We're Still Here!

It's been a loooong time since we've posted anything. We're still here and doing well! A lot has been going on in the Parks household lately. It's been a busy year so far. We decided sometime at the tail end of last year we were going to try and sell our house and move. After learning that we were pregnant with our third boy, we realized we were going to outgrow our current home. We could make it work, but it would be tight. We prayed about it and feel we're at a good point in our lives to move. I was hospitalized a few weeks ago for a tune-up after I blew an all-time low FEV1 of 46%. I fought colds off and on since the beginning of the year and we tried a couple rounds of cipro but they didn't do the trick. My FEV1 is back up to 58%, my supposed new baseline (I don't buy it) and I'm feeling great lung wise.

I've been battling some extremely painful knee problems. An orthopedic surgeon diagnosed it as patellofemoral chondrosis. Basically the tendons holding my quads to my knee cap are very loose, stretched out and weak. I've been doing physical therapy for 2 weeks now and see a small improvement. My exercise regimen is on hold for the time being until we get my knees sorted out. It's beyond frustrating to have my lungs in good shape but not be able to capitalize on the opportunity to kick some butt exercising to try and gain more ground with my lung function. This too shall pass. Taking it one week at a time and trusting PT will do the trick. My physical therapists are awesome! One seems to be pretty knowledgeable about CF (surprising and awesome) and has told me repeatedly how amazing and inspiring I am to be doing so well and look so good. I think she may have been hitting on me, but you know....  I'm used to it. ;) Totally kidding by the way.

Monica's pregnancy is going GREAT! This little booger is a mover!! He moves constantly! I'm a little worried we're going to have a Tasmanian devil on our hands when he's born. I forgot how amazing it is to see him move and feel it. It's so incredible feeling your child move around in the womb. She's due July 25th. Her OB is going to let her try for a natural delivery, which Monica's very excited about. We have a c-section scheduled for July 28th, if he hasn't come by then. They will not induce her so he either has to come on his own or they're going in after him.

The boys turned 2 in April. We had a party for them at a local park. We've taken them to some pretty cool places.

Right now things are extremely chaotic. There's always some kind of family function going on, or get together or something we want/need to go to. In the midst of trying to pack up the house and get work done to get it ready to sell (there's a lot of work to do). We were really hoping to already have it listed. That obviously didn't happen. At this point we're hoping to have it on the market at the end of the month at the latest! There's just a lot of work, and with working 5 days a week that doesn't leave much time for doing things. A lot of the work I don't have the know-how to do, so I am having to rely on others to help, and it's a very busy time of the year for everyone. So we shall see.

Here's a few pics of what the boys have been up to lately. Starting off with a photo form when I was admitted when they were 6 months old to a few weeks ago. They've grown so much!!

The boys came and visited me on my birthday at work!

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"Driving" the 4-wheeler with Papa.

Had to have "Socks on" with his sandals

First time with their own drinks from a restaurant instead of sippy cups.

Easter Recap 2015

The boys had a great Easter with a lot of awesome family time!

We started off our Easter festivities dying eggs on Thursday with my parents. On Friday we had a special Good Friday service. It was the first time our church had ever done one, and most of us had never been to one. It was a really, really good service! God's spirit was moving and it was a very sobering time to recap what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Sunday our church did it's annual Easter Sunday sunrise service at 6:45am. We got there around 7:15 after waking the poor boys around 6:15. We had our breakfast and then a special Easter Sunday service celebrating the resurrection! It was a great service as well. What little Monica and I got to enjoy. I'll remind you we woke the boys very early, lol.

We ate an Easter lunch at my parents and did an Easter egg hunt, then went to the in-laws for dinner and another Easter egg hunt. The boys had a great time at both places! Jace was way more into hunting the eggs. Jeriah just wanted to stomp on them. Jace did have to look in each egg before placing it in his basket, lol. It was a great, very looong day!

Also, Monica hit the 24 week prego mark! So far so good! We have yet to come up with a cute announcement to announce the sex. I guess I can go ahead and spill the beans for those who don't follow us on the ol Facebook. It's a BOY!!! We're very excited to have another boy! There was a little disappointment that we will never have a darling girl, but God has a perfect plan for everything! His plan for us is to be the parents of all boys, lol!

Here's a photo recap of our weekend!

We had to use bubbles to get them to sit still and smile

Cousins 

Jace wasn't thrilled

Stomping eggs

Working it and showing off the baby bump!

Gross goldfish drool

Jace got some air!!

Boys Sledding Video

We took the boys sledding at my in-laws a few weeks ago when we had a good snow. They had never really been sledding before! We pulled them around in a sled when we went to Colorado when they were around 9 months old, but that was the extent of their sledding experience. They loved it then and I think for the most part they loved it this time. They cried at the bottom almost every time but kept wanting to do it again, lol. Enjoy the video!

Baby Update: 18 Weeks

Monica is 18 weeks pregnant! Actually it will be 19 weeks this Friday. So far so good! We haven't posted as many updates this time around. For that we apologize. We find ourselves a little more busy this time than last. There's two boys named Jace & Jeriah that steal our attention. :)

We find out next Wednesday, the 25th, what we're having! Obviously Monica wants to have a daughter. She doesn't get very far shopping with 3 males! Lol! She wants a daughter to dress up, take shopping, etc. We honestly won't be upset either way. We love our boys!! Boys are so easy and fun. And they looooove their momma!!! Monica wouldn't be disappointed at all if we have another boy. Of course I'd be ecstatic. We both would like to have a daughter though. As much as dating, and everything else with girls stresses me out and worries me, I would like to have a daddy's girl. So we shall see! Whatever God has planned for us is perfect! 

The boys have been great as well. They're cutting two year molars so they've been a little more whiney than usual and have stuffy noses and coughs. They've turned into little mockingbirds.  Especially Jace. He repeats almost everything we say. I've had fun with it, trying to get him to say harder words. It's so cute listening to him try and say it. Last night we were working on Dr. Pepper. He didn't really say the Dr. part and Pepper came out like "peppest" lol. It's absolutely mind-blowing how smart they are. I'm not just saying that because they're my kids either. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed and Monica went to a small private school, nuff said. Haha! JK, She's smart! They know how to work our phones and Kindle amazingly well. I'm not kidding either. They know how to turn them on, hand them to us and say "lock it", which means they want us to unlock it. They scroll through to find games, they'll open up our pictures and look through them. They watch videos on several different apps I have on my phone for making different kinds of videos. They're baby geniuses!! It's a bit scary. They're gonna know more about computers by the time they start kindergarten than I do. I must say I LOVE being a dad! Best thing that's ever happened to me!

More updates to come! Here's a pic of Monica 18 weeks with the boys on the left, and 18 weeks with this baby on the right. You'll also notice they huge difference in picture quality between an iPhone 4 and iPhone 6, lol. Oh and the little photo bomber. P.S. Mommy's still got it going on!! :)

Bonus Pic: 12 Weeks ultrasound of Baby Parks

Around and Around it Goes

Sickness seems to be making it's way around the Parks household lately. I was sick with a sinus cold a little over a month ago that moved into my chest (as it always does). I get this cold twice a year almost like clockwork. Our ridiculous weather here in Missouri is almost always to blame. Every year around fall and then spring, we have a week of warm weather (60's to 70's) followed by a week in the teens. It never fails. Every year. No matter what measures I take to prevent it, I get sick.

This year it happened as usual. The cold wasn't as bad as it usual is. I missed no work and only had to survive on cold meds for a few days. I was on cipro (again, as usual). It hung around in my chest for quite some time, a few weeks. I just rid myself of it about two weeks ago. Well, the boys are teething and when they teeth, they get runny noses and colds. Usually I'm unaffected by it. This time has been no different. Until today.

Jace has had a horrible cough. He sounds like a CFer. Coughing so hard his little face turns bright red and veins are sticking out in his neck. He's got so much mucus draining into his lungs he keeps having coughing fits and gagging like crazy. Monica said he sounds like me when I'm sick, lol. Both boys have had runny noses. Jeriah has been running a fever with his for a couple days now. It breaks our heart to see our boys so pitiful looking. The weekend before last, we had 70 degree weather. It was awesome!! Yesterday the temps hit the single digits (with the wind chill) and it snowed. And now I feel pretty rough. Swollen throat, sinus congestion, headache, and to top it off, stomach cramps, lol.

The boys are getting their 2 year molars. They always get sick with new teeth. We're hoping that's all it is. But they don't usually get this sick. I started taking sinus medicine, allergy medicine and doing sinus rinses to hopefully nip this thing in the bud. Any other suggestions from fellow CFers out there?