Parents

Parents
Kristen & Benton Brown

An Unexpected Start

An Unexpected Start
Parker Trimble Brown was born April 9, 2010.

I'm One Year Old

I'm One Year Old
Parker will be 14 months old on June 9th.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Mr. Snail and Mr. Penguin

My mom bought Parker Mr. Snail several weeks ago in an effort to increase is tummy time. It has a mirror on the front, lights up, and makes sounds when it is touched. Parker was too smart to be tricked by this contraption for tummy time, so Mr. Snail has been sitting in a corner by himself for awhile.

Now that Parker can sit up, he thinks Mr. Snail I quite entertaining and he loves trying to stick his antenna (or whatever they are) in his mouth. Love old, but new toys!



I also bought him a bop and wobble penguin last weekend in an effort to keep him entertained on a fussy Saturday afternoon. Verdict is still out on whether or not Mr. Penguin was worth $20...


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Monday, September 27, 2010

Hello Autumn!

I don't drink lattes, but if I did, today would be a Pumpkin Spice Latte kind of day!

I had the windows open all day yesterday and last night, so when we woke up this morning it was nice and chilly! Here's a picture of Parker bundled up on our walk this morning. I don't think the poor baby has been outside when its cooler than 60 degrees (even in Jackson Hole this summer due to their heat wave), so I wasn't sure how to dress him! He's wearing his footy pajamas, a beanie, and a hoodie. He was snuggled up with his blanket and sleep before we even got down the alley!



Gotta love 54 degrees, sun, no humidity, and a light breeze. Hopefully we can start taking afternoon walks when I get home from work since fall is finally here.


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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Crazy Bear is Going to Bed

Too much caffeine today - sorry!  Tweedle Dee and Dummer at WalMart, please accept my apology.  Your cans of formula were not affected by the recall, but it would be nice of you to put up a sign for the other crazies that will no doubt be stalking your formula aisle tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Mama Bear - Part Two


Today, I had my second Mama Bear experience when I saw on the 5pm news that Similac infant formulas had been recalled because of possible contamination with beetle parts and/or larvae that could lead to upset tummies and other gastrointestinal concerns.  We buy it each week at Sam's, and decided this past weekend to stock up so we don't have to get it each week.  We purchased 6 giant-size containers of formula and spent $182 for several weeks' worth of nutrition for Parker.

I immediately went to www.similac.com to check the status of our lot of formula, and sure enough, all six containers were part of the recall.  An infant formula is very different than a recall of lead-tainted jewelry, Roman shades, or even dog food.  It easy to immediately stop using these products or find a sensible alternative product.  I needed an immediate substitute for Parker that was safe, but more importantly, wouldn't make him fussy or wake him up in the middle of the night tonight.

I tried calling Sam's to see if they had non-recalled formula that I could come trade-in the tainted tubs for as a substitute.  They weren't aware there was a recall!  It took three phone calls, but I finally got a hold of Market Street's manager to discover they have pulled all of their Similac from the shelves and they don't have any to sell me.  I did at least give them credit for already addressing the recall - Sam's manager will hear from Mama Bear tomorrow when I return my 6 cartons of beetle powder and request my $182 refund.

When Parker wakes up from his nap, I load him in the car and we head to WalMart to try and find something for Parker to drink for his 6:45pm bottle.  On the way, I consult Benton's mom, Nancy, and my mom about whether I should switch to Enfamil powder formula temporarily or switch to Similac's concentrated liquid formula that was not affected by the recall.  I decide to buy the much more expensive liquid Similac if I can't find non-recalled powder at WalMart.

WalMart doesn't have any signs posted about the recall, so being the crazy mom I am tonight, I head straight to customer service to complain that they have not pulled recalled formula from their shelves.  Tweedle Dee and Dummer at Customer Service scan one can of powder and assure me its not part of the recall.  They swear to me that "Corporate" would automatically put it in "the system" before they would know about it at the store. Crazy mothers do not take the word of WalMart employees who work the 6pm - 4am shift, so I bought two bottles of concentrate and one can of powder to check for recall status.

Not surprisingly, Similac's website has crashed and their phone lines are all busy now that news about the recall has spread.  I'll let you know as soon as I can whether I'll have to go grizzly on the Wal Mart manager tomorrow too.  Parker took the bottle tonight and didn't know there was any difference.  If there is a silver lining to this story, maybe we'll find that the concentrated formula reduces Parker's spit up - would be totally worth tonight's drama!

Mama Bear - Part One

In the last 5 and half months since Parker was born, I have not had many opportunities to be a "Mama Bear" and defend my son like a crazy woman.  Tonight I became one of those crazy woman that loses sight of reason because I was doing what was best for my precious little angel.  In Part One, I share the first time I was a Mama Bear.  In the much longer Part 2, I'll tell you what triggered the grizzly in me tonight...

I was almost at my wit's end after Parker spend 9 days in NICU.  Benton and I went up to his 1pm visitation and joked in the car on the way there that we were tempted to kidnap him and bring him home.  He was our son, after all, and we wondered how much longer they could keep making up excuses to keep him in baby jail.  Benton was so cute when we finally did leave the hospital.  After a heated twenty minute discussion in the middle of NICU about the best way to loosen the straps on the car seat (and finally reading the instruction manual), we were escorted downstairs by a nurse to our car, and we quickly left the parking lot.  I sat in the back with Parker while Benton drove cautiously, but deliberately up MacArthur Blvd.  Benton looked in the rearview mirror and told Parker that we were getting him out of Irving as quickly as we could and that he would never have to go back to that town again!

Worn Out

Parker was asleep when I got home from work today, but he was back up two minutes later. He hasn't been too fussy, but he has gone from sitting up to watching Jack play ball while he leans to the side. Parker also has a new favorite sound this week - Mmmmmm. Over and over with some pretty cute fish lips to go with it!



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Monday, September 20, 2010

Parker has the Brown Genes Too!

Benton's mom sent me some pictures of him at 6 months old - and Parker has the Brown family genes too.  Here is a picture of Parker from two weeks ago at 5 months and Benton at 6 months.  I predict Parker will have similar hair in a couple more weeks!

 

Friday, September 17, 2010

Patio Party

We had concrete poured on Monday to make our patio larger and tonight was Parker's first time to test it out in his jeep. We can't wait for the cooler weather ahead since he LOVES to be outside (but HATES to get hot and sweaty!).



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Puppy Dog Toes

Parker sat up by himself last night for about 5 minutes after bathtime. He looks like he has no torso because he was doing a yoga pose while trying to eat the puppy dog toes of his pj's. Don't worry, when he woke up this morning he had throughly gnawed the puppies to a slobbery mess!




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Nature Walk

Parker may not appreciate it yet, but we saw a really cool orb weaver spider with a moth in it's web this morning.




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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Cheap Entertainment

Parker sat in his bumbo last night while I made my birthday dinner - I made Linda Winfrey's portobello bread pudding and Benton cooked the ribeye steaks. I planned to make myself a strawberry cake, but decided that there were enough snickerdoodles left over from my party to hold me for the week. Parker loved playing with the frozen tub of strawberries - great for teething!



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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Reflections on Turning Thirty

I couldn't be more excited to be turning thirty tomorrow.  I have so many things to be thankful for, and I cannot begin to count all of the blessings I have had in my life since I turned twenty.  I truly think I will look back on this period as some of the best days of my life.

Since turning twenty, I met my husband, have earned three college degrees, found a career I love,  surrounded myself with wonderful and supportive friends, gotten married, traveled to fabulous places, settled into our first home and moved to another home, and had my sweet baby Parker.

Tomorrow on September 13th I will be thirty years old and will have everything I could possibly want or need in life.  We had a wonderful party Saturday night with our friends and family to celebrate the big 3-0 and I was again reminded of how lucky I am.  My twenties were great, but I my thirties will be even better.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Parker is 5 Months Old!

In many ways I feel like month 4 went by slowly, not because it was a bad month, but because Parker has changed so much in four weeks. Each day he shows us more and more of his precious personality. He has just enough of me in him to try and get some attention, and just enough of his daddy in him to make you laugh.

For the last two weeks he has had a standing bath time at 6pm followed by his pajamas, a bottle, and bed. He's out like a light before 7pm and he always sleeps past 7am. No complaints in the sleep department around here!

His latest milestone is the freedom to roll - and roll from tummy to back and back to tummy whenever he pleases. Last night he fell asleep on his tummy after rolling over. At some point during the night he rolled back over, scooted to the other end of the crib, and turned himself perpendicular. He was pretty darn proud of himself when I went in there to hear him jabbering at 7:20 this morning.








This is my favorite picture of the week. I think he's way cuter than the Gerber baby and his grandmothers agree so it must be true!


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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Bedroom is Finally Finished

Here is a picture of our finished master bedroom after paint, a new rug, and tablecloth for my bedside table. Only took six weeks!




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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Almost 5 Months

Parker turns 5 months old on Thursday, but I couldn't wait until then to post these two pics. The first one is me at 5 months and the second one is of Parker from yesterday...pretty similar in my motherly opinion!







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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Too Cool for My Own Good

We still love P in his shades, although they are a little big.  Watch out Fort Worth - come November, he'll be sporting some 9 month clothes, New Balances, and sunglasses for a TCU game.

The Sweetest Thing

All week long Parker has foresaken his 2.5 hour afternoon nap in order to to bed early. It takes all the stalling I can muster to keep him up until 7pm. The last two nights he has been zonked out by 6:45 after a bath, PJ's, and bottle. Tonight I kept him up a few minutes longer by reading him Dr. Seuss' "If I Ran the Circus". I've never been a huge Dr. Seuss fan, but I now have an appreciation for reading a rhyme before bedtime (see it's rubbed off on me). Here is the sweet precious before I put him in his crib:



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