3 is my favorite number

and it also happens to be our 3rd anniversary! holy hannah where has the time gone? when we first got married and moved up to rexburg some people in our ward had been married for 3 years (we had only been married for 6 months) and i remember thinking, holy hannah 3 years?!? now look at us... we're old pros :)in 3 years we have:

*managed to live in 4 (soon to be 5) different places
*learned to live (put up with?) with each other's quirks
*had 3 different cars
*had 5 different jobs (split between the two of us)
*been on lots of fun vacations
*received one bachelors degree (hoping to have a second one soon!)
*had the cutest baby boy in the whole world
*gained one too many pounds
*learned, grown, laughed, and cried
*and i wouldn't want to do this with anyone else by my side

thank-you jared for working so hard for our little family. parker and i love you lots!

family update:
this is jared's last week of work! yay! he has been working 60+ hours a week! he has enjoyed his internship and the people he has been working with. we really are grateful he was handed this awesome internship. he is looking forward to getting back into school... the end is in sight for him.... hallelujah!

parker continues to grow! he still loves to be held by anyone that is willing to hold him. he has started grabbing and holding his toys, and tries to reach for everything now. he can sit up by himself for a few seconds (okay so he is bent in half with his stomach on the ground, but still, he doesnt tip over to the side) he loves to reach for and grab his toes, and he has recently found his loud voice, and will jibber/jabber all the time. especially if he is lying in only his diaper and playing with his feet. he hasnt really rolled over again since he did it in february, but we're workin on it.
i am just looking forward to moving back to rexburg and into our own place again. although i am very grateful to jared's parents and my parents for letting us mooch off them for a few months, enough is enough and i cannot wait to have my own space! i am little terrified to finally be with parker by myself all day every day though. its been nice to have my sisters and mom to pass him off to during the day. luckily summer is coming, and we can spend lots of time outside, since our new apartment is right next to porter park you better believe we will be there often.

favorite things

today parker is 3 months old! the older he becomes, the more i enjoy being a mom... newborns are not my thing, but im totally digging the new stage he is getting into. he no longer looks like a newborn, but is turning into a cute chubby fat baby. just so i remember at 3 months parker can

*reach for and grab onto his toy rings
*sleeps through the night (yay!)
*holds his head up very well
*can roll over tummy to back
*smiles and talks a LOT!
*would rather smile and talk to me instead of eat
*enjoys tummy time more
*survived his first cold (i never want a sick baby again... not fun!)
*loves a small squeaky monkey
*sit in his bumbo for a long time
*enjoys bath time
*loves to be held and be around people
*kicks his legs like there's no tomorrow

these last three months ive found a few new favorite things... baby style.

first up: The swaddle

seriously... best invention EVER! they gave us one at the hospital and parker has not gone a night in his life without being wrapped up tight in it... im pretty sure this swaddle is the reason he has been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks. love it. but he is getting to big for it now... and im scared to put him to bed without it.... jared says the poor dude is still gonna be swaddle up tight when he is 8! hey, whatever works right?

second: Gripe Water

i personally think it should be called miracle water. a friend of ours told us about this wonderful stuff just a few days before parker made his way into this world. boy am i so glad she did. those nights that parker screams and screams and screams, just a 1/2 teaspoon of this wonderful stuff, and it calms him right up, and asleep he goes! it works like a charm everytime. love it.

Third: Aquaphor
if parker ever has a diaper rash, just a touch of this bad boy, and it clears it right up... like within hours... wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

any other wonderful baby products out there that im missing out on?

of course what would an update be without a picture of the cutie patootie?

a new normal

ever since i can remember i have always wanted to be a mom. after parker was born i would think to myself, at least once a day... "what in the world have i gotten myself into?" i remember someone once told me that after you get married, your world gets shaken up a little bit, but after you have kids, it gets turned inside out and upside down... SO TRUE!

for the first few weeks after parker was born i would lay awake at night thinking to myself that my life would never, ever be the same... never will it return back to normal. never again can i just pick up and leave to go whenever and where ever i please. after talking to an older lady at church a few weeks ago, she told me she felt the same way after her first was born as well. she thought for sure her life would never go back to "normal." but she soon realized, like i am slowly realizing as well, that her life did in fact return to normal... just a "new" normal.

i've learned my new normal no longer consists of going to school, worrying about tests or projects and homework. my new normal now consists of diaper changes, feedings, tummy time, fussy/cranky times, learning to smile and laugh times, and nap times. there are some days that are really, really hard for me to accept this new normal. especially those days where it seems like parker cries all day. those days i feel like i would give anything to trade spots with jared and go to work all day.

but its those days the lord shows me his tender mercies through parker. like when i go to feed him, and he just wont eat because he is too busy staring up at me smiling and cooing away, almost as if he is telling me, "thanks mom. thanks for feeding me, changing me, playing with me, and teaching me."

this mom business has been a huge slap in the face and real eye opener for me. some days are really, really tough. some days are really, really great. i love parker and feel so blessed the lord has given me this opportunity to be his mama. its amazing he has given me this opportunity to teach me so much with someone so little.

anyways, blah blah blah, yada, yada, yada.... i just felt like writing this down, so if i ever have another child, i can look back and think, i really thought 1 child was hard?

okay, now for an update!

when i was in the 4th grade, we got a puppy... the cutest beagle named auggie. i told me parents i was going to take him to college with me. they told me he probably wouldnt be around anymore. well i graduated from college, got married, and had a baby, and auggie was still around. he became very very sick, and at the beginning of the week, we decided it was time to put him down. it was a very sad day. love you auggie boy!(yes im in desperate need for a new haircut and style!)

parker LOVES bath time. at night if he is screaming and crying non stop, all we have to do is put him in the bath, and he stops.

cute little pruney feet

jared only has 4 weeks left of his internship, then its back to idaho for us! im so excited to be back in our own place again... now to find a decent place to live is the stressful part... i look at craigslist everyday to see if by some miracle a decent house will be for rent in our price range... wishful thinking.....

BIG week

last week was a big week for parker!

first off, he had his 2 month check up. i was a basket case the night before, and i wasnt even the one that had to have anything done! parker was a trooper with his shots though. of course he screamed and cried, but i had a warm bottle of good stuff waiting for him to distract him right after. i thought i would have cried too but shoot.... the poor dude screams and cries just as hard when i have to suck his little nose boogies out! it was fun to see how big he has grown. he now tips the scales at 10 pounds 11 ounces. a nice healthy boy!

second, parker has slept through the night for the past seven, yes people SEVEN, nights in a row! he goes down at 10 and sleeps till 6:30, eats and goes right back to sleep till 9:00. most nights though he screams bloody murder every time i swaddle him up tight... sometimes he only screams and cries for 20 minutes, other nights it could be an hour. i think he wears himself out and that is why he sleeps till 6:30.

third, we blessed parker! and when i say we, i mean jared. we were so glad jared's parents came down from idaho to be here for it. jared gave parker a beautiful blessing and he looked so darn cute in the blessing outfit my mom made for him.

fourth, parker rolled over! we had him laying on his tummy, and the next thing we knew, over he went! he was on the couch which gave him a little bit of a slant, but dont worry my friends, we put him on flat ground he rolled right over again! you better believe how proud his little mama was of him!

having parker here for the last 2 months has been wonderful.... but i cant lie and say its been rainbows and butterflies the whole time.... this mom business is tough stuff. and as much as id like to think i have the perfect child who is never fussy and always happy, lets be honest here people... i dont. parker sure can cry (and not just when he is wrapped up tight) but now that he is starting to smile A LOT more and recognizes my face makes all the crying and fussy times a little bit easier to endure.

my aunt once told me she was not a fan of the new born stage... i remember thinking how could you not enjoy it? i love holding new born babies! but now that i have been through the newborn stage with my own child, i dont think i am a fan of it either... and even though everyone tells me to enjoy this little baby now, and that "they grow up so fast" im so excited to see him start to laugh and sit up by himself and crawl and walk and talk... and im sure ill miss it, but for now, this first time mama is excited to see this cute little dude grow up...