I think she likes memory foam

Josie sleeps best after I nurse her in bed, more specifically when I get out of bed and she has the whole thing to herself. I think we should get her a queen memory foam mattress of her own. It might also be the fact that it smells like me and she was just laying down to eat, but I think those are minor details when comparing her bassinet mattress to our mattress. Babies need back and neck support also...

Dolphin Pose

Please enjoy the video below and don't judge me for laughing at my child when she is just about to lose it. She actually started rolling over the day before I shot this and I was trying to get a video of it. But instead of showing off her rolling skills, she graced us with this amazing talent.

Santa Cruise with folks from Santa Cruz

We had a great time on the Santa Cruise this year. It was fun to go with kids. Josie was even on Santa's list this year, thank goodness, because if Santa doesn't bring her anything I don't think she will get one present (yes, I am being facetious). Since she won't remember and doesn't really react to much that not in her face we enjoyed the company and reactions of Jason's kids.

Family picture on the boat

Malachi was hammin' it up for Josie, it was adorable!

The Gooey! It was as good as it looks, yummmmm

Most were slowing down a bit by this point, but the kids were still going strong!

Nick's magic touch at getting Josie to go down for naps, he also always volunteers to hold her. I think he is smitten (see above and below).

Thank you Zantac

Anyone out there ever had acid reflux? Well you know how miserable it is, the burning, the coughing, the discomfort, downing a Costco bottle of Tums every week month...

If you remember I had a similar post while I was pregnant. If you want to relive my complaints you can click here. But this is about another little human being who was miserable and we didn't really know it. We had a concern about a noise Josie was making and it was continuing to get more frequent. It was the noise that all babies make, its called "strider." It is when they breathe in really quick and it makes kind of a gasping squeak. She was making it more frequent and sometimes it would take her a bit to regulate her breathing again. So the doc sent us to a swallow therapist (I had never heard of it either) and after an evaluation we found out Josie has been suffering from pretty bad acid reflux. Not the worst case since she has been gaining weight just fine but she was showing all the textbook signs. A lot of signs that I would not have known were connected.

lots of hard swallowing followed by watery eyes
dry cough
arching back (made tummy time difficult)
holding shoulders back
spit-up out her nose at least once a day usually more
hiccups (after every feeding still)
drooling (soak the whole onesie kind)
strider (all through out the day and during feedings)
really squirmy and noisy while nursing (the complaining kind)
wheezing
congestion

She was taking it all like a champ though. She definitely didn't complain as much as I did...

Nick and I are both a fan of trying to solve things the natural way before medication, so a lot of food went out the window but there was no change with my sweet girl. We learned that infants suffer from un treated acid reflux have a really high rate of asthma and allergies. It can also cause permanent damage to the esophagus causing the child to have problems the rest of their life. But most of the time the reflux goes away by 9 months or before. So why risk permanent damage when most likely the short term treatment is better than the long term risk of no treatment. So on to the meds! We were also told that it can take a while to figure out which meds will work and sometimes you will have to change after awhile or try two at a time (sounds like my problem while pregnant). Finally, after realizing my own belief of not medicating our baby was getting in the way of her comfort. Plus, I medicated myself for reflux and was much happier. So we are on our first set of trial meds and I must say, it was the best choice we could have made. She has been on them for three days now and from night one she slept 7 hours, night two 8 hours, and night three 8 hours. She doesn't wake up crying as often and will put herself to sleep without rocking. She doesn't act uncomfortable while laying down and rather than screaming during tummy time she actually rolled over. Needless to say I am so thankful for all the professionals out there who know a heck of a lot more than I do.

We are all now a bit more Joyful in the Parkert house!

Pictures of the week

Ready for winter!

The Thinker

What's that you say?

The Stink Eye

Almost 3 months

I cannot believe it has been 11 weeks (almost 3 months) since Josie Mae was born. It seems like it was just yesterday that I felt the first contraction. But I also can't remember what life was like before she came home. The below pictures were taken the day she was born and I remember when I saw them for the first time I burst into tears. Partly because I was still on heavy pain killers and I had a variety of new hormones running through my body, but mostly because I already loved her so much and I couldn't believe the Lord gave me this perfect little girl to love.





These were taken in the past couple weeks and when I look back she has grown so much already! She is growing like a weed and eating like a horse. She has chubby cheeks, a double chin, and twig like arms and legs. In the past 3 weeks she has become such a happy baby. She smiles all day long and is so much fun to play with. Although, she still has the "Farley" temper and I can already see some great tantrums in our future. Good luck us!

Love Love Love

I love love love that Josie can go from all out serious when shes with me

to full goofy grin as soon as she sees Nick.

She's such a hoot!

Miss Blue Eyes

Despite the acid reflux, temper, and the napless days, we are smitten with our daughter ("our daughter" is still weird to say). And her smiles are killer, we both melt at the sight. The real story is that I have been blessed with a night sleeper. She has never really woken me up at night to eat. And I had no idea it was bad to let them sleep more than 4 hours before they hit 6 weeks. So after education from a lactation consultant I was having to wake her up for nightly feedings. Believe me when I tell you that a beeping alarm with a snooze button at 3am is much more difficult to get up for than a crying baby. Now that we passed the six week mark I am now aloud to let her sleep more than 3 hours between feedings at night, hallelujah! She is now sleeping about 6-8 hours in a row. Great for her, but bad for me, I usually end up waking her about 5-6 hours since I am so engorged. I know I could pump, but I would rather fill her belly so she will surely sleep another 3-4 hours. It's selfish I know, but I think of it as a win-win. Since the nightly sleep deprivation has diminished, my days are so much brighter. Her longest nap during the day is 20 minutes, so I don't get much down time. I am hoping she will get into a daily nap pattern in the next few months so she is not so cranky. The girl just can't stay asleep when the sun is up!!

But my real question is will she keep that dark hair and dark blue eyes???


I was trying to take a self portrait with the SLR camera....believe it or not this was the best of many.

Here is an unsuccessful tummy time, I thought she was awake enough and in a good mood. But she started to cry so the finger pacifier worked and soon she was asleep.

The dramatic entrance

I have a million things to say but don't have the energy to say them. But things are going well. We are finally getting in the swing of things and I must say there are a lot less tears for both Josie and myself. Without getting too graphic and in too much detail here is a rundown of her birth story. The evening of her due date (Aug 24th) I decided it was time for her to come out, so I went on a really fast, uphill walk for about 2 hours on the trails behind my house. I don't know how far it was, but according to Nick it was too far. Now before you freak out, Nick knew the exact trail that I was on, and it was not far from a road. He was at work and I was in the park so technically he could have run code to come get me (with his lights and siren on). I started to feel sharp pains that lasted about 20-30 seconds on my way home and I thought, "are these contractions?" But they weren't that bad, so when I got home I mowed the lawn. There were a few of these "sharp pains" that I had to stop mowing and breathe through, so when I was done I decided to take a shower just in case I was actually going into labor. I didn't want to be sweaty and smell like cut grass if I had to go in. So I got out of the shower about 7pm and they were getting much worse so I called Nick to tell him that we might be going to the hospital tonight. He was going to rush home right then, but I told him to take his time, they were not too close together. But a bit of my family history was making him weary. Both my mother and grandmother had their babies all within 2 hours of their first contraction. There was no way to tell if this was going to be my future as well. We live about 30 minutes from the hospital and neither of us wanted to have this baby in the car... So when Nick arrived home, we walked around the block until they were about 5 minutes apart and close to a minute long. But I could walk and talk through them at this point. So I called my doc on her cellphone to ask if she wanted me to come in (see above family history). She said to wait an hour and see if they get worse. So Nick and I proceeded to walk around the block over and over. Within 45 minutes they were definitely closer, harder, and I could not walk through them. So we headed in about 11:30pm. We got there at midnight and I was 3cm and just to make sure it was not pre-labor they had us walk around the hallways for an hour to see if I progressed at all. By 1am I could not walk or talk through a contraction, in fact I had to brace myself on the wall, and when checked again I was 4.5cm. So we were admitted at 1am.

I continued to walk around the room and tried to relax, but couldn't sit or stay still for any contractions. So I walked around as long as I could. I wanted to wait as long as possible before I received the epidural because I had heard they can slow your labor down. So I made it to about 6cm and my contractions were about 1 minute apart and 1minute long. I was pretty exhausted since we had not slept at all and it was 5am. So epidural in I was able to sleep a little, only thing is that my contractions slowed down...bummer! So my doc broke my water to see if we could speed them back up, and they did a bit, but not as fast as before the epi. So in comes the Pitosin, yuk! And we sat and sat until about noon before I was ready to push.

The pushing then began, and 2 hours later I was still pushing with not much progression. It was really hard to hear "that was great, keep pushing exactly like that" with nothing to show for it. What we didn't know at the time was that Josie had flipped herself over and was posterior and at a weird angle. So my doc (with a very worried look on her face) suggested that we call in the hospitalist to try suction. At that point I was ready to try anything, so in comes a whole team of people. The doc and hospitalist told me that they would try to suction 3 times and after that a c-section would be required. Not only did they suction more than 3 times but they tried for a half hour. And just when the nurse anesthetist came in to start prepping for the c-section, miss Josie Mae popped out! She was blue grey and it seemed like she didn't cry for minutes (although my mom said it was seconds). Nick and I both instantly burst into tears of joy. She was quickly whisked away by the NICU team and thoroughly checked out. She scored an 8-9 out of 10 on the APGAR test even with the massive bruise and laceration on her head. She was perfect!

She also has a liver of steal because her billirubin was back to normal by the 3rd day. Everyone was pretty amazed that she didn't need any light treatments. She did have a massive headache for the first 2 weeks of life, but other than that she was in great shape. I guess I went into more detail that necessary but it was a pretty intense experience.

The funny thing is that when people hear the story they almost always tell me that the next one will be so much easier so not to worry. But I have to say I would do it again the hard way in a second because the prize at the end was worth it a hundred times over. I would have pushed for days just to get my sweet girl.

2 week old montage of Josie Mae

We have survived our first two weeks with Josie. It has already been a wild ride. Enjoy the pictures below. Hopefully, I will have a bit more time to write about her dramatic entrance into the world!

I call this one "milk coma"

Please note Gage in the background licking the coffee table...

First play date with Logan who is less than 24 hours older. They were surprisingly both active and awake at the same time.

Endless Daddy Love

39 weeks

Let the countdown begin! Everything is ready for a baby, now we just need one to make an appearance. Come on little lady, come on!

I also got my last pre-labor pedicure in honor of this little lady. Besides polka-dots are a fun distraction from my incredibly swollen feet.

36 weeks and growing

At 36 weeks i can't believe I still have another 4-5 to go if I go full term. But the nesting has also started to kick in and I am pretty much ready for a baby. Now I am trying to make Nick and I some freezer meals, so when baby comes we can focus on her.

Speaking of HER, I had one more ultrasound on Friday because I was measuring small. But it turns out I am right on track and she is about 6lbs. We also got a clear shot of her little lady parts, so I know I won't have to return all the generous amounts of clothing we have been given. Phew...

Sneak Peak...

Here is a sneak peak of little Parkert's room. I still have not put up anything on the walls, and I believe there might be a shelf or two in that mix, but you get the idea. The curtain fabric is what I completely fell in love with, and I couldn't "see" anything else, so we went with it. My mom was the best, she really knows what she is doing, and read the pattern and helped make changes with things about the pattern that I didn't like. When Nick is at work, it is hard to get stuff done so she also came yesterday to help organize and help me do a bit of planting. It is hard to do a lot of things when you can't squat, bend, or lift. She is my angel and I don't know what I would do without her!!!

Only read if you want to listen to whimpy whinning

It's hard to think about an update, when my life doesn't really have any exciting events lately, and I don't have any cute kiddos to post about. So I guess I can give a pregnancy update. I am not sure if anyone will be intrigued though. I am almost 32 weeks (I'll post a pic this week sometime), and I already want to be done and get my reward. But I guess I can wait since the last thing I want is a premature baby who's tiny body is not ready. I will try not to complain too much, since I have so many luxuries that many women are not given.

I have started deep end water aerobics three times a week (or I try to at least swim laps one of the days). I have read that it is wonderful for pregnant women. And I am really enjoying it but I am getting bored of the same thing over and over. I am not a creature of "exercise" habit. I have to switch it up a lot or I give up out of boredom. Unfortunately, at this point water is my only source of exercise. No walks, no elliptical, no strengthening moves for my legs, nothing... I walk around the store and my belly cramps up, I walk down the hallway at work and my hips lock up. So I am very very thankful for water. There is zero impact on my body and I can go at my own pace since gravity is not a factor, hallelujah! When I don't feel like taking the class, I swim laps, I get my black cap, my green goggles, and my polka-dot pregnancy suit on and swim away. I must say it feels great also, just to move my extremities and not wince in pain. It's hard when I can only work-out at the gym, sometimes I want to just take Gage on a quick walk, but I know the consequences, and Nick doesn't want a call at work for him to come carry me home from a walk. Not cool! I also have tried prenatal yoga, I can do about 25% of the video so I do the same moves over and over and over.....not so much fun.

Another complaint (geez, I need to throw myself a pitty party and get over-it) is this heartburn. I thought I could withhold quite a bit of discomfort (see knife-stabbing pain above) but the heartburn has been out of control lately. I have really tried to read up on it, learn some natural tricks, foods, etc but nothing was working. Turns out drinking water is really bad when you have heartburn, it makes it worse! I was trying to limit my intake of Tums to 4-6 a day because that was what my doc said was the max. Well.....this child is getting bigger and it is getting worse. For example: I was taking my class and it was getting worse and worse, I had 30 minutes left so I thought I could make it until the end. But the nausea kicked in and I was 10 seconds away from throwing-up in the pool, not a good way to make friends. So I jumped out of the pool and booked it as fast as I could to my purse in the locker room where I keep a stockpile of Tums. I downed about 4 of them and sat on the bench for a second while they reduced the acid. Then I went back to the class, they all assumed I just had to pee, so I went with that. I have many other stories of dramatically needing Tums but you get the idea.

I do have good news though I talked to my doc about my problems and she was so sympathetic and really wanted to make me more comfortable. I guess I thought she would say, "yeah it's tough but you only have 8 more weeks." But she said that my hip pain and ultra-severe heartburn is not normal for pregnancy, who knew! So she switched me from my OTC acid reducer to a prescription, and is sending me to physical therapy for my hips (I already go to massage and chiropractor weekly). I have taken the prescription for 1 day now and I must say I only had to take 3 Tums all day. It is a miracle!!! I will let you know how the physical therapy goes, I have to make an appointment on Monday. Hopefully, I can get in soon somewhere. My leg muscles are starting to turn to mush.....

On a non-whimpy note, my mom and I made all the baby bedding and curtains. They are perfect! I will post pics when I get the nursery in better shape. I SERIOUSLY CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS MUNCHKIN TO GET HERE!! Here's to 8 weeks flying by!

ps. My ring is now too tight some days, so I took it off. I am afraid they would have to cut it off if I swell any more. I think I might find a cheap replacement, any suggestions?

So much to choose from!

Many people have been asking me if I have registered yet, and my usual reply is, "no, should I have?" But because the season for showers is coming up quickly, I decided now is the time. Nick being the trooper that he is, said he would go, I knowing full well it would be an afternoon of torture for him. So today after church we went to breakfast with my mom and Nick politely suggested that me and my mom should go register today....okay buddy I get the hint. So mom and I went to register. And now I am exhausted!

She definitely knew a lot more than me, but seriously folks, who needs all the crap they offer. I plan on giving my kid a box, a wooden spoon and a metal pot to play with. Isn't that enough until she is five or so? Everyone tells you that you need a swing, a play mat, a bumbo, a boppy, a bouncy seat, a johnny jump-up, and a full time circus to entertain this child. And might I add every single thing comes with some gaudy mobile to hang above that does at least three of the following: vibrate, play music, sway, swivel, speak Latin to, play whale sounds, play womb sounds, jingle, etc. Talk about over stimulation. I don't want my child to expect she will have 12 things hanging in front of her face at all times to keep her occupied. What happens when we are out, or at someone else's house and I don't have all the stimulating junk for her to stair at....won't she be bored or will a wooden spoon do the trick?

I believe we are overstimulated as a country, so of course our children will be as well. I am hoping that a ceiling fan, or a quilt with bright colors, or a picture with fun colors will be entertaining enough. Of course my child will have toys, stuffed animals, and things hanging in her face to entertain from time to time, but hopefully she will learn some independence and find excitement and joy in things that are beautiful as well.

My high horse has gotten a bit too high, so I will step down now. Please excuse the above, I am overwhelmed from all the choices. Something snapped in me when I had to choose a binky from the wall of 1000. And everyone has a different opinion on which one is the best. I think I will let my child choose. Maybe that is just how it goes, once she is here, we can see what works for her. Let the journey begin!!!

28 weeks

What's a momma to do?

It's hard not to love this guy. He really is a part of this family, and even though a baby is coming, and it will be hard, we have vowed to make sure all his needs are fully met. I mean look at the pictures above, he is a lover, a protector, willing to go anywhere and do anything. He has unfortunately, not been himself these days. He has started itching and scratching. It first started with his tail, we thought he must have caught it on something. Then we found patches on his neck, and his face. Pretty much anywhere he can scratch, he has created a wound. So now we have him on a strict hypoallergenic diet (grain free, corn free, soy free, beef free, chicken free, turkey free, etc.) and lifestyle and we have to bathe him weekly. And all the research we have done says that it can take 10-14 weeks to finally see positive results. So here we go, we are on a journey, a very frustrating journey.

You know how much a scratch or cut itches while it heals, but we all know pretty well not to touch it because it will only make it worse (okay after the 4th or 5th time we re-open it)? Well, how do you explain that to a dog? We are constantly telling him to "leave-it," and he is constantly uncomfortable. So now we use the "cone of shame" when we leave for his own good and to protect his healing wounds. I really hope it is a food allergy because that is something we can control. If it is something in the environment like pollen, grass, or the cat, we are in for a different wild ride.

One funny thing the vet told is that most all Gold Retrievers HATE to be sprayed with anything. I thought we just had a big baby for a dog because he hides every time a spray bottle comes out. We really only spray conditioner on him but he acts like we are going to use some sort of painful torture devise. So you can imagine how fun it is spraying his wounds....

24 weeks

At 24 weeks, I feel pretty great. Very few complaints (see last post). Only thing is I really need it to warm up, because I only have one pair of long pants that fit and coats are slowly becoming a problem...

Oh the burn

I have been researching my recent heartburn/indigestion/acid reflux issue. I know it is 99% caused by this little growing bean inside of me. But it is definitely getting out of control. I have talked to my doctor, and she has given me suggestions, with the okay to continue my tums addiction along with my acid reducer. I am still trying to figure out what the main trigger is so here are a list of food items that cause it, maybe someone else has an idea:

1. butter
2. sugar
3. high fatty foods (the bad kind)
4. high fatty foods (the good kind)
5. white bread
6. wheat bread
7. fruit
8. vegetables
9. Mexican food
10. Thai food (so so sad)
11. chicken
12. beef
13. pork
14. rice
15. anything citrus (I know that falls under fruit, but I am just emphasizing)

Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah...water. These are just a few of the things that I have noticed. Who really knows the difference between heartburn, indigestion, and acid reflux. They seem so interchangeable. So I looked up the definitions of each, and as you can see they are fairly similar.

Heartburn – noun
1. an uneasy burning sensation in the stomach, typically extending toward the esophagus, and sometimes associated with the eructation of an acid fluid.

Indigestion – noun
1. uncomfortable inability or difficulty in digesting food; dyspepsia.

Acid Reflux – noun
1. a chronic condition in which acid from the stomach flows back into the lower esophagus, causing pain or tissue damage.

Well that sure sums it up. I guess I will just have to deal for the next 18 weeks. So here goes nothing!

One Lone Goose

Something has made me wonder. Why is this goose out on the front lawn everyday by itself for the past two weeks. I see all it's geese buddies flying around and don't geese hang out in a gaggle?