Carrie is Having a Baby!

Carrie and Chris have finally been blessed with a baby. She is 14 weeks along and doing great. She has started a blog that tells their story. I am so happy for the two of them and can't wait for the weeks and months to speed by!

http://www.chrisandcarrie.blogspot.com/

Sleeping Through the Night!

Charlotte is 14 months old and is just now sleeping through the night! I take full responsibility for her bad sleeping habits, but am so proud of myself for finally correcting them! Here's what happened: From the very beginning, Charlotte loved to cuddle. Even as a baby, I could tell a difference between her and Nathan. Although Nathan was a very loving, and cuddly baby too, he was also somewhat independent as far as a baby goes. I remember when Nathan was 4 months old, he was still waking up at night at least once to nurse. As soon as the thought came into my mind, "I wonder when Nathan will sleep through the night?" It just happened. I never had to train him to do it, and he was always such a wonderful sleeper! In fact, I remember my friends hating me for worrying that he slept too much! They always said, "Just be thankful!" Nathan took scheduled naps...at first it was 3 naps (1.5 hours each), then it was 2 naps each for about 2 hours, and those lasted a LONG time. And then he went to 1 nap a day, and that nap was at least 2 hours, sometimes 3. He's almost 4 and is still doing this!

Charlotte, on the other hand, never had scheduled naps, only cat naps whenever she could get them because we were always on the go with Nathan. And if she fell asleep in the car, a long nap at home was out of the question unless she slept with me. Over time, I started to realize that the only time she really slept well was when she was snuggling with someone. Whenever I would try to put her in her crib for naps, she would always wake up after 30 minutes. If I went in and rocked her, she would fall right back to sleep, but if I laid her down and she realized I wasn't in there, she's back up crying. There were also lots of times that I could get her to fall asleep and stay asleep if I laid her down on the couch, bean bag chair, or even a blanket but stayed in the room with her. I'd see her head pop up after 15 minutes, check to see that I'm there, then lay her head back down again. She would do this constantly for 2 hours...Is Mommy there? Ok, sleep. Is Mommy there? Ok, sleep.  At night, I would nurse her to sleep, gently lay her in her crib, pat her, and then quietly and gently creep out of the room...if I bumped something or my knee popped, she's up looking for me, and I'd have to start the whole process over again. Sometimes I'd lay a stuffed animal on her to try to trick her that I still had my hand on her. I even seriously thought about making a life-sized poster of myself and putting it next to her crib!

If I was able to successfully, sneak out of her room without her knowing, she would usually sleep a few hours, but it never failed that she would end up waking up and crying. Because I was so desperate for sleep, I would go in and feed her to get her to sleep another few hours or just put her in bed with me. I eventually realized that if I let her sleep with me, we would both sleep all night. But I also knew I was encouraging some bad habits! The other thing I worried about was Charlotte waking Nathan up. This has happened a few times and it's miserable because once Nathan wakes up, he wants milk or to rock. And then I'm alternating trying to get each one back to sleep, and it ends up being a 3 hour ordeal.

So two weeks ago, I decided enough was enough! Actually, my friend Jennifer Relle, encouraged me to make a change. Wayne was out of town for the week. Jennifer and her family were over for dinner, and she said I should try the "cry it out" process. I was always so hesitant about it, because first of all, Wayne hates to hear her cry, it makes him feel bad for her, but yet, I'm the one getting up constantly with her. Secondly, I tried it before, and she cried for 45 minutes with no signs of stopping, and I just felt awful. But Jenn told me the first night would be the worst, and that I should just do it since Wayne would be gone for 4 days...and I could have Nathan sleep with me so that Charlotte doesn't wake him up. Ok! I'm going to do it!

Night 1: I fed her, changed her, rocked her for 5 minutes and laid her down awake, but drowsy, with her baby dolls. Then Nathan and I went into my room to watch TV and pray this would work. I knew that if I was going to do this, I had to do it right, and NOT go in, but I was convinced she would cry and cry for hours and not go to sleep. Some people say it's ok to go in every 15 minutes to reassure the baby you're there, but I knew that would upset Charlotte even more. After an hour and 10 minutes, Nathan and I realized it was quiet. WHAT?! Did it work? We waited another 30 minutes, and it was still quiet! She finally went to sleep! Nathan and I went to bed soon after. Around 3:00 am, Charlotte woke up crying. But I didn't go in. She cried 15 minutes and went back to sleep. She ended up sleeping until 7:30 the next morning!

Night 2: I did the same thing: fed, changed her diaper, rocked her for 5 minutes and sung to her, and then laid her down with her dolls and turned her music and sound machine on. Charlotte only cried 15 minutes this time! She woke up in the middle of the night and cried 5 minutes, went back to sleep and slept until 8:00 the next morning!

Night 3: Same routine, only this time she cried 5 minutes, and slept all night without even waking up in the middle of the night. She slept until 8:30 the next morning. I was completely in shock!

Night 4: Only a little whine until I left the room. On this night, I snuck in just to see how she was sleeping. My sweet Charlotte was on her tummy with both baby dolls tucked under her arm. She looked so sweet!

I absolutely cannot believe it! We're on our 2nd week now, and everything is the same. I just cannot believe that I can lay her down still awake and she falls asleep on her own. I swear I didn't think it was possible. She even takes her naps the same way for 2 hours! Now she is sleeping from 8:30 or 9:00 pm until 8:00 or 8:30 the next morning! I AM FREE! I actually feel more tired in the morning because I am getting so much sleep!

My new problem is re-training Nathan to sleep in his room because he spent the last week and a half sleeping with us. But at least I feel like I can reason with him. So, for all of you who had the same problem as me. You can do it! If Charlotte (my little cuddle bug) can learn to sleep on her own, any baby can!

Thank you Jennifer for talking me into it!!!!

Hawaiian Falls Waterpark

Last week was a tough week for us because Daddy was out of town from Sunday night through Thursday night! He was actually supposed to be gone until Friday but worked hard and got home a day early! Plus my parents were out of town for the week, and Grandmother was leaving Thursday morning to visit Stuart and his family. What was Mommy going to do?! I knew Nathan would be missing Daddy so I tried to keep us all busy. I took advantage of the fact that Helen was free Monday and Tuesday. So she came over Monday afternoon so that I could get my grocery shopping and other little errands run. Then I decided it would be fun for Nathan and I to have a day together, just the two of us. It is so rare that we get this because little Charlotte is definitely a Mommy's baby! And when Wayne is home, Nathan wants to spend every minute with him! So on Tuesday morning, we took Charlotte to Helen's house, and then Nathan and I headed to Hawaiian Falls. It's a smaller water park that is just 10 minutes from my house. Nathan was so excited, and I loved being able to focus only on him and letting him have fun.

Sweet picture...

Silly face 1...



Silly face 2!



 The first thing Nathan wanted to do was float on the Lazy River. Only he didn't want to use an inner tube. My little fishy just wanted to swim the whole way around! He loved holding onto the side, letting me float a ways down, and then let go and swim with the current to me. Next, we went to the wave pool just as the waves were starting. Here, he wanted to use an inner tube to bob up and down and ride the waves in. After a while, Nathan got brave and swam into the waves or jumped over them. After the waves stopped we spent some more time just swimming around, and then I suggested we go to the kiddie area where they have a huge play structure with tons of smaller water slides, ropes to climb on, water guns, and sprinklers spraying you..."I just want to do the lazy river one more time, PLEASE???" Ok, so we did the river a 2nd time. Now do you want to go on the slides? "The waves are starting! Let's do those again!" So we did the wave pool again. Then he had to go potty. Then we finally got to the smaller slides. The only problem was that the water doesn't gently spray you while you're climbing up to the slides, it's blasting and pouring all over you. Older kids love it, but Nathan wasn't too excited about getting sprayed so hard. It took me 10 minutes to get him to just try one of the slides. He did it once, and wanted to go back to the river. I was thinking, I just paid $25 to get in...I want him to do something other than the river and wave pool! He told me that if we did the river one more time, then he'd go and try some more slides. Ok, so off to the river we go. Now we're both hungry, so we stopped and ate our lunch, took another potty break, re-applied sunscreen, then went on the slides. I could tell that Nathan really wasn't liking it, but was doing it because I wanted him too (I just figured he'd end up liking it eventually)...as soon as we made it up to the top (Nathan walking with his head down so that water didn't spray him in his face) to try a fun slide...this huge bucket at the top that slowly fills with water over a 15 minute period reached it's limit and turned over. I didn't realize it, but we were right in the splash zone...I kept wondering why all of the kids were just hovering around us! The water poured right on top of us, and that was the end of that! Nathan started crying and said he didn't want to get splashed anymore. All I wanted was for him to have fun, so screw the slides! When I asked him if he wanted to do the river and wave pool again, he was so excited! We spent the next few hours going back and forth between the two and getting ice cream and treats. We both had so much fun! We got there at 10:30, and left at 2:30...Nathan was asleep before we even left the parking lot!

Swimming with Jack

Two weeks ago, we spent the morning at Jack's house. Nathan loves going to his house to play because the backyard is a kid's dream! There's a baby pool and a big pool, a swing set, a sand/water table, slip n slide, water balloons, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things. Plus Jack has tons of toys in his room. I always feel guilty after playing over there because Nathan wants to play with EVERYTHING.  It's like he's afraid we'll have to leave before he gets a chance to see all of Jack's toys, so he plays with one thing for a few minutes and then goes on to the next thing. He's in a mad rush to play with every single toy, and Jack's room ends up looking like a tornado came through!

While we were there, the Casey Anthony verdict came in, so I had to leave Nathan with Nick and Jack outside while I watched CNN...when I heard the verdict was "Not Guilty" I was so mad and was in the worst mood the rest of the day. At least Nathan had fun that morning!

Thanks Auntie Carrie for Charlotte's cute swimsuit!

Happy Birthday Weston!

Last week we went to Weston's 4th birthday party.  Nathan and Weston have been in a play group together since they were babies.  We haven't seen them as often because they have moved to Era.  Nathan had so much fun at Weston's house because it's like a little farm house.  There's a huge backyard with a swing set plus a paved area where the kids could ride bikes as well as motorized toys (which was Nathan's favorite!).  See the tractor below?  He did not want to get off of this.  It had two speeds:  fast and faster and you can guess which one Nathan did! 

After play outside, we went inside for a luch of homemade pizza, fruit, and juice boxes.  Then it was time to eat cake!  Everyone put on a dinosaur nose and watched Weston blow out his candles.  The kids got to play one more time outside on the swing set then it was time to watch the birthday boy open presents.



Nathan had so much fun at the party.  I can't believe Nathan is about to have his 4th birthday too!

Parnell Family Reunion 2011

Last weekend, we went to Hot Springs Ar. for our annual Parnell Family Reunion. I spent all week planning, packing, preparing, and cleaning! It is crazy how much I have to do and pack for the 4 of us to be gone for 3 days! Luckily, I didn't have to worry about snacks. Helen brought over a travel bag filled with all sorts of goodies for the road trip. We left around 10:00 am Thursday morning. It was a 5 hour trip, but we timed it pretty well. Nathan and Charlotte both fell asleep around noon and took 2 hour naps in the car. Nathan was such a good boy. He watched his movies with his ear phones on, and was so sweet...Charlotte, on the other hand, got a bit frustrated towards the end of the trip. She kept pulling at her car seat straps like she was trying to get out, while screaming at the same time. She got so mad that she even reached up and pulled her hair so hard that a clump (I'm not exaggerating) came out in her hand! Her scream/cry can be so shrill and ear piercing that we felt like doing the same thing! After doing this for about 30 minutes, Charlotte finally gave up and took another short nap before getting to our condo. Thank GOODNESS!

For the last five years that we've had the reunion in Hot Springs, we've rented the same "Big House" as our central meeting place. Since it also has 6 bedrooms, some families stay here, and others stay in separate condos. In the past, we've stayed at the big house, but this year decided to get our own condo with Grandmother, which made it so much easier for Nathan and Charlotte to take naps and go to bed when needed. Plus Grandmother completely stocked it full of food and drinks!

Day 1

After getting checked in and unpacked, we headed to the big house for dinner and to visit with everyone. In all, around 50 people (including kids) were there! It took Nathan about 2 minutes to warm up, and then he was off playing with his cousins and being Mr. Charming! By the time we went home, both Nathan and Charlotte were exhausted. They fell asleep right away and looked so sweet together...I love that they both have their arms raised!

Day 2

The next morning, our alarm clocks (Nathan and Charlotte) woke us up bright and early. A big group (including Helen) went to play golf, and we decided to go to the Alligator Farm and petting zoo along with Auntie Carrie. Nathan loved it! The highlight for him was when Wayne and I both took turns holding a small alligator, and Nathan got to pet it. We tried to talk him into holding it, but he was just fine with petting it (with one finger).

The man below is the owner of the Alligator Farm, which has been in his family since 1902. He only feeds the alligators every other day, and had fed them the day before. But because he had some family there visiting, he decided to do a bonus feed. He also told us that a few months earlier, when he was feeding the alligators, one of the alligators actually attacked him! He ended up having to get 37 stitches in his arm. Nathan was so funny watching him feed the alligators. He liked it, but you could tell he was a little nervous about it...

Day 2, Night

After spending the day at the alligator farm and having a picnic, we headed home to rest and get ready for dinner that night. On the second night, we had a wonderful dinner of BBQ. Nathan and his cousins played and played. He loved going down to the lake and throwing rocks in. Jake (one of his cousins) was right by Nathan's side the whole weekend. He is older than Nathan and really took care of him. After dinner, all of the kids watched a movie downstairs while the adults played a game of "Parnell Family Jeopardy." It was so much fun!



Nathan, Jake, Jordan, Lindsay, and Nick

Silly Pose: This was what all of the kids always did...cute picture then silly one!

Nathan and Jake

Lori and Charlotte

Parnell Family Jeopardy

Day 3

Again, we woke up early, left Charlotte with Grandmother, picked up Auntie Carrie, and headed to the Caddo River (40 minutes away) to go canoeing. We were hoping to get one canoe, but had to get two. So Wayne and Nathan were in one with our cooler of food and drinks. And Carrie and I were in the other. Nathan was so excited, but as soon as we got in our canoes and started paddling, he got really upset and kept asking Wayne if we were going over a waterfall. Wayne kept telling him "No" but Nathan got more and more upset. Then we realized that earlier we were talking about hiking up to a waterfall and going swimming. We decided against that idea so that we could go canoeing, but Nathan thought we were going to canoe OVER a waterfall...poor little boy, he was so scared until Wayne promised him we weren't going to see a waterfall at all. Finally, Nathan calmed down and had a blast!

Day 3, Night

Our canoeing trip was a great experience. We stopped often to snack and swim, which Nathan loved. The only bad thing was that I put my cell phone in a zip lock bag which wasn't as waterproof as I thought. my phone works, but the screen is blank which means I can't text, scroll through my address book, etc... OOPS! After getting a little rest and cleaned up, we headed back to the Big House for a fish fry and the family auction.

Carrie looking at items for the silent auction

Every year, we have an auction (silent and live) in which all of the family members bring items to include. We all bid on them, and then any money that is raised goes towards next year's reunion to help keep the cost down. While the adults were participating in the auction, the kids were all playing in the living room. The had talent shows where they took turns singing songs (Nathan's song of choice was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) playing Simon Says, and having dance contests.

*I have no idea why this section is all in white, and I've worked for an hour trying to fix it without having to re-do the whole section. I give up!

The Auction begins! We had so much fun! We actually raised over $2,000! Nathan had such a long day and night and was really tired towards the end. He hung out with all of the other kids upstairs for a while and then took turns sitting on mine and Wayne's laps. Pretty soon, he just couldn't take it anymore...he laid down on the floor and went to sleep :)

We had so much fun seeing everyone and getting caught up, and I loved seeing Nathan and Charlotte with everyone. We are so lucky to be part of such a loving family. Can't wait for next year!