Presenting Parley _____ Childs

We had our baby BOY!
and oh what a joy
7lb 5oz 19.5 inches long
Born April 24, 2013 at 11:56AM

Why the blank in the middle name...because we still have till Friday of this week to decide. :) Naming this little man is the hardest thing we have done. Not knowing for sure what he was till we saw his perfect little body in person made a difference in picking out names. We didn't really have a solid name for a boy or a girl this time. . . .well thats a lie. We really wanted Parley. We have wanted a Parley all along. Kyler won out for the first boy, but we knew our second we really wanted Parley. Then enter our good friends the Leatherwoods ......who had an adorable baby boy 4 weeks before us, they also really wanted a Parley, and got the boy first. Soooo not fair. That changed things. It stressed me cause I REALLY wanted Parley. Everyone kept telling us to use that name if we had a boy anyway, but we live in a small town, having two Parleys intentionally seems cruel. Plus, we are good friends with the Leatherwoods, they live 3 blocks away, and he is our bishop, she is in the Primary Presidency with me. . . .you get the idea.
Lost of debating, lots and lots. We decided we didn't love any other boy name. We threw around Hayden and Cole, both names we really like, but it never felt as right as Parley. So, we named him Parley.
As for the middle name...I wanted Parley Jacob. Its perfect. Parley is Brandons 2 Great and Great grandpas names, and Jacob is my Grandpa and Great Grandmas name. Perfect huh! Well, thats what i thought, but everyone keeps saying he is little PJ and i just dont love that. So, now we are debating if we want to stick with Parley Jacob and train people not to call him PJ, or if we go for Parley Roy (Roy being after my Grandpa Royal and Brandons Grandpa Leroy) or pull in some other name like Parley Quinn. So, the name is not quite decided yet, but as of now he is at least Parley Childs and we love it.

As for his birthing story here it goes:
We always get induced. I still go to my Dr. Terry that works out of the IMC hospital in Murray. You just dont change drs when you have such an amazing one. You just don't. He is a one of a kind, kind of dr. So we sacrifice to go to him. He is like family. He delivered me and Quinn, so he knows my mom and really my whole family. He is amazing. I will just leave it at that.
We chose April 24th for his birthday. It was a Wednesday, which is the perfect day of the week to have a baby. We get home by Friday and then i get Brandon for 2 more days before he goes to work. Its perfect and has worked that way for Brooklyn and now Parley. Kyler was born on a Thursday which wasn't bad either.

So, on the 23rd we packed up the car and headed to Riverton. Hilarie volunteered to take the kids for us on the 24th, bless her. We pulled into Riverton about 8:30. We let the kids play a minute, and then attempted to put them to bed. Oh my what a process that was. They are usually so good to go to bed, but for Kyler the anticipation of the next day was too much for his little brain. He couldn't shut it off. It didn't help being in a new place. He was restless and then the fact that Brooklyn was freaking out didn't help. Finally, just before 10 i think they both fell asleep. Ahhhh. Now we could go out to dinner....we wanted one last nice meal as a couple. We headed to Applebee's. Thank heavens for big citys and their willingness to be open all hours of the night!! We had a great dinner, headed back to Luke and Hils for the night. I would say to sleep, but we got in bed and barley 30 minutes later Brooklyn woke up crying so out of desperation to get a few hours of sleep i let her crawl into bed with us. (If you know anything about me, I NEVER let the kids sleep in our bed. If anything i have set up a bed to the side of my bed, but we really have never let them into bed with us and when we do, its a treat!) She was happy to be next to us....then she fell asleep. And then proceeded the most miserable 3 hours of my life. She flipped and flipped and turned and turned and finally landed with her head on Brandon's pillow and her feet on mine. She kept head butting Brandon and giving my neck a great choppy massage. At 4AM i called into the hospital like they asked to make sure there was a bed, there was. Got a little ready, didn't dare to shower for fear we would wake the head butting choppy massage artist. We left and got to hte hospital just before 5AM.
Then everything seemed so quick. Maybe from the exhaustion we both felt, i dont know, but it seemed so quick! I went into the hospital dilated to a one. And apparently the nurses were all frustrated that Dr Terry hadnt had me admitted the night before for Cervadill to help prepare me for the Pitocin so it wouldn't take all day. Dr Terry told them he had faith in me that i would go quick, if fact he said "Those Gunnison Girls, they go fast, im not worried" (The above mentioned Leatherwoods, they go to Dr Terry too, her labor and delivery was 3 hours long, total) .....They gave me the pitocin at about 6:30AM, Dr Terry broke my water at about 8AM. I wanted to tough it out for a while because i wanted my epidural to wear off before delievery. About 9:30 or 9:45 they came in and did the epidural. The nurse checked me at about 10 and i was a 3. She left and said she would be back in a while. If i by chance started feeling pressure to press the call button, but i could tell she thought that wouldn't be an issue. I was hoping differently. About 45 min later, my epidural was wearing off a little and i needed to push. I pushed the button. It took her forever to come in. I told her i felt like i needed to push. She gave me a weird look, and said Ill check ya, but her tone was so doubtful. Then, her look was priceless. "Oh, your a 9+, Ill go call the dr!" The rest went quickly. Dr Terry came down and 3 pushes later at 11:56AM little Parley entered this world.
When he crowned (remember we didnt know what the baby was) Dr Terry says, "it must be a girl, look at all that hair!!" Then his head came out and the nurse says, "No way its a boy, look at those sideburns!!" and then came the proof...."Marci Its a boy, its plumbing is all on the outside!!" Awww my perfect baby boy.
They layed him on my chest and cleaned him off. He started humming, which we knew was a bad thing from when we had Kyler. It means they aren't breathing well. So they took him to the little cradle thing and did his measurments and checks. His coloring was good, and everything, but he was having a hard time breathing. They got a monitor for him and his oxygen was good and everything else checked out, so they gave him back to me and let me nurse him. Something about skin to skin with mommy...cause he stopped humming and was fine after that.

The rest of the day was wonderful. Lots of visits. The kids adored him. Kyler was my favorite to watch. He had been waiting for this day for soooooo long. He just wanted to hold him the whole time he was in there....but was good to make sure everyone else got their chance to hold his "little bro" too. In fact, he was awfully concerned that his Papa Childs didn't get to hold him before they left.
As for little Parley, his blood sugars were very low when they first tested them. They were around 22 or so i cant remember exacts. They are supposed to be about 45-47. Because I know my milk takes forever to come in, and that i have little to almost no colostrum. I decided that instead of messing with his sugars for 2 days like we had to with Brooklyn i would let him have formula, and a good amount. With Brooklyn we never gave her more than 5ML a feeding, but with Parley we were giving him 12-20 ML a feeding. It helped him. His sugars stayed much more consistent and made me worry so much less. They released us on Thursday at about 3, we went to Uncle Freds for the night because the pediatricians wanted to see him one more time before we headed the 2 hours home. He looked perfect to her, so we made a few stops (we happened upon SubZero an ice cream place that does dairy free icecream....we might have to go out of our way to go there again....it made me very very happy. I am so happy i decided to go throw Parleys messy diaper into their garbage pail so i could see their options!! :)
Now im 100% nursing him. He hadn't pooped yet, besides at the hospital, and i was worried. I called the pediatrician yesterday and they said he had till today to poop, if not i would have to bring him in for a check up. BLAH! So, in the kids prayers last night they both prayed Par Par would Poop. Well their prayers were answered saving us a long trip up North today. Innocent little prayers were answered.
He is so pleasant. He looks like he has a soft smile on his face a lot of the time. We are trying to decide who he looks like. You all can weigh in on it. :)

All in all it was perfect labor and delivery. I feel awesome. People keep telling me i need to milk it and stop trying to do stuff, but alas that's just not my style. Its killing me just hangin out in the house. Killing me not to be out mowing the lawn and pulling all the crazy weeds this new house has. Ill give it a another couple days and i might just have to get out there!! :)

Here is a flood of pictures from the last week:

Oh how i wish it wasnt blurry...Perfect picture

look at that little hairy back and arms!!!! I love it!

Not a care in the world....

I wanted to attempt some newborn pictures...i gave up. I think ill try when no other kids are home...Ky couldnt stay out of the pictures. He wants to be right at his side when Parley is awake. 

This is his hair just after a bath....it stands streight up! 

In the car on our drive home from being born! 

Ready to head out of the hospital

Brand new, goopy hair and all

My Side Kick

 She wont leave my side (or feet in this case) Call it an innate sense that she is about to become demoted as top baby of the house and she knows that means less time for just her....I dont know, im sure its something like that. But Friday, this is where she sat. She sat pulling out preschool craft stuff and stuffing one tiny piece by tiny piece into the handle of that box. She was peaceful and I needed to get some work done on the computer, so i let her make a mess.
Oh sweetest Brooklyn, I love you.

Kyler, Kyler, Kyler

Oh my my son. You are far to smart for your own good. 
You know how you work really hard on getting your kids to talk, you work with them on new words. You read to them in hopes they will have a great vocabulary. You talk to them about everything. You answer all their questions. You help them learn funny social things like knock knock jokes. You teach them how to be serious and pray to their Father in Heaven. You teach them how to count. You teach them everything. 

I think i need to stop. 

Kyler is too smart. 

His language skills amaze me. 

His SOCIAL skills are OUT OF THIS WORLD. 

He can crack me up till i want to roll on the floor laughing, and then 5 minutes later i want to put duct tape on his darling mouth to get a brief moment of silence. 

He never stops talking. 

I cannot imagine what his brain feels like. Honestly. Its got to be exhausting to be him. And, in reality he is so tired at the end of every single day. He is active, but most of it, i think, is from a constant running full power brain. 

He is smart. He knows his colors, numbers, etc. All that academic stuff that we load them up on in the preschool years. But its the stuff i didn't teach him that gets me. That's how i know he is soaking up everything. And i mean everything.

Lately he is having a serious issue with doing the exact opposite of what i ask him not to do. "kyler dont unlock that door" (he unlocks the door). "Kyler, dont take the cushions off the couch tonight, we have company coming" (he not only takes them all off, but builds a 'temple' gosh how do i get mad at that)
The list could continue. But, for tonight and the reason i decided to record this for posterity. . . . 
Brandon had the scouts in the garage doing an activity. I asked him not to open the door and disrupt (Brandon is over the 12-13 year olds and the 11 year olds were with them tonight, hello no attention span and easily distracted!! Brandon deserves a golden pathway to heaven. Just saying) Anyway, I told him 3 times not to bug them. He walks right over, opens the door and waves to them all and innocently says, "Hi daddy!!" 
Gerrrrr!
He comes back in, I send him to his room. He crys. He comes back to the kitchen when he is done crying. This is what comes next:
Me: "Kyler, why do you insist on not listening to what i ask you NOT to do?"

Kyler: "well, mom. (with all seriousness in his tone). . .  

I guess its cause I think I'm funny." 

Me: "I dont find it funny when you disobey me, Kyler"Kyler: (with confusion in his voice) "Oh, ok, sorry"


Oh Ky, Ky. Im in trouble. If you do what you do because you thinks its funny at almost 4 years old....what are you going to be like at 14? Hilarious, thats for sure. I just pray i will have the patients and know-how to keep up with you and not be driven insane by your brilliance thats so far above what it should be. 

I love you buddy. I really really do. Your a special kid with gifts that i can already see. You will go far.


***I have to add at his bedside last night his prayer included something very very much like this: "Heavenly Father Thankful we could eat Woody. Thankful he was yummy, Thankful that my daddy could slit his throat with his knife and pluck all his feathers and mommy could cook him yummy. He was so delicious. Thankful for my house, my Hens, and thier coop. Bless baby in mommys tummy. Amen."

I about died. Died. I was smiling, i couldn't help it. Kyler asked what was funny. Nothing Buddy, sorry I just love your prayers to Heavenly Father thats all. Im sure Heavenly Father appciated his detailed prayer about what happened to Woody. 
Right? I hope so. 

Zoo

Kyler loves animals. Always has. Remember when he was addicted to Go Deigo, Go? Now he is addicted to Curious George, but he still loves animals.
Brooklyn loves animals. Not as much as her brother. But she is defiantly interested. Arent most kids?

Kyler has been beggin relentlessly for months to go to the zoo again. Burr! Is all i would say! But, finally I decided to take them over our spring break. I took Thursday and Friday off work. Thursday was the day we choose and we took off.

Kyler informed me the drive was FOR.EV. ER. But he was so excited to be there. He had his heart set on the Zebras this time....ooops should have look to see what animals are included in the remodel. . . Zebras are part of it. Crap. But I somehow got him back on the Giraffes and all was ok. We saw everything and some things 2 or 3 times. I loved being with the kids. We have always gone with other friends (this is my doing, i like to socialize) But after everyone we invited couldn't make it, it turned out to just be us, and it was actually wonderful. No offence to those of you I did invite, we would have loved to have you along, trust me, but it was great to just be us too.

The turtle followed them as they moved down the enclosure. They both sat here for about 5 minutes. Totally enthralled

HUGE monkey...Brookie loved it. She kept saying "oooo-ooo-aaaa-aaa"

  The highlight for both kids were the Giraffes and the Polar Bear. In fact the polar bear was sleeping when we got there, i had a slight fear he was hibernating or something like that, but in fact he wasn't. We checked back later and he was swimming. Kyler just happened to pick the perfect place to watch right next to the glass and the polar bear pushed off right in front of him. I thought the kid was going to die. Excitement, surprise, slight fear, all of it combined his reaction was priceless! Brooklyn thought it was hilarious too.

the first time....his arms flew up he was so surprised! 

She thought it was so funny

 On the across the massive bridge Kyler caught sight of ducks in the water below. He ran to the side to check it out. Brooklyn....well she has just in the last month or so become VERY afraid of heights. I dont know why. She has never fallen off anything high, and has had no fear until just recently. Anyway, she wanted to look but couldn't bring herself to run to the edge like big brave brother. So, she layed down (yes on the bridge) and scooted up to the edge. I was laughing on the inside. Oh my how cute is she. Once she made it up to the edge she didn't move a muscle. But she did look up at me once with a smile and said ducks! Funny girl.

"mommy i want to see the ducks!!"

  Their most favorite though oddly wasn't the animals. It was the carousel. I don't know why. But both of them giggled and had the perfect legitimate happy faces the whole time. Moments like that make a mommy heart happy. We had to wait in an eternal line to get on, but finally did it and my oh my they loved it.

Both a little tired. Ok really tired. And Brooklyn had no idea what was about to happen.....

 Then the carousel started and it was nothing but this the rest of the time.......

My favorite picture of Brooklyn EVER

she loved the mirrors on the sides

  Another successful Zoo trip. Both kids beyond exhausted when we got in the car. In fact Kyler said he was starving when i was buckling him in, i knew he would be out fast, but gave him a granola bar to eat. I then got Brooklyn strapped. Got in the drivers seat put it in reverse, turned around to look behind me as i backed out and Ky was OUT. Mid bite. I had to wake him enough to make him swallow and back out he went and stayed out till we got to the Spanish Fork Costco where i had to pry him out of his seat. Poor kid.

dead asleep, map and granola bar still in hand....

***minor yet important side note....Brooklyn picked out her outfit. I demanded the jeans and tennis shoes, but she wanted that shirt with THOSE leg warmers on her arms. I used to see little girls who dressed themselves and wondered what moms did to get those darling headstrong, strong willed, opinionated, independent girls(and how not to be one of those moms) :)
Well, i now know that its not up to the mom, and its nothing she did! And now i know why those moms have to not care and let them do it. And i know that even though we got lots of random comments like, "she dressed herself today, huh?", i still love that headstrong, very independent girl more than anything.