Happy Halloween!

Henry the mouse


Henry with cousins Brynn, Cara, and Nolan

Henry the pumpkin

Brynn and Cara the cheer leaders

Nolan the spider

On Henry's first Halloween, we stopped by Aunt Jennie and Uncle Darren's for a quick photo shoot before heading back to our house to hand out candy and meet our new neighbors!

Miles of Smiles :)

A New Level of Cuteness!

Is my boy cute or what?!?!?

Henry enjoyed a bath this morning and then worked up a sweat during his first "tummy time" session.

My brother and his wife took pictures of Nolan each week next to his stuffed baseball to show his amazing growth. Tom and I are doing the same with Henry next to his bunny. This was the picture we took last night on his one week birthday.

Henry Turns One Week Old Today!

Henry had a very busy one week birthday! He went swinging in his new swing that his daddy put together for him last night. His mom took him to his first "Baby Talk" class today. At the weekly weigh-in, Henry came in at 7 pounds 8 ounces (up three ounces from his birth weight!!). The nurse said his mom must have Dairy Queen Milk (I have been known to enjoy a treat from the DQ every now and then!!). He also went furniture shopping and out on his first walk! Phew, turning one week was busy!

Splish Splash! Henry's First Bath (Sponge, that is!)

Henry's First Few Days of Life

Henry (and his mom and dad) LOVED our experience at the Northfield Hospital. We had lots of visitors to meet our little guy and we were given such great care and attention. We loved it so much, in fact, that I didn't want to leave! But, alas, our little guy was ready to leave his cozy world at the hospital on Wednesday evening. He took his first car ride from the hospital to our apartment in Rosemount. Much to our delight, he slept the entire way (yeah!). Henry does have his days and nights mixed up so we were up most of our first night "home".

"Home" has been a relative term for us this past year. We have lived with my sister and her family, at the "white house" in Northfield, and at several family and friends' homes throughout the summer until we finally "settled" into our apartment in mid-August. BUT . . . we have excellent news! Henry's first outing was to Edina Realty on Thursday and we signed our purchase agreement and are now proud home owners!!!!!! :) (Of course, there was a HUGE snafu, but luckily we were still able to complete the close). Henry was quite the trooper as he slept in Grandma Mary's arms for the three hour close.

We took Henry to his house right after the closing. He loves his new room and can't wait to get settled in it!

After all the excitement of the day, we noticed that Henry was looking more and more yellow throughout the day. We ended up taking him back to the hospital on Thursday night to have his bilirubin levels checked again (he was in the "slight" risk category when we left the hospital on Wednesday). His levels did rise but not to the point where he needed to be under the lights. The doctor told us to nurse him every 3 hours throughout the night to, hopefully, flush out his system. So we did and I'm happy to say that after our doctor appointment today, he gained 5 ounces from last night! :) He is now weighing in at 6 pounds 13 ounces!

Introducing Henry Dennis Parks!

Oh, happy day! Our little boy was born on October 19, 2009 at 4:24 pm. He measures in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and is 21 inches long. We have spent the last 28 hours gazing at our tiny miracle. He is absolutely perfect in our eyes!

My Cousin Amber's Wedding :)

Here are my four favorite people! :) I LOVE being an auntie!

Nolan Otto (14 months), Aubrey Mae (almost 2 months), Cara Noelle (4 months), & Brynn Tressa (2 1/2)

38 Weeks on my 32nd Birthday!

Here I am sporting my VERY big belly on my birthday! You've got to love the empty appartment view in the background too! We'll move someday soon . . . I hope!

House Saga Continues . . .

Well, after a year and a half of searching for our perfect home, we finally found it! We were all set, and VERY EXCITED, to close yesterday. As we were doing our final walk through with our realtor, we got a phone call from our mortgage lady. To make a long story short, our paperwork wasn't complete because of an oversight on her part. So, we were unable to close. And it looks like we won't be able to until next Tuesday or Wednesday. GRRRRR!!!!! We are both VERY disappointed. Oh well, what's another few days when we've been waiting over a year???

On a lighter note . . . I had my weekly doctor appointment on Wednesday. I am now dilated to one centimeter! So things are starting to happen! If the stress from the non-move doesn't put me into labor, I don't know what will! I'm washing up all the tiny baby stuff today . . . just in case!

My Childhood Dream Comes True!!

On Wednesday evening, my mom, sister and I went to the Ordway Theater to see Little House on the Prairie the Musical!!! And guess who played "Ma"?!?! Melissa Gilbert!!! As we were eating dinner beforehand, I said to mom and Jennie, "We are sitting in the same two block radius as Melissa Gilbert! Can you believe it?" My sister, I'm sure, rolled her eyes at me and my mom just giggled! For those of you who don't know this little nugget about Jennie and me, we played Little House on the Prairie many-a-days growing up. I spent much of my childhood with a blindfold on because I always "got" to be blind Mary (little did Jennie and I know that Laura was actually the star of the show and that is who we should have WANTED to be).

We had a great (and very wholesome!) girls night out! The only thing missing was a camera to document this momentous occasion in my life!

What is top priority for a nine month pregnant lady???

A brewery tour! Tom and I and our friends Sarah and Mike enjoyed a beautiful fall drive to Chippewa Falls, WI to go on the Leinenkugel's brewery tour! We had a great time sipping beer (I had a delicious glass of tap water) and "leaf peeping" to and from the brewery. So baby Parks has officially been on his/her first beer tasting extravaganza!

The weekly doctor appointment went great again this week! Nothing new to report so that makes me happy (and a lot more calm knowing I'm getting closer to my due date without any "action" on the birthing front)!

We are officially closing on our house at 3:30 on Thursday! If all goes well, we will be moving in over the weekend. YIPPEE!! Tom keeps telling me he bought me a house for my birthday. I said as long as there is a bow on it, I'll take it!

So much love for the wee one!

My very good friends, Emily and Ann, threw me a "book" baby shower on Saturday! It was so much fun! They thought of everything . . . pre-addressed thank you notes, flowers, delicious food and wine, and CUPCAKES! I had a great time hanging with some of my favorite people! And, I ate something sweet for the first time in months!! Instead of my afternoon snack, I thoroughly enjoyed a delicious cupcake and my blood sugar level was just fine later on, thank you very much! This just tells me I should eat more sweets more often!

This weekend I wrote 58 thank you notes! Can you believe all the love for baby Parks?!?! I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such great friends and family!

We received a very special gift from Aunt Ann, cousin Rita and Grandma Parks today. They dropped off the most amazing book they made based on the children's book called I Already Know I Love You by Billy Crystal. The book they made is filled with pictures of Grandpa Parks with Tom when he was little. It just might be the baby's favorite book! :)

Dr. appt, shower, kid talk, oh my!

Well, at my weekly appointment I am continuing to measure "right on." The baby's heartbeat is strong but wavered a bit, which immediately made me worried. However, the doctor said it was a sign of a happy baby! :) So far, I'm not dialated at all which is just fine by me! Exactly four weeks from today is our due date and I'm perfectly fine waiting until that date comes! We have too much to do in the meantime to have this baby come early!!!

I'm adding a sweet picture from the shower my school threw for me this week. It was so fun (and overwhelming) receiving gifts for our little sprout! My second grade team did a wonderful job putting it all together. THANK YOU! I can't believe we'll be having a baby to put in all the tiny outfits! So fun!

My favorite kid quote of the week: A darling second grader from another classroom who is autistic came up to me with a very serious face and asked, "What's in your belly?" and I replied, "What do you think is in my belly?" She was dead serious when she said, "A ball." She really thought I had a ball under my shirt!!! It was so funny! So when I told her it was a baby, she was completely puzzled. I saw her eyeing me up in the cafeteria and I could tell her wheels were turning. She came to the conclusion that she wanted a baby in her tummy and asked how you get one?! I sure do love my job! :)