catch up

i think i say this every blog post but my goodness time goes too fast. i cant seem to find as much time to sit and blog with 2 kiddos. we have been pretty busy this last month and a half. 

we made a quick trip over to idaho falls valentines weekend. kyle and carissa welcomed their 2nd little dude, Brant, on february 1. my parents were in rexburg to see him, so we took that opportunity to bless brooklynn at jared's parents house in idaho falls. brooklynn is kinda of named after aunt stacey (stacey's middle name is lynn) so we used her baby blessing dress to bless brooklynn in. 

parker had so much fun running around with all of his cousins all weekend

the rucks cousins

trying hard to get all the kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time

that face.....

the allred cousins with grandma and grandpa

it's crazy what 3 months can do to a baby

other than our trip to idaho falls, we havent been doing anything too exciting. but we somehow stay busy everyday. though it can sometimes be very mundane, i really do enjoy being home with these two and watching them interact. parker still very much loves brooklynn, and i think for now the feeling is mutual. 

oh these two.... you cant hardly tell they are related can you? :)

i try to give brooklynn tummy time multiple times a day, but she rolls over to her back almost instantly these days. 

brooklynn is now 4 months old. is that just crazy or what? at her 4 month well check she tipped the scale at 13 pounds. she was one stinkin mad girl when she got her shots, and had a pretty rough day the next day. shots have been harder on her than they were on parker. but dont worry, we survived!

i dont know if it was a first parent thing, and the excitement of our baby trying something new, but i remember the day parker turned 4 months old we gave him some rice cereal. this time around i thought we'd just wait a little longer. well for about the last week or so brooklynn has started staring us down when we eat and smacking her lips together... she was so ready to start some food.

getting ready! parker was so excited when i told him we were going to feed her some cereal.

not the best picture, but of course she had that look of "what the heck is this stuff?" but i think overall she really enjoyed her new food.

of course he had to help feed her. which he loved doing.

and last but not least! spring is finally starting to come around! today was a beautiful day. we spent a good majority of it outside playing. last summer, grandpa rucks bought a balance bike for all the grandkids to use. since parker was the only one who could ride it at the time, we got to use it all summer. and he LOVED it. well now marcus is big enough to use it so we had to return it. we knew we wanted to get parker his own for the summer. we finally picked one up for him the other day and he rode that thing for almost 2 hours outside today.

it's going to be a FUN summer! 

3 months

phew! we've survived the first 3 months of having another baby in our home. i feel like we have finally found our new routine and our new normal and im trying to remember what my days were like just 3 short months ago without a nursing and nap schedule.

brooklynn is very much turning into her own little person. its fun to see the differences between her and parker. and boy are they different. just a few bullet points i want to remember.

*still doent cry much. mostly in the evenings, i think she is just tired by that point.

*still spits up like nobody's business. if it was summer and warm she would never wear clothes.

*is getting closer to laughing

*has started this ear piercing shriek 

*has rolled over from her tummy to back a handful of times

*enjoys looking at her toys, and is starting to grab them

*no longer naps in her swing or bouncy seat

*is still swaddled for naps and bedtime

*i think its safe to say her belly button has FINALLY all dried up. seriously took almost 3 months.

*goes down for the night around 9:30ish and has slept as long as till 6am, although it just depends on the night. sometimes she is up at 3, sometimes 4 sometimes 5 but she always eats and goes back to sleep till maybe 8.

*sits in her bumbo more. although it makes her spit up even MORE.

*sucks on her hands

*doesnt care to much for her binky. we give it to her when we put her to sleep, but she will spit it out and is fine to sleep without it.

*has a constant wet shirt from spiiting up. its just not worth it to change her. the second i do she just spits up again.

*still pretty bald, but her hair is starting to come in quite nicely.

let just take a quick look back at how much she has grown

3 days old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

crazy how fast they grow and change.

she loves watching parker.

our little diva

parker is always trying to have her play on the "tiny ipad"

i think she looks so different without her headband on.

its been a joy to have this sweet little girl in our home. she is the perfect addition to our family. of course she is a lot of work, but what baby isnt?

and just because this picture is too funny. this is how i found parker asleep one night.

sunbeams!

its official! parker no longer goes to nursery at church anymore. instead he is now a sunbeam in PRIIMARY! crazy right?!?! you have to turn 3 before january 1 to move into sunbeams and with parkers dec. 24 birthday, he is the youngest one in his class. i was nervous for him, but he has great teachers and they said he did great! 

he was so excited about his crown. 

he didnt want to take it off.

i teach the 6 year olds, so i sit just a few rows behind him and get to watch him misbehave have so much fun during singing and sharing time. *sigh* they grow up too fast.

speaking of too fast, little miss brooklynn is already 2.5 months old! at her two month check up last week she weighed in at 10 pounds 12 ounces. (parker at 2 months weighed 10 pounds 11 ounces) and she took her shots like a champ. she was much more sad afterwards than parker ever was with his shots, but we survived.

^i know, she isnt in pink.... shocking isnt it?!?

she really has the sweetest smile and her coos are adorable! she is such a different baby than parker its crazy. parker cried and cried and cried and cried. and always wanted to be held, ALWAYS. brooklynn hardly ever cries during the day and is so content to just hangout in her bouncy seat or swing. its another story come 7pm though. she usually cries from about 7pm-9pm every night. but thats okay, its usually after parker is in bed so i can solely focus on consoling her. and after being so good all day, i say cry away brooklynn, cry away!

her night time sleeping habits have been the same since day 1. we put her to bed between 9:30/10. we swaddle her up tight and lay her in her bed and she goes to sleep on her own. its awesome! then she usually wakes up once during the night to eat around 3am, (with NO crying) then up again around 7ish. not too shabby if i do say so myself.

definitely just noticed brooklynn is missing a sock in this picture!

parker was excited when i put brooklynn in his bed one morning.

parker is such a good big brother. he always wants to give her hugs and kisses and asks me multiple times a day to hold her. he of course has to do and be everywhere she is. im so glad this transition has been a smooth one for him. and i think now we are in our new normal routine and parker understands brooklynn is here to stay. two definitely keeps me busy!

parkers birthday and christmas

um, hello 2014! holy cow, time goes too fast. i think it has sped up now that i have kids. i mean, parker is already THREE?!?! and starts SUNBEAMS on sunday? i cant even believe it. 

we had a quiet birthday celebration for parker. jared worked in the morning, and parker and i stayed busy at home getting our christmas eve dinner and birthday brownies made. jared came home and we took parker to lunch at chick-fil-a. the plan was to take him to see frozen after lunch, but it was sold out, so we went bowling instead, which was just as fun. we came home and got dinner in the oven....

 funny story. i needed to feed brooklynn, so i preheated the oven and told jared to put the cheesy potatoes in the oven when it was pre heated. after i finished feeding brooklynn, i went into the kitchen to finish getting dinner ready, opened the fridge to see the cheesy potatoes still in there. turns out jared put the brownies i had made earlier in the morning BACK in the oven. for another 45 minutes! so much for a homemade birthday dessert! jared ran to walmart real fast to get some pre-made brownies. 

after dinner parker opened his presents, we sang him happy birthday and he blew out his candles then it was time to get him to bed so santa could come!

pretty sure his favorite part of the whole day was blowing out the candles. we let him do it 3 times. 

the next morning was christmas! parker was so excited to wake up and see presents under the tree. i think he was a little confused about the whole santa thing. we kept telling him santa was going to bring him presents so i think he was expecting to actually see santa. 

parker enjoyed opening presents, while brooklynn chilled in her bouncy seat

we were a little bummed to not be with any family. especially since my whole family was together and jared's whole family was together. but we got to skype with both families. we took parker to see frozen that afternoon. brooklynn slept the whole time and parker did very well for his first movie. i loved the movie. i think parker enjoyed it, too, but i think he would have enjoyed it more if he was a 3 year old girl. 

we also had a very quiet new years eve. jared has had some kind of flu bug the last week, so after putting parker to bed at 7, we just watched a few shows, and called it a night @ 10. when you have a new baby, sleep is way more important than staying up to see midnight! 

2013 was a very big year for us. jared graduated with his master's, we moved to boise, jared started his first "real" job, AND we welcomed brooklynn into our family. here's hoping 2014 is a little more quiet.