kicked it

june has been such a fun and busy month for us here in rexburg. i cant believe it's already over and the 4th of july holiday is NEXT weekend! time goes so fast.

it's been a long few weeks when it comes to sleeping though. but i am proud to say we have finally kicked the habit of swaddling parker. YAY! ive been so stressed out trying to get him to learn how to sleep without it. last night he slept from 10pm-7am. that's the longest he has ever gone, with or without the swaddle.
parker and i have been enjoying going to a playgroup with other mamas and their babies from our ward. we just meet right across the street from our house at porter park for an hour. it's been fun for parker to play with other babies and nice for me to have some mama talk. not to mention the nice tan ive been getting from being outside so much. dont worry though (cough cough mom cough cough) i put a hat on parker and cover his sensitive skin in sunscreen so he is still pasty white.

also at porter park there is a little splash park area. it has been packed full with kiddos of all ages running through the water trying to stay cool in our 75 degree heat wave. i think parker enjoys it. the few times we have stuck his feet in it he hasnt complained.
a few weekends ago we took parker to the sand dunes (the place jared and i met 4 years ago!) and had a bon fire with kyle and carissa. we also took parker to monkey rock, a place were we used to bridge jump. he slept the whole time we were there though. and we didnt do any bridge jumping. the water is way to high and moving too fast right now.
we started parker on solids! he loves his green beans and peas. thats all we've given him so far. i think next we will give him som carrots and squash and then we will move onto the fruits. im a mean mom makin' my child eat his veggies first so he doesnt get a sweet tooth!this was his face the first time we gave him green beans. he enjoys them a lot more now though!he is also sitting up so good on his own now. i just set him on the floor with his toys around him and he is perfectly content to sit and play. he still loves to jump in the jumperoo too. i cant believe he is already 6 months old! most people say they are so sad that their baby is growing up, but i couldnt be more excited to see him grow up. i love how curious he is becoming and watching him learn new things. he is at a really fun age!

i have also recently started doing zumba. if you havent ever tried it you totally should. its a fun way to work out. a girl from my ward teaches it at the church in the gym so its fun to get away from parker for an hour to dance my little hiney off and social with other girls. i also started rereading the 7th harry potter book. i forgot how much i love harry potter. im excited for the last part of the movie to come out. but other than that i just play with parker all day, try to stay caught up on my house keeping and stress about what to cook for dinner.

jared is just busy in school like always. he is doing pretty good this semester with his grades. i cant believe the semester is over in just 4 short weeks. i think jared is looking forward to the break.

we are very much looking forward to the 4th of july weekend next weekend. i think we are planning to go to a parade, maybe do some swimming and BBQing before heading off to see the fireworks. i think parker will like seeing them, but i know he will not like hearing them. ill have to get him some ear plugs or something.

breaking a habit

let me break it down for ya.

when parker was born the hospital gave us a swaddle. best thing ever. really. we would wrap this little dudes arms down and then he would sleep like a baby. now that he is almost 6 months old (i know.... crazy huh?) and the weather is starting to warm up, we decided it was time to loose the swaddle and let the little dude experience sleeping with his arms free. ive wanted to break him of this habit for a few months now, but have always been to nervous to try it because lets be honest, i enjoy my sleep way to much. well ladies and gents (do guys even read this thing?) we have completed 2 nights swaddle free! the first night was a little rough. parker woke up and few times and the look on his face was like what am i doing awake, with my arms free? the second night went way better, only waking up once. im hoping by the weekend we will be back to sleeping through the night!

last week we had some new people move in above us... at 10:00 pm. who moves in at 10 o'clock at night? ya.... annoying. the next morning i woke up to hear water dripping in our kitchen. i thought maybe our kitchen sink was leaking. i walked into our kitchen and do you think i saw water dripping from our sink? oh no... no my friends, the water dripping was coming from our ceiling by our washer. the new neighbors couldnt wait until the morning to hook up their washer. apparently they didnt hook it up tight enough. it had been leaking all night. luckily the damage wasnt too bad. just a wet wall and wet carpet. the manager should be coming to repaint the wall soon.

the weather this last weekend was absolutely beautiful. parker and i got to hang out with jared all weekend outside playing at the park, riding our bikes, and BBQing.this is how we bbq with kyle and carissa. yummy!

my old roommate melanie came into town last weekend. it was fun to catch up and see her since she will be moving back to colorado soon.
now that parker is almost 6 months old, i have finally gotten around to putting his room together. this is all i have so far.

the before:
the after:anddddd.... i think that about sums up everything that is going on in the rucks home. now if you will excuse me, i need to go take care of my screaming dude... dont let his cuteness in these pictures deceive you!