Tommy is Three!

My baby boy is three!  He chose "puppies" as his birthday party theme and had the time of his life!  To this day, 2 months later, he is still talking about his "doggy party."  We made puppy puppets, practiced our doggy skills like fetch & finding bones, and each kid adopted and named their very own puppy!  I love making birthdays special for my boys and I think Tommy felt very special on this day!

Sarah & Shaylee making puppy puppets

Asher creating his puppet

Tommy demonstrating his puppy puppet

Doggie Bag & Adopt-a-puppy party favors

Presents!

Tommy couldn't be happier!

"Happy Birthday Tommy" or "How to make a birthday special while completely ignoring your kid"

Happy Birthday Tommy!  Today your brother gave you strep throat and your mom will ignore you for a large part of the day, well more like the week....but maybe I should back up...

Three years ago was the day of the AMES science fair, which for me was a big deal.  I was in charge of it after all.  It was the culmination of months of student research summed up in pretty boards decorated with graphs and tables and student interviews with grad students and PhDs from the U.  I love science fair day, but a little over 9 months earlier I had quit my job so I wasn't anticipating giving birth on the day of the science fair.  Fortunately, as a condition of my employment, I told the principal that I had to have someone else to run the science fair program with me.  Fortunately, I had Tara to run the fair that day.

I woke up Friday, February 24th 2011 and got ready for the day.  I was scheduled to be induced that day, but I had to wait until I received a phone call to go to the hospital.  I could sleep in, relax, get things ready for the baby, and wait for a phone call or I could go to the school and ensure everything is ready for the science fair.  Of course I chose the second option.  I went into school to help with the set up (as a nine-month pregnant lady, I wasn't much help) and to double check that all the details had been taken care of.  I was able to see my student's final display boards and wish them luck before I got the phone call and rushed off to the hospital anxiously awaiting the arrival of my baby boy!

I didn't have to wait long.  After a couple hours of labor and 3 big pushes, Thomas Alexander Budd arrived.  A beautiful 8 lb. 6 oz. package of joy.

Isn't he just perfect?

I really timed his birth poorly.  I no longer run the AMES science fair program, but I run the district-level science fair for all the charter schools in the Salt Lake region which includes Tooele and Park City and guess what?  It always lands on the same week as Tommy's birthday.  In the past, I just rescheduled Tommy's birthday.  He didn't know the difference between Feb. 24th and March 3rd!  This year we had a small celebration yesterday with his grandma and I will have a bigger birthday party in a week which will give me time to plan it a little better and make it special. You can expect a proper birthday post in a couple of weeks.

Tommy in deep contemplation of another year gone by.

Tommy loves all things tiny and cute so we found him the smallest stuffed puppy in the store.  Yes, we found it down a pink aisle and yes, we removed the very feminine dog tag found on the collar.

Everyone is happy in this picture, even Ella eating the instruction manual.

 And in case you are considering turning me into DSFS, I am not completely ignoring him.  He is just watching a little extra TV which, to him, actually makes his birthday extra special!

Parker is 2!!!

Parker is turning 2 this Saturday, but because of General Conference, we had his friend birthday party this past Saturday. It was a sports themed party, obviously. He had 8 friends over, so it got a little crazy, but we had fun.

This is what Parker has been up to lately:

• He sings his ABC and recognizes at least 8 letters (E, R, B, H, I, S, O, A).
• He can count to ten
• He has been going potty an average of 1 time a day
• He is loving and gives kisses and hugs freely
• He all of a sudden loves taking baths. He wants multiple ones a day.
• He loves, loves, loves to sing. His favorites are the Alphabet Song, Twinkle Twinkle (which he gets confused between the two songs), Once there was a snowman, and Old McDonald.
• He loves watching movies - I wish he didn't. His new favorite is Bolt.
• He loves stuffed animals. He sleeps with like 6 every night.
• He is starting to get pretty picky about what he eats
• He laughs LOUDLY especially at church during sacrament meeting
• I can't understand about 80% of what he is saying

For his party, I made a pinata shaped like a baseball. It took way too many hours, and my amazing husband helped me decorate it without even complaining.

• Parker is excited about his baseball pinata
  
  
  
  Matt, the amazing-pinata-making-dad, helping out at the party
  
  
  
  
  Can't have too many pictures of the pinata, can we?
  
  
  
  The kids playing with the new toys. Gosh, I still need to paint my front door.
  
  
  
  
  Parker was really happy about the cupcakes.
  
  
  
  He chose a basketball
  
  
  I love my (not so) little guy!
  

Happy Birthday Baby

My little baby is growing up. Parker turned one year old on October 3, 2009. Yes, I know it is cliche, but they grow up so fast.

Parker was spoiled with two birthday parties on his big day with a jungle theme. I took my hand at cake decorating and made this alligator cupcake cake. Fearsome, I know.

The first party was in the park with his neighborhood friends. I had this great idea to have the kids go "fishing" for tub toys using magnets, but the toys were too heavy so it didn't work as perfectly as I had imagined. But the kids still had fun playing in the water and on the playground and Parker got some sweet gifts. Thanks friends!


Later that evening we had hamburgers with the family at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Parker was super spoiled by everyone's attention and took this opportunity to show off his new skill of walking. I love watching him waddle everywhere. Such a cutie!



He was a little frightened when the lights were turned off and everyone surrounded him singing in unison while an open flame sat in front of him. Fortunately, he forgot all about it once he started eating his cake.

Kelli reminded me to share his stats. Despite his chubby cheeks, Parker is a little guy. At 12 months he weighed 21 lbs. 13 oz (33%) and is 29 in (20%). But he has a big head compared to the rest of him at 47 cm (66%). He has slimmed up a lot since he was 2 months at the 95 %tile for both height and weight, but he is adorable either way.

Baby Budd is Finally Born

We thought he would never come, but Parker Samuel Budd was finally born on October 2 at 12:07am, 6 days late after 8 hours of Labor, 3 of which were pushing. Ashley went into labor the day before her scheduled induction. Little Parker was 8 LBS 3 OZ, and 20.5 inches long with lots of dark hair.