Shannon's View

When Shannon and I sit outside on nice afternoons this is her view. We were laying on our backs, side by side, and as I looked up to see what she was smiling and giggling about I understood. The leaves were moving in the wind making amazing rustling sounds and the sky was the most beautiful blue. It's always good to look at life from a different perspective.

Shannon is getting stronger and holds a plank pose more gracefully than I do these days. She loves being outside! Today we had the fortune of watching the UNC cross country team do their interval workouts around our neighborhood. Shannon loved watching the runners and couldn't take her eyes off them as they ran by.



On your mark, get set, GO! So intense!

Some funny new videos

Shannon and her dog and our little vocal girl.

Shannon & Her Dog from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Vocal Little Girl from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Nashville Half Marathon

Eric and I need a goal to stay motivated to work out this winter so the Nashville Half Marathon it is. We've done the race a few times and enjoy everything except the hilly course. Oh, and this year we hope the humidity is low and the temperature just right. Obviously we didn't run last April (hmmm, I wonder why) but the year before it was HOT. If I remember correctly the temperature was 80 at the 7:15am start. Yuck.
Shannon is big enough to put in the Chariot and go jogging so I hope to take afternoon runs throughout the fall. Eric is shooting for a personal best of under 2 hours and I'm hoping to run the race in around 2:15. Here's to a winter of working out!

And this blog just wouldn't be anything without pictures from the week. Here's Shannon at Oktoberfest laughing at a balloon.

Bathtime Fun!

The Real Jeneric Adventure

As you can see in the picture above, the weather has been beautiful here in Colorado so Shannon and I have been enjoying being outside whenever we can. We hang out in our yard on a blanket and she seems to soak everything in. She notices butterflies, birds, and squirrels as they travel through our yard and her eyes track any car that drives by. She loves to watch the trees sway in the breeze and I wonder if this is a sign she'll love the outdoors like I do. It sounds crazy to think that something so seemingly insignificant as focusing on trees would indicate her future interests, but I remember baby Erin being fascinated with letters at this age and sure enough, Erin (age 3) can practically read! Shannon is such an intense little girl for being so young. I can't wait to get to know her and see who she will become. I feel like she really wants to tell me things now! It's daunting to think of the responsibility we have to raise this little girl but we can't imagine anything better. Eric and I love her fiercely and this adventure has been the best yet. I don't think we knew what a real Jeneric adventure was until we met Shannon.

Here's our little muncher!

Muncher from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Lunch

Shannon is finally getting more excited about rice cereal!

Lunch from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Earlier in the day she spent time with her buddies, Erin & Grady. It's understandable why she is so hungry and sleepy when I pick her up-her friends are so fun to watch! The next video below is funny because I intended to record Erin saying the parts of her plane (the first one that's hard to catch is indeed "fuselage") but instead we are now cracking up at a pants-less Grady being typical Grady. A few minutes earlier he decided it would be a good idea to sit in a mud puddle.


If you watch the video closely you can actually see the popcorn. He's such a funny kid!

Erin explains her plane from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Fall is Here!

This morning we woke up to a cool drizzle and I definitely felt fall in the air. Eric was super and got up with our little morning girl at her usual 5am and let me sleep in until 7. Of course I bundled Shannon up to head out to the farmers market, our Saturday morning tradition.

We were waiting in line in the picture above to buy yummy Colorado peaches (Eric's favorite).
(Alyssa & Sam-can you see which hat Shannon is wearing?)

Shannon is going to Vanderbilt from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Since it was drizzling, I hurried to drink my coffee, bought a burrito for Eric, and we headed home. Shannon always falls asleep on the drive back and then takes a decent morning nap all "roasty toasty" (as Bradley Barnes would say) in her car seat. Soon enough she'll be running around the farmers market on Saturday morning and I bet by next year we'll be sharing a warm cinnamon roll with each other. I'm looking forward to little weekly rituals and starting traditions that she'll remember forever. Hmmm, I have very distinct memories from age 3 on that consist of hunting and cleaning rabbits, squirrels, and deer, weeding the garden, picking strawberries from our garden before anyone else was out of bed, and the smells of our kitchen during canning season. I hope that Shannon gets to experience those things, minus the hunting and cleaning of rabbits of course.
Yesterday Shannon started to crawl, though I don't think she's really aware of what she's doing. I think we are safe from a mobile baby for at least a few more weeks. I love how athletic and active she is! I always want to encourage her to be this way and am very glad we live so close to an amazing park. I just hope she doesn't start climbing over our fence to escape the backyard!

I give it two weeks from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

This baby is strong...

5 1/2 months old and already doing push ups better than her parents!


Quotes from a website on 5 month old development...They obviously don't know Shany.

"During this month, your baby can most likely prop herself up in a slow but sure manner and hold her head upright throughout the entire movement. She can also closely follow and observe in detail the movement and activities of people around her."

"By month's end, he is adept at rolling and begins to push himself up on his hands and knees."

"Just generally spend more time kicking or lying on their backs and playing with their fingers and toes." HA ha ha ha

"Rolling. While the general timing when it comes to rolling is front-to-back at 4 months and back-to-front at 6, there is a great deal of variation on this timing. In general, a 4-month-old should be able to push up on his forearms and lift his head and chest 90 degrees when lying on his stomach — a position which only requires a slight lean to either side to become a roll. Some are able to roll from back to side at 4 or 5 months, but typically aren't able to complete the task until 6 months or so."

Naked Baby & bumGenius Model

This is a sleepy Shannon!!!!

Sleepy Shannon from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

These are Shannon's friends...soon enough she'll be playing catch too!

Grady & Erin playing catch from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

I must be crazy

Most of you already knew I was crazy but I'm going to confirm it. Yesterday I went for a long bike ride and felt really good. It's been a long time since I would consider myself to be fit (having the standard I set back in 1996 when I was in top college basketball shape) and all I could think about as I maintained a very good pace was how I was going to train for a half-iron man. A 1.2 mile swim...then a 60+ mile bike ride...and finish with a half-marathon (13.1 miles). You see, I found out last week that both an iron man and half iron man would be held this fall near my hometown in Ohio at the BEST amusement park in the universe, Cedar Point. I had no idea! I looked online and saw that it would be held again next fall and the wheels started turning. It makes perfect sense to use the opportunity to visit friends and family, plus it will keep me motivated all winter to train. I think I'll start my official training in a month, with the Nashville half-marathon as a gauge in April to see how fit I am and then make the decision whether or not to register for the half iron man.
For now I'll post some super cute pictures I took today of Shannon while we lounged outside in the grass. She's my motivation!

Fall

I remember posting last fall, talking about how I felt so sick all the time and thought I understood how much our lives were going to change. Luckily this fall I feel better than ever (and will celebrate this with a beer at Oktoberfest!) and I was right about how much our lives would change-but I didn't know the change would be so wonderful. Sure, I go to bed by 9 each night and wake up around 6 (if I'm lucky), our lives revolve around a baby we are trying to get on a nap schedule, and most of my days are spent washing laundry and bottles or making sure Shannon has had enough to eat. But the wonderful part is when I see her amazing smile in the morning and how she wiggles with delight when she sees me. And then there's the cuddling, her little fingers gripping mine, as I rock her into a drowsy state for her naps. Oh, and the beautiful walks we go on around the park on these crisp fall afternoons. I almost forgot to mention her belly laughs and giggles, especially at Eric when he gets home from work. It just doesn't get much better and for the first time in my life I've slowed down to enjoy each day rather than looking ahead to what's next.
I'm also feeling better physically than I have in a long time and have been doing some intense biking. I'm feeling so good I'm even considering registering for the Nashville half-marathon and then possibly doing a few sprint triathlons late next summer.
That's what's been going on around here and here are some pictures and videos from the last few weeks.
Here's Shannon sporting her new BumGenius diapers. I had no idea that cloth diapers had come so far and wish I had switched sooner!

Shannon isn't really interested in solids but we are practicing with rice cereal each day. She likes the funny noises I make as I try to get her to open her mouth.

Each morning Shannon goes over to Erin & Grady's house. She loves watching the chaos they create and when they come over to her house to play. I think they will be great friends!

We had a picnic today and Shannon enjoyed chilling out looking cute. She's such a great baby!

Shannon adores Eric! Here they are listening to Shane this morning.

Erin & Shannon from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Shany from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

A fun video just for Alyssa!

Cousin Alyssa can't seem to get enough video of Shannon so I took this one today just for her :-) Shannon can't wait to visit her cousins Sam & Alyssa in Tennessee!
When do you think she'll crawl?

When will she crawl? from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Video and thoughts on diapers

We love taking video of her laughing. It's just so cute!

Our happy little girl! from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Now for diapers. A few weeks ago I sat down with Eric and asked if he's be willing to switch from disposable diapers to cloth since we were getting the hang of things (meaning Eric could now change a poopy diaper without gagging). I had already crunched numbers to have as ammunition since that's the language Eric speaks. Here's what I presented to him:
Number of months left with Shannon in diapers: 24
Amount of money spent on disposable diapers and wipes each month: $50-60 (on average)
Total amount we'd spend in the future on disposables= $1,200
Cost to switch to cloth diapers=300$

It was a simple decision. Some people will argue that you increase the amount of water you use from extra laundry and you have to buy more laundry detergent. After a week of using the cloth diapers I don't think we'll see much increase. You are instructed to use 1/4 the amount of detergent and I've found that each load uses the "small load" setting because you wash about 8-9 diapers each day. We chose the brand bumGenius and they are really cute.
I'll keep you informed but so far I'm sold that we made the right decision, not only financially, but environmentally. Plus for the first time Shannon doesn't wet her entire front by 4am because the cloth diapers are THAT good!