santa and our sunday best

we took parker to see santa this year at RC Willey. they took the picture and printed it out right there for you, for FREE! then they had a complimentary lunch of hot dogs and sodas. it was a fun little outing.

im glad there was a mrs. claus to had brooklynn too, because i was a little nervous to hand my month old baby to santa. every year we have taken parker, he has screamed. i LOVE the pictures we have of him crying on santa's lap. i was a little sad he didnt cry this year. i guess that means he is growing up. 

on sunday we dressed up in our sunday best. i found both of the kids christmas outfits at the DI of course. 

though they both looked darling, brooklynn totally stole the show. i mean, could you just die? 

i promise im not as creepy as this picture makes me look......

she has him wrapped around her finger.

 though im bummed we didnt travel to see any family this year, im excited to celebrate parkers birthday tomorrow and watch his excitement on christmas morning! having a 3 year old this time of year has been so fun.

the holiday season

for thanksgiving this year we traveled over to idaho falls to spend it with the rucks family. everyone was home this year for it, so everyone got to meet brooklynn, and we finally got to meet our new nephew greysen, who was born way back in march. 

parker had a blast running and jumping and screaming and running and jumping and screaming some more with his cousin marcus. it was a lot of chaos when they were awake. we enjoyed a yummy thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings and hanging out with family. jared and i even got to go out on a quick date one night. 

cute matching outfits.

brooklynn didnt feel the same way i did about her outfit. 

charlee loved holding brooklynn, and asked mulitple times to hold her. charlee is brooklynn's only girl cousin and brooklynn is cahrlee's only girl cousin. its too bad they are 7 years apart! 

trying to get a picture of his turkey shirt. the kid didnt stop moving the entire time he was there! so much room to run and play and no neighbors below us to bother. he was in heaven!

great grandma poulsen holding brooklynn. 

sweet girl

love my parker boy.

her little tutu was ADORABLE!

before we headed to idaho falls we set up our christmas tree. it was so fun. parker LOVED it. he was so cute and fun to watch. wish i could say the same for brooklynn. she was not a happy camper while we were trying to decorate it. for some reason she thought she needed to eat or she was going to die :) 

since we are staying in boise for christmas this year *tear* we finally upgraded our tree status from the dinky charlie brown one to this one. 

he was so excited to put the star on

cant believe we have four stockings to hang up now! i went the ghetto route and just taped them up. maybe after christmas ill get some matching stocking holders for cheap. 

my mom found this magnetic nativity scene and gave it to parker. 

ive tried telling him the story of baby jesus but eh, he doesnt seem to care too much.

but he sure has had fun playing with it. 

just as he loved all things halloween, parker is loving all things christmas. from santa to snowmen to reindeers and christmas trees. all the christmas stuff at the stores is just magical for him. he loves reading his christmas books and we have watched the polar express everyday for the last few weeks. i dont mind though, i love the christmas spirit it brings into our home and i love seeing how excited he gets to watch it. he loves singing jingle bells and can kind of sing we wish you a merry christmas. it just blows my mind that this is already his FOURTH christmas. 

and last but not least! we cant forget about parker's birthday tree! we set it up in his room, and we will put his birthday presents under it this year.

okay and just because i LOVE this picture.....

just call him mr. mom :) 

i sure am one lucky girl! 

TWO

i still cant believe i have TWO kids. and i also cant believe brooklynn was born TWO weeks ago! These first two weeks have been much better than my first two weeks with parker. i recovered and bounced back pretty quickly this time around, and so far, brooklynn has brought me no sad feelings. i cant tell you how big of a difference that makes. it was so nice to have my mom here to help with parker while i adjusted back into the baby thing. it was a sad day to see her go. i wish so bad we lived closer to family. 

parker has done much better than i thought he would. although brooklynn still sleeps most the day, so i get to still spend a lot of one and one time with my parker boy. ive missed that. he only ever wanted to play with grandma while she was here, so im happy to have my parker boy back.

as for brooklynn, im hesitant to write that "she is such a good baby, and only cries when she is hungry" because she hasnt really woken up yet. although this week she has been awake for longer periods of time during the day. come night time though after we get parker to bed she becomes really fussy. the last two nights she has cried and cried and cried until we put her to bed. (thank goodness parker has slept through it!) 

but speaking of bed, (im also hesitant to write this too, i dont want to jinx myself) she has been an AWESOME sleeper at night. i actually have to set my alarm to wake her up to feed her in the middle of night. i would just let her sleep, but she hasnt been gaining any weight so she needs that middle of the night feeding to help her. we put her down between 10-11pm and ill usually wake her around 3am then she goes back to bed till about 8am. im getting more sleep now than when i was pregnant! fingers crossed it lasts! 

brooklynn is a very spitty baby. i swear she spits up everything she eats. (which probably explains why she isnt gaining any weight) parker wasnt a very spitty baby so this is a new thing to me. and let me tell you, it.is.gross. the poor girl doesnt even have that yummy new born smell. instead its that gross sour milk smell. we have to change her outfit almost every time after she eats.

and just one more thing i want to record. we spell her name with two N's. people are going to spell it wrong her whole life.(they already do, ive had to correct the doctor on a few records) and i know its going to drive her nuts. but "LYNN" is a family name on my side of the family so i wanted to use two n's for her name. so, sorry brooklynn, the rest of your life you are going to tell people, "my name is brooklynn....with two n's." it happens. 

   

parker asks to hold her everyday. which i love. so far he has never intentionally been mean to her. he just doesnt know exactly how soft we need to be with her. 

her head needs to grow just a little bit bigger for her headbands to fit. they always fall down over her eye! 

so what do you think? do parker and brooklynn look alike?

Brooklynn Jeanne

She's here! 

Brooklynn made her big debut into this world on Thursday November 7 @ 4:05pm. weighing in at a whopping 7 pounds 6 ounces. a WHOLE POUND bigger than Parker. A. WHOLE. POUND. i may just be done having kids if we are going to go up a pound each time.

Before i forget, here's her story.....

i went 2 days early with parker, giving him a christmas eve birthday. so i guess i just assumed id go early again, or have her on halloween. But my due date came and went, and she did not come. we scheduled an induction for thursday morning. i had been having lots of contractions the last few days before she came so when we showed up to the hospital we were already dilated to a 4. 

I tested positive for group strep b so i needed to have antibiotics given to me for 4 hours before she could come. They started the antibiotics and pitocin at 8:30am. my contractions started to come pretty regularly but they weren't too painful yet. they broke my water at 11:00am, and by 11:20am i was pretty sure i was going to die. holy hannah. i wont go into those details, because i never want to remember them, but i wasnt a pleasant person to be around..... but really truly... it absolutely blows my mind that women choose not to have an epidural. i have no idea how they can do it. no idea. i guess my pain tolerance is just very small. or they are all just off their rockers. 

*okay, rant over*

by the time the epidural FINALLY kicked in, it was just after 12:00pm, and i was dilated to an 8. By 1:00pm i was completely dilated, but i was too numb from my epidural to push, so we had to wait, and wait, and wait. which was fine by me. id much rather be numb than feel those contractions. at 3:00pm i was ready to push. i pushed just over an hour. by the end of that hour i was so tired i was positive i couldnt push anymore. and thats when i told my nurse and jared i was going to be sick. i threw up and threw up and threw up some more over the side of the bed. as i was throwing up, brooklynn made her way into this world. apparently throwing up helped push her out way better than my trying pushes. who knew? 

its crazy how different my two births have been. this one was much much smoother and way less stressful. my recovery has been much better and faster this time around. im really really tired, but i dont feel like i have been hit by a bus like i did with parker. 

we got to come home just 24 hours after she was born and i was so excited and happy to be home again with my parker boy. speaking of my parker boy, so far he has done really well with brooklynn. he calls her bookin because we cant say his R's or L's.  he asks to hold her and gives her kisses. we are still working on being soft and gentle, but we will get it. 

we are happy she is finally here. im anxious to get her on a schedule and sleeping through the night, but i know those will come eventually. she is just too cute, and im loving being able to put her headbands and bows on. 

okay enough chit chat, enjoy a photo dump.....

she's got a nice big bruise on her head.

im still trying to wrap my head around the idea of having TWO kids.

crazy.