Advice anyone?

I spent part of Christmas morning cuddling with my too-cute-for words nephew Titan. He really is a doll and I think he even liked my penguin Christmas pajamas. Every time I hold him it is perfect reminder that all the lovely preggo side effets are completely worth it and it makes me so excited for our new little one next August.

I am now 9 weeks along and we have seen our little peanut's heart beat. It really was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.

Overall I am hanging in there and we are doing great. But I would love to solicit the advice of all you mommies and preggos out there.

Please bombard me with every piece of advice you have about having a fantastic pregnancy. I freely admit that there are times .... okay days .... okay weeks ..... that I am a nauseas insomniac zombie. My goal this pregnancy is to me more proactive with my health and to think more positively.

Just ask my sister. She had a great pregnancy and a fabulous delivery. At the end she said, "That's it? I thought that was going to be much harder." She is ready to have 10 children. Contrast that to my labor where I was vowing to everyone within earshot that Lily was going to be an only child. In fact, my younger brother arrived at the hospital a few hours before Lily was born and just as the fun was beginning. As he was going to enter the room, he passed the anesthesiologist. He asked if it was okay to go into the room, the anesthesiologist responded, "Not if you value your life or your ear drums." That pretty much sums it up. It also could have something to do with me having the smallest veins imaginable and being among the 2 percent of women who epidurals don't work for. Add preeclampsia meds, pitocin, and no sleep in 48 hours to the mix and it makes for an interesting labor.

I remember my mom telling me that I would feel differently later and me thinking that she was nuts. Yet, here I am 18 months later ecstatic to be pregnant. Once Lily turned 1 it was like a ticking maternal time bomb yet again. I love kids, I love babies .... it's just the ucky parts of pregnancy and labor that I could do without. That is where you come in. Everyone has preggo advice right?

What saved you during the first trimester morning sickness? (okay let's call it what it really is ... all day/all night/ when you least expect it sickness).

How did you get enough sleep? Especially if you have older midgets running about?

What was your favorite form of exercise while you were pregnant?

How did you prepare for labor and delivery?

And although I am going to cling to my lovely epidural for as long as it lasts, I am going to inevitably be going partially au naturale this time around. What techniques worked best for you if you went epiduraless?

Are prenatal massages worth it? And if so, where are the best places to go in Utah?

So those are my questions. Feel free to add any other tidbits of knowledge to it. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being pregnant. I would go through all the worst parts of my other pregnancies a thousand more times to have another cutie patootie like Lily. I am so excited. I just need a little help convincing my body that it is fun to be pregnant, too.

An Exciting Announcement for our 100th Post

Lily is sporting a brand new t-shirt as her Christmas jammies. The second part of her gift arrives on August 4, 2009.

Chill

Our December has been pretty quiet so far. I tried not to plan too much since I knew Johnny would be busy with finals. We are looking forward to all the parties in a few weeks! Lily and I spend lots of days chilling with our favorite treat - Jamba Juice :). Did you know that you can get a Jamba Juice with a sleep vitamin? Apparently that is what Johnny got for Lily :).

November Happenings

We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Johnny's and brother in law Broc's birthdays. Their birthdays were actually in October, but, due to the birth of Baby Titan, their birthday dinner was slightly delayed.

Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Johnny's brother's home. Afterward, we returned to my family's home for pie. Kyrie and Lily had fun playing together while we planned our Black Friday shopping. (which was very successful. Only took me four hours to get my precious GPS system).

Lily's first advent calendar. My dad bought the grand kiddies advent calendars. Lily loves hers. Whenever she sees it she shouts, "Num Nummy!"

We also had fun at Festival of Trees. We were able to see Ada dance and we had a great time looking at the trees. Lily, suprisingly, loved it and was a good girl in her stroller the entire time. She enjoyed waving to the other children. I think she thought people were there to see her and not the trees.

Austin and Aften's Wedding Reception

Cousins and friends :)

Congrats to Austin and Aften! They were married in the Manti Temple. It was fun to meet up with family and celebrate at their reception. I couldn't help but think of when I babysat Austin when he was six and he would write and illustrate stories about ants for me to read. Going to his reception made me feel just a little bit older :).

Their first dance. I loved the back of her dress!

Grandma and Grandpa Kimball. Grandpa Kimball had his camera out most of the night so I thought that it was only fair that I got a picture of him, too. I love this photo of the two of them - don't they look great?

I tried to get a posed shot of the two girls, but they were too busy playing :). They loved the leaves.

Four generations! I have to apologize to my mom for posting the one where she is turned sideways. In the other two Lily was coughing out mints and it was a little gross :).

Little Gym with Lily

Lily's favorite activity at the Little Gym

Lily has been going to Little Gym every Saturday since August. She is doing so great in her class!
From jumping, to rolling, to balancing - she has learned lots of new things and made lots of little friends. Lily loves the balls, the bubbles, and running as fast as she can. Her motor skills have improved greatly. She even has a little boyfriend who sometimes follows her around giving her hugs.

At first Lily could only get on the balance beam with my help, but now she does it all by herself.

Lily loves to jump from the top to the bottom of the mats.

More Cougar pictures to come :)

A little helper for the holidays

Lily finishing off my rice bowl at Rumbi's :)

The closer that it gets to the holidays ... it seems the busier it gets!

We are only a month away from a long awaited event .... NURSERY! I really cannot wait. Sometimes I am sad when I think about my baby growing up so fast. But then I think of trying to contain my no longer baby in Sunday School and Relief Society ... not so sad anymore!

Still our little girl is growing up fast. This month I have been putting away a lot of our baby things ... the baby bath tub ... bouncer .... boppy .... all things things she has long outgrown.

One thing that I am quiet happy about is that Lily is quite the helper. She is very good at moving the laundry from the washer to the dry (sometimes a granola bar makes it in there, too, so I have to watch closely :). She also grabs a cleaning rag and wipes up her spills on the floor occasional ... she started doing this all by herself! She is also good at putting laundry in the hamper and garbage (and sometimes not garbage) in the garbage can. What a good helper!

Plus her vocab is expanding. She now says happy, IHOP, and moon.

Holiday Line Preview :)

The holidays are on there way and I want to give you a head start with your holiday shopping ... plus a some well-deserved fun, free, and fabulous girl time. Here are the details for my Mary Kay holiday line preview. I would love to have you gals there!

When: November 18th at 7:00 p.m.
Where: My home (I will email you my address)
What: Holiday Line Preview and Girls Night Out
Who: Everyone!

Here is the low down on what we will be doing. I will have all the latest Holiday Cosmetics and Pampering Products. As well as our fabulous new Mineral Line along with some of the classic products at a fantastic discounted price. Get a head start on your Christmas shopping or help your husband out with a list of what you love. I will have something for every person on your list at a discounted price.

Besides previewing products, we will have drawings, kissology with our brand new lipsticks (what does your kiss print mean), Satin Hands, Satin Lips, and fun games where you will win free product. It’s a Girl’s Night Out!

I know your time is precious as you approach the holidays so I will make it worth your while! Just by attending you will receive a free full size Mineral Eye Shadow of the color of your choice. Bring a friend and receive another free full size Mineral Eye Shadow (up to three). RSVP by November 17th at noon and get 10 percent off your entire order.

See you there! Even if you can't come to the party - please feel free to browse my web-site for holiday gift ideas: www.marykay.com/taralyn. I have a special free gift for everyone who places an order by November 18th as well.

Happy Hallow-Bean!

Our little Lily-Bean made Halloween much more fun for us this year. She loved her "guck" (duck/baby chick) costume and wore it happily most of the week. With the fabulous weather we have been having - it was perfect! Here are a few pictures of our Halloween festivities this month.

Lily taking the first swing at the Pinata at the Parker Halloween Party.

Lily and Kyrie were great Trick or Treat partners. Lily was good at knocking on the doors and Kyrie was good at saying Trick or Treat.

Lily and Kyrie are also becoming great sharers. This is Lily relaxing on Cami's couch while Kyrie feeds her skittlers. What a hard life!

Lily at the Little Gym Halloween Party

Gardner Village is a new family tradition. It is our second year going with my family and we love it. Very festive, fun, and inexpensive!

Lily found a witch that was just her size.

Lily and her new friend the kitty in the Christmas store.

Lily is so lady like.

Happy Halloween!

Austin and Aften's Wedding Shower

My cousin Austin is getting married next month to a cute girl named Aften. We've met her a few times at family parties and we think she's great! My sister in law Aileen and I threw a family wedding shower for them at my house. It was great to meet more of her family and get together with all of my family as well. Here are some pics from the fun night!

No family gathering is complete without some fun interaction between Kyrie and Lily. Although it looks like Lily is poking Kyrie in the face with a fork, the girls were actually taking turns feeding each other spaghetti noodles off of each other's forks. It looks like Kyrie put hers down to get a drink of milk and Lily wasn't quite done yet. Despite the face poking, we are glad that the girls are getting better at working and playing together.

This cute little boy is Alex, my cousin Jessica's son. Isn't he a happy little guy?

The toilet paper brides. Christy (second from the left) won the toilet paper wedding dress design challenge. Her group included my Aunt Tanya who is an amazing seamstress. Although, an honorable mention goes to Shelby's team (far right). The rest of her team consisted of all men, but we thought her flower was a nice feminine touch.

Two beautiful brides :)

Happy Birthday Johnny!

We celebrated Johnny's 29th birthday last week! Somehow we managed to not get very many pictures of the birthday boy himself, but we do have some pretty cute ones of my little helper. Happy Birthday Johnny!

Lily enjoyed helping with the birthday cake so much that she only licked the icing twice. She is quite the expert with sprinkles.

And this picture is just because. Can't pass up chocolate and pig tails.

One of those days!

Last week was a busy, but incredible week! I saw a good friend from high school perform in Into the Woods - amazing. I hosted a baby shower and went to a bridal shower - good times! And my cousin in law/college room mate Shirsti got married on Saturday. I was able to be there for the sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. It was an ideal ending to my week. I will admit it - some days I am just tired. The dishes are piling up, my 16 month old is getting ready to leap off of the kitchen table, I can't exactly pinpoint where a funky smell is coming from .... you know how it goes. So on Saturday it was relaxing to be in the temple with a lot of people who I care about.

I enjoyed catching up with the Christensen family. We have all kinds of random connections besides now being family. Koseli's and Shirsti's aunt was a department secretary in the department I worked at at BYU-Idaho. It was great to see her again and talk to her about people we both know. It brought back a flood of memories from that fun time in my life. Some of my best friends come from my Ricks days.

One of Johnny's cousin's wife's sister (how is that for a mouthful?) was also my visiting teacher when I was first married. It was good to remember those days, too!

As I thought about all of these memories - it made me grateful for the different seasons in life. I can't say that I have a favorite. Every time has its own special significance and little excitements. This week brought back so much nostalgia from high school, college, newlywed days. It reminded me that the best isn't yet to come or in the past - it is here right now. So I am going to take care of those dishes, hug my little dare devil, and somehow find that funky smell .... and enjoy this season of life to the fullest.

Here is my little dare devil. We've been sick with colds this weekend. She woke up early today and then crashed mid play during Signing Time.

And here is my happy reminder that it is fall. Caramel apples anyone?

Lily is obsessed with cell phones. Luckily we have some old ones that she can play with. Johnny was trying to put her down for her nap and she fell asleep talking to herself on the phone

We had Cami's baby shower on Wednesday. Baby Croc should be here in the next few weeks. Any name suggestions?

My niece Ally had fun at the baby shower, too. She has such cute eyes! I love their shape.

And ... we're back!

Our camera from Costco arrived today! We were going to wait for the day after Thanksgiving sales, but with Lily growing so fast ... we couldn't help ourselves. I never knew how picture crazy I was until we didn't have a camera! Johnny and I were thrilled when the little package arrived. However, as you can see from the picture above, someone else was not so thrilled. She thought the package was for her!

We christened the new camera at Coldstone as you can see in the picture below.


Our camera from Costco arrived today! We were going to wait for the day after Thanksgiving sales, but with Lily growing so fast ... we couldn't help ourselves. I never knew how picture crazy I was until we didn't have a camera!

Here's the latest updates in our lives:

• Lily's weekly trips to the Little Gym appear to be paying off. While she is playing around the house I occasionally see her doing little dance moves that she learned in class. Pictures to come! She also climbs ANYTHING. She would spend all day on top of the kitchen table if I let her.
  
• Lily's vocabulary is also expanding. Her latest words are hat and hot. The best part is that she pronounces hat and hot with a British accent. Sometime long, long ago I recall watching Teletubbies and hoping that someday I would have British children or children with British accents. Dreams do come true.
  
• My brother Conner is in the MTC and, in fact, only has a week left in the MTC before he is off to Califonia.
  
• Johnny and I saw Into the Woods at Hale Center Theatre last night. Amazing. Loved it. Especially since a friend I knew from high school as in it. I always enjoy seeing people I know doing things they are passionate about. For example, every month when I open the Ensign I always look for my friend Melissa's name first. It reminds me that I need to be stretching myself and working toward my dreams. I remember talking to Hilary and Ashlee earlier this year about how it's important to keep doing things you enjoy and learning new things. I don't suppose Signing Time counts? Anyways - long story short. I am eager to take back up some old hobbies and start a few new ones. Thanks for the inspiration everyone!
  
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Farewell Camera and Conner!

Sad day ... our camera is now water logged ... or should I say milk logged from a sippy cup mishap. So while we save for a new camera ... pictures may be delayed as we mooch off of family members cameras :). These are the last of the pictures before the milk incident.

I had a fabulous 27th birthday. My birthday started with a long, overdue bubble bath - so relaxing! Johnny took Lily and I out to lunch at Kneaders - love their carrot cake. Later in the evening I went to Sandy to go through the temple with my little brother Conner who is going on a mission. It is coming up too fast! It was great to be in the temple with my family on my birthday.

All the siblings, but Ada. Cami only has a month or so until Baby Croc is going to make his arrival. The first male grandchild - we cannot wait! Cami is the one holding the zebra temple bag. My mom asked her if it was an appropriate print for the temple. Cami replied, "God loves zebras, too, doesn't He?"

A nice man took this group shot for us.

Missionary and his mom. We are going to miss Conner. He is our comic relief. A quick story about Conner. I told Marriage Prep at BYU a few semester ago. Although he is a preemie, he decided to take my class anyway and I am glad he did. He was a good sounding board for how the class was going. Every day after class we went to the food court in the Wilkinson Center to get breakfast. It was nice for me to have a quiet breakfast - I had a 3 month old waiting for me at home :). Anyways - we did not initially tell the class that we were siblings. We figured that they would figure it out for themselves - some people even think we are twins. This line of thinking seemed to be going well for us until one day a third of my class saw us having breakfast together and gave us funny looks. There were even certain class members that we would see every once and awhile in the Wilk after class. I started to see it in their faces, "Why does Sister Parker spend so much time with Conner?" We finally announced our sibling relationship to the class to avoid speculation on why the married with a baby marriage prep teacher was spending so much time with one of her students!

Long story short - those breakfasts were a fun way to get to know Conner even better and take a break with my fun sibling!

After the temple, we went to our favorite family restaurant - the Mayan! We picked up Ada and Lily Bean and had a fun evening out. In this picture Lily is trying to get Conner to take her to see the divers. We also discovered that Lily loves salsa! Must take after her dad!

In other news :

Lily had her 15 month doctor's appointment earlier this week. Here are her current stats:

Height: 31 inches 69.15 percentile
Weight: 19.38 lbs 5.89 percentile

I was thrilled that she did not fall off of the charts! She is our tall and skinny string bean! Apparently her head percentile jumped so now she has a rather large head for her body size. It's to store all those brains - this little girl is too smart!

The Little Sharers

Lily eyes baby Ally. Baby Ally eyes the sippy cup (or something the distance :) ).

Lily wants to know if Ally is thirsty. Ally is intrigued. She may even be excited enough to drool on her dad who is holding her up :).

The moment of sharing! (that is as far as the sharing went ... Ally is not quite ready for whole milk!)

Let's Hug!

Now if only Lily would share all the time this easily!