Happy Holidays

Hi friends and family.

We had a fantastic Christmas and enjoyed a visit from my parents. We all got spoiled - even Greg and me with a new dining room floor from my folks.

Here's a quick update on Dillon. He's growing by leaps and bounds, but is unfortunately still on oxygen. We'll try to get rid of it again in January. The test was nerve racking. They drop off a monitor and after about a five minute training leave you at home to monitor your kid. The machine monitors the level of oxygen in the blood and heart rate. If they go outside of the parameters a horrible beep sounds. Dillon lasted about three hours before having to go back on the oxygen (Thanks to Aunt Lila, Mike and Claudia for supporting me through this process).

We're getting used to having the tanks here and I've gotten really fast at going from the stationary tank to the portable.

Here are some pictures from Christmas. Enjoy!

Introducing Parker's Little Brother

It's been a crazy two weeks, I'm supposed to be on maternity leave with two more weeks to go until the arrival of Parker's little brother. Having kids proves that you can never plan anything. Dillon Anthony arrived five weeks early - on November 15. I was going on the planned C-Section scheduled for December 10.

We rushed to the hospital at 3 a.m. with Paker in tow dressed in his dinosaur PJs prepared for a false alarm. Grandma Claudia met us at the hospital and when it looked like the big event was happening that morning, they both decided to stay for the festivities. Dillon was born at 5:10 with a badly bruised face from his position in the birth canal. He was purple and two weeks later still has a couple of shiners.

I went home on Monday and Dillon joined us at home the day before Thanksgiving. Parker's warming up to the idea of being a big brother and has started saying "baby."

Slowly, but surely

Finally, here are some new photos from Parker's first birthday (August 18).

Big Brother

It's been a long time, but we've been busy around here. Parker's almost 11 months old and cuter than ever. I'm sure he's really excited about becoming a big brother. Actually, he's oblivious, but he's getting a baby brother in December regardless.

I haven't posted in a while because I wanted to make the baby announcement. Then we heard that the baby was at risk for Trisomy 13 and 18 (http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/genetics/trisomy.html). Scary stuff, but after a pretty invasive procedure - a CVS (http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/prenatalhealth/328.html), we found out that all is well and it's a boy.

I'm 17 weeks along now and feel as big as a house. I've gained 7 pounds - I hope it comes off as easy as it did with Parker. My belly is popping out faster, but they say that happens.

I'll try to be more diligent with the postings. In the meantime, enjoy some pics of our recent camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Back from LA

A long five days in LA. Thanks to Mom, Aunt Char and Tony for watching our boy.

It was so great to see family and friends, but what an exhasting trip. Parker and I were both sick and work was, well work.

It was very nice to see Aunt Colleen, Katie and Emma visiting from Salt Lake. The Volchok's were great hosts - I can't believe how much Jack talks! And the Cardenas' Cinco de Mayo party was fun.

There's no place like home

Here are some pics of Parker's room in our new home. He sleeps like, well, a baby in there.

Easter

My Dad was here this weekend to help work on the house and my co-bro (that's cousin and brother - nothing weird like my mom married my uncle - we're just that close) Tony came by on his way back to California. It was great having everyone in our new house.

Our first dinner party as a success aside from Greg having to work. Dad, Claudia, Kathleen, Jen and Mike joined us for dinner Saturday night. I need better lighting in the dining room, but it was fun entertaining in our new home.

Dad did so much to fix things up and Mike gave us some other great suggestions - looks like Dad (and Mike) will be busy on Memorial Day for the next visit.

I'm posting some photos of Parker's Easter bucket and the coloring of the eggs.

Enjoy!



Aunt Kathleen & Aunt Jen ..................Uncle Tony