a little of this...a little of that

Saturday, July 4, 2009

4th of July

What a difference a year makes.....

July 4, 2008

July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July!!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

I alluded in a previous post that there was a reason for not writing on this blog very frequently. That reason would be pictured above. :)

Baby #2 is due at the end of September. If you know where to look you can see that the bottom left picture shows it is a boy! We are really excited!

The second pregnancy has been as smooth as the last. And hopefully it stays that way. I was extremely tired during the first trimester and definitely not as nauseous this time around--which was very much appreciated. I have felt a lot more emotional this time--so emotional that I thought I might be having a girl (sorry, baby). I am very very very very happy to be having another boy. Boys are fun! And we already have all the clothes and stuff. And now we don't have to worry about them sharing a room, etc.

I was very thankful to be through the first trimester--I just had no energy and couldn't even fathom sitting down at the computer to write about it.

I just finished my glucose test last week and I passed! Very thankful to have sailed through that one this time. Last time I had to go back and take the 3 hour test.

(Yes, that is my handwriting scrawled at the top of the glucose bottle: "Do not drink unless you are Michelle." So many people using our fridge, you can't take any chances.)

Even though it is an excuse to sit and watch TV for 3 hours....I just don't have that time....The doctor did say that I have slightly low iron--perhaps that is why I have still been feeling so tired! I am hoping once I start taking iron supplements my energy will improve.

We just took Peter to his 15 month appointment and the doctor recommended we buy him a baby doll (I didn't really think we would be buying dolls with 2 boys running around, but whatever :)) and a book about being a big brother. I am not sure how helpful that will really be, but it will make us feel better. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to all of the change! I think he will be a great big brother.

Peter, sporting his "big brother" shirt, on the night that we told Gramps and Omi about baby #2! I think he is not quite sure what it all means...and that is still the case months later.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Favorites and Cha Cha Changes......

I really haven't devoted enough time to Peter's LOVE of books. It is pretty crazy.
In preparation for his arrival, I read a lot of books. Many of them say to start reading to them at an early age....so I did. Not much to do during wake time in the beginning, except re-acquaint yourself with the old classics, "The Hungry Catepillar" and "The Snowy Day," etc. Peter started to "read" those books when he was just a few days old.

When he learned to crawl and lie on his tummy, he spent a lot of time looking at books.

And he still does.

It doesn't really matter what the context is. He can spend about 10 minutes (yeah. I know!) looking at 1 book. This obviously comes in really really handy at church. By the time he has gone through 3 or 4 books, the service is almost done.

He doesn't just look at them, he LOOKS at them. He examines every page, and then when he has completed the book, he turns it upside down and starts all over.

He seems to really enjoy these great "peek-a-boo" books that we got from Aunt Chanoli. He has "loved" them a lot. We have had to tape the flaps back onto the pages. I am kind of rationing them out so that they don't get loved all at once.

This was his first German meal. He is starting to eat more and more table food. The transition was challenging for me. But I think I am figuring it out a little more these days. Anyway, here he is enjoying some Nuremburger Sausage and some fried potatoes. YUM.

We are working on teaching him the Children's Catechism. The first question is, "Who Made You?" And the answer is, "God!" Sometimes Peter will randomly raise his hand as he is right now. Is that taking the Lord's name in vain? :)

He has recently been "trained" to use the phones in the office. I am not sure exactly what the training has involved, but I hear he likes the hold button.

Last week, Omi showed him the wonders of a digital camera. He was VERY interested in looking at himself on the screen (99% of Omi's pictures are of Peter, so it worked out. the other 1% are of the cats...ha ha)

Here is Peter kissing himself on the screen of the camera. We are going to have to work on his narcissism.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Worst Mom Blogger Ever

I doubt anyone actually visits this blog anymore since I have been so pathetic in my postings. Things have been super busy here, mainly because I have been "working" on something, but I will write more about that later.

We have had a couple of celebrations around here lately....

Charlotte had her 1st birthday party, which was Peter's first birthday party. It was very fun.

Strange to be at a party covered with juice boxes and goldfish.

The party was at Charlotte's grandparents' house. I spent quite a bit of time there in high school--it was weird to go there for her birthday party and reflect back on some of the other memorable moments I spent at that house--which definitely did not involve babies.

Charlotte's grandma took Peter and Char for a couple of spins around the backyard in the wagon.

We also celebrated Mike's ordination as an elder at our church. It was a really nice day and it has been great to see him take on this new role.

We also attended Harper's baptism. It was fun to see our friends from our old church, but I definitely do not miss the drive. :)

We celebrated Easter with Mike's family. Nana, Dave, and Karen and the kids came down for a couple of days. We had a great time. It was extra special as Mike had the opportunity to conduct a prayer during the Easter service for the first time as elder. It was nice that his family was able to be there to share in that moment.

Hannah looking for one of the 56 eggs Grandma and Grandpa C hid in backyard

playing cards

in their Easter garb

Peter and Sophia play with toy cellphone and blackberry. YES, that is a toy blackberry. It was given to us by a friend that knows me too well. Peter was SO excited to get it. Is that bad?

We also celebrated my dad's 75th birthday. My mom worked really hard (as always) to make it a wonderful occasion. It was really great!

Peter also got his very first severe cold. He got an ear infection, cold/cough, and minor pink eye all at once. The doctor recommended we use a nebulizer to help his cough. He did pretty well with it.

During his sickness, Peter was a champ. He always is positive (he doesn't get that from me) and he decided that despite the fact we were all gross from being sick, he would entertain us with his first steps. On April 20, he started walking!

I wish I could post something fantastic, but I haven't figured out how to upload my videos on my video camera online yet.

Here are a couple of pics my mom took while Peter was displaying his tricks at their house:

He has this very proud look on his face--he was very excited to learn how to walk!

Hey Gramps, look what I can do!

a visit with j & d....there was a lot going on in this picture. :)

This was his first adventure in his new carseat (thank you Chanoli Family!). He loves riding FORWARD!!

He made me laugh when he started scrunching up his face. My side of the family is known for scrunching their face all the time.

being silly

It has been pretty wild around here since he started walking. A LOT of "training" going on about what is okay to touch and what is not. He is pretty obedient...for now. Of course, this weekend he seems to have learned how to "jog" or "speedwalk." He seems to have to walk very fast from one location to the next. I am not sure what his urgency is.

Anyways, I am sorry for the lag in posting....I will try to be better.

Monday, March 30, 2009

A Weekend of Firsts

This weekend was quite busy, no pictures (sorry).

First Formal Visit with our Ethiopian Friends
Friday we had dinner with our friends that just adopted 2 kids (a boy and a girl) from Ethiopia. They just got the kids at the end of February, so it was our first dinner with them all. It was so much fun!

We had met the kids briefly when the first arrived--exhausted and jet lagged. They were definitely more alert this time and a pleasure to be around (not that they were not a pleasure the first time). It is obvious that Peter has a new buddy--the little boy (20 mos) and Peter did a little bit of chattering and the three of them managed to play with all of the toys successfully. Although we will definitely need to give some "sharing" lessons to all.

I was anticipating a hectic dinner. It is a toddler and a 20 month old and then you throw in Peter....it was so quiet! The kids loved eating their food and they both sat quietly and ate. It was so incredible to look at them and think about where they had come from and what a fantastic new life they will have here with their loving parents.

Peter's First "Kiss"
On Saturday night, we had dinner with some new friends. They have a 15 month old named Kendall. Kendall and Peter had a blast together. It was sooooo cute! Peter seemed to be very impressed that she was able to walk and watched her navigate our house AND his toys! Given the sharing issues from the night before, I was expecting more of that on this go around. Especially because we were on his turf this time. However, Peter didn't care. She played with one of his favorites--a police car--and he just watched her.

The best part of the whole interaction was how "friendly" Kendall was. She kept trying to give Peter kisses. At one point, Peter had pulled himself up on pant legs and was standing in the kitchen. Kendall took the opportunity to give him a hug and a kiss. Too bad for Peter, his balance is not quite there yet. My hands were full of cookie dough and I couldn't help them. They both toppled to the ground....there were a few tears....and a large bump on Peter's forehead emerged.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if the bump was from that or from a prior incident--he hit his head on the sliding glass door harder than usual earlier in the day.

The First Bloody Incident
And then yesterday, we had some other friends over with their 10 week old. Peter was very interested in Evan's crying and also seemed to get frustrated when Daddy was holding him for "too long."

Peter started showing off his new skills with the walker that he got for his birthday. I turned my back for a moment, only to see that Peter had lost his balance and fell on our carpeted floor. However, when we picked him we saw his lip was bleeding a little bit.

I don't think I need to tell the few readers of this blog that blood and 1 year olds were not part of "my" plan yet. I was not anticipating dealing with that until he was running outside or whatever. And for the grandparents' sake, the amount of blood was TINY. There was not a lot of it. We're pretty sure he just bit his lip as he fell down. It is just not something you want to see.

In any case, we got through it. But it was duly noted that even a TINY amount of blood raised my blood pressure immediately. It made me think of my own parents. Here I am freaking out about a bit lip and they had to deal with open heart surgery and a 2 year old.

Anyway, despite the constant falling--which I know will only increase as he actually begins to walk--we had a great weekend. It was a fun weekend of firsts and made me look forward to the other ones that will come our way. Minus the blood of course.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday!

My day started with mommy oversleeping by half an hour.....thanks, Mom! Because I am such a wonderful baby, I didn't cry. I just played in my crib until mommy finally came to feed me. I was greeted by this lovely sign from one of my favorite people, Jasmine.