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.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Blue-Eyed Baby

Everyone in my family has blue eyes. When my brother and I were little, my dad would sing us the "Blue-Eyed Babies" song. We thought he made it up, but we later figured out that it was an old blues song. I'm sure some of dad's verses were original, but the song went something like this:

I've got some short ones, I've got some tall ones, I've got some blue-eyed babies.
I've got some big ones, I've got some small ones, I've got some blue-eyed babies.

Just add in some more adjectives and you can sing the song over and over! Most people say Parker looks like a mini-me version of Benton, except that he has blue eyes. I keep rooting for them to stay blue, and Benton keeps saying that they're starting to turn brown. Here is evidence that I'm winning the competition (not that I'm competitive or anything):


Jack has adjusted well to his new little brother. When Parker is napping, Jack takes his nap too and he makes sure he won't be disturbed if Parker wakes up early crying.


Jack also likes Parker's chair in his nursery. He wants to make sure he doesn't miss any excitement or the opportunity to grab one of Parker's toys off the floor. We're going to be in trouble once Parker is sitting up and playing with his stuffed animals.


Its hard to catch Parker's smiles and grins on camera. When I talk to him and get him grinning, he stops as soon as I cover my face up with the camera. He makes new noises everyday and is beginning to be much more expressive with his coos.


Parker has lost some hair on top of his head and it's coming in a lighter color. His eyebrows are getting darker and his eyelashes are getting longer and thicker. One of the first things I noticed about him when he was born was that he has Benton's eyelashes.


We were making fun of Parker earlier in the week because he has a pitiful fake cough to make you feel sorry for him. Now it has developed into a hacking cough with junk in his throat. He sounds terrible when he wakes up and it makes him mad to have stuff running down the back of his throat. He's not running a fever, so I guess he just inherited allergies from Benton and sinus congestion from me. Picture below was taken while he was napping this morning. He doesn't look like he feels too bad!


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Two Months with the Munchkin

Could he be any cuter?



Happy two-month birthday Parker!

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Wild about Waco

Benton played in the Ridgewood member/guest golf tournament in Waco last weekend with friend Taylor. The Starrs' were nice enough to host Benton all weekend and they invited me and Parker down Friday night. Parker did great by the pool and slept straight through his first night with a babysitter while we went to the tournament dinner and dance. I'm sure this is he first of many golf tournaments we'll travel to with Parker. Thanks to Taylor, Sarah, and their son Carter for a great time!




Wild about Waco refers to the fact that Parker was so excited when we left Waco Saturday morning, he decided not to sleep again for almost 11 hours. We went home and ate, met Benton's parents, shopped at the Galleria, came home and ate, saw my parents come back from NYC, had a bath, drove to Sasha's party in Fort Worth, ate some more, drove back home while screaming like crazy, and finally went to sleep at 10:30.

In retrospect, I learned that 8 week olds should not be in their infant carriers all day long and that babies can be overstimulated! I learned my lesson and am glad to report that Parker slept until 7am on Sunday and is now back on his regular schedule!

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Happy Birthday Pops

Yesterday was also my dad's birthday. He went to UT and is a die hard Longhorn fan, so I thought it was fitting for Parker to send him a birthday email with his UT gear on. Thanks to Sharon Roach for the cute onesie!

Happy Birthday to Pops! Love, Parker the Magic Munchkin


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Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our 7 year wedding anniversary. We were married at half past seven in the evening on Saturday, June 7, 2003 at First Christian Church in Wichita Falls, Texas with the reception following at the Wichita Club. Everything went perfectly as planned and we left our reception at 11:30pm for a limo ride to the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. The next morning we left for our honeymoon in Kauai.






We began trying to get pregnant on our five year anniversary. We took a trip to Costa Rica to celebrate and we both assumed getting pregnant would happen quickly and easily. I was dissapointed to go back to Costa Rica (yes, I know this sounds crazy) for our 6 year anniversary and still not be pregnant.


It may have taken longer than we planned, but we are so blessed to have sweet Parker as our 7 year anniversary present for each other. We'll miss Costa Rica this year, but we have different priorities now.




One of my best friends, Olivia, watched Parker for a couple of hours last night so we could go to Del Frisco's for our anniversary dinner. It was our first post-baby date night and the two hours to ourselves was great. Thanks for O for being there when we needed her!


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Friday, June 4, 2010

Eight Weeks and Counting

Parker is eight weeks old today and weighs approximately 12 lbs. He is quickly outgrowing 3 and 6 month old outfits - he is quite a chunky thing!

He is sleeping like a champ. His last feeding is around 9pm and he is asleep by 10pm. He then sleeps through the night until around 6am.

He woke up quite grumpy thus morning - not sure why. After fussing through his 9am feeding he fell asleep again. I guess he was still sleepy. Here he is in my lap:


I got quite a bit done this morning while he was sleeping. I had a lot of laundry to do for him since he's been quite the spitter upper these days. There is also the occasional blow out diaper. I highly recommend Oxy Clean's Max Force spray for yellow stains on clothes. Spray it on and work in with a toothbrush, then throw straight in the washer. It even works on old stains you've missed. It's truly magic!



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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Memorial Weekend Recovery

We had a great weekend at Amon Carter Lake in Bowie, Texas at our friends', the Winfrey's, lake house. I hung out in the house with Parker on Saturday and Parker's Mimi watched him on Sunday so I could go out on the boat and enjoy the very hot weather.

Parker is still sleeping from around 9pm until around 6am, and I could not be any happier. I highly recommend reading two books if you want to help a new baby get on a schedule and sleep more. First, read "On Becoming Baby Wise" by Ezzo and Bucknam. The short advice is to feed your baby every 3 hours during the day and let them sleep at night until they wake up. For us, it has worked like a charm. Secondly, read "Happiest Baby on the Block" by Karp. It has some strange ideas about baby evolution, but it gives great step-by-step details about how to hold a baby and stop their crying. I think even if you have an older child that this book can help. It's so much easier to calm Parker down when he has his evening fussy time. Before reading this book he would cry for an hour, now it's more like 2 minutes!

Here is the munchkin fighting a nap this morning:




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