Photos!

Here are lots of photos from our hospital stay.  We went in on Monday morning for an ultrasound and the technician said April's amniotic fluid levels were really low, so they wanted to get us admitted and induced right away.  After a few days of different treatments, we finally went into the labour and delivery room at around 7 pm last night.  Unfortunately things kind of stalled for a bit and we didn't end up having the baby until 3:20 in the morning.  But April did great, the baby did great, and everyone is doing well!  Lauren Grace Elliott weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and was about 19.5 inches long.

Here's April looking so peaceful and happy!  Pain?  What pain?

Oh yeah, the pain of pushing a baby out of your crotch.  Here's April getting to meet Lauren for the first time after her birth!

Kisses for baby Lauren!

So far Lauren has been really laid back and calm!  Here she is checking out mommy.

Here I am looking like I just pushed a baby out of my crotch, but in actuality I'm just a bit sleepy.  I think this was after we had about an hour of sleep.

Hooray for babies!

Lauren being super cute.  It's hard not to compare her to Parker, because that's all we know!  So far I think she looks a lot like he did as a newborn -- they have the same-shaped eyes, and the same mouth and chin, and the same ears, and the same toes.  Lauren has WAY more hair, though -- it's crazy long and dark brown.

Parker came for a visit today at the hospital to meet baby sister for the first time.  He patted her on the head and said she was tiny but cute and nice.

Striking a pose with crossed arms for some reason!

Zzzzzzz......

Parker's baby toes also kind of go underneath his second-last toes (mine do, too).

First bath ever!  That's Maria the nurse's arm doing the bathing.

Being clean isn't so bad after all.

Babies are so tiny!

Crazy hair and magic Nana blanket.

Hopefully they'll let us out of the hospital tomorrow because it feels like we've been here forever, and there's only so much Jello a person can eat.  

Hooray!

She's finally here!  Lauren Grace Elliott was born at 3:20 am on August 18th, and weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces!  Pictures and other stuff to come.  It's really late and I haven't slept in 22 hours, and I might not sleep for a few more.  But she's cute!  :D

Zoom Zoom!

Now that we're about to have a second baby, we thought the Corolla might be a bit small for two kids and lots of kid stuff.  So we looked at a few SUV-type cars, and a van, and finally decided to go with the Mazda5, which is kind of a car-van hybrid (thanks to the suggestion of my dad)!  It's really roomy, and the sliding doors in the back seat are awesome!  Each kid has their own bucket seat in the back, too, which is nice.  Parker seems to really love it, as evidenced by him constantly saying, "I love this blue car!"  Here it is.

Here's Parker showing how he can open the sliding doors all by himself.

"Parker, look super happy to be in your new car!"

Still super happy to be in the new car!

Overdue!

Baby Lauren is officially overdue!  She was supposed to be here a few days ago (the 10th) but now it's the 13th and still no sign of a cute little baby girl.  We have an appointment on Monday at the hospital to be induced again if nothing else happens!

Reading Machine

Last night Parker read a sign by himself, which was pretty cool!  The sign said, "Stop for school bus".  The only word he didn't get was school, but once we told him what it was he said, "S-C-H-O-O-L.... school!" so I think he committed it to his computer processor memory banks.  He thought it was hilarious when he read the sign, because April and I were shocked and kept going, "Whaaaa...?"  He's doing really well with words and letters and sounds, and he seems genuinely interested in them, which is always a good sign!  He has totally mastered the "What Letter Does _______ Start With?" game, and even knows the CH sound now.  And he can pick out words from huge groups of words on a page based on what letter they start with and the sounds they make.  Or he'll scan large chunks of text quickly and pick out little words he knows (pop, for, stop, go, the, box, book, etc).  He'll be reading Finnegans Wake in no time!  Or maybe not.

Downtown Splash Pad

Scott, Gemma & Milo invited us to the splash pad downtown the other day so we went to check it out!  I think April took Parker there once a while ago, but I hadn't seen it yet so it was cool to check out.  They have an awesome playground with cool bridges and climbing things.  And the splashing part is cool too, although Parker didn't want to go near it.  Maybe next time!  Here we are eating a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches!  Mmmm.... 

And since Parker was too busy playing on the play structure things, I was only able to get him to hold still for a few quick photos.  

Death By Kite

We went to Rotary Park the other day and met up with Scott, Gemma, and Milo for some fun on the swings and to try out our Brobee Kites!  Here are some photos.

Just hanging out, being a little boy.

Walking around with Milo.

Over two years ago, I made a post about Parker doing this weird thing where he "powered up" like an anime character or something.  He went to the vault and broke out a quick power up at the park for Scott!

Looking pretty relaxed on the swings!

Scott and Milo having fun on the swings!

April flying the almighty Brobee kite!  Parker and Milo were impressed for about 2 minutes.

Parker trying to fly it by holding the green handle thing.

Gemma and April almost killing themselves with Brobee kites.

Long eyelashes!

These gigantic weird swings are the comfiest swings ever.

Scott giving Parker some Scott's Bread!  Mmmmmm!

Parker is pleased with this acquisition.

I don't remember if I told this story on the blog before, but one time at Scott and Gemma's house, Scott asked Parker if he wanted some dessert, and Parker said yeah.  So Parker had the choice between cake and ice cream, or Scott's Bread.  Guess which he chose?  Scott's Bread.  Awwww yeah.  Best bread ever.

The Roots on Yo Gabba Gabba

Another one of Parker's favourite Yo Gabba Gabba songs (although I think they're all his favourite).  He loves the tuba solo!

Bee!

Parker was stung by a bee for the first time ever the other day! He was playing in our back yard with April and said, "Oh! A bug bit me!" and then he went over to show her his foot. It was a bit red and swollen on his heel, but he seemed otherwise unfazed. I was stung in the ear the day before while cutting the grass and it's not pleasant. At least we know he's not allergic! Hooray!

We Are Superheroes

From the super awesome superheroes episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!  Parker loves this song!

Mr. Fancy Pants

"Parker, come stand right here for a quick photo."

"Okay, now look super happy."

"Thanks!"

Drum Solo

This video is a bit older, but here's Parker working on his Neil Peart-style drum solos while playing Rock Band.

Biting Nails Is Funny?

Ballooooooon!

Parker got a balloon from McGinnis' Landing last night.  Lucky!

Making a goofy face.

Check out my balloon, Mommy!

Whooooooa!

Running at me like a crazy person.

He thought it was hilarious that the balloon was tied to his wrist and he could make it flap around by swinging his arms wildly.

Balloons, balloons, balloons make us happy!  (so does Yo Gabba Gabba)

New Haircut!

Since it's been about 10,000 degrees outside, we thought it might be nice for Parker to have shorter, less-sweaty hair.  Here he is making some phone calls with longer hair (and a fisheye lens):

And here he is today, after a haircut!  He looks so different now!

Her Room Is Ready!

We finally finished setting up Lauren's room!  For a while it was just a bunch of random bits and pieces of furniture and blankets, but now it looks all organized and stuff.  Here are two photos of the final product:

The picture frames are empty for now, but I bet they'll be filled pretty quickly.

Viva La Vida

Tonight while we were eating dinner, Viva La Vida by Coldplay came on the radio and Parker recognized it right away.  After a few notes into the song he had a huge smile on his face and looked super happy even though he hasn't heard it in a long time!  Waaaaay back on November 20th, 2008, I posted that he was a fan of the song and I guess he still is!  Listening and dancing to music iiiiiiiis awesooooooooome!

Binoculars All Up In Yo' Face!

Wordsmith!

Parker is getting really good with his letters, sounds, and words!  He's able to figure out what letter words start with by sounding it out (even words that he's never heard before), as long as it's not a a tricky one starting with ch, sh, or silent letters.  The other day while we were eating lunch I said, "Hey Parker, I have a question for you..." (because that always seems to get his attention).  "What does TERMINATOR start with?" and he thought about it for a second and said, "Tuh.....tuh....  T!!!!!"  He also read his first word the other night by sounding it out:  kitty!  We've never really practiced with it before, so it's pretty much a new word to him.  April asked him to sound it out and he did!  Suuuupah genius!

He has also mastered syllables!  If you ask him how many syllables are in a word, he'll clap it out for you.  Good times!