This and That

Hey guys if you think of it tonight, mention Little Colin in your prayers. He is my cousin Nick and Brooke Stevenson's baby and he is only three weeks old and has been hospitalized with RSV. I know they are worried and worn out and just want their little man to be better! We have experienced sick babies in the hospital with breathing trouble, but Lil was almost two, I can't imagine going through this with a newborn.

Today I bought a new book by Dr. Oz (I LOVE Dr. Oz) it's called "You Having a Baby." You know, since I've had two babies I thought alot might have changed in two years. HAHA! Seriously, it's a really good down-to-Earth book (not too text bookish and not to mother-Earthy-embrace-your-laborish either) (I bought a book with my first pregnancy that was written by some crazy hippie woman who instructed all laboring mothers to embrace labor and that the pain could almost be on the edge of pleasurable...hmmm I want some of what she was smoking...)

Lil update...she's still sick...fever is gone, but round the clock breathing treatments and she coughs like mad. My poor baby, I am hoping this runs it course SOON!

Pregnancy update...morning sickness is a lie that the devil tells. Morning sickness...ha! morning, noon, night, late night... the other night I was up at 2:30! But seriously, I can handle it. I had morning sickness with both the other two, more severely with Lil. She was born in September and I threw up until July. A small small price to pay for what you get at the end!!!!

Travis and I have yet to take up the name discussion. Noah was named before we knew he was a boy. Lil didn't have a name until she was 5 hours old in the hospital. And Lilly was a name we had never discussed. (In fact weeks before I had told a good friend that we were not naming this baby Lilly!) Anyway, I am formulating a list in my head, none of which I am sure Travis will agree to. He is a sweet husband but he is most disagreeable in the department of baby naming. He had a list going for Lilly straight out of a 1990 yearbook. We keep referring to this baby as "he" but truthfully I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other. Time will tell I suppose.

On an ending note...I am proud to report that I am the mother to the soon to be six year old Wii featherweight champion boxer of the world. Seriously, you can't beat the kid...Travis can't beat the kid. I'm not sure Mike Tyson could. When the match is over he prances around with his wii controllers held high above his head Rocky style. I fully expect to find him in the family room one day with satin boxing shorts, shirtless, and sporting a mouthgaurd. His dad LOVES it... I on the other hand am dreading his return to Kindergarten for our dear Ms. Lesley to find that he has retained exactly 2 percent of what she has spent half a year teaching him!

Happy 11th Anniversary!

December 26th marked our 11th year of marriage and thankfully this year was unaffected by last anniversary's stomach virus from you-know-where. So this year my dear sweet husband, let me sleep late, a thing which happens approximately twice a year...and then we took the babies to visit with Nana and Papa and we headed to BG for a little child-free dinner.

We ate at Puerto's (fancy I know!) and we spent the entire time discussing...you guessed it...our kids! Now I know that this is not most people's idea of a romantic evening out, but munching on chips and salsa and laughing with Travis over our two's latest crazy antics was a great way to spend the evening. We then made the required run to Target for milk and diapers and wanted to catch a movie, but after checking the time decided it would put us out way past Lil's bedtime so we headed back home to collect the children.

So, as I look back over the past eleven years of our life together it amazes me how fast it's gone. We got married 5 days after my 18th birthday. And yes, we were way to young. When I look back I realize that, but would I change it? Not a chance.

We spent our early married life making mistakes, fighting it out, making up, and learning from it all. We lived in a little two bedroom trailer that we were prouder of that anything in the world. We were the proud parents of one little Chihuahua and thought we were flying high when Travis was making $7.50 and hour!!!! But you know what, we had a lot of fun and we were happy.

Happy yes...perfect Heck No. We have definitely had our share of disagreements, said things to each other that should have never been said, and just generally been stubborn and hard headed.

But after five years of marriage we welcomed baby Noah into our little family and the focus changed from us to him. He gave us more joy that we could have ever imagined and his sister's arrival 3 years later just blessed us even more.

Now here we are with our two babies, and God willing another arriving in August, we are settled into our home, we love our family and church and we are blessed beyond measure. Do we get stressed, sure! Sometimes the to do lists get longer and longer and our tempers get shorter and shorter, and the laundry multiplies exponentially...

Again, things are not perfect and I suppose will never be, but after eleven years of marriage with Travis I can truly say that there is no one else one Earth I would rather share my life with. So here's to the past 11 eleven years...I hope we have 100 more.

Merry Christmas

It's getting late

The lights are low

The Christmas trees

Are all aglow

The stockings are hung

The kids are in bed

We've gathered with family

Our prayers we have said

The night we've waited for

Is finally here

It's been a long

A Wonderful Year

All things are well

With the Parsley's tonight

And we wish and we hope

With all of our might

That this Christmas Eve midnight

Finds you happy and blessed

That your holiday is fun

And not rushed or stressed

So dear blogger friends

We love you all

We're sending our blessings

The large and the small

For when the month of August

2010 Finally arrives

We'll go from a family of four

To a family of Five!

Surprise!!! We're expecting baby #3 on August 7th 2010!

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

This is Jessica's wonderful husband Travis here. I just wanted to hijack her blog tonight to let all her "blogging buddies" know that tomorrow (21st) is Jess's 29th birthday. I know this is sad because it's her last year in her twenties, but the good thing is that she's had me in her life longer than she hasn't (I think that makes sense).

This was even before we were married!

I was a 17 and a senior in high school in 95 and I met her when she was 14 and a freshman. I took a little slack over that, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't illegal at the time. We dated for the next few years and I knew that she was the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We had talked about when we would get married for the majority of the time we dated, and I finally got up enough nerve to ask her dad if I could. Funny story....I was actually working the night shift at Hill's with her dad while I was in college, and I got the nerve one night to talk to him about this. Christmas was coming up and I told him that I was wanting to get her a "ring" for Christmas. I guess he didn't understand, because he said "No, she really needs a new stereo for her car." I really didn't know what to say after that, so I told Jess that I didn't think her dad wanted us to get married. Well, I reckon she told her mom what happened, and my wonderful mother-in-law straightened it all out. Tommy told me a few nights later that it would be ok. About a year later Jessica was a senior in high school at the time, turned 18 on the 21st and we were married 5 days later on the 26th of December 1998 and the rest they say is history. I have to say the only thing bad about being married to a woman in high school is it felt pretty weird going to her senior prom.....

We are coming up on our 11th anniversary and Jess has truly been a great wife to me. She has put up with all my bad habits (Jess, you know what I'm talking about), and kept me fed pretty well. She gave me two beautiful children (that she reminds me daily she gave naturally with no meds). She chose to stay home to raise our kids and also works hard on her photography business. I know she spends some late nights working on computer (photography....or blogging), and gets up bright and early the next morning to get Noah off to school, at which time Lilly Grace decides to wake up and torture mommy for the next few hours. I seriously don't know how Jess does it, but I'm glad she does, cause I don't think I want to....

Jess and her two loving children (even though Noah doesn't look it)


Happy Birthday Baby! You are are a wonderful wife and mother and I believe you deserve a great birthday. I know you would prefer a week at the beach (alone) with a book, but I hope dinner and a play will suffice.

I Love You!!!

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I hope Santa Wasn't Watching....

Hmmm...when your Mom is busy making sixty homemade sugar cookies for the kindergarten Christmas party, what is any two year old girl to do???

Let's see, she could play with the stickers that Mommy gave her, or drink her sippy, or look at her books, or watch her Rudolph movie that Mommy so strategically planned...Nope that wouldn't be any fun...

Instead said two year old will push the bar stool up to the fridge and throw off all the magnets...climb up to the island and take a bite out of EVERY APPLE in the darn bowl...unhook the video camera from it's charger and string it across the living room, and then proceed to suck on every Skittle in a package until the color comes off and then spit them out on the table until they look like gobs of...well I don't' know what but it's nasty...

It took 3 hours to do a 30 minute job because I kept having to retrieve small fry off of kitchen furniture. All the while with her screaming and saying, "Mama!!!I help!!!!!"

What helped matters is that when I am elbow deep in cookie dough the phone rings and it's her darling Daddy...who apparently had no other purpose in calling me but to laugh!

After the cookies were safely tucked away in the container I dropped them off a school and then made a run to Smiths Grove for some chicken nuggets which Lilly begged for... she took one bite and promptly fell asleep since she was victorious in her McDonald's pleading and begging I guess

Oh well, little Diva is now sound asleep in her crib after the morning excitement...so Mommy is off to wash the dishes and clean up the skittle and apple debris... Then maybe...just maybe I'll take a shower!

Oh Those Twos...Terrible or Terrific?

We are deeply, thoroughly, fully into the terrible/terrific twos at our house. Why do I say terrible/terrific?

Well, any of you who have lived through the toddlerhood milestones of a two year old knows exactly where the term "terrible two" comes from. My sweet Lilly can go from sweet and fun loving baby to a screaming crying tyrant in no time flat. She seriously comes unglued at the very idea that we might be doing something that might not be her favorite thing... I remember this stage with Noah and it totally stressed me out at times. However, the second time around I really try to take a deep breath, over look the screaming (hers I mean) and tell myself...This too shall Pass!

And I know it will...pass I mean...and that is what makes me a little sad. I know that this stage is all about growing from baby/toddler into little person. When she graduates this stage, she'll lose the baby pudginess, the clinginess to Mommy, the wanting her paci and her blanky, and to be perfectly honest, I'm in no hurry for these days to be over.

Oh sure, I can do without the tantrums that involve lying completely facedown in the kitchen and sobbing while waiting for the macaroni and cheese to be spooned on to her plate and I can seriously do without the screaming in church that could surely wake the saints in the graveyard...but all in all....she's my baby and I'm not ready for her to grow out of it yet.

The time will come soon enough when she is independant enough to play her own games and to look at books all on her own, so for now I love hearing that little voice say, "Pay wis me Mama" while her chubby dimpled baby hand pats the floor beside her.

Big Tuesday

Wow yesterday was BUSY with a capital B. We had to get up bright and early to make the trip to Vanderbilt for Noah's 6 month eye checkup with his specialist. (The glasses are still doing their job...we go back in June...) Apparently, if the glasses work it will take years for his eyes to correct themselves, and if they quit working we will know immediately and be looking at surgery. So we were thrilled with the news that they're still doing their job!

After making the trip to downtown Nashville and nearly colliding with a woman eating a sandwich while driving (yes Travis there was a stop sign and you RAN it) we decided to go to Opry Mills for a little while. We got Noah some new basketball shoes for his first game on Saturday and then decided to shop around a little while. Well, it was nap time and Lilly managed to lose her pacifier somewhere in the mall. And then she proceeded to wail inconsolably...so what does any calm and collected mother do? I duck into the nearest team store and ask if they have pacifiers. Yep, and the only ones they have are bright orange with a huge Tennessee Vols T on them. ( should I mention her Dad detests this!!!) However, I would have bought the thing had it been $50 and said "I hate my Mom...) I was desperate. 10 seconds after the paci was in she was out cold! So we circled the mall for two hours and bought 1 20 ounce sprite and 2 plastic cell phones at the disney store...productive I know!!!

It was late we when got home but we had some homework of Noah's to work on so then afterwards we decided to give the shoe tying thing another go round. He has really struggled with this, but after trying a few more times together last night, he mastered it! Needless to say he was super excited to go to kindergarten this morning and show off his new skill. He told me, "Mom, I can do double knots and even tie with short strings!"

So finally it was off to bed for the two Parsley kids and off to work for Mama. I'm knee deep in Christmas orders right now, but it's fun going through all these sweet baby photos in their PJ's and Christmas outfits! I even managed to narrow down some pics of my sweet babies for my Christmas card. I just have to find time to get them ordered!!!