I'm in Business!

You heard correctly, I've started a new business.  The Ikat Elephant Boutique held it's first sale this week, and I'm so excited for what's to come.

This is what I like to call my "fun" business.  I decided to go this route after getting notice in February that one of the contracts I've had for the past 3 years would be no more.  I've often purchased from Facebook auctions and decided I'd like to curate my own collection of goods and put them out there.  Here are the top 3 reasons I like to shop this way:

1.  It's incredibly easy, items show up in your newsfeed and you can decide it you want to buy.  Comment with sold and PayPal invoice is sent to you, then item gets shipped to you.  So easy, and fits perfectly into my busy life.
2.  A chance to get my hands on unique "boutique" items that the national chains don't carry.
3.  All these unique "boutique" items offered at a fair price, almost always lower than retail!

Right now, sales will be on Wednesday nights at 8 pm CST and I will be featuring an array of apparel, accessories and gift items.  Many items will also be monogrammable.

The business is set up and I'm getting some great things in, but now I have to build up my fans.  So, would you join me, please?  Just head over to my Facebook page here and like the page (and share it with all of your friends).  Then stay tuned for lots of great goods!

Oh, and I'd love to hear of things you'd like to see The Ikat Elephant feature, just leave a comment or tell me on the page :)

It's True What They Say...

...the second child gets the short when it comes to documenting all the little things that occur in those first several months.  Well, I agree I've been a bit remiss on keeping up with the blog and informing all of you of what milestone Miss Quinn is mastering right now, but there has been no lack of our attention for her.  In fact, she probably gets more than her big sister did.  This little lady is a snuggler and LOVES to be held!  Perhaps all this holding is the reason for the constant ache in my neck and shoulder?  And perhaps my hands haven't been free enough to blog?

The past 4 months have definitely been busy, but each day I look at this sweet little baby and wonder what in the world we did without her.  Of course, I wondered the same thing after Reese was born and thought to myself "what did I do with my time before her?".  Again, I ask myself "what did I do with my time before 2 little ones?".  I have the privilege of working from home and the privilege of having Miss Quinn right here with me.  I didn't take any certain amount of "leave" this time around, but have managed to keep business running fairly smoothly with my her right by my side.  In fact, I've also started a side business, but more on that in another post :)

She truly has been such a joy and her smile is absolutely contagious!  If she's having a fussy moment, I love taking her to look in the mirror and her mood immediately changes to one of absolute delight, and mine does too!  She's yet to officially roll over, but I watched her on the monitor today throw her legs to the side and wiggle around in her crib until she had done a complete 180 with her head ending where her feet began when I put her down.  I'm sure more mobility is only a matter of time.

Reese has become quite smitten with her as well.  It's so invigorating to hear her say I love you to her baby sister and talk in that baby voice, pinching her sweet meat as I do.  Can we say  mini-me?

So since we're playing catch up, here is how she's grown:

1 month: 9 lbs 15 oz (73%), 22.25 inches (90%)
2 months: 10 lbs 13 oz (40%), 22.5 inches (50%)
4 months: 12 lbs 12 oz (20%), 24.75 inches (60%)

So far, much smaller than her big sister, in fact I think the height at our 4 month check this morning was a bit inflated.  So perhaps she's going to look like her daddy and be short like me?

A Day Destined for Quinn

Yes, May 7 was the day destined for our baby girl's arrival.  We were planning induction for that day since I had good progress and I was ready for our newest little lady to make her appearance for many reasons.  It's always nice to have things somewhat planned, too when there is a big sister to consider care for.

Honey and PP made their way to Austin on Monday afternoon to be here with Reese while we headed to the hospital at 5:30 the next morning.  Not sure why, but I decided I should eat the same meal as I did the night before Reese was born, so we all dined on Pei Wei takeout on the deck.  Bedtime routine with Reese was done before 9, and I was in bed by 9:30 since I knew it would be a long day on Tuesday.  Little did I know it was going to be much longer than I had anticipated.

I think I finally dozed off around 10:30 that night and was up at 12:30 am for a bathroom break and some contractions.  I'd experienced a lot of Braxton Hicks throughout the majority of my pregnancy and these seemed about the same, but quickly things began to progress.  I played a few mind games with myself wondering if I should call the doc, go in early, etc since I was already scheduled for that day.  I realized that I was not going to be going back to sleep so I decided to take a long hot shower and get ready for the day, because what I DID know is that I was going to have a baby that day and I might as well TRY to look and feel fresh.

By the time we left for the hospital around 3:30 am, I was having contractions every 5 minutes or so and it was PAINFUL.  We were already about 5 minutes from the house when I realized I'd forgotten my purse, so we had to go back because I figured I would need my DL for paperwork etc.  The ride was pretty miserable.

After going to a few wrong doors because of the hour, we finally made in to L&D and into a room.  I was already a 6! By the time I got my epidural I was an 8 and so incredibly relieved that now I could rest a bit.

After a mere 5 minutes of pushes, our newest little lady, Quinn Mae had arrived at 8:41 am, weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long  My first thoughts were how much she looked like JP and how much she looked like Reese when she was born.

We are smitten with the newest member of Team Parker!

Hello Again!

I'm so disappointed in myself for taking such a long sabbatical, but things have been a whirlwind around here since Christmas.  Remember, that's back when we were in between houses living in an apartment. And the ONLY nice thing about apartment living is you tend to have more free time because you aren't keeping up with a house :)

So, here we are in late April, all moved in and  thoroughly enjoying the new casa.  We've done a lot, but there are still many details undone.  We'll get there though, slowly making it ours and gathering those details that truly make it OUR home.

Along with the move came a new school for Reese.  We loved her previous location, it just wasn't going to be very convenient anymore, so we decided to simply transfer to another of the same school location.  Reese adapted well and moved into the 3-4 year old class.  She continues to LOVE her school days and we are thrilled to be living near such great public schools--Kindergarten will be here before we know it :)

Today marks 38 weeks in my pregnancy and boy am I ready for this little one to come out.  We had planned on not finding out the baby's gender beforehand, but JP and I both saw the same thing on an early sonogram to which we decided to confirm several weeks later.  Reese was thrilled when we let her know that she was going to have a baby sister and has really embraced it throughout the pregnancy.  Here's to hoping she continues to "embrace" all that comes with bringing a new sibling into the family.  I have a feeling she's not going to make it as easy as I'd like her to :)  Feel free to leave any advice on making the transition an easy one on the older siblings without completely making them rotten.

Baby Girl Parker #2, dubbed Cleopatra by my parents since her name has not been disclosed yet, could be making her appearance any day now.  She's measuring a bit bigger than Miss Reese and has been quite the mover and shaker in my ever growing belly.  Overall though, it's been another enjoyable pregnancy that I can't complain about.

Now we just sit and wait, which by the way has been kinda nice.  Our calendar is usually filled with work travel, weekend travel, events, projects, etc, etc. and I guess you can call it the calm before the storm, but we've enjoyed some fairly low key weeks and weekends lately.

Here is a quick catch up in pics:

At the neighborhood Easter egg hunt

Loving her new sunglasses

Before church yesterday--the sun's all over the place, but we're all smiling :)

Day 24: Elves Eat Sushi Too!

Day 22: Playing With the Blinds

Who says you can't do a little repelling in an apartment--even if it is on the mini blinds?

Day 21: The Reason for the Season

Rest assured that even though I haven't posted about Chippey in over a week, he's still around and doing his thing.  Truth is Reese was in Brenham all last week, and of course Chippey had to follow to ensure Reese was on her best behavior.

She really loved the scene when she woke up this morning shouting "Chippey's with Baby Jesus!".  Because of course Chippey knows the real reason for the season!

Day 12: Marshmallows Roasting on an Open Fire

Reese was really impressed this morning with Chippey "making marshmellows", especially since she recently roasted marshmallows at the Domain and has it fresh on her mind.

Day 11: Chippey is Definitely a Parker

If any of you are familiar with the Parker's, you know they are all very creative and "artsy", namely Grandpa. I guess you can say Chippey fits right in.  Reese thought it was hilarious that Chippey had drawn a self portrait of himself on my iPad.  She can hardly wait to utilize this app too.

Operation Christmas Child

Chippey didn't do anything too exciting today--he's just hanging out in the tree, so I'm going to post about something else.

We participated in Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child this year with our church.  The goal was to send 500 boxes from Bethany and I'm pretty sure we surpassed the goal.

I figured it's never too early to get our little ones thinking that not everyone has it as good as they do and it's important to not be selfish and give to others.  I was definitely interested to see how Reese would react to going on a shopping trip to pick all of this fun stuff out and then realize it's not for her.  Well, she embraced it and had a blast selecting fun and useful things for someone else.  In fact, she wanted to get a lot more for someone else, but we were dealing with a shoe box to fit everything in, so we had to call it quits after a while.

Do you see a theme here?  She likes Hello Kitty.

 She was so proud to take her box and deliver it at church all by herself.  We will be tracking our package to determine exactly where and who it lands with and I'm sure this will become a tradition.