Parker's 15 month check-up

Parker had his 15 month check-up this morning. As always, he is in the 90th percentile for height and weight, although his weight didn't go up as much as usual due to him losing weight when he was sick. He weighed in just under 28 pounds (90th %) and was nearly 34 inches tall (98th %)! Can't believe that anyone can grow 13 inches in 15 months! We have no idea where his height comes from, but he is sure a tall kid! He was a trooper through his two shots-one in the arm this time and one in the leg. Thankfully he is healthy, but his incisors sure are giving him trouble coming in. He slept dreadfully last night, so I hope the remaining two come in soon.

Are you kidding me?!

Nate and I came down with another round of the stomach flu (or food poisoning) Tuesday night. It hit us both hard, and thankfully Parker has been okay so far! My mom and dad graciously kidnapped him for a few days as we were pretty much on our deathbeds. Today is the first day I have been up for more than an hour without feeling completely wiped. We ate a little yesterday for the first time and it didn't settle so well. I'm pretty sure we have zero energy because we have barely eaten in 4 days, but its hard to tell what/if we should be eating much at this point! I'm praying that it was food poisoning because I can't bear the thought of Parker being sick again. . . . .speaking of, he is eating us out of house and home! Since feeling better, he now eats about 5 meals a day and pretty much wants to eat every time he sees some else eat. He has also cut a nap and is down to one extremely long mid-day nap that lasts 3- 3 1/2 hours! Thankfully its long, but his awake time is so much longer that we are struggling finding ways to entertain him that don't involve eating or watching Little Einsteins :) More to come on how to entertain a 15 month old. . . .

Babies, babies, and more babies!!!

Three of my dear friends had babies within 6 days of each other in the past two weeks!

Crystal and Jeremy led the pack when they welcomed little Madeleine into the world on the 31st of December. Maddie joined big sister Lili, who was also born in 2007!!

Annie followed three days later when her and Nick had baby Colin on January 3rd. He is so precious and little (the pictures posted are of Colin). He was under 6 pounds when I held him!

Lindsay and Tom had little Noel 11 days early. Noel joined big sister Grace on January 6th. Grace is just 4 days older than Parker and is already a wonderful big sister:)

Chelsea and Ben and Abby are Denny are due in March and July, so there are more on the way!

The gift of life is a beautiful thing and our Heavenly Father is truly is a miraculous creator!!! Congratulations to you new parents! Our prayers are with you and you adjust to life with your new little ones.

Nate and I went to see Juno tonight. It was a hilarious, sweet, and simple story. Makes me very excited to be a mommy again someday soon! I am saddened to think that I would have had a baby on the due date of the girl in the movie-May 4th, but we are just soaking up every second with Parker and will be filled with anticipation when that time comes for us again!

Colorado pics

Turn for the worse

We thought Parker was on the upswing after 5 days with the flu, but on Sunday he seemed really off again. He was screaming and threw during brunch with the family. He slept well, but wouldn't eat/drink or keep anything down still so we decided to take him to an immediate care center. There, instead of addressing our concerns about possibly dehydration/vomiting etc, they informed us that he had an ear infection and needed to get on antibiotics. The poor kid threw up again upon getting home so there was no way I would going to make him take medication that would only make him sick again! He was miserable and lathargic, so we acted on instinct and brought him to the Emmanuel Children's ER where we spent 7 hours on Sunday night/Monday morning. Parker fought getting his vitals taken and finally crashed while we waiting for 2 hours to get back into see a doctor. There, we initially tried an oral hydration method which he flat out refused and would not drink anything unless we held him down and forced the syringe down this throat. The nurses then tried to get an IV in him 4 different times (this was with three to four people holding him down) because at this point we needed a solution. We were almost ready to give up, but a new nurse was finally successful in getting an IV in his arm. It was awful to watch, but he atleast got enough fluids to regain some strength and color and seems on his way to recovery. We didn't get home until 5:00 am and poor Nate still left for work at 8:00 am! Parker still isn't wanting to drink much, but is eating his special pedialyte jello that Grandma made him and is atleast having wet diapers and acting more like his old self. He also took a 5 hour nap today so mom could get some sleep. Seems like his ear isn't bothering him too much, so I am hoping he doesn't need to start the antibiotics afterall. Keep praying that he continues to regain strength and that he can starting eating again soon. Our once healthy, robust boy has been withering away and we are eager for him to gain some chub back here soon:)
Needless to say, we are at home on New Years Eve where the boys have been sleeping since 6:30! Not the way we imagined ringing in the New Year, but atleast we are together. . ..

Quick update. . .

We finally made it home from Denver on Friday. We were scheduled to be coming home Wed night in order to work on Thurs and Fri, but our initial flight was cancelled and we were rescheduled for Thurs. On our way out the door, Parker threw up all over himself and me (also was sick on Christmas night) and so we decided to reschedule our flight again. Luckily we did that, because both him and Nate were throwing up a good part of that evening. I was starting to not feel good Friday morning, while Parker had a fever and Nate was still not doing well, but somehow we made it home without being sick! We had a wonderful first 4 days in Colorado, including a trip up to Evergreen, a white Christmas with about 8 inches of snow, and a wonderful time with the Bell side of the family! 7 out of 10 of us staying Rae and Mike's came down with some variation of throwing up/diarrea-we call it the plague and it was truly an experience we would rather forget! Thankfully, we are finally feeling better today and will be celebrating Christmas with the Parker clan on Sunday!
We hope that all of you had a joyous Christmas and that you have a very happy New Year as well!

Funny stories. . .

Two funny stories to share. . . .
1. Grandma was watching Parker on Friday. She gave him a bath and got him dressed (minus pants) so that he would be comfortable for his nap. Around 11:00 she went in to wake him up so they could go to the library reading time and was surprised/shocked to see a little bare behind up in the air as he slept. He had taken off his diaper and socks and peed all over the bed. I warned her never to let him sleep pantless unless she wanted him to take his diaper off!
2. Lately Parker loves to hang out in the guest room because it has a low bed that he can get onto alone. He hangs out and lays in it and thinks he is just the coolest big boy around. One night he was especially quiet/content in there, and we found him reading " The Prayer of Jabez" that he found in nightstand drawer! He was seriously content for a good 20 minutes or so "reading" words. Since then, he has been carrying this book around and putting it in mommy and daddy's nightstand drawers. It has randomly been appearing in the stranges places, but always ends up back in the guest room where it belongs:) What a hoot he is!