Eight Things About Parker

Parker has been "tagged" by his friend Noelle, and has dictated these 8 things for me to write:

1. I love to swing at the park! I just sit there with a big old content smile on my face, and I will swing as long as Mommy can stand it. Then I'll crawl away and eat some sand.

2. I adore my sister. I think she is the funniest person in the world. I especially love to grab her face and slap the top of her head. Luckily she is very patient about it. I just found out that I can reach over and hold hands with her when we sit in our carseats. We are very cute little buddies.

3. I like food, but I'm not very good at eating it. I gag on food every single day. My favorite thing to eat is Saltine crackers. I mean, homemade pureed squash. My mom thinks she's cutting me off of formula next month when I turn one, but that's not going to happen.

4. I look just like my daddy, and also like my Grandpa Jim. I am 100% Hampton. I look nothing like my mommy, but I really love her anyway.

5. I like to push buttons on things. If I see Mommy or Daddy push a button on a toy or electronic of some sort, I will push it again and again. I also enjoy slapping things, particularly tables.

6. I don't wear shoes. Seriously. You can try, but you'll just get frustrated. I will totally contort my feet to prevent the shoes from being shoved on, and if by chance they do get on, I immediately rip them off. I have probably never worn a shoe for longer than two minutes.

7. I love to throw things. The noisier, the better. I especially love to throw Kenley's metal pots and pans onto Grandma Kerry's laminate floors. That's the best sound ever.

8. I am a SUPER fast crawler. Unbelievably fast. You'd better not take your eyes off me for a second, because I will instantaneously disappear into another room. I really would have been better off being born to a more attentive mother, but I love it because I can get into all kinds of trouble while she checks her e-mail.

And that's all you need to know about me! Oh, and I'm turning one next month, can you believe it?

Don't even try not to laugh out loud

Kenley: "Where's Ellis?"

Mommy: "He's probably eating lunch, just like we need to. Do you think he's eating a grilled cheese sandwich?"

Kenley: "No, a BOY cheese sandwich."

Mommy: "Do you think it's called a GIRL cheese sandwich?"

Kenley: "Yes?"

Mommy: "That's awesome."

The Kenleykins

Some random things about Kenley...

Her favorite song is song #4 on the Wicked soundtrack, "What is This Feeling?". She always wants to listen to it in my mom's car and she can sing along with most of the words. What can I say, it's better than "Wheels on the Bus." Sample lyrics:
LET'S JUST SAY -- I LOATHE IT ALL!
EV'RY LITTLE TRAIT, HOWEVER SMALL
MAKES MY VERY FLESH BEGIN TO CRAWL
WITH SIMPLE UTTER LOATHING
THERE'S A STRANGE EXHILARATION
IN SUCH TOTAL DETESTATION
IT'S SO PURE! SO STRONG!
THOUGH I DO ADMIT IT CAME ON FAST
STILL I DO BELIEVE THAT IT CAN LAST
AND I WILL BE LOATHING
LOATHING YOU
MY WHOLE LIFE LONG!


Tonight in Target she wanted an Ariel swimming suit, but it was size 4T. Oh, first I asked her if she wanted to hold it, and she said, "No, BUY it!" like I was an idiot. So then we told her it was too big but maybe we could find a smaller one for her at a different Target. She nodded solemnly and agreed. Then as we were about to check out she goes, "I bigger now! Have the Ariel swimming suit, okay?" Sadly, she only grows one size every year or two, not two sizes in ten minutes. But it was a good effort.

Every night after she brushes her teeth, she gets some water in a little yellow cup and drinks some. Then she looks down and says, "Too much," and pours the rest out. Every single night. This kid, I am telling you, she is the best.

Disneyland!

We decided to buy Disneyland passes with some Christmas money this year, since both our kids are still free! We went on our anniversary last week, along with my mom, and we had a great time! A lot has changed since we last went to Disneyland, so there was something new for all of us. I'm about to overload you all with pictures, so get ready...







So my advice to anyone going to Disneyland with a toddler is this: Don't have any expectations. Even if your child lives and breathes for anything Disney, don't anticipate capturing their joy on camera. Even if your child NAMES HER CLOTHING after the Disney princesses, ("My Belle jacket!" "My Ariel swimsuit!") don't think she'll smile when she sees them. This was Kenley: serious stoneface in EVERY character picture.







As we waited in line I was having her practice her cute smiles, and then when she got up there: NOTHING. Then as soon as we left, her whole face would light up as she would tell me about meeting the character. Ah, life with a two-year-old. But I did get a few shots of her having fun, and one super cute one of Parker sleeping.







Here's the best part, though. Later that night I asked her who her favorite person was that we met and she said Mulan. How fine and dandy. We didn't meet Mulan.

Awww....

So I got the Gospel Art Picture Kit for Christmas (thanks Mom!), with grand intentions of having Family Home Evening every Monday night. So we had one ONCE back in January, probably the first week, as one of my New Years' Resolutions. That night I just pulled out the first picture, which is of all the animals in the Garden of Eden, and the lesson was about how God and Jesus made the animals. So we decided to have Family Home Evening again last night. Kenley likes the picture of the animals, and she wanted to see it. I pulled it out and she looks and says, "Animals! Jesus made!" Aw! From like a month ago! It made me realize that she is learning (and remembering!), even though she's little, and it's totally worth spending the time to do it.

Then tonight at dinner I was telling my mom about Kenley's great memory (and again she told my mom that Jesus made the animals), and then I said that last night we had a lesson about being reverent during prayers, and also about President Hinckley dying. I didn't tell Kenley that he died, since she wouldn't know what that meant, but I did say he wasn't going to be our prophet anymore and that he had gone to heaven to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus, and that President Monson would be our Prophet now. Anyway, I decided to test Kenley's memory of last night's lesson, which was way more obscure of course. I asked her, "Is President Hinckley still going to be our prophet?" And she got the saddest look on her face and shook her head no. Then I asked, "Where did he go?" and she said, "With Jesus."

So even though of course I'm partly bragging about Kenley, I really wanted to share that in case there are other mommies out there who don't do FHE because they feel like their kids are too little (like I did). I'm learning that toddlers are not too young for a two-minute Family Home Evening. They can learn, they can remember, and I am going to be better about doing it! Hold me to it, okay?

President Hinckley

I’m going to take a few minutes to record some feelings about the recent death of the leader of our church, President Gordon B. Hinckley. They’re personal feelings, but yet I know they are shared by many others. What a testament to both his unique personality and the gospel for which he was a mouthpiece that millions across the world have shed tears over the passing of this great man.

I wish that I could put into words how much the prophet President Hinckley has meant to me over the years. He became the prophet when I was 16, and passed away this year just before I turned 29. Those are some formative years, and I have loved him and his counsel so very, very much. Especially during my dating years, I clung to his quote, “It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out.” And for me, eventually, the things I struggled with did work out, but I can’t tell you how many times I have repeated that quote to myself over the years. President Hinckley was optimistic, and encouraged members of the Church to be optimistic as well.

I think as wives and mothers we sometimes have a tendency to be hard on ourselves. For a long time I had this quote by President Hinckley on my wall: "I feel to invite women everywhere to rise to the great potential within you. I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity. I hope you will not nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. I hope you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. I hope you will simply do what you can do in the best way you know. If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass." Isn’t that a beautiful quote? Miracles in our lives, just for doing the best we can, not for being a perfect all-star wife, mother, and member of the Church.

I loved President Hinckley because he was able to make me feel at peace with my life and yet determined to be a better person. I always felt as if he were saying, "It's okay to be where you are. You're doing the best you can. But you can do better, and you should do better." I loved him because of his tender love for his wife, his spunky sense of humor, his respect for women and all that we do, and his gentle leadership of the church. I will miss hearing his voice and listening to his counsel. I wish that my children would have gotten the chance to cherish him as I have. Passing away at the age of 97, he lived a long and full life, and I feel like I shouldn’t be sad. But I still am. I will miss President Hinckley.

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.


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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.

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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.