So today at my mom's we hear a siren, Kenley flips out, and I go over to comfort her. "Yeah, you hear a firetruck! Full of helpers! Who do you think might be on that firetruck?" I ask. "Jesus," Kenley replies, and then adds a peeved little, "What?" in response to our hysterical laughter. When I had calmed down a little I asked her why she thought Jesus would be riding a firetruck. "He's a people," she says. Okay then.

Another funny little quirk of Kenley's is her love of adjectives. She cannot eat anything without pausing after the first bite to describe it. "Crunchy! Sour! Cold! Yummy! Spicy!" The list goes on and on. Although she has this tendency at other moments ("Slippery! Pretty!"), it happens most often with food. Perhaps a career as a food critic awaits....

Parker was a total fuss-pot today. Maybe another tooth or another ear infection, don't know. I'm obviously hoping for the tooth. Or, he could just be annoyed by the tooth that he has, as it has formed into a horribly sharp peak, most closely resembling a shard of glass in his mouth. I mean seriously, how badly must teething hurt? A pokey tooth breaking through your gums? It makes me shudder just to think about it. Poor little guy.

You may have noticed that I changed my friends links a little. I may or may not change it back but I figured this would be an easier way for people to blog-hop to others who they actually know. Since some of you might not know, the name Kenley is actually my mom's maiden name, hence my many cousins with the same maiden name. Just wanted to clear up any confusion.

Christmas was fantastic, aside from missing my little missionary sister like crazy. Everyday life isn't so bad without her anymore, but it's the traditions, those experiences that I've never had without her, that get to me. James always has to deal with a crazy weepy me on the holidays. At least we got to talk to her on the phone, which was fabulous. Except then the next day the phone rang and Kenley looked up all happy and hopeful and asked, "Annie?" and I had choke out a sad little "No." But other than all that Christmas was great and Kenley's excitement just made me so happy. More to come on Christmas...

Crazy busy holiday week... and then a chance to breathe!

This week was pretty busy, I'll give you all the rundown starting on Tuesday. oh, but FIRST, in the interest of not neglecting my second-born, I will mention that Parker had a HUGE week! He had his first overnight away from us, cut his very first tooth, learned how to go from laying down to sitting up all by himself, and learned to scoot/crawl forward! Hooray Parker! You no longer appear to be a hugely overgrown five-month-old! That's not a mean thing to say, is it? I'll ask James. You may not see that comment in the morning.

Here is a picture of our little man within 24 hours of accomplishing 3 out of the 4 things I just listed above. It was a very big day, and he is quite serious.


Anyway, here's how our week went. It was a crazy one.

TUESDAY: I went to see Whitney at the hospital because she had her baby boy on Monday. Isn't he just the most precious thing?


That night James, Kenley, and I went to the Festival of Lights at the Wild Animal Park. They had Santa and snow and tons of fun crafts, but you couldn't really see any animals because it was dark. Kenley kept looking for all the animals, asking, "Eee ee?" (Monkey) "Panda?" "Starfish?" She was a little confused at the lack of animals at the animal park. We did see a bunny in the bushes and that seemed to suffice.


Kenley got her face painted, and she just wanted something pink. Her favorite animal is a monkey, so I suggested a pink monkey. It looked like Satan. It was awesome.



WEDNESDAY: My mom and I watched my friend's 5 kids, plus my two, making 7 kids under the age of 9. They were all really good but it was a busy morning. That night we went to James's work party at the La Valencia in La Jolla and then we got to stay there that night in one of the villas. Ahhhhh.... I love a good night's sleep! Thank you SO MUCH to Mom and Joanie for each taking a kid so we could have a little time together in the midst of the holiday craziness.

THURSDAY: Tried to stay at the La Valencia forever but they wouldn't let us, so we left and went to my mom's. My mom, James, Kenley, Hollie, and had a good time decorating a gingerbread house, and then we finished our Christmas shopping, then went over to Dad and Joanie's for a very fun early Christmas.


Here is Kenley enjoying new presents: a Cinderella Barbie, some sparkly new shoes, and some markers, all of which she promptly stuffed into her pocket.


FRIDAY: I went to a candy-making class in the morning and then had a friend come over in the afternoon. I also had many fiascos with our family Christmas letter. It'll be late this year.

SATURDAY: Relaxation! Today the kids staggered their naps, Parker slept from 10-12, then Kenley slept from 1-3, and now it's 3 and Parker is about to go back down. It's not an ideal schedule every day for obvious reasons, but on days like today when we're not going anywhere, it's really nice to get to spend some one-on-one time with the kids. This morning Kenley was insistent upon wearing her new dress Joanie got her for Christmas, and she seems to believe that if she only wears her dress long enough, it will turn into Sunday and we can go to church. This morning we finished wrapping presents (Kenley was ever-so-helpful), and got all packed and ready to head back down to my mom's for a few more days. It really was such a nice day, with lots of loves from my kiddos. Tonight Kenley picked her "Jesus book" to read before bed and we got to a picture of Jesus and Mary and she was so hilariously happy about it. "It's Mary! Jesus's mommy!" Squeeze for me, kiss for me. "MY MOMMY! Katie!" And then earlier today we were sitting next to each other eating lunch and she looks over, gives me the most adorable grin, and places her tiny hand on my arm. Then takes my arm and actually wraps it around her own little body so I'm giving her a hug. I think she purposely withholds affection most of the time so that she can make me just melt at times like this.

My laugh for the day

"Kenley, what are you doing?"
"I'm Cinderella!"

Two little buddies

Now that Parker is more mobile, he and Kenley are having even more fun. I think they spend their time conspiring against me. What else would be so funny?

Getting bigger every day

Okay, so Parker looking like a two-year-old in this picture is partially due to the camera angle, and partially due to the fact that I dressed him exclusively in clothes that were too small on this particular day, but seriously, doesn't he look so big? He is trying so hard to crawl now and he's getting a little frustrated. He gets up on his hands and knees and just rocks and rocks, but either goes nowhere or backwards. It's starting to make him really mad.

See... we have seasons!

Okay, well, maybe not actual seasons. BUT, the tree in our neighbors yard was losing some leaves, so I took advantage of it and snapped these cute pictures of the kids.

Musings on the blog world

Okay, I have two confessions about blogging. One, I love blog-hopping. Checking on my friends' blogs, and then clicking on their friends, and their friends, etc. People I don't even know. Why do I love it? I'm not sure. There's something so interesting to me about peeking into people's lives, especially ones with little kids, and seeing how their family is the same as mine, and how it's different. It makes me feel so normal as a mom, because I read so many of the same challenges and funny things that we go through. I just assume that everyone does this, but maybe not. Maybe once you click on this blog you're done, and you don't randomly check out my friends who you don't even know. Am I the only one who has this weird habit?

Second confession - I have "blog buddies" whose blogs I check religiously who I am not even really that great of friends with in real life. It's such a strange sense of friendship and intimacy that you can run into an acquaintance at a party and know the smallest details of what they've been up to, yet you've never actually hung out with them. And here I quote Alan Sabin, who said to us at Devan and Lynn's Halloween party, "I feel like I've been hanging out with you guys for two months straight just from looking at your blog." By the way, if you are into blog-hopping, Alan is the dad of one of my favorite blogger families, the Sabins. Check it out. But yeah, it's strange.

Anyway, I think I love blogging. I'm excited that several of my cousins started blogs this week because we're scattered all over the country and I never hear anything about what they're up to, because really, most of what we do is just not worth reporting through the grandparent grapevine. And thanks to all my other blog friends for being so diligent and providing me with cute stories and videos to laugh at! It's always nice to know you're not the only mommy struggling with bedtimes, binkys, and the terrible twos.

Cranky Pukeys

Just a quick pity party here. Both kids have had bouts with puke this week. Ew. Parker threw up all night long on Wednesday night but didn't have any other symptoms (weird). We thought Kenley was in the clear but she threw up this morning, on the carpet in her room. You would have to know what a small percentage of our house is carpeted and what a microscopic percentage of her day she hangs out in the bedroom to truly appreciate how unfortunate that was. Anyway, Parker is still just off. He's sleeping but not eating. It's almost 3pm as I write this and he's only had 3 oz. of formula today. For comparison, he usually eats 6 oz. every 4 hours. He's sleeping a lot, which is great, but totally fussy when he's awake. Brings me back to the first three months of his life, which were not too fun. Kenley was weirded out by throwing up this morning and now all day she's been crying, "I'm frowing up!" and running to the bathroom, only to cough and sputter. I know it could be worse right now but this is not my favorite day. And poor James only got to (potentially) sleep from midnight to 4am last night and he woke up TWICE in that time with Parker. He gets Dad of the Year, no contest. I told him to wake me up before we went to bed and he says, "Believe me, I TRIED." Sorry babe.

On a better note, we have a new niece! My very first one! James's sister Jennifer had her baby last night at about 7:30pm. Congratulations, Jennifer! We can't wait to meet your baby girl!

Oh, here's a cute picture of the kids from this morning. I know they don't look cranky or pukey. Let's just say our morning started better than it ended.

Sweet and Sour

Kenley has been at her best and worst lately. The Sour - she is getting more demanding all the time. It drives me crazy. Isn't 26 months a little old for expecting instant gratification? ;) She always wants to watch Fantasia, but most times she is scared of the entire thing. Each part: "No, scawey. No, scawey." She has overcome her annoying potty training regression thanks to "pumpkin snacks" (Halloween candy, yes I'm a bad and lazy mom), but now she refuses to use the bathroom by herself. "Mommy too? Mommy too? Mommy too?" times a thousand until I seriously debate just pretending to pee just to get it over with. And she is an absolute snack fiend. She will walk around the house shouting, "I want NACKS! I want NACKS!" I've started a rule that I only say no once and then I ignore her, but I just want to channel some antique dad and go, "If I've told you once, I've told you a HUNDRED times....!!!!!" I know antique isn't the word I want. I have a headache. What is the word I want? I kind of like antique. So yeah, she tries my patience at times.

But oh, how sweet and cute she is being right now! Last night I was hustling her into bed and she knelt down by the bed and patted the blanket next to her and said, "Prayers, mommy?" because I had forgotten. I totally melted. And tonight we were looking through her church book and she can tell me Jesus and the Children, Mary and Joseph, Jesus Saying Prayers, and President Hinckley. But lest you envy my doctrinal scholar, when I asked her who made the Earth, she answered Cinderella. Upon some further questioning, she conceded that Heavenly Father and Jesus might have helped. She's such a sweetheart and makes us laugh every day.

I've been tagged!

Four Things

Four Places I've Lived:
*Anchorage, Alaska
*Rancho Bernardo, California
*Provo, Utah
*Murrieta, California

Four Jobs I've Had:
*RSP Teacher
*Preschool Teacher
*BYU Gardener
*Selling men's clothing at J. Riggings

4 Things I'd Like to do Before I Die:
*Go to Europe
*See all my kids and grandkids get married
*Serve a mission with James
*Spend lots and lots of time with my family

Four Favorite Desserts:
*Brownie sundaes
*Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
*Any ice cream with lots of chunks of chocolate/peanut butter things
*Cheesecake, especially when James makes it!

Four Interesting Facts About Me:
*I love reading so much that I can't let myself do it, or else I get annoyed if something or someone interrupts me. I can't even read on vacation or else I ignore my husband the whole time. I'm also a very fast reader and when Kenley was a baby I read the whole Work & the Glory series at a rate of about one book per day.
*I don't understand Daylight Savings Time and don't really care to.
*The smell of syrup reminds me of Saturday mornings spent arguing about chores and being cranky from sleepovers - I cannot stand syrup, and usually do not eat pancakes or french toast.
*Sometimes James and I stay up until 2 or 3am playing video games and eating an entire bag of peanut butter M&Ms.

Four Favorite TV Shows:
*The Amazing Race
*Grey's Anatomy
*The Office
*America's Next Top Model

People I'm Tagging:
*Stacey Kneeshaw
*Stephanie Bradshaw
*Anissa Wheeler
*Tara Harrison
*Krystal Dobron
*Erin Seymour

Happy Halloween

I'm beginning to think that perhaps we over-celebrate our holidays. This year we did regular trick-or-treating, two church Trunk-or-Treats, and a pumpkin carving party. Oh, and two trips to the pumpkin patch. Well, I like candy. So there.

This year Kenley was Cinderella and Parker was Gus-Gus, the mouse. They both looked so cute! The irony was that Parker HATED getting his whiskers and nose drawn on (all three times), and Kenley was horribly envious of the whiskers and nose. So each time I had to do it I had Parker crying because he DIDN'T want whiskers, and Kenley crying because she did. By the third time, Halloween night, I was about ready just to draw some stupid whiskers on her face. Who cares, right?







This is Kenley with her goldfish Walter that she won at Trunk or Treat. He has already died and been replaced by Wal-Mart imposter fish, but don't tell Kenley.


Here is Kenley with Cameron Humberstone at the pumpkin carving party. Aren't they so cute?